Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
— 1 Corinthians 3:16

When we first started our church in Moscow in the year 2000, God moved supernaturally in our church’s midst, and our congregation miraculously began to grow by leaps and bounds. It wasn’t long before the auditorium we had rented was filled to maximum capacity, and we still needed room for more people. So we rented a bigger auditorium — but once again, soon we were at capacity. This happened again and again over the years.

In addition, because our church membership was growing so rapidly, it soon meant we needed a larger office to accommodate the business end of things, and so the search began. After a period of looking, we finally secured an office in an ideal location. It was directly in the center of downtown Moscow — a two-minute walk from the Bolshoi Theatre and a short seven-minute walk from Red Square. You couldn’t get any closer to the heart of the city than this location. It was ideal in every way!

Because of the building’s prime location, I knew that many high-ranking visitors would come to this office to meet with our ministry. Therefore, our space needed to be decorated professionally and beautifully to make a first-class impression of the Gospel on every person who entered that office. To this end, Denise and I worked hard to choose the perfect wallpaper, carpet, and furniture to adorn our church office. Finally, the day came when the interior decorating work was to commence on the new office. The first work to be done that day was to hang the wallpaper Denise and I had so carefully chosen. We were so excited to see how it would transform the “look” of that office!

The reception area was the first room in our office to be wallpapered. This was the most important part of our office because it was where people’s first impressions of our ministry would be made. Many people in this region of the world have historically ridiculed people of faith, so it was essential to us that our guests associate excellence with the name of Jesus Christ as they entered our reception area. Therefore, we chose an elegant, intricate, floral-patterned wall covering for that space, and we knew it would take a real master to hang it correctly.

The person we chose to hang the wallpaper was a woman from our congregation who maintained that she was such a master at the craft. She had even volunteered to do the job and to do it for free as a gift to the church, and we were delighted. I met her at the office and showed her the wallpaper, and she got started. I left the site because I had a meeting in another part of the city, assuming this “master” would do a beautiful job. However, when I returned to see what she had done, I was shocked!

She had hung a lot of paper and had done it very quickly, but none of the patterns from strip to strip matched each other. I was so stunned that for a few moments, I was literally speechless.

She asked me, “How do you like my job?”

I regained my composure and replied, “Do you realize none of the patterns match?” She said, “Oh, you wanted the patterns to match? Why didn’t you tell me?”

I told her, “When I heard you were a professional paper hanger, I assumed you would know to match the patterns of each strip. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to take it down and start all over again.”

On her second attempt, she matched the patterns, but this time the wallpaper was very visibly crooked. As I explained to her that this room would be a reception for very important guests and the wallpaper couldn’t be crooked, she said, “But if you look at it like this, it doesn’t look crooked.” With that, she tilted her head sideways and framed the crooked wallpaper between her hands. She said, “If you tilt your head and look at it like this, it looks normal. See?”

I was astounded that she would try to tell me that it would look normal if I would just cock my head to the left. I replied, “People won’t walk into this office and cock their heads sideways so the wallpaper will look normal. People will walk in here standing upright, as people do, and they will think this wallpaper looks crooked and crazy. Please tear it down, and I’ll find someone else to properly hang the paper.”

When I instructed this woman to rip the paper off the walls, I heard people gasping. A staff member privately suggested, “Pastor, this wallpaper is expensive. What if we just paint it and forget about it? Does it really have to be torn off the walls a second time? Do you really think anyone will notice that it’s crooked? Can’t we just leave the way it is instead of losing money?”

I finally had to walk over to the wall and begin tearing the paper off myself — as everyone around me gazed in shock. The sound of expensive paper being ripped from the walls filled the ears of all who stood by. Piece by piece, the wallpaper fell to the ground. When I saw people staring in disbelief at what I was doing, I turned and explained to them, “This room is designed for guests. Nothing less than our best is acceptable. I want every person who enters this room to sense that we care about them and have prepared a place for them that is special and shows them respect.”

That day my staff finally realized how important it was to me that we do our best to make guests feel honored and welcomed. But as important as it was for me to treat the guests of our ministry with respect, it is far more important that we do our very best to make God welcome in our lives.

In First Corinthians 3:16, the apostle Paul wrote, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” This word “dwelleth” is the Greek word oikeo, which denotes a house. However, the word oikeo as used by Paul in this verse means to dwell in or to take up residency in a house. This means God is not like a guest who comes and goes. Rather, when a person repents and comes to Christ, God’s Spirit moves in and takes up residence. In other words, that newly saved believer’s heart becomes the Holy Spirit’s permanent home.

When a believer first accepts Christ as his Lord and Savior, there are areas in his life that need to be healed, restored, and changed. By walking in obedience to the Word of God and learning to serve in the local church, a person’s mind can become conformed to the mind of Christ, and his life can gradually become transformed to reflect the excellence of Jesus Christ. However, for these changes to occur in a person’s life, it requires his complete participation. These kinds of changes don’t occur without hard work, commitment, and determination to make one’s heart a place where God feels honored.

Never forget that God’s Spirit — the Spirit of holiness — now lives inside you. What are you doing to make Him feel welcome? Are you allowing the crooked and mismatched places of your life to remain unchecked, or are you doing your best to rip them away, one piece at a time, so you can make your heart a place that shows God honor and respect?

It’s great that we do so much to make guests feel welcomed in our homes, churches, or offices. But think about how much more important it is that we build our lives in such a way that conveys to God just how thankful we are that He dwells in our hearts!

God has moved into your heart and made it His permanent home. Don’t you think you should “hang the wallpaper” in your heart in such a way that it shows Him how happy and honored you are that He is there?

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I thank You for coming to live permanently in my heart. What a miracle it is that You would want to live in someone like me. I am amazed and dumbfounded by this great act of grace — and my heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness that You have chosen to make my heart Your home. I know that I have a lot of areas in my life that need attention, and I’m asking You to give me the grace and power to deal with each of these areas one step at a time. Without Your help, I can’t change myself. But with Your grace working inside me, I can be conformed to think with the mind of Christ, and my behavior can be transformed to reflect the character of Christ. I thank You in advance for helping me get rid of all the crooked and mismatched places in my soul so I can become a dwelling place where You are comfortable to abide.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I obey the instructions of the Holy Spirit as He guides me to correct all the crooked and mismatched places in my mind, my soul, and my character. God’s Spirit lives in me, and He is giving me the insight, wisdom, and strength to peel flawed areas away from my life so I can become a shining example of what Jesus desires His people to be. By myself I cannot change. But thank God, the Holy Spirit who lives within gives me the power to confront every area of my life that needs to be brought into alignment with His perfect will. His strength is MY strength to make wrong things right. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, as He continually helps me become all that He wants me to be!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of specific parts of your life that are intolerable and hurtful to God’s Spirit, but that you have allowed to continue in your life? What are the areas in your life that you know are wrong and God is asking you to change? Why don’t you make a list of these areas and keep it nearby so you can be reminded of the changes you need to implement as you pray each day?
2. What do you do in your life that especially makes God feel welcomed, honored, and respected?
3. If you were God and were looking for a heart that made you feel welcomed, honored, and respected, what qualities would you be looking for that let you know you were truly wanted?

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
— 1 Corinthians 3:6,7

When I was growing up, my pastor, Brother Post, was like a hero to me. He was a master Bible teacher who taught the Word of God with intelligence, conviction, and passion. His intense enthusiasm for the Bible deeply affected me, and I am certain that my love for the Word of God today and my desire to mine the Greek New Testament for these Sparkling Gems is directly connected to the way he taught me the Bible.

Wednesday night church services were my favorite because that was when Brother Post would dig deep into the Word and feed us richly! However, I must admit that I also loved Wednesday nights because our church hosted a supper for the entire congregation each week before the service began — and at those dinners, we got to eat Bobbie Jo’s awesome shiny, butter-covered rolls! Bobbie Jo was our church cook, and no one made bigger, better, or more delicious rolls than Bobbie Jo!

Each week as Wednesday drew near, I grew so excited to think I would soon be eating those big fluffy rolls! I’d consume as many as I could before my parents would rebuke me for eating too much. Then I’d head across the street with a full stomach to the church building for the Wednesday night service where Brother Post would fill my spiritual stomach with masterful, thoughtful, in-depth teaching from the Word of God.

Brother Post was the only Bible teacher I personally knew until I attended college as a young man. There is no way to exaggerate the biblical foundation that he laid in my life. During my college years, I was exposed to other wonderful Bible teachers, and not long after I left the university, I took a position as an associate pastor in a large Baptist church under a godly pastor named Dr. Bill Bennett. This man was as knowledgeable as any person I’ve ever met in my life. He read Greek; he knew history; he had a doctorate of theology. In my opinion, he was and remains one of the most brilliant Bible teachers I’ve ever met anywhere in the world.

For several years during my earliest period of ministry, my chief role was to serve my senior pastor. I carried his books and traveled with him as his assistant. I relished every minute of this season because Dr. Bennett spent time speaking to me from the Word of God and helping me establish my thinking in sound doctrine. I tremendously respected his knowledge, his teaching ability, and the godly life he led. Working at his side and serving him as I did was one of the greatest honors that God ever gave to Denise and me. God used that man to set me on a solid biblical foundation.

