Call of the Spirit Publications

In our prior discussion regarding ‘tongues’ we mentioned:

• “Speaking in tongues is a Kingdom benefit, not a Salvation requirement”
• “Speaking in tongues makes our physical tongue available to the Holy Spirit to pray/speak to God about something we don’t have knowledge of”
• “Speaking in tongues brings one into a place of rest, and causes a refreshing in their lives”
• “Like everything in the Kingdom of God – you only have to ask to be filled with the Spirit” (which will result in/with speaking in tongues)
• [Speaking in tongues] “is certainly one of the greatest tools God has given to His Body to excel over darkness these Last Days”
• “Speaking in other tongues will enhance your worship experience – the urge for intimacy with God can (begin to) be satisfied through this benefit”
• “Paul declared ‘I wish you all spoke with tongues; do not forbid to speak with tongues’” (1Cor.14:a, 39b)

For the exposition of each of these points please read the prior article “About Tongues.” I only mentioned them to get the ball rolling to bring further clarification regarding tongues and the benefit(s) of their practice.

I’d like to point out when this Kingdom benefit is spoken of it’s not referred to as a ‘language’ [religious tradition has called speaking in tongues a Heavenly language – but it’s not a ‘language’ as we know languages: Italian, French, Chinese and so forth – it’s a ‘tongue,’ utterance given by the Holy Spirit through our inner-man]. Natural, human, languages typically have a direct translation from the one language to another (maybe not word for word, but overall communication can be made through translation). Speaking in a spiritual ‘tongue’ the understanding of what is said comes through interpretation – and that by the Holy Spirit. I know I’m ruffling some feathers here, but stay with me. By the anointing of the Holy Ghost I’ll be able to adequately expound on this statement, and you (the reader) will gain illumination – which will empower one to march boldly in these Last Days!

Let me explain: when the Holy Spirit is giving someone utterance to speak/pray about something, for us to understand what is being said/prayed for we need for Him to interpret for us. It’s not a word for word translation. This explains why our ‘tongues’ can ‘sound’ exactly the same from one time to another, yet something completely different is being prayed for/spoken. It’s a spiritual activity. This activity can accomplish any one, or more, of the following:

• Simple spirit-exercise: this can be initiated by the believer at any time, which will build-up the spirit-man (like going to the gym builds-up our muscles).
• Praying to God about something one doesn’t know how to pray for. We know we need to pray about a thing, but don’t seem to know how/what to pray for it – The Holy Spirit will give us the utterance needed to get the job done.
• Communing with God out of a heart of love by the inspiration of the Spirit.
• Public manifestation of speaking in tongues is as the Spirit wills and requires (the gift of) the interpretation of tongues to profit the assembly.

These all will ‘sound’ the same to our natural ear, but the Holy Spirit will cause them to be uttered according to their needed purpose. As time goes on and we develop these things of the Spirit, we’ll become more accurate and skillful in their operations. Each instance builds-up the believer exercising them, which helps one to grow-up in the things of God.

JESUS HAD TO BE FILLED

Jesus didn’t begin His earthly ministry until He was filled with the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22). The terms ‘baptized with,’ ‘poured out on,’ and ‘filled with’ are all different ways to talk about the same experience with the Holy Spirit. At the New Birth it is the Holy Spirit Who makes one a ‘New Creature’ (2Cor.5:17) by “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5); however, subsequent to that experience, The Master has commanded us to be “endued with Power from on High” (Luke 24:49). This ‘endowment’ is what makes available the Supernatural ‘tools’ necessary to demonstrate the involvement of Heaven here on earth: “But the manifestation of the Spirit (the ‘tools’) is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues” (1Co 12:7-10). I made mention of each ‘tool’ to show what is available to every Believer who has been ‘endued’ with the Power of God through being filled (baptized) with the Holy Spirit. For this teaching we’ll only be discussing in detail ‘speaking in tongues.’

Remember Acts 2:4 tells us the disciples spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (other references in the Book of Acts that mention speaking in tongues once filled with the Holy Spirit include 10:46 and 19:6). How does the Spirit do that? Does He tell our inner-man what to say (like ‘tell so-and-so this,’ or ‘say such-and-such’), then our inner-man tells our minds what to say? No. The utterance comes as a divine influence. We’ll call this influence the individual’s personal ‘tongue/utterance.’

