Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. —2 Corinthians 12:6

Paul knew of the possibility that he could be an effective preacher, see people converted, and see people grow, and then he himself could be rejected in terms of a reward. He would be saved, yes, but as by fire (1 Cor. 3:15).

A thorn in the flesh protects you from yourself! That is why God does it. I therefore go this far: it is arguably the best thing that ever happened to us.

The thorn in the flesh is to make up for a deficiency. That is what compensation is. A typical deficiency is the Christlikeness that is lacking in us. God says, “I want you to be more like Jesus, and I have blessed you.” If we are totally honest, we know God has been good to us. If He did not send a thorn in the flesh to compensate, who knows what we would be like!

I can think of many deficiencies that require the thorn in the flesh in my case. For example, I don’t have enough faith. I don’t have enough love. I don’t have enough empathy, caring for others. These are things that the flesh by itself will never bring about. I need an increase in faith, love, and empathy.

How, though, does this thorn achieve its aim? How does it actually keep us from being conceited? The answer is that it protects us from ourselves. If you are like me, you sometimes think, If God hadn’t stopped me, I don’t know what I would have said or done. I have lived long enough to say, when I see in any other person a weakness, malady, sin, or wickedness, “That’s me—except God has kept me.” It is what protects us from ourselves.

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).

Few of us are privileged enough to inherit millions. Even
so, those who do must wait to tap into their inheritance. That is not so with
the believer. We receive a portion—or “down payment”—of what eternally awaits
us when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse by His death, paid
our debt and has called us to an eternal inheritance. We read in Hebrews 9:15,
“And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death,
for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those
who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (emphasis added).

As heirs of God, you now have access to the benefits of an
inheritance that can never be exhausted! It is forever unlimited. Everything in
the natural on Earth will end at death, but your benefits in the inheritance
roll into your eternal domain with you! You have access to God’s wisdom
(Ecclesiastes 7:11). God becomes your portion. Your inheritance is God Himself!
(Psalm 16:5)

The New Testament gives the same promise of revelation knowledge! You have inside
access to God’s wisdom. Wisdom, in Scripture, is knowing what to do!

Notice that this inheritance comes with the Holy Spirit. It
is guaranteed, and it releases revelation knowledge and the spirit of wisdom.
This opens your spiritual eyes to see all that God has for you. Look closely at
God’s management of your life. There are seven gifts of God’s wisdom and five
promises of your inheritance in Him. These seven gifts are listed here.

The Seven Gifts of God’s Wisdom

1. God
   orders your steps (Ps. 37:23).
2. God gives
   good things (Ps. 16:6).
3. God
   gives counsel through dreams and visions (Ps. 16:7).
4. We
   have an awareness of His continual presence (Ps. 16:8).
5. There’s
   removal of fleshly anxiety (Ps. 16:9).
6. We
   have clear direction for the abundant life (Ps. 16:10-11). God brings us
   out of that which kills, separates, and destroys.
7. He
   fills us with joy and pleasure (Ps. 16:11).

In Psalm 37, David instructs us on the fivefold benefit of
our inheritance. First is a lifetime guarantee as seen in Psalm 37:18: “The
Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance is forever.”

Second is a life of fullness at all times: “They shall not
be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied”
(Ps. 37:19).

Third is generous prosperity. It is clear that those who are
heirs of God understand the power of giving and will receive financial
prosperity (see Ps. 37:20).

Next is recovery from failure (Ps. 37:23-24), and last is a
lasting legacy (Ps. 37:25).

Is there a protocol to receiving your inheritance? The
answer is yes. Above all else, you must be positioned to receive and enjoy these benefits and promises. You
must be in the kingdom. You enter
the kingdom by being saved (Acts 26:17-18). Salvation delivers you from Satan’s
power, forgives your sin, and offers the full potential of your inheritance.

You must love the church. Acts 26:18 talks about “an
inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith” which is the church. You
must receive the sealing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, “…having believed,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our
inheritance.” (Eph 1:12-14)

You must have faith in the supernatural realm of God. The
inheritance that is now yours can only be activated by faith! It’s easy to hear
all these things and get all excited, but we must remember as in every covenant
relationship, there are two sides to the equation: promises and conditions.

