​INTRODUCTION
So, we have started out this new year with a series of teachings on being witnesses for the Lord. And church, I want you to understand that this subject is so critical to us populating the kingdom of heaven—because in case you haven’t noticed it, God is not in the business of appearing to the world and witnessing of Himself. No, the way He has set things up is that we would be His witnesses to the world around us.

You see, what this Scripture reveals to us is that we—our lives—are the true “Bible” that mankind comes to read and know. Yes, they are looking at how we live our lives and how what we profess is practiced in our everyday lives. Therefore, it is imperative that you and I learn what it means to be His witness and to do everything God has put in us to do to testify of His goodness.

So, let’s turn back over to Acts chapter one, and look again at a passage of Scripture that teaches us along these lines:
Acts 1:4-8 says, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ ”

What we learned last week is that, in verse 4, Jesus essentially told His disciples not to go anywhere or do anything, but to wait for the Promise of the Father—the Holy Spirit of Promise—before they try and “witness” for Him.

Church, this to me is the absolute first thing we need to know when it comes to being the Lord’s witness—that we cannot do it alone! We need the Helper to help us be the kind of witnesses that we are called to be, and that is because He is the power to be a witness …

Notice in verse 8 how Jesus told them (and us) that they shall receive “power” when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, and (then) you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem. So, the power of the Holy Spirit was to come first and then becoming His witnesses came second, correct? And it’s exactly the same with us, church!

You see, far too many Christians who know precious little about the Holy Spirit still try and become good witnesses of the Lord. And these believers certainly mean well, but in their ignorance, they get the cart before the horse. Church, we cannot really be the kind of good & effective witnesses of the Lord that He expects us to be without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just that simple!

So we then looked at Luke 24:44-49, where Jesus said something similar about the Holy Spirit: These verses read— “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

We saw how Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Promise of the Father” because time and time again in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is forecasted and prophesied as to come. Therefore, He is the Promise made by the Father. But we learned what He is the promise of—the Promise of Power! Hallelujah!

Jesus said here that when the Promise—the Holy Spirit—comes from on high, we will be endued with power. And we learned that the word “endued” means to be “clothed.” So, what will we be clothed with? With power!

I’ll tell you, church, the main reason why some Christians aren’t good witnesses is because they aren’t wearing the right clothes! No, I am not referring to our physical clothing, but to the virtues of Christ that we live in. They are wearing their own filthy garments of fleshly efforts, but that’s not what “enables” us to bear witness of the Lord. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that we need to be clothed in to testify of Jesus properly. And the intended result of us wearing our new clothes is that the unbelievers should be so impressed with our sharp attire that they will want to know who our Father is, if He’ll adopt them, and give them the same clothing too!

But we saw how this word “endued” also has another interesting meaning: In ancient Greek literature this word was used as having “a spell cast on you,” to where a person is transformed from something weak & unattractive into something powerful & attractive. Yes, when the Lord endues us with His power—the Holy Spirit—in a moment’s time we are transformed from a shy, cowardly human being into an empowered, overcoming witness for Christ!   

And we learned then how having the Holy Spirit enabling us to be a quality witness for Jesus works together with a very specific ministry of the Holy Spirit—His commission to “convict.”
You see, it’s sad to say but there have been many believers that think that this is their ministry—to bring people under conviction. No, this is the Holy Spirit’s job, not ours. The Bible does not call us “convicters”; it simply calls us witnesses (see John 15:27 & Acts 1:8). And there is a big difference between someone who simply witnesses and someone who does the convicting.

You see, a witness is not the judge or the jury. A witness just simply testifies of what they have seen, heard, or experienced. And just as sometimes a witness is needed to convict a lawbreaker in a court of law, a witness is needed to open the door for the Holy Spirit to convict an unbeliever of their sin. Yes, we as witnesses, are not to point our finger at them; we are just to tell people what we’ve experienced and then let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.

You see, some people, in their zeal, have gone beyond the witness stand and tried to bring people under conviction themselves. This not only can frustrate the witness, but it can drive the people we are trying to convict away from God. We need to eliminate this “Holy Ghost Jr.” mentality of trying to convict people of their sins ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do His job. Again, He’s the Judge who convicts; we are simply the witnesses—and by doing our part of being Christ’s witness, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His part of being Christ’s “convicter!” Therefore, our word regarding this was – “Don’t leave the witness stand”!

WITNESSING MADE FUN
But church, this is one of the main reasons why witnessing for Christ seems so laborious and, frankly, isn’t what most Christians enjoy doing—because most people ain’t doin’ it right. 

I’m convinced that if the Lord were to write a book on witnessing, chapter one would be entitled “Witnessing Made Fun,” which would be a chapter devoted to the help of the Holy Spirit.

Church, I have seen far too many Christians try and be witnesses for Christ, and while they might have the right words to speak, Scriptures to use, etc., they aren’t utilizing the greatest tool that we have to share the truth with people, the precious Holy Spirit.

So, this week, I’d like us to camp on this chapter of being Christ’s witnesses and talk about how the Holy Spirit truly is our Helper—especially regarding this subject of being Christ’s witnesses.

ANOTHER HELPER
Now we talked about last week how the Lord told His disciples that it was more advantageous for them that He went away because if He didn’t go the Holy Spirit would not be sent. And we saw how the reason this is true is because Jesus could only do so many things for His disciples being in a physical body. But when the Holy Spirit comes on each of us, He will indwell our physical bodies and can do for us everything that Jesus did for His disciples. Glory!

But I want you to notice how Jesus several times in the Gospel of John, called the Holy Spirit, the “Helper” …

This word “Helper” here is, of course, the New King James Version’s translation. If you use the original King James Version, you will find a different word—the term “Comforter.” Other translations use the words “Counselor” or “Advocate.” But I want to focus on the word “Helper” right now. 

Now what is a “Helper”? A helper describes an:

1. Assistant—that is, one who helps someone else in accomplishing a task.
2. Associate—that is, a coworker in business or a fellow worker at work.
3. Partner—that is, one who supports another and helps bear the load.
4. Right-hand man or woman—that is, kind of like an assistant and there to give you a helping hand. 
5. Helpmate (or helpmeet)—Now this last term is very interesting because I believe the Holy Spirit was foreshadowed like this in the Beginning…

Do you remember when God created Adam and then sometime after that, said, “It is not good for man to be alone…” (Genesis 2:18). Now you could paraphrase this statement like so— “It is not advantageous for man to be alone…” or “It is not beneficial, profitable, or best for man to be alone…” Does that sound a little familiar (See John 16:7)?

Then the Lord went on to say in Genesis 2:18— “I will make a helper comparable to him.” Ah, isn’t that interesting that we see the same word “helper” used here? I believe that is strategic by the Lord to reinforce this truth from John 16:7—that it is to our advantage to have a Helpmeet in the Person of the Holy Spirit! Glory!

But what is interesting is what God did immediately after making this statement. What He did not do was immediately put Adam to sleep, pull his rib out, etc. No, in verse 19, the first thing God did was form every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Then Adam named all of these animals, but we are told at the end of verse 20 that there was still not found a helper comparable to him.

So, after this, the Lord caused that deep sleep to fall on Adam and after He made woman, He brought her to Adam. And verse 23 said that Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” This was essentially Adam choosing Eve to become that helper that God said would be good for him. Therefore, the woman—Eve—was that helper. 

But although this word is translated “Helper” here in the NKJV, by far the most elaborate and detailed translation of this word comes from the Amplified Bible because its description of this word is, for lack of better words, more “amplified.”

John 16:7 says, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].”

I believe that this “amplified” description most accurately defines the Greek word into its broad and vast meaning. So, let’s look at each of these words that it uses in order to detail and discuss what the Holy Spirit is specifically called alongside of us to do.

THE COMFORTER
The first and primary word the Amplified Bible uses to translate parakletos as, is “Comforter.” So, this would obviously describe the Holy Spirit as being called alongside of us to comfort us, but it also would mean that He’s right there with us to comfort others.  

Have you ever been faced with needing to minister to someone who needed comfort but didn’t know what to say or do? I believe we all have. Perhaps it was after they lost a loved one or had some other horrific thing happen to them.  Sometimes when people are going through difficult situations like this, they need someone who will be able to provide the comfort of Christ to them. This is where the Comforter comes in! He can give us the words to speak when we don’t know what to say! He can grace us with the ability to hug someone in a meaningful & impactful way. He can even just provide the atmosphere with the presence of comfort as we are with the person.  

Yes, the Holy Spirit certainly knows how to console during tough times—which is the opposite of Job’s friends. Job’s friends started out right when they first arrived, but then wound up not providing Job with any comfort when they began accusing him.

We don’t want to be Job’s friends, saints. We want to be like the Holy Spirit who truly comes alongside of us to comfort us when we are hurting, to encourage us when we are despairing, and to simply love on us when we need it. Sure, there is a time where He speaks expressly—giving us the truth. But as it is with prophecy, He knows how and when to edify, exhort, and comfort—for He is the author of this wonderful gift. 

So, the Holy Spirit’s presence—both us knowing that we have Him with us wherever we go and Him being there to edify, exhort, and console others through us—should bring us much “comfort.” That’s right—this should make us feel confident when we are faced with times of needing to provide comfort to others—for the Holy Ghost is the “Comforter.”

THE COUNSELOR
The next word that we see used by the Amplified Bible is “Counselor”: This obviously describes the Holy Spirit being called alongside of us to give us His counsel.

The word “counselor” today describes several things, but what we might identify it with the most is a person who is trained to give guidance on personal, social, financial or psychological problems like say a marriage counselor, a financial counselor, or a mental health counselor. What these “counselors” are there to do is provide people with the direction, treatments, etc. that they need in their respective field. 

Now I know that most of us are not trained & licensed counselors. But guess what? You have Someone living in you who is lightyears more qualified to counsel others than the best counselor on this planet! Amen!

I’ll tell you; I’ve found myself many times being faced with needing to give counsel to somebody that in and of myself, I had no experience or qualifications to give it, but the Counselor lives on the inside of me did—and He did!

Church, we need to also know that we all have the fairest of ten thousand counselors living on the inside of us! So, when attempting to help others we ought to go to the Counselor first instead of just giving advice out of our own limited resources.  

Yes, just like we had “guidance counselors” in school to give us advice and guidance for our academic lives, we now have the Holy Spirit to provide far greater advice and guidance. He is with us and lives within us to not only counsel regarding big, spiritual issues, but He is also there to advise on what job someone should take, what car they should buy, who they ought to date, what investments to make, etc. He is our Omniscient Guidance Counselor! Yes, He lives within us to guide us into all truth.

THE INTERCESSOR
Then after we see the Amplified Bible translating this word as “Helper,” which we’ve covered already, it uses the word “Intercessor.” So, this means that the Holy Spirit is called alongside of us to intercede for us and through us.

Have you ever been asked to pray for someone but didn’t know how to pray for them? Well, that’s when the Lord helps us by interceding through us.  

We see this in Romans 8:26 when Paul tells us that when we do not know what to pray for as we ought, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. That means that He stands in the gap for us when we are ignorant concerning what to pray for. How does He step in, you ask? He does this praying for us by praying through us. Amen! 

Saints, this is why praying in the Spirit is so vital in the life of the believer. You see, there are so many times when we are ignorant of what to pray or even that we need to pray. That is when the Holy Spirit is available to pray through us and for us. All we have to do is yield to Him by praying in other tongues. In fact, He is called in the Old Testament “the Spirit of grace and supplication” (Zechariah 12:10). 

You see, the Holy Spirit is meant to assist us in our prayer life as well, and this certainly includes praying in another tongue. He wants to use our mouths to intercede for people and things that we have no idea about. This is why He is called the Intercessor! 

THE ADVOCATE
The next word used by the Amplified is “Advocate.” In fact, this is probably the most popular definition of this word parakletos because in their days, it described a legal counselor. So, this word certainly describes a lawyer, or more accurately a defense attorney. Therefore, this means that He is called alongside of us to stand by our side and to plead our case for us.

But most Christians do not see the Holy Spirit as our defense attorney; they see Him as the prosecuting attorney. You will hear many Christians accuse the Holy Spirit of “taking them to the woodshed” when they do something wrong, saying that the Holy Spirit “convicted” them of their sin. Church, this is not the nature of the One we have living inside of us.

You see, the problem is that they see Him as being against them and not really for them. They see the Holy Spirit as the One who heaps all of that condemnation on them, but I can assure you that this is not His ministry. How many of you ever see a defense attorney turning around and start accusing and trying to convict their client in a court of law? You won’t—because their job is to defend you and not condemn you.

Likewise, as we are being a witness for Christ, the Holy Spirit is there to use us to encourage and build up, not tear them down. So, if I am having the Holy Spirit help me in being Christ’s witness, He is going to primarily lead me to cover a multitude of sin, not make all of everyone’s sin manifest. Amen?  

Church, the Holy Spirit is for us and not against us! We see this clearly described in Romans 8:31-34. While He does convict us when we are missing it, He never condemns us! His ministry is to defend us. Yes, He builds us up (i.e., edifies); He does not tear us down.

THE STRENGTHENER
I especially like the next word the Amplified Bible translates parakletos as— “Strengthener.” This obviously describes the Holy Spirit as being called alongside of us to strengthen us. Hallelujah! This means that He lives within us to empower us and to give us the ability to do what we might not feel we are able to do!

You see, He doesn’t just give us the counsel on what we should say & do; He also gives us the strength to say & do it! Thank God we don’t have to be a witness for Jesus in our own strength! Through the Holy Spirit’s inner-strengthening we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). All we have to do is stay so full of the Holy Spirit that it is no longer we who live, but Christ living in and through us. Yes, “He works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (See Philippians 2:14).

You see, the Holy Spirit doesn’t just instruct us, He even gives us the strength. He’s kind of like our strength and conditioning coach, in that He trains us to become spiritually fit, developing our spiritual muscles (the fruit of the Spirit).

So, don’t focus on your weaknesses in witnessing—talking about what you cannot do, what you do not know, etc. Focus on Who you have living on the inside of you. He is your strength. Indeed, let the weak say, “I am strong.” We can say this with full confidence because you have the Strengthener living on the inside of you!

THE STANDBY
And, last but not least, the Amplified Bible uses the word “Standby” to translate parakletos. No, this does not mean that the Holy Spirit is on “standby” in the sense that He is on waiting (like a second-string athlete) and not the priority. Rather, it describes His “readiness for duty and immediate deployment.” This would describe the Holy Spirit as being called alongside of us to do just that—stand by us.

You see, He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is faithful to never leave us nor forsake us. Oftentimes we quote these Scriptures in reference to Jesus, but they are just as true for the Third Person of the Godhead too. The Holy Spirit is promised to abide by our side forever (John 14:16).

Again, He is faithful to us. Being a part of the Trinity, faithfulness is His nature as well. So, erase that wrong doctrine out of your mind that the Holy Spirit is easily offended and leaves us when we grieve Him. He STANDS-BY us always, even when we are hard to stand by. He won’t leave us or forsake us. 

In fact, as I thought about this term “Stand-By” I came up with a song, which I’m sure could become a hit one day. It’s called “Stand by Me.” But the fact is, the Holy Spirit is there to be yours and my STAND-BY. And He is more than willing to stand by you, with you, and for you until you breathe your last breath. Amen.

CONCLUSION
Yes, the Holy Spirit is called alongside of us to make our witness more fun and effective. He is on this earth to stand by our side—comforting, counseling, and strengthening us. 
​
So today I urge you to open your heart to this ministry of the Holy Spirit. Let Him be your Helper in being a witness. The truth is, He was sent to be your Helper whether you recognize it or not. But as you open your heart to the Holy Spirit—listening to Him and diligently following every aspect of His instruction from His role as your help in life—this I can promise you: you will be changed. It won’t be long until you look back on who you were before you made the decision to allow the Holy Spirit to be your Helper, and you’ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your decision started a process that has completely changed your life! Yes, you will be the best version of a witness you can be—because you allowed the Holy Spirit to do what He does best.  Amen!

​INTRODUCTION
So, I would like to begin this new year with a series of teachings that I believe are long overdue in the Body of Christ—the subject of us being witnesses of the Lord and for the Lord.

You know, our witness to the world around us is so critical to us populating the kingdom of heaven. Because in case you haven’t noticed it, God is not in the business of appearing to the world and witnessing of Himself. No, the way He has set things up is that we would be His witnesses to the world around us.

Sure, He has given us things that witness of Him like the precious Holy Spirit (whom we will learn more about today) and His Holy Word, but in order for this world to “witness” His love, power, glory, etc. it’s going to take us bearing witness of these things. Amen?

Did you know that you are the only Bibles some will ever read? Yes, there are many who will never pick up a Bible, will never attend church, and aren’t going to ever hear the name of Jesus preached.    

Second Corinthians 3:2-3 says, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”

You see, what this Scripture reveals to us is that we—our lives—are the true “Bible” that mankind comes to read and know. Yes, they are looking at how we live our lives and how what we profess is practiced in our everyday lives.

Therefore, it is imperative that you and I learn what it means to be His witness and to do everything God has put in us to do to testify of His goodness.

So let’s turn over to Acts chapter one, and look at a passage of Scripture that teaches us along these lines: Acts 1:4-8 says, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ ”

So, the Lord told His disciples that they would be witnesses to Him first in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth. And did you know that this commission did not end with them? No, as those who believe on Him by their word, we are called to carry this same mantle and be His witnesses as well in our own proverbial Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Amen?

THE PROMISE OF POWER
But I want you to notice back in verse 4 how Jesus essentially told His disciples not to go anywhere or do anything, but to wait for the Promise of the Father—the Holy Spirit of Promise—before they try and “witness” for Him.

Church, this to me is the absolute first thing we need to know when it comes to being the Lord’s witness—that we cannot do it alone! We need the Helper to help us be the kind of witnesses that we are called to be, and that is because He is the power to be a witness …

Notice in verse 8 how Jesus told them (and us) that they shall receive “power” when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, and (then) you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem.

So, the power of the Holy Spirit was to come first and then becoming His witnesses came second, correct? And it’s exactly the same with us, church!

You see, far too many Christians who know precious little about the Holy Spirit try still try and become good witnesses of the Lord. And these believers certainly mean well, but in their ignorance, they get the cart before the horse. Church, we cannot really be the kind of good & effective witnesses of the Lord that He expects us to be without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just that simple!

In fact, in Luke 24:44-49, we see how Jesus said something similar: These verses read— “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

So, notice in verse 48 that Jesus said that they were witnesses of these things. What things? Of how the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day as well as all of the other things that would come as a result of His death, burial, and resurrection.

But now that they were His witnesses, they needed something else, so Jesus immediately tells them, “Behold. I send the Promise of My Father upon you …” So, notice how Jesus then immediately refers to how they were to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. This is obviously talking about the Promised Holy Spirit – how He is the promise of power.

Now also notice here that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Promise of the Father.” Why does He refer to the Holy Spirit this way? It is because time and time again in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is forecasted and prophesied as to come. Therefore, He is the Promise made by the Father.

But what is He the Promise of? He is the Promise of Power! Hallelujah! Jesus said here that when the Promise—the Holy Spirit—comes from on high, we will be endued with power. The word “endued” means to be “clothed.” And what will we be clothed with? With power!

I’ll tell you, the main reason why some Christians aren’t good witnesses is because they aren’t wearing the right clothes! No, I am not referring to our physical clothing, but to the virtues of Christ that we live in. They are wearing their own filthy garments of fleshly efforts, but that’s not what “enables” us to bear witness of the Lord. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that we need to be clothed in to testify of Jesus properly.

Did you ever notice how the apostle Paul liked to encourage the church to “put on” this and “put off” that. He’s using a similar term there of either clothing ourselves in good virtues versus taking off the bad things.

So, what is the purpose of putting on these good virtues? If we already have all these attributes in us, why must we put them on? The answer is simple—for the same reason we put on clothes in the natural—for other people! We partly wear our physical clothes for the benefit of others. It is the same in the spiritual—we put on the fruit of the Spirit so that unbelievers can see how good our God is. When they see our supernatural peace in the midst of a severe trial, our unconditional love towards an enemy, our great self-control when we should have a fit of carnality, and our consistent joy through up and down circumstances, they will see us wearing the fruit of our new man. The intended result of us wearing our new clothes is that the unbelievers should be so impressed with our sharp attire that they will want to know who our Father is, if He’ll adopt them, and give them the same clothing too!

Well, the truth is that it’s the Holy Spirit who we have to be clothed in and He is the One who enables us to put on any & all good virtues to begin with. Yes, working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit is really the only way to be an effective witness for the Lord. This is because the Holy Spirit is the only real way to be an effective witness for the Lord in regard to my lifestyle, behavior, etc. That’s because the fruit of the Spirit cannot be self-produced. These fruit are generated by the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. But this is also because the Holy Spirit is the One who empowers us in our witnessing.

