Rick Joyner's Daily Devotional - MorningStar Ministries

Day 141 - Knowing and Believing

Rick Joyner

I have been privileged to travel widely throughout the body of Christ, and have been exposed to almost every kind of major Christian denomination or movement. Presently, many of these groups are in conflict with each other, and some always seem to drift into serious delusions. However, even in its present state I marvel at the brilliance of the church. She is, without question, the greatest creation on earth. Even so, her true greatness is yet to be realized. What could be more wonderful, or more of an honor, than helping to prepare her to be the witness of the unfathomable wisdom of God that she is called to be for all ages to come?

Having begun as the most powerful religious and social force the world has ever known, the church fell into extreme spiritual poverty during the time that it became the most powerful political force in the world. Correction, reform, and maturity have now continued for centuries. The church has proven overall to be a wineskin that can expand to receive increasingly pure new wine.

Certainly there is still a long way to go before the church attains her prophesied maturity of not having spot or wrinkle, to be known for her love, and to be clothed in the glory of God. Those without a historical perspective may have a hard time seeing much progress toward this end, but it is certainly being made. Much of the old is presently experiencing renewal, and there are great new movements constantly pouring new transfusions of life into the universal church. These are certainly wonderful times to be alive and to serve in the household of faith.

From the historical perspective it is also apparent that the Lord did use His church even in her worst condition to speak to every age. The Lord has never required one to be perfect before being used, and He has never required His church to be perfect before using her. We do not get perfected in order to get close to God, or to be used by Him, but we get perfected by getting close to Him and being used by Him. In fact, as He demonstrated with Peter on the Day of Pentecost, He seems to delight in using us in a great way right after a major failure. Like a loving parent with a child, He is always quick to pick us up when we fall, and encourage us to keep going.

It is quite revealing that the Lord sent out His disciples to preach the kingdom, heal the sick, and cast out devils before He even taught them to pray! I am not implying that it is supposed to be this way for us, but I do think that we need to re-examine many of our basic concepts of Christian maturity. Many of those who claim to have the deepest understanding of God and His ways are the least used by Him. Why?

The Apostle Paul warned that "knowledge puffs up," and it does seem that many who seek deeper knowledge fall to the pride that disqualifies them from being useful to the Master. However, before we completely write off those who are great with knowledge, let us consider that Paul himself was an exception to this pattern. Even so, he had to be struck blind in the natural before he could see in the Spirit.

In Matthew 22:29 Jesus said, "…Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" (KJV). This seems to still be true. Those who tend to know the Scriptures err because they do not know the power, and those who know the power err because they do not know the Scriptures. We will continue to fall to error until we know both.

I once asked the head of one of the most successful insurance companies how much training his agents needed to sell their products. I was surprised when he answered that "over-education" was the greatest threat to an agent's success. He himself did not understand why, but they had very solid data indicating that those who were prone to want to know too much before they got started were inevitably the least successful. He said it was the ones you couldn't hold back to sit in a classroom for very long that were always the best. He lamented over the fact that they had such great products that they wanted them to be understood, but he said it was simply a fact that enthusiasm sells ten products for every one that is sold by knowledge.

It is an interesting fact that believers who lead others to the Lord will lead more than 90 percent of them to faith during the first two years after they themselves have been born again. Very few Christians lead others to the Lord after they have been believers for more than two years. The reverse should be true. As we mature and grow in the knowledge of the Lord's ways, and as we walk more and more in the light, we should lead more and more out of the darkness. Why does knowledge, or even Christian maturity, seem to have this very negative effect?

The first is obviously what Paul warned about, that knowledge can lead to pride. It is rare to meet someone who is devoted to deeper knowledge who is not correspondingly prideful and delusional. It is also rare to meet someone with has great knowledge who also has the substance of that knowledge in their life. This should not be.

When I was a flight instructor the most difficult and dangerous students were those who had studied the training manual so much that they thought they knew how to fly. Reading the manual and flying the airplane are quite different matters. I would rather try to teach someone who thought he or she was a great pilot because they stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, than those who were overly devoted to knowledge without experience.

Yet, it is also true that the Lord lamented in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest...." As we have mentioned, there is a ditch on either side of the path of life and few seem to be able to stay on the path that is between them.

I love the company of those who love knowledge and are always seeking more understanding of the Lord and His ways. I also love the company of those whose faith is effective and are walking as the Lord walked, healing the sick, casting out demons, and shining light into the darkness to set free those who are bound. These should all be in the same group but presently they rarely are. This must change if we are going to attain what we are called to. We must learn to combine growing in understanding and walking in faith, which are both required to do His work.