We’ve seen some of the promises, so what are the conditions?
First, you should act like an heir in every circumstance (Col. 3:22-25). Next,
live a transformed lifestyle (Gal. 5:19-25). Then live an overcoming life (Rom.
12:21). It’s also important to support Israel (Gen. 12:3) and never let wealth
diminish your relationship with God (Luke 18:18-23). Lastly, control your
attitude toward others (1 Peter 3:9-12).

If we do these things we “inherit a blessing” and will “love
life and see good days.”

Adapted from An Essential Guide to Baptism in the Holy
Spirit: Foundations on the Holy Spirit,
published by Charisma House, copyright 2011. As a Spirit-filled Southern
Baptist pastor, Ron Phillips brings a welcome balance to this topic and
biblically demonstrates how the Holy Spirit can help us preach the gospel, cast
out devils, heal the sick and expand God’s kingdom. To order a copy click here.

PRAYER POWER WEEK OF 8-8-2011

This week tap into
your inheritance by asking God for His “promise” of the baptism in the Holy
Spirit so that you can experience Him more fully and be empowered to do the
work of the ministry. Continue to pray for revival and ask God to pour out a
spirit of repentance and intercession upon His people so that He may heal our
land. Ask for a great harvest of souls to expand His kingdom. Continue to pray
that our nation would once again lead in righteous ways. Remember the
persecuted church, Israel and our military.  Eph. 1:12-14; 2 Chron. 7:14.

To enrich your prayer
life and learn how to strategically pray with power by using appropriate
scriptures, we recommend the following sources by Apostle John Eckhardt: Prayers that Rout Demons, Prayers that Bring Healing, Prayers that Release Heaven on Earth and Prayers that Break
Curses. To order any or all of these click here.

He does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. … But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. —1 Peter 4:2-5

Did you know that Jesus was always accountable? He was the Son of God, yet He was accountable to His Father the whole time. Paul used the little phrase in Romans 15:3, “even Christ did not please himself.” Everything Jesus was doing, He was looking up to the Father, getting His approval and instructions. He said, “I seek … to please … him who sent me” (John 5:30).

Now we know that we are accountable to God. We are not our own. There is also a sense in which we are accountable to each other. Both are evident when we consider some of these verses that we like to sweep under the carpet. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36:

I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

Now when this matter of accountability grips you, I will guarantee you one thing—you will change. Knowledge of your accountability will change the way you live. You will watch your conduct, you will watch your attitude, you will watch your words.

If we really believed that, we would change, but we do not like to take verses like that. We would like to just cut them out and not have to worry about them, but this is part of humbling ourselves: that we take all of God’s Word seriously.

That is the way our Lord got His joy, and it makes me wonder, have we learned the joy of just pleasing God and getting our approval from Him?

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. —Malachi 3:16

I read the Bible over and over again without really seeing what was in verse 16 until a preacher said, “The Lord will eavesdrop on what you say,” because the Bible says, “Those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard.”

Why is this important? First, when you know that God is eavesdropping, it will affect what you say. Sometimes, when you are talking with a friend, someone else comes and you stop talking out of courtesy or change the subject. Keeping that in mind when you are talking with somebody and you suddenly are aware that God is eavesdropping, would you keep saying the same thing? Would you change the subject if you became aware that the Lord was eavesdropping? That is exactly what He is doing day and night.

Second, you should choose to spend your time with people who fear the Lord. On what basis do you make friendships? If you seek someone who fears God when looking for a friend, a partner, or when seeking advice, you will save yourself a lot of trouble. A person is known by the company that he or she keeps.

Third, you may be praying without knowing it. Wouldn’t it be something if, when you get to heaven, you find out that the prayer that was answered was simply a desire you had expressed when you were speaking with somebody who feared the Lord? You may not realize it, but by talking to another person who fears the Lord and sharing your deepest thoughts and needs, God’s heart is touched, and He hears the conversation as prayer. He listens and hears.