But this word “endued” also has another interesting meaning: In ancient Greek literature this word was used as having “a spell cast on you.” Now, of course, we don’t believe in these things, but I think it gives us a great illustration …

Let me give you a story to illustrate this: A very meek, shy, and cowardly woman came to a magician and said, “I am so incredibly shy. I cannot even look at other people in the eye. Is there anything you can do to help me?” The magician then cast a spell on her (i.e., an endowment) and then she was supernaturally transformed into a bold & powerful woman (Compare with First Samuel 10:6 when Saul was turned into another man when the Holy Spirit came upon him). Likewise, we come to God saying, “Lord, I need help! I want to be a bolder witness for you than I currently am, but the thought of being this way terrifies me!” And the Lord then endues us with His power—the Holy Spirit—and in a moment’s time we are transformed from a shy, cowardly human being into an empowered, overcoming witness for Christ!   

Again, didn’t Jesus say something similar in Acts 1:8 when He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you …”? So, again Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, what we are receiving is “power.” I say all of this to say that with the Holy Spirit comes power! He is the power of God, and He is the Promise of that power! Amen.
 
CONVICTING THE WORLD
So now, let’s begin this week looking at how the Holy Spirit helps us in being witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ: And let’s start by looking at what Jesus taught us in John 16:5-11 …

Now if you recall, Jesus had shown His disciples here how important us having the Holy Spirit is by saying, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

I’m sure that Jesus’ disciples had a hard time grasping this because, as a general rule, Jesus was the One doing the majority of the witnessing. So, if He was going away, all of this was going to fall on their shoulders.

Would you have felt this way? Say you and I were going into the marketplace or door to door witnessing to people. I would venture to say that most of you would lean on me to do all the talking. Well, I’m sure Jesus’ disciples did this more times than not.

So, for them to hear Jesus say He was leaving might have made them feel like you would feel if I said to you, “Okay, I am going to go home and I want you to go to these next few people and witness instead of me.” Most of you probably would be terrified and feel completely unequipped to do so.

Well, what Jesus was saying here was that having the Holy Spirit is more advantageous to us than having Himself physically present with us. And if that’s the case, I can guarantee you that having the Holy Spirit is better than having Pastor Trey there when you are witnessing to someone. Amen?

But then notice what Jesus immediately says after this: In verses 8-11, Jesus said, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Now let me begin by dispelling a couple of popular belief systems that people have of these verses and about the workings of the Holy Spirit in general:

Notice, first of all, that Jesus said, “And when He has come (And He most certainly has come!), He will convict the world…” Convict who? “The world.” So, who is it that the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment? The world! And we know that when Jesus refers to the world here, He is certainly including unbelievers because, in verse 9, when He goes on to explain why He will convict the world of these three things, He says, “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” Therefore, this is certainly talking about those of the world who have not yet believed on Jesus. However, I also see it as including those who are in the world but not of the world as well (i.e., believers) because in verse 10 He says, “of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you see Me no more.” (We will deal with how the Holy Spirit performs this in our lives in the latter part of this teaching) 

So, this particular commission of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8-11 is what He is assigned to do for everyone living in the world, and not necessarily just for God’s children. This is important to understand, particularly as it pertains to the sin portion, because how many of us have heard how the Holy Spirit “convicted” one of our brothers & sisters in Christ of their sin—taking them to the woodshed and made them feel horrible for what they did wrong—and they used these very verses to substantiate it?

Well, I’m here to tell you that what a lot of Christians say is the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit—which leads me to point number two: Part of the reason people misunderstand the workings of the Holy Spirit is because of this word we see in the King James version— “convict.”

You see, in our modern-day terminology, the word “convict” has more of a negative tone to it. To us, the word “convict” paints the picture of a courtroom and carries the idea of some judge who is looking down on the guilty and condemning them for their wrongdoing. And religion certainly has not helped this perception of conviction either: It has painted the picture that God is looking down on us with a lightning bolt in His hand ready to strike us down at any moment for our sinful ways. So, therefore, a good portion of the Church teaches that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to constantly hound us—condemning us for all our various faults and shortcomings. Saints, this is not what the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do!

So, what does the word “convict” actually mean? The Greek word translated as “convict” carries more of the idea to “convince or to prove” than it does to “condemn.” In fact, the Greek word that the apostle John used here literally means “to bring something to light, and thus to expose it.” So, don’t get stuck on the word “convict” and let that word paint a negative picture of the Holy Spirit’s dealings with the world.

But the fact is (as we’ve made the point of already), Jesus specifically said that the Holy Spirit’s assignment to “convict” of sin is aimed at the world, and not at the church. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s job of convicting, convincing, and simply bringing to light one’s sinful condition is specifically targeting unbelievers.

Which brings up an important point—Not only is His ministry to convict of sin not aimed at us but at the world, this ministry to convict of sin is His job to perform and not ours.

HOLY GHOST JR.
Now allow me to take a little rabbit trail here concerning this: It is unfortunate, but there have been many believers that think that this is their ministry—to bring people under conviction. No, this is the Holy Spirit’s job, not ours.

You see, the Bible does not call us “convicters”; it simply calls us witnesses (see John 15:27 & Acts 1:8). And there is a big difference between someone who simply witnesses and someone who does the convicting.

You see, a witness is not the judge or the jury. A witness just simply testifies of what they have seen, heard, or experienced. And just as sometimes a witness is needed to convict a lawbreaker in a court of law, a witness is needed to open the door for the Holy Spirit to convict an unbeliever of their sin in the kingdom of God. We, as witnesses, are not to point our finger at them; we are just to tell people what we’ve experienced and then let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.

Have you ever noticed that when you have realized someone has missed it in some area and then you, in your zeal, call them out on their sin, that you rarely get the desired response? Yes, people do not usually respond well to us when we try and do the convicting. However, when we take the humble approach of simply testifying to what we’ve seen and experienced in our own life, we will get more “God-results.”

Second Timothy, chapter two, gives us a good example of this: In Second Timothy 2:22-26, the apostle Paul says to Timothy, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

First of all, notice how he first tells Timothy what he should “flee & pursue” Why is this important? Because the first part of being a good witness is to walk in the truth ourselves. And not just because we ought to avoid hypocrisy and ruin our witness, but because our lifestyle and behavior is also what sheds light on the darkness that the world walks in.

Do you remember how in in First Timothy 4:12 that Paul told him – “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

This means that Timothy was not to keep people from despising his youth by verbally correcting that attitude, but by being an example in how he conducts himself. Amen?

But have you ever noticed how the world around us just seems to be convicted from being in our presence? Now we might not have noticed that if we are walking like the world ourselves, but if we have been pursuing the things of God and we are carriers of God’s presence because our relationship with Him is where it needs to be, the ungodly around us will get convicted simply from being in our presence—and here’s the kicker: without us even saying a word. Therefore, by being Christ’s witness simply by our example, the Holy Spirit is able to fulfill His commission to convict.

Now I will say that this does not always mean that the person under conviction will have a repentant reaction. In fact, in most of these cases, the person under conviction will more than likely have a negative response by resenting, hating, or even persecuting us. But that is just the response you get when letting your light shine before men: You will have both the moths & the roaches—the “moths” being those who come to the light and the “roaches” being those who run from the light. And unfortunately, we live in the woods of the world, where there are many more roaches than there are moths.   

Then Paul goes on to show us that we need to avoid disputes and quarrels because all they generally do is generate strife. Why? Because with the vast majority of people, they do not dispute to find the truth, but to defend the truth they think they know. So, arguing and debating is generally fruitless and actually anti-productive according to Paul.

But notice how he goes on to describe that there is a place for correcting others, but just that we should do it “in humility.” For example, when we are tempted to correct & convict someone else for something and we are certain they are doing wrong, it is always a good idea to broach the subject in humility. How? By, instead of correcting them for what they are doing wrong, being a witness of what the Lord has shown you. Say, for example, you see someone having the wrong attitude about something. While you might be tempted to just correct their “stinkin’ thinkin’,” you can give them an example of how you yourself once did what they are currently doing and then share with them how the Lord corrected you. This takes that “holier than thou” perception of you out of the picture and enables them to see more clearly how they need to respond like you did. Not to mention, it opens the door to the Holy Spirit to validate in their heart the truth that you gave witness to. We see this in the remainder of these verses in Second Timothy.  

Paul went on to say, “if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” So, what we see here is that it begins with us being a witness, and then what follows is God—in the Person of the Holy Spirit, I might add—who helps the person to repent, know the truth, and come to their senses to escape the snare of the devil. Amen!

Again, we cannot make a person repent. We cannot make someone come to know the truth. And we cannot bring them to their senses. This is the Holy Ghost’s job! And for us to try and do this ourselves is just pride—thinking we can do His job for Him.

You see, some people, in their zeal, have gone beyond the witness stand and tried to bring people under conviction themselves. This not only can frustrate the witness, but it can drive the people we are trying to convict away from God. We need to eliminate this “Holy Ghost Jr.” mentality of trying to convict people of their sins ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do His job. Again, He’s the Judge who convicts; we are simply the witnesses—and by doing our part of being Christ’s witness, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His part of being Christ’s convicter! Don’t leave the witness stand!
​
So, in conclusion, the Holy Spirit is here to convict the world, and this is His assignment, not ours. Let’s do our job of being witnesses and not leave the stand to try to do the Holy Spirit’s job. And as we have learned, the good news is that if we just be the witnesses that we are called to be, we can help the Holy Spirit do the convicting that He is called to do. Amen? 

​LIFE, LIFE, LIFE!
 
Through Jesus’ resurrection, the Lord has offered us eternal life - which is knowing God (John 17:3). Therefore, the eternal life we have been given involves the ability for us all to know God, from the least to the greatest (Hebrews 8:11). Friends, knowing God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is where life begins - for we have been called to a life of personal relationship with God.   
 
In Romans 6:4, Paul teaches us that we are called to walk in the newness of life. This is that life where old things have passed away and, behold, all things have become new. We go underneath the waters of baptism as the old man and come up as a new man in Christ Jesus. Our life has been made new in Christ. Behold, He makes all things new!  
 
The Scriptures also teach us that He has made available unto us resurrection life. This aspect of the life of God is the freedom from the death produced through the things of this world. It is the life of God that makes alive our mortal bodies and infuses our lives with His life. This is the Spirit-filled life, church! Sure, when we are born again, we have the Holy Spirit; but when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, He has us. This is the resurrection life!
 
And, finally, Christ came to give us the abundant life - not just life, but life more abundantly. And that’s the life I want to talk about today - the more than enough life!
 
THE OVERFLOWING CUP
 
So, let’s turn over to two openings this morning where we see this abundant life described - Psalm 23:5 & John 10:10…
 
In Psalm 23:5 David said, “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over!” Here, I want us to focus on the phrase “My cup runs over”.  Now, when it comes to this phrase “My cup runs over,” some translations say, “My cup overflows.” The NLT says, “My cup overflows with blessings.” The Living Bible paraphrase says, “Blessings overflow.” The Easy to Read says, “My cup is full and spilling over.” The Aramaic Bible in Plain English says, “my cup overflows as if it were alive.”
 
In fact, this Hebrew word that is used for “runs over” is only used in one other place in the Scriptures, and that is found at the end of Psalm 66:12 when he says, “But you brought us out to rich fulfillment.” Other translations call this place of “rich fulfillment” a “wealthy place.” 
 
So, the picture we have painted here is of a cup that is not just filled full to the brim, but it describes a cup that is actually overflowing and spilling over - a rich, abundance of drink, hallelujah!
 
From a spiritual point of view, it describes having so much peace, joy, God’s presence, etc., that you are more than fulfilled in your heart. From a financial sense, it describes having “more than enough money”- more than you need, more than you can spend, and extra to give. Whatever example you want to use - our cup running over describes a life spilling over with the goodness of God! Glory!
 
Now let’s go over to John chapter 10 and take a look at where Jesus gives us another description of this “cup running over” kind of life…
 
You see, this was not just what God did for David, it is what Jesus came to provide for all of us!
 
THE ABUNDANT LIFE
 
In John 10:10 we have, what I believe to be, one of the most important truths that Jesus ever gave us concerning God’s nature. He said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
 
Now let me, first of all, make a quick point from this verse: From this very simple yet profound verse we can distinguish between what comes from God and what comes from the devil. Anything that has come to steal from us, to kill us, or to destroy the things in our lives is from the devil! Anything that has come to produce a better quality of life is from God. Now, of course, I need to qualify this. We need to define what is truly “a better quality of life”…
 
Does money necessarily improve the quality of your life? Most people would give a hearty “Amen!” to that question, but that is not exactly the case. Financial prosperity certainly can add to the quality of your life, but it is absolutely contingent upon the prosperity of your soul. If your soul is not full of peace and joy then money, nor any other natural blessing, will ever improve the quality of your life. But this also does not mean that having wealth is of the devil either, the love of wealth is what comes from the devil because covetousness takes away the life of its owner.
 
So, what I wanted us to see in this verse is that Jesus reveals to us a certain aspect of God’s nature that is important for us to understand: Again, Jesus said, “but I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” So, Jesus said, “I have come – that they may have life…” Did He come? Yes! Then, you and I may have life! Amen!
 
Now as it is with salvation or any other provision given to us by God, it doesn’t happen just because Jesus came. In other words, just because He came to provide it, doesn’t mean it is automatically applied to our lives. No! This verse says, “that they may have life.”
 
But notice that Jesus said He not only came to give us life, but He came to give us life more abundantly! This shows me that there are progressive qualities of life to be had. A Christian may have life, but we also may have it more abundantly. 
 
Now the words “more abundantly” come from the Greek word perissos which means “over, above and more than is necessary.” Strong’s says that it means “beyond, super-abundant in quantity, superior in quality and by implication, excessive.” The Amplified Bible gives a great definition to this phrase; it defines it as “to the full, till it overflows.”
 
So, you see, based on Psalm 23:5 and this verse we can clearly see God’s true nature. God’s nature is to not only give us enough life, but to give us more than enough life! This is always what He desires to do for us because He is an excessive God!
 
Allow me to show you several other biblical examples of this excessive nature that He possesses…
 
 
EL SHADDAI
 
Now the first name God ever used to reveal Himself to mankind described this very characteristic that we are talking about…   
 
He appeared to Abram in Genesis 17:1 and revealed one of His names as, “Almighty God.” The Hebrew word that He used here was “El Shaddai.” The word “Shaddai” was derived from the word “shad” which means “breast” and the word “el” which was a word that described God as mighty, strong, and powerful. So, when you combine these two words together, they describe God as the One who is able to supply and provide every need that we have. But if you look a little deeper into the meaning it carries the idea of Him being “All-Sufficient”, or you could say, “more than enough!”
 
You see, God’s nature is to not just be our sufficiency, but to be our all-sufficiency! In other words, His tendency is to not just meet our needs, but to meet them in abundance!
 
As Paul stated in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need…” But he didn’t stop there: How does He meet all our need? It is “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” Those two words “according to” make a big difference in the way we should look at this verse. If He would have said, “out of His riches in glory” that would mean He could supply them in any way. For example, if I supplied something to you “out of” my riches then that might mean I just gave you a twenty-dollar bill when I’m a multi-millionaire. But if I supply you “according to” my riches then that means I will supply you according to how wealthy I am. So, if I was a multi-millionaire then that would mean you would get a whole lot more than twenty bucks!
 
You see, this is the way God is! He supplies us with more than enough because His provision is not according to the world’s system; it is according to His riches in glory! Hallelujah! That ought to make you shout! As I’ve heard my father in the faith, Andrew Wommack, say time and time again, “God is El Shaddai, not El Cheapo!”  God is too much!
 
TOO MUCH!
 
But there is no greater example of God’s true nature than in the life and ministry of Jesus: Jesus said in John 5:19, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” He also said to Philip in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” In fact, the writer of Hebrews even described Jesus as the “express image of His (God’s) person” (Hebrews 1:3). Therefore, we have three witnesses that clearly show us that Jesus fully expressed the nature of God while He was here with us. So, let’s look at a few examples from His life that echo this “cup overflowing” life of God:
 
First of all, consider the miracles of Jesus multiplying the loaves and the fishes for the thousands. In both of these accounts (where He fed the 5,000 men & then the 4,000 men), we are told that they ate and were filled, and also took up twelve baskets full and seven baskets full, respectively, of leftover bread and fish (see Mark 6:42-43 & Mark 8:8).
 
Now the catalyst for this miracle is clear: It was in Jesus blessing what they had and giving His Father thanks for it. This too is a catalyst for your miracle of provision - being thankful for and blessing what you have!
 
Now let me ask you a question: Did God miscalculate how many people there were? Did He just multiply some extra bread and fish in case there were more people than He anticipated? I think not! 
 
How about In Luke 5:1-10, when Jesus called His fisherman to come follow Him? This was, of course, when Jesus used Simon Peter’s boat to teach those following Him. So, in what was likely Jesus blessing Peter for the use of His boat, He told him to “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” (Verse 4). Then we are told that they caught such a great number of fish that their net was breaking. This resulted in Simon and his brother calling for their partners to come and help them and after they had come and filled both the boats, the boats began to sink.
 
So, we see here that this “net-breaking, ship-sinking” blessing to Simon Peter’s business came as a result of his willingness to sow his resources into Jesus’ ministry. In other words, he gave to Jesus’ ministry in order for Him to minister to the people and he was repaid with this abundant catch of fish - showing us that another key to experiencing this “too much harvest” is sowing into the kingdom.  
 
But again, let me ask you a question: Did the Lord know how much their nets would be capable of holding without breaking? Did He know how many fish both of their boats could hold without sinking? Sure, He did! He didn’t just command as many fish as He could to come get in their nets. The Lord is much more specific and methodical than that. So, why did they have “too many” fish? It’s because it is simply God’s nature!
 
Let’s look at one other example in the life of Jesus, because it correlates with this one we just looked at:
 
In John chapter 21, after Jesus was raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, but they didn’t recognize them. He speaks to them from the shore, asking them if they have caught anything. So, when they answered Him that they hadn’t, He told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat and they would find some. Now, the word “some” is not in the original text, and that is because they didn’t wind up catching just some; we are told that they caught a multitude! In this case, they had to drag the net to land because it was full of 153 large fish. However, the net did not break! (See John 21:1-11) 
 
Now the interesting part of this story to me is that they initially didn’t recognize Him. For some reason, their eyes were constrained from knowing that it was Him just like those disciples on the Road to Emmaus. But it was when they experienced yet another miraculous catch of fish that they recognized Him, saying, “It is the Lord!” In other words, they recognized His goodness!
 
This is yet another important key to experiencing El Shaddai’s nature - recognizing His goodness! You see, we are transformed into what we behold. So, if we see His goodness, His love, His grace, etc., we will be changed into the same image from glory to glory! 2 Corinthians 3:13-18 teaches us this - that as Moses’ face was transformed by beholding God’s glory, we are also transformed from glory to glory by beholding His glory.
 
Well, we see from one of Moses’ experiences with the Lord that when he desired for the Lord to show him His glory that the Lord told him that He would make all of His goodness pass before him (see Exodus 33:18-19) - equating God’s glory with His goodness. Therefore, we could translate 2 Corinthians 3:18 like so - “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the goodness of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from goodness to goodness, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 
 
So, it is apparent that this is God’s nature - He is a too much, more than enough kinda God! So, let’s look back at Psalm 23:5 and look again at this phrase we began with - “My cup runs over!”  
 
Now a good question to ask here is: Like it was with the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the miraculous catch of fish, does God know when the cup is full? Of course, He does! He is omniscient and, therefore, knows everything. So, why does He keep pouring? It is because it’s His nature to be excessive! He just delights in continuing to pour! It is not His fault that our cups are as dinky as they are. He pours out as much as He desires to give, and it is our job to get a bigger cup to hold the excess. And then, of course, if we get one of those “big gulp” cups, He will still keep pouring. Why? Again, because it is His nature to keep pouring - but the bigger the cup, the more we can drink. It is just that simple. But we also have to realize that receiving from God is related to our being able to see God as the God of more than enough. So, this is a continual challenge from the Lord to us – to always be growing and able to receive more, so that we can become more like Him and have more and more to give to others.
 
So, there are many examples of this characteristic of God found throughout the Scriptures, but let’s look at what I consider to be the greatest example of this we have.
 
OUR EXCESSIVE COVENANT
 
I believe the greatest example of God’s excessive nature was demonstrated in this new and better covenant that we have today with God through Jesus Christ.
 
