Making Decisions About the Supernatural
EXPOSED TO THE SUPERNATURAL
“But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.” (Hebrews 5:14 AMP)
All that glitters, is not gold and Christians are not immune to fool’s gold. Satan counterfeits all the ways one hears the Lord. Sometimes one can swallow a fish hook or take a wooden nickel because of ignorance, not realizing that he is NOT naturally immune just because he is a Christian. We cannot be in the last days of His outpouring without accepting we have an enemy of our soul who does not want us to know God. We must resist and overcome this interference to know the Lord. The way has been provided, but it is not without obstacles.
We would like to bury our hearts in the Lord, and pretend the enemy lives on another planet. But it is interesting that the scriptures, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…” are placed back to back. (James 4:7,8 NASB) As He pours forth His Holy Spirit upon mankind in a more intimate way, the enemy will be working overtime as well.
In these last days, the world will be exposed to the supernatural in a greater measure; the supernatural of God, and the supernatural of satan. Bible-believing Christians will need to go into this time with their eyes open. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 NKJV)
God’s supernatural outpouring:
“And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on thee and and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28,29 NASB)
False supernatural outpouring:
“For false Christ’s and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24 NASB) “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:22,23 NASB)
This is the ending of an era and the speed of God’s time frame is greatly increasing. “Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper…” (Amos 9:13 KJ) Vast numbers of souls will be planted in salvation as He rains His Presence upon mankind. Those who are newly born will grow rapidly. Established Christians will have an even closer relationship with Him.
Never on the face of this earth will humanity be exposed to so much, in so little time. This will happen for two reasons: the pouring forth of His Presence, and His shaking of the earth. (Hebrews 12:25-29) Because everything that can be shaken will be shaken, Christians need a solid foundation of how God speaks and how to discern the supernatural. In the process, God’s already established ones, waiting and prepared, will be used as His vessels to touch a disturbed world. His newly planted seeds will change into His image at an accelerated pace. With great joy, the Lord will receive His harvest. (James 5:7)
The supernatural will draw many, and they will run after it for the wrong reasons. “IT” is emphasized, because “it” is an experience. Experiencing or hearing about the supernatural, arouses curiosity and intrigue which has a strong drawing power of its own. Christians are not to be running after the “it” — the supernatural experience. Rather, the supernatural will follow what they have sought — the love for Jesus Christ as they boldly speak His Word: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover… and they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” (Mark 16:17-18,20 KJ)
In spite of the warning not to run after the supernatural for the fascinating, intriguing experience, we as Christians are told to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. “But covet earnestly the best gifts: (1 Corinthians 12:31 KJ) That word covet earnestly in the Greek is translated to be zealous and jealous over. It comes from words meaning to burn with zeal, to be heated or to boil. Coveting the gifts seems like a contradiction to the warning of not running after the supernatural. The difference is the purpose and motive.
A gift is meant to give away, to share unselfishly with someone else. The gifts are not meant to exalt man as the vessel to display power and super strength. Rather the Lord wants us to be gifted so that we may serve and be a gift to draw others into a deeper committed relationship with Himself. The supernatural is not just for show. It does display His awesome power, but He intends to go somewhere with it. And that intent is to show that He is a personal God and wants to be involved in our lives.
For those gifted ones, the supernatural will be a part of their lives simply because His Spirit is going to rain! They will be pursuing HIM, not the “sparkle” of the supernatural. The Lord’s supernatural is like the glitter on the outside of His package: it shines! The outside package is only wrapping. We don’t pursue the wrapping, we pursue what’s inside. He is our gift. We want HIM.
MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT THE SUPERNATURAL
Part of the process of discernment is learning to make accurate decisions about what you are exposed to without being impulsive, rash, judgmental or critical: but with careful prayer, thought, consideration, and TIME. It is good to make a decision. The Lord is bringing the earth into a time when it’s TIME TO MAKE A DECISION. (Joel 3:14) Much of the population today is choosing sides in response to moral and ethical issues. What we have already seen politically, spiritually, and physically is only one small drop of what is to come.
We are at the end of an age when both God and satan want a commitment one way or another. Some of God’s people have been riding the yellow line for a long time, afraid to voice an opinion, or make a stand about what they believe. They have taken the middle of the road approach to avoid confrontations and ruffle as few feathers as possible to get through life in one piece! The yellow line hasn’t been a problem because there hasn’t been much traffic. However, the traffic in both directions is now increasing and the guy in the middle is going to get crunched. The pace is accelerating. Because of the great shaking, the fence straddlers are going to be forced to make decisions about what they believe one way or another.
The Lord’s supernatural outpouring is going to break and/or shake up man’s religious boxes as to Who He is. There are many ways man boxes God. One way is by interpreting the Bible to say God intended the supernatural to die with the early Apostles. Man will be confronted with a choice of removing the box and allowing God to reveal Himself as He chooses. Or, he may not be included in the blessings of the pouring forth of the latter rain of God’s Spirit.
Have you ever been in a belly-gusher rain? One time we had a deep, very loud, and overwhelming downpour. The gutters overran and our cat Cuddle’s, kitty pillow and blanket were drenched. I think it scared Cuddles, as after I washed and dried her bed (without offending soap or softeners) she would not come back and rest. She was sleeping somewhere else in the neighborhood and coming back to eat. It really bothered me and I kept praying that she would return and find her place of comfort.
Finally I came up with an idea. Whenever my son got her towel out and placed it on his lap, she came running! So I told him to also get her clean blanket that was on top of her pillow, and sneak it in with the towel so she could get her smell on it. He did this and she loved her time with my son. Then he placed her on her pillow with her blanket. The next day she was contentedly sleeping there.
The point of the allegory is that sometimes the supernatural rain of the Lord upsets our security as we are frail human beings. We become unstable and need to return to our resting place. The Lord wants to build in you a secure foundation and He understands. He will do His best to bring you to that place of security, that safe place of faith in Him.
People can go through a sifting process when they are learning to discern the supernatural. They really desire God and earnestly want to make the correct choices. However the inability to make the decision causes the wavering to become intense. So many have already been sifted in their hearing and led astray because of lack of knowledge. To keep from being sifted, a firm foundation is needed in reading the Bible and understanding Who God is. The things that God speaks will always line up with Who He is, so if you earnestly desire God and come across something that shakes a box inside you, PRAY about it, and ask HIM. If you are insecure about what you’ve been exposed to, go to Him and He will establish you. He will help you find Him and make the decisions that are correct.
