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“But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose
senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to
discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good
and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or
human law.” (Hebrews 5:14 AMP)
All that glitters, is not gold and Christians are not immune
to fool’s gold. Satan counterfeits all the ways one hears
the Lord. Sometimes one can swallow a fish hook or take a
wooden nickel because of ignorance, not realizing that he is
NOT naturally immune just because he is a Christian. We
cannot be in the last days of His outpouring without
accepting we have an enemy of our soul who does not want us
to know God. We must resist and overcome this interference
to know the Lord. The way has been provided, but it is not
without obstacles.
We would like to bury our hearts in the Lord, and pretend
the enemy lives on another planet. But it is interesting
that the scriptures, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the
devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He
will draw near to you...” are placed back to back.
(James 4:7,8 NASB) As He pours forth His Holy Spirit upon
mankind in a more intimate way, the enemy will be working
overtime as well.
In these last days, the world will be exposed to the
supernatural in a greater measure; the supernatural of God,
and the supernatural of satan. Bible-believing Christians
will need to go into this time with their eyes open.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
(Matthew 10:16 NKJV)
God’s supernatural outpouring:
“And it will come about after this that I will pour out
My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will
prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men
will see visions. And even on thee and and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28,29
NASB)
False supernatural outpouring:
“For false Christ’s and false prophets will arise and
will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if
possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24 NASB) “Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name
cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:22,23
NASB)
This is the ending of an era and the speed of God’s time
frame is greatly increasing. “Behold, the days come,
says the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the
reaper...” (Amos 9:13 KJ) Vast numbers of souls will
be planted in salvation as He rains His Presence upon
mankind. Those who are newly born will grow rapidly.
Established Christians will have an even closer relationship
with Him.
Never on the face of this earth will humanity be exposed to
so much, in so little time. This will happen for two
reasons: the pouring forth of His Presence, and His shaking
of the earth. (Hebrews 12:25-29) Because everything that
can be shaken will be shaken, Christians need a solid
foundation of how God speaks and how to discern the
supernatural. In the process, God’s already established
ones, waiting and prepared, will be used as His vessels to
touch a disturbed world. His newly planted seeds will
change into His image at an accelerated pace. With great
joy, the Lord will receive His harvest. (James 5:7)
The supernatural will draw many, and they will run after it
for the wrong reasons. “IT” is emphasized, because “it” is
an experience. Experiencing or hearing about the
supernatural, arouses curiosity and intrigue which has a
strong drawing power of its own. Christians are not to be
running after the “it” — the supernatural experience.
Rather, the supernatural will follow what they have
sought — the love for Jesus Christ as they boldly speak His
Word: “And these signs shall follow them that
believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover... and
they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working
with them, and confirming the word with signs following.”
(Mark 16:17-18,20 KJ)
In spite of the warning not to run after the supernatural
for the fascinating, intriguing experience, we as Christians
are told to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. “But
covet earnestly the best gifts: (1 Corinthians 12:31 KJ)
That word covet earnestly in the Greek is translated to
be zealous and jealous over. It comes from words meaning to
burn with zeal, to be heated or to boil. Coveting the gifts
seems like a contradiction to the warning of not running
after the supernatural. The difference is the purpose and
motive.
A gift is meant to give away, to share unselfishly with
someone else. The gifts are not meant to exalt man as the
vessel to display power and super strength. Rather the Lord
wants us to be gifted so that we may serve and be a gift to
draw others into a deeper committed relationship with
Himself. The supernatural is not just for show. It does
display His awesome power, but He intends to go somewhere
with it. And that intent is to show that He is a personal
God and wants to be involved in our lives.
For those gifted ones, the supernatural will be a part of
their lives simply because His Spirit is going to rain!
They will be pursuing HIM, not the “sparkle” of the
supernatural. The Lord’s supernatural is like the glitter
on the outside of His package: it shines! The outside
package is only wrapping. We don’t pursue the wrapping, we
pursue what’s inside. He is our gift. We want HIM.
Part of the process of discernment is learning to make
accurate decisions about what you are exposed to without
being impulsive, rash, judgmental or critical: but with
careful prayer, thought, consideration, and TIME. It is
good to make a decision. The Lord is bringing the earth into
a time when it’s TIME TO MAKE A DECISION. (Joel 3:14) Much
of the population today is choosing sides in response to
moral and ethical issues. What we have already seen
politically, spiritually, and physically is only one small
drop of what is to come.
We are at the end of an age when both God and satan want a
commitment one way or another. Some of God’s people have
been riding the yellow line for a long time, afraid to voice
an opinion, or make a stand about what they believe. They
have taken the middle of the road approach to avoid
confrontations and ruffle as few feathers as possible to get
through life in one piece! The yellow line hasn’t been a
problem because there hasn’t been much traffic. However,
the traffic in both directions is now increasing and the guy
in the middle is going to get crunched. The pace is
accelerating. Because of the great shaking, the fence
straddlers are going to be forced to make decisions about
what they believe one way or another.
The Lord’s supernatural outpouring is going to break and/or
shake up man’s religious boxes as to Who He is. There are
many ways man boxes God. One way is by interpreting the
Bible to say God intended the supernatural to die with the
early Apostles. Man will be confronted with a choice of
removing the box and allowing God to reveal Himself as He
chooses. Or, he may not be included in the blessings of the
pouring forth of the latter rain of God’s Spirit.
Have you ever been in a belly-gusher rain? One time we had
a deep, very loud, and overwhelming downpour. The gutters
overran and our cat Cuddle’s, kitty pillow and blanket were
drenched. I think it scared Cuddles, as after I washed and
dried her bed (without offending soap or softeners) she
would not come back and rest. She was sleeping somewhere
else in the neighborhood and coming back to eat. It really
bothered me and I kept praying that she would return and
find her place of comfort.
Finally I came up with an idea. Whenever my son got her
towel out and placed it on his lap, she came running! So I
told him to also get her clean blanket that was on top of
her pillow, and sneak it in with the towel so she could get
her smell on it. He did this and she loved her time with my
son. Then he placed her on her pillow with her blanket.
The next day she was contentedly sleeping there.
The point of the allegory is that sometimes the supernatural
rain of the Lord upsets our security as we are frail human
beings. We become unstable and need to return to our
resting place. The Lord wants to build in you a secure
foundation and He understands. He will do His best to bring
you to that place of security, that safe place of faith in
Him.
People can go through a sifting process when they are
learning to discern the supernatural. They really desire
God and earnestly want to make the correct choices. However
the inability to make the decision causes the wavering to
become intense. So many have already been sifted in their
hearing and led astray because of lack of knowledge. To
keep from being sifted, a firm foundation is needed in
reading the Bible and understanding Who God is. The things
that God speaks will always line up with Who He is, so if
you earnestly desire God and come across something that
shakes a box inside you, PRAY about it, and ask HIM. If you
are insecure about what you’ve been exposed to, go to Him
and He will establish you. He will help you find Him and
make the decisions that are correct.
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