Fire On Your Head

I’ve written entries before concerning how to have faith, or how to increase it. I honestly don’t think faith is a subject that can be exhausted, but all of us can use continual reminders. So allow me to present a simple and practical way to increase your faith for believing for the impossible.  This post will deal with a lot of personal experience, and next week’s follow-up will delve into detailed Scriptures on the subject. This will be long, but not too deep.

First, let me establish that it’s NOT true that all believers have an “equal amount” of faith. Baby Christians for example, would have a hard time believing God–or you–if you spoke to them something on His behalf—if you told them grand supernatural things that God was going to do using them. Whereas someone who’s older and more mature in the Lord, should have been stretched and gone through enough experiences in life that he could see for himself in his own life how God’s promises are yes and amen in Him (2 Cor 2:20).

Each of us begins at the point we’re saved, with an equal measure of faith, but from then on the believer is shaped by experiences, how much of the Word of God they choose to eat—they can eat it in bites, or they can devour it.  Individuals can have the faith to be saved, and be converted at the same point in time, and some out-pace others by leaps and bounds as to the depths in God they choose to go into, while others drag their feet and never leave their diapers behind.

That being said, I’m writing this to anyone who wants more faith. What is the simplest and most obvious way to increase your faith? Trials and tests. Great faith comes by great tests. It doesn’t come just by feeding on God’s Word. Nor does it come from listening to great preaching podcasts or mp3s, or reading a lot of books by faith teachers. The potential for great faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).

Great faith comes when you put what you’ve heard or learned into practice. Athletes don’t build muscle by knowing how to. They get stronger from actually building those muscles. How do they do it? They work out in the gym. They go for runs or make sure they eat healthy. But with exercise, they use their muscles against something—‘no pain, no gain.’ They don’t get bulked up and physically fit from just reading books about how to exercise—they exercise! To build faith muscles, you have to use your faith against something. You need some kind of pressure put on you, whether it be from the Heavenly Father allowing us to be tested, or whether it be demonic attack over our lives through finances, health or other various and typical circumstances he attacks us through.

Miraculous formation of an unborn baby’s brain

I once heard second-hand about a man who found out that his unborn daughter was going to be born with only a quarter of her normal brain fully formed. In response to this, the man quit his job, and got all the healing and faith preachings he could get his hands on, and would pace the floor of his living room all day listening to them as if it were a full time job. Then after a few weeks when he was convinced in his spirit of God’s will for his daughter to be born whole, and not lacking, he found all the Scriptures in the Word of God dealing with the subject, and would pace his living room praying in tongues and confessing these verses out loud. Simple Bible verses that were just “typical” healing passages, he’d read them and quote them out loud for hours. Then after about 5 or 6 hours, he would just thank God for the miracle He had already provided, as if it had already came to pass. He knew what 1 John 5:14-15 said concerning believing that we’ve received. Then he’d go to bed, and start the same routine again the next day.

You’re likely reading that thinking that’s insane, but that’s what this man decided was necessary to do to bring himself to a place where he could confidently expect God to move in his daughter’s body. He didn’t do this stuff to “get God to heal”, but to bring himself to a place of faith where he could believe he received what God already gave. That part right there—that God already provides things and it’s up to us to obtain them by faith–trips up many people who believe that in God’s sovereignty He picks some to die prematurely for some higher purpose. Wrong!!!!!!!! God doesn’t kill babies because He “needs another flower in His garden”. In fact, if you want to keep your head attached to your neck, you best not ever say something like that around me in person. When a family loses a loved one, especially a child or a pregnancy that results in miscarriage, the last thing they need to be told is the utter schlock that passes for “proper theology” like “God willed it”. I’m sorry, you’ll never find that in Scripture, and what most people base their theology on is the promises of the Word they’ve failed to obtain in their experience or someone else’s. But if you want to be bold and believe for the miraculous you will need to ignore such people—they’ll only drag you down and talk you out of it. I had a teacher who once said “healing is relative: your relatives will keep you from getting healed”.

Needless to say, the man and his wife continued to get ultrasounds done by their doctor, and each time they were seeing that the baby’s brain had grown bigger and bigger until it was fully formed. She was born totally and fully functional, and at the time of the article that I heard this from, the child was 5 or 6 years old or something and had no unusual health problems in her life so far. But this man did what it took to bring himself to a place of faith to obtain the promise. Many people don’t want to persevere to obtain miracles, because many believe if you don’t get the answer right away, then that means God’s answer is “no” and it’s improper to keep persisting. I wonder if these same people read the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 11?

