Category: Luke

Posted in Luke

Contending for More

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (and continue to ask) Him.” Luke 11:13

Our greatest need is more of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus lets us know that even though we’re sinners (“evil”), we are the children of God and can just ask for more of the One who will overcome our lack and give us what we need for every situation we face. It may seem like God is delaying, but if we are persistent in our asking, He will give us His Holy Spirit. (See Luke 11:5-13) So why don’t we ask?

Some fifteen years ago when we lived in Montevideo, MN we got a computer game called, “Raptor.” It was straight forward and seemingly easy to play, so I initially loved competing with my ten year old son, Matthew. Then something horrible happened, he started beating me. The game centered around this fighter airplane you operated that shot down enemy aircraft as they tried to destroy you. The enemies increased as you went along, but you could also pick up money packs at different stages to buy more weapons. I always bought the weapons that I understood how to use, bombs and shields. But as I struggled to get through level one and only infrequently made it to level two, Matt started making it to the fourth and fifth levels every time he played.

“Dad, you need to buy different weapons to go higher. Let me show you how to do it.” Why was a ten year old having to show me how to do anything? I had a choice to make that day; either I keep my pride intact and continue to struggle, or I humble myself, admit I can’t do it on my own, and allow my ten year old son to teach me how to acquire the weapons that will take me to the higher levels. He taught me and I began to gain confidence with my new weapons. That which had seemed impossible before became second nature, and enemies that had intimidated me before were now on the retreat. I was amazed at how much difference having the right weapons made.

The advantage we need to fight the Christian battle more successfully is not going to come from us trying harder, but from us asking more. The Holy Spirit has gifts He is waiting to give us if we would only humble ourselves and start contending for what only He can give.

Posted in John, Luke

Ministers of Forgiveness

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“’Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.’” John 20:21-23

I grew up in a tradition that took this verse to mean that there were some men who had the authority to forgive sins on this earth. The truth is that only God can forgive sins, but He has placed the authority to give the conditions of forgiveness to His people. This is John’s version of the great commission.  Jesus is sending them out to preach the gospel which at its core is about forgiveness that God has made possible. The church has the authority to assure those who meet God’s conditions that they are forgiven, and the responsibility of being careful not to promise forgiveness when those conditions are not met.

The first condition is faith in Christ. The idea that I must be forgiven because God is a “forgiving God” is false. God is loving, and God is just, and in His love He sent His only begotten Son to pay the penalty His justice required, so that anyone who believed in Jesus would not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) There is no forgiveness outside of Christ, only justice for our sins.

The second condition for forgiveness is repentance. In the exact scene of our text above Luke records a more expansive version of what Jesus said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48) The church has no authority to offer forgiveness without repentance which means both a confession and a turning away from sins committed.

In the tradition I grew up in I was regularly told my sins were forgiven when in fact, they weren’t. I was living for myself and adding a little religion; that is not repentance. If we don’t repent and live for God, it doesn’t matter how much religion we add to our lives, we won’t be saved in the end.

Does God want us to live in fear? Absolutely not!  It’s His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. We just need to treat our forgiveness as something precious to be protected by a life that honors God, and not trampled on by a life that presumes that God has to forgive.

Posted in Luke

The Surprise of God

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:11-13

At the beginning of 1996 a group of leaders from the church I was at went to visit the revival in Toronto. Every one of us was dramatically touched by the Holy Spirit, but it all left me a little confused. People were shaking and falling, laughing and crying, and there was prophetic ministry as well as extravagant acts of worship that were more than I was used to.

Although I enjoyed the presence of the Holy Spirit, I questioned the Lord about the need His people have for safety. It was then that the Scripture above came to my mind.

I had gifts for my children in the car to bring home and surprise them with. They would be thrilled about the gifts even though they didn’t know what was in the packages. Their safety was not in knowing everything they were getting, but in who was giving it to them. They knew me, and they knew I would never give them anything that could hurt them. I knew they would close their eyes with smiles on their faces, and let me place the gifts in their laps. No fear at all, only anticipation for something good from their father. The Lord spoke clearly in my spirit, “You (church leadership) have sought to keep My people safe through control, and you’ve taken the surprise out of church.”

To me, the number one problem of the church in America is boredom. We are so scheduled and so concerned that everything runs efficiently, we can easily miss the interruption God may want to bring. God wants us to ask for the Holy Spirit again and again so that He can put fresh gifts in His children’s laps, reveal His great love, and draw hearts to intimacy. I believe God wants churches and lives that require more than man’s best effort. He wants us to always be looking for His surprises!

Posted in Ephesians, John, Luke, Zechariah

Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18

The greatest need of Christians today is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Not as a one time event, but each and every day. The literal Greek would read, “be being filled with the Spirit.” How can we be filled with the Spirit?

First, by recognizing the need. In Zechariah 4:6 God says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts.” God’s work does not go forward by human strength, will, or cleverness, it requires the operation of His Spirit. We must be convinced this is true, or we will not sincerely seek the Spirit’s filling.

Second, we must be thirsty. John 7:37-39 reads, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me (Jesus) and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, who those who believed in Him were to receive.” God wants a river of life flowing out of you and me to bless this hurting and dying world, but it starts when someone is thirsty enough to receive. Are you thirsty for more, or content with what you have? Our hearts are created to thirst for God, but many seek to quench that thirst with stuff, alcohol, entertainment, human relationships, or fill in the blank. If these other things have dampened your thirst for God ask Him to forgive you, and tell Him you want to thirst for Him again.

And finally, we must ask. Jesus said, “If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:13) The Amplified Bible brings out the Greek tense, “to those who ask and continue to ask Him!” This is not a one time asking, but a continual relationship of dependence. As our cars regularly need to be refilled with gasoline, and our bodies regularly need to be refilled with food, so our spirits need to be regularly refilled with the Holy Spirit.

