When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:54-56 NASU
The current election cycle in the US has been hotly contested among believers. It’s been really surprising to see the soulish display of threats, accusations, and self-imposed ultimatums on face book and in the media. Spirit-filled people who are normally mature and wise have often responded in a very soulish way. Elections are important and we should be involved. However, the fragrance of Jesus shouldn’t evaporate from our lives in the process. The vindictive, critical spirit from these sons of thunder misrepresents the spirit of wisdom and revelation of knowing Jesus.
The consequence – When we step into a critical spirit and start taking the name of the Lord in vain, the Holy Spirit politely backs away from us and all we have left is our own carnal wisdom. It has no power, no love and it makes no difference in the lives of others. It’s free of anointing and we become clouds without rain.
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Ps 51:8-10 KJV
The philosophy behind these tantrums is that if something is wrong inside my metron, I am responsible to fix it (especially my own life). If something is wrong outside my metron I have the right to bitch about it. Here’s where we start to go in the ditch. First, there are no sheriffs or morality police who replace the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom. People are never changed or controlled by criticism or instruction regarding outward behavior. We all change from the inside out. Second, our first choice of weapon is intercessory in nature. We take the offending person before the throne in love and repent on their behalf before God. Instead of repeating or prophesying the position of the accuser of the brethren, we are verbalizing the testimony of Jesus about that person and silencing the accuser by standing in the gap.
Prophetic witchcraft – Opinions that articulate the voice of the accuser are prophetic in nature – also a form of witchcraft that hold people in their sin. The true prophetic is always the testimony of Jesus about that person. It always pulls them toward their calling in the Kingdom – which is always very positive, uplifting and prophetically powerful. It may lead them through repentance and change, but the motivation for it is their bright future… not our critical spirit.
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev 19:8 NIV
The spirit of wisdom – Politics is usually contentious and naturally draws out carnality. That’s why we do need to be involved. What believers bring to the table is respect for other people because God loves them and has written His plan in their hearts even though they may not be saved yet. He died for us while we were yet in our sins too. God expects us to convey that level of hope.
The political mountain there are many competing voices that are usually soulish in nature. But when the voice of God is heard it sounds very different and it represents a solution that others will rally toward. It is brand new in nature, a creative alternative that births hope for the future on every side. Instead of assuming the opposition is evil and corrupt, it hears the heart of what they hope to achieve that was planted there by God. Then it simply offers a path toward that place where Kingdom purpose and political agenda overlap.
There is an answer – The greatest deception in politics is a belief that the opposition has no point and no value. We are all reached when someone touches what God wrote in our hearts. It’s an experience with heaven and the Holy Spirit will join us in making those agreements. Unity is always the byproduct of agreeing with God first to love one another and second, to join Him in building the Kingdom. Those breakthroughs are amazing and fun and they embrace people outside the Kingdom.
God has an answer for every difficulty and every disagreement. Kings believe those answers exist and find them – their depth of faith to find an answer is huge (unsearchable).
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. 3 As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, So the heart of kings is unsearchable (the understanding of a good leader is broad and deep). Prov 25:2-3 NASU + (message)