You know, the old covenant that Israel had seemed to me like it was good enough. For God to even provide a means for mankind to come into covenant with Him is amazing enough. He chose the nation of Israel as His own and gave them promises such as healing, prosperity, and protection. All He required of them was to keep their part of the covenant (which was keeping His law) and their promises of protection and provision stayed intact.
 
Now I understand that there were flaws in this covenant (as God did too), but my point is that even that covenant was more than Israel deserved. God would have been righteous to just say something like, “Well, since Adam blew it, they are just going to have to make it on their own. I’ve already done all I’m going to do for them. I already gave them their one shot.” But He didn’t do that! He chose Israel and was gracious to them time and time again.
 
Being included in this original covenant would have been far more than we Gentiles could have ever dreamed. But, thank God, He didn’t stop there…
 
He established a new covenant based upon better promises and made it available for anyone who will simply believe. And under this new and better covenant, we see God’s tendency to be excessive. Not only did we obtain the benefits and promises that were given through the old covenant; we also got “much more.” Here is a list of some of the extra benefits…

1. We have been given a new nature that puts God’s law in our hearts and minds and inspires us to do those things which are pleasing in His sight!
2. We have God’s Holy Spirit living on the inside of us to teach, strengthen, empower, and lead us!
3. We have been given God’s very own righteousness freely!
4. We have been made a kingdom of kings and priests unto our God!
5. All of us are capable of knowing God personally and are able to boldly and confidently approach Him for ourselves!
6. Unlike the sacrifice’s blood under the old covenant which only covered their sins, Jesus’ blood has completely washed away our sins, never to even be remembered again!
7. Not to mention, the good life that He has prearranged for us to live that includes both natural and spiritual blessings that are overflowing!

 
And the list could go on and on… This is an excessive covenant! Amen!?!
 
Thus, the reason the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly (Genesis 17:1-2)!
 
Church, God’s nature and will is to reveal Himself as El Shaddai to us and to multiply us exceedingly! He desires to keep pouring His goodness into our cups, and fill us with His life until we are overflowing! So, as the Psalmist said, “Open your mouth wide and He will fill it” (Psalm 81:10)! Amen and so be it! 

Review
So, what we are attempting to do through this series of teachings is discern the difference between the voice of our Good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger that would attempt to lead us astray. And I hope you understand just how important of a message this is for us, church, because there are far too many Christians who never learn to discern God’s voice or the enemy’s voice. Because of this, I’ve seen so many led around by the wrong voice, which has robbed them of the life God has for them. Therefore, I am convinced that if we can just learn the Shepherd’s voice and heed what He is saying to us, our lives would be led on those green pastures and beside those still waters.

So, we started out talking about the primary ways both the Lord and the devil speak to us. And we learned that the most common way they both speak is internally and not externally. So, the most regular way we will hear their voices is on the inside of us, in very subtle ways—the Lord speaking to our spirits in that still small voice and the devil speaking to our minds in a cunning, crafty way.

However, like I’ve made the point of, it’s not always so easy to discern between what we hear in our spirit and what we hear in our minds. I believe we can all grow to where can tell the difference, but what I have found is that one of the easiest ways to be able to tell what comes from God and what comes from the enemy is by the nature of the things we hear.

You see, the Lord was good enough to clearly show us in His Word what both His voice and the voice of the enemy tend towards. Yes, He gave us example after example in the Scriptures that show us what their nature is and, therefore, how they both speak to us and what the effects of their words will be.  

So, we started off looking at these things by looking at our first example of both God and the devil speaking to mankind in the Bible. I made the point that we need to understand that whatever we see first mentioned in the Scriptures is something we will see regularly repeated in the world today. Therefore, what the Lord said and what the devil said in this instance are certainly going to be the same thing that we will hear them say to us on a regular basis.

Then two weeks ago, we started looking specifically at how we can tell when it is God speaking to us. In other words, what is the fruit of God’s voice.

You see, God has given us a very simple and easy way to be able to discern God’s voice. Yes, I have found that the best way for us to identify the effect of God’s voice is by the fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because the fruit of the Spirit is the “produce” of God.

So, what we did last week was we looked at most of these fruit that are listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and how they help us in identifying the witness of the Holy Spirit and our own spirit:

1. We looked at how the Lord will always lead us into love because love is God’s core nature. Therefore, if I am hearing from God and being led by Him, I will always tend towards loving others. That means the Lord is going to deal with me on how I can better love those around me, which includes my enemies.
2. Likewise, joy is a fruit of God’s voice, and the Lord is not going to tend towards speaking things to us that take us in the opposite direction of joy. You see, I think a lot of Christians think they are spiritual because they are so serious and “burdened” by things, but the truth is joy is a big part of the kingdom of God. Therefore, God’s voice will certainly lead me into joy more than away from it.   
3. Peace is certainly a fruit of the voice of God because He is called the God of peace. That means that if you’ve felt that true peace that passes all understanding, you’ve felt God. And if you’ve heard something in your heart that yields that peace, you’ve heard God.
4. And one fruit that I skipped last week was longsuffering: Yes, longsuffering / patience is what the Lord will lead me unto. No, that impatience with people & things is not God generated. That’s our flesh. So, we need to know that more often than not, the Lord will have us show longsuffering when putting up with others and dealing with difficult circumstances.
5. And the rest of the fruit of the Spirit—goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control all likewise help us to see what the effects of God’s voice is. Yes, He will lead us into being faithful, kind & good to others, humble, and operating in self-control.

So, at what point in any of our lives is the Holy Spirit going to speak to us, or is our own spirit going to lead us in anything outside of these nine fruit of the Spirit? The answer is simple – NEVER! Anybody that says the Lord told them to do or say something that is not consistent with these fruits is deceived.

On the contrary, when any of these nine fruits are coming up in our hearts, we can trust that this is direction from the Lord because God is not going to lead you contrary to any of these. In other words, these nine fruit of the Spirit are the fruits that let us know we have heard God’s voice. We can trust them. They are reliable.

What the Stranger Produces
So now that we covered the fruit of the Shepherd’s voice, let’s look at some of the fruit of the stranger’s voice over the course of these next two weeks:

Now when I say “fruit” of the voice of the enemy, don’t misunderstand me. His words definitely don’t produce anything good in us like the Holy Spirit’s fruit do. The stranger’s voice actually produces the polar opposite of what the Shepherd’s voice produces. This is what we are going to touch on today.

You see, just like we can look at the things we hear in our hearts and tell whether they were from the Lord by how consistent they are with the fruit of the Spirit, we can also tell when it is the enemy speaking to us by the effects of his words. So, let’s spend this week looking at one major thing that the devil loves to produce in us through his words.

Now in our list of things that the devil uses when he speaks to us, we see how the devil likes to do various things like push & pressure us, discourage & depress us, trouble & confuse us, but one passage of Scripture that I believe best encapsulates some of the enemy’s devices is found in First Peter 5:8.

The Stranger’s Most Popular Weapons
First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Now it is important to note that the apostle Peter added “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” right before this verse on spiritual warfare (see verse 7). So why do you reckon he added this statement? It is because when we allow worry and doubt to dominate our minds, we are opening up the door to our adversary to devour us. In other words, not casting our cares upon Him will lead us a little closer to the cage of that roaring lion, making us more susceptible to being devoured.

So, before Peter ever even mentions the devil, he mentions one of the things that can cause us to disqualify ourselves—worry. But that was just an introductory commercial to the verse I want us to look at. Now, let’s look at First Peter 5:8 in detail …

Notice that first, he says, “be sober”: The Greek word for “sober” is nepho and means “to be mentally self-controlled, clear-headed, well-balanced, alert, and stabilized.” In other words, you could say that this word means “to think straight.” And why is being “mentally self-controlled” and “thinking straight” so important in dealing with the devil? It is because (as we’ve learned) the mind is the avenue he speaks to us on. As I briefly mentioned already, if he can get your thought life all out of whack, then he may devour you.

Then Peter says, “be vigilant.” This term means “to be awake, watchful, and standing guard.”
You see, as soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of a battle we need to be alert and watchful. If we were in a physical war and were walking through the enemy’s territory, do you reckon we might be a little sober and alert? Of course, we would! And why? It is because if you’re not watchful and clear-headed you could lose your life. Likewise, this world is the enemy’s camp, and we are his targets to steal, kill and destroy from. Therefore, we need to be fully sober and vigilant because the enemy has his wicked snipers targeting us at all times, waiting for an open shot. So, we must have this militant mentality at all times!

Then, after our “to do” list is mentioned, Peter tells us why we need to be so mentally prepared by saying, “for your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” So, in this passage of Scripture, we have two of the primary weapons that he uses against us.

The Prosecuting Attorney
First, notice that he is called our “adversary.” In this word lies a key to understanding one of his weapons that he loves to use against us. The word “adversary” is the Greek word antidikos and literally describes “an opponent in a court of justice.” In other words, the devil is “the prosecuting attorney.” This word antidikos comes from the word anti meaning “against” and the word dikos where the word “righteousness” is derived from. Therefore, this title of “adversary” describes Satan as being the one who is “against righteousness.”

Now we see in the Book of Job (Job 1:6-12) that Satan comes to present himself before God regularly to bring accusations against us because he is the accuser of the brethren. But we also need to understand that not only does he accuse us before God, day and night, but he also will accuse us directly both day and night. In other words, one of his primary devices that he uses against us is condemnation!

Yes, the devil is constantly trying to make us feel guilty and worthy of punishment. The word “condemn” in the dictionary is defined as “to deem unfit for use” in reference to a building being condemned. And this is what the enemy desires to accomplish—to convince us that we are unfit to be used by God.

But the reality is that we have an advocate (i.e., a defense attorney) with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous (First John 2:1) and if He be for us who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) In other words, if He, being the greatest defense attorney ever, is on our side then who can successfully win a case against us!?! Romans 8:32 implies that if God gave His only begotten Son for us then how could we believe that He wouldn’t forgive us of individual sins after we have been saved. If God was merciful to us when we were His enemies, how much more will He show us mercy now that we are His children? (Romans 5:9-10) Romans 8:33 asks the question— “Who shall bring a charge (or, accusation) against God’s elect (i.e., favorite, picked out, the one God voted for)?” He answers his own question by saying, “It is God who justifies!” In other words, “It isn’t God! He’s the One busy making people right before Him!”

You see, God is the One who declares people innocent and righteous! Then, in Romans 8:34 Paul asks another question— “Who is he who condemns?” And again, He answers his own question by saying, “It is Christ who died…” That simply means that Christ took all of our condemnation and died in our place! Praise God! But, thank God, He didn’t stay in the tomb! Paul went on to explain— “…and furthermore is also risen.” Romans 4:25 says that He was raised for our justification. You see, it would not have been good enough for Jesus to just die for our sins. He also needed to be raised so that we could be justified with Him. So, Paul told us that He was not only raised from the dead, but He was also raised to the right hand of God, which is the ultimate place of power and authority.

I think the next phrase is so awesome! Not only did Jesus die for us, not only was He raised from the dead for us, and not only was He raised up to the right hand of God for us. On top of all that, “who also makes intercession for us!” You see, Jesus is not the one bringing accusations and condemning us! He is the one standing between us and the Father, defending us as our Advocate and Intercessor! The devil is the condemner! He is the prosecuting attorney! 

You see, church, Jesus says to all of us what He said to the women caught in adultery— “Where are those accusers of yours?... Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:10-11). So, if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), then He is saying that to all of us today— “Neither do I condemn you!” Yes, the only time He will ever cast judgment on anyone is on that Great Judgment Day, but until then, He says “Neither do I condemn you” yesterday, today and forever. Amen!

What the Devil Walks About Like
Now let’s move on to another very popular weapon that the enemy uses when he speaks to us. It is also referred to in First Peter 5:8 where the apostle Peter goes on to say how our adversary (i.e., prosecuting attorney) “walks about like a roaring lion …”

First of all, notice how Peter did not specifically say the devil is a roaring lion, but that he is like a roaring lion.

You see, this means that he is only likened to a roaring lion, and not actually a big, bad roaring lion himself. In other words, he just carries some of the same characteristics of a roaring lion, but is not to be viewed as something to be feared and terrifying. Why? Because our Lord has already disarmed, dethroned, and defeated him (see Colossians 2:15 & Hebrews 2:14). Yes, there is only one king of the jungle and that ain’t satan! Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and he alone is LORD.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the devil operates a lot like a lion does. So, let’s delve into how the devil walks about like a roaring lion and what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate to us by describing him this way …  

Notice how he’s described as “walking about.” This reminds me of how the devil is described as walking to and fro (i.e., back and forth) on the earth (See Job 1:7). The imagery we get from this is how a lion paces back and forth in his cage at the zoo when he would love to be outside of that cage “devouring” all those spectators. This is what the devil does with those created in God’s likeness & image – specifically the children of God who are negatively impacting his kingdom. And when he finds them, he seeks every opportunity to pounce on and devour them.

But the good news is – He can’t! No, he is seeking those he may devour, and that is those who make themselves “devourable.” Let me explain …

Like a Roaring Lion
You see, it is very significant that Peter likens satan to “a roaring lion” here because the roar of a lion is one of a lion’s hunting tools & tactics. Yes, this description of him as a “roaring lion” describes one of his hunting techniques:

You see, one of the hunting techniques of a lion is that when it is seeking its prey, it will roar with its incredibly loud roar—a roar that is so loud that it is said that one can hear it up to five miles away. Now it does this for a couple of reasons:

Number one, it is to scatter the pack …
You see, a lot of the animals that a lion likes to hunt travel in packs, and they do this because it’s in their nature to know that if they can stick together, the larger, more dangerous animals won’t be as inclined to go after them. So, the lion’s roar is used to scatter the pack, which makes that one lone “sheep” easy pickings for him.

Church, this is one of the things that you can expect to hear from the stranger—words that promote disunity and separation amongst the body of Christ. Anytime there is a thought that enters our mind that is “leading” us away from unity, love, and faithfulness, that’s a red flag. These thoughts often manifest themselves in things like us getting in strife with one another, leaving a local body of believers, and isolating ourselves.

Please know that this is one of the devices of the devil – that roaring lion – to disjoin the body of Christ and separate us from one another both in our physical presence and in our hearts.  
Number two, the lion’s roar is used to paralyze its prey. Yes, the other result of that lion’s roar is that it can essentially paralyze its prey with fear and make it an easy target to devour.
You see, because a lion’s roar is so loud and deep, it is extremely intimidating to the other animals, and it can cause them to freeze right where they are at. So not only does his roar “scatter the pack,” it can cause some of the herd to freeze in their tracks.

Church, all of this describes another weapon that our enemy likes to use on us—FEAR! Yes, the fear that keeps us from moving forward, the fear of connecting with other people, the fear of obeying God, etc. etc. etc. Yes, if he, through his intimidating and paralyzing words can get us into any of these various forms of fear, then the result will be us allowing that fear to paralyze us. The result of this will be for us to basically just stop following the Shepherd’s words, to where we are just opening up the opportunity for the devil to pounce on us and devour us. It can also cause us to allow that fear to separate us from the rest of Christ’s body and other healthy relationships we have in our lives.

The Giant of Fear
One of the best examples we have in Scripture of this is found in the account of David and Goliath in First Samuel 17.

In this story, we are told that Goliath came to present himself before the armies of Israel for 40 days and verbally taunted them twice a day. So not only was Goliath’s appearance intimidating, but his words made Israel “dismayed and greatly afraid” (vs.11). Then David came on the scene and there were several things that he did in this event that we can do as well to counter that giant called “fear.”

The first thing he did was realize that Goliath was not just defying the army of Israel, but he was defying the armies of the living God. David realized Israel had a covenant with God and that meant that God was bound to give them the victory over these Philistines. You see, in a covenant, when one of the parties went into battle the other fought with them. Therefore, David knew that because of Israel’s covenant with God, that this “uncircumcised Philistine” (i.e., this Gentile who did not have a covenant with God) was no match for him.

Church, it doesn’t matter what it looks like in the natural if you have a covenant with the Lord of hosts. Then those words that Elijah told his servant in 2 Kings 6:16 are true for us— “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them!”

The second thing David did was recall to his memory his past victories. He recounted how he was used by God to kill a lion and a bear who, in the natural, seemed to be impossible victories. So, remember: recalling our past victories will spark faith in us for the current giant in our life. We need to build memorials in our lives that call to remembrance all the things God has brought us through.

So, after David got the Ok from his authority to face Goliath, he went down to the brook and gathered five smooth stones and then drew near to the Philistine.

Then we are told that Goliath looked at David and “disdained him.” This resulted in him beginning to roar like a lion, trying to put fear in David’s heart. And Goliath said something that the enemy still says today— “Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field” (vs.44) In other words, “Come on! Try and take me on! Try and believe for your healing! Try and take this city for Jesus! Try it and I’ll take your family, friends, health, etc. away from you and leave you with nothing!”

So, what was the enemy trying to do to David? He was trying to put a picture in David’s head of what would happen to him if he confronted this giant. This illustrates to us how the enemy will try and use our imagination against us. If he can get us to ponder those pictures of defeat in our minds, then our faith will grow weaker.

You see, it has been well-said that the word F.E.A.R stands for “false expectations appearing real.” And the way that these false expectations appear real is in our mind and our imagination. On the other hand, if God can get us to ponder images of victory in our minds, then we will grow in faith and, therefore, will receive what God has for us. You see, we have to see it in here (i.e., in our heart and mind) in order to see it out here (i.e., in the natural)!

So, what did David do when Goliath was trying to paint that picture of defeat in him? Did he just stand back and do nothing? No, David verbally responded to those fear-filled images by creating faith-filled images in himself! We are told that he saw Goliath dead in this valley with birds and wild beasts eating his carcass.

Saints, it would do us good to sometimes just close our eyes and imagine ourselves going to the mailbox and opening up that envelope with an anonymous check in it. It would do us good to picture our kids, hands raised, worshipping the Lord. When we start seeing it through the eyes of faith then we will start seeing it with the eyes of our head! And we see that as David got this positive imagery in his head and spoke it out of his mouth, he also began to speak many concrete, faith-filled words. In verse 46 alone he used the word “will” three times- “the Lord will deliver you into my hand,” “I will strike you and take your head from you,” “I will give your carcass…” David had tremendous confidence and boldly confessed what would happen before he ever saw it happen. Likewise, we must also learn to do these things David did as we face the giants in our lives that try and paralyze us through fear.

But if you are going to take anything away from this story of David vs. Goliath, know this: The best way to counter fear-filled thoughts is to speak faith-filled words! Why do I say this? It is because before David ever tried to take on Goliath, he first spoke faith-filled words. I just love a quote I heard from Mark Hankins! He said, “Never run at your giant with your mouth shut!”—to which I give a hearty ‘Amen!”           
      
Bold Like Lions
Now there is another passage of Scripture that uses this exact same terminology that we see in First Peter 5:8, and it is found in Proverbs 28:15. In this verse, Solomon says, “Like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people.”

Now we know how this biblical principle works, don’t we? If we get the wrong person in a position of authority, whether that be in the government or in the church, it can be dangerous “like a roaring lion” and a charging bear.

But do you know what else is dangerous? It is when we allow the devil to rule over us like the tyrant he is. And this occurs when we see ourselves as poor & powerless. Yes, it is the helpless that allows the ruler of the darkness of this world to be dangerous like a roaring lion and a charging bear.

But we are not helpless, saints, and (again) he is not the king of the jungle either. We need to understand that the enemy cannot just come into our life and devour everything he wants to. We have authority over him, and we can be confident in this.  

You see, regarding this confidence & boldness, Proverbs 28:1 says that the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Isn’t that interesting that the wicked person is said to flee when no one is pursuing them?

Church, we need to understand that we are not wicked anymore. If we are a born again, child of God, our nature has been changed and we are not sinners any longer. Sure, we can still sin after we have been saved, and likely we will. But that does not change our nature.

But think on this: How many of you believe that before you became a follower of Christ that there was no amount of good deeds/works that you could have done to be made righteous? We all believe that, right? Why? It is because we are born a sinner and our works cannot change our nature. So how can we believe that after we are born again and made the righteousness of God in Christ that there is any amount of bad deeds/works that we can do to be made a sinner? No, when you were born again, your nature changed from being a sinner to being righteous in Christ. Therefore, there is nothing you can do to be considered wicked now that you are born again, just like there was nothing you could do to be considered righteous when you were born the first time. It is simply a result of the nature you are born with. Your “do” does not affect your “who.” No, you have been made righteous in Christ! That means that you have been made fit to be used by God. You do not make yourself usable; you were made usable by Jesus! Therefore, when you pray for someone in the name of Jesus, you should see it, not as you praying for them, but as it is in truth, Jesus praying for them!

