JOHN’S PROMISE AND PAUL’S PROMISE

When we receive the interpretation of our prayer in the Spirit, we then know what to pray in our native language. The end result is our mind, our soul, is then able to cooperate with God’s will in the matter. Also, because it is according to the will of God we are assured of having what we prayed for and thus become at peace in our hearts and minds because we know we have what we have asked for. The Apostle John states in the first Epistle of John,

"And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." (1 John 5:14-15)

Paul then states in the book of Philippians,

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7)

How many times have we prayed about something but had no assurance of the outcome because we did not know Jesus’ will in the matter. Jesus does not want us shooting arrows into the dark. He wants us to pray or minister according to His will and be at peace and assured in our hearts and minds of the outcome (Eph 5:15-17). This is accomplished through worship and praise, praying in our spiritual language, and then asking Jesus for the interpretation so that we can then pray in truth with our understanding according to His will in our native tongue.

This is what it means to pray in Spirit and truth. To requote the Apostle Paul, "For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." (Phil 3:3). No confidence in the flesh to minister or act outside of the directive of Jesus through the Holy Spirit as a result of worship and praise and worshiping in Spirit and truth.

What do I mean by Conservative Evangelical Charismatic concepts of Evangelism? We mean Evangelical in the sense that Jesus’ will for the church is to seek and to save the lost, and to seek and to save the lost by drawing men to Himself.

We mean Charismatic in the sense that in order for our evangelism to be effective and ministered in love it must be Jesus centered and be motivated out of love-relationship with Jesus.

We mean Conservative in that our evangelism, Evangelistically-Charismatically oriented, must be motivated within the guidelines of Scripture and be brought into submission to the Bible in its total context to be certain that our evangelism and ministering is truly Jesus centered and truly motivated out of love-relationship with Jesus.

I believe that the BIBLE is the absolute inspired inerrant Word of God (1 Tim 3:16, Heb 4:12) down to the letter in the original Greek and Hebrew (Matt 5:17-19) and that it is absolutely true truth and inerrant in all that it affirms in the history of man and the cosmos (Gen 1), in all that it teaches theologically concerning man and God (Matt 1, Luke 1-2, Heb 4:12), in all that it teaches and affirms historically, and in all that it teaches scientifically. I do not believe that what the Bible teaches is exhaustive truth, but that what it does teach is absolutely true truth without error. I believe this because Jesus claimed it was so (Matt 5:17-19, John 5:46-47) and because He came back from the dead to give us absolute proof that it is so (John 2:18-22).

Someone at this point may come along and say, "I have the Word of God, I have all I need." Jesus gave a response to this in the Gospel of John,

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life." (John 5:39-40)

Jesus is the answer to man’s needs, not the Bible. Jesus died on the cross to save man spiritually, soulishly and physically, not the Bible. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 15:3). We are saved by putting our trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross and that alone to save us from our sins and by literally entering into relationship with Him.⁸⁵ We are sanctified and healed spiritually, soulishly and physically by fixing our eyes on Jesus and trusting Him to sanctify and heal us through His Holy Spirit in His time and in His way. The writer of Hebrews states,

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2)

And Paul states in Romans,

"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom 8:6-8)

To have your mind set on the flesh is to look to yourself not only for salvation but in sanctification and in how to share the Gospel with others and minister healing to yourself as well as to others. To have your mind on the Spirit simply means to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, to save, sanctify, and heal yourself and others through you as He leads you through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth.

The Bible is Jesus’ sword by which He guides us. The Apostle Paul said, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Eph 6:17). The Bible is the sword of Jesus through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, not the sword of man.

We do not know man’s soul, mind and heart and as a result are not qualified in ourselves to judge men by what they say or how they appear. Because we do not know what is going on inside of man truly, we cannot possibly know what Scriptures apply to a given situation. Jesus does know what is going on inside of man as well as outside of man truly, therefore only Jesus can know what Scriptures truly apply to a given situation.