PERSONAL TONGUE [UTTERANCE]

Once one is ‘filled with’, or ‘baptized in’ the Holy Spirit each ‘variety’ of tongues becomes available. This is the initial evidence, or sign, that one has received the infilling of the Holy Spirit (has been Baptized in the Holy Spirit). We could say the Spirits’ initial involvement ‘flavors’ the individual’s speech. Like when one adds sugar to tea making it ‘sweet tea’; it’s still tea, but now the influence of sugar has made it ‘sweet tea.’ When speaking in a tongue by the Spirit, we’re still doing the speaking, but it’s ‘influenced’ (or inspired) by the Holy Spirit giving the utterance.

This is why we don’t hear anybody from a religious denomination that talks against being baptized with the Holy Spirit ever speak in other tongues! The enemy has convinced many that speaking in tongues is of the devil. But, my friend, I’m giving many adequate – Scriptural – instances of the importance this blessing from God brings into our lives! This action is one of the greatest ‘tools’ God has given us [this discussion can be difficult to understand; one must read this with their heart (inner-man) and not with their head (natural understanding). This is portrayed in 1Corinthians chapter 2 in detail.]

SPEAKING OUT MYSTERIES [ONE VARIETY]

Let’s go on. We’ve already talked about ‘speaking mysteries’ when we speak in tongues: “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries” (1Co 14:2). Paul doesn’t leave us there though, he further instructs: “Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret” (1Co 14:13). That correlates with the instruction found in Romans 8: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27).

There’s much that needs to be unpacked in this passage:

1. The word ‘weaknesses’ here means (our) inability to produce results.
2. ‘groanings which cannot be uttered’ is further depicted in the Greek ‘in articulate speech.’ In other words, natural human language cannot express it, that’s why a Spiritual ‘tongue’ is necessary.
3. Intercession for the saints is made according to the will of God: mysteries spoken in prayer – one is enabled to pray for someone else without prior knowledge of their need (the Spirit knows “the end from the beginning”!).

Another ‘sacred-cow’ I’d like to topple here is what comes next: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). The religious concept that I want to defy here is the blanket statement people make: “Well, you know, God works all things together for our good” (which often leaves one disgruntled with God and/or confused). The Law of Doctrine commands us to never take things out of context to make Scripture say something it actually does not. Paul, writing to Timothy, said: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2Ti 2:15, italics mine for emphasis). If Scripture can be ‘rightly divided’ then it can be wrongly divided as well. This is why there are so many different religious interpretations (doctrines) that result in dividing the Body of Christ, instead of unifying us.

The context in Romans 8 where Paul said that in verse 28 is talking about being led by the Spirit, and praying out mysteries in tongues. The person who practices such spiritual activity in their daily lives can expect the leading of God, Who will in turn cause all things to work together for our good when we cooperate with His directive (as a doer of His Word). Paul wrote to the Ephesian church: “For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]” (Eph 2:10, AMPC). However these blessed paths are not discovered by anyone who spends no time communing with God, and aligning their lives with His Plan for them! – Praying in the Spirit (which is another way of saying praying in tongues) is the ‘tool’ we all have at our disposal to align our lives with the Plan of God. The Plan of God is a mystery hidden in God for us, not from us!

When one receives revelation of the Word, faith is the result. Speaking in tongues is like ‘fanning the flames’ of those revelations we have deposited in our hearts; the result? We ‘feel’ supercharged. [I put ‘feel’ like that because it’s a spiritual ‘feeling’ that results in the strength of the Lord. This strength empowers us to charge through our daily lives like a bull chasing a red-flag!]

I’ve been calling these activities ‘tools’ because they are given to the Body of Christ to accomplish the Will of God in various situations. They are available for ministering to others. The Lord once spoke to me regarding these ‘manifestations (gifts)’ in this way: “The gifts of the Spirit are for ministering to others Kingdom Benefits; the Promises of God will manifest the same result(s) for anyone who believes and receives them.” In other words, the gifts are ministered from one individual to another, as the Spirit wills; the Promises make available the same benefits for every believer to obtain on their own (see 2Pe 1:2-4).

DISCERNING BETWEEN SOUL AND SPIRIT

One of the greatest benefits speaking in tongues makes available (besides building-up our inner-man) is distinguishing between our soul and spirit. Mankind is a triune being, we are a spirit, we have a soul (mind-will-emotions), and we live in a body. Our ‘soulish-man’ is so closely related to our ‘spirit-man’ that the Bible says it can only be divided by the Word of God: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb 4:12).