Day 140 - Growing Daily

Rick Joyner

When a child is born, he or she will grow very fast for the first few years of their life. Then they will have plateaus where growth slows. They will also experience "growth spurts," during which time the child's appetite will tend to grow, causing them to shoot up two or three inches in short periods of time. These spurts can be painful, stretching the muscles causing what is known as "growing pains." Even so, as long as they are having them, they are continuing to grow. Spiritual growth is similar to this.

Christians go through the same process after they are born again. The first few years of our new spiritual lives we tend to grow dramatically, and begin exhibiting our unique spiritual personalities. Then we usually have times of leveling off a bit. From that time on, spiritual growth spurts occur causing much growth in short periods of time. Like natural growth spurts, spiritual growth spurts can also be painful because they are stretching us. But it is through such stretching that we remain new wineskins, which are able to hold the new wine that the Lord wants to give us. We should learn to recognize these spurts, and appreciate them as needed because it is by them that we know we are still growing.

In the natural, once we stop growing we start the process of dying. Aging is the process of dying. First we begin to realize that our muscles start getting tired more quickly. Then we start getting a bit sore with exercise. This causes us to get weaker as we tend to resist difficult and painful exercises, which then causes atrophy to the muscles. Then our eyes start to grow dim, and so on. We can fight this process, but at some point it is going to win.

To date I have never met anyone who enjoys aging, but it is presently a part of life that most learn to adjust to. You can learn to enjoy and prosper in the later stages of life. However, spiritually we should never begin this process of dying, but continue growing. We should continue gaining spiritual strength and vision for as long as we are on the earth because there is no limit to how much we can grow spiritually. Even so, if you stop growing, you will start dying spiritually. If you are not taking new ground in the spirit, you are losing it.

As we have read in Exodus 16:4, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.'" I believe this remains a test for the people of God, which determines whether they will walk in the Lord's instruction or not. This is the test of whether we will get up first thing every day and seek fresh "manna" from heaven. This fresh daily word from heaven will help keep us fresh spiritually. When we stop gathering it every day, we will start to grow stale and often start to deteriorate spiritually.

This daily "manna," or a daily word from heaven, can help sustain us and keep us in a fresh state spiritually, but we need more than this to actually grow spiritually. Growth requires more than what is needed to just sustain us. This is why a child's appetite will tend to increase quite dramatically when they are going through a growth spurt. We need the fresh manna from God, but we also need the meat of the Word. We will not grow unless we are pursuing more and more depth of understanding, and more increase in our vision. As I Corinthians 2:10 states, "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." The Spirit also wants to move in us to search the depths of God.

Psalm 103:7 says, "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel." Many are content to see the Lord's acts. They will run to and fro to observe them. This is not bad, as it is never a bad thing to want to observe the deeds of God, but we must want more than just seeing His acts, we must desire to know His ways if we are going to grow to maturity.

If the knowledge we are finding does not stretch us a bit then we are probably not growing as we could. Many only pursue the knowledge that already agrees with their beliefs. This is an old wineskin mentality. This is not the way to grow or the way to truth. We must pursue knowledge for the sake of it being true, whether it agrees with our present beliefs about a matter or not. What man on the earth, or who has ever walked the earth with the exception of Jesus, has ever fully known the ways of God? So there is always room for us to grow in knowledge. Even so, our growing in knowledge, even the knowledge of His ways, should not be our ultimate goal. Our goal is to see the glory of His ways so that we are changed into His likeness.

Day 139 - The Reason for Power

Rick Joyner

The end of this age is going to conclude with the ultimate conflict between good and evil, which will be a supernatural conflict. If we are going to be witnesses of the Almighty, we must have power. Paul wrote this concerning his message:

And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom,

but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith

should not rest on the wisdom of men,

but on the power of God (I Corinthians 2:4-5).

For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power

(I Corinthians 4:20).

Though the conflict is a power conflict, it is not to prove who is stronger. Even the devil knows that God easily wins that battle. The conflict is to provethe power of good over evil, truth over lies, love over selfishness. This is why the discipline required of anyone who would be used by God is so hard. We are called not only to do the right things, but to do them for the right reasons. The Lord does not just want us able to do His works, but He wants us to do them because we are in full agreement with Him.

Motives are crucial because as we read in I Corinthians 13, we can have all knowledge, great prophecy, and even the faith to move mountains, but if we do not have love it does not count! That is why this important chapter on love is placed right in the middle of the greatest exhortation for believers to pursue spiritual gifts.

I have heard many say that we should pursue the Giver and not the gifts, but that is actually contrary to the biblical exhortation. One of the ways in which we pursue the Giver is to pursue spiritual gifts. When Jesus walked the earth He demonstrated His spiritual gifts continually, and if we are going to be used to reveal Him, it must be by more than words—it must be by a demonstration of who He is. When His works are manifested through us and we identify with Him in that way, we are drawn closer to Him.