When I look back at the roles Brother Post and Dr. Bennett played in my life, I can see that both were vital to my spiritual development. One planted and another watered my spiritual development — just as the apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “I have planted, Apollos watered…” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

As an apostle called to the city of Corinth, Paul was responsible for starting the church in that city. However, he also served as their first pastor until God raised up another pastor to take his place. This replacement was a well-respected, highly educated man from Alexandria in Egypt named Apollos — and soon after Paul’s departure, he became the senior pastor of the Corinthian church. History tells us that Apollos was a gifted orator who was renowned for his eloquence.

In Paul’s absence, the Corinthian believers naturally began to compare the different speaking styles of Paul and Apollos. Some who had been in the church from the beginning and were extremely affectionate toward Paul apparently didn’t like the style of the new pastor. There were others in the church who loved Apollos and asserted that his preaching was superior to Paul’s. Yet the message Paul and Apollos preached was the same — they just had different styles.

When Paul heard of divisions forming in the church of Corinth over the issue of his and Apollos’ different styles of ministry he wrote to them and said, “I have planted, Apollos watered…” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Let’s take a closer look at the Greek in this statement to see exactly what Paul meant.

The word “planted” in this verse is translated from the Greek word phuteuo, which is a form of phuton, the Greek word for a plant, and it simply refers to the act of planting a plant. By using this word, Paul was metaphorically describing his role in Corinth. He was a planter. His task was to penetrate the darkness of the city and plant a church there. There is no doubt that this city had some of the toughest spiritual ground he had ever encountered. It was surely one of the most difficult places to minister in the ancient world.

Like a neglected garden overrun with pests and weeds, Corinth was infested with demonic powers. In order to plant the Gospel in people’s hearts and firmly establish the Church in that tough environment, he had to press forward and till the ground with the power of God; then he had to get on his hands and knees and pull the weeds. This was hard work! Yet for one and a half years, Paul poured his life into this pioneering job. When he finally left Corinth to pursue his apostolic call in another city, the Corinthian church had not only been planted — it was deeply rooted and producing good fruit!

Paul described his role in Corinth as a planter; however, he was fully aware where his responsibility ended and another equally important responsibility began. That is why he continued in First Corinthians 3:6, “I have planted, Apollos watered.…” The word “watered” here is from the Greek word potidzo, which most often means to water or to irrigate. It is the very word that would have been used to depict a farmer watering his garden to provide nourishment to his plants so they could grow. It can also be translated to imbibe, which in this context would convey the act of a field becoming soaked or saturated in water.

By describing Apollos’ role in Corinth with the Greek word potidzo, Paul actually gave Apollos a great compliment. It is as if Paul said, “Apollos didn’t just water you; he saturated you….” In other words, Paul acknowledged what a wonderful, vitally important job Apollos played in the Corinthian church! Paul had pulled the weeds, chased away the pests, planted the seed, and established the new growth of the young plant. Apollos then nurtured that plant, watering it regularly with the Word of God and thus contributing equally to the great increase that happened in that church. The roles of both ministers were absolutely vital. One was not better than the other; rather, each played a significant role in the spiritual development of that church.

Paul continued in First Corinthians 3:6 by saying, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” This word “increase” is the Greek word auxano, which means to cause to grow, to cause to increase, or to cause to become enlarged. By using this word, Paul was teaching us that we are always dependent upon God to provide growth and increase — even if we do everything right as we plant and water our crop. Or to put it another way: We can carry out our different roles of planting and watering, but only God can provide the sunshine and weather that allows it to grow. If God doesn’t intervene and provide His part, all of our planting and watering will be in vain. Therefore, as we carry out our roles as effectively and efficiently as we can, we must always be conscious of the fact that we’re not responsible for growth and success. If growth comes, ultimately it is God who gives the increase.

I am thankful for my first pastor, Brother Post, and for Dr. Bennett, the pastor whom I later served. One firmly planted the seed in my life, and the other watered that seed until I was saturated with the Word of God. Both of these men were vital to my early growth as a man of God — but, ultimately, it was God who made me grow. These two men were part of the process, and I’m so thankful to Him for what they invested in my life. But the One who caused me to grow was God Himself.

It’s right for you to acknowledge and thank the people who have played a major role in your life. But don’t make the mistake the Corinthians made and get so fixated on personalities that you forget that God is the One who really makes seed grow!

Also, as you play a God-given role in someone else’s life, let me encourage you to do the very best with what He has entrusted to you. Till the ground, plant the seed, and pour on the nourishment required to make the seed grow. God expects you to do your part. But never forget that He is your greatest Partner. You are completely dependent on Him to do the part you cannot do for yourself — increase and growth!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I sincerely want to take just a moment to say thank You for the people who have played such an important role in my spiritual development. So many people have helped me, corrected me, assisted me, and taught me. When I think of how many people have made investments into my life, I am amazed and grateful that You would love me so much. Holy Spirit, help me express my gratitude to these people whom You have used to develop me. Most of all, I want to thank You for providing all the other ingredients that no one else could provide. Even though others invested so much in me, I know that You are the One who is responsible for the growth, increase, and success I am experiencing in my life. Without You, none of this would be happen- ing today, so I want to say thank You!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that God is using me to play a significant role in other people’s lives. Just as others loved me and invested in my spiritual development, God is now using me to help others. I consider it a privilege to plant spiritual seed into other people’s lives. It is an honor to tend that seed with love and care and to nourish it with the water of the Word of God. All around me are people with great potential who need someone to help them. Because the Holy Spirit is working in my life and making me more like Jesus Christ, I am willing, ready, and desirous to be a blessing, just as key people have been to me. God has given me a role to play in the spiritual development of others, and I will faithfully do exactly what He has asked me to do.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Who are the people who have played the most important role in your spiritual development? In what ways did they affect your spiritual growth?
2. Have you ever taken the time to call, write, or make a personal visit to those people who helped you along the way in your walk with God? Have you expressed how profoundly thankful you are for the role they played in your life? If you haven’t done this, why not? Don’t you think it is right to go out of your way to say thank you to someone who had such a dramatic influence in your life?
3. Who are you helping spiritually develop right now? Are you planting seed in someone’s life? Are you watering seed that has already been sown in another’s life? God has a role for you to play in helping others, so take a good look at your life and ask, “In whose life am I making a difference today?”

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
— Hebrews 10:36

People often throw in the towel and quit when they don’t see results as quickly as they want. I am amazed at how short-lived some people’s faith really is. If their prayers for healing aren’t answered immediately, they allow their flesh to convince them, for example, that it is God’s will for them to be sick. Or if they sow their finances and believe for a financial harvest but don’t see that harvest in a matter of months, they are tempted to think that everything they have been taught concerning prosperity must be a lie. The problem is that these Christians want quick “microwave answers” to problems that probably took some time to develop. They need to give their faith time to work!

Most people quit before their faith has time to fully work. These folks need a good dose of patience to go along with their faith! You see, faith and patience are partners. You need both to receive the promises of God. Hebrews 10:36 says, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”

The word “patience” comes from the word hupomene, which is a compound of the words hupo and meno. The word hupo at the beginning means under, and meno means to stay or to remain. When you put these two words together, the Greek word means endurance or to stay under. It is the picture of a person who is under a heavy load but has resolved that to stay put in that one spot, regardless of how hard or heavy that load gets.

This person is thoroughly committed to maintaining his position. He will stay in that spot as long as it’s necessary for him to achieve victory. He is intent on standing by his commitment, regardless of the cost he must pay. Nothing can sway or move him to change his mind. He is not going to relinquish his territory! I call this “bulldog faith.” It is a faith that manifests as a tough, resistant, persistent, obstinate, stubborn, tenacious spirit that refuses to let go of what it wants or believes.

If you haven’t done well in the past at standing firm in your faith against the pressure of the enemy, don’t feel condemned. Just receive this as an encouragement from the Lord to get back up and go for it again! To experience a breakthrough regarding a difficult situation or trap that you’ve struggled with for too long, you must take a bold stance of faith and then stand still.

Yes, it may take time for your answer to manifest. Just because your request is in accordance with God’s will, the answer doesn’t always quickly come to pass without a hitch. There’s a devil out there that doesn’t want you to experience God’s will for your life. You also have your own flesh to deal with, and flesh loves comfort — it does not like a challenge. Your faith may need to grow. God wants you to come to a higher level in the process of receiving the answer to your prayer. You need to renew your mind so you can “…ask in faith, nothing wavering…” (James 1:6).

Faith has focused desire. It knows what it wants. It doesn’t vacillate. It never moves. Faith stands still in one spot. So make your bold confession of faith: “God, this is what I want. This is Your revealed will for my life, and I’m not moving until I receive the fulfillment of it!” You must have this type of patience if you intend to beat the devil at his game and successfully do what God has called you to do. Endurance is absolutely essential if you intend to stay in the fight until your enemies are under your feet and you emerge victorious.

