There is a unique calling from God on your life—a plan He has for no one else. What you do with it is up to you.

Will you bury it in the ground as did the servant with one talent? (Matthew 25:14-30). Will you come into agreement with the prayers of Jesus and be part of the answer? Or will you continue to live with Self on the throne—with its hurts, ego, deficiencies, selfishness, deception, and its clouded, narrow-minded worldview ruling your life?

Though the issues of knowing and living God’s plan for your life may seem complex, the actual decision is really very basic: Will you live this day—this hour, this minute, this breath—with Jesus as Lord of your life, or do you think you can do better on your own?  This is the moment to make the decision that will influence this and every moment following for the remainder of your life. It may be difficult, but I wouldn’t want to live any other way!

 Recently, I heard about a football player who had the personal motto: “No one will work harder than I do today.” It was a motto that took him to Harvard on an academic scholarship after having been born into a family that could never have otherwise afforded it. This motto brought him to a starting position on an NFL team even though Harvard is rarely a place an NFL scout finds great talent.

We should have a similar motto that is just as simple: “Today I will seek God in order to do His will.”

 One of Satan’s greatest ploys is to make us believe that living the Christ-life is out of our reach. He would have us idolize certain men and women of God just as a teenager might idolize a rock star or sports hero. He would have us think, “Oh, if I could only be like them! But it must take such great talent and determination to do what they do. It is so far beyond anything I could ever do!”

There is the deception: If I could only be like them. Well, guess what? You are like them! If you are a Christian, then you have inside you the same Holy Spirit others have. You too have Jesus Lord and Savior, and you have a heavenly Father who loves you and wants to know and be known by you. In God’s eyes, all that matters is your obedience to His will. Large meetings don’t matter. Big churches don’t matter. Incredible mission outreaches don’t matter.  If they are of God, then they are merely byproducts of Believers who have obeyed Him. The important thing is the obedience.

“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2).  We can work hard, stay up late, rise early, work at the church 120 out of the 168 hours in a week, but none of it matters if we are building a kingdom unto ourselves rather than unto God. In fact, the opposite is true: If we are obeying God, then we won’t be working impossibly long hours to build His kingdom, because He gives His beloved sleep and rest. The only real work is staying in our quiet place until we learn His will. Then we simply have to live it out. The rest will take care of itself.

We need to come into agreement with God and His Word. We need to come into agreement with the prayers of Jesus.  The works of Jesus—and greater works—will only come to the Church when we as Christians come into agreement with His Word, His will, and the nine prayers from John 17. We need to seek His face sincerely to know what He wants us to do. God is waiting for those who dare to draw close to Him. Are you willing to be faithful to God and press in close to Him until Jesus’ nine prayers are really and truly answered?

1.  “THAT THEY MAY KNOW THE ONLY TRUE GOD,”
 (JOHN 17:3).

We cannot be content with knowing about God or what others think of Him. This is dead religion and self-worship. We have to take the risk of spending time with Jesus and His Word and learn to really know Him, His heart, His ministry, and then just do it. We will never know God, until we seek Him with all of our hearts. “‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me
with all your heart.
I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:13-14).

2.  “THAT THEY
   MAY BE ONE,” (JOHN 17:21).

Division comes from not being one with Jesus. If we were one with Him then we would take our proper place within His Body. If we are ever to have unity in the Church, it will not be through ecumenical movements that water down the truth in order for it to be more accepted by others. Only when we are one with Jesus will we be one with each other. Each of us must first learn our individual place in His plan. “Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:16).

3. “THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE MY JOY” (JOHN 17:13).

We don’t have His joy because we are trying to live by our flesh and its deceptive desires. His joy is not a fruit of the flesh, but of His Spirit (see Galatians 5:22) and comes from doing His will. When we live by His Spirit and give Him our emotions and desires, there is nothing the devil can do to us to steal our peace and joy. We have “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (see 1 Peter 1:8) because we celebrate the Christ within as we become part of manifesting His kingdom on earth.  “When you obey Me, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father and remain in His love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow” (John 15:10-11)

4.  “THAT YOU SHOULDEST KEEP THEM FROM EVIL,”
  (JOHN 17:15).