There are many ways the Lord could have revealed His power. He could have moved mountains, cursed whole forests so that they instantly wilted, or raised up whole forests instantly. He could have preached His sermons standing on water. One of the reasons why the Lord chose healing as a primary way to demonstrate His power is because healing also demonstrates His love.

The main reason the Lord heals is that He does not want people to suffer. He has compassion for the suffering. This is why John G. Lake, who had one of the greatest healing ministries of the twentieth century, would pray for the sick until he felt the compassion of God flow through him for that person. He then knew they were healed. He recognized the healing power of God to be present when he felt His compassion present.

There is not a single case in the Bible where someone came to Jesus for healing or deliverance and was rejected. He healed those who did not even thank Him for it, because love does not require appreciation. Love simply does what it can to help others.

Because every believer is called to be like the Lord and therefore do the works that He did, it should be the goal of every believer to grow in spiritual authority until everyone who comes to them for healing or deliverance is healed and delivered. To do this we must grow in faith, but even more importantly, we must grow in love. We see in Galatians 5:6 that faith works by love. And we read in I Timothy 1:5, "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith," and in I Corinthians 16:14, "Let all that you do be done in love."

How would our day be different if we did everything today out of love? If we would begin to live this way, not only would our own lives be infinitely richer, power would also start to flow through us. Love releases God's power because love is the reason for the demonstration of His power. Even so, we do not seek love so we can have power, but we need to seek power so we can demonstrate His love.

I have settled in my own heart by the Scriptures that the Lord does want to heal every person who comes to Him for healing, without exception. He wants to heal even if a person does not have perfect motives, or even good motives. He will heal even those who do not intend to serve Him, and will not require someone to give their life to Him before we pray for them to be healed, in accordance to the exhortation of Romans 2:4, "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" I think those who are pressured into giving their lives to Jesus so that they can be healed usually backslide quickly, but if they are touched by the kindness of the Lord, it will usually work to bring them to true repentance. Even if it doesn't, the Lord simply loves all people, and He will cause His sun to shine on the just and the unjust.

The reason so many people do not get healed is possibly because we complicate it too much, and try to require things for God's grace that He does not require. I believe that John G. Lake probably understood God's healing power best—it is the Lord's compassion for us, period.

My prayer for you is II Thessalonians 1:11-12:

To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy

of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith

with power; in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,

and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Day 138 - The Answers of Life

Rick Joyner

We have looked at some of the hard questions of life. It is imperative that we ask them, and ask the only One who can truly answer. We should never think that it is a lack of faith, or a challenge to God's integrity to ask such questions, as long as we do it in the right spirit—which is to get an answer.

I think the most crucial questions need to be asked of God, not men. Men will inevitably give us answers. They may even give us the right answers, but even the best answers from men will never satisfy or impart as much faith as the answers that God gives us directly.

When we take our questions to the Lord, He may answer us through men, a sermon, tape, or book, or the answer could even come from a totally unexpected source—but we will know it is the Lord answering our question. When He answers in the special way that He does, it imparts a rock solid faith in our hearts as we receive His answer. This is actually the rock that the Lord said He would build His church upon, as we see in Matthew 16:13-18, which concludes with "…upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it."

Many have wrongly interpreted these Scriptures to mean that the Lord was going to build His church upon Peter, but that is not what He meant. The rock that the Lord is building His church upon is the revelation from the Father of who Jesus is. We cannot be converted to the Jesus our parents or pastors know, but we must all have a personal revelation from the Father of who Jesus is. He must be our own King and Savior. That is the Rock the church is built upon. Every truth solidly built upon this foundation in our lives will also come from the Father.

It is good to listen to anointed preaching, read books, and seek to learn from others in the body of Christ. Submitting to the body in this way is a part of the humility required. It is also essential for sustaining us. I once heard an old man say that of the thousands of meals his wife had prepared for him, he could only remember a few as being spectacular, but all of them were used to sustain him. Preaching and teaching do not have to be spectacular to sustain us. We just need a balanced, healthy spiritual diet that keeps us going.

However, if we are going to go beyond being sustained to actually growing spiritually, we need to have the Lord Himself teaching us things. We need to have quests for knowledge that we know He has called us to follow. These are often things that we need to keep privately before the Lord so He can reveal them to us in His special way, and we will know it is from God and not man. In this way, we are not just hearing the words of the Lord, but the Word Himself. Though the words may come through a man, we know they are coming straight from God to us. This is the way Paul the apostle received the gospel that he preached, which is probably also one reason that he had such boldness and confidence in it.

Even so, Paul presented his gospel to the leaders of the church after receiving it for the purpose of confirming it, which is also essential before we present such understanding as teaching in the church. We too need to be digging our own wells, asking the Lord Himself to teach us certain things that may be the deepest questions of our heart. But as Paul modeled, before presenting a new teaching as doctrine, it should be confirmed by the shepherds whom He has given to us for the protection of the church.