Believe me, friend, when this kind of patience is working in your life, it’s not a matter of if you’ll win — it’s just a matter of when you will win. So keep your arms of faith wrapped around that promise, dig in your heels, and refuse to be moved!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I repent for each time I have fallen short of Your promises simply because I gave up before my faith had time to fully work. I neglected to feed my faith on the Word of God. As a result, I began to give place to the fleshly tendency to become impatient when what I really needed to do was to persevere in faith and be strong. I receive Your forgiveness and cleansing, and I ask You to strengthen me with might in my inner man so I can let patience have its perfect work in me.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I let patience have its perfect work in me (James 1:4). Through faith and patience, I inherit the promises of God for my life. Having done all to stand, I stand with bulldog faith and tenacity, committed to seeing the will of God for my life fulfilled!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of a time when you were tempted to throw in the towel and give up on what you were believing to come to pass, but because you decided to hold your ground and stay in the fight, you saw your victory manifest just a short time later? What if you had quit just before you won your victory? Aren’t you glad you didn’t quit?
2. Everyone faces struggles like I’ve described in today’s Sparkling Gem. Do you know people who are facing a battle right now and could use an encouraging phone call from you to cheer them up in their fight of faith? Wouldn’t it have blessed you if someone had done that for you when you were in the middle of your fight?
3. What are you believing God to see manifested in your life? Maybe it’s more than one thing. Are you being steadfast and immovable until you see the answer to your prayer? I urge you to dig in your heels and refuse to be moved by anything until you see God’s promise come to pass!

Flee fornication….
— 1 Corinthians 6:18

In the early years of our marriage, my wife Denise and I pastored an adult singles ministry, and one of my responsibilities in this role was to regularly meet with people who needed counseling. During one session, a distraught young man began to pour out his heart to me about how he kept habitually falling into sexual sin. As he sat before me, I could see that he was disappointed in himself, spiritually broken, and feeling like a miserable failure. With tears streaming down his face, he told me, “Before I know what is happening, I find myself in the middle of a sexual sin. I just can’t seem to control myself.”

I asked him, “Where are you when this sin usually takes place?”

He told me, “It usually happens at my house or at my girlfriend’s house.”

I looked into his eyes and asked, “Don’t you think it would be wise for the two of you never to be alone together at your house or her house so you don’t put yourself in a position where it’s easy for you to fall into sin? If that’s the place where you keep falling into sin, I strongly recommend that you don’t spend time alone in her house or yours!”

He responded, “Are you suggesting that I run away from my problem and my weaknesses? No way! I am not going to run away from my weaknesses! I intend to prove that I can overcome these temptations. I don’t believe I need to change my environment. I just need to be stronger!”

As the years passed, I watched this man continue to struggle with sin. His plan wasn’t working! He was sincere, but the approach he was taking was not wise. Not only was he not conquering his temptations, but he was being conquered by them! It was time for him to use his brain to get up and get out of those places where he had habitually fallen into sin. He needed to heed the words of the apostle Paul to the Corinthian believers when Paul urged them to “flee fornication…” (1 Corinthians 6:18). If this man would have just obeyed the wise counsel of the Word, he could have escaped those years of misery, feeling like a spiritual failure.

“Fleeing fornication” would have been very hard to do in a city like Corinth! Corinth was known for its perversion and twisted sinful activities, as well as for its drunkenness. In short, it had a worldwide reputation for being a “party city” and a center for “sexual freedom,” where one could avail himself to the vilest of human instincts without any fear of others’ disapproval. The entire city was devoted to the sex industry; therefore, any kind of sex was considered acceptable and fair. Some have speculated that after Sodom and Gomorrah, Corinth may have been one of the most perverted cities in human history.

The city had a constant flow of sailors who came to town to party, and this fed the prostitution business — the largest source of revenue in the city of Corinth. Furthermore, the city abounded with idolatry, which frequently incorporated sexually immoral behavior into their rituals, and the Corinthian bathhouses brimmed with homosexual activity.

In addition to all these excesses, wine was integrally tied into nearly every aspect of the city’s culture. It was used in idol worship as a sacrament and a tool to commune with the spirit realm; it was commonly imbibed by prostitutes and their customers; and it was readily available in the city’s bathhouses to loosen people’s inhibitions so they would more readily participate in homosexual activities. Basically, all these factors combined meant the alcohol business in Corinth was booming! So not only was Corinth rife with idolatry and all manners of gross sexual perversion, but the city also struggled with serious alcohol abuse and addiction.

In fact, the city of Corinth became so synonymous with perversion and drunkenness that the term “to Corinthianize,” first coined by the Greek author Aristophanes (450-385 BC), became a common term used in other cities of the Roman Empire to describe drunken or immoral debauchery.1 Regardless of where you lived, if you knew a person who was given to excess and drunkenness, that person was referred to as “a Corinthianizer.” Corinth’s reputation was so stained that if an actor in any city of the Roman Empire was required to play the role of a drunkard on stage, he was always depicted as a drunk Corinthian.

This was the environment the Corinthian believers faced every day, and because they were so new in their faith, the lure of the world and the flesh still had a strong hold on them. Paul knew they needed to use their minds to think carefully about where they went and what situations they should avoid. Even today, we know it’s just common sense that if a person struggles with alcohol, he needs to stay out of bars! Likewise, Paul knew that these Corinthian believers needed to avoid environments where they might be tempted to fall back into sin. Fleeing from sinful environments was the smartest thing they could do if they really wanted to stay free from sin!

This meant the newly saved Corinthian believers had to avoid a lot of places in Corinth! It meant they had to reassess how to maneuver in the city in order to avoid all the places where sin tried to call out to them. Because there were so many sinful places in Corinth, it took concentration and serious planning for them to obey Paul’s exhortation to “flee fornication.” However, because Paul admonished them to stay away from these cesspools of sin and perversion, the committed believers in Corinth learned to move as quickly as possible to “flee” from these establishments.

The word “flee” that Paul used in First Corinthians 6:18 is the Greek word pheugo, which means to run, to flee, or even to take flight. Making this word even stronger is the fact that the tense used in this verse conveys the idea of a habitual fleeing or a continuous escaping. This plainly means Paul is telling believers that they need to make a habit of running from sin!

The Greek word pheugo is used throughout Scripture to depict the act of:

• Fleeing from evil influences.
• Fleeing from youthful lusts.
• Fleeing from morally bad friends.
• Fleeing from a corrupt stimulus.
• Fleeing from wrongdoing and sin.

In short, the word pheugo means to run like crazy!

Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is get up and get out of a situation as fast as you can. Just as Joseph fled with haste to escape the seductive advances from Potiphar’s wife (see Genesis 39:11,12), if you’re in a setting where you’re being tempted or you feel yourself being lured to do something contrary to the Word of God — get out of there! Rather than stick around to prove you can resist, it’s time for you to get your feet moving and resist sin by saying goodbye as you walk out and let the door slam behind you! A weak person won’t have the strength to say no and walk away — but a person who is strong will say, “Enough is enough!” and walk away.

Paul’s order to the Corinthian congregation was to “flee fornication.” In order for them to obey Paul’s command, these believers had to make drastic changes in their routines. They had to change the places they frequented, the activities they participated in, and the people who surrounded them. If they were going to walk away from sin and stay free from it, they would have to deliberately avoid the situations that previously made it so easy for them to fall into sin.

How does Paul’s message apply to you?

For you to stay free, it may be necessary for you to choose new friends. You may need to make a break from the places where you used to spend your free time. You may need to quit watching the TV programs or movies that once were a big part of your life. It is possible that you may need to stop reading the material you once read. It may even mean that you need to discontinue your Internet service so you won’t gravitate to pornographic sites that keep luring you into their seductive, entangling web.

Is it possible that you’ve been praying for strength to resist sin, when actually all you simply need to do is to stay away from the things that encourage you to sin? If you’re tempted to overeat, stay out of the kitchen! If you’re lured to pornographic websites, then add filters to block those sites, or, if necessary, discontinue your Internet service. Permanently fix your situation by removing yourself from the things and the places that have a negative influence on you. Taking this commonsense approach may be the answer to the prayers you’ve been praying to be free!

If you are serious about your walk with God, you need to make every change necessary to stay both spiritually strong and free from guilt and condemnation. I admonish you to take Paul’s words deep into your heart and “flee” from those things that have an adverse effect on your soul and on your spiritual life. It’s what you would tell someone else to do if you were giving them counsel about how to stay free from alcohol or drugs, so don’t you think it would be wise for you to start applying the same advice to your own life?

1William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), pp. 2-3.

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I thank You for speaking to my heart today about making a break with my past and with the places that tend to pull me down. I admit that I’ve allowed my flesh to lead me, and I have been wrong for not making better choices for my life. I’ve tried to blame the devil and others for my failure, but today I am taking personal responsibility for the control and direction of my life — and I am walking away from those places, people, and deeds that negatively affect me. Holy Spirit, I tap into Your mighty power already at work within me to strengthen me with might in my inward man as I make these right choices. With Your help and by Your grace, I can and I will walk free and stay free!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I do not linger in compromising situations where I am tempted to think wrong, speak wrong, and do wrong with my mind, mouth, or body. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, and I honor the Holy Spirit’s presence in me. I never want to grieve the Spirit by slipping back into those sins from which I’ve been delivered. Therefore, I am making every effort to stay away from people, places, and deeds that have a negative impact on me!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of people, places, or deeds that you need to make a break from in your life? Make note of them, and then determine a plan of action you can take to avoid them so you can remain free from sin.
2. Was there a time in your life when you felt seduced by sin, yet you stayed in that bad environment? Did you falsely think that you could overcome it, but instead succumbed to sin over and over again? When and where was that time in your life? What did you learn as a result of that experience?
3. If you were counseling individuals who were struggling with an addiction or some habitual sin, what would you say in counsel to them to help them stay free? Do you apply this same counsel to your own life?

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not be to repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
— 2 Corinthians 7:10

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he addressed many problems that existed in the congregation at Corinth, including strife, ambition, and drunkenness. However, the most notorious problem was an act of immorality by a brother in the church who was committing fornication with his father’s wife (see 1 Corinthians 5:1).