God, the Eavesdropper, is so faithful that He turns your conversations into petitions. When He hears the desire of your heart, He turns it into a prayer and answers it. That is how God is, and I just love Him for it.

Excerpted from Between the Times (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2003).

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. —Philippians 3:20

During the era of President Theodore Roosevelt, who was famous for big game hunting in Africa, a Southern Baptist missionary completed forty years of Christian service in Africa. The missionary sailed from Africa to New York and heard a band playing as the ship was coming into the harbor. He was so excited! He couldn’t believe it was happening, that his friends had brought a band to welcome him home. Tears filled his eyes as he quickly worked his way down the exit of the ship to walk down the gangplank. Suddenly a security man stopped him and spoke officiously, “Step back, sir.” The old missionary waited while President Roosevelt, who had been on a big game hunting trip, was the first to disembark. As it happened, the old missionary was the last person to leave the ship.

He put his suitcase down as he stood on the dock. The band that had been welcoming the president of the United States had dispersed. Nobody was there to welcome the returning missionary home—not a soul. The old man made his way to a modest hotel in New York and fell to his knees as soon as he entered his room. “Lord,” he cried, “I’ve served You for forty years in Africa, and no one welcomes me home. President Roosevelt spends three weeks hunting, and they have a band playing for him.” The Lord then whispered to the old missionary, “But you’re not home yet.”

One day Jesus will welcome us home. There is coming a day when we will see for ourselves what John saw—the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:2). That will be our eternal home, and one day we will be home never to move again.

Can you imagine how thankful we will be then? The bliss cannot be described now, and I wonder if we will ever be able to take it all in then. We will certainly thank Him then. Let’s do it now more than ever before. In fact, all the time.

Excerpted from Just Say Thanks! (Charisma House, 2005).

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, “How are we to return?” —Malachi 3:7

How do we make our way back home? First, you have to recognize where home is. It is the center of God’s will; it is those decrees, statutes, precepts, laws, word, promises, and statutes. The Bible tells you what God wants and how to live your life. That is how you begin to find your way back home. Second, admit how far from home you are. Don’t play games with yourself. Admit you have become cold inside, that your attitude is not right. Third, know that God loves you. And even if you are a backslider, you are still loved. God, who made you so that you will only be happy when you are in His will and utterly miserable out of it, is asking you to come home. Fourth, you have to admit what is wrong. It is coming to terms with what you know is true. Sometimes it can be helpful to pour your heart out to another Christian, but the main thing is that you sort it out with God. Fifth, you need to ask for mercy. When you ask for mercy you know you have no bargaining power. You can’t snap your finger and tell God that He has to do this for you.

Years ago, when Louise and I, with TR and Melissa, went back to Ashland, Kentucky, on vacation, I couldn’t wait to go to the house in which I lived from the age of four until I was seventeen, the year my mother died. But when I found it, I discovered the owners had changed the house all around. I thought, How dare they do that! It wasn’t home. You can’t go back to things in this world, but you can come back into the will of God, and He will bring you home.

Excerpted from Between the Times (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2003).

Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. —Malachi 3:7

God’s accusation in this verse is that “you have turned away from my decrees.” What does the word decree mean? A decree is a judgment or decision. In Psalm 119 there are seven words that can be used interchangeably: law, statues, precepts, decrees, commands, word, and promises. All these refer to the revealed will of God. When people come to me asking how they can know God’s will, I tell them it is in the Bible. If you were stranded on a remote desert island with only five pages of the Bible, there would be enough in those five pages, wherever they came from, to give you a glimpse of what God wants of you and how He wants you to live your life.

Two final points: how these people wandered and how they could come home. They wandered because they turned away from God’s Word. How do you turn from God’s Word? First, you stop praying. You can remember days when you took time to pray, but then you became busy, busy, busy. You think that God understands that you were too tired to pray, but eventually not praying doesn’t seem to bother you any more. Next, you stop reading the Bible. The devil doesn’t want you to read the Bible, and he will come up with every reason why you don’t need to. He’ll make you keep putting off regular Bible reading until you find yourself in a most precarious state.