It is also true that everything the Lord shows us personally will probably have been shown to many others. It is not new revelation that we are seeking, but it is simply the truth taught to us by God Himself. When we receive it from our Father in heaven as Peter did, it becomes a rock in our lives that cannot be stolen from us. Teaching that we receive from men is much more easily eroded by challenges from other men.

This is why in our School of Ministry we sometimes invite guest speakers who we know will teach things that are contrary to our own positions on certain matters. At times we even bring in several different teachers to address a subject when we know their teachings will conflict with each other. We do not do this to confuse our students, but to challenge them to search these issues out, and inquire of the Lord for His position on the matter. We know that any who enter the ministry will be continually challenged by different opinions, and we want the ministers that we send out to know how to go to the Teacher for His answers to the questions that will inevitably arise.

We do not want to waste time "reinventing the wheel" with every doctrine, so it is right to go to trusted teachers and pastors for many of our questions. However, even then we should be seeking to hear the voice of our Teacher.

As we are told in I John 2:27:

And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you,

and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing

teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie,

and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Some of the foolish and immature have interpreted this to mean that they should never listen to human teachers, but if that were true why would the Lord appoint teachers in His church, and why was so much attention given to the apostles' teaching? This Scripture is saying that we should only seek teaching from those anointed to do it, and we should recognize the anointing as our Teacher's voice. Even so, take your deepest questions to the Lord and patiently let Him teach you in that special way only He can. His teaching will be an immovable rock in your life that you will also find can shut the gates of hell.

Day 137 - The Questions of Life

Rick Joyner

In 2001, we lost our good friend and co-worker, Dennis Rippy, who died of cancer. Dennis battled cancer about as well as anyone could. In 1999, the doctors gave Dennis a 5 percent chance to make it through the night. Dozens from our congregation in Charlotte rallied, many spending all night in the hospital simply refusing to let Dennis go. A couple of weeks later, Dennis left the hospital.

Then in 2001, this terrible enemy struck Dennis again. The doctors gave him thirty days to live. Again Dennis beat the death sentence. Then suddenly a tumor showed up in his brain. Many on our team were at a conference in Switzerland when we received word that Dennis had been given two days to live. Two weeks later he was still fighting. Even so, it was obvious that he was tired. Finally he slipped away.

In the past we have seen cancer healed with a single prayer. Why couldn't Dennis be healed after receiving more prayer for one person than anyone I know? I realize it is not repetitious prayer that moves God, and I did feel that just about everyone's "faith meter" was a little lower during this last battle. Two nights before he died, I heard an audible voice in my sleep saying that Dennis was tired and he would soon die. I called our team leaders, but I could tell that they too knew this was the end. So now do we just smile and go on with life declaring this a victory for Dennis and God's people because he is much better off now?

I know that Dennis is much better off now. I am sure that he's feeling very sorry for us who are still struggling in this life. The Lord will cause this to work for good for everyone, and there will be an ultimate triumph in it. Even so, I do not believe this is the way that any of God's people are supposed to be taken from the earth. I do not think we can call this a victory. The strength of all that we are comes from walking in truth. The truth is that we lost this one. I am not sure why, but I intend to inquire of the Lord until we know. I am not doing this out of guilt or sorrow, but so we do not keep losing these battles.

As Christians we are called to walk in and demonstrate the resurrection power of the Lord. We are called to walk in authority over cancer, AIDS, and every other form of disease. I know this is something we must mature in, and facing the truth is one way to mature. As Paul Cain recently said, "Christian maturity does not come with the passage of time, but by the right responses to the dealings of God." If we are to mature from Dennis' battle, we must have the right response to it.

I am genuinely happy for Dennis. We can rejoice in his life. Even so, our ministry will feel his loss. He and his wife, Jackie, were our first, and most faithful intercessors. Dennis will be missed, and we intend to use his life as motivation to go higher.

First, our goal is that no one in any of our congregations die as a result of sickness or accident. We then want to grow in authority over disease where no one even gets sick. Then we want to grow in this authority so that when we enter a place, the devils cry out and leave, and sickness will flee from us. We want to go throughout the land destroying the works of the devil, healing the sick, casting out demons, and revealing the power of the kingdom of God and His love for mankind.

John Wimber once told me that he prayed for about a thousand people to be healed before he saw his first healing. Because of his perseverance, he probably saw some of the most spectacular healings since the great healing movement of the 1950s. Even so, John always had questions about why certain ones were not healed. He also never said that anyone was healed until they really were. I felt it was this kind of honesty that made him one of the great men of his time.

