The Spirit Of Burning

The world needs full contact with all out displays on New Testament spirituality grounded in Jesus.  These times demand radical followers of Christ, willing to obey God’s will at all cost. “We have to get people beyond dedication and into fascination.” -Mike Bickle.

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Rejection: This Present Darkness’s Weapon of Choice

While our spiritual forefathers were threatened with the guillotine and burning stakes, we are often faced with social ostracism and personal disapproval.  While ancient Christians steam rolled through the swords of torture aimed against them, some modern Christians roll away from the “butter knives” of ridicule aimed against them.  It is easy to see why the guillotine was menacing, but how has rejection in our age become such an abnormal scourge?  Part of the answer is found in the lost discipline called the fear of the Lord.  This fear is not cowering but reverencing our awesome God.

Whoever or whatever you fear the most will dictate and direct your life. You can unleash the soul winner within by walking in a greater awareness of God’s Word than public opinion.  Meditating on scriptures and the attributes of God will definitely aid in this quest.

Another part of the answer is found in how much we feed on the praises or acceptance of man rather than being grounded in the love of the Father.  To whatever extent you are unduly uplifted by the compliments of the crowd you will be unduly diminished by their criticisms.  Criticism is a compliment when you’re doing the right thing; Christ yearned for people’s conversions, not their compliments.

Finally, I believe the most underrated solution for this weapon of choice is holy companionship.  In Acts 4:23, after Peter and John had been persecuted by the Sanhedrin they went to their own companions.  What resulted was not a licking of one’s wound but the unleashing of boldness, signs and wonders.  As you get with other on-fire crazy loving soul winners, you will be nurtured in prophetic evangelism, and your boldness will return.  I’m convinced this is a major reason why Jesus sent the disciples out two-by-two, so no one could help wipe the “dust” of rejection off of the other.  Look to link up with a prophetic evangelist accountability support partner and you will take a weapon out of the enemy’s hand.

Psalms 2:2

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying

“Let us break their bonds in pieces

And cast away their cord from us”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.

 

Kings and rulers had the power to exert great influence upon their day and lead people in the direction of their choice.  Today, we have talking heads, TV hosts, reality TV, and music icons selling their philosophies of life and spiritual matters to millions.  Opinion makers are feverishly busy dictating tastes, biases, and preferences.  Yet this passage tells us that their attempt to “front” or intimidate God’s purposes will be so harmless at the end of the day that it only makes God chuckle.  You can believe that!

Many times a lie is sold to us that you must be able to answer all objections before you dare to lock horns in evangelism. But check this out! New believers who can’t necessarily defend what they believe lead the largest number of unbelievers to Christ. They are so thrilled and exhilarated to be saved, to have found the answer; they are passionate about getting the word out. They enthusiastically tell their friends, most of whom are unbelievers. It doesn’t matter if you have been saved twenty years, you can still discover this passion and bust out of your box!

 

Don’t buy the lie for a second that you have to be a preacher to lead people to Christ. Just get out of the box of familiarity and revisit the joy of your salvation.

Getting Epic and Freeing the Voice

Getting an epic life happens after making an epic stand. Getting epic has everything to do with getting to the place where nothing else matters. We must seek opportunities over security. Security is all relative anyway. Being in your destiny in the will of God is as secure as it gets. Everything else is about as safe as a fly buzzing around a “big zapper.”

It is only when you decide to pursue an epic life that there can be full activation of your giftings and anointings. Early in my walk I felt inspired by God to give His Kingdom my best and to believe God for the impossibilities. Pastor Bill Johnson is right when he said “It is unnatural for a Christian to not have an appetite for the impossible.”

Getting epic will cause you to move from religious infatuations to heavenly romance, once you kiss the Son, you’ll embrace His Pearl—His inheritance in the earth. This resolve happens because you let go of the emergency brakes in your walk and allow full throttle Christianity to break the sound barrier. Don’t be afraid to be different, this will prove to be your strength. Getting epic must begin with you getting alone with the epic God who has overcome the world (Mark 3:14-15). What are you waiting on? History is waiting for you to give it a shove, you go girl! You go boy! It’s your season to step into this blessing.

Freeing the Voice

To free the voice is to free the person. History is replete with God’s power made known through ordinary people finding their “voice”. In Mark 16:8, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus were terrified by the words of the angel which seemed to leave them speechless. They left the Heavenly Visitor quickly, “but said nothing to anyone for there were afraid.” What caused them to freeze up? But after Jesus visited them they were ripe to by hyped, they were launched into a “I dare you to shut me up” witnessing role. Yet these first prophetic evangelists of the resurrection found their voice in the midst of their drama. The first prophetic evangelist had to overcome fear and make their voices heard. Things haven’t changed in two millenniums; we still come to victory by winning this battle.

Scriptures declare that they told others, obviously shaking the influence of a deaf and dumb spirit. A deaf and dumb spirit wants to shut you up and shut you down. Like the incident where the disciples were unsuccessful in casting out this spirit (Mark 9), you will be challenged to shake off its influence and free your voice. In this incident Jesus got this young boy’s voice free, yet it was only after shaking things up a bit. In Mark 9:27, Jesus took this formerly deaf and dumb spirit, this harassed young person by the hand and lifted him up causing him to arise. Jesus is here to do the same for you in this moment, just ask Him and share your struggles with Him.

This is an excerpt from the book “The Epic Lifestyle” (a sequel to Prophetic Evangelism) by Sean Smith

www.seansmithministries.org