When we become comfortable in our flesh or accept its dictate that we cannot live like Jesus, then we give evil free reign in both our own lives and our communities. We adopt the attitude, “Well, there is really nothing that I can do about it! I wonder what’s on TV tonight.” We accept being entertained rather than fulfilled. This complacency breeds spiritual poverty.  If we are ever to be a threat to evil rather than having evil be a threat to us, then we must learn that our new nature in Christ has obliterated our past, and given us new values and a new life. Because of this, we now supernaturally have a new present and future! Childlike obedience to His direction can usher in His present-day ministry, vanquish evil and establish His will and kingdom around us.  “My brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10-11)

5.  “THAT THEY MIGHT BE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE 
  TRUTH” (JOHN 17:19).

Do we live by truth? Are we brutally honest with ourselves at all times? Are we willing to go through Christ’s daily pruning to cut off that which is dead so that we may bear more fruit? (See John 15:1-8.)

Loving the truth is the key to living out the present-day ministry of Jesus. Those who believe or accept half-truths lapse into complacency and self-contentment. They are satisfied with where they are and care little about pressing in to seek God’s will and His desires. People who love truth are not afraid of letting others see their weaknesses or humanity. In fact, they are able to glorify God as His strength can be seen through their weakness! It is not a special anointing that counts, but having been with the Anointed One—Jesus Christ.  “Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2).

6.  “THAT THEY MAY BEHOLD MY GLORY”
  (JOHN 17:24).

God’s glory has appeared from time to time on the earth as men, women, and children have humbled themselves before God, sincerely seeking His presence and repenting of their fleshly lives. But repentance alone has never kept God’s glory and revival growing. It has always been limited to a certain place for a certain time. It has always been quenched as we have turned back to our flesh for answers, thinking we can provide the necessary discipline to reach heaven.  The Bible is clear on this: It is not what we don’t do, it is what we do. It is time for a generation that will forsake the flesh and rise to walk in the Spirit, empowered by His gifts and gifted by His power.  Only then will the fruit of His glory take root and flourish throughout the earth.  All of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more (2 Corinthians 3:18)

7.  “THAT THEY MAY BE MADE PERFECT” (JOHN 17:23).

The only perfect person is a dead person. We have been crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in and through us. (See Galatians 2:20.) We must let the Christ-life flow through us so that we can be revived as was the valley of dry bones before Ezekiel. (See Ezekiel 37:1-14.) Are we willing to leave the rotting corpse of our flesh behind and move forward with His Spirit into God’s holiness and perfection, being made into a vessel “meet for the master’s use”? (See 2 Timothy 2:21.)  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:8-10).

8.  THAT THE WORLD WOULD KNOW THAT WE HAVE
 “BEEN WITH JESUS”  (JOHN 17:22-23, 25).

The world could see that the apostles had been with Jesus. Even Peter’s shadow had been empowered with healing after he had been with Jesus. (See Acts 5:15.) And, lest we think that walking the earth with Jesus was the only way to qualify for walking in His anointing, remember Paul spread even more of Christ around the world than did the Twelve who had spent time with Jesus before and after His crucifixion. Paul had only met the Messiah after He ascended.  It is time to press into Him until the world sees the love of Jesus shining on our face, and as a result, is born again.  “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

9.  “THAT THE LOVE WITH WHICH YOU LOVED ME MAY
 BE IN THEM” (JOHN 17:26).

As we reveal Christ to a desperate world, we reveal that supernatural love which embraces and heals. We can no longer be content to focus on the outside, polishing, painting, and admiring the container of spikenard as if it were of more value than the perfume of His love from within. It is time to shatter the worship of outside appearances and allow the love of God (see Romans 5:5) within us to flow forth, as well as His righteousness, and His kingdom. We cannot ignore the greater commandment of Jesus: We must love others with the same love with which He loves us.  “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:7-9).

You Can Be the Answer to Jesus’ Prayers

When Jesus returned to heaven after His work here was complete, He sat down.  That’s because He has assigned the ongoing work to us.  Jesus Christ delegated everything He had—His power, His reputation, His Name, His life, His history, His Words, His very Spirit, everything He’d ever been and everything He ever would be—and gave it all to us. Jesus Christ gave His ministry to the weakest Believer in the Body of Christ—the rights to His Name, the keys to His Kingdom, all His authority over the earth, and all power to represent Him on this earth. That person can abuse the power, misrepresent Christ’s Name, exploit His reputation, or choose not to do one thing with what Jesus gave—it is that person’s choice. It is our choice as well.  Jesus knew—beyond any shadow of doubt—there would come a day when the people who are called by His Name will stand up and fulfill all His prophecies and answer all His prayers. 