Paul was so stunned by this blatant act of immorality that he told the Corinthians that this kind of immorality didn’t even exist among unbelievers — an amazing statement considering he was writing to the church located in Corinth, a city that was known worldwide as a citadel of some of the most vile sexual perversions in human history. In this city, the goddess Aphrodite was worshiped, and moral decadence was widespread. Yet inside the Corinthian congregation was a type of fornication so revolting that it couldn’t even be found on the sex-laden streets of Corinth!

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he rebuked them for various acts of carnality that were raging in their midst. In fact, out of all Paul’s epistles, his first letter to the Corinthians was the harshest, sternest, and most severe. The Corinthian church also had many wonderful attributes, including a great number of spiritual gifts that were in manifestation. Paul himself had started this church, and from its inception, God’s grace had been poured out on these believers in a powerful way. Paul loved this congregation, and he didn’t want to see his work in Corinth jeopardized. Therefore, he adamantly urged these believers to take immediate action against these spiritually poisonous activities before the whole church was contaminated.

It is clear in reading Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians that this congregation took Paul’s orders very seriously. They must have been embarrassed and saddened by the fact that Paul had to rebuke them, because the apostle told them, “…I made you sorry with a letter…” (2 Corinthians 7:8).

The word “sorry” is from the Greek word lupeo, which describes pain or grief. Apparently Paul’s first letter caused the Corinthian congregation to feel deeply pained and grieved. Paul knew this had been their response so he went on to tell them, “…I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry.…” Twice in Second Corinthians 7:8, Paul acknowledged that they had been embarrassed and pained by the previous letter he sent them.

However, Paul continued in Second Corinthians 7:9 by saying, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner….” When Paul said, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry…,” the word “sorry” is again from lupeo. Therefore, an interpretative translation of the first part of this verse could read, “I don’t rejoice because I caused you to feel pain and grief….”

Paul went on to say that he was glad they “…sorrowed to repentance….” The word “sorrowed” is once again from the same Greek word lupeo, denoting pain or grief. The word “repentance,” however, is metanoeo, the word for “repentance” that refers to a complete, radical, total change. It is a decision to completely change or to entirely turn around in the way that one is thinking, believing, or living. By using this word metanoeo, Paul revealed that the Corinthians didn’t just listen to his earlier message — they heeded it completely and made the decision to change. In fact, they had obeyed him so entirely that they had experienced a total transformation, making them unrecognizable from the sinful condition for which Paul rebuked them in a previous epistle. Thus, the entire phrase in Second Corinthians 7:9 could be interpreted, “I don’t rejoice that I caused you to feel pain and grief, but I do rejoice that my letter made you want to change….”

Paul went on to elaborate: “…For ye were made sorry after a godly manner….” This phrase “godly manner” in Greek is kata theon. In the context of this verse, it could be translated “your pain was in response to God’s dealing with you.” The Holy Spirit had used Paul’s eariler epistle to prick their hearts, and Paul was quick to acknowledge this. Although the sorrow the Corinthian believers felt may have been initiated by his letter, the truth was that their hearts felt pained because God’s Spirit was dealing with them about the sinful activities going on in their midst. Thus, the verse could be rendered, “I don’t rejoice that I caused you to feel pain and grief, but I rejoice that my letter made you want to change. Your pain was your response to God’s dealing with you….”

Paul continued in Second Corinthians 7:10 by saying, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” When Paul wrote about “godly sorrow” in this verse, the Greek actually reads he gar kata theon lupe, which could be translated: “…the pain you feel in response to God dealing with you….” The word “worketh” is from the Greek word ergadzomai, meaning to work or to produce, and as we saw earlier, the word “repentance” comes from the word metanoeo. Finally, the word “salvation” is a translation of the Greek word soterion, which can mean salvation in the eternal sense, but in this context refers to deliverance from their past carnality.

When all these words are taken together as one complete phrase, the first part of Second Corinthians 7:10 could be interpreted:

“The pain you feel in response to God dealing with you has produced a real change and deliverance….”

The Corinthian believers were prompt to respond to God’s dealings with them. In fact, they acted so swiftly and seriously to obey Paul’s instruction that in his next letter to them, the apostle declared, “For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (v. 11).

Not wanting to grieve the Holy Spirit any longer, the believers in Corinth had moved with indignation and fear to purge themselves of sin and carnality. This was proof that genuine repentance had occurred in their lives, for as we have seen, true repentance produces an indisputable transformation of one’s behavior. The change in the Corinthian church was evidence enough for Paul to say they were now completely “clear” in the matters where they had previously been wrong! They had been completely exonerated!

Have you ever felt sorrow because of a sin you committed that grieved the heart of God? Did you allow that sorrow to do its full work in you and produce a desire to change within your heart? Or did you merely brush it off and thereby resist God’s dealings with you?

If we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and listen to His voice, we will hear Him speak to us when we do something that grieves the heart of God. In that moment, we have a choice: We can harden our hearts and turn a deaf ear to God’s Spirit, or we can allow the Holy Spirit to deal deeply with us and produce a desire in us to never transgress in that particular way again. God is willing to work in us and with us, but we must have hearts that want to positively respond to His dealings, as the Corinthians exhibited so well.

If God’s Spirit has been trying to deal with you, can you honestly say that you’ve allowed a godly sorrow to have its full effect in you, thereby producing a strong desire to change and to never fail in the same way again? Regardless of what you have done, God offers you forgiveness, and He will give you the strength needed to enact powerful, permanent change in your life if your heart is truly repentant. It’s up to you!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I ask You to please forgive me for the things I’ve done or tolerated that are offensive to You. I know that when I willfully sin or tolerate attitudes that are wrong, it grieves the Holy Spirit. I ask You to help me feel the pain of my sin so deeply that I will never want to cross that line again. I never want to be hardhearted or stubborn toward You when Your Spirit speaks to me, so please help me keep my heart soft and pliable and remain tenderhearted to the dealings of the Spirit.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that my heart is soft and pliable in the hands of God. I want to please the Lord, and I never want to grieve the Holy Spirit. I receive the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to strengthen me with His might and to guide me in life, because He is the last Person I would ever want to offend! The Lord creates in me the desire and the ability to do His will and good pleasure, as He conforms my thoughts to be in agreement with His will. When the Father’s heart is grieved, my heart is grieved too. From this day forward, I will be quick to hear and to obey the Lord’s voice, and as a result, I expect it to go well with me in all the affairs of life.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of an exact moment in your life when you knew inwardly that you had grieved the Holy Spirit? Did that realization bring great pain to your own heart? When was that moment? When that happened to you, how did you respond?
2. Can you recall a time when the Holy Spirit tried to deal with you about something that was grievous to Him, but you didn’t listen? What was the result of not listening and paying heed to His voice?
3. What area is the Holy Spirit trying to deal with you about right now? Are you responding to His counsel and direction, or are you ignoring His tender work in your heart? Based on your past experience, is your present response leading you on a path that will end well?

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
— 1 Corinthians 4:2

When the Holy Spirit first told us to begin our TV ministry in the former USSR, Denise and I had no idea what we were doing. We had never done a TV ministry before, and television equipment was not available to purchase in the Soviet Union. But with a small staff and a tiny budget — and a single home-video camera — we began to film the first programs of Good News With Rick Renner.

At that time, television programming on Soviet television was dark and bleak. Some of it was still broadcast in black and white. So even though we were filming with a home-video camera, the low-budget programs we produced looked at least as good as the other programs being broadcast on the Soviet stations. Although we started in such a primitive fashion, I had great expectations for what God was going to do through this new television outreach.

Adding interest to the program was the fact that there were no Americans broadcasting on Soviet television at the time. When our faces appeared on TV sets across the huge region where we first broadcast, it was a breakthrough that had never occurred before. People were mesmerized that Americans were on their televisions, and people began to tune in to hear what we had to say. Most often, I was the only one on the program, but from time to time, Denise joined me as well.

At first, we began to notice that people recognized us when we went to the open market to purchase groceries for our house. They thanked us for our programs and reached out to touch us in a tender way, trying to express their thanksgiving for what we brought into their homes. Then the letters started to pour in, taking us completely off-guard. We had not anticipated such a huge mail response! The first book we printed and offered as a free gift on television was Dream Thieves — and when we made that offer, boxes upon boxes of mail poured into our offices. It was the beginning of a TV ministry that has continued for decades uninterrupted, right up to the present day.

My team and I had little knowledge of what we were doing. Our equipment was just an old, used home-video camera, and the lights we used to light up the “set” (our living room) were the lamps from our house. Yet God used the simplicity of it all and began the process of opening entire nations to the teaching of God’s Word via television! It was a small beginning, but it was a beginning. Today this outreach has blossomed into a TV ministry that reaches not only the Russian-speaking nations of the former USSR, but people all over the world through satellite and the Internet.

When you start out with a new assignment from Heaven, you have to start with what you have and with what you know. Whether it is a business, a church, a ministry, or some other pursuit — you can only start at the level where you are and with the amount of money you have at your disposal. You must measure where you are, what stage you are in, and move cautiously and smartly as you proceed to obey and fulfill the call of God on your life. Denise and I weren’t thrilled about starting our TV ministry with an old home-video camera and living-room lamps, but that is what we had and what we could afford. And because we were faithful with what we had, God blessed it and increased us over time.