Even so, John himself suffered from serious heart problems, and one of his sons died of cancer. I felt this was partly because people had a hard time praying for John, thinking their prayers would not mean as much as John's would for himself, since he had so much more authority in this area. How-ever, even the greatest men and women of God find it much easier to have faith for others than for themselves in many areas, especially healing. For this reason we need each other, and even the most quiet, shy believer who struggles daily in life can have a prayer that moves God to respond.

John raised up some who are still seeing great victories in healing and deliverance. We must do the same. While we will not call these victories, we can be assured of the ultimate victory. There will never be any doubt as to who wins in the end.

Day 136 - The Creative Power of Life

Rick Joyner

The whole creation testifies of the ways of the Lord. One fundamental thing that creation reveals is that He is creative! This seems elementary, maybe even foolish to say, but it is obvious that very few Christians really understand this. One of the great tragedies of church history has been the way the fearful and uncreative have so often dominated church leadership and thereby stifled the church's creativity.

To this day there are powerful forces in the church that reward mediocrity and conformity and penalize any who deviate from their own overly narrow perceptions of God and His truth. We will never rise above the powerlessness and deadness of what Christianity in general has become if we do not rise up with courage to throw off the yokes of this perverted conformity, which the Lord never put on His people. Neither will we rise above this powerlessness and deadness if we do not come into the unity He has called us to.

To be a non-conformist merely for the sake of standing against the pressures of conformity will eventually lead to the deadly trap of lawlessness. Again, there is a ditch on either side of the path of life. As the Lord Jesus declared, "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it" (Matthew 7:14). True creativity is not reactionary; it is not against something—it is for life.

Jesus was not a revolutionary because He did what He did in reaction to the Pharisees, but because of who He was. The Pharisees reacted to Jesus the way the legalistically religious will always react to His true creative life when it is revealed in someone. However, lawlessness is just as deadly as legalistic religion. Remember, there is a ditch on either side of the path of life.

Because God "the Creator" made man in His image, the true nature of man is also creative. We will never come into the fullness of who we were created to be until and unless we are creative. However, creativity for the sake of creativity will lead to a fall. Man was also created to walk with God, and true creativity that leads to life can only come out of walking with Him.

Though some of the most stifling pressures that inhibit creativity are now found in the church, every art form and style of music can be traced to the church as its birthplace. Presently, many things that are being birthed by the church, are also being driven out of the church by the timid or legalistically religious, and then captured by the enemy and used for his diabolical purposes. This can and must cease.

However, the church has still been the seedbed for the greatest creativity the world has ever known. It will become even more creative before the end, because a new breed of leader is going to be given to the church with the ability to understand and shepherd the greatest powers of creativity that are about to be released through the church. The Lord really has saved His best wine for last. This ultimate release of creativity will also bring revelation of the Creator like man has never known.

It has been estimated that man only uses about 10 percent of his brain, and the greatest genius probably only uses about 15 percent. What is the other 85 percent used for? It is for perceiving, comprehending, and enjoying God. As regeneration truly works in our lives, our minds will be both renewed and restored. We are assured in Romans 8:11: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (KJV).

The Greek word that is translated "quicken" in this verse is zoopoieo, which literally means to "vitalize, make alive, or give life to." If we are already made alive in Christ when we are reborn, what is there to give life to? He is giving life to that part of us that has been dead, a great portion of which is our minds. As I Corinthians 2:14-16 explains,

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God;

for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,

because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things,

yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the LORD,

that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

In response to those who have at times been leaders of the church, but obviously had minds that could only understand from the natural perspective, many Christians react to almost any form of thinking or planning. This is a most tragic deception. Christians should be the most intellectually brilliant human beings on the planet! We have not only been given a spiritual perspective that transcends the natural, we have been given the mind of Christ!

The Lord is not against us using our minds—He is against us not using them! He wants to awaken the 85 percent of our minds that we are currently not using. As this takes place, Christians will rise to the top in every field of science, art, education, and even government.

So, how do we have our minds renewed and awakened? First, we must understand that Paul did not say "I" have the mind of Christ, but "we" have the mind of Christ. The Lord has designed the new creation as a great corporate body. Walking with God now means being a part of His body, the church. The dynamic of true church life will help to both renew and awaken our minds. This is stated in such Scriptures as I John 1:7, "but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." If we are not having fellowship with one another we are not walking in the light.

The church is called first to be a family, not an organization. When the organization begins to eclipse relationships, then we are departing from true church life. That is why institutionalized Christianity has always been the greatest threat to the church becoming what it was created to be—a living body with Christ as its head. When true church life is restored the way that it was intended to be, it will awaken us all to far more than we ever dreamed possible in this life. The Lord is going to be revealed in His people, and together they will be a well from which His living water will flow.

