Dear Ones,

Happy Father’s Day to all you padres out there! Remember that every day is ABBA’s day, and be thankful for the physical and the spiritual fathers He has put in your life, and as a papa, for your physical and spiritual children!

Love you!

ON TO THE THRONE – EPHESIANS TWO

WHAT IS A JUDGE?

Do you not know that the saints will judge (Grk. KRINO) the world? And if the world will be judged (GRK. KRINO) by you, are you unworthy to judge (Grk. KRITERION) the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge (Grk. KRINO) angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 1 Cor 6:2-4 NKJV

A judge is a person imbued with authority to examine evidence, test its integrity and compare it against existing law in order to render a verdict, a judgment. This is KRINO. The judge makes reference to precedent – KRITERION: a rule or standard of judging based on previous similar decisions – so that his judgment is consistent with the highest courts of the land.

We are going to see that you are a judge. For instance, when you go to pray for someone, you make a decision resulting in a decree or a command. You examine the evidence – the person has a disease. You determine whether the disease has a right to be there or not. After examining all the evidence, you compare the evidence against ‘case law’ – the Word of God. Having examined the evidence, and reviewed case law, you render a verdict. You say, “Cancer, go in the name of Jesus Christ!” or you say in effect, “Legally I cannot command this disease to go until you do X, or Y, or Z according to the instructions in case law – the Word of God.”

Now you are a judge, but a person, a defendant in your court, has the right to go to the Supreme Judge to overrule your judgment. Hezekiah was sick and Isaiah as a judge, having examined the evidence, referred to case law, and finally the leading of the Spirit, ruled that he would die, but Hezekiah appealed the ruling to the Supreme Judge.

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'”

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. Isa 38:1-6 NKJV

When it comes to being God’s judge in the world, in any circumstance not just healing, you must be serious about doing the work of a judge. You must examine all the evidence, compare it against the case law of the Word of God, consider the precedents or previous judgments that have occurred in similar cases – for instance, why did Peter and Isaiah present judgments of death? – and then make your judgment with the Spirit’s help or leading. This can take ten seconds, ten hours or ten days. Then the authority and power you have been given in Ephesians One will be released!

Are you ready for Chapter Two of Ephesians?

In Romans Three you saw yourself as a defendant, falling on the mercy of the court. This is where the Cross intervened! Now in Ephesians at the Throne of God you are no longer a defendant, but a judge sitting on a seat or throne of judgment. We are moving from a Cross paradigm, as necessary and wonderful as that was, to a Throne paradigm, because that is who we are and will be for all eternity.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Eph 2:1-3 NKJV

Here Paul encapsulates Romans Chapters 1:1 through 3:20 in three verses. But we go from the gutter to the Throne in verses four through ten. We will go through this section with some brief commentary.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Eph 2:4-10 NKJV

 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us

The eternal, overwhelming intrinsic value of every life from conception to the grave and beyond is magnified here by the dramatically beautiful phraseology – rich in mercy, great love – used in the text. Receive that reality into your heart for yourself – I AM GREATLY LOVED BY ABBA MY FATHER, HIS MERCY TO ME IS RICH! – and you will never have an unanswered prayer again.

even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved (Grk. SOZO),

When Jesus died, we died with Him. When He was made alive, resurrected, we were made alive, resurrected with Him, by the undeserved, unmerited favor of God. SOZO is to be completely whole, spirit, soul, body, life and circumstances.

 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

We are ascended and seated at the right hand of God with Him. This is the Throne! This is the position from which we rule and judge in the world. This will not change. This is where we are NOW and where we will be permanently! This is where, as we say, the rubber meets the road. You can be called to be a judge and still have a defendant, as in Romans Three, paradigm or mindset. We must journey from Romans Three to Ephesians Two, from the Cross to the Throne. If you can make that journey, then the power and authority of the prayer in Ephesians One will be released in you. Do you see?

that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Our seat at the Throne is not only our ruling place, but also our place from which we will be instructed and shown the riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. We will be in a school of the Spirit forever, which to my heart makes me speculate that He will test our understanding periodically, which means new adventures, and a whole lot of fun! In our Bible college our faith was specifically and intentionally tested from time to time by requiring us to travel around the country with no money. Go to New Orleans and back from Kansas? Hit the road, Jack, and be back in a week!

For by grace (Grk.CHARIS) you have been saved (Grk. SOZO) through faith (Grk. PISTIS), and that not of yourselves; it is the gift (Grk. DORON) of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast

The key here is the word DORON – meaning a sacrificial gift – Christs suffering and death and resurrection, and all that came in preparation for it was a sacrificial gift to you. I believe in that DORON gift package we got CHARIS, SOZO and PISTIS. This would conclude that faith for salvation is a gift. You see this all the time in witnessing, but you may not be aware of the spiritual transaction occurring right in front of you. You don’t reason or convince people to get born again. You share the truth and you watch them receive a gift right before your eyes! I’ve argued the Gospel with people for hours to no avail but then I find that certain someone, the right someone at the right time, and a miracle happens. They receive a DORON gift that includes faith to believe that a man they never met before did something never done before for them in love to save their lives. Astonishing! And of course, there are no works involved so no one can boast about a completely unmerited gift…

For we are His workmanship (Grk. POIEMA), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

The word POIEMA means masterpiece. The Church is God’s masterpiece, His MAGNUM OPUS! Of all of His works, all of His creation the best of the best is His Church, drawn out from both Jew and Gentile with Christ as the Head, who fills each member with all of His fulness. Oh, my heart cries in wonder at it all! EPHESIANS THREE is going to open up our understanding of that masterpiece and who He is for us and in us and who we are in Him. Lord willing, we will get to that next week!

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Rev 22:17 NKJV

In our garden in back of our house we have a fountain that is close to sixty feet long that symbolizes the journey from the world through the Cross to the Throne of God. The throne is set up high and water flows out of it and under the cross out into the world. The invitation to the Throne comes from Heaven to all the world. Come! The lower pool represents the world and you have to cross a bridge made of cedar representing the Cross to get to the Throne. The guy who built the bridge out of cedar had a Bezaleel anointing and did an amazing job. The other guy who built the fountain with his team was a believer as well. So, I have a symbolic representation of Romans through Ephesians right outside of my office, to remind me everyday of the DORON of God, and the POIEMA that resulted from it. JESUS!

Oh, dear one, may your heart be touched with the grace and love of God to allow you and I to be His POIEMA, and to be His judges and representatives out in the world. May we be found faithful of that calling because we are seated at the Throne of God! Love you…

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…