In First Corinthians 4:2, Paul talked about faithfulness and people who are charged with overseeing projects, saying, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” As we were slowly building our TV ministry, my mind often went to this verse, because it clearly teaches that God watches to see if we are faithful with what has been entrusted to us. Being faithful wouldn’t have been demonstrated by complaining that we had to use a home-video camera. Being faithful was making the decision that we’d cheerfully use that camera to its maximum potential! Faithfulness has a lot to do with attitude — it is not based only on performance.

Notice that Paul spoke of “stewards” in this verse. It comes from the Greek word oikonomos, which is a compound of the word oikos and nomos. The word oikos means house, and nomos means law. When compounded, the new word means the rule or administration of a house. It could also be used to denote the administrator of any project.

Such “stewards” had control of household finances and personal information about their employers; therefore, they had to be highly trusted individuals. Many “stewards” were highly educated and trained for years to attain such positions. However, most started as lowly servants and advanced to higher ranks over a period of time as they proved themselves faithful. Their superiors learned to trust them immensely because they had proven themselves faithful time and time and time again. Thus, a valued steward was generally thoroughly vetted and time-tested.

But First Corinthians 4:2 says, “…It is required in stewards that, a man be found faithful.” The word “found” is the word eurisko, and it depicts a discovery that is made after a long period of study and investigation. The idea this word carries is that of a successful conclusion to a diligent search. After performing a long and arduous study of a person, carefully examining his behavior and ability to work and fulfill responsibilities, at last one determines that this person is “faithful.”

The word “faithful” is the Greek word pistos, which in this particular case denotes one who is utterly reliable. It is one who shows unchanging affection or support in the face of difficulty. It is allegiance to a superior or employer. It is unwavering support to a cause, person, or assignment. This is a person whom an employer can depend on — and a person God can count on to carry through an assignment to the end.

So if you are starting a project on a small level, as Denise and I did with the beginning of our TV ministry, I urge you to be faithful to the core. Be utterly reliable with what God has entrusted into your hands. What you demonstrate to God will determine whether He finds you prepared for advancement or deems it necessary to keep you at your current level.

Today I see the vast impact our TV ministry is having, especially in the Russian-speaking nations of the world. But I have not forgotten that we started with a home-video camera and house lamps in our living room. Rather than complain, we used what God provided and made the most of it. God saw our efforts — and eureka! — by His grace, He found us faithful, advanced our TV ministry, and gave us better equipment to reach a larger audience. We give all the praise and glory to Him, because it was His grace that even enabled us to be faithful!

What is the task before you today? Are you starting small, as Denise and I did when we started our TV ministry in the former USSR? Never forget that Zechariah 4:10 admonishes us not to despise the day of small beginnings! So start where you are, use what you have, and be faithful to the task the Lord has given you. And as God watches you over a period of time and sees that you are utterly reliable to complete with excellence the tasks He gives, He will advance you; He will entrust more to you; and He will promote you! That is a biblical principle found throughout the Word of God — and you can be guaranteed that it’s true for you!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, help me to keep my eyes fixed on the task You have assigned to me. Help me to not complain that my beginning is so small, and teach me how to use this opportunity to learn everything I can before my venture grows larger. I know that You are with me — and You are watching to see what kind of steward I will be. So Holy Spirit, I draw upon Your mighty strength within me to rise up and help me be the best I can be. Most of all, I want to be found pleasing to the Lord and be one whom He can trust with much!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I am committed to be utterly reliable in every task that Heaven entrusts to my care. I will be faithful to use what I have to the best of my ability and to demonstrate to the Father that I do not despise the day of small beginnings. I take this beginning time as an opportunity to learn, to excel, and to prove to God that I am a man or woman He can trust!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. What is the task before you right now? You can only start out at the level where you are and with the cash that is available to you. Be faithful with what you have — stretch it as far as you can make it go, do excellently with what is entrusted into your hands, and believe that God will see it and give you an upgrade!
2. What Bible character had a small beginning but ultimately made a huge impact with his life? If you have time to do it, it would be good for you to make a list, because there are quite a few of them. This would be quite an encouraging assignment for your heart and soul!
3. Can you think of someone you personally know who started a dream on a small level, but worked and worked at it until it grew and became significant? Who is that person? What character traits does that person demonstrate that added to his or her success and that you would like to see added to your life?

I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.
— 2 Corinthians 2:13

Many years ago, I developed an uneasy feeling about a longtime member of our team who worked in a leadership position in our ministry. However, because this person had always been faithful during his years with our organization, I tried to shrug off this uneasiness and ignore what I was feeling. Naturally speaking, there was no reason for me to be suspicious of him or to question his activities. All outward signs said he was doing an excellent job; yet I kept getting a gnawing feeling in my spirit that I should no longer trust him. To put it simply, I was deeply troubled on the inside and knew something was wrong.

When an occasion would arise for this man and me to be together, I’d look deeply into his eyes when he spoke to see if I could detect whether there was something he was trying to hide. When he spoke, I’d listen carefully to his words to see if there was anything misleading in what he told me. I took notice of his gestures, trying to ascertain whether or not he was acting nervous in my presence because he had something to hide. From all outward signs, everything seemed normal — yet inwardly I was still extremely disturbed.

I would tell Denise, “I don’t know what it is, but I sense that something is wrong with that person. Is God speaking to my spirit, or am I just being suspicious and untrusting of someone who has been faithful for a long time?” Because I could never put my finger on anything this man had done wrong, I decided that I was the problem — that I was being overly suspicious and needed to stop being so skeptical and wary of this devoted employee.

For the next year, I tried hard to shake off those uneasy feelings, but I just couldn’t do it. Even though I couldn’t identify a specific problem, I inwardly knew that things on the surface were not as they really seemed concerning this employee.

After a year of struggling with this issue, I discovered that this man had been acting fraudulently on many fronts. It wasn’t just a case of someone doing something wrong by accident; this was purposeful wrongdoing and manipulation of the truth for his own advantage. He had been conniving and deliberately misleading. I was shocked when I discovered the length and breadth he had gone to deceive me and our other leaders.

By the time I made my discovery of what this employee had been doing, severe damage had already been done in that department of our organization. But the truth is, the Holy Spirit had been warning me of the problem for a very long time. That inward uneasiness I had experienced was His warning to me to back away from this man!

God’s Spirit was trying to save me from the troubles produced by this employee who was conspiring against the work of the Gospel. If I had listened to my heart and followed what I sensed on the inside, I could have avoided the pain this man tried to bring about in our lives. I praise God that when I finally made this discovery, I had the courage to take fast action and terminate this attack!

From this experience that took place so many years ago, I learned the important lesson of paying attention when my spirit is inwardly disturbed. Very often this is God’s way of giving us an alert signal that something is not right or that something is not as it seems on the surface.

That’s why you must learn to pay attention when your spirit is inwardly troubled. Set aside some time to spend with the Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you quiet your mind and emotions so He can reveal to you anything you need to know about the situation. Back up and take a good look at what is happening around you, and be willing to see the truth — even if it is something you’d rather not acknowledge! If you find that everything is fine, you can then move forward with the confidence that you did your homework. But if you find out that something is wrong, you’ll be thankful you listened to your spirit and slowed down so you could make this discovery in order to deal with it — for your sake and the sake of others who may be adversely affected by it!

So ask yourself these questions:

• Have you ever had an inward uneasiness or a lack of peace that you later wished you hadn’t ignored?
• Can you think of a time when the Holy Spirit tried to warn you of a problem, but you didn’t listen to your heart and therefore ended up with a problem that could have been avoided?
• Have you discovered that God is often speaking to you when you have a lack of peace in your heart — and that He is trying to tell you to back up and slow down, to take a more cautious approach to what you are doing?

This kind of inward disturbance must be what Paul experienced when he came to the city of Troas and didn’t find Titus waiting for him there. Although this exact event isn’t recorded in the book of Acts, Paul mentioned it in his second letter to the Corinthian church. On one of his missionary journeys, Paul came to Troas, expecting to find Titus waiting for him. Paul was so taken aback that Titus wasn’t there that he wrote, “I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 2:13).

The word “rest” that Paul used in this verse comes from the Greek word anesis, which means to let up, to relax, to stop being stressed, or to find relief. In the Greek world, this word anesis could denote the release of a bowstring that had been under great pressure. Hence, it suggests the idea of relief. When used on a personal level, the word anesis depicts a person who has been under some type of pressure for a long time but has suddenly found a release from that pressure. You could say that this person has decided he is going to shake off and let go of whatever that has been bothering him or the pressure he has been under.

However, Paul told us he could not shake off what he was inwardly feeling in his spirit. He was so restless or inwardly disturbed that he immediately left Troas and went on to Macedonia to search for his dear friend Titus. The phrase “taking my leave of them” is very strong in the Greek. It lets us know that Paul didn’t take a long time to respond to this inward disturbance in his spirit; rather, he took it as a God-given signal that something wasn’t right. Hence, Paul bade the believers in Troas farewell and quickly traveled into Macedonia to seek out his missing ministry friend.

Unlike my own scenario that I just related to you, the apostle Paul listened to his spirit. He knew that if he was inwardly disturbed, it could be a warning sign that something was wrong. Thus, he responded with urgency and took appropriate action when he had this kind of inner witness. How I wish I had done the same thing years ago! If I had listened to what my spirit was telling me, I could have avoided the many troubles that leader tried to create for me and for our ministry.