As we sit in the pews of our churches today, are we more like those who accepted Jesus and saw what was truly in their hearts? Or are we like the Pharisees who clung to their own traditions, opinions, and half-truths rather than changing ingrained, self-righteous concepts? Are we just as wrapped up in our own beliefs, culture, and desires as they were? Do we justify ourselves by learning all of the correct responses, but miss the real answer? Are we satisfied with how we look to others while Jesus stands nearby grieving at our ignorance of Him? It is time we come to really know the Truth and let that Truth set us free.

God’s presence changes things, so if His truth is in us, then His life-changing power should shine through us. Yet, instead, we are often indistinguishable from the rest of the world. Some might call themselves undercover Christians, but the truth is we’re not under cover; we’re unchanged!  I weep when I consider all the energy I’ve wasted over the years seeking the approval of others, becoming intoxicated by someone else’s power, working as an unofficial arbitrator in big-name church cases, engaging in media fist-fights all over the nation. I thought I had arrived and was finally really doing something to help Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t need such help—He needs my humble obedience. I wasn’t carrying out His ministry on the earth—I was blindly exalting Self! I was seeking validation and justification for my flesh. I was allowing it to fight other flesh—and all under the Christian banner! 

Like those drunk with wine, those of us drunk with flesh are unreasonable and bleary-eyed. We do not see things clearly or truth fully; we see things as we want to see them, through the haze of self-centeredness. We can go on like this our entire lives, unless we are arrested for a DUI—being Deceived under the Influence of Self. As Christians, we have a choice: We can surrender to God and permit Him to sober us up, or we can choose to cling to the deception that has so entranced us. If we cling to such pretext, then we become a poster child for the Devil—Christians trying to live out Christianity by the power of the flesh rather than the power of the Spirit.  The truth changes that.

The best definition of truth is that Jesus is Truth personified. (See John 14:6, 1:14, 17; Romans 15:8; and Ephesians 4:21.) Only by truly knowing Him can we really know the truth. Through Him are all things revealed: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The nature of light is that in it we clearly see every nuance and detail. Jewelers use a magnifying glass and a bright light to examine diamonds for even the tiniest flaw or imperfection. So will the light of Jesus work in our lives to reveal things that are unseen in the darkness or half-light. If we have His Light, it will reveal the truth of what is in our hearts so that we can prune the dead branches and fruitless activities and grow to become more and more like Jesus every day. 

When Self is on the throne, our vision is dimmed by half-truths we accept to justify our ambiguous lives. Even a half-truth is a whole lie. We live in the darkness and shadow of Self not seeing things clearly. It is like walking into a room to find your car keys, seeing them on the counter in the shadows, and upon picking them up only to discover that you have instead picked up a tarantula! We can be so mistaken in the way we see things that we are deceived into accepting untrue doctrines and beliefs. However, since in the half-light they justify our desires and appear to be the very thing we desire, we embrace them wholeheartedly. Thus instead of the truth of God, we build our self-image on the foundation of culture, habit, and environment. We have little time or inclination to examine a thing too closely to determine its true nature. Thus, finding ourselves comfortable, we complacently settle for just a little knowledge of God rather than being hungry for much more of Him. 

We want a religion that justifies us and makes us feel better about ourselves, rather than religion that transforms us into the image of Christ.  We—the entire Body of Christ (especially in the United States)—have become too easily lulled into fleshly complacency—the cause of our spiritual poverty. We are caught up in our accomplishments rather than Christ’s ministry. We no longer love truth, only what the truth can do for us. Thus when truth is inconvenient, we ignore it. Or, as has become the norm today in business, politics, and the Church, we spin the facts the way we want them. Sometimes there is not much difference between putting things in their best light and lying. Those who spin the facts are more interested in appearance than substance. 

Another level of truth is what is actual and factual, plain and simple. We know how difficult being truly objective is in a situation, but those who have been with Jesus should be the most objective people on earth. They should be able to be completely honest with themselves, knowing their own faults and shortcomings, and speaking to their own hurt if necessary, for the sake of the truth. (See Psalm 15:4.) Perhaps education has been a good example of this. In the past, teachers have been instructed to be very critical of students as if the harder they were on them, the better. Yet we found this to be damaging to the self-confidence of students. It follows suit that poor self-confidence leads to poor marks. More recently, teachers are trained to be very positive, no matter what the student does, to build their confidence, hoping that eventually this will lead to overall improvement. What in fact has happened is that we have a generation of students who now confidently make mistakes, and when confronted often scoff at the rebuke. 