My personal financial needs met

Recently in my life I was really stretched and challenged in the area of my finances. I don’t make my support levels public, and when I indicate or ask for needs to be prayed about, I remain vague.  At the beginning of 2007, my first two months back in The Netherlands where I was serving as a missionary at the time, no financial support came in for me like I had been counting on (and should if people are pledging to support, but that’s another sermon). I had my parents send me some money, but Calvary International Canada, my missions covering, e-mailed me explaining the reason no money was put in my account was because no money had come in for me. Yikes! I have been in tight spots before, and much of the previous 6 years of my life to that point, I’ve lived in other countries, unable to legally work in them, and had to believe God for my jar to not run empty–but it overflowed only by HIS miraculous provision. Since I was already in the habit of praying for extended periods in tongues in the basement at our team’s Firehouse cafe in afternoons or evenings when we’re closed, I started to find Scriptures that talked about God meeting my needs–or passages on money–and write Scripture memory cards and pace the floor of the café and read them over and over again out loud, and confessing the Word over my problems like I’ve been blogging about for months now.  I was practicing what I’m preaching and, I only teach what I know from experience and the Word of Christ.

I also did NOT ask God for money–I thanked Him for already providing it. I thanked Him for the various ways and methods He had decided to get it to me. Harold Collins, my director at C.I.C. says “God told us to pray for our daily bread, not our monthly bread” and boy was I finding that true! But I still never lacked, and I ate nicely, and owe no bills. Immediately after discovering this “crisis”, I found out that my American agency, F.I.R.E. International, had deposited almost $400 US into my account, but I didn’t know it for almost a week because I hardly ever check it because most of my support comes in through Canada, and what does come in through F.I. just covers my expenses with them producing my newsletters and mailing them to Canada for me.  When I discovered this, I immediately withdrew it and functioned off of it for how long it lasted. Not only that, but a month soon after saw my support spike up to a level higher than what’s normally “pledged” to be there every month. I could go into detail of other things, like having Dutch people paying for things for me or blessing me monetarily. But fact of the matter is, in the natural realm I could not have foreseen that happening while pacing the Firehouse floor in prayer during that whole winter season—not with my natural eyes anyway. Even if next month were to see me have nothing come in again, I can have stronger faith from the previous time it happened, and thank God that that must mean He’s got a more wild way to provide for me that gives Him greater glory as miraculous Provider. When God gets the glory for something that couldn’t have been done by myself or my own ingenuity—then I’m just fine with that, since the glory can only be had by Him!

Anyway, back to our subject: it usually takes pressure or a crisis before we find out what kind of faith we have, and many Christians are more sheltered from that than they realize. Sudden calamity is the only way many people are confronted with the opportunity to put their faith into practice. This is an effective way to grow in our faith, and probably yields the most lasting results, but there are other ways. As Smith Wigglesworth said, great victories come out of great battles.

But other people, if all their faith was dynamite, it wouldn’t be enough to blow their noses! You and I are in charge of how we’re going to respond in the face of crisis—does God really mean what He said in His Word, or not? How we respond determines how our faith will develop.

A simple way to practice having faith:

Ask God for something small or trivial, like a new pair of socks–especially if you are NOT going to go out and buy them yourself. Find some simple thing you need and can’t afford or can’t accomplish on your own, and put your faith into the promises of God’s willingness to provide for you. A pair of socks is simple enough. Pray about it and believe for the provision. Pick a specific color. If someone gives you a pair of white socks and you’ve been praying and believing for black socks, then thank God that He gave you the white socks, but keep believing for the ones you asked for. Most people make the mistake of believing “good enough” is God’s best. No, it just means that while waiting to give you the black socks you’ve been asking for, He decided to give you a pair of white socks as well, and the other ones are still on the way.

You probably think I’m being ridiculous, and I am for a purpose. Despise not the day of small beginnings, and if your faith needs to grow, then start with things you can ‘almost’ handle. People don’t go from obtaining the socks they ask for in prayer to moving mountains and splattering grandma’s goiter all over the wall by faith through prayer overnight, do they?!

If this entry blessed you and you’d like to hear further teaching on faith and how to have more of it, then consider listening to this teaching of mine on the subject:

Faith and Healing -

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And let me know if you got that pair of socks you were believing for!

Or check out this video of Joel Crumpton teaching on healing and sharing testimonies to build up your faith.