Day 135 - Finding Your Place in Life

Rick Joyner

What was the Apostle Paul talking about when he wrote near the end of his life that he did not consider that he had yet attained? Attained what—eternal life? Of course not. He attained eternal life the day he first believed. He was talking about "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." So what is this "high calling" which the Apostle Paul considered he had not yet attained, even after accomplishing so much? Let's consider this from Philippians 3:7-14, which is certainly one of the most challenging texts in Scripture:

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss

for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss

in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,

for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish

in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him,

not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,

but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God

on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection

and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect,

but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of

by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;

but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward

to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize

of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Does this mean we are not all going to be equal in heaven? That is certainly one thing it means. This is an offense to many, especially those who have been privileged to grow up in democracies where all supposedly have an equal vote on matters. However, the Scriptures are quite clear that there is rank in God's kingdom, and we will not all be equal in it. We are right now determining where we will stand, whether we will rule over one city, five, or ten. It is being determined in this life how close we will sit to Him, who is on His right hand and left. There is an eternal reward that is based on our devotion and service in this life.

Many stumble over this truth and many carry it too far. There is a ditch on either side of the path of life. Nevertheless, the truth that there is a high calling in Christ Jesus that is much more than attaining salvation, is overwhelmingly verified in Scripture. What that calling is and how it is attained is debatable. It is also safe to say that if the Apostle Paul did not consider himself to have attained it when writing near the end of his life, possibly the most fruitful life ever lived for the kingdom of God, it is probable that we cannot know in this life if we have attained to this high calling or not. However, we should all be pressing on toward it for as long as we remain on the earth.

Many are repelled by this truth and cannot accept it even though the Scriptures are so clearabout it. Rank on earth is usually the result of the ability to selfishly dominate others and climb above them. However, wecannot relate heaven or the age to come on earth to the present way of things on earth. The way that authority and rule is presently established on earth is contrary to the way it is gained in heaven—through sacrifice and selflessness.

True Christianity was founded upon a sacrifice, and the power of God is released through the cross (see I Corinthians 1:18). As the Lord declared in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it." This is contrary to human wisdom and seems like the ultimate foolishness to those whose hope is in this present world. Even so, the true path to life is death to our selfish ambitions, and death to anything that would rival our obedience to the Lord. Even so, it is the best deal we can ever make on this earth. When we lose our life to Him, we will find true lives that eclipses anything this earth can offer.

Day 134 - The Goal of Life Is Life

Rick Joyner

As we have considered in our study, our goal is not just knowledge or power, but life. In our pursuit of life we will seek knowledge and the power to authenticate our message, but these are just means to the ultimate goal. The life we seek is the person of Jesus—He is the Life.

The life of God is found first in His nature, and then His works. We do not serve Him because of what He does, but because of who He is. Likewise, our calling is not just to do, but to be. Our calling is to manifest the life that is in Christ Jesus, which He wants to give to a world that is dead in its sins.

There are basically three stages in the process of attaining this life in fullness:

1) The first stage is revelation. This is the revelation of what Jesus accomplished on the cross for us. It includes the glory of our deliverance from our old nature, and the glory of our calling and inheritance in Him.

2) The second stage is working. This is the actual working out of this salvation by the renewing of our mind—our very nature in a way that brings practical deliverance from our old nature and establishes His new nature within us.

3) The third and final stage is revealing. This is the revealing through us of the glory of the salvation of God, the nature of the new creation, and the inheritance that we have been given as members of His own household—sons and daughters of God.

We can see these three basic stages of maturity repeated over and over in Scripture. They are seen in Israel's departure from Egypt, the wilderness, and the Promised Land. We see them in the three parts of the Tabernacle of Moses, the temples built by Solomon, and the temple built by the remnant that returned from Babylon. All of these were prophetic outlines pointing us to know Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The first stage is basically self-centered because we are learning all we can gain through Christ. Self-centeredness is not wrong for the immature, and immaturity is not wrong when we are young. Infants are almost totally self-centered because they are in such a helpless state. Like children, we must also learn who we are and what we can do before we can begin to relate to others with maturity. One of the true marks of maturity is that we become less self-centered and more Christ-centered and devoted to helping others.

Though the transitions between these stages in our natural lives are usually gradual, they represent specific periods of time in our spiritual lives. The first stage, revelation, is fresh and exciting, but usually quite brief. The second stage, working, is hard, but also very exciting and fulfilling, and where we learn, grow, and see the glory of the Lord in a way that starts to change us into His image. We must get through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land. This is where the greatest trials and temptations come upon us to test the life that we have been given, and to prepare us for the authority we will be given in stage three, revealing.