Friends, as a general rule, we are too self-conscious in the church. We look at ourselves far more than we ought to. The truth is that we are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God (see Colossians 3:3). The truth is that, as the body of Christ, it is no longer we who live, but Christ living through us (Galatians 2:20). For to live is Christ (see Philippians 1:21)! So, we need to quit seeing ourselves praying for people because in essence it is Christ praying for people! We are operating in His place (i.e., in His name). So, forget getting “self-esteem”! That is a worldly philosophy! The Christian philosophy is that we should be striving to get more “Christ-esteem.”

But notice it is the wicked who flees when no one pursues. And this is exactly what sin consciousness will do in our lives: When we see ourselves as “wicked”—that is, when we are conscious of all of our faults, weaknesses, mistakes and shortcomings—we will flee when no pursues. That means that we will run from God when He is not out to get us. This happened in the Garden after the first sin of man, and it is still happening today when God’s children sin. We sin, and instead of running to God (like we should), we run from Him thinking He is pursuing us to punish us. But the truth is that God is pursuing you when you sin, but not to punish you; He is pursuing you to restore, redeem, and reconcile you!

So, the wicked—or, the one who thinks he or she is wicked—will flee when no one pursues. This describes far too many Christians. They are running from the righteousness of God because they have an incorrect view of God and of themselves. But, again, God is not pursuing to punish; He is pursuing to pour out His protection and provision. They are even running from the devil because they have an incorrect view of him and also because they have an incorrect view of themselves. But we are not to be fleeing from him; he is supposed to be fleeing from us!

Do you see the perverted thinking much of the church has adopted? We think we are being pursued! We think God is out to get us and we think the devil is going to get us. Both of these beliefs are so far from the truth! God is for us, so who can be against us! This is what we should be believing!

But notice the second half of this verse … “But the righteous are bold as a lion.”

This is the truth we need to displace that lie with! The devil is said to walk about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, yet we see him as the big, bad lion. But we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and we need to see ourselves as that big, bad lion! Why? Because we are in the Lion of Judah! We are the ones who are hid in the King of the Jungle! Therefore, we should be the bold, confident ones! We should be the ones that are walking about boldly like lions, seeking which works of darkness that we can devour—not the reverse! Hallelujah!

Friends, understanding our righteous position in Christ will produce boldness and confidence! Having our state of justification revealed to us will produce the full assurance of faith in our hearts! Hallelujah! We are to be playing the part of the lion; not the devil! We are to be the ones on the hunt; not him! We are the ones with the authority! We are the ones with the position! We are the ones with the name above all names! We ARE the righteousness of God in Christ!

So, stop fleeing like the wicked and start pursuing like the righteous! Be bold and be confident! Know that his works have no legal grounds and that you have the authority to cast out the works of darkness by the power of the blood and His anointing! You are the one to be feared, not satan!  

Conclusion
So, these are just a couple of the ways the stranger –the devil – speaks to us. Of course, there are many other things he speaks to us to try and sabotage our lives. But these are just a couple of things that I consider his “heavy artillery.”
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Church, these truths are so important to understand. Once we start recognizing his devices, we can truly bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. This will most certainly lead us into a life of victory. Amen and amen.

​Review
So last month, we began a new series on discerning between the voice of the Shepherd and the voice of the stranger. And church, this is such an important message for us to learn because I’ve seen far too many Christians led by the wrong voice when if they would have simply followed a simple criteria given to us in the Word, they would have known that the enemy was attempting to lead them astray.

Yes, we have learned in Jesus’ parable in John chapter 10 that the Lord’s sheep are promised that they can both hear & know the voice of the Good Shepherd and also recognize the voice of the stranger. Therefore, Jesus spoke very definitively that we can and should know the difference between God’s voice and the voice of the enemy.

So, we started out talking about the primary ways both the Lord and the devil speak to us. And we learned that the most common way they both speak to us is internally and not externally. No, the main & regular way we will hear their voices is on the inside of us, in very subtle ways.

As for the Lord, we saw how He mainly speaks to us in our spirit and by His Spirit. Therefore, learning to hear the voice of the Shepherd is not going to come from looking out here somewhere, but by looking in our heart where the Holy Spirit resides—for the Lord primarily communicates to us spirit to spirit.

On the other hand, while the stranger is also mainly speaking to us on the inside, he is not communicating with us in our spirit. No, he speaks to us in our minds—constantly bombarding us with thoughts that seek to steal, kill, and destroy us.

However, like I made the point of last week, it’s not always so easy to be able to discern between what we hear in our spirit and what we hear in our minds. I believe we can all grow to where can tell the difference, but what I have found is that one of the easiest ways to be able to tell what comes from God and what comes from the enemy is by the nature of the things we hear.

You see, the Lord was good enough to clearly show us in His Word what both His voice and the voice of the enemy tend towards. Yes, He gave us example after example in the Scriptures that show us what their nature is and, therefore, how they both speak to us and what the effects of their words will be.  

So, we began in the Beginning – in the Book of Genesis where the enemy showed up on the scene – and looked at the initial way that he attempted to deceive Adam & Eve. I believe this one example gives us great insight into how the stranger attempts to lead us out of the fold and on to the path that leads to destruction.  

But the first thing we did was we looked at what the Lord said to Adam before the serpent ever opened his mouth:

So, what did God say in Genesis 2:15-17? What were the words of the Good Shepherd? If you were to ask most people what the Lord told Adam in this passage, most would only recognize how the Lord was commanding Adam to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And while that was certainly part of what He commanded, that was not the only thing. In fact, it wasn’t even the first thing He commanded. No, the Lord actually “commanded” him first to freely eat from every tree of the garden.

Church, this is much more significant than most realize because it teaches us how the Lord was not just being a “Law-giver” but had actually first given Adam an invitation to “freely” eat from any other tree of the Garden.

So, the Lord essentially gave Adam “freedom” before He gave him a “law.” And did you know that is how God always is? Most see Him as the Law and as this Being who basically just wants us to follow His rules, but that’s not His heart. Sure, He has rules, but they are given out of love—because He wants His best for us and following His ways is the way of blessing.

But in a perfect world, the Lord freely gives us all trees to eat. That, my friends, is abundant prosperity. It is the Land of Blessing! God’s will is always to give us heaven! Amen! And the fact is, just as the Lord offered “freedom” first, we need to be listening for His voice that tells us what we can have & can do.  

So, if we are hearing from the Shepherd correctly, what are we going to hear? A bunch of don’t do this or don’t do that? No, you will first hear do this and do that? In other words, the Lord primarily likes to speak to us all the things we can have and can do before giving us the things that are off limits.

We looked at how easy it is for us to misinterpret the things God is saying to us by looking at His Parable of the Prodigal Son.  

You see, when you consider the context of this parable, you’ll learn that Jesus was not just trying to teach about this younger, wasteful son, but He was actually trying to correct the ones that the elder son in this parable represented. Yes, it was the religious that Jesus was admonishing and so this parable was aimed more at teaching the error of the elder son than the error of the younger son.

You see, this parable begins by Jesus saying that “a certain man had two sons” (Luke 15:11). Then in verse 12 we are told – “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.” Notice that! The father divided not just to him but to “them” his livelihood. Have you ever seen that?

So that means that at this point the father went ahead and divided to both of his sons their inheritance. Now we will go on to see later in this parable how the elder son got upset because of all the things his father did for his good for nothing younger brother. And how did the father respond to him? He reminded his son that he was always with him and all that He had was his. In fact, there are no indications in the story that the elder son knew this. Perhaps he was unaware that the father had divided to both of them his livelihood. And I believe that’s exactly what happened because that is what religion tends to do—miss all that the Lord has freely given and base its relationship with Him on all that it does for Him.

Church, these truths of this parable illustrate to us how easy it is for us to miss what the Lord is saying to us. Yes, as the Lord Jesus said, God’s Word can be made of non-effect through our traditions. Likewise, what God is saying to us can fall on deaf ears through a wrong belief system and the traditions we might have erroneously adopted.  

And I believe the same thing happened to Adam & Eve: I believe they lost sight of every tree that the Lord had freely given to him in the Garden and got “tunnel vision” on the one tree that God forbade. Which is exactly what the enemy will attempt to do to us. 

But then we saw how the Lord also made sure to tell Adam that there was one tree that was forbidden. So, one thing we have to make sure we have ears to hear are those words of the Shepherd that do indeed tell us what is not for us.

But like we saw, even in those things where the Lord tells us don’t do this or don’t do that, He speaks these things in such a gentle & gracious way. In other words, God’s heart is not to speak to us in that old Cecil B. DeMille “Ten Commandments” tone that booms from heaven saying, “Thou Shalt Not …!” No, His words are always with grace, seasoned with salt like we are commanded to speak to others in Colossians 4:6.

I asked the question – Do you think the Lord is going to tell us to talk to one another like that if He Himself isn’t willing to do so? No, even God’s commandments are spoken “with grace” and are “seasoned with salt.”  

Do you know why this is so important to understand? It’s because the stranger loves to masquerade as an angel of light. So, he will try and deceive us into thinking God is speaking to us by speaking words to us that don’t add to us and come across in a fashion that doesn’t taste right. So just know that if the words we are hearing are not “with grace” and haven’t been “seasoned with salt,” then they likely are not from our Good Shepherd.   

But we saw that after God had given them these commands, the first words we see out of satan’s mouth in the Scriptures was “Has God indeed said.” Another way of translating that is— Did God really say …?”

So, if I start having thoughts that contradict something that I know God has said like “I wonder if that’s really true” or “Is this really what this verse means?”

So, the first thing we saw come out of the devil’s mouth in the Bible is him questioning what God says. And that is what we can expect in our lives as well – steady doses of him trying to get us to question what God has said.

So be on the lookout for the reasoning that comes after God has already spoken to us. God’s truth is usually pretty simple. But the devil likes to complicate it.

And notice how he complicated it here with Eve: After saying, “Has God indeed said” he adds— “… You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

So, what we saw that he was doing was getting her to look more at the fact God didn’t allow them to eat of all the trees of the Garden, but had made the one off limits. In other words, he got her focused on how the Lord was supposedly withholding something from them rather than how He had allowed them to freely eat of every other tree. 

That’s a scheme of the enemy – to get us questioning God’s intentions instead of believing that He has our best interest in mind. This is why He winds up telling her that God knows that they would become like Him, knowing good & evil. So, he wanted her to believe that God was withholding something from them – trying to keep them from something.

So, we spent last week essentially looking at the first things God & the devil spoke to mankind, understanding that whatever we see first mentioned in the Scriptures is something we will see regularly repeated in the world today.

Two Witnesses
But again, the issue seems to be a confidence of whether what we are hearing in our hearts is the Lord, the enemy, or just our own selves. And the reason for this lack of confidence is because our hearts can so easily deceive us into thinking what we are hearing is the Lord when it was just us or it was us when it was really the enemy.

Did you know that even the great apostle Paul didn’t totally trust the things he “thought”? 
Notice in Romans 9:1 where he said, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit …”

So how was Paul so certain that what he was saying was the truth in Christ and he was not lying? Most would think a person would just automatically know that because, wouldn’t one know if what they were saying was true or not? Not necessarily. The Bible teaches us in other places that a person can “deceive themselves” in thinking they are spiritual when they are not. So evidently, we can think something is true and be completely deceived.

So how did Paul prove to himself that what he was saying was the truth? Because his conscience also was bearing him witness in the Holy Spirit. In other words, his conscience was confirming that this was not a lie by the Holy Spirit bearing witness that it was true.

Here, the same Greek word is being used to translate the three words “also bearing…witness” as in Romans 8:16 and it is obvious that Paul is saying that his conscience was bearing witness along with the Holy Spirit. So evidently, we have a co-witness on the inside of us that will testify concerning what the Lord is saying to us—our own spirit & the Holy Spirit. This is how we can know what is true and what is a lie.

Now we made the point of a couple of weeks ago, First John 2:20, says, “we know all things.” So, what part of us is it that knows all things? Our spirit! You see, our spirit is eternal and, therefore, has characteristics that supersede things here in the natural. Therefore, our spirit man knows everything. So, when it bears witness to something, it knows what is true and what is a lie.

But then we have the Holy Spirit living in us as well to also bear witness to things, and we know he knows everything as the omniscience of God Himself. 

So, with these two things bearing witness with us, how could we ever be led astray? Saints, this is a fail proof method for hearing from God because if you have two witnesses that know all things speaking up on the inside of you, you have a certain conviction. Doesn’t the Bible say that in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established? And doesn’t it also say to not receive an accusation against an elder without two or three witnesses? The Bible is obviously big on having multiple witnesses. So why would hearing from God be any different? Yes, both our born again recreated spirit that is full of the life of God and the mighty Holy Spirit Himself living in our hearts know everything and will keep us from following a lie.  

But here is my point: If your spirit is also bearing witness along with the Holy Spirit, then how do you identify the witness of your own spirit? In other words, how can you tell when it is your spirit or when it is your soul and your flesh?

Well, I believe there are some very clear and distinct ways of being able to tell where what we are hearing is coming from. Yes, the Lord showed me the most practical way to identify the witness of both our spirit and the Holy Spirit. And, saints, this will keep you out of a bunch of error, so listen well …

I have found that the best way for us to identify the witness of our own spirit is by the fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because the fruit of the Spirit is the “produce” of your recreated spirit because it is the spiritual makeup of this hidden man of the heart. As the Lord said to me before, the fruit of the Spirit are the muscles of your spirit.

So, what I want us to look at this week are these fruit that are listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and how they help us in identifying the witness of the Holy Spirit and our own spirit. So, let’s turn over there and look at this list …

Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

So, these are the fruit of both the Holy Spirit and our newly recreated spirit. Therefore, when any of these nine fruits are coming up in our hearts, we can trust that this is direction from the Lord because God is not going to lead you contrary to any of these. Likewise, if anything contrary to these nine fruits of the Spirit are dominating our heart, then we can be certain that this is not direction from the Lord.

So, at what point in any of our lives is the Holy Spirit going to speak to us, or is our own spirit going to lead us in anything outside of these nine fruit of the Spirit? The answer is simple – NEVER! Yes, the Lord will always speak to us things that will provoke and lead us into love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Love
Now the first fruit that we see listed here is a big one, in that it is God Himself. LOVE! Yes, everything I hear from God will be laced with love, right? Yes, if this is His core nature, then everything He communicates to me will tend towards love and will certainly not be contrary to that.

You see, in First John 4:19 we are told that “God is love.” This little powerful phrase holds such a wonderful revelation! God does not just have love; God is love! He is the embodiment of agape—unconditional and unfailing love! If you’ve seen pure love, you’ve seen God clearly! If you’ve experienced unconditional love, you’ve experienced a piece of God! Now here is my point: If you’ve felt love, you’ve felt God!

You see, the problem that many Christians face is that when a thought or idea comes into their heart, they do not feel like they know if it is God. In other words, they have a thought to go pray for someone, but they do not know if it is God leading them to do that or if it was just them thinking this up on their own.

Well, let me give you one major indicator if it’s God or not: If its love; It’s God! If it is not pure, genuine love then you better think twice about it. You see, since God is love, then it stands that when we have compassion just well up in our hearts for someone or for something that it is God “moving us with compassion.” And you can bet that if we follow that compassion that there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the other side of obedience!  

We see that Jesus was compelled by love, only saying what He heard His Father saying and only doing what He saw His Father doing. Yes, Jesus was moved with compassion. He followed after love (First Corinthians 14:1).

To me, this love of God is one of the most common fruits that the Lord uses to help us identify the inward witness within us, and the reason I believe this is because this is the predominant way that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was led to do things.  

Actually, we have at least five specific miracles that Jesus performed as a direct result of being moved with compassion (the feeding of the four thousand, the feeding of the five thousand, the two blind men, the leper, and the widow’s son being raised from the dead) …

So, these three words— “moved with compassion”- are one of the most important lessons we can learn from the life of Jesus! Why? Because whenever He was moved with this compassion (i.e., deep love) the gifts of the Spirit followed, and He did great things. So, another way of saying this is that Jesus was “led by love.”

On the contrary, the devil will not compel us towards love. In fact, the stranger will do everything he can to lead us away from the love of God. Yes, he will lead us away from the fold and away from our Shepherd. He will do this by filling our minds with unlovely thoughts towards others and if he is not successful in getting us to become hateful, angry, and bitter towards the brethren, he will simply distract us from actually loving others.

Did you know that one name given to satan in the Scriptures is the accuser of the brethren? Yes, in Revelation 12:10 tells us, “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’ ”

So, this reveals to us that the devil’s core nature is to accuse the brethren before God day and night. In other words, this is not an occasional thing, but what the devil is constantly doing, accusing God’s people day and night.  

So, if this is what he is constantly doing before God, don’t you think this will be something we will also get a steady dose of in our minds? You can bet on it!

No, God is not in the accusing business; He’s in the excusing business! So, if I am hearing from God, I will be led into love and certainly will not be led to accuse the brethren. Someone will say— But don’t we all do stupid, wrong things? Sure we do! But love covers a multitude of sins! It doesn’t seek to expose them! No, Love will always lead us to look at the best in others and not nitpick all their flaws and faults. Amen? 

Joy
Now let’s look at the next fruit of the Spirit and see another fruit of God speaking to/leading us—joy!

Yes, when joy manifests in your heart at the prospect of doing something, that’s the Lord! When you just sense the joy of the Lord on the inside of you when you hear something, that’s the Lord! Have you ever had that happen to you?

Do you remember the instance where when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice and the baby she was carrying (i.e., John the Baptist) began leaping in her? It says in Luke 1:44 (This is Elizabeth talking)-- “For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”

Now I understand that the baby (i.e., John the Baptist) was who leaped within her womb, but this is a good illustration of how the Lord confirms things with us…

You see, what happened here was Mary went to visit Elizabeth and right when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. But in verse 44, Elizabeth said that as soon as she heard this greeting, something happened on the inside of her. Her baby leaped within her for joy. And this is exactly what happens with us sometimes when the inward witness is manifested within us. Our new man will start doing back-flips on the inside of us. Our spirit will start jumping, leaping, and praising God. Amen!

You see, this event with Elizabeth was the Holy Spirit witnessing with her that Mary was carrying the Messiah. There were no indications that Mary had told her anything. She just had a witness within her when she heard Mary’s voice. Amen! And that is what He will do for us who are already filled with the Holy Spirit! There will be an excitement that wells over within us when the Spirit is bearing witness with our spirit. Glory to God! And we can trust that joy within us to be the fruit of the inward witness!

Saints, this is certainly a good way to distinguish between truth and error… Is there an inner excitement within us regarding what we are hearing? Friends, if you leave a church meeting, Bible study or any other thing, not feeling excited and joyful in your heart, then there is a good chance that the Holy Spirit and your spirit are not bearing witness to the message you heard. Therefore, God wasn’t in it.    

Peace
And we can easily see how the third fruit of the Spirit is a wonderful way of identifying the leading of the Lord …

You see, the fruit of peace is considered to be one of the primary ways that believers can know when the Lord is directing us into something. We use terminology like “I had a peace to do it” or “I didn’t have any peace about that.” That’s because we learn that this fruit of peace is usually a good barometer of if the Lord is in it.

We see this in Colossians 3:15 where the apostle Paul exhorted us to let the peace of God rule in our hearts: This verse begins by saying, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts…”

Listen to what it says in the Amplified Bible— “And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as an umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state]…”

Notice, first of all, how the Amplified Bible translates peace as “soul harmony”… This answers the question of how do we detect the peace of God in our hearts. It’s like a harmony in our soul. There might be a lot of noise on the inside of us. There might be a lot of clanging cymbals and off-key notes in our souls, but look for the harmony.

The word “harmony” is defined as “the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions having a pleasing effect.” So, this goes back to what I said earlier – The peace of God within us is the fruit of our spirit harmonizing together with His Spirit, creating a co-witness that is manifested in peace. Let me say it again this way… When the Holy Spirit is bearing witness along with our spirit- the fruit of both of those witnesses within us is peace.

Therefore, you can trust the peace of God within you to, what? “Rule in your hearts”
As evidenced by the Amplified Bible’s translation, the word “rule” that Paul used here literally describes a referee or umpire that is officiating something. Paul was saying that we are to let the fruit of peace be the umpire of our hearts, which means that it should call the shots in all of the decisions of our life. In other words, if there is not any peace in a decision we are going to make, then the Holy Spirit is not in it nor is our spirit in it.

Someone might ask, “What does peace feel like?” Again, it is like a harmony in your heart. I would say it makes you feel “clear” and “at ease” on the inside. When you are in peace about something, you will know it! You will just feel at ease about the decision. There will be an absence of confusion and frustration and you will just be at peace about it.