Few books have come into my hands in the last few years that have made me want to get other people to read it. When I read a few reviews online about this book by Dr. Stephen Crosby stating it would cause ‘uproar‘ and ‘explosion‘ in the modern charismatic and apostolic movements, I thought it was just melodramatic hype trying to sell the book. I was wrong, this book is very solid Scripturally, very powerful, very relevant in many circles I’m acquainted with, and just plain liberating to hear someone say what many people like me are thinking, but yet not writing off the ‘apostolic’ and throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I got my hands on it from a woman in my church fellowship who was searching for Biblical answers in the aftermath of our horrific church split this past August. She had stumbled across a chapter of this book online, it made an impact on her, and so she bought it. She and her husband bought boxes of it, in the hopes of being able to give a copy to every person, couple or family on both sides of our church split, since the very issues that precipitated that falling out were over apostleship, church structure, and church government. I had little desire to read it since I had to read a good half dozen like it in Bible school, but since it was being offered for free, and I appreciated that this couple wanted to sow this into all of us, I decided to give it a read.

Boy am I glad I did. It was refreshing.

Wherever you’re at in your local fellowship, or even opinions on the subject, this book will be a valuable study on what the Scriptures say, and the roles of the modern day ‘apostle’, ‘prophet’, and ‘elder’ within the modern Body of Christ, in contrast to what their intended roles are as stated in Scripture.

One thing I knew before going into this book is that despite what we’d all like to think about our own ideals of how we do should do church, and what our own denominational stances are–the Scriptures still don’t give a blueprint in the Bible on how church structure and government should be handled. We merely have principles to glean from. Yet, there seems to be no bigger cause of church splits than this very issue. I have to admit, that after the last 6 months I’ve grown sick of hearing the word apostle, but now I’ve been forced to admit–I’m just sick of the abuse of the concept, not the actual concept of apostles in the modern and local sense. I’m really just sick of controlling and manipulative false apostles passing themselves off as the real thing. Of course I see in Scripture the idea of modern apostles and prophets! I just don’t see much of what passes as those things in the contemporary church as actually genuinely being Biblical or what is demonstrated in the book of Acts or New Testament epistles.

It’s like in the Body of Christ, not just charismatics, we latch onto a concept, and it may actually be Biblical. In fact, we get an understanding restored that we’d been previously lacking or overlooking, and in the midst of seeking to restore something to Christianity, we fill the void with whatever comes along purporting to be that lost doctrine or idea. Such is what I think of modern day apostles and prophets. I’m not against them being for today, I’m just against most of the ones that call themselves those titles when they’re really not. We’ve filled the vacuum with substitutes in a desperate attempt to get those things back in their place in our church structure, and it’s caused untold damage in the process.

That being said, Crosby seems to have a lot of the same concerns as I do, but speaks with more authority, experience and insight than I have a right to speak from which makes me refer his book to you. I personally have heard for much my saved life, especially since being attached to charismatic circles, talk of making sure we have the correct form and then the blessings will fall and we’ll see revival break out–so long as we’re aligned properly to some ‘apostolic covering’. Of this, Crosby says early on in his book:

Inherent in the contingent blessing and recovered order mindset is a legal spirit of perfectionism and qualified grace: “If we just get things right enough, God will come through in greater measure than we have known.” In this premise, humanity’s obedience conditions God’s initiation. A dubious proposition, if true, that begs this question: How much obedience must we produce in order to release the blessing? How much has to be “in order” and aligned governmentally to qualify for the supposed release of the Spirit? If the blessing follows the alleged alignment, then we have merited it by our correctness of form. This thinking is idealism and perfectionism contrary to the spirit of Gospel grace. The truth is, none of us will ever be “right enough” in motive, spirit, expression, or form to merit God’s blessing. Our obedience is the fruit of God’s blessing, not the root of His blessing. Of course we need to pursue order and bring our churches in to order. We need His blessing in order to do so. We do not earn His blessing because we have accomplished it. (page 39)

Other things Crosby states and explains with extensive use of Scripture, is many of the concepts and examples used in the Bible for such forms of so-called apostolic leadership, are usually taken out of the Old Testament, of which we now have a BETTER covenant through Jesus Christ–one where all believers are a kingdom of priests, and not only some special anointed believers.