Stage two can seem like a place where we know mostly defeat and failure, but that is the wrong perspective. We seldom pass one of God's tests with a perfect score. Often we have to be graded "on a curve" with added grace from God in order for us to pass at all. This can be a hard and often depressing stage of our development, which is generally due to our perspectives. We are growing, and even though we may go in circles at times in order to retake the tests that we failed, it was in the wilderness that God's tabernacle was built, and it is in this stage of our growth that the Lord builds His habitation in our lives. It is also through our failures that we learn for certain that He is our salvation and victory. Here our faith in ourselves is reduced and our faith in Him grows. This is the level of truth.

The third stage is when all of the dealings of God are applied and we start to possess our inheritance—which is to live by the power of the resurrection life of Christ. This is where glory is not just revealed to us, but through us. This is the place where we start to fulfill our calling and destiny in Him.

The overwhelming majority of Israelites could only enter the Outer Court of the Tabernacle, a few could enter the Holy Place, but only one could enter the Holy of Holies. Likewise, it seems that very few Christians make it past the first stage of maturity. Many shrink back from the dealings of God that would bring them to a place of Christlikeness. These are the Christians whose faith is an appendage to their lives. They may faithfully go to services, but their understanding seldom goes beyond the knowledge of salvation. Much of their lives is in fact still in Egypt, bound to this present world.

A few go on into the wilderness and begin the exciting life of truly walking with God day-by-day. The first generation of Israelites died wandering in circles in the wilderness because of their lack of faith. Likewise, today it seems that most Christians still do not get any farther than this stage. Many spend their lives going in circles, enduring the same wilderness trials over and over because of a basic lack of faith in God. Even so, those who get this far usually accomplish much for the Lord and His purposes. They build His dwelling place, and help raise up a generation that will cross over and possess the promises of God.

Just as only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, only One can still enter the highest realm. Therefore, for us to enter we must abide in Him. This means that Galatians 2:20 must be a reality in our lives so we too can say in truth, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me." This is our ultimate goal, and this is where we go beyond just beholding the works of God to beholding His glory.

Again, our goal is life. We must know the way and the truth, but life is our goal. If we do not have His life we do not really know the way or the truth either. We do not just want to know about salvation, but have His salvation working in our lives. We do not seek truth for the sake of having knowledge, but to have the truth that sets us free from our old nature so that we can walk in the newness of life. The goal of truth is also life. Our goal is not just to know about our inheritance and the glory of the age to come—we are called to live in it.

Day 133 - Where Are We Going?

Rick Joyner

As we have learned, we are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (see I Peter 2:9). We are called to be a separate nation within the nations. We are here to live lives that testify of the excellencies of the King we serve. Those who have been born again into this kingdom are a "new creation,"vastly different and superior to the old creation man. We are here to represent the glory and the power of the age to come. We are from the future.

The reason the Lord did not catch us up into heaven immediately after our salvation is because we have a mission on earth. Though we were redeemed from the corruption of the Fall and already have eternal life, we are going through the process of renewing our minds and natures into the new creation nature of Christlikeness. His whole creation testifies that the nature of God is practical and systematic.

The Lord also has a practical, systematic plan for the "restoration of all things." This plan is basically the same as the process of our personal restoration from the old, fallen nature to revealing the power and glory of resurrection life that was purchased for us at the cross. We are going through this process so we can help lead the rest of fallen creation back into harmony with God.

This restoration process will be completed in the age when we rule and reign with Christ over the earth. This is the time that Peter called "the period of restoration of all things" (see Acts 3:21). We are called to be fore-runners and messengers of the coming kingdom. The power of our message will be directly related to the power of the life that is in us. As the Apostle Paul declared in I Corinthians 4:20, "For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power," and the power that we have been given to testify of the coming kingdom is the power of life.

We cannot be witnesses of the Almighty God without power. When we think of power we often think of miracles, but they are only one example of God's power, not the very essence of it. The essence of God's power is the life of God. This is why the author of the Book of Hebrews explains that the Lord's priesthood is based on "the power of an indestructible life" (see Hebrews 7:14-17). Therefore, our goal is not just knowledge or power, but life.

This life is infinitely more precious than anything we could possess on this earth. Many who have walked in the greatest abundance of true life have actually had very few possessions on earth, just like the Prince of Life Himself. There have also been some who have had great possessions, such as the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and some of the great Christians in history like Count Zinzendorf. However, in all who have true life, there is an obvious focus on things much higher than the treasures of this earth. Those who had true life may have possessed treasures from time to time, but they were not possessed by them.

Our goal is to live and reveal the power of the life that is in Christ Jesus. We use the Way and Truth to lead people to the life. It is our life that makes true Christians strikingly different from all other people on the face of the earth. Again, we are an "alien nation" within the nations. We are a "new creation" that is vastly different from all other men. The difference is not just in our doctrines and beliefs—the difference is the power of the life that we live. We are from another reality and another time. For the message to be fully given to the world, it must be practically revealed by our lives. The body of Christ will arise in the last days as a demonstration to the world, and even to the principalities and powers, of the power of the life that is in Christ.