From the time we are born into this world we are programmed with the thoughts of the world – through our parental upbringing, social influence (news media, television shows and movies) and so forth. Through the prophet Isaiah God said: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD” (Isa 55:8). Once we become a believer in Christ we have the necessary job of transforming our thoughts be be like His. This process will result in producing faith in our hearts, and speaking in tongues will enhance it! While we are being built-up on our ‘most holy faith’ we are also becoming aware of the difference between what is of our spirit-man and what is of our soulish-man. The more one exercises their spirit-man through speaking in tongues, the more aware they become of the difference between soul and spirit.

THE ‘WRAP-UP’

Let’s wrap-up this discussion with these bullet points:

• Speaking in tongues is a spiritual exercise made available to any Believer who has been baptized in/with the Holy Spirit.
• Speaking in tongues will build-up (strengthen) the individual on their “most holy faith” (revelations they’ve received through study of the Word).
• Praying in tongues enables one to ‘pray-out’ mysteries and to pray for others for something they have not become aware of.
• Speaking in tongues helps one differentiate between what is of their soul and spirit (which is where communications from God occur).  
• Speaking in tongues is an utterance influenced by the Spirit of God and not a language. A language can have a word for word translation, tongues is a direct communication to/from God. To understand what has been said one must receive an interpretation (which explains why speaking in tongues can ‘sound’ like one is saying the same thing as before, yet something different is being ‘said’ in the Spirit).

The message that’s to follow began in my heart nearly twenty years ago when The Lord said to me “Have You Imprisoned the Spirit of God?” The title “The Dark Side of Faith” rose up inside me during my time of fellowship with Him Wednesday morning, August 2, 2023 (which is the same way the first question came to me early in 2004). I’ve come to realize the predominant direction of my ministry, its message and purpose, are marked with the instructions of cooperating with the Holy Spirit – freeing Him from religious traditions, opinions of mankind and the like. I say ‘freeing Him’ because He will not blast in on anybody’s life or organized meeting to make them do His will, or align with His ways (which, by-the-way are the only ways to enjoy Heaven on earth – in any capacity).

For the purpose of this teaching when we use the term ‘faith’ we’re talking about the belief-system all of mankind has been equipped with. Mankind was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen.1:26). God is a faith God, and man has always been a ‘faith-being.’ We started out with God’s faith, but it became corrupted when Adam bowed his knee to the devil – and that decision passed on to all of mankind: “for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12, KJV). Not that we have sinned after the similitude of Adam, but because he was our parent his disobedience passed on to us all. Jesus reversed that ungodly decision and freely gives God’s life (which includes His faith) to everyone who receives Him! Now, that’s Good News! “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom 12:3). I quoted that in the KJV because it lets us know every believer in Christ has been given ‘the’ measure of faith. The measure of faith came by the seed of the Word and is developed and grows by the same Word of God.

I said all of that to say that mankind (male and female alike) are all faith-beings, and the devil knows it. [Now listen carefully; this is the primary reason for this teaching. I learned these things the hard way! – But, I’ve also learned that we can live a life of victory ON PURPOSE!!] The two primary ingredients that function in the life of faith are the imagination (inner-imagery) and the words of our mouth. We could say it this way: our imagination is the canvas of our heart (inner-man, spirit), which the Scripture calls “hope.” Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Bible faith is filled with and energized by the Life of God and has God as its Source. Natural human faith is limited to only what the flesh can produce, and God calls that environment “cursed.” “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD” (Jer. 17:5). Notice, this latter ‘trust’ is in what man can do apart from the Lord being influenced by the devil.

All of mankind has been created to be influenced (energized, swayed) by the unseen realm – which is the Fourth Dimension (or, the realm of the spirit). Christianity (Body of Christ) has the upper-hand because we can learn these things and operate in them for our own good; the world has the influence of the devil who fills their mouth (and heart) with death. He uses media, social media and so forth to ‘program’ people to live in the flow of death and destruction. I’m convinced that COVID-19 would not have spread like it did without the ‘help’ of newscasters and social media. We were hearing – from ‘voices’ we were supposed to trust – that it was necessary to get vaccinated and practice social distancing, and to wear a mask. Did you notice I said it came from ‘voices we were supposed to trust’? Part of the faith-mechanism is believing a thing. That opens our heart to have instruction written on it, which will affect our future; especially if we say it! The Word of God teaches us that we have what we say. I can hear the ‘light-switches’ flipping in many of you. You’re starting to realize that you have been paving your life by believing in your heart and saying with your mouth certain things!