In light of all this, Second Corinthians 2:13 could be paraphrased:

“Regardless of how hard I tried to shake off a sense of inward disturbance, in my spirit I knew something was wrong. I tried to shake it off and let it go, but inwardly, I knew things were not right.”

As believers, we must learn to pay attention to the lack of peace we feel in our spirits. Sometimes that lack of peace or inward disturbance is God’s way of alerting us to something important or of telling us that something isn’t right. God lovingly tries to spare us from problems and catastrophes. However, if we don’t pay attention to the still, small voice in our hearts when the Holy Spirit tenderly speaks to us, we will end up with troubles that could have been altogether avoided or corrected before they got out of hand.

God is faithful to speak to you — but His voice can often be heard only by what you sense in your own heart. If you sense peace in your heart, it could be the Holy Spirit telling you, “You have a green light, so you can proceed.” But if you have a lack of peace or an inward disturbance, never forget that it could be God’s way of saying “Yellow light, so proceed with caution.” Or He may even be telling you, “Red alert! Stop! Something is wrong!”

Don’t make the mistake I made many years ago by ignoring that lack of peace in your heart. It will be far better for you if you take a little time to back up, slow down, and find out why you’re feeling uneasy on the inside. If you find that everything is all right, you will then be able to move forward with assurance. But if you learn that something is not right, you’ll be so thankful that you listened to your heart and got things in order before you proceeded any further and damage was done!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I thank You for Your Spirit, who is so faithful to alert me when things are not right. Please forgive me for the many times You tried to warn and help me, but I ignored Your voice and found myself in a mess I could have avoided. From this day forward, I am asking You to help me become more sensitive to my spirit. Help me pay attention to the peace or the lack of peace I inwardly sense so I can respond appropriately when You are trying to warn me that something isn’t the way it should be.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I am sensitive to the Spirit of God. When He speaks to my heart, I quickly respond to Him and obey His instructions. I hear His voice indicating when I have God’s green light to move ahead; therefore, I step out in faith. When I sense God’s yellow light to move slowly and with caution, I am careful and cautious. When my spirit is inwardly disturbed and I have no peace, I know that this is God’s red light — one of the ways He alerts me that something is not right. Because I am sensitive to what God is telling me in my spirit, I am able to move forward with confidence that I am not going to make a mistake!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of a time when you were inwardly disturbed but you ignored it — and then later found out it was God trying to warn you about something? When was that, and what happened?
2. What did you learn from that experience when you ignored what you sensed in your spirit?
3. When you sense an inward disturbance, a lack of peace, or a restlessness in your spirit, how should you respond to it?

Being defamed, we intreat.…
— 1 Corinthians 4:13

When we were first starting our work in the former Soviet Union in the city of Riga, Latvia, Denise and I labored around the clock to teach people the Bible and get newly saved people established in the truths of the New Testament. We were working harder than we had ever worked in our lives!

However, as we poured our energy into seeing the Church established in this spiritually barren land, hostile forces began to resist our message of truth with insidious tactics. We were constantly engaged in intense spiritual warfare as we proclaimed the message of the Gospel to the people of Latvia. Those early years were a time of both great triumph and great struggle. Yet despite the best efforts of the enemy to thwart our ministry, we kept seeing the powers of darkness pushed back and the glorious light of the Gospel shine into broken lives that had long been held in the darkness of Communist atheism.

The church in Riga grew rapidly, and every week we witnessed numerous people give their lives to Christ. Once held in bondage, their lives were being made whole by God’s grace. It was a thrill to see families restored, sick people healed, and addicts set free from debilitating drug and alcohol addictions. Watching the work God was doing in this region was absolutely precious, and Denise and I were so thankful that He had called us to minister to this part of the world.

However, one day when I went to the store to buy a few groceries, I noticed a strange-looking article on the front page of a national newspaper that was displayed on a rack by the door. The artwork that accompanied the article looked so unique that I reached over, picked it up, and started to read to see what it was about. To my utter shock, the article was about me! Sadly, it was an article designed to attack, defame, and vilify the work that God was doing through our ministry in that city.

The artwork was an artist’s rendering of a man with a dazed, stupefied look on his face, mindlessly staring off into space with empty eyes. A massive hand rested atop his head with elongated fingers that curled over the front of his forehead and gripped his flesh like a giant claw. It looked awful. The bold words of the headline said: “DO WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO!” It was so compelling that I picked it up to see what the article was about. It was only as I began to read the article that I realized the claw-like hand was supposed to be my hand!

The article stated that I used hypnotism to control people who were coming to Christ, and that I even used hypnotism to control people through the television as they watched our TV programs. When I looked to see who wrote the article, it was one of our fiercest adversaries — a journalist and committed atheist who fought to resist us with every ounce of his being. This man despised Christianity and was even trying to make a name for himself by defaming us and our ministry. He was doing everything he could to smear our reputation and besmirch the Gospel. Once I had encountered this journalist on an airplane, where he approached me and in a condescending voice asked, “Are you still preaching those ‘fairy tales’ from the Bible?”

When I read what had been written about me in this national newspaper, I wasn’t thrilled, of course. It’s never pleasant to think that people all over a nation are reading derogatory, false, and hateful words about you. But on the other hand, I rejoiced because it put me in good company with countless other believers who have been attacked for doing the Lord’s work. My mind went to First Corinthians 4:13, where Paul wrote, “Being defamed, we intreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.”

As believers, we live in a world today that is filled with scoffers who are becoming increasingly aggressive in their stance against those who preach the Gospel. More and more, we find our message and ourselves at conflict with the world around us when we espouse the principles of the Bible. In fact, if we take a stand that’s biblically right but not politically correct, we almost certainly will find ourselves on the receiving end of a vitriolic attack. Because this hostility is becoming ever more blatant, it is imperative that we as believers know how to respond when we are lambasted by attacks from the enemy.

Paul addressed this very issue in First Corinthians 4:13, saying, “Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.” When he wrote these words, Paul was speaking from his own personal experience.

Throughout his missionary travels, Paul had to contend with principalities and powers that constantly tried to thwart his ministry at every turn. Commonly, these attacks took the form of vicious smear campaigns that sought to destroy his name through false accusations. These malignant character attacks were a regular occurrence in the lives of Paul and his apostolic team. Therefore, we should pay close attention to Paul’s words in First Corinthians 4:13, for he told us not only how he responded to these attacks, but how we as Christians should respond as well.

Paul began by saying, “Being defamed, we intreat….” This word “defamed” is crucial to our understanding of Paul’s message because he carefully chose it to let us know what he had endured from his critics. It is the Greek word dusphemeo, which means to slander, to slur, to smear, or to vilify. It literally means to maliciously malign someone’s good name. In today’s language, we would say the Greek word dusphemeo depicts someone who deliberately does a hatchet job on someone’s integrity, character, or name. This attack is done with the purposeful intention of damaging someone’s reputation in the eyes of others.

By using the particular Greek word dusphemeo (“defamed”), Paul confirmed that he and his traveling companions had been victims of malicious and nasty character attacks on numerous occasions. But how did he respond when this occurred? Did he become bitter and wounded? Did he become angry and react aggressively against his attackers? Did he respond by waging a counter attack?

We find insight into how Paul carried himself in these situations in what he wrote next in First Corinthians 4:13: “Being defamed, we intreat….” The word “entreat” is from the Greek word parakaleo, a compound of the Greek words para and kaleo. The word para means alongside, as in one who comes up close alongside of another person. The word kaleo means to call, to beckon, or to beseech. But when these two words are joined to form the word parakaleo, it presents the picture of one who has something so important to say that he pulls right up alongside his listener, getting as close to him as possible, and then begins to plead with him to take some course of action. This person urgently calls out, pleading with his listener to hear what he has to say and to do what he is suggesting.

Because the word “entreat” — the Greek word parakaleo — is plural in this particular verse, we know that when these kinds of attacks occurred against Paul’s ministry, he and his team pulled together to “entreat” each other. That means they looked each other in the eyes and spoke words of strength and encouragement to each other. The word parakaleo in this context can even mean they consoled one another.

Carefully consider this fact: The caliber of people who surround you is especially important when you are under attack. The people you confide in during these moments will have great impact on how you respond. They will affect your emotions, your thinking, and your resolve.

• If you are surrounded by people who are angry and retaliatory, their words and reactions may incite you to react in anger or with other negative and non-productive emotions. Stomping, screaming, and making threats won’t help you. In fact, that kind of behavior always just makes situations worse!
• On the other hand, if you are surrounded by people who encourage you, saying, “Let it go! God will vindicate you. Forgive these people who are being used by the devil to assault you” — this will help you trust God and forgive the wrongdoing of your attackers.

Thus, the character of those you have around you is very important when you are under attack. That’s why you must take care to surround yourself with patient, steadfast, forgiving men and women of God.

There was another military usage of the Greek word parakaleo (“entreat”), which conveys a powerful message in the context of Paul’s message. In the ancient Greek world, before military leaders sent their soldiers into battle, they called the troops together in order to address them. Rather than hide from the painful reality of war, the leaders would speak straightforwardly with the soldiers about the potential dangers of the battlefield and the glories of winning a major victory. They came right alongside their troops and urged, exhorted, beseeched, and pleaded with them to stand tall; throw back their shoulders; look the enemy straight on, eyeball to eyeball; and face their battles with courage. This is the essence of the word parakaleo.