Yes, saints, peace is the umpire of our heart, telling us if we are "safe" to follow what we are hearing in our heart or if we are "out" of the will of God.

So, if you are experiencing a war or conflict inside of yourself, then it is not the time to make a decision. Confusion and frustration are the exact opposite of God’s peace. And the enemy reigns in confusion & frustration. That’s why when that is the fruit we are feeling, we don’t need to make any major decisions.

The Rest of the Fruit
We really only have time to spend talking in depth about these big three—love, joy, and peace—but the Holy Spirit will certainly speak to and lead us through these others as well.
For example, if you and I are feeling impatient and are getting antsy, that’s usually not the Lord. Why? Because the next fruit of the Spirit is longsuffering (or patience depending on what translation you use). So, the Holy Spirit is certainly not going to lead you and I through impatience. Do you see that?

So I would counsel you that if you are ever making a decision and if it is in all honesty based on you being impatient with a particular situation or not long-suffering with a particular person, you should really reconsider if that’s the Lord. Why? Because God is not impatient, and the fruit of the Spirit is long-suffering. So, He will not lead you through impatience.

The next two fruits of the Spirit are goodness & kindness, so when thoughts of kindness or goodness come up in your heart to bless someone or do something for them, those can generally be trusted to be the Lord. The only exception would be how our heart could have a tendency to go this way because of the filter that we’ve developed. Therefore, it is sympathy and empathy operating, but not pure compassion from the Lord. This is when we need to pray like Paul did for the Philippians when he prayed that their love would abound still more and more in all knowledge and discernment. For what purpose? That they would be able to recognize what is best. You see, you can find plenty of things to love, but there are only so many things that you individually can pour into. This is when you need to be led by the Holy Spirit.

But, yes, the majority of the time when a thought or idea comes up in your heart to show someone kindness and do good to someone, that’s the Lord! You don’t have to over-spiritualize it and overthink it. As Nike says, “Just do it!” Even if it’s just you, what’s the worst that could happen? Just pray for the Lord to help you have His knowledge and discernment in your love towards others. He will take care of you!

You know what else He is not going to lead you through? Faithlessness. Why? Because one of the fruits of the Spirit is faithfulness.

How many people join something, begin something, etc. saying, “The Lord told me to do such and such” and then a month, two months, three months later say, “Well, the Lord is telling me to stop, leave, etc.”???  People do this all the time and I want to say, “Did God change His mind?”

You know, a lot of people claim to be led by the Lord when they quit something. People quit on their marriage, claiming that the Lord gave them the okay to leave their spouse. People quit their jobs feeling like their season there is done due to circumstances, etc.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are times where change must come. Certainly, seasons change. But what I am saying is that this is not as frequent as many Christians feel they have experienced. No, a good rule of thumb is, that if God put you somewhere or hooked you up to someone or something, you need to honestly evaluate why you are disconnecting. Why? Because feelings and emotions are very deceptive. The Bible tells us that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things; who can know it?

You see, we can very easily misinterpret what is going on in our heart as to why we are wanting to leave the place, person, or thing that God has joined us to. And we are even more susceptible to being deceived because don’t you know the devil is going to try and separate you from the people and things God has joined you to? He sure is! He is all the time trying to stir up divorce, split churches, etc., etc., etc. because he knows how important unity is in the Body of Christ.

So, therefore, when we are feeling like quitting anything that there is a remote possibility God has joined us to, we should be slow to make a presumptuous decision. Amen?

Now the next to last fruit of the Spirit is translated “gentleness” but is most commonly known as “meekness.” This is humility, one of the most valuable yet underrated fruits of the Spirit.

So, guess what the Lord is not going to speak to me? Things that foster my pride. For example, the Lord is usually not going to speak to me things that feed the pride that’s in my flesh. No, He is not going to always jump on my side when there is contention between myself and another. He will lead me into meekness & humility, showing me how I can lower myself and serve others.

But if what I am hearing is “How this person never speaks to me?” or “How that person never does anything for me? Well, if that is not our own pride talking, it is the voice of the stranger trying to pull the strings of that pride.

But no, the voice of our Good Shepherd will not feed our pride but will always lead us into meekness & humility. This will be Him inspiring us to esteem others better than ourselves and to look out for other’s interests and not just our own.    

Finally, regarding the fruit of self-control, we see how this “inward ruling power” is how the Lord operates as well. No, anytime we blow up and lose control of our emotions—venting all our feelings in outbursts of wrath, etc., that is the flesh, not the spirit. Verses 19-21 reveal that these things are works of the flesh, as opposed to fruit of the Spirit.

No, even when it comes to spiritual things like the Holy Spirit moving upon us, He is not going to take control of us and make us do things we don’t want to do. Now, He will put you on your back sometimes (falling out in the Spirit, not sickness) in an attempt to minister to you, but He will not make you obnoxious. No, the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. Therefore, the Lord is not going to lead us into behaviors, as godly as they might seem, where we are not in control.

Conclusion
So, these nine fruit of the Spirit are the fruits that let us know we have heard God’s voice. We can trust them. They are reliable. And the Lord is never going to lead us in a way contrary to them. In fact, the stranger is the one who will lead us away from love, joy, peace, etc. You can bank on that!

So, when you believe you have heard from God, just ask yourself the question, was that along the lines of love, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, etc. or am I violating any of these fruit by what I am feeling “led” to do.
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The Lord is consistent, saints! He will lead us in the way of these fruits of our righteousness and we can know when it is Him by how those words line up with His fruit. Amen.

Review
So, a few weeks ago, we began a journey towards discerning between the voice of God & the voice of the enemy.

We are basing this series of teachings on Jesus’ parable in John chapter 10 of the Good Shepherd, the stranger, and the Lord’s sheep. In this teaching, Jesus had a lot to say about how the Lord’s sheep both hear & know His voice and how they also will by no means follow the voice of the stranger. Therefore, Jesus spoke very definitively that we can know the difference between God’s voice and the voice of the enemy.

Church, this is something that I believe so many Christians are grossly ignorant of, and because of that, we are seeing the enemy rob us of much of the life that God has promised us. But I wholeheartedly believe that if we can truly learn to differentiate between what God is speaking to us and what the enemy is speaking to us, we will not be deceived and led astray from God’s plan for our lives.  

So, we have started off talking about the primary ways both the Lord and the devil speak to us. And we learned that when it comes to the most common way we hear from them, we don’t need to be looking for the spectacular. No, the main & regular way we will hear their voices is on the inside of us, in very subtle ways.

As for the Lord, we saw how He mainly speaks to us in our spirit and by His Spirit. Therefore, learning to hear the voice of the Shepherd is not going to come from looking out here somewhere, but by looking in our heart where the Holy Spirit resides—for the Lord primarily communicates to us spirit to spirit.

This means that while God certainly can speak to us with an audible voice or through some other spectacular fashion like a prophecy, a dream, etc., He prefers to speak to us in that still small voice and by bearing witness with our spirit. Yes, this will be the most regular way we will hear from God.   

On the other hand, while the stranger is also mainly speaking to us on the inside, he is not communicating with us in our spirit. No, he speaks to us in our minds—constantly bombarding us with thoughts that are aimed at our demise.

You see, like it is with God’s voice, the enemy is not going to present himself to you in red pajamas with a pitchfork, saying, “Hey, I am satan, and here is what I want to say to you …” No! He is a deceiver, so he will offer you ideas and suggestions that will seem like they are just you thinking them. So no, the devil doesn’t predominantly speak to us in an overt & obvious way any more than the Lord does.

And we learned how he sows thought after thought in an attempt to lead us away from those paths of righteousness our Good Shepherd has for us. So, it’s not the physical problems we go through that the devil uses to speak to us; it’s the thoughts that come as a result of the trials & tribulations that communicate his deception. That’s where the battle really is!

So, while the Lord speaks to our spirits, the enemy speaks to our minds. Once we understand these things, we are in position to know where we need to be listening to hear God’s voice and how to be cautious against the thoughts that enter our minds.

However, it’s not always so easy to be able to discern between what we hear in our spirit and what we hear in our minds. I believe we can all grow to where can tell the difference, but what I have found is that one of the easiest ways to be able to tell what comes from God and what comes from the enemy is by the nature of the things we hear.

You see, the Lord was good enough to clearly show us in His Word what both His voice and the voice of the enemy tend towards. Yes, He gave us example after example in the Scriptures that show us what their nature is and, therefore, how they both speak to us and what the effects of their words will be.  

So, starting this week, I want us to begin looking at how to tell when these things we hear on the inside of us are from the stranger and when they are from the Shepherd. We will do so by looking at some obvious characteristics of these things that will help us to easily identify their origin.

So, let’s begin in the Beginning – in the Book of Genesis where the enemy showed up on the scene – and look at the initial way that he attempted to deceive Adam & Eve. I believe this one example gives us great insight into how the stranger attempts to lead us out of the fold and on to the path that leads to destruction.  

Freedom Before Law
But before we look at the temptation described in Genesis chapter 3, the first thing we need to consider is what the Lord did indeed say to Adam before the serpent ever opened his mouth.

Genesis 2:15-17 tells us – “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ ”

So, what did God say? What were the words of the Good Shepherd? If you were to ask most people what the Lord told Adam in this passage, most would only recognize how the Lord was commanding Adam to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And while that was certainly part of what He commanded, that was not the only thing. In fact, it wasn’t even the first thing He commanded. No, the Lord actually “commanded” him first to freely eat from every tree of the garden.

Church, this is much more significant than most realize because it teaches us how the Lord was not just being a “Law-giver” but had actually first given Adam an invitation to “freely” eat from any other tree of the Garden.

So, the Lord essentially gave Adam “freedom” before He gave him a “law.” And did you know that is how God always is? Most see Him as the Law and as this Being who basically just wants us to follow His rules, but that’s not His heart. Sure, He has rules, but they are given out of love—because He wants His best for us and following His ways is the way of blessing.

But in a perfect world, the Lord freely gives us all trees to eat. That, my friends, is abundant prosperity. It is the Land of Blessing! God’s will is always to give us heaven! Amen! And the fact is, just as the Lord offered “freedom” first, we need to be listening for His voice that tells us what we can have & can do.  

So, if we are hearing from the Shepherd correctly, what are going to hear? A bunch of don’t do this or don’t do that? No, you will first hear do this and do that? In other words, the Lord primarily likes to speak to us all the things we can have and can do before giving us the things that are off limits.

This is why the apostle Paul told us in Second Corinthians 3:17 that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. It’s because when the Holy Spirit is involved in it, freedom is what will accompany it. So, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, what will His words tend towards? You guessed it – freedom!

Yes, the Lord tends to invite us to freely eat all the trees He planted in our garden. He says to us— “Come freely eat of My peace. Freely partake of the joy of the Lord. Yes, delight yourself in the abundance of every tree I’ve placed in your garden.”

Yes, what we saw the Lord saying in Isaiah 55:1-2 is what He says to us today— “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.”

Church, this is one of the most missed things that the Lord says to us—a grand invitation to delight ourselves in the abundance of trees planted in our gardens! And to do so “freely” because in His grace, He has provided them free of charge.

A great example of not having ears to hear what the Lord has freely given us is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In fact, just the title of this story shows how easily we can miss what the Lord is trying to say to us—for this Parable is not just about the younger, prodigal son; it is actually the story of two sons.

You see, when you consider the context of this parable, you’ll learn that Jesus was not just trying to teach about this younger, wasteful son, but He was actually trying to correct the ones that the elder son in this parable represented. Yes, it was the religious that Jesus was admonishing and so this parable was aimed more at teaching the error of the elder son than the error of the younger son.

But what have we heard concerning this story? We’ve heard far more about the prodigal than about the second half of the parable, haven’t we? But again, that was not the main point the Lord was attempting to communicate.

You see, this parable begins by Jesus saying that “a certain man had two sons” (Luke 15:11). Then in verse 12 we are told – “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.” Notice that! The father divided not just to him but to “them” his livelihood. Have you ever seen that?

So that means that at this point the father went ahead and divided to both of his sons their inheritance. Now we will go on to see later in this parable how the elder son got upset because of all the things his father did for his good for nothing younger brother. And how did the father respond to him? He reminded his son that he was always with him and all that He had was his. In fact, there are no indications in the story that the elder son knew this. Perhaps he was unaware that the father had divided to both of them his livelihood. And I believe that’s exactly what happened because that is what religion tends to do—miss all that the Lord has freely given and base its relationship with Him on all that it does for Him.

Church, these truths of this parable illustrate to us how easy it is for us to miss what the Lord is saying to us. Yes, as the Lord Jesus said, God’s Word can be made of non-effect through our traditions. Likewise, what God is saying to us can fall on deaf ears through a wrong belief system and the traditions we might have erroneously adopted.  

And I believe the same thing happened to Adam & Eve: I believe they lost sight of every tree that the Lord had freely given to him in the Garden and got “tunnel vision” on the one tree that God forbade. Which is exactly what the enemy will attempt to do to us. 

Always With Grace & Seasoned With Salt
But then, of course, the Lord did make sure to tell Adam that there was one tree that was forbidden. So, one thing we have to make sure we have ears to hear are those words of the Shepherd that do indeed tell us what is not for us.

In fact, the apostle Paul made it clear that half of what God’s Word will do is provide “reproof & correction” (Second Timothy 3:16)—meaning, part of what God will speak to us will be those “don’t do this” or “quit doing that’s.”

But what I have come to understand is that even in those things where the Lord tells us don’t do this or don’t do that, He speaks these things in such a gentle & gracious way. In other words, God’s heart is not to speak to us in that old Cecil B. DeMille “Ten Commandments” tone that booms from heaven saying, “Thou Shalt Not …!” No, His words are always with grace, seasoned with salt like we are commanded to speak to others in Colossians 4:6.

Do you think the Lord is going to tell us to talk to one another like that if He Himself isn’t willing to do so? No, even God’s commandments are spoken “with grace” and are “seasoned with salt.”  What this means is that we can expect that when God is speaking to us, everything He says will be “with grace”—that is, it will be accompanied with graciousness. You see, God’s Words will always add to us and not subtract from us. Yes, His Words give and impart!

Not only that, but the Lord knows exactly how to speak to each of us. In other words, He knows how to season those words to our taste. Now that doesn’t mean He is going to tell us what we want to hear all the time, but it means that even with the things that might be difficult to “swallow,” He knows how to season them to make the medicine go down.

Do you know why this is so important to understand? It’s because the stranger loves to masquerade as an angel of light. So, he will try and deceive us into thinking God is speaking to us by speaking words to us that don’t add to us and come across in a fashion that doesn’t taste right. So just know that if the words we are hearing are not “with grace” and haven’t been “seasoned with salt,” then they likely are not from our Good Shepherd.   

Did God Really Say?
But let’s now look at what the devil said in lieu of God’s commandment: In Genesis 3:1-2, we are told— “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?’

WHEN THE DEVIL SPEAKS, HE …
 
Pushes, Pressures, & Rushes
Frightens & Worries
Accuses & Condemns
Discourages & Depresses
Troubles & Confuses
 
THE EFFECTS OF THE DEVIL’S VOICE
Fear
Doubt  
Confusion
Depression
Condemnation
Oppression
 

So, the first words we see out of satan’s mouth in the Scriptures “Has God indeed said.” Another way of translating that is— Did God really say …?”

So, what we can see through the law of first mention is that one of the most predominant things that will come out of the devil’s mouth is questioning God’s Word. This would include everything that God has verbally communicated to us and all that He has said to us through the Scriptures.

So, for example, if I start having thoughts that contradict something that I know God has said like “I wonder if that’s really true” or “Is this really what this verse means?”

Now again, don’t look for this on the outside somewhere. Where does this devil predominately speak to us? In our minds! So, this “Did God really say?” is going to mainly occur in our thought life. Likewise, don’t look for this exact terminology either, but rather look for the spirit of this questioning of God that occurs in our hearts & minds.

Let me give you a couple of examples:
Say you have dealt with some sort of sickness in your body and have been believing God for your healing. But the manifestation of God’s promise of healing hasn’t come as quickly as you would like. As a result, you go through weeks, months, and even years of physical issues while standing on God’s Word. Then one day when we are feeling weary, the thought comes— “I wonder if by His stripes we were healed is really talking about physical healing.” Perhaps we had never given any consideration to this before, but that idea just pops into our minds one day out of nowhere. Well, what should be going off on the inside of you if this happens? All kinds of red flags should be going off! Why? Because this is essentially another— “Has God indeed said.”

How about if you and your spouse are having a spat, and in the midst of the fight, the thought enters your mind, “Divorce is so common in the world today. I wonder if what God’s Word says about it is really relevant in the world we live in.”

What’s going on here? Thoughts are being planted with the intent of getting us to being open to something we might not have ever been open to considering before. And that’s where the enemy gets us, saints. He will plant those thoughts and if we start considering them, we are doing the same thing that Eve did when he approached her—she started conversing with him which never winds up well.   

So, the first thing we see come out of the devil’s mouth in the Bible is him questioning what God says. And that is what we can expect in our lives as well – steady doses of him trying to get us to question what God has said.

The Simplicity of Christ
The apostle Paul gives us some interesting insight into what was happening in Genesis chapter 3: In Second Corinthians 11:2-3, he said, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”

So, Paul reveals to us that what satan was ultimately doing was complicating the things of God. He compares here how the serpent craftily deceived Eve to how he continues today trying to corrupt our minds from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Now again, notice where it is he is trying to deceive us? In ourminds. So, this is where his deception is aimed at. But what is it that he is attempting to lead us away from? The simplicity that is in Christ.  

You see, the devil likes to complicate the things of God, but God really does things in a simplistic manner. It’s black & white. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out what God has said and understand it. All you need is the Holy Spirit to remove the veil, and then the life & light of the truth will be revealed to you.

But what the devil likes to do is send conflicting and complicated messages. Like here – he sends someone preaching “another” Jesus than the one the apostles preached. He sends someone trying to give “another” Spirit than the one we have received. He sends a “different” gospel than the one we already accepted.

So that is something to be on the lookout for: Like it was with Eve after God had already given the gospel to Adam, satan will come after the fact with those “Has God really said?” questions, trying to add or alter the truth that we have heard.

So be on the lookout for the reasoning that comes after God has already spoken to us. God’s truth is usually pretty simple. But the devil likes to complicate it.

And notice how he complicated it here with Eve: After saying, “Has God indeed said” he adds— “… You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

So, what he was doing was getting her to look more at the fact God didn’t allow them to eat of all the trees of the Garden, but had made the one off limits. In other words, he got her focused on how the Lord was supposedly withholding something from them other than how He had allowed them to freely eat of every other tree. 

That’s a scheme of the enemy – to get us questioning God’s intentions instead of believing that He has our best interest in mind. This is why He winds up telling her that God knows that they would become like Him, knowing good & evil. So, he wanted her to believe that God was withholding something from them – trying to keep them from something.

Faith Vs. Fear
What does all this boil down too? What can we conclude from all this? It is that the devil seeks to pervert & complicate what God has said. Yes, he will try to instill doubt in God’s Word and His words. Yes, he is constantly seeking to get us to question Him. 

So, the nature & characteristics of satan’s words are fear & unbelief. Therefore, if we begin to sense fear regarding things we are thinking, that’s a good indication that the roaring lion has been speaking to us. If unbelief is being fostered, then there is a good chance the devil has been planting the thoughts that have produced this harvest. And God forbid, if we are starting to lose hope, then the devil is likely the author of that feeling of hopelessness.

You see, we serve the God of faith & hope. So, He will lead & guide us into the things that produce faith & hope. Yes, the Shepherd seeks to instill faith in us. Yes, God’s voice will challenge us to believe what we cannot see, to trust when we do not understand, and to have hope when all seems hopeless.  

I remember one very distinct example I have of this: When Shannon and I were faced with a financial challenge, the Lord spoke to me & through me— “Is there anything too difficult for Me? You need to begin to believe bigger and see further and stop limiting Me.” Now this was not something I was used to hearing from God, but from what I’ve learned since, this is one of the main things God will communicate with us. It will always be to believe Him more!

However, the devil will attempt to do the opposite; He will do everything in his power to try and get us NOT to believe God. So, he will constantly attempt to instill doubt, fear, and unbelief in us.
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Church, God’s desire is to be loved & believed, and the devil knows that. So, he will do everything in his power to get us to doubt what God has said. In fact, the majority of the things he speaks to us is aimed at this unbelief. So be on the lookout for those temptations and only entertain words that inspire faith & hope.    

Review
Today, we are continuing our new series on discerning between the voice of our Good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger.