Here’s a paraphrase of Mark 11:23 that will bring home what we have been talking about. ‘Whosoever (that’s anybody) shall say…and believe in his (or her) heart (spirit-man, inner-man, hidden man of the heart) what they say shall come to pass, they shall have whatsoever they say.’ The part that got me was ‘believing what you (I) say shall come to pass.’ Having been bullied in school I developed a defense mechanism – I became a ‘class-clown’ which resulted in the practice of, what the Bible calls, foolish-jesting. I would say things to get people to laugh (which, I thought it would deflect what I perceived as their hatred for me); things that weren’t true. This developed a mistrust in my spirit (heart) to not believe most of what I said. [See how crafty the devil is?] So, what was the result? I began to believe I was always going to be a nobody; a misfit, a reject – unimportant! You can envision how this image hindered my spiritual walk unto victory. These death-filled attitudes kept me bound so badly that I had no vision – at all! No aspirations for any kind of success in life! My hope is that somebody will read this, grab their life by the horns (so-to-speak) and get a spring in their step to press forward and forsake the imagery of defeat that has dogged them their entire life and manifest the Glory of God! Allow the Word of God – who you are IN CHRIST – to paint on the canvas of your heart what cost Jesus His Blood to purchase for you and me and shove it in the devil’s face!!

I remember, as a youngster, walking along the sidewalk and thinking to myself ‘I know everything I need to know. I don’t have to go to college, or gain any further teaching of _______.’ So I never applied myself to learn. I’m not sure what my grade average was, but the C’s and D’s were enough to skate me into the next grade. Around the third grade the bullying was thrust into high gear. Then to make matters worse, my third grade teacher called me a “stupid idiot” in front of the entire class! My home-life didn’t give me any backbone. My mother always used to say “That’s alright, if you don’t want to ______, then you don’t have to.” This made me a world-class quitter. When that teacher said that to me and the whole class laughed at me, I closed-up and became a ‘wall-flower’ (someone who didn’t interact at all with anybody else).

This is when the imagery of complete failure began within my inner-man. It’s just now dawning on me (as I’m writing this) that that is why it has taken almost 40 years for the Lord to be able to bring about deliverance in many areas of my life. I would read the Scripture that says “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col 1:13). The Amplified Bible classic edition says it like this: “…has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us …” There were bondages that controlled my life that I couldn’t break free of, no matter how much I quoted/confessed the Word regarding them. We’ve heard it said the Lord got Israel out of Egypt, but He needed to get Egypt out of them. That’s what was going on with me.

I started gaining insight into the missing pieces of the life of faith I suffered from after reading Dr. David (Paul) Yonggi Cho’s book called “The Fourth Dimension.” I had heard many of the ministers I feed off of mention that book and how it affected their lives. I finally got hold of a copy and read it. WOW! I found out what they were talking about, and it began the journey I’m writing about now. The devil knows how the laws that govern this life work, and he’s been robbing from mankind since the Garden getting us to function in them with his influence – which is to steal, kill and destroy! From Dr. Cho’s book we learn that faith requires an inner-imagery to bring to pass what we desire. [Put your stones down, I know Brother Copeland has taught that for years. I simply didn’t ‘hear’ it, which tells me I just wasn’t ready.] Where I got the idea of “The Dark Side of Faith” from is in the understanding that all of mankind operates in faith (bringing forth the image inside them). Jesus said “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matt. 12:35). This ‘bringing forth’ could be rendered: ‘bring about,’ or ‘cause to be.’

Can you see how this ‘dark side of faith’ has propagated the agenda of hell throughout the history of the human race? The darkness has so blinded our hearts and minds to the point of hopelessness in many cases. Suicide is at an all-time high because people cannot see themselves as being in the image of God. The devil has convinced many to be confused about their sexuality when a simple – honest – examination of their body will tell them whether they are male or female. I believe the Body of Christ needs to rise up and shine the Light of Love into this darkened world and show that there is hope for all who come to Jesus! God’s Word is full of words that create imagery, which results in faith – the God kind of faith. God’s faith will heal your body – OF ANYTHING! God’s faith will cause peace to unite a family, a village, a nation and obliterate war. The dark side of faith will keep people bound to sickness and disease, and every other disaster imaginable. Isaiah prophesied “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isa 60:1-3). [For a pick-me-up writing about that read my article called Arise to a New Life.] Once, I was complaining to the Lord about the hideous activity going on in the world and He said to me “What did you think the ‘gross darkness’ [KJV] was going to look like?” So, come on Body of Christ, Jesus said that we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). Let’s get busy shining forth God’s glory and dispel the darkness! [I just heard this: “Make way, for the King is coming!”]