Because Paul used the word parakaleo (“entreat”), we know that when he and his team were assaulted with false accusations and vicious slander, they quickly began to encourage one another to be strong in the middle of the fight. Like fellow soldiers, they looked into each other’s eyes and exhorted and encouraged one another to remain faithful, regardless of the war raging around them. They knew that discipline and a steadfast, committed warfare mentality was required for them to come through the battle they were facing victoriously!

I can almost hear Paul and his team proclaim to each other, “This is warfare! We must be good soldiers and be faithful to the end regardless of what people say or do to us! Let’s not get bogged down with hurt feelings. We have to trust God, forgive these people, and let it go!”

Paul’s words in First Corinthians 4:13 could be interpreted:

“When people assault our integrity, our character, or our name, we begin to exhort and encourage one another….”

When this horrible article about me appeared in the newspaper many years ago, I was surrounded with the right team! Just as Paul’s team did with him, the members of my own team exhorted and encouraged me to let it go, overlook it, forgive the man who wrote the horrible article about me, and trust God to vindicate my name and character.

As a result of this God-honoring response, the article had little impact. But had I taken a different approach and retaliated against the journalist who wrote the piece, it probably would have stirred the waters and made the situation much more turbulent. Going through that experience helped put steel in my spiritual backbone. It was the first major attack, but certainly not the last! Taking this approach helped me stay on track regardless of what people said, did, or wrote about us. As a result, we were unhindered in taking the vision God had given us to the next level, again and again, no matter what opposition we faced in the following years.

It’s never comfortable to know that people are saying untrue or unfair things about you. If you are currently in this situation or have been in this situation before, you know how badly the flesh wants to rise up in defensiveness and fight back. But it’s your responsibility to respond according to God’s ways and His love. You must keep your heart free from anger so the devil cannot bog you down in an emotional battle.

If you are being attacked by what people are saying or doing to you, allow your friends or team members to exhort and encourage you to be faithful. When you are defamed, it is time for you and those around you to remind one another, “This is warfare! We must be good soldiers and be faithful to the end regardless of what people say or do to us! Let’s not get bogged down with hurt feelings. We have to trust God, forgive these people, and let it go!”

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I receive Your grace to help me mature to the point where I trust You to protect my name and vindicate who I really am when people say things about me that are untrue or unjust. I refuse to react emotionally with retaliation because of my hurt. Instead, I choose to obey Your Word by keeping myself in the love of God so my faith will not fail. You’ve promised me that no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against me in judgment or false accusation, I will prove or demonstrate to be in the wrong (Isaiah 54:17). Lord, You have assured me that if my ways are pleasing to You, Lord, You will cause my enemies to be at peace with me (Proverbs 16:7). So, I thank You, Father, for helping me to remember that this is warfare with Satan’s unseen forces. I will never forget that You are ultimately in control and that if I respond in a Christ-like manner when facing an attack, it will smother the fires and give You the freedom to bring about the outcome You desire in my life.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that when the devil uses people to falsely accuse me, malign my name, or to do injury to my integrity, character, or name, I will respond as Jesus did and pray: Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing. Just because others act like the devil doesn’t give me the right to react like the devil. I choose to yield to the spirit of life in Christ Jesus that keeps me free from sin. Therefore, I make up my mind that I will walk in love and forgiveness, regardless of what people do to me or say about me. I will be a faithful soldier, and I will stay in the fight regardless of any attack that comes to assault who I am. Jesus is in me, and He is greater than anything that could ever come against me!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of a time in your own life when your integrity, character, or name was purposely and maliciously attacked by someone who wanted to hurt your reputation?
2. If this has happened to you, how did you respond to that attack? Did you trust God and let it go, or did you allow the devil to drag you into a war of words? If you fell into a war of words, what was the result?
3. Now that this situation is behind you, evaluate your reaction. What did you learn from your response to this situation? Did your reaction make it better, or did it make the situation worse?

But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak: not as pleasing men, but God, which tried our hearts.
— 1 Thessalonians 2:4

Have you ever felt like God was putting you through a test in order to prepare you for the next step in your life? These experiences can be trying, but they are necessary for your spiritual growth. Even the apostle Paul wrote that God tested him, and the language he chose clearly conveys that sometimes those tests felt like fiery experiences indeed. In First Thessalonians 2:4, he wrote, “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak: not as pleasing men, but God, which tried our hearts.” Today I want to examine this word “tried” and its application in our lives. If you’ve been through a trial or are currently in the middle of one right now, I believe you will be encouraged by what you are about to read!

The word “trieth” is translated from the Greek word dokimadzo. This word was used to describe any kind of intense test that was intended to prove the quality and trustworthiness of a product. For instance, it was often used to denote an intense examination of individuals who were running for public office to determine if their character was fit for the job.

The Greek word dokimadzo also described the process of purifying and refining metal. In the ancient world, metal was put through multiple degrees of fire and heat to expose any impurities. Such flaws could significantly weaken a piece of metal; therefore, testing it to prove its purity and trustworthiness was very important. This refining process is referenced in Malachi 3:2 and 3, which states, “…For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like a fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” This passage clearly states that God — our Great Refiner — used fire to purify His people so they might offer up a righteous offering to Him.

Another application of the Greek word dokimadzo that is particularly relevant in the context of this verse is its use to describe the process of firing ceramic pottery in a kiln. This process is an essential step in the creation of pottery because it exposes defects within a piece that can then be corrected. My sister, Ronda Roush, an expert ceramic and porcelain maker, whose pottery and fine china grace the shelves of numerous statesmen and movie stars, provided the following insight concerning the inescapable need for fire when crafting a superior product:

The beautiful, artistic design that is enjoyed on a piece of porcelain or pottery is not a permanent part of the piece until the piece has been fired at the highest temperatures in the oven. Before fire is applied to the piece, the design is merely superficial and easily erasable. It is not an actual part of the piece until the piece has been placed into the oven at a very high temperature. The heat of the fire is what permanently fuses the design into the piece, causing the design to become a part of the permanent glaze.

The most desirable colors, such as deep, rich jewel tones, contain gold in their chemical makeup. However, the gold in the porcelain paint powder that makes these rich jewel tones so beautiful isn’t visible at first. It takes intense fire to cause the gold in those colors to really shine and make those tones deep and rich. Gold must be fired at a hotter temperature. At a normal firing temperature, these colors will turn out dull and lifeless, but hotter firing brings out the richness, which can’t be seen any other way. When working with pure gold, it is black and ugly when it is first applied to a piece. It is not until it comes out of the oven that it turns to rich patina, which is the crowning glory to most beautiful porcelain pieces.

Invisible flaws in the porcelain only become visible in the firing process. As a piece is being fired, one can look into the oven and see all kinds of things during the firing process that were formerly invisible to the naked eye. This process purifies in ways that we don’t even know are needed. But at the end of the firing, the flaws are gone, and a perfect, mirror-like finish shines back at us from the bottom of the kiln.

The firing process is necessary, and it has to be done a certain way. There are no shortcuts. It has to go all the way through the cycle. Trying to circumvent is risky business. Removing a piece from the oven before it has gone the full circle can cause the piece to crack, or even break apart. This process is so important that when the piece is finished being fired, it has to completely cool down before it is removed from the oven. Rushing the process can ruin the piece.

What looks like a mistake may end up being the greatest part of the design. Early in my career, a porcelain painter explained to me, “Once when I was working on an exquisite piece, a hairline crack developed. I painted vines and flowers over that crack and added another dimension to the piece, which totally changed it, and made it so much more beautiful. Some of the most beautiful elements to a design are discovered due to flaws that show up in the firing process.

One firing is not enough with the most exquisite and intricate pieces. Designs are layered, one upon the other, and they must be fired again and again, sometimes up to 20 times for a very valuable piece. When I take a finished piece out of the kiln that I am pleased with, I know it will find a special place in someone’s home, where it will be enjoyed or used to serve some kind of purpose. Firing kilns every day serves as a constant illustrative reminder to me that refinement is vital if I want God to use me, to take me off the shelf and do something with me. God isn’t finished with me yet, nor will He ever be! To understand that truth is both humbling and thrilling at the same time. What a relief to know that if the needed changes are not quite there yet, God can take us back into the kiln to refire us and fix the flaws.

It is important to note that when the apostle Paul wrote, “God…tried (dokimadzo) our hearts,” the verb tense used here indicates the testing was ongoing. Even after Paul’s many years in the ministry, God still regularly put him through the fires in order to test his heart.

Tests are a necessary part of life that allow you to move onward and upward in your spiritual walk. The finest porcelain product must be fired to bring out its richest colors and prove its trustworthiness before it is put on display or sent out to serve. If this is how a human artist tenderly works to create a high-quality product, think of how wonderful Jesus, your Great Refiner, is! He doesn’t test you to hurt you; rather, He wants to glaze truth onto your heart and bring out a richness of color that you otherwise would not know.

Our God is indeed a consuming fire (see Hebrews 12:29)! The refining fires of testing actually clear away debris within us so the fire of the Holy Spirit can perform a deep and lasting work of transformation from the inside out. Then He sets us ablaze with His glory so we can obey what He asks us to do and reveal His nature and power to others through our lives!