Day 132 - Where Are You From?

Rick Joyner

We have been taking a step-by-step approach to establishing a vision of what we are to grow up into as Christians. We have discussed how we are called to be a "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (see I Peter 2:9). We are called to be a separate nation within the nations whose very existence testifies of the excellencies of the King who rules over us. Christians should be strikingly distinguishable from all other people. We are in fact the "alien nation" within the nations, as we are a "new creation" that is vastly different from the Adamic nature of man.

This "holy nation" also has a different government. Of course, we honor the governments of the nations that we live in because they too have received their authority from God (see Romans 13:1-6), and they are our hosts. Even so, our main purpose on this earth is to prepare the way for the kingdom that is to come, to serve its interests, not just the interests of the nations of this world. That does not mean that we do not seek to be a blessing to the nations, but we serve another King, Jesus. We must place the interests of His kingdom first in all things.

As we proceed toward the end of this age, the "holy nation" will become more distinguishable. It will increasingly become a bright light set on a hill in the midst of darkness. The Christian community will become just that, a community within itself with a powerful and distinct identity. This does not mean that we must live in separate neighborhoods, but that the bond between Christians will grow so strong that they will be recognized as a community of people within the community. We will live by a faith and a purpose other than those that the world lives by.

To further understand just how we are to relate to the nations of this earth, I want to briefly discuss the two different kinds of governments that presently rule this world. Later, we will elaborate on how they are distinguishable from the kingdom of God in their basic functions.

Basically, the present governments of this world can be separated into two kinds, the lawless and the lawful. The lawless nations may have a strong authoritarian government, such as many of the communist governments. If they have a constitution at all, it does not have any real influence because the true rule is at the whim of those in power. In these nations the courts are not established for the purpose of providing justice, but for enforcing the dictates of those in authority. In contrast to this, the lawful nations are those that are established on a constitution that has real strength and a system of justice based on protecting the constitution and the rights of the citizens who live under it.

Generally, the lawful governments will be much better than the lawless, but both fall far short of the government of the kingdom of God. Even in the most lawful nations, law is an art and not a science. By this I mean it can change because of the influences of justice under the law. One who has the most persuasive lawyers arguing their case can win, the merit of facts actually having little to do with the outcome of the case.

In nations so devoted to the rule of law, such as the United States, right and wrong is often determined by what we can get away with, not what is right or wrong. Even though this may be the case, these systems will probably provide much more true justice than those under a lawless system. However, there will not be true justice until the Judge returns and establishes His kingdom based on truth.

For further study of these two basic types of earthly governments, I highly recommend the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He lived under the lawless regimes of communism and then spent years under the lawful (or full-of-law) government of the United States. He saw both as falling short of bringing forth the best and highest purposes of mankind. With the eye of a prophet, Solzhenitsyn's address, "A Warning," to the graduating class of Harvard (which was published on the front pages of newspapers throughout the country in 1976) shook our nation as few critics of our country ever have. This was probably one of the two most powerful prophetic proclamations made to this nation in the twentieth century, with the other being the "I Have A Dream" speech made by Martin Luther King, Jr. (We published Solzhenitsyn's address in The Morning Star Journal, Volume 3, Number 1.)

In contrast to the best governments of this world, the kingdom of God is based on the highest moral standard—love. We who live in the kingdom should not be governed by what we can get away with, but by what is right and what is of the greatest benefit to those we are commanded to love. It is true that when the King Himself comes to set up His kingdom on earth, He will come with a rod of iron to judge the nations, but even His judgment is founded upon His love. God who is love, does not do anything out of resentment or retaliation. This was proven for all time by the cross. Even if He must destroy a nation, it is because love makes it necessary.

This certainly is "tough love," but true love is uncompromising in its standards for the sake of those loved. As Proverbs 13:24 declares, "He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently." If we do not discipline our children we are not preparing them effectively for the life that they are going to face, and are therefore harming them, not loving them. For this reason, Hebrews 12:6-11 states:

"For those whom the LORD loves He disciplines,

and He scourges every son whom He receives."

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons;

for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers,

then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them;

shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them,

but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful;

yet to those who have been trained by it,

afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

In our lives, such discipline in the form of trials we endure is for the purpose of preparing us for His kingdom. His church must be prepared so we are not only ready for it to come, but also ready to take responsibility and authority with Him when He comes. Everything happening in our lives is training for reigning. Don't waste your trials. They are coming upon you because the King loves you and wants to use you for a glorious purpose. It is by passing these tests that we advance step-by-step into the place of being ready for service to the King.