Discussing these things with a friend, who I trust, via text messages I had an image go off in my heart. I saw Jesus reaching His hand through the muck that’s clouding this planet (overwhelming circumstances) to pull up through it those who would take hold of Him. I wrote: “He’s reaching into the waters of despair the devil thought he was drowning us in, and we’re coming out stronger than ever!” The darkness is covering the planet, without a doubt. But, we are not without help! The Word of God – you know, that Book that’s collecting dust, that we drag with us on a Sunday morning (if we can find it) – is full of exceeding great and precious promises which will enable us to be a partaker of God’s divine nature (see 2Peter 1:2-4). His Word is a shield about us (Psalm 3:3, 5:12, 18:2). And, faith in it will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one! Jesus is the Word that became flesh (John 1:14). John 3:34 tells us Jesus has the Spirit without measure. The revelation came to me that The Word of God has the same measure (which is immeasurable). Romans 10:17 says that (God’s) faith comes by hearing His Word. Faith for defeat comes by ‘hearing’ the lies of the enemy (regardless of how they are coming to you!).

I further wrote: “The whole election-integrity thing; the trans stuff. What our enemy meant for our destruction (communism), God is using for our Awakening! We need to remain sharp in the Spirit and soar above these things! The Body of Christ MUST shake off everything of the flesh: carnality, prejudice (which is not simply black vs. white. It’s division of religious camps – ‘word of faith’ vs. Baptist, etc.).”

In conclusion: all of mankind has a belief-system – we call it ‘faith’. It’s designed to shape our world. The infusion of death (darkness) into the heart (spirit) of man corrupted this system which resulted in the propagation of hell’s agenda. Jesus paid the awesome price for our redemption by shedding His Blood and destroying that darkened system. However, it’s not automatic. It requires a purposeful study of the Word of God and intentional application of it (being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only [James 1:22])! I’ve called this teaching ‘The Dark Side of Faith’ for the purpose of exposing the devil’s devices, which we are not ignorant of (2Cor. 2:11) and illuminating God’s path of life for whosoever will!

The Lord started giving me revelations (insight) into the grace of God and its involvement in the life of the Believer back in 1987 while I was attending RHEMA Bible Training Center (its name back then). Since then the revelation continues to grow – to the point where I see something about grace in almost every Scripture I read!

I recently told a dear friend of mine that I only have one message, but that The Lord has given me multiple ways to express it. I’ve learned that a good ‘teaching-gift’ (which is an ‘equipping’) will reiterate things repeatedly, and many times in different ways to get a message across. Well, this is one of those ways the message of God’s grace is coming across to every reader who reads these articles. Paul said something similar writing to the Ephesian church: “if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)” (Eph 3:2-4, italics mine for emphasis).

Let’s break this down a bit: the word ‘dispensation’ is from the same Greek word which is also translated ‘stewardship’. So we could read it like this: “if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you.” A stewardship is a granted responsibility given from one to another to use or take care of whatever is granted. In this case it’s the grace of God. Now for some revelation; part of the grace Paul had was the overall message to proclaim what Jesus accomplished through His death-burial-and resurrection. But, if you’ll notice, Paul said to the Ephesian believers that understanding would come to them as they read the “mystery” he wrote to them regarding Christ. Do you see it? Paul had grace that brought him the message of the mystery, and enabled him to speak it to others (in this case through writing it in a letter) and that that message was saturated with grace to understand (partake of) it. This grace was part of Paul’s ‘equipping’ to accomplish his assignment he received from God.

Peter wrote something interesting along these lines: “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1Pe 4:10-11). There’s a lot in these two verses we’re going to unpack now. First I want to bring out that Peter said “each one” has received a gift – that means everybody in the Body of Christ has something (a grace from God) that will contribute to the overall success of the Body – which, ultimately, is the fulfilling of the Great Commission. The Great Commission is supernatural ministry, requiring the grace of God (God’s intervention through man – God working together with…).

Peter equated the word ‘gift’ to being “the manifold grace of God” (manifold meaning many sided or faceted). So, we are all graced by God to accomplish something within the parameters of the Great Commission – cast out devils, lay hands on the sick and see them recover, make disciples of all nations – all by the “stewardship of the many sided (faceted) grace of God,” our equipping. My brother and sister, we are not in this alone. We’ve not been given instructions by God to do something He has not equipped us to do.