Now as I mentioned last week, I would venture to say that we all believe God still speaks to us today. I also think that most of us believe that the devil is real and can also speak to us as well. However, what I feel many Christians are ignorant of is how they both speak to us and how to tell the difference between what is of God, what is of the enemy, and what is simply of us. And this is why we are doing this study—it is to teach us how to tell the difference so that we know what voice we are to submit to and what voice we are to resist & reject. Yes, if we do not realize where those words are coming from and embrace them as if they are our own, then we are going to have a very difficult time living a victorious life.

So, what we started out doing last week was looking at the primary & predominant ways in which the Lord our Shepherd speaks to us.

You see, if you were to ask most believers how they think that God speaks to His people, they immediately gravitate towards the spectacular. What I mean is that they only expect Him to speak in the more supernatural ways such as through an audible voice, visions, dreams, angelic visitations, etc. And while these forms of guidance do indeed occur today, they are the exception and not the norm. In other words, while these experiences most certainly are supposed to be a part of the life of a Christian, they are not the way God speaks to us on a consistent & regular basis. Yes, on a day-to-day basis, God more commonly leads His children today by less mystical means, and we learned what that less spectacular but no less supernatural kind of guidance is last week.

A highly respected and fruitful minister once said, “Many Christians are looking for the spectacular and, all the while, missing the supernatural.” You see, God’s predominant ways of speaking to us will probably not give you any goose bumps and you will probably not be awe-struck by the things you hear, but that does not mean that these other things are any less supernatural. God leading us by putting an idea in our heart of how to show someone His love is no less supernatural than an audible voice telling us to do the same. They are both equally supernatural! The only difference is one is a more spectacular experience while the other is a more common experience. 

Thank God for these spectacular and miraculous forms of His communication, but if we want to have God communicate to us on a daily basis, we need to learn these other supernatural ways that He speaks to us. And that is where most miss it – they are looking for God’s voice in the wrong place.

So, what we learned last week was that the Lord mainly speaks to us on the inside of us, in our spirit. In other words, His primary mode of communication is not externally, but it’s internally. Therefore, learning to hear the voice of the Master is not going to come from looking out here somewhere, but by looking in our heart. And the reason for this is because the part of the Godhead that dwells with us today is the Holy Spirit, and where does the Holy Spirit reside? Inside us—that is, in our spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit communicates with us, spirit to spirit. This is why the apostle Paul said that the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit (See Romans 8:16).

Now like we said, the way that the Holy Spirit does this might be recognized differently in each of us.

Some might describe it as a knowing. Others might describe it as a peace. Still others might say it is something simply seeming good or not, a “check” in their spirit, or even a still small voice. However you describe it is up to you, but what it really is, is the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit according to the Scriptures. And so, what we must learn to do is detect the Holy Spirit in our spirit so that we can hear what He is trying to communicate to us on a daily basis.  

We also looked at Jesus’ parable of the True Shepherd in John chapter 10 and saw how the Shepherd entered through the door to approach His sheep and lead them in & out. In other words, the way that the Lord “gets through to us” is through the door, which is the Lord Jesus Himself. So, what we learned from that is that Jesus will be the avenue by which we are going to hear from God and be led by the Spirit.

First of all, this means that the Lord Jesus Himself, who is the litmus test to all truth, will be the door that God is going to speak to me through and lead me in & out through. Therefore, my coming to know Him, heeding His truth conveyed to me through the Gospels, and having a heart to honor & glorify Him in all I do is a big part of hearing from God.

You see, I’ve seen far too many Christians who believe the Lord spoke something to them, but it was contrary to Jesus’ teachings, His character, and to the overall truth that He represented. These will swear up and down that they heard from God, but what they fail to understand is that the Lord does not “come up some other way.” No, He will consistently approach us through His Son and never violate that. 

Church, it is all about Jesus. So, if we are going to be on the right frequency to hear what the Lord is communicating to us, we must have our hearts set on the “Door” Himself—for this is how we approach the Lord and He approaches us. Amen?

Along these same lines, we learned that Jesus is also the Word. So, we saw how one of Jesus’ ways of approaching us is through the Scriptures. And I’ll tell you, church, this is one of the main avenues God has used to speak to me throughout my Christian walk—through the Word of God.

I explained how I’ve found that as I had given my time to studying the Scriptures, the Lord would speak to me through the Bible. And, no, not necessarily as I was reading & studying it, but when I would be doing my daily activities, a verse would pop up in my heart when I needed it, conveying some truth to me that I needed to know at the moment. I would know that this wasn’t just simply me remembering a Bible verse, but it was the Lord specifically communicating to me through that Word He had already spoken. Amen!

Church, I believe that when it comes to hearing from God, the most fundamental way in which God speaks to us is through His Written Word. You might say that the Scriptures are the way to hear from God on demand.

So having both the Word of God and the Spirit of God, we ought to have no problem consistently hearing the Lord speak to us. Therefore, what the Lord also taught in John chapter 10 is absolutely true—we do hear & know His voice and ought to live with the utmost confidence in that.

So again, what we learned is that these are the primary ways of God speaking to us while they are not the most flashy and spectacular. So, we have to learn how to hear from God on His terms and not in the way that tickles our ears or satisfies that emotional part of us.   

Hearing & Knowing the Voice of the Stranger
However, like it is with God’s voice, the enemy is also not going to present himself to us in a spectacular way. No, he is not going to come to us in red pajamas and with a pitchfork, saying, “Hey, I am satan, and here is what I want to say to you …” No, he is a deceiver, so he will offer you ideas and suggestions that will seem like they are just you thinking them. He will even present himself, as the apostle Paul said, as an angel of light, trying to make you think what he is saying is the Lord speaking to you.

So no, the devil doesn’t predominantly speak to us in an overt & obvious way any more than the Lord does. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn both what he tends to speak and how he speaks it. Which is exactly what we are going to do this week: I want us to look at how the stranger speaks to us because, like I said, it is critical that you and I learn how the enemy is communicating to us as well, lest we be deceived and travel down that road of him stealing, killing, and destroying in our lives.

First of all, I want you to notice how in John chapter 10 Jesus not only makes a strong point in how the Shepherd communicates with His sheep, but He also refers to the voice of the stranger. Yes, in John 10:5, Jesus said, “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

So, first of all, what we can take away from this is that, just as we can be sure that the Lord, our Shepherd, speaks to us, we can also be certain that the devil speaks to us as well. Therefore, whether we have realized it or not, if we are of the Lord’s sheepfold, the stranger has spoken to us and tried to lead us away from the path God has for you.

Now most of us might question that because we might not have necessarily known it was the enemy, but I can assure you that if you are a child of God, the devil has spoken to you—just about every day of your life.

But again, the reason a lot of Christians might not believe this is true is because they did not know it was him. This is what I’m seeking to remedy in this teaching—that we would know when it is him every single, solitary time.

Not only that, but when Jesus first said in this verse, “yet they will by no means follow a stranger”, this shows us that just as we as the Lord’s sheep, will hear the voice of satan, we will not follow it either. In other words, just as we can be confident in the fact that we hear & know the Lord’s voice, we can also have faith in the fact that we will not follow the voice of the stranger too because we can decipher when it’s him.

Now it’s certainly not that we want to hear what the devil is saying to us but what I believe is so important to understand about this is that if we can recognize when it is him speaking to us, then we know what to reject, right? That’s why Jesus went on to say that we by no means will follow the voice of the stranger, but will “flee” from him.

Fleeing From Temptation
Church, learning to “flee” from the enemy’s temptations is an important part of Christian living. No, this is not us running from him, but simply us getting as far away from his devices that we can. We will learn why this is important momentarily.

This reminds me of the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (See Genesis 39:7-18): Do you remember how she lusted after him and how the Bible teaches us that she made passes at him day after day?

Now don’t make the mistake of just looking at this biblical story from a natural perspective. Sure, the temptations for things like adultery are out there. But what I want you to see here is how this is an illustration of how the tempter tries to lure us away into sin.

You see, doesn’t the Book of Proverbs teach us that sin is like a harlot, crying out after us on the street corners? It sure does, and the way Solomon describes these temptations is as that harlot speaking to us, attempting to allure us from the path God has us on and into her bedchamber. He oftentimes refers to her in the original King James version as the “strange woman.”

In fact, take a look sometime at the Book of Proverbs at how many times Solomon refers to this “strange woman.” Here are just a few of them:

Proverbs 2:16 says, “To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words”
Proverbs 5:3 says, “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil”
Proverbs 6:24 says, “To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.”
Proverbs 7:5 says, “That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.”

Saints, this is exactly what is transpiring all of the time in our lives! We are just out & about, living life, and “day by day” and “on every corner” the strange woman is speaking to us, trying to get us to take detours away from holiness & righteousness. And sin’s words are indeed sweet, smooth, and flattering.   

Well, what did Joseph do? The Bible says that he did not “heed” her (See Genesis 39:10). That means he did not listen to her.

I wonder what the church would be like if none of us ever listened to the enemy? I wonder what our own personal lives would be like if we never gave “heed” to the stranger? I can guarantee you, saints, our church services, and our own personal lives would be ultra-blessed. 

Then there came the time when Joseph entered Potiphar’s house and no one else was in there but he and Potiphar’s wife, that she caught him by his garment. And I’ll tell you, saints, there come times in our lives when the strange woman will just grab you—that is, the enemy will go from the place of just speaking to you to trying to grab your emotions too. In other words, he will make you feel things along with those words that he speaks to you.

Well, what Joseph did was what we all must learn to do: Genesis 39:12 says that he left his garment in her hand and “fled’ from her. Sounds a lot like what Jesus told us that his sheep would do when the stranger came to steal them away—they will “flee” from him.

You know, saints, I think one of the biggest mistakes that we make when resisting temptation is that while we try not to act on it, we don’t “flee” from it. In other words, we hang too close to the sin instead of “abhorring what is evil” (Romans 12:9). In fact, we cling to that which is evil and abhor that which is good—which is the exact opposite from what we are told to do here.
The apostle Peter taught us to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (First Peter 2:11). That means to get as far away from the things your flesh lusts after as possible. And why? Because it wars against your soul—meaning, it messes with your inward man and creates a conflict inside of you. 

So, the solution to the messes we find ourselves falling back into is to stay as far away from the mess as you can. That way, if you fall, you don’t fall in it. Kind of like a mud-puddle: If I don’t get too close to it, then even a stumble I might have will not result in me falling in it. Amen? 

Recognizing the Strange Voice
Now notice how Jesus went on to say that His sheep will flee from the stranger “for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Jesus did not mean that we are not going to know when it is the devil speaking to us. No, what He was saying was that His sheep do not “recognize” and are not “intimately acquainted” with a stranger’s voice—meaning, we can tell it’s the voice we shouldn’t be following because it’s a “strange” voice when compared to the voice of our Good Shepherd. This reminds me of that wise principle of how being so familiar with the genuine article is the best way to detect a counterfeit.

You see, if I become so familiar with the Lord by spending time with Him & giving heed to His Word, it’s less likely it will be that I will be deceived by a counterfeit. And that’s what Jesus was implying here—that because of the sheep’s familiarity with the Shepherd, they were able to know when another voice was indeed “strange.”

So, again, this means that just as we can expect to hear & know the voice of the Shepherd, we can also expect to hear & know the voice of the stranger. No, not because we want to hear the enemy, but because he will be speaking to us, and we need to know when it is him. 
I wonder how many times in our lives that the enemy has been speaking to us, but we were ignorant of the fact it was him and we just swallowed his lies “hook, line, and sinker.” I can guarantee you we’ve all done this, and probably this week.

On a related note, the apostle Paul said in Second Corinthians 2:11 that we are not to let the devil gain the advantage over us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Well, it sure seems like most believers are ignorant of the devices of the enemy, doesn’t it? Like I said earlier, this is from believing that bad circumstances that occur in our lives are from God, to believing that a certain thought that pops in our minds is just us thinking it. We see far too much of this ignorance in the body of Christ and this a big reason why, as Hosea prophesied, God’s people are destroyed—for a lack of knowledge.  

No, all Paul meant here when he said that we are not ignorant of the devil’s devices is that we, as God’s sheep, have the ability & responsibility to know the devices that the devil uses against us. It doesn’t mean that we are all walking in this light, but it simply means that all the tools have been given to us to know what his devices are.

In fact, the word used for “devices” here comes from the Greek word noema which comes from the root for the word describing our mind or thoughts. One expositor translates this word as the “mind games” of the devil, and oh how he plays these mind games with us. Amen? But if I can come to recognize both how & what the Lord is speaking to me versus how & what the stranger is speaking to me, I have the advantage! Amen?

So, we have now a couple of verses that clearly teach us that we have the ability to know when the stranger—the devil—is speaking in an attempt to steal, kill, and destroy from us. But what this verse we have just looked at does, is it establishes how he speaks to us. Let me explain …

Where the Stranger Communicates
Now, again, it is important to understand that the way the Shepherd and the stranger speak to us is not predominantly in that outward, overt way. Sure, they both can try to communicate to us through, say, other people, but most of our “hearing” from them occurs inside of us instead of outside of us.

But the difference is that the enemy does not communicate with our spirit like the Holy Spirit does. That’s because he does not operate there. However, he certainly engages our soul, and that’s where the battle is. So, those thoughts that pass through our minds and those feelings/emotions that we experience do not always originate from us. Sometimes that “idea” that pops into our mind was planted by the enemy. This is why it is so critical that we learn how to tell when it is him.

So, just like we saw in Second Corinthians 2:11, the devil uses “noemas” to speak to us—that is, he uses those mind games to communicate his lie, temptations, etc. to us. These are those “wiles” spoken of by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:11. His schemes, tricks, and methods are all aimed at our minds.   

Now I will say that it’s not a huge deal whether we can tell the difference between our own thoughts and the ones the enemy sows, because if it isn’t according to the way God teaches us to think, then it needs to be brought into captivity, whether it was from the stranger or ourselves, right?

The bottom line is we need to know that the soul is the realm that the enemy operates in. So, becoming aware of any and all thoughts that are contrary to the knowledge of God and bringing them into captivity is how we ought to respond.
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So in the weeks ahead, we will look at how to tell when these things we hear on the inside of us are from the stranger and when they are from the Shepherd. Yes, there are some obvious characteristics of these things that will help us to easily identify their origin.
But what I wanted you to learn today is that, just as we can be confident that the Lord our Shepherd is speaking to us and how He does it, we can also know that the stranger has a voice as well—one that we can both expect and identify.
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Introduction
Today, we are beginning a journey—a journey towards discerning between the voice of God & the voice of the enemy.

I would venture to say that we all believe God still speaks to us today. I also believe that most of us also believe that the devil is real and can also speak to us. However, what I feel many Christians are ignorant of is how they both speak to us and how to tell the difference between what is of God, what is of the enemy, and what is simply of us. Therein lies the problem for most believers.

For example, when it comes to how the Lord speaks to us, if you were to ask most believers who actually believe God still communicates with us today how they think that He speaks to His people, they immediately gravitate towards the spectacular. What I mean is they only expect Him to speak in the more supernatural ways such as through an audible voice, visions, dreams, angelic visitations, etc. And while these forms of guidance do indeed occur today, they are the exception and not the norm. In other words, while these experiences most certainly are supposed to be a part of the life of a Christian, they are not the consistent way that God speaks to us on a regular basis. Yes, on a day-to-day basis, God more commonly leads His children today by less mystical means, and today we will learn what this less spectacular but no less supernatural kind of guidance is.

A highly respected and fruitful minister once said, “Many Christians are looking for the spectacular and, all the while, missing the supernatural.” You see, God’s predominant ways of speaking to us will probably not give you any goose bumps and you will probably not be awe-struck by the things you hear, but that does not mean that these other things are any less supernatural. God leading us by putting an idea in our heart of how to show someone His love is no less supernatural than an audible voice telling us to do the same. They are both equally supernatural! The only difference is one is a more spectacular experience while the other is a more common experience. 

Thank God for these spectacular and miraculous forms of His communication, but if we want to have God communicate to us on a daily basis, we need to learn these other supernatural ways that He speaks to us. And that is where most miss it – they are looking for God’s voice in the wrong place.

The truth is that the Lord mainly speaks to us on the inside of us, in our spirit. Therefore, learning to hear the voice of the Master is not going to come from looking out here somewhere, but by looking in our heart. This is a point we will revisit shortly.

So, what we will do throughout this series is learn how to detect it when it is Him speaking in our hearts. But we are not just going to learn how God speaks to us; we will also compare it to how the devil speaks to us because, whether you realize it or not, the enemy is constantly bombarding our minds with thoughts that are aimed at your demise. And if you do not realize where those words are coming from and embrace them as if they are your own, then you are going to have a difficult time living a victorious life.

You see, like it is with God’s voice, the enemy is not going to present himself to you in red pajamas with a pitchfork, saying, “Hey, I am satan, and here is what I want to say to you …” No! He is a deceiver, so he will offer you ideas and suggestions that will seem like they are just you thinking them. He will even present himself, as the apostle Paul said, as an angel of light, trying to make you think what he is saying is the Lord speaking to you. So no, the devil doesn’t predominantly speak to us in an overt & obvious way any more than the Lord does.
Therefore, it is imperative that we learn both what he tends to speak and how he speaks it. Likewise, we also must learn what the Lord will generally speak to us and how He communicates with us. Once we learn these things, we are in position to know exactly what voice we need to be heeding and what voice we need to be rejecting.

The Parable of the True Shepherd
Now I want us to begin in John chapter 10 where we have an interesting parable given to us by the Lord Jesus that I believe beautifully describes the difference between how the Lord speaks to us versus how the devil speaks to us:

In this teaching, Jesus describes how we are the sheep of His pasture and how He is the Good Shepherd. However, the emphasis He makes is on how His sheep hear & know His voice. He also emphasizes how there are strangers & thieves whom His sheep do not know, entering in for the intent of stealing, killing, and destroying the Lord’s flock.

So, while there are a lot of important truths contained in this parable, one that stands out to me is how the Lord makes clear the difference between the Shepherd of the sheep and the strangers who are attempting to steal His sheep. In this, we see much of the differences between the nature of God versus the nature of the devil.

And church, you will see this throughout this series, but understanding the core differences between the Lord and satan are so incredibly important to the Christian life—particularly as it pertains to their mode of communicating with us. Yes, knowing what God’s tendencies are versus the devil’s tendencies can be the fundamental difference between believing a lie or the truth. And what I have observed over my years in the church is that there are more Christians who fail to understand this than there are those who know the truth. Therefore, many Christians live under the delusion that things that the thief is actually responsible for are the Lord’s doing.

So church, know this today – that anything that comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10) is of the thief and is the core nature of the devil. However, everything that comes to add life and life more abundantly is of the Lord. In fact, if you want a further description of what our Good Shepherd’s nature is, just look at the 23rd Psalm where we see what the Lord our Shepherd does for us. In short, it’s the good life—that we would see the goodness of the Lord right here in the land of the living (See Psalm 27:13). Once we understand this, it will make a tremendous difference in how we respond to the things life throws at us. We will then know what to submit to and what to resist (James 4:7).

But what I wanted us to specifically look at in this new series of teachings is not what the Lord does versus what the devil does; I wanted us to look at how their core nature is reflected in what & how they communicate to us.

The Door of the Shepherd
So, let’s begin this week by looking at how our Good Shepherd is described in this parable in order to first learn how He operates:
First of all, in verses 1-2, Jesus begins by saying, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”

Notice that Jesus makes the point here that He, the shepherd of the sheep (vs. 11), enters through the door, but the thief and the robber climb up some other way. This teaches me that, contrary to popular belief, the Lord has a specific & primary way of approaching us and speaking to us. Yes, there is a specific & appropriate avenue that the Lord enters by. Likewise, there’s a specific way that He speaks to us and leads us in our life.

On the same note, the devil doesn’t come through that same “door,” but attempts to get to us some other way. And what we will learn in this series of teachings is what is that way that the Good Shepherd will speak to us and how the thief will always violate it.

Well, Jesus goes on to describe how He Himself is also that door, doesn’t He (See John 10:7)? So, what does that teach us? It teaches us that the Lord Jesus is going to be the Way of “getting through to us.” In other words, He will be the avenue by which we are going to hear from God and be led by the Spirit. Amen? Yes, He is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

You see, the Lord Jesus is litmus test to all truth. So, the door that God is going to speak to me through and lead me in & out through is JESUS Himself. Therefore, my coming to know Him, heeding His truth conveyed to me through the Gospels, and having a heart to honor & glorify Him in all I do is a big part of hearing from God.

I’ve seen far too many Christians who believe the Lord spoke something to them, but it was contrary to Jesus’ teachings, His character, and to the overall truth that He represented. These will swear up and down that they heard from God, but what they fail to understand is that the Lord does not “come up some other way.” No, He will consistently approach us through His Son and never violate that.  