I particularly appreciated in the later chapters of the book, how the author empowers the reader to understand they don’t need special permission from their leader to step out in obedience to their calling. I’ve never had such extreme examples happen to me personally, but I’ve been in situations where people wouldn’t let me pray for a person needing deliverance because I wasn’t a pastor. I’ve had certain leadership in my life in the past who wanted me to seek their permission to make mundane daily decisions where I never understood why they felt the right to impose such authority over me. I’ve had someone suggest to me I have no business writing a blog or publishing a podcast because I’m laity (an unqualified nobody) and “who would listen to what I have to say if I had no clout or specific covering overseeing what I teach on it?” This opinion is oblivious to the fact I’m operating in my gifts, calling and skills, and that ‘audience’ doesn’t matter–obedience to Christ does.

So in closing so this isn’t so long you don’t bother to read the book, I was amazed to read a quote like the following in the latter portion of Authority, Accountability, and the Apostolic Movement:

Shocking as it may be to some, there is not a single New Testament verse that says the blood of Jesus covers us. Blood covering is a thoroughly Old Covenant concept; one that is temporary, not permanent. One of the most significant changes from the Old to New Covenant is what was only covered in the Old is washed, purged, cleansed and utterly removed in the New. Sin that is covered is sin that is still present. Jeopardy exists if the covering is removed. Sin that is washed has been removed. There is no jeopardy, no danger. The pitiable psychological and practical reality is that most Christians live like their sin is covered, not gone. They live their lives in the constant dread of being discovered as not being up to date on their sin, as if some of it was going to leak through the blood covering like ice cream on a dip-top cone on a summer day. They live in perpetual fear of sin leakage and the risk of the punishment it entails. (p. 136)

There is no greater jeopardy than to be confronted with ones sins before a holy God. If Christ has taken care of this dread, not by covering, but by washing, from what do believers need protection, and who on earth is going to provide it more than Christ has already done? Apostles? Hardly. (p.136)

I have no idea what to anticipate this book will do if read by certain people. It’s been out since 2006, but I can’t imagine very many so-called apostles are very happy about it. The best thing you could do with this book if you want to put it into the hands of some leaders, pastors and apostles, is to do so in a humble spirit and politely ingratiate yourself towards them. Crosby didn’t write this in a mean spirited or bitter attitude based on something in his past, so it would be a shame if people were turned off of this book by misunderstanding what it’s about or why you’re sharing it with them in the first place. But I think anyone in some form of leadership, or anybody who’s ever been burned by a church split, or by abusive leadership should read this book and pass it on.

Consider www.stevecrosby.com if you’d like to purchase a copy from the author’s site.  If you’d like to read a sample chapter of the book, click here.

This is my final post on the subject, and much could be written but just in case you’re visiting the site for the first time and didn’t read the first two posts, allow me a quick snapshot of what I’ve been saying: It is taught that Paul had this eye disease based on a few circumstantial Scripture references (revolving around 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 as our anchor), and that he could barely see as a result.  In fact, the conditions of this disease are such that he would have had puss oozing out of his eyes down his face at any given moment.  I hope to show just a few reasons why this view is preposterous.

Acts 19:11-12 says  “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but if someone had such a contagious and disgusting eye disease, would we really be passing around handkerchiefs they used–in order to heal sick people and cast out demons with them–or would we not burn them or dispose of them in order to avoid having the infection spread?  Of course not, we’d do all we could to avoid having others get contaminated!

So I’ve taken some time to really ponder why I took the energy and time and gathered some resources to provide some reading about Paul’s thorn. And as promised, I am taking some time to explain why I feel it’s important. Most things are actually just side issues to me–believe it or not, except for things pertaining to healing. If the Bible is clear about something, there is no discussion needed on it. If the Bible is vague on something, then people are free to have their own opinions on. However the Bible is not vague on this topic or this passage, but very clear. It’s our perception of these passages and our ‘faith eyeglasses’ that need fixing. If we let the Scripture merely say what it says, we’d have way less confusion in the Body of Christ, and certainly way less people living in defeat when it comes to seeing a healing in their life, because of a false understanding of this passage and ones seemingly like it.

When dealing with the subject of divine healing, I have yet to find someone in opposition to the subject matter and having faith for it in our day, who does NOT bring up the issue of Paul’s thorn, and that therefore “see, even Paul was sick with something God [allegedly] put on him!  Aha!” Therefore any further discussion or study on the subject should at least deal with this particular roadblock for many hungry seekers of the truth.

And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (preeminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn (a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted.
Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;
But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength). (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Amplified Bible)

One doesn’t actually need to look this passage up in the Amplified translation of the Bible to see from reading in context Paul is not talking about having something physically wrong with him necessarily. No more effort will be spent in this installment trying to persuade the reader of that.