“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” – Peter goes on to say. We could say ‘the oracles of God’ would be inspired speech (something we didn’t think up, but coming from within – by inspiration of God). Paul said this activity would minister grace to the hearers: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Eph 4:29). So, our words – what we say to each other – can bring an empowering to the hearer (or, the negative is true also; we can bring someone down by what we say to them!). On a sort-of side note, this is part of what we contribute to one another: “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph 4:16, italics mine for emphasis).

Paul worded it this way, writing to the church at Colosse: “holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God” (Col 2:19). Are you starting to see the importance that each one of us take our place in the Body of Christ and allow for God’s equipping – which we all have – to function in our lives? Don’t look at Billy Graham and think ‘I could never win souls for the Kingdom like that.’ He had his own equipping that he functioned in. Do you know that you and I will receive the same rewards on that Great Day that Billy Graham will for simply obeying the promptings of God – which could look like ‘offering a cup of cold water to someone in the name of a disciple’? If that’s what God has asked of you. Don’t think an assignment from God will take you to another country and live in a hut (if that’s what He has called you to, He will equip you for it – that’s called grace!).

Now, back to Peter’s admonition (which, by-the-way, came through/by the grace of God) “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies.” Did you catch that? Peter equated God’s grace to ‘the ability which God supplies’ – and, I might add, we all have a measure (portion) of! “That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” That’s what I’m talking about! Bringing glory to God through/in our everyday lives!

So, how do we do this on purpose? As with everything in the Kingdom of God, it takes faith. One cannot function without awareness of what’s available. It’s been said like this: ‘Faith begins where the will of God is known.’ Hebrews 11:6 says it’s impossible (did you catch that? not possible) to please God without faith! The Book of James tells us ‘faith without corresponding actions is useless’ (see Js. 2:17-20). What I’m saying is this: once we’ve been made aware of something regarding Kingdom operations, then we are responsible to act on it (or, be doers of the Word). This responsibility is called ‘stewardship’ – we all have our part to play.

I just heard this: “Revival comes through the hands and mouths of those who willingly respond to the wooing’s of God in their hearts.” God won’t force anyone to cooperate with Him. However, He needs us to work together with Him these last days to reach this darkened world in which we live. It’s going to take demonstrations of the Spirit – which are accomplished through willing vessels – to awaken the world around us that there is a God Who so loves them, and desires them to come to Him. These demonstrations (which are done by the grace of God) include healing the sick, casting out devils, praying for the healing of our land, etc.

My great hope and desire is that each one of us takes our place, using the grace of God – everywhere we go, every day (time is short, I can almost see Gabriel holding the trump-of-God in his hand, ready to give forth that blast to call us home!). We all have an equipping from God to accomplish His Will in our lives.

Let’s look at one last example before we wrap up this teaching. The parable of the talents found in Matthew: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey” (Mat 25:14-15). We’ll not discuss this entire parable. I wanted to bring out that the ‘tasks’ each servant received was according to their “own ability.” Each one was equipped to take care of business. God will never ask, or require something of anyone that He hasn’t equipped them to do so. [A little side-note: if something doesn’t seem to be working, perhaps the timing isn’t right, or the ‘talent’ (ability/grace) isn’t fully developed yet – I’ve been studying these things for nearly forty years now, but they are just now ‘coming forth’ (so-to-speak).]

Finally, we see in the Wilderness account regarding the construction of the sanctuary “And Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the LORD has put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the LORD has commanded” (Exodus 36:1). I bring this up because God had already given these men “wisdom and understanding” (we could say ability, or grace) to do the work He was asking of them.

We all have something to contribute to the ‘building’ of the Kingdom. What do you like to do? Give to ministries that ‘go’? Bake for fundraisers? Talk to people about Jesus? There’s a myriad of functions that together make for light-work (yes, I said light – Jesus told us His yoke was easy). What are you good at? These are all indicators that point to what God has graced us to do. Me, I like to write. Just the title “Equipped” rose up within me and I mulled it over in prayer. I then fired-up my computer and began typing. I’ve also learned that walking (conducting) oneself in what they’ve been called upon to do is the place of greatest joy/peace/and everything else the Holy Spirit brings to us all. He is the Spirit of Grace (Hebrews 10:29), so this talk of grace could be equated to talking about the involvement of the Spirit of God in our lives!