If, in going to Jesus with our need, quoting a passage of Scripture is the immediate answer, Jesus will then lead us to the appropriate passages that will give a solution to the heart of the problem. It is at that point that the Bible becomes spiritually-alive and energetically-effective and brings about the change in the person’s life it is supposed to.⁸⁶

When we try to apply the Word of God to ourselves or others without the initiative of Jesus first, we only end up putting ourselves and others under condemnation and strife and push ourselves and others further away from the solution to the need since we do not know for certain apart from Jesus’ enlightenment what the root of the problem truly is. Only Jesus knows a man’s heart and thoughts and psychology truly, therefore only Jesus can know what appropriate Scriptures apply to any one given situation.

Does this mean we are not supposed to read the Bible? Absolutely not. Jesus said, recorded in the Gospel of John, "He who is of God hears the words of God" (John 8:47). Paul the Apostle wrote,

"Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you; with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Col 3:16)

For the same reason we need training in Evangelism, we need to study exhaustively the Word of God. Jesus cannot lead us to the Word of God in our seeking Him for answers to our needs unless we know the Word of God. Jesus can only lead us by what we know. Jesus, in talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (John 14:26).

The better we know the Word, the more effectively Jesus is going to be able to use us. At the same time we cannot be certain that what we believe is Jesus’ leading in our lives through the ministry of the Holy Spirit is truly Jesus’ leading unless it is backed and supported by the Bible: God’s inerrant Word. This is why Isaiah, Paul, and the writer of Hebrews state,

"And when they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." (Isaiah 8:19-20)

"All Scripture is give-by-inspiration-of-God and profitable for teaching for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3:16-17)

"For the word of God is spiritually-alive and energetically-effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the conscious-reasonings and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Not only will we be able to distinguish what is truly Jesus’ voice through a thorough knowledge of God’s Word, but the writer of Hebrews also tells us we will also be able to distinguish what are truly the separate parts of man’s constitution, their interrelatedness, and through Jesus’ guidance through the Holy Spirit come to know what aspects of the Word apply to any given situation to truly deal with the heart of the matter in that part of man’s constitution that it truly relates to.

In this sense and context the Word of God is final authority over all issues. The word of God is final authority over the so called voice of Jesus or voice of the Holy Spirit.⁸⁷

How often I hear Christians say, "What a person believes about the Word of God is not what is important but that he believes in Jesus!" What Jesus? The Jesus of Mormonism or Jehovah Witness or Hinduism or the New Age movement? The Word of God is Jesus’ provided measuring stick to help us determine who the real Jesus is and what is truly His voice to us through the Holy Spirit.⁸⁹ Francis A. Schaeffer in his book, Escape From Reason, stated it this way:

"It is not a question of God revealing Himself in Jesus Christ only, because there is not enough content in this if it is separated from the Scriptures. It then becomes only another contentless banner, for all we know of what that revelation of Christ was comes from the Scriptures. Jesus Himself did not make a distinction between His authority and the authority of the written Scriptures. He acted upon the unity of His authority and the content of the Scripture."^68/83

A person is not saved because he receives Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, he is saved when he receives as Savior and Lord the Jesus Christ described and defined in the Bible. That is why Evangelism is first educating the person about Jesus the Bible talks about (see p. 4 of the Salvation Tract What Is Eternal Life?) and what that Jesus did for their salvation. Only when they are with understanding receiving the Jesus described in the Bible will they be saved.

The important thing for us to understand here is that Jesus is the answer to our need and knows what Scripture is needed in a given situation. Regardless of what we need, we enter into relationship with Jesus first to get the answer to our need through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth. We go to the Bible to train our minds and senses to discern that what we are receiving from Jesus through worship and praise is truly Jesus and His voice, because the Bible plainly states that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.⁸³ Jesus will never lead us contrary to the Word of God,⁸⁰ but Satan will. God’s Word is final authority, not what we think is Jesus’ voice.