Who really cares what the thorn was or who it came from?

I remember when I had a discussion with someone once that I’ve known for a long time. She had a condition that she attributed to her past, and upon trying to encourage her, using the Word of God to show that He wants (a.k.a. *wills*) to take this away from her, she insisted she was “being taught a lesson” by the Lord, about sowing and reaping. She told me that she’s destined to bear this burden, and you guessed it, her Scriptural support in her mind was “even Paul had a thorn“. I’ve thought about this numerous times since, and in other conversations where people are living in defeat or just plain sick from something but don’t want to believe they can be made whole or well. If what I shared in the first two parts of this discussion was wrong, and let’s hypothetically concede Paul having a disease or sickness God put on him as a ‘thorn in his side’. We also need to take the rest of the passage, which sadly, few Christians can possibly say they live up to: the surpassing greatness of revelations like Paul had. Anybody want to stop there and say they are NOT on the same playing field as Paul now that we factor in this aspect of his having that thorn?!

I know almost no Christian in my life in Canada, the USA or Europe who lives anything like Paul did. Nobody I know is walking in the dynamic of revelations and ministry like Paul–signs and wonders as frequent and commonly as he did–praying more than others, and having things to say so important that his writings are canonized and now a part of Scripture. The last time someone told me they had a thorn, I asked them if they operate in the same capacity of revelation that Paul had. This brother told me with his own words “definitely not”, to which I sharply asked “then what makes you think you need a thorn like his then if you don’t do what he did to supposedly merit having one?!” Why do many believers insist on believing that they deserve a thorn without earning it like Paul–so to speak, I’m being hypothetical, remember.

My reason in sharing that point is that a lot Christians I know want it both ways when it comes to their disadvantages. We try to often make God the problem (“He put this on me”) instead of seeing what the Word really says concerning His promises and acting on it. If I have heard it once I’ve heard it a hundred times–enough to write a study on the subject to post here for any who will read. You have no idea how much it feels like someone’s ripping my fingernails off whenever I hear “well I guess this [insert here] is just my thorn.” No it isn’t. We are in a war, and the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10a). Is God your enemy, or the devil?

The Bible also says in Mark 9:23 that all things are possible to those that believe. All things are possible to whom? Them that believe. That statement is not a blanket promise from God, it’s conditional. God does His part (all things), mixed together with us doing our part — believing. Also, implicit in that statement is the fact that what you believe IS important. Faith can only be had where the will of God is known–for faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). So it’s important to know WHAT the Word of God says, in order to base our faith on it. That’s why so many of my entries take the time to expose what the Scripture says, and not just share an opinion of mine. Too many in the Body of Christ form their opinions and base their doctrines on failure to see something happen. With healing, we hold a double standard to it that I’ve never seen anyone hold to salvation. If we lay hands on a sick person and they don’t get healed, or we are sick and seek healing–and don’t get the results, most believers conclude that it’s not God’s will. Humbug! I know people if you ask them if it’s God’s will for a muslim to be converted, they’d say yes! Ask them why, and they cite at least one verse like John 3:16. Nobody looks at the Middle East saying “well, that’s one billion muslims in the world, and they aren’t saved–I guess that means it’s not God’s will to save all.”

We have total faith for peoples’ salvation based on at least one Scripture verse! In case after reading other entries I’ve written on it and there’s any doubt in your mind–I repeat to you it is just as much God’s will to heal a body as it is to save a person’s soul! Both acts were atoned for at the cross. God doesn’t say “By His [Jesus'] stripes you are healed“ and then put a ‘thorn’ in you. God’s not a sufferer of multiple personality disorder!

Anyway, I hope my thoughts in this entry were organized enough for you. I especially write these things to boost peoples’ faith in the Scriptures for healing because I singlehandedly attribute the misteaching out there about Paul’s thorn to be one of the main roadblocks to why some don’t even believe God for their healing, because they erroneously believe, based on this passage out of context, that God wants them sick. It doesn’t glorify God that we are living unhealthy when He paid for all on the cross–our sins and our sickness–both entered the world through Adam and Eve’s sin, and both were paid for by the last Adam–Christ on the cross.

Does Jesus put sin on anybody?

No, you say? Well then he doesn’t put a disease or sickness on them either, but both are from the pit of hell.

If this post has been beneficial to you, you may enjoy our podcast show where we discuss Paul’s thorn in the flesh and kill some sacred cows in the process:

Paul’s Thorn in The Flesh
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