It is the truth that will set us free in every situation, and not the truth as seen through rose-colored glasses, which often distorts the facts. I believe this is one of the reasons Jesus told us to judge not. (See Matthew 7:1.) When we add to the truth, we put ourselves in a position to be judged just as executives from big business are judged in our courts for accounting misrepresentations. We need to get back to the basic wisdom of Joe Friday on “Dragnet” so many years ago, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Let your statement be, “Yes, yes” or “No, no”; any thing beyond these is of evil, (Matthew 5:37) Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation, (James 5:12) 

It is time to reprogram our minds.  Of the thousands of decisions we make daily, how many do we consciously consider before acting upon them? Chances are, very few. What is directing our lives then? Habit—patterns accepted over time—are repeated and justified. They become so ingrained that we don’t even think before we act. We are trained by what we accept as true, and that training becomes an instinctive reaction that directs our every step. Then if those things that we have accepted are half-truths, we stumble around in the dark rather than scrutinizing them through the light of God’s Word! 

Such deception rarely goes from point A to point Z in an afternoon. Seldom does a person start in the ministry one day and the next is in bed with someone else’s spouse! Hardly ever does a hard-working employee begin a new job with the long-range goal of embezzling from the company. Who would even consider marrying someone who they knew would someday commit murder? Though we could never imagine such things in the beginning; these things happen daily in our society—and in the Church! Pastors run off with their secretaries; ushers pocket money from the collection plates; loving spouses murder their mates for one reason or another. “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). 

The acceptance of a half-truth is like smoking a cigarette. Little by little as we inhale, the nicotine darkens our lungs. After years and years of this, they turn black and can’t be penetrated even by x-rays. Smoking saps our breath and ages us prematurely. Illness creeps in until we are no longer of use to our families and those who depend on us. Sin, like cancer, grows until it takes over our entire life. Acceptance of these lies sears our conscience to the point that the voice of God no longer can penetrate the heart—the black lump within. However, sin is not the real problem. Just as cancer is the result of taking in smoke from cigarettes, sin is the result of ingesting the half-truths that justify Self on the throne. It is flesh carried away by lusts that brings about sin. (See James 1:15.) Sin is the fruit, flesh is the root. 

When we repent of sin, we’re dealing with the fruit, which is very important. But cutting out the root, which is Self on the throne, is even more important. Most evangelists, myself included, have preached against the fruit of the flesh—drinking, drugs, lying, and lust. Great numbers of people go to the altar, pull the fruit off their flesh, and two weeks later return to the same altar having committed the same sins. Repentance must deal with the root. If we deal only with pruning the branches, allowing the tree to live, we only guarantee a bumper crop of sinful fruit for the next revival! John the Baptist said One was coming to lay the ax to the root of the tree. (See Matthew 3:10.) We don’t just want to prune a little cruelty, unforgiveness, or lying. No matter what we do to the fruit of sin, if the ax is never laid to the root, we miss the reason Jesus came. We must sever the flesh root and become grafted into the True Vine—Christ. Truth is the ax which will separate the root from the rotten fruit! 

It is the person of the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to see our flesh from an eternal standpoint—from the perspective of absolute Truth. Flesh-fed Christians have boasted, “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” but never realize that the rest of that Scripture is, “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1). We must become absorbed in the truth of God’s Word—renewing our minds. As Paul wrote, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Habit can be reprogrammed to work in our favor. 

“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong” (Hebrews 5:12-14). In other words, if we feed on God’s Word and grow up in Him, there will come a time that even our physical senses will know the difference between good and evil and act accordingly without a second thought—this is flesh dominated by the Spirit! This is life with Jesus completely on the throne of our lives! It is time that we grow up enough to accept the meat of the Word and make a lasting difference for His Kingdom on the earth! 

Do you love the Truth even more than your own reputation? Speaking of the end times and those that would follow false prophets, the Bible tells us: “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). “If we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). Do we truly love truth? Those who risk being one with Jesus will find that His light will reveal much in their life that is harmful and should be abandoned; yet the good fruit that comes from His Spirit will thrive in this light. 

Jesus on the throne will shine this light into every nook and cranny and expose everything that needs to be changed or eradicated. This is exactly what needs to happen if we are to be sanctified—set apart—for His use. This is not something that will happen overnight, neither will we arrive at a place where one day we can sit down and say, “Now I am holy.”  We must go through this pruning process of the truth every day, and that always hurts. But the opportunities to have Jesus truly work through us to touch other lives makes it all worthwhile. 

I can imagine nothing greater than meeting Jesus on that day when I too have finished my race (see 2 Timothy 4:7-8) and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21).