Friends, it is all about Jesus. So, if we are going to be on the right frequency to hear what the Lord is communicating to us, we must have our hearts set on the “Door” Himself—for this is how we approach the Lord and He approaches us. Amen?

Along these same lines, we know that Jesus is the Word too, right? So then, we can see how one of Jesus’ ways of approaching us is through the Scriptures. And I’ll tell you, church, this is one of the main avenues God has used to speak to me throughout my Christian walk—through the Word of God. I’ve found that as I had given my time to studying the Scriptures, the Lord would speak to me through the Bible. And, no, not necessarily as I was reading & studying it, but when I would be doing my daily activities, a verse would pop up in my heart when I needed it, conveying some truth to me that I needed to know at the moment. I would know that this wasn’t just simply me remembering a Bible verse, but it was the Lord specifically communicating to me through that Word He had already spoken. Amen!

Church, I believe that when it comes to hearing from God, the most fundamental way in which God speaks to us is through His Written Word. You might say that the Scriptures are the way to hear from God on demand.

You see, the Bible is said to be living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). Therefore, it should not be read like a history book or some other manual of facts. It is a living Book, not a dead book—a Book that actually contains God’s Word to us.  

Hebrews 4:12 also teaches us how His Word is sharper than any two-edged sword—which is a common description of God’s Word. In fact, Ephesians 6:17 talks about how our lone piece of offensive weaponry is called “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” And the reason it is called “the sword of the Spirit” is because the Holy Spirit takes those truths that were aforementioned and communicates them to our heart. In other words, our sword of the Spirit is those “rhema” words that He speaks to us either while we are reading the Bible and a specific Scripture just jumps off the page to us, or a Scripture that comes up in our heart while we are doing our day in and day out activities.

But one thing that I believe is so powerful about Hebrews 4:12 is how it actually teaches us how we can better discern the voice of God: Notice how the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “… piercing even to the division of soul and spirit.”

You see, probably the most common problem people have when it comes to hearing from God is they do not know when those leadings, promptings, and ideas are them and when they are the Lord. How do we know? Well, this verse tells us that this is how we know! His Word is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit. In other words, it can cut between and divide what is just coming from our soul—our own thoughts, our emotions, etc.—and what is coming from our spirit—the part of us that knows all things and that the Holy Spirit is communicating directly with.
You see, the Scriptures teach us that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So, this shows us the primary way in which the Holy Spirit communicates to us—from Spirit to spirit! So, our spirit is the part of us that gets directives from the Lord. Therefore, the way that we can more accurately tell the difference between what is of the soul and what is of the spirit is by the Word—hiding God’s Word in, and giving it entrance into, our heart.

The 119th Psalm teaches us that when we hide God’s Word in our heart, we can keep ourselves from missing the mark (i.e., sinning). It also teaches us that the entrance of His Word brings light and understanding to the simple. Brethren, do not be unwise (or, simple) but understand what the will of the Lord is! How? By planting God’s Word in our hearts!

But how does this work? Well, by putting God’s Words in us, we are, number one, giving the Holy Spirit more to work with. In other words, we are giving Him Scriptures to remind us of and fulfill His ministry in our lives. Number two, we are filling ourselves with the genuine article—the pure and unadulterated words of God—and this will help us to better detect the counterfeit directives that we hear on the inside of us. Glory!

I’ll tell you, saints, God’s Word is an awesome thing, and it is the plum line for hearing from God. So don’t get the cart before the horse. Put God’s written Word in its proper place of priority in your life, and if He wants to speak something additional to you, He will. Amen.    
   
God’s Voice on the Earth
Now the next and very important thing we need to understand is how Jesus makes a strong point in this parable that we, as His sheep, both hear & know the voice of our Good Shepherd. So, if we are His sheep and are a part of His flock, then we do in fact hear & know His voice. No, not “we can” or “we should;” we do!

Now I know that a lot of believers out there believe that they don’t hear the voice of God very well. They stress how they really struggle to recognize the voice of God, but what Jesus said here is either true or it is not. So, if it is indeed true that one does not hear God’s voice then it is because they “ain’t” His sheep.

Now I don’t believe that is the case with most believers. Sure, there are some who are not legitimately born again and that’s where the problem lies, but I believe that with most Christians, the reason they do not believe they hear the voice of God very well is because they have not truly come to realize how He speaks to them.

So, let’s now look at what is that most predominant way that God does speak to us outside of His Word …

You see, like I made the point of earlier, I see more Christians looking for God to speak to them from the outside-in. In other words, they are looking for Him to either speak audibly to them or for him to write it in the clouds or on the wall. Even others are only looking for His voice through various gifts of the Spirit like prophecies, interpretation of tongues, etc.

And let me make one thing very clear once again – God absolutely does speak to His people through these more spectacular methods, but they are the exception and not the rule. What I mean by that is a person might hear the audible voice of God a couple of times in their life. They might have the Lord speak to them through those proverbial “billboards” a couple of dozen times in their lifetime. And they might hear the Lord legitimately talking to them close to a hundred times through others being used in these various gifts of the Spirit.

But here’s my point – if this person only learns to hear the Lord talk to them in these ways, then that’s a little over 125 times over many years? Do you think the Lord only wants to speak to this man or woman that infrequently? I doubt that. In fact, I believe the Lord wants to speak to us every day, but I also don’t think He will do this through all the ways I just described.

No, I believe there is another much more predominant and less spectacular way that the Lord speaks to His people and this is what we, as His sheep, desperately need to learn so that we can hear from God on the frequency He is communicating on—and that way is this: The Lord speaks to us internally much more than He does externally. And He does this through His precious Holy Spirit whom He sent to indwell us.

You see, this is technically who is speaking to us from the Godhead. But the vast majority of Christians do not understand this because they do not realize that the Holy Spirit is the One who is present here on the earth today. They see everything from God’s manifest presence to His speaking to us as directly from the Father or from Jesus, but in reality, it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that we experience here on the earth.

Yes, God the Father is not the One who technically “shows up” in a church service because He is seated on His throne in heaven. Even Jesus is not the One who technically speaks to us here on the earth anymore because He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. No, it is the Holy Spirit Who literally is present here on the earth. It is the Holy Spirit Who manifests Himself in glory and directly communicates to us. He is the One who is here now! Therefore, He is the One who we experience in these different ways here on the earth today!

Why is this so important to understand, you might ask? It is because, if the Holy Spirit is the One Person of the Godhead who is technically present with us today and when we truly understand that, we can know where to look for God to speak to us.

Now I believe Romans chapter 8 teaches us just how the Holy Spirit communicates with us: Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”—which is saying the same thing as we saw in John chapter 10—that if we are the Lord’s sheep, we do hear & know His voice. In this case, the apostle Paul is saying that if we are sons of God, then we are led by God’s Spirit.

Then Paul goes on to say in verse 16 how “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

Now the original King James Version says, “the Spirit itself” but the Greek word used here is where we get our word “automatic” from—which means “self-operated.” So “Himself” is more appropriate here because the Holy Spirit is not an “it”, He is a Divine Person!

The phrase “bear witness with” literally means “co-witness” in the original Greek language. So, who is the Holy Spirit a co-witness with? This verse goes on to tell us— “our spirit”- that is, the real us. No, He does not bear witness with our head (our soul) or with our feelings (our flesh). He bears witness with our spirit that has been recreated in Christ Jesus. Our spirit, which has a witness in itself, will line up with the things of God, and when it and the Holy Spirit start “testifying” what they know to do, we will have the co-witness going off on the inside of us. When we are looking for direction from the Lord we are to look inside because He bears witness with our spirit, not our intellect, mind, or feelings. This is why it is so imperative that we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. It is because if we are walking in the flesh—that is, our flesh is dictating our daily decisions and we are fulfilling its lusts—then we are not going to be in tune with the witness of our spirit. And if we are not on the frequency of the Spirit, then many of the things our own spirit is communicating to us and the Holy Spirit is communicating to us will come across like static. We will not be able to pick up on what God is leading us to do. Therefore, in order to be able to discern what our spirit is saying and what the Holy Spirit is saying, we need to be walking in the Spirit so that it is being broadcasted loud and clear in our hearts.

One of the ways that you can tell when the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with your spirit is found in the last part of this verse: It says that He “bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

Well, how do you know that you are a child of God? Someone would say, “I do not know how I know; I just know!” So, that is a Scriptural response because the witness of the Spirit is manifested as simply a “knowing.”

So, if the Holy Spirit can bear witness with your spirit that you are God’s child then do you think He could bear witness with your spirit to let you know what job to take or who you are to marry? Of course He can, and He will, if you will just invite Him to.

This is why I like to call this witness our “knower.” First John 2:20 says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” The anointing, the Holy Spirit, knows all things and communicates those things to our spirit. Therefore, when direction comes—you will know it!

If you are like, “Ehhh, I don’t know about that” or “Ehhh, I’m not sure why, but there is something not right about that.” Those “Ehhh’s” are oftentimes how the Holy Spirit is co-witnessing with our spirit to not do a certain thing. So, learn to obey those checks in your spirit promptly because oftentimes they are the Holy Spirit leading you not to do something.            

However, those uneasy feelings can also just be your head trying to talk you out of what your heart is telling you to do. That is why we must first be honest with ourselves and humbly accept the correction and then practice being led through trial and error. We should do this on the small things like asking for direction on what route to take home from work or asking Him to help you find something that you misplaced. You ask the Holy Spirit things such as this and then wait till He bears witness with your spirit. Then when something just pops into your heart or you just “know” something, act on it! Sometimes you’ll miss it and sometimes you’ll hit it right on the head. Just learn from your mistakes and from your successes (even journaling everything down to the minutest detail like how you were feeling, the fears, etc. This would be wisdom) and you will grow in your ability to be led by your “knower.”

You see, we don’t have to know everything; We just need to know the One Who does know everything! And when we learn to detect the “knower” we will know everything we need to know.

So, this is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us—it’s a knowing. Others describe it as a peace, as something simply seeming good or not, a “check” in their spirit, or a still small voice. However you describe it is up to you, but what it really is, is the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit according to the Scriptures. And so, what we must learn to do is detect the Holy Spirit in our spirit so that we can hear what He is trying to communicate to us on a daily basis.  

Conclusion
So, what we have learned this week is that the Lord our Shepherd has specific ways in which He communicates with us. He is not in the business of hopping the fence with surprise ways of approaching us but rather tends to enter through the door—that is, through the Way of Jesus and the Holy Scriptures. Then, we saw how important it is that we believe that we, as His sheep, hear & know His voice because if we don’t go into this whole thing with faith, we are not positioned to hear from Him the way we are promised here. Finally, we saw how the voice of God here on the earth today is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must look for His voice, not externally, but internally. And we saw how the Holy Spirit speaks inside of us—in that still small voice that bears witness with our spirit. In other words, it is just a knowing, a peace, or a sensing that something is good or bad.

Church, once we start discerning how the Good Shepherd speaks to us, we will know where to look for His voice. And once that happens, we will more easily be able to tell the difference between what God is saying on the inside of us and what is just our own thoughts.
​
Now next week we will delve more into how the devil speaks, because he also fits into this equation. We also must learn to discern when it is him interjecting those thoughts and feelings in our heart. Get ready for some life-altering truth!  

​REVIEW
So today, we are concluding our teaching on the believer’s authority entitled “The Son of Man” where we have learned some vital truths regarding the way God has set things up to operate here on the earth. And some of these truths are radical, church. Not radical in God’s eyes, but religion has a hard time swallowing them because it has trained us that we are weak & powerless, and God is the One in charge of everything. But what we have seen is that God, in His sovereignty, has delegated His authority to those created in His image and according to His likeness.
 
So, we started off talking about this truth—how God gave the earth to the children of men. Yes, when He created man in the beginning, He gave him dominion over all His creation and commissioned him to subdue and keep it. And we learned how this hasn’t changed. Even though Adam signed away his lease agreement over the earth through his sin, mankind still maintained the same authority over this planet.
 
But we also learned that when Jesus came in a flesh & blood body and fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law, that He justifiably restored to His church the authority Adam lost. Therefore, in Christ, we have been delegated that same authority to rule in His name.

So, we looked at what it means to be the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw how all of this describes the authority that we have in Him and how it is now our responsibility to sack and plunder the kingdom of darkness here on the earth.    
 
Most recently, we looked at how we are to use the same authority that Christ Jesus has and do the same things He did in His name, which was destroy the works of the devil. And what we did was we studied what it truly means to not only do things in His name but to both say & pray in Jesus’ name.
 
So again, we are on the fourteenth and what I believe to be the final part of this series. And my prayer is that this particular series has been revelatory for you and that it has boosted your confidence in Christ.
 
Now this week, I want us to conclude this series by looking at another passage of Scripture in the Gospels that beautifully encapsulates this authority that we have been given by the grace of God …
 
THE SEVENTY
 
Notice what happened in the event found in Luke chapter 10 …
 
Luke 10:1-2 says, “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’ ”
 
I believe these two verses speak a lot towards what we have coming up over the next 6 months with Hope for the Heart of Georgia. I believe the Lord is sending us, the Seventy, out two by two in the place He Himself is about to come. Therefore, we need to be prayerful for the Lord to send out laborers into this truly great harvest before us. Amen?
 
Then after giving them a bunch of different instructions as to what to do as well as making other statements in verses 3-16, we see Jesus’ disciples returning to Him in verse 17. And Luke chapter 10:17 says, “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name’.”
 
So, notice again that this wasn’t Jesus’ “twelve” disciples (i.e., the apostles). No, this was not His chosen twelve but was “seventy” of His disciples. What is the significance in this, you ask? It shows us that it was not just the apostles that the Lord gave this power and authority to. Sure, we have seen several Scriptures already where Jesus commissioned His twelve disciples to go out to heal the sick and cast out demons, but here, it was not just the “twelve” He sent out; it was the “seventy.”
 
You see, so many Christians believe that it was only the twelve apostles that had been given authority by Christ over the kingdom of darkness, but in this verse, it was the 70 disciples that exercised authority over the devil. So, we could say that it was not just the “apostles” who had been given authority and power; it is all the “disciples” of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! Therefore, what we can take away from this is that apparently any follower of the Lord Jesus has been given the authority to heal the sick and cast out demons, and not just the church leaders.
 
You see, there are some Christians who believe that we still have authority today, but it’s only been given to specially anointed men or women of God. But how could that be true if this other group (i.e., the seventy) cast out demons in His name. You see, all of us that have chosen to follow Jesus and have been chosen by Him to be His representatives have the God-given right to exercise authority over Satan’s kingdom in Jesus’ name. Yes, authority belongs to every born-again child of God! It is not just for a select few chosen believers that God has given some special power to! No! God has given each and every one of us that same “special” power”—and His name is the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!
 
And I believe this is one of the reasons why the seventy returned rejoicing like they did … It was because these results exceeded their expectations!
 
You see, like us, they weren’t that surprised that Jesus’ closest disciples got results when they prayed for the sick and cast out demons, but they were evidently surprised to get the same results themselves. Why? Because they were not the “select elect!” In other words, they were not the chosen twelve apostles; they were just an average disciple.
 
On top of that, like the twelve apostles at this point, they were not born again, nor were they filled with the Holy Spirit yet. No, they were just common followers of Christ who were still dead in their sins & trespasses; yet they had the name of Christ! And His name is how they got the results that they did!
 
So, we need to understand that even if we do not “feel” like we are the spiritual ones, we can still get exceptional results because we have the same name that they had and we are doing these works in Christ’s name, not our own name!     
 
Now notice what the seventy returned with joy saying to Him— “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.”
 
The word “subject” is certainly an authority term. It means “to be submitted” or “to be made subordinate.” Therefore, for one to be in subjection to someone else means that they are under their authority. And if you recall, it was a similar word used in Genesis by the Lord when commissioning Adam to “subdue” His creation.  
 
So how were the demons subject to them? Again, they said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us (or, are under our authority) in your name.” Therefore, their authority over demons was due to the name of Jesus!
 
Saints, the name of Jesus is what all our authority is wrapped up in. And as we have come to understand, the name of Jesus is certainly powerful when it comes from our mouth, but it is also powerful when we learn to operate from His name by living in His place, position and authority. In other words, we have both the name to speak, and we also have the name to operate from. Amen!  
 
BEHOLD!
 
Now notice Jesus’ response to His seventy disciples’ jubilation: In Luke 10:18 we are told— “And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven’.”
 
So, Jesus’ response to their excitement over the demons leaving when they took authority over them in His name is a little perplexing. I mean, why would He say that He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven? What does this have to do with what they said to Him?
 
Well, the event Jesus was referring to here was when Satan, being an angel in heaven named Lucifer, tried to rebel against God because his heart was lifted up in pride to be like Him. The Scriptures teach us that he was able to deceive a third of the angels in heaven to war against the Lord of hosts.
 
And can you imagine how that went down? Jesus told us right here what happened when He said that He was there to witness Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Now as we know, when it comes to lightning if you blink, you’ll miss it.
 
So, this shows us that if we were to have ordered this so-called “War in the Heavenlies” on pay per view, then we wouldn’t have gotten our money’s worth. LOL! It was no match, whatsoever! Just like when He was being accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub, Jesus said that He was casting them out by the “finger of God” (Luke 11:20).
 
So here is what I imagine happened. Lucifer and all his angels ganged up, roaring as they came against the Most High God and the Lord just simply “flicked” him with his finger and the devil fell like lightning from heaven!
 
No, don’t be deceived, brethren! This wasn’t like the main event at Wrestlemania, where you get a good back and forth 20-minute match! No, if you would have paid to see this, the only thing you would have been impressed by was the knock-out ability of our God! Hallelujah!
 
So, I believe that Jesus was attempting to communicate to His disciples that what they had experienced was not as spectacular and miraculous as they thought. Why? Because He saw Satan lose His place of authority when He was cast out of heaven some time before that. In other words, it was really no big deal that the demons were responding to His name—because their leader had already been cast out of heaven before by that same authority! Amen!
 
Then in verse 19, Jesus gives His disciples an awesome statement that reinforces what they had just experienced through His name: He said in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
 
First of all, notice the word “Behold” that Jesus begins this statement with. This word is very significant in that it reveals to us the tone in which Jesus was saying this in: The word “Behold” literally means to “Look” but in all actuality, it means to look with an exclamation point on it (i.e., Look!). So, it is a word of emphasis, similarly to how if we saw something exciting about to happen, we would raise our voice and say, “Look at that!”
 
So, with this word prefacing what Jesus was about to say, we can see that Jesus was wanting His disciples to see something exciting. In other words, since they were already jubilant regarding the demons being subject to them, Jesus was basically saying, “Hey guys! If that floats your boat, check this out…!!!” Praise God!
 
You see, this is a good example of the “gospel”—for while the gospel is simply and most commonly defined as “good news,” it is a very unique word that means not just good news, but news too good to be true! In other words, it is “over the top good news,” “news that exceeds expectations” and “good news that don’t get any gooder than this.” Amen! 
 
And the first piece of this exciting, too good to be true, news was— “I give you the authority …”
 
Church, do not be mistaken—the authority that we have in Christ is not a wage that is earned; our authority is a gift that this given. In other words, like our salvation, redemption and sanctification, our authority is not something that we can work for. It is yet another product of the grace of God in our lives! Amen!     
 
Now I know that the older King James version uses the word “power” here, but again, the more literal translation would be “authority” because the Greek word exousia is used. So we are, in fact, talking about the authority that we have in Christ’s name here—which is (again) “the channel through which this power operates.” 
 
So, what has Jesus graciously given us the authority to do? He starts off by saying, “to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy …”
 
Now, first of all, notice the word “trample” here: Does that sound like we are struggling with something or are wrestling with it? No, for us to “trample” on something denotes that we are far above and bigger than the thing we are trampling upon! Amen?
 
Again, this is why we are told that all things are under His feet—because we are His body, and all the power of the enemy is to be trampled on by Christ’s church! Amen!
 
Now it is important to note that these “serpents and scorpions” that Jesus spoke of here fell under that category of the “creeping things that creep upon the face of the earth.” And we learned earlier in this series that we have been given authority over all these creeping things!
 
You see, the Word of God used physical creatures such as “serpents and scorpions” (Compare “cobras and lions” in Psalm 91:13) as examples to illustrate how these natural things that were considered harmful to them in their day wouldn’t even be able to hurt them. In the geographic area that they lived in, snakes and scorpions were two of those most common things that hurt and killed people. So, Jesus was using these two “creeping things”—not as an exhaustive list of things that they would be protected from—but as examples of their authority to trample on anything that is hurtful in the natural. 
 