The main reluctance Christians have about asking is that they don’t feel they’re good enough to be filled. While God may lead you to repent of areas before He fills you, He wants you and I to know that His Spirit is a gift, not a reward for good behavior. In fact, He starts off this wonderful promise by alluding to his own disciples as “being evil.” He’s saying that our sinfulness is not preventing Him from pouring out His Spirit, rather the Spirit’s filling is actually the solution for our evil. No one washes up before taking a shower – that’s the point of the shower!

Posted in Ephesians, John, Luke, Romans

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”  John 16:13-15

The Lord’s vision for the church was not based on His disciples’ abilities, but on the ability of the Spirit who would indwell them. Nothing has changed today. God’s vision for your life is way beyond your own personality and gifts – you and I were created to have the Holy Spirit indwell us, speak to us, empower us, and guide us. Without the Holy Spirit’s presence, we are like cars with no gas in the tank. They may look nice, but they aren’t going anywhere.

The Holy Spirit is a Person, not a force. We don’t refer to Him as an it, because He is an intimate personality who Jesus says “hears,” and “speaks.” In other places we find the Spirit rejoicing (Luke 10:21) and grieving. (Ephesians 4:30) He is a Person who feels, communicates, and wills.

He is the Spirit of truth. He will convict us of our deception, and will always bring us back to being real. Sometimes we think God wants us to put our religious best forward when we come before Him. Nothing could be further from the truth. He wants us to be gut wrenchingly honest with Him, so that He can truly forgive us, and truly fill us with His power. If we fake it before God we end up with an empty heart. 

Not only will the Holy Spirit tell us the truth about ourselves, He will also bear witness to the truth of the Scriptures and to the Person of Jesus Christ who is the truth. He wants to disclose to us all that Jesus has for us, and guide us in the way we should go. None of us are qualified to be in charge of our own lives. We don’t really know ourselves, we don’t know the future, and we don’t know what other people are going to do to affect us. God, who knows all, invites us to live beyond mere “common sense” as His children. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14)

Posted in Luke, Psalms

Friend of Sinners

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“This man is the friend of sinners.” Luke 15:2

The speakers at a Power & Love conference a few years ago empowered us with messages of God’s love and the worthiness of Jesus, so that we could be sent out and demonstrate His power and love wherever we went. We were taught to be unafraid of people and unapologetic in our approach to them. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live it.” (Psalm 24:1) Everyone we meet was created by God, redeemed by Christ, and is borrowing air that God gives them to stay alive. We don’t need to feel like we’re trespassing when we ask them if they’d like prayer.

I approached one woman who was walking with a limp in Panera and asked her politely if I could pray for her. She was upset: “I have my own religion and I’m offended by you and think that you should ask people before praying in the future!” I didn’t feel like it was my place to point out that I had asked, so I just smiled at her and told her to have a nice day. It’s okay to experience rejection for Jesus’ sake!

The day after the conference, my wife and I were walking near our house when I spotted a woman through the pine trees who was sitting on her back porch smoking a cigarette. I raised my voice to say, “Hi, how are you?”  She replied, “I just moved here to be close to my mom because my two brothers have died in the last six months and I lost my job in Chicago.”

I led the way through the trees up onto her porch. I told her how sorry I was and that God loved her even though these bad things happened and we wanted to pray for her if that would be alright. She was more than willing. As we prayed, tears started to come as the presence of God rested on her. When the prayer time was over and we had invited her to church she was amazed. “Think about it, I just decided to come out here and you were walking past at exactly the right time.” 

Jesus is the friend of sinners. Let’s open our eyes and our hearts and not be afraid to bring His love and power to those around us.

Posted in Luke

Being Available to God

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:40-42)

In the summer of 2010, we were contemplating putting two churches together and I was a bit overwhelmed. I asked a good friend and counselor how I could possibly be in charge of this potentially large church when I was already feeling overwhelmed. He suggested a study day once a week where I would only be available to God, and he told me about his pastor back in Michigan who had done this.

“Because he did this he touched fewer people,” he explained. This didn’t seem right! Why would it ever be good for a pastor to touch fewer people? But then he went on, “He touched fewer people because he had less availability, but because he did this, God was able to touch many more people through him.” He said with great soberness, “I don’t remember a Sunday where people didn’t get saved, healed, or filled with the Holy Spirit. Somehow God touched him in that time away and then God touched through him Sunday after Sunday.”

The next week I asked our elders for a study day every week and it’s been part of my regular routine ever since. What does this have to do with Martha and Mary?

Martha is a good person who is doing good work but she is carrying an expectation for her sister. For Mary to continue to do what Jesus wants her to do instead of giving into the pressure Martha is applying will mean at least three things: a Christian sister is going to be disappointed, a real need is seemingly going to go unmet, and Mary’s not going to look “good” to anyone observing.

But Mary has chosen the “one thing.” She is more available to God and less available to people, so she only serves when God tells her to go. She is no longer called by every need in the world or by every expectation of the people around her. She is listening only for the voice of her Lord.

Because of her devotion something wonderful happens for Martha. She gets her own encounter with Jesus where her motives are revealed and her priorities are challenged.

Posted in Luke, Mark, Psalms

Redemptive Abandonment

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, ‘I will never be moved.’ O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong. You hid Your face, I was dismayed. To You O Lord, I called… ‘Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper.’ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing…O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” Psalm 130:6-8, 10-12

Whenever God favors us we can come to the wrong conclusion that we have life, and God figured out. When things are going well, we can easily assume we are strong, immovable, and in control, but all this is a dangerous deception. