In my last post I showed that God’s definition of death is an inability to communicate. In the same way, Adam didn’t die according to our modern definition. He died in God’s definition.
From that point on God could no longer fellowship with Adam and Eve on the level He desired.
God wanted an interaction in the spirit, but this was no longer possible because of sin. Therefore, to God, Adam and Eve were dead. God could no longer communicate to them on the level of the spirit. He would now have to use other means.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8
Notice the wording that’s used here. The man and the wife heard the sound of God. This is the first place in Scripture where it specifically says that God made a sound.
This is emphasized because Adam and Eve had never before heard with their ears, God making a sound. Before that, they always communicated by the spirit. This new experience inspired fear.
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Genesis 3:10
We can hear it from Adam’s own mouth. The two things that caused fear in him were hearing God, and seeing his nakedness. At that point, as a race of people, mankind was cut off from spiritual communication with God.
Please understand, our spirits are still active. This is how mediums, witch doctors, and spiritists can communicate with familiar spirits. They can still interact in the spiritual realm, they just don’t understand the dangers of this practice.
As far as communication with God is concerned, mankind’s spirits can not talk to God because of sin. After the fall, God could only communicate to man by very limited means. God could speak bodily, through angels, a donkey, a voice, or by taking on flesh. He could speak inwardly, directly to our mind. He could also “move upon” someone, which literally means that He “put them on like clothes” and spoke through them.
This was the sad condition of the human race until Christ came on the scene. He really was “God with us”. The Gospels record the work He did for us on the cross. Because of His death, burial, and resurrection we can now enter into a salvation that we could never experience in our own strength.
Now, if we receive His great gift, the Holy Spirit takes up residence on the inside of us. This means that communication lines are open once again between us and the Lord. According to God’s definition, we are now alive to Him.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:11
But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Romans 8:10
It’s clear from Scripture that your spirit is now alive to God!!!
Question: How important to you, is the knowledge that God’s Holy Spirit lives in you?
© Nick Zaccardi 2014
Tags: Adam, alive to God, burial, Christ, communication, death, God, Holy Spirit, in the spirit, interaction, Jesus, resurrection, salvation, Scripture, sound, the fall
Without a doubt, the Bible teaches that God’s power flows to us through the Holy Spirit. In my last post we looked at what Jesus said in John, chapter 7.
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:38-39
The first thing the Lord told us was that you must believe as the Scripture declares. We can’t just believe anything that we want. It will not work with faith simply for faith’s sake. Our faith must be firmly based in the Word of God.
In order to get into the flow of God’s power we must trust Him as the Scripture declares. We must also couple this with the knowledge that power involves intimacy with the Lord. We must remain, abide, live, dwell, and reside in Him. If intimacy with God is the priority, then we must ask ourselves what’s the most intimate place, spiritually?
There’s a biblical word that’s used for the concept of spiritual intimacy with God. The meaning has been all but lost to modern Christians. I’m hoping that the church will once again make this their goal. The word I’m speaking about is WORSHIP.
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word translated worship means to prostrate yourself or to lay down with God. In the New Testament, the Greek word they used for worship literally means to lean forward as if to kiss. Both of these concepts involve intimacy. You would never want to lay down with someone or kiss someone unless the moment was just right.
As I said before, we have all but lost the concept of what true worship is all about today. To most Christians, leadership included, the difference between praise and worship is that praise is the fast songs and worship is the slow songs.
Actually, if you study the Scripture, you’ll find that both the fast and slow songs are praise. This is because anything that we do toward God with our flesh (sing, clap, dance, etc.) is praise.
According to the Word, worship is a function of our spirit. That’s why throughout the Old and New Testaments, whenever the position of worship is described, the worshipper is always prostrate or leaning on something.
Praise is always my flesh giving glory to God. It’s a team effort. That’s why when we’re in a meeting, the bigger the crowd, the more incredible the praise.
Worship, on the other hand, is just me and God. Think about the times in church during the praise time when suddenly a “holy hush” comes over the congregation. This is when the Lord is calling us to be intimate with Him. It’s usually the most uncomfortable time there is in church. That is because we are so unused to true worship.
What we have to realize is that if power requires intimacy, then worship is the place of power.
Question: How comfortable are you with being quiet before the Lord?
© Nick Zaccardi 2014
Tags: Christ, faith, flesh, flow, God, holy hush, Holy Spirit, Jesus, place of power, power, power of God, praise, Scripture, spirit, spirtual intimacy, true worship, word of God, worship
In my last post we saw that all sickness and disease is a part of the package we know as sin. It was the sin nature that Adam embraced that brought sickness into the world.
In this post, and the next, I want to show scripturally that this is the case. To do that, we will be looking at this link throughout both the Old and New Testaments.
Think about God’s treatment of sin. His goal is to remove it in all of its manifestations – including sickness.
Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
Exodus 23:25-26
The words translated among you in the above verse literally mean the source or center. That’s how God removes our sin – right from the source. He treats our sicknesses the very same way. He never does a “halfway” job, but goes right to the root of the problem.
He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26
The Lord even calls Himself Jehovah Rapha in this verse, this is a title which means the God who heals. Why would He call Himself that if it were not true?
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…
Psalm 103:1-3
This psalm is a standard piece of Hebrew poetry. Rather than rhyming, this kind of poetry uses equivalent statements to make a point.
For instance praising the Lord with my soul and praising His holy name with my inmost being are equivalent statements because my soul is my inmost being. Again, in the second line, my soul is the part of me that remembers. So for me not to forget His benefits is how my soul praises the Lord.
It’s the third statement, however, that I want you to pay close attention to. According to Hebrew poetry, forgiving my sin and healing my diseases are equivalent actions to God.
In my next post, we will continue looking at this connection between sin and sickness in the Old and New Covenants.
Question: Why is it so hard for some people to believe that God wants to heal us?
© Nick Zaccardi 2014
Tags: disease, God, healing, Jehovah Rapha, Scripture, sickness, sin, sin nature, sin sickness connection
In my last post I started talking about the relationship between the power of God and righteousness. There are so many believers bound in the notion that if we can just be righteous enough, we can walk in the power of the Spirit.
They spend their lives frustrated trying to live up to the righteous rules set out by their teachers. Many give up on ever obtaining a walk in the power of the Spirit. Little do they know that their quest is in vain.
And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
2 Corinthians 3:11
It’s the power of the law which, like batteries, eventually fades away. Not so the power of the Spirit. This verse literally says that it lasts, remains, stays perpetually. What kind of power are you looking for? A temporary boost that fades as your strength declines? Or do you seek a power that comes from the Spirit of the living God?
The righteous life can only come from a walk of power. Jesus not only walked in power, but also in the righteousness of the Father. This means it’s possible for me as well. I just need apply the truth of Scripture to my life.
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:17
Righteousness is not a function of my strength or my will power. It comes from God through His Holy Spirit. The key is that this truth is revealed in the Gospel – the Good News. Truly, to many believers righteousness from God is Good News.
As I’ve said before, so many live their lives constantly failing to live up to the standards set by Christ in the Word. The Good News is that you don’t have to. But wait a minute! Maybe you think I’m talking about the imparted righteousness that God gives to us when we’re saved. I’m not.
The Bible teaches about two different kinds of righteousness under the New Covenant. First, there’s imparted righteousness. This is the righteousness that Christ places within you when you’re saved.
This means that when God the Father looks at you, He sees you in Christ. This gives you access to God at all times so that your sin will not keep you from approaching the throne for forgiveness, praise, worship, or any other purpose. We need this righteousness to establish a relationship with the Lord as we grow in our faith.
There is also another kind of righteousness that the New Testament talks about. That’s the walk of righteousness.
This is the application of the righteousness of God to our daily lives. This means that I live correctly before God. This one is harder to see manifest in my life. That’s especially true if I try to accomplish it in my own power, as so many Christians endeavor to do.
I believe that in the above verse, Paul is talking about the walk of righteousness. It’s this righteousness from God that allows us to live righteously. We can never hope to walk rightly before God in our own strength. It’s going to require us to walk in the ability of the Lord in order to please Him.
Question: Why is it so tempting to please God in our own strength?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: Christ, frustration, Holy Spirit, imparted, Jesus, power, power of God, power of the spirit, relationship, righteousness, rules, Scripture, the Father, the law, two kinds of righteousness, walk
I’ve been posting about the link between forgiveness and revival. I think that it’s clear from Scripture that the spiritual battle is not only fought on the ground. There’s a higher aspect to it.
In my last post, I talked about Daniel’s prayer while in Babylon. As he was praying and interceding on earth, the angels were warring in the sky. If we want a breakthrough in our nation, then there must be a spiritual battle.
As in any war, it requires strategy. It’s not just about politics. It’s not even about me sharing the Gospel with someone. We’re in a spiritual war.
Another lesson that we need to learn is that it’s not just up to individuals. In an army, soldiers don’t just wake up and say, “I’m going to go out and fight today.”
“I’m going to do warfare today.”
That doesn’t work in the natural, so why do we think that it has a lasting effect in the spiritual?
Understanding forgiveness will give us a view of the whole war. We are so intent on our individual fight. When that happens, we get self-absorbed and that’s the exact opposite of being humble.
In warfare it’s imperative that I know what the enemy’s objective is in attacking us. What’s our objective in the spiritual war, as the body of Christ?
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
John 20:21
Jesus said this to His disciples after the resurrection. “In the same way that the Father sent me…” Jesus’ objective was to destroy the works of the evil one. How can we do that? There’s only one way – the same as He did.
And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
John 20:22-23
The victory comes through the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, there needs to be forgiveness – the picking up and removal of sin. Sin is that which misses the mark. We are to heal society by forgiveness principles. The principles of sin removal.
In actuality, the word, forgive, is not in second half of the above verse. The word used is seize, take hold, dominate, or arrest.
When we deal with society, sin and people in sin, there are two objectives. The first is to remove sin. This means getting someone saved and/or healed. It might even be getting a godly law passed.
The other objective, if people refuse the Good News, is to arrest sin. We can take dominion over it in the Name of Christ.
“This far and no further.”
Then, we can push it back in the spirit. In my next post I’ll wrap up this subject showing what I believe is God’s way to overcome evil and bring about revival in our nation.
Question: What are the evils that need to be arrested and pushed back in our nation?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: angels, destroy the works of the evil one, forgiveness, good news, Holy Spirit, missing the mark, politics, power of the Holy Spirit, revival, Scripture, sharing the Gospel, sin, society, spiritual battle, spiritual warfare, strategy, war in heaven
My last post talked about positioning yourself to flow in God’s power. It all comes down to the truth that agreement with Christ is the place of power. Do we always agree with Him? Or do we make excuses?
“You can’t know God’s will for certain.” “He may not want to heal.” After all it can’t be our fault. We feel there’s nothing wrong on our end so it must be God’s decision not to manifest His power.
In some cases we’re more like the Pharisees than we want to admit. Jesus explained their problem to them. I believe that it’s our problem as well. We need to hear the Lord, and meditate on His words.
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
John 5:39-40
Many believers spend a great deal of time pursuing the study of Scripture. There are radio and cable channels devoted to the study of the Word of God 24/7.
Just like Jesus said to the Pharisees, many of us think that by them we possess life and power. We believe that if we just know the Word enough, it will increase our faith to the point where nothing will be impossible for us.
The Scripture is given to testify about Christ. It was NOT given to grant us access to power or life. Jesus Christ is the grand focus of the Word. It’s IN HIM that we have power and life.
Our problem is that we refuse to go to Christ to have access to power and life. Jesus said, “I have come that you would have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Power rests solely in Christ. If we don’t abide in Christ, then we don’t have access to the power.
The very Scriptures that we recite, confess, and memorize are telling us who Christ is and what He’s done. This should cause us to run to Him. Instead, we embrace the Word and think that it will give us power. It’s so much easier to live for ourselves and quote promises, then to abide in Christ. That requires spiritual effort, and we like to look for the shortcuts.
This is the instant generation. We want everything now without any waiting. By constantly using our credit cards we will give away our future for a momentary pleasure. We have to have everything now.
Well, this is something that’s impossible to get instantly. It requires the work of an intimate relationship with God. Power flows from Christ to us if we’ll do what it takes to position ourselves to receive it. It’s time for the church to wake up and view relationship with Christ as the priority of the hour.
Question: Are you willing to wait in God’s presence rather than seek for instant success?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: abide, abide in Christ, Agreement, agreement with Christ, Christ, confess, confession, excuses, healing, in Christ, Jesus, life, manifestation, memorize, position, positioning, power, power is agreement with Christ, power of God, promises, recite, relationship, Scripture, study, testify, testify to Christ, word of God
I’ve been posting about the first great move of God after the Dark Ages. The Lord was using His people to restore the Bible as the foundation for faith and practice in the church.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4
It’s obvious from the lives of these people, that they were able to endure beyond the normal experience. It was their reliance on the Scripture that brought them to this level.
Who were these dedicated believers?
There were the Cathari in France. They believed that tradition, alone, is not a basis for faith. So they started printing and circulating Scripture. Pope Innocent III actually called for a crusade against them. Not only did he wipe them out, but the entire local population as well.
Another name to remember was Peter Waldo. Around this time he started preaching the Word of God and circulating Scripture. His followers were called the Waldensians. They fared a little better. When the order was given to kill them all, they were able to flee. This community of Christians escaped to the mountain caves of Northern Italy, where they still exist today.
One of the more famous names of this move was John Wycliffe, from England. Again, his goal was to preach the Word and get the Scripture into the hands of God’s people. His followers were called the Lollards. Unfortunately, they had to give up their lives for the faith. They were martyred by Kings Henry the IV and V.
In many cases, the problem with our humanity is that we don’t want to know that we’re wrong. The fact is that I need Scripture to correct me and then show me how to get back on solid ground again. Many don’t want to admit their need for change. Especially when there’s political power involved. That was a big reason that they crucified the Lord.
The list goes on and on of those who started preaching a new way of following Christ – using the Scripture as the standard of their lives. It includes such men as St. Jerome, John Huss, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. Many people don’t know that Luther was actually working on a German translation for the common people to read. Most of these saints of God were persecuted and killed.
Their commitment is summed up pretty well in a line from the dedication page of the KJV Bible: “So that if, on the one side, we shall be traduced by…persons at home or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are poor instruments to make God’s holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness;”
I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice so that I could have a foundation for my faith. And, so that you could know the truth of God for yourself.
Question: What’s the best way to show our gratefulness to God for our unlimited access to the Scripture?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: access to Scripture, Bible, Cathari, caves, change, correction, crusade, dedicated, endurance, endure, foundation of faith, grateful, John Wycliffe, King Henry, lives laid down for the scripture, Lollards, martyrs, move of God, need for change, Peter Waldo, political power, Pope Innocent, restoration, restoration of truth, revival, sacrifice, Scripture, truth of God, Waldensians
In my last post, I talked about the church’s descent into the Dark Ages. It was a horrible time in history. Many people ask, “How could all this have happened?” What about all that the Bible teaches?
The bottom line is, that at that time, the Church was the ultimate authority in the life of the believer. Their teaching was viewed as infallible. The clergy would not allow the common people own a Bible.
“We’ll explain to you the truth you need to know.”
Around 1300 A.D., it seems that God finally said, “Enough – I’ve got to prepare my bride for my coming.” The Lord had to rearm his church. As I look at the flow of history, I see that God was restoring the armor of Ephesians 6. The bride had to be dressed and ready for the Lord.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
Ephesians 6:14a
First thing that was needed to be restored was the Belt of Truth. This is what the church desperately hungered for at that time. We need a foundation of truth.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
I would never have known truth without Scripture. I need to be taught the principles of God.
It seems that the church was without hope at this time. The door to heaven was locked and the priests had the only key.
I think that it’s no coincidence that the printing press was invented during this period. I also believe that it was a direct result of the move of God. The first book printed with this new technology was the Bible.
The above verse tells me that sometimes I need to be rebuked, to be told when I’m wrong. It’s how I react that tells whom I serve. Am I willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and change, or am I hard-hearted and rebellious?
Thus, some of the greatest persecution of God’s people began. Unfortunately it was not from unbelievers, but from the organized church, itself.
God started moving in the lives of His servants. It was small at first. Believers who wanted to read and study the Bible for themselves.
It’s hard for us in the United States to fathom this. Most Christians have more than one Bible in their home. We have access in stores and online. We’re free to read Scripture whenever and wherever we want.
Throughout history this has not always been the case. In my next post I’ll wrap up this series by recounting some of the precious saints of God who laid down their lives for us to have the abundance of Scripture that we now enjoy.
Question: How much do you appreciate your access to Scripture? How do you show it?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: armor of God, authority of the church, belt of truth, Bible, Bible teaching, church, church history, dark ages, first move of restoration, foundation of truth, history, Holy Spirit, hopeless, move of God, organized church, persecution, principles of God, printing press, rebuke, restoration, revival, Scripture, truth, without hope
This post is the last in a series about our relationship to the Word of God.
The Book of Revelation mentions synagogues of Satan (Revelation 2:9). These are places where the teaching of Scripture was done by satanic influence. I need the Holy Spirit to help me interpret the Bible. Yet, there are those who listen to the demon’s view of it.
