Double Hearted Psalm 12:1-4 Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things, Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is Lord over us?”  With flattering lips and a double heart they speak – I have done exactly this. How so you ask? I have spoken words with an ulterior motive. With flattering lips and a double heart I have spoken in orde ..read more

The Two Ways Psalms 1:6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.  There are two ways of life: the way of the righteous and the way of the ungodly.  ““There are two ways – one of life and one of death. And there is a great difference between the two ways.” ” — The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache) The way of life and the way of death are not ways of acting, thinking about oneself or rules to live by. Though they will have implications for how I act, think, and the manner in which I live. The way of life and the way death have far de ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART NINE Prophecy Can Bring Blessing  Many times throughout the Old Testament we see prophetic words bringing significant blessing and prosperity. Take for instance the prophetic ministry of Haggai and Zechariah: Ezra 6:14 So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. The Jewish nation prospered as a direct re ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART EIGHT Examples of Revelation from Acts Some of the clearest examples of New Testament prophecy in the book of Acts show that prophetic ministry gives direction to the body of Christ, displays the Father’s heart, and helps us to do the Father’s business. When Peter was praying and fasting in the city of Joppa, he fell into a trance and was shown a vision of a sheet with both unclean and clean animals. The vision perplexed Peter. While he was thinking about the vision, the Spirit spoke. Acts 10:19-20 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART SEVEN (Continued) The Prophetic Ministry of Jeremiah (Continued) To Build A pertinent example of God building through the prophetic utterances of Jeremiah is seen when God promises to bring the captives back from Babylon: Jeremiah 24:3-7 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART SEVEN The Prophetic Ministry of Jeremiah When Jeremiah was called into prophetic ministry at a young age, he was given 6 charges: Jeremiah 1:9-10 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.” The first thing to note is that four of the charges have to do with the removal of something and two have to do with the building of ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART six Bringing Edification, Exhortation, and Comfort 1 Corinthians 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. The basic tenor of prophecy is summed up in the aforementioned verse. To edify, exhort, and comfort can be simply caricatured as to lift up, build up, and cheer up. This is a good place to start when understanding the nature of prophecy as it should be practiced in our modern age. Edification, exhortation, and comfort are the baseline principles for the activity of prophecy.  To Edify The word for edi ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART FIVE (Continued) Revealing the Knowledge of God and Making Known the Heart of Man (Continued) When Paul prayed for the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 1:17-19, he asked that the Father would grant them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation: Ephesians 1:17-19 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the sai ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART FIVE Revealing the Knowledge of God and Making Known the Heart of Man ““How, then, may it be called ‘the spirit of prophecy’ that lays bare no future event but reports the present? In this case, attention must be paid to what is rightly described as prophecy, not because it predicts future events, but because it uncovers hidden truths… For as a coming event lies hidden in future time, a present thought is latent in a secret heart.”” — Gregory the Great In the desert fathers, there is a story of three friends who took it upon themselves to serve God t ..read more

THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION PART FOUR (continued) Convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement (Continued)  I recall a time I was sitting in an airport waiting for my flight. The gate attendant made an announcement that the flight was full and that we would need to check any carry-on bags. The offer was made to check any carry-ons for free to the travelers’ destination. An appeal was made to accommodate each other out of kindness. This offer was made 3 or 4 times, and then the tone of the gate attendant changed. It was obvious that not enough people had offered to ..read more