But then Jesus didn’t stop with these harmful things of this physical world. He then adds- “…and over all the power of the enemy.” So now He is covering all that is harmful in the spiritual as well. Amen!
 
The word “power” here is actually a good translation as it comes from the Greek word dunamis. So, Jesus is saying here that His disciples (His seventy) had been given authority over all the power or ability of the enemy. Therefore, there is no spiritual force that has the power or authority to hurt us as well. Amen to that!  
 
Finally, Jesus went on to say, “and nothing shall by any means hurt you!”
 
Nothing! Nothing harmful in this natural realm! Nothing harmful in the spiritual realm! Nothing shall by any means hurt or harm us! Glory to God! And the words “by any means” is an emphatic “no, not at all” in the original Greek language. This means that Jesus was saying, “Nothing! I mean nothing at all, will in any way hurt you.”
 
This is why we see in Mark 16:18 that listed in the middle of all of these signs that will follow the believer is “… they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them ...”
 
This, of course, does not mean that we are to start handling snakes or drinking strychnine for fun. No, that would be tempting God and be simply foolish. All it means is that, for example, if we happen to be bit by a poisonous snake doing the Lord’s work like the apostle Paul was on the Island of Malta in Acts 28:1-6, that we will “suffer no harm” (Acts 28:5). Amen.
 
Now another qualification to this is our faith in this truth. For example, if you are fearful and do not trust in this promise, it certainly might harm you. Just as when the apostle Paul had this viper fasten on his hand, he didn’t panic! He simply shook the viper off in the fire and went about his business. How could he respond this way? It was because He understood this truth—that nothing shall by any means hurt or harm him! Amen!   
 
So basically, what Jesus was saying here was that He has given us authority over both our natural and spiritual enemies. It doesn’t matter if we get bit by a copperhead snake or if we accidently drink something poisonous! It doesn’t matter if the devil sends a spirit of infirmity to cling on us or any other spiritual affliction! We have authority over all things that would attempt to harm us, both spiritually and naturally, according to Jesus! None of it has the right to hurt us! Amen!
 
REJOICE IN THIS
 
But I want to conclude this message today with Jesus’ “nevertheless” in verse 20: In Luke 10:20 Jesus said, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
 
Jesus then brought a different perspective to His disciples. Again, we’ve seen how they had returned with joy over the fact that the demons were subject to them. But here we see Jesus, in essence, saying to them— “Don’t get excited about the fact that evil spirits have to obey you, but rather get excited about the fact that your name is written in heaven.” Amen!
 
Saints, there is a great spiritual principle contained in this: Do not let your joy be rooted in simply getting results! Why? Because what if you fail to get results? Are you going to lose your joy then? Well, if you are deriving your joy from the fruit you experience, your joy will be up and down.
 
You see, our joy & rejoicing must always be based in what God has already done for us by grace. These are things that can never be taken away from us. Therefore, when our joy is rooted and grounded in this, the devil cannot steal our joy through fluctuating circumstances. And if the devil cannot steal your joy, he cannot steal your goods either. Amen! 
 
Church, having our name written in heaven means that we have gained citizenship in heaven and, through gaining our citizenship in heaven, we have authority over devils along with many other benefits as well. Therefore, having our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life is the source of all those other spiritual privileges that we have which includes authority over demons.
 
You see, Jesus started out by saying that He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven and then ended by telling us that we shouldn’t get excited that demons are subject to us, but we should get excited that our names are written in heaven. Therefore, He spoke of where Satan fell from and where we are elevated to, heaven—which is the King’s castle, the ultimate place of authority and dominion!
 
So, Jesus wanted His disciples to focus on the root of their authority rather than the fruit of their authority. The root is that we are the children of the King; the fruit is that we get to rule and reign as the King’s kids. Amen!
 
Romans 5:17 says, “For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” 
 
The word “reign” means “to rule and reign as kings”. Where are we supposed to rule and reign as kings? In life! Friends, understanding the “abundance of grace”, which is “God’s willingness to use His power on our behalf even though we don’t deserve it” and understanding “the free gift of righteousness,” which is right standing with God at no cost to us, we can truly rule and reign in this present evil age as kings!  
 
Do you want this to be true for you today? Well, if you are in Christ, it is true for you. Now you just must believe that it is yours because you are Christ’s.
 
This is why we need this spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him to enlighten the eyes of our heart. We need our eyes opened to this wonderful and glorious truth of the power and authority that is ours in Christ Jesus! We need to know that this power is the very power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead! We need to know that Christ has been given the name above every other name and is now seated far above all the principalities, powers, might and dominion!
 
All of this is our reality in Christ all because, as we believe on the name of the Lord, our names are written and registered in heaven, and we are positionally seated together with Christ at the right hand of God. Yes, all of this authority is now ours through the power of His resurrection! Amen!   
 
Therefore, we can rejoice with exceedingly great joy, knowing that our names are written in heaven, and we have been registered among those who have the name above all names, Jesus!
 
So, I ask you today: Is your name written in heaven? Is your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Are you recognized in heaven as being Christ’s very own?
 
My friend, this is the only way to go to heaven and it is the only way to experience heaven on earth. This is where all of our authority, power and dominion is rooted—by being raised together with Christ! So why would you live another day not knowing whether or not you are known by God? Be raised up to a new life in Him today and begin to partake of the fruit of His authority! Amen!
 
CONCLUSION
 
Saints, I can assure you—the enemy has and will fight this subject tooth and nail because He understands that the believer who knows their authority in Christ is the biggest threat to His kingdom.
 
You see, the devil doesn’t want Christians to learn about the authority that was given to them because he wants to continue to control and dominate our lives whenever and however he wants to. He knows that the believer who understands and walks in their God-given authority is one less Christian that he can walk over.
 
So, this is why he will fight this subject so intensely—because he cannot have his way in our lives anymore when we find out that he is under our feet. We have the right to dominate him and to enjoy total victory every time.
 
Church, as I’ve said over and over, I believe this topic is one of the most important and misunderstood subjects in church today. Religion has taught us a lie that we are weak & powerless and are simply living subject to whatever God wills for our lives. But this is simply not true. We have authority over what happens on this planet and if the enemy is running rampant over the earth, it’s not God’s fault; it’s mankind’s and especially the church’s fault.
 
Saints, we’ve been given all the keys to the kingdom of heaven! We have the new birth! We have the Holy Spirit! We have the Name of Jesus! We have it ALL! It’s time we use it to push back the kingdom of darkness and see His kingdom come and His will be done on the earth as it is in heaven! Amen!

REVIEW
 
Recently, we began looking at how we are to use the same authority that Christ Jesus has and do the same things He did in His name. And what we did was we studied what it truly means to do things in His name.
 
You see, as we made the point of last week, this issue of doing & saying things “in the name of Jesus” has been a topic of great misunderstanding in the Body of Christ. Most Christians believe that to pray in Jesus’ name is simply to tack on “in Jesus’ name” to the end of their prayer and to cast out demons in Jesus’ name is to bombard those evil spirits with a bunch of “in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ name!”
 
Church, we need to understand that doing things “in the name of” someone else does not simply mean to tack on the phrase “in the name of …” to the end of a statement. It means more than that. We saw that it is more of us acting in the Lord’s place, stead, or authority as we’ve seen in our example. Therefore, it is not just tacking on some magic words to the things we say, pray, or do, but it is actually doing these things “in the place” of the Lord Jesus, as His representative. In other words, it is being cognizant of the fact that every word we say and every work that we do is to be done as His representatives, His ambassadors and His soldiers. Amen. 
 
We then looked at Acts chapter 3 at one of the great examples we have of this—which just happens to be the first healing / miracle we have in the Book of Acts. And we saw how it was faith in the name of Jesus that gave that crippled man perfect soundness on that day. Likewise, our faith in the name of Jesus will bring this perfect soundness in our lives and in the lives of those we minister to. Amen?
 
So while we looked specifically at doing these things in His name a couple of weeks ago, I want us to now look more into both saying & praying things in His name.
 
SAYING IN THE NAME OF JESUS
 
You see, church, as we learned from in the story of the Centurion, when one understands this subject of authority, they will understand that simple commands like “Go & Come” or “Do this & Do that” are enough to see mountains moved. That’s because there is indeed power in the tongue—to both create life and to bring destruction. And when we speak from that position of authority even the simplest of commands get results.
 
But what we find in the Body of Christ is that most believers only respect the power of prayer to move mountains and have zero revelation that their faith-filled words can move mountains as well. In other words, there is time to pray, and there is a time to say. And far too many times we are praying to God about the obstacles in our life, begging Him to do something about them. But the Lord said that we are to speak to the mountain. Let’s look over at Mark chapter 11 …
 
We know the story: how Jesus cursed the fig tree, and then when they passed back the next day, they saw it dried up from the roots. So, when Peter said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away,” Jesus answered with— “Don’t try this at home … because I am the Son of God, and you are not…” No, that’s not what He said! He answered with— “Have faith in God!” Now the literal rendering in the Greek language says, “Have God’s faith.” So, while it is certainly important for us to put our faith in the Lord, and that absolutely has its place, Jesus was telling us to have faith like God has it. In other words, have His very own faith and practice it like He does. Amen!
 
Then, Jesus goes on to further explain how we have the faith of God by saying in verse 23, “For assuredly (Now that means that you can be confident in this. It’s a sure thang!), I say to you, whosoever says to this mountain (So, we see here that we are not talking to God about the mountain; this is us talking to the mountain itself), ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” Notice that in this verse, the word “says” is mentioned three-times, and the believing aspect is only mentioned one. I believe that this means that the saying part is super significant.
 
So, in Mark 11:23-24, we see Jesus teaching us that speaking to the mountain when we pray is a valid part of the Christian life. But what I find most Christians doing at best is talking to God about their mountain in a spirit of fear and desperation. Church, that is neither saying or praying in His name.
 
No, we have to learn that there is a time to, as the Lord told Ezekiel, prophesy the dry bones around us. There is time to speak to the storms of life like Jesus did when He stilled the raging seas. And yes, there is a time to speak to the other obstacles (i.e. mountains) that are in our path like Jesus did—things like fevers, fig trees, etc. 
 
But it’s not just about saying things; it’s saying them in His name. And that’s where a lot of people fail. They are not declaring these things from that standpoint of confidence, knowing in whose place they are saying them. Therefore, there’s usually not a lot of boldness in what they are confessing. Sure, they are saying the right thing, but what we say is not always as important as how we say it.
 
Take water baptism for instance: You know, a lot of people get hung up on what name we use when we water baptize people. But the truth of the matter is that is just being religious and ignorant. You know why? Because it is not just about what we say when we put someone under water. It is what name—place, authority, and stead—we are baptizing people in. In other words, is the person being water baptized truly identifying with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection? Is the person doing the water baptizing understanding the same? That’s what is important, saints—not simply what we utter in that sacred event.
 
Now I do believe it’s important to say HIS name when we do this, but there are a lot of people who have both water baptized people and been water baptized themselves who did not understand what I am talking to you about today, and because of that, they might have missed one of the most important parts of water baptism.
 
AUTHORITY TO PRAY
 
Now we’ve spent a little time talking about the authority we have to make professions & declarations, but I believe it is important to understand something else … Not only do we have the authority to “say,” we also have the authority to “pray.”
 
You see, I think sometimes those of us who start getting this revelation of the authority we have in Christ Jesus can get into the ditch of only confessing things and devalue the role prayer has. Let me explain …
 
In our modern day charismatic, word of faith circles and grace camps, I believe we have taken certain truths (that are indeed truths) and developed unscriptural doctrines out of them. Yes, within the past few decades, we have increased in our understanding that we are not waiting on God to do anything. We have come to find out that He has already done everything He is going to do through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And while these are truths that need to be understood, we have somehow minimized the importance of prayers and supplications at the same time. We have not learned to balance the asking part with the believing part.
 
In most of the radical teachings that have come out concerning faith and grace, it is implied that asking is unbelief because you are somehow not believing He has already done it. But if that were true, then that would nullify countless Scriptures in the New Testament that specifically tell us to ask. Let me give you just a few of them …
 

• “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11 & Luke 11:9-13)
• “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19)
• “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22)
• “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24)
• “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7)
• “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;” (Colossians 1:9)
• “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5-6)
• “Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2b-3)
• “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22)
• “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

 
Now that is quite a few New Testament Scriptures concerning asking, isn’t it? So it is apparent that it is certainly appropriate to ask for some things while it is also true that speaking to the mountain has it’s place.
 
WHY ASK?
 
But I think a good question to ask is—why is asking even necessary? Like, for example, in Matthew 6:8, Jesus says, “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
 
You see, a good question is—If God already knows what we have need of before we ask Him, then why do we even have to ask? Why doesn’t He just do it? This is a good question, and one that we need to understand in our charismatic circles …
 
But it’s important to understand that the Greek word used for “ask” has several different derivatives in its definition such as “to beg, request, plead, desire, crave, and demand.” So, you can see from this definition that asking can mean anything from “begging” to “demanding.”
 
Now biblical asking is not in any way “begging or pleading.” We are told to ask in faith, which is being firmly convinced that what you are asking for is God’s will and/or that He loves you enough to give you the desires of your heart. To “beg” God is a totally unscriptural and ineffective way of asking.
 
On the other hand, when we ask we are not to get in the other ditch and start demanding things from God like we are bossing Him around. Some have gotten over into this and are void of honor and respect for their God. While it is Scriptural and necessary to remind God of what He has said (not that He has forgotten, but because it is good for us), we are not to do it in a disrespectful manner.
 
So where is the balance? We are to ask in faith—understanding the will and heart of our Heavenly Father, but we are also to ask in a humble and respectful way because He is our God as well as our Father. 
 
With all of this said, the basic meaning of this Greek word for “ask” is what you normally think of when you think of “asking.” As a matter of fact, if you look up every time this Greek word is used in the New Testament, you will find that in instances in the Gospels and the Book of Acts it just simply meant to make a request. I say all of this lest we try and over-think what this word “really” means in order to back up our pet doctrines. It means what you would think it means.
 
So, since we have a scriptural precedence for “asking” under the New Testament, we need to ask ourselves some questions: When is it appropriate to ask? What are we supposed to ask for? How do we ask for it?
 
So, let’s start by answering the question that we started out this teaching with: Why do we have to ask? The reason why we need to ask even though God already knows what we have need of before we ask is because it is a matter of legalities. Let me briefly explain …
 
As we have seen already, when God created this world He then delegated His authority to the first man, Adam. Psalms states that the heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth has He given to the sons of men. Adam, through willful disobedience, handed over that authority to the enemy, but Jesus came to win back that authority for all of those who are in Him. So, God, through Jesus Christ, has freely given to the church His authority. And since He has given us the dominion on the earth, it is up to us to see His will come to pass on the earth. He has set it up so that if His will is going to come to pass it will have to come to pass through human beings. Therefore, things come to pass that are His will when physical human beings exercise their right to ask, demand, and command. This is why we must ask for things. It’s because God has put us in the driver’s seat. Tell me He’s not a faith God.
 
In Matthew 18:18, Jesus told us that whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And if you look at the following verse, prayer is the understood subject.
 
So, from this we can see the authority that has been freely given to us by God on this earth. Whatever is bound on earth is what will be bound in heaven. Whatever we loose on earth is what will be loosed in heaven. Notice that in both cases, Jesus starts with what we bind & loose on earth and then heaven follows suit. This is how God has set it up! He has given us the authority on the earth and so whatever we bind and loose through prayer is what will be bound and loosed in heaven.
 
You see, when Jesus said, “Knock and it shall be opened to you” He was showing us this same principle: We have to knock in order for the doors to be opened. Why doesn’t God just open doors on His own? Why do we have to knock first? It is because of this structure of authority God has set up on the earth …  
 
Another good question then is—Why would He have set things up this way? I believe one of the main reasons is because it is simply His nature to do this.
 
You see, God is the epitome of a gentleman. This is demonstrated the best in the fact that He has given us the free will that He has. God is not one to intrude and make anybody do anything they don’t want to do. Therefore, He wants us to invite Him into our lives. He wants us to invite Him to do what He already desires to do for us. You see, God’s greatest desire is to be desired. And one of the greatest ways that we invite Him is through simply asking (or you could say petitioning Him).
 
So this is why asking is necessary. It’s because God has given the authority over this earth to the sons of men. Therefore, He desires to be invited by His creation—both by us speaking things into existence and asking for God to do the things we cannot do. So, saying (i.e. confessing, declaring, prophesying, etc.) is no substitute for praying.
 
So, when we pray, yes, we need to go into it knowing our need for God, but we are also supposed to be going into it from this authority mentality to where we understand that God needs our participation too. Amen? Yes, He needs us to ask, guys! 
 
PRAYING IN HIS NAME
 
So I’m here to tell you today that prayer is also a gift of this authority that we are learning about—particularly when you look at the correct protocol for prayer.
 
Just look at the Model Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 (or, the Lord’s Prayer, as many call it): In that example that Jesus gave answering His disciples’ request to teach them how to pray, we see how authority in intertwined in many of those things.
 
For example, the very first requests that Jesus taught us to make are— “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Again, why would the Lord teach us to request this? Isn’t God the One who determines when, where, and how His kingdom will come on earth? Isn’t it totally up to Him whether His will is done here as well? No, this is what religion teaches us, but simply by virtue of the fact that Jesus taught His disciples to request this shows that we evidently have a part to play in how, when, and where His kingdom comes and His will is done. Amen? 
 
But we can also see the authority we have in prayer by understanding the correct protocol of prayer: Didn’t Jesus teach us in the New Testament that prayer is to be offered up to the Father “in His name”? Let’s look at a few Scriptures …  
 
In John 16:23-24, Jesus said that in that day, we will ask Him nothing, but whatever we ask the Father in His name, will be given to us. And in John 14:13-14, Jesus said that He will do whatever we ask in His name. And finally, in John 15:15-16, Jesus said that He was no longer calling us “servants,” but “friends.” And because of Him choosing and appointing us as His friends, we are commissioned to go forth and bear fruit—receiving whatever we ask the Father in His name.
 
So all of these Scriptures that revolve around prayer and petition place a great emphasis on praying “in His name,” right? And we understand that praying in the name of Jesus is not simply to add His name to the end of our prayers. Rather, it is us praying to the Father with the understanding that we are praying in Jesus’ place, in His stead, in His authority. In other words, we are praying to our Heavenly Father from the standpoint of it essentially being like Jesus Himself were the One doing the praying. This teaches us the importance of prayer and petition being done “in His place, as His representative, and through His authority.” Therefore, a major key to seeing answers to our prayers is understanding whose place we are approaching God in, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
You see, if I approach God with things like, “God, I know I’ve screwed up. I am unworthy and undeserving, and I know I am low down dirty worm, but I just ask …” Well, I just prefaced my petition by approaching God “in my name,” not “in His name.” Why? Because I came to Him talking about who I was and what I had done. No, saints, we need to approach God “in Christ’s name” by talking about all that He is and what He has done. Now, this does not mean that we always have to rehearse all that He has done every time we pray, but simply that we come to Him with the mindset that it’s all about who we are through His blood and His Spirit. Amen?
 
So when I am praying, I don’t say the phrase “in Jesus name, I pray …” for my own benefit—like it’s some magic phrase that makes my prayers work. If I am doing that, then I am not praying in Christ’s name. No, most of the time the reason we want to add Jesus’ name to things we are praying & saying is for those around us. For example, when Peter & John healed the man at the beautiful gate, they told the man to rise up and walk “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Have you ever wondered why they added that Jesus was “of Nazareth”? It’s not that adding those two words is going to cause the miracle to happen. No, it was because those around them needed to know that the One they were doing this in the place of was from Nazareth. In other words, since these were Jews, knowing which “Yeshua” they were representing was important.
 
So my point is that more often than not, using the words in the name of Jesus is done for the person we are ministering to and for those witnessing it. But it really doesn’t need to be done for us—unless of course we need to remind ourselves whose name we praying in.
 
You see, I personally like to include in my prayers a time of praise & thanksgiving for all that Jesus has done for me by His grace. I like to say something to the affect of— “Father, I come to You in the grace of Your Son, where His blood has cleansed me and I have been clothed in His righteousness. Thank You Father for all that I have in Him and for all I can do in Him. This is the name I am praying in …” I do this because I like reminding myself that this is grace, mercy, and favor is what I am praying in and not anything else. Amen?    
 
So praying in the name of Jesus is obviously an important aspect of our authority. Amen? We must understand whose authority we are asking in. We need to know whose place we are approaching the Father in. Failing to understand this can result in us praying in another name, and that doesn’t get results.
 
So, church, let’s make sure we do everything we do in His name and not in our own. This understanding whose authority we are praying & saying in is critical to seeing the results when we speak. Amen.