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
1 Timothy 4:1
There are those who teach the Bible, but not the Word of God. This is a great deception. Of course no one would listen if a minister got up and said, “Satan says to do this.” But if he reads a Scripture verse and puts a demonic twist to it, the church seems to fall for it most of the time.
Just because someone quotes Scripture doesn’t mean that what they’re preaching is of God. I need the discernment of the Holy Spirit to protect me from false teaching. How can I tell the difference between Satan’s teaching, man’s teaching, and the true Word of God?
Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Mark 16:20
This verse literally says that the Lord was a co-worker with them. They did their work – proclaiming the Word of God. God did His part – confirming the Word that was proclaimed. Miracles were commonplace. As the disciples went out, the Word of God spread, and there were signs and wonders everywhere they went.
When Satan quoted the Bible to Jesus (Luke 3:9-11), he used it to try and convince the Lord to jump off the highest point of the Temple. If Jesus had jumped, would God the Father have confirmed that “word”? Of course not.
Just because I quote the Bible, it doesn’t put God under any obligation to confirm it. Even if I’m preaching from a text on healing, there’s no confirmation unless it’s a Word God wants preached at that moment.
There are questions I need to ask myself. Is God working with me? Am I proclaiming the Word of God for these people? If the answer to both of these is “yes”, then I can expect a move of God.
We may not like it, but the truth is plain and simple. If there are no signs following, then it wasn’t the Word of God that was preached.
When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.
Acts 8:6
Scripture is very clear as to relationship between the preaching of the Word, and the response of the hearers. When the Word of God is confirmed, there is a supernatural manifestation that draws people’s attention.
America needs a revival of hearing the Word of God. It will only come from those who have received and planted the Word into their lives.
Questions: How hungry are you for a revival to sweep our nation? Are you willing to seek God for it?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: America, Bible, Christ, church, confirming the word of God, deceived, deception, discernment, false teaching, God's word, healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, last days, last-days deception, man's teaching, miracles, proclaim, revival, satanic influence, Scripture, spiritual discernment, synagogue of satan, teaching, truth, word, word of God
In my last post I talked about those who minister without the Word of God. We are experiencing an epidemic of this in our American Christian experience. Jude wrote about this problem almost 2000 years ago.
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted– twice dead.
Jude 1:12
This rebuke describes a growing segment of the church. What an appropriate editorial on many of the “ministers” we see on Christian cable and radio.
Jude describes them as shepherds who feed only themselves. They preach messages that excite people in order to keep their cash flow going strong. They’re clouds and wind with no rain – autumn trees with no fruit.
If there’s no fruit, then there are no seed to plant. But that doesn’t matter. With no rain they couldn’t water them either.
It’s a sign of the times that we live in. There’s an abundance of the Bible being preached in America these days. How much of it is a Word from God? How much of it speaks what God wants said to this generation for this time in history? How much planting and watering is being accomplished?
For the amount of Scripture being sent through the airways and over the internet, there is very little fruit to harvest.
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.”
Amos 8:11-12
The prophet Amos predicted the days when there would be a famine of the Word of God. What is a famine? It’s usually a dry weather pattern. As a result there’s no rain, no crops, and no new seed. This must go on for years to qualify as a famine.
During the time of spiritual famine that Amos wrote about, Israel had many synagogues. These were places where the Scripture was taught. There were people teaching the Scripture all over Israel. Scripture reading abounded – but not the Word of God.
It grieves me to look at the United States in light of this Scripture. We are in that exact same place. An abundance of the Bible is being preached and taught from every possible media outlet. Yet for all of this, the church of Jesus Christ is, for the most part, marginalized.
We need to hunger and thirst for a revival of the Word of God in us. Of course we need Scripture as our foundation – to keep us on track. But we must seek God Himself so that we can receive the Living Word to burn within us.
Questions: What could America look like with an abundance of the Word of God going forth? What could your life be like?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: American Christian experience, Bible, Christ, Christian radio, Christian TV, church, epidemic, famine, famine of the word of God, fruit, harvest, Jesus, minister, planting, rain, revival, revival of the word of God, Scripture, scripture without the word of God, shepherds, televangelist, watering, word, word of God
In my last post I showed that God’s definition of death is an inability to communicate. In the same way, Adam didn’t die according to our modern definition. He died in God’s definition.
The Spirit and the Word 