Then you begin to yield to temptation. Now what is temptation for some may not be temptation for another. You begin to yield to temptation, and by this time you feel too ashamed to pray and read the Bible. The fourth thing that happens is that you return to a life not dissimilar to what you were converted from. At first that bothers you, but after a while you become anesthetized to it and you almost feel at home even though you are a long way from home. That is how you wander from God.

Excerpted from Between the Times (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2003).

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! —Matthew 25:23

Did you know that Jesus was motivated by reward? I hear people say, “Don’t talk to me about reward. I don’t want reward; I don’t want recognition. I am just a humble servant of God. I am going to do it because it is right.” By saying such things you are trying to upstage Jesus. And I marvel at this. Jesus as a man was motivated by reward.

He knew there was joy out there, and He was waiting for it. He knew too that He would get it then, not now.

For, you see, the reward is not here below. Sometimes God does reward us on earth. He can do it, but if that is your motive, then again it is not right. The reward that motivated Jesus was that which was beyond this life, and He was willing to wait until He got to heaven. And this mind of Christ, the motivation of Jesus, was waiting for the reward in heaven.

Do we know what kind of reward it will be? Well, I cannot be sure; this matter of reward is a great mystery to me.

I do not know whether it is a literal crown that Paul spoke of receiving (2 Tim. 4:8). I do not know, but I suspect the grandest moment of all would just be to hear Jesus say, as we find in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, “Well done.” I want that “Well done.” I cannot imagine anything greater than that. I will do anything I know to get it.

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” —Matthew 26:38-39

Behind the slain ego, first, is the way of the cross. That is how Jesus did it. It seems that Jesus suffered more in the five days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday than in the rest of His thirty-three years on earth. His whole life was a life of suffering and self-denial, but what He endured in those five days was the greatest conceivable kind of suffering. He was helpless, nailed to the cross, refusing to defend Himself. He was willing to be misunderstood. And on top of that, God hid His face.

Behind the slain ego is a willingness to be broken. Salvation works in three stages: mind, heart, and will. I am grateful to Dr. Lloyd-Jones for this insight. It is the order in which we perceive, get gripped by things, and carry them out. It is true with salvation, and it is also true with suffering. For example, the mind perceives it as being the way forward. The heart is gripped by the opportunity to be more like Jesus.

But there is a third stage: the will. We make a deliberate choice. When the devil comes and hits us hard, and we are sorely tempted—that is when we make a choice for brokenness. Mind, heart, will—it becomes a choice.

Things may devastate us, and sometimes we cry to God, “Lord, how could You do this to me?” And God says, “You just blew it!” God would rather have us accept the hurt without the complaining, accept His timing in our lives, and be open to any further word from the Lord.

Excerpted from Just Love (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1997).

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. —2 Peter 3:13

Have you ever thought of your own thorn in the flesh as your having to live in a place that makes you unhappy? We all have to live somewhere until we die, and, for many, it is a case of very unhappy living conditions.

Unhappy living conditions might have been Paul’s thorn, because he let us know that being an apostle was the opposite of living in luxury. I think of many big-name preachers today who live in luxury.

Are you aware that there is a sense in which the main issue in both the Old Testament and the New Testament has to do with living conditions? The Old Testament stresses again and again the matter of living conditions. Moses and the people of Israel lived in a desert, and they were looking for a land flowing with milk and honey. The thrust of the Law was that if you obey, certain happy living conditions will follow. If you disobey, the opposite will follow. (See Deuteronomy 28:1-61.) In the New Testament, sadly, the Jews’ expectation of the Messiah had to do entirely with living conditions. They thought that when Messiah came, He was going to change living conditions for them and set them free from Rome. This is why they couldn’t cope with the thought that their Messiah would end up on a cross. Jesus warned them, for He knew exactly what they were thinking. He said in Luke 17:21, “The kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus put it like that so they would understand that this present world is not all there is.

For some people, their only reward is in this present life. But Paul said, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).