So as you move forward in your spiritual walk, realize that Jesus’ fires will continue to test you. But I want to encourage you to decide today that you’re going to be receptive to His purifying process. Let Him expose and remove your defects. Allow Him to teach you what aspects of your life need to change. As you do, those refining fires will make you spiritually richer, stronger, and more qualified to be used by the Lord for His glory!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, instead of resisting the changes You are trying to make in my life, I choose to willfully surrender to Your holy fire that exposes my flaws and brings correction. It is clear that Your refining fire is for my good. I know that You would never send a test that is abusive or hurtful. Your work in me produces strength, even as You guide me through situations designed to reveal and remove the flaws that need to be purged from my life. Therefore, Holy Spirit, I ask You to help me understand what You are teaching me. I choose to cooperate with the process so I can get out of the kiln and be placed in Your service!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that the Lord is the Potter, and I am the clay. Jesus is molding me into the vessel that He wants me to be. He has every right to expose and remold what needs to be corrected and then put me in the kiln and turn up the heat. And when He brings me out, I know I will be freer than I’ve ever been before because the flaws that once hindered my walk with Him will be removed!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Is God currently putting you through a test to see if you are ready to move forward in your life?
2. Are you cooperating with Him or prolonging the process by resisting?
3. Why don’t you take a few minutes and write down several things you learned about yourself during the times God has tested you that you needed to change so you could expedite that testing process?

So that from his [Paul’s] body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
— Acts 19:12

We saw in yesterday’s Sparkling Gem that the Bible explicitly tells us that Paul experienced a level of God’s power that had been previously unknown to him when he came to the city of Ephesus, resulting in dramatic healings and deliverances of all sorts. Today we’re going to examine the types of supernatural occurrences that accompanied that flow of supernatural power.

In Acts 19:12, there is a specific list regarding the various categories of people who were healed and delivered as a result of the divine invasion of power that accompanied Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. It says, “So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”

To gain a better understanding of these three categories of people, let’s consider the Greek words in this verse for “sick,” “diseases,” and “evil spirits.” In the Greek text, these are three very different words that tell very different stories about the various categories of infirmed people that were changed as a result of the Holy Spirit’s manifested power.

First, Acts 19:12 refers to the “sick.” This is the Greek word astheneo, which is a word that generally describes a person who is frail in health. This word astheneo commonly referred to people who were so physically weak that they were unable to travel — in this case, to the location where Paul was teaching the Word of God. It carried the idea of those who were feeble, fragile, faint, incapacitated, disabled, or simply in such poor health that it would be unthinkable to transport them. Their condition was so delicate that they would most likely be shut-ins or homebound.

Second, the word “diseases” is used, translated from a Greek word that has a very different meaning than the one translated “sick.” Actually, the word translated “diseases” can actually be considered an amplification of the word “sick” (astheneo), providing even greater insight into the frail condition of these people who were homebound because of their conditions. That Greek word translated “diseases” is nosos, an old word with a long and interesting history.

In ancient Greek literature, the word nosos was specifically used to describe illnesses caused by invisible entities, such as demons. In fact, nearly every time the word nosos was used in connection with illness, it was understood that the sickness was spirit-inflicted. The word portrayed people who were tormented physically or mentally; people who were afflicted by an unseen entity; or those who were vexed with lunacy or madness. The ancient view was that these individuals had been ruthlessly subjected to cruel treatment by spirits and were therefore “dis-eased” people.

The word nosos was also used to describe plagues that were attributed to demonically inspired disasters or physical terminal illnesses for which medical science had no known remedy. If it was a nosos plague sent to an entire city or region, the ancients believed it was a scourge of demon spirits that simply had to run its course because none of their natural efforts could stop it. Medical attempts to treat a nosos illness were considered futile because nosos was a type of sickness or demonic attack beyond help and recovery.

Whether the manifestation of nosos was terminal cancer, some other deadly illness, or a spirit-inflicted mental madness, people of that day assumed that someone with a nosos disease had no hope of recuperation. Every time the word nosos was used, it described what the ancient Greeks believed to be an unalterable, irreversible, incurable, permanent condition.

Due to the multiplicity of dark pagan religions that flourished in Ephesus, the city was a fertile breeding ground for demonic activity. The religion of Artemis, the supreme goddess of the city, as well as the many other alternative forms of pagan worship, all involved worshipers in occult rituals and supernatural activities that could have caused people to fall under the influence of evil spirits. It should therefore come as no surprise that many people in this city were tormented with untreatable, spirit-inflicted sickness that came upon them as a result of curses, spells, and magic.

However, as we read in Acts 19:12, when Paul’s garments were laid on them, “…The diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” The wording in Acts 19:12 makes it clear that the elimination of these diseases was linked to the departure of evil spirits. The moment victims were freed of evil spirits, they were freed of the sicknesses the evil spirits had caused, confirming that the diseases were spirit-induced. The verse says that the diseases “departed” — translated from the Greek word apallasso, which means to be set free, to be changed, to be radically transformed, or to be liberated or unfettered from something.

It is significant that the word apallasso is used in this verse, because it was actually a First Century medical term that described people who had been completely cured of a disease. This term never denoted a temporary cure — only a permanent one. Thus, we know that when the divine power that operated in Paul’s ministry touched these afflicted people, they were perma- nently freed of the sickness and oppression that had relentlessly tormented them.

Acts 19:12 also states that the diseases left when “the evil spirits went out” of them. To understand the significance of this statement, we must first take a closer look at the word “evil” in connection with “evil spirits.” The word “evil” is the word poneros, a well-known word that describes something that is foul, vile, malicious, malevolent, malignant, hostile, and vicious. In the Bible, it is often used to depict actions, laws, or people whose behavior is opposed to the righteous nature of God. For example, God’s nature is righteous, good, holy, and pure, but the word poneros would depict something that is unrighteous, wicked, unholy, and impure.

When the Greek word poneros is used in connection with animals, it often depicts animals that are savage, wild, vicious, and dangerous. Such beasts are so dangerous that they pose a risk of death to those near them. Similarly, when the word poneros is connected to the word spirits to form the phrase “evil spirits,” as is found in Acts 19:12, we know that these spirits created havoc and destruction, were malicious to those in whom they dwelt, and brought harm and danger to anyone nearby. This may explain why severe demoniacs lived far from population centers, such as the two demon-possessed men in Matthew 8:28 who lived in a remote region of the Gadarenes.

Acts 19:12 goes on to say that when the power operating through Paul’s clothing or hands touched the diseased, the evil spirits “went out” of them. The phrase “went out” comes from the Greek word ekporeuomai, a compound of the words ek and poreuomai. The word ek means out, as in to go out, to leave, or to go away. The word poreuomai means to journey, as in to leave one place and go to another. When the two words are compounded, the new word ekporeuomai implies an even stronger meaning. It gives the impression that when Paul’s garments touched those who had “evil spirits,” the anointing transmitted from his garments to them caused the evil spirits so much anguish and torment that they swiftly went out of the afflicted like those who are evicted, ousted, thrown out, or forcibly removed.

God’s power came in and the evil spirits swiftly went out — and when they departed, the physical and mental afflictions caused by those spirits left with them. The evil spirits were literally ejected or evicted, just as an unwanted person would be ejected or evicted from a house. One expositor states that the word ekporeuomai actually gives the impression that these evil spirits escaped from the anointing operating through Paul. And when they left, the cure was permanent. Once touched by Paul or his clothes, the sick and diseased were liberated and set free.

One may not conclude from this text that all sickness and disease are spirit-induced. However, it leaves open the possibility that some who are tormented with agonizing physical and mental conditions that medical science cannot help may be suffering from afflictions that are not natural but rather are the result of an evil spiritual entity. At least we should be open to consider that if medical treatment does not help, there may be a spiritual root to the physical problem.

In this case, not only is a good doctor needed, but also an experienced pastor or minister who knows how to administer the power of God to those who cannot get relief by medical means. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever — and since He healed those in Acts 19:12, He is more than willing to help those who come to Him for help today. The power of God has never changed — it is still operating and flowing from Heaven; it is still healing the sick; and it is still evicting evil entities from human beings. We must learn to be increasingly sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading so we can know what ailments are simply physical problems and which are spirit-inflicted. Then once we know, we can deal with the situation by the Spirit and take the actions He leads us to take to help bring healing and freedom!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I thank You for opening the eyes of my understanding today as I’ve read about the various types of sicknesses and diseases that were healed during Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. I think I’ve made the mistake of thinking everything could be treated with medicine, but it is clear from this Sparkling Gem that some afflictions are spirit-induced and therefore can only be cured with the power of God. I ask You to teach me more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit — particularly the gift of healing. I ask also that You make me an instrument through which Your supernatural power flows to heal those who will never be healed in any other way.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I boldly confess that God uses me as an instrument of healing, deliverance, and freedom for the sick whom medical science has been unable to help. The Holy Spirit resides in me — and with Him are all of His gifts, including the gift of healing and the working of miracles. Father, I embrace the truth that You want Your power to operate in me and through me — and that I should be an extension of Jesus’ ministry to bring healing and freedom to those who need relief. Therefore, I declare that I will yield to You and lay my hands on the sick, expecting You to cause them to recover. I will use my voice to release Your authority and command spirit-inflicted illnesses to go. In Jesus’ name, I will see results and people will be made free, for the glory of God the Father!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Have you ever personally witnessed a healing, miracle or deliverance from a spirit-inflicted illness? When was that and what did you observe? How would you describe it to someone else?
2. Although these instances are very rare, have you ever encountered a person whom you thought was controlled by evil spirits? When was that? What led you to believe that evil spirits controlled them?
3. Have you ever been in an atmosphere so charged with God’s power that you personally witnessed the sick, the diseased, and those with evil spirits be set free? Do you ever witness such demonstrations of power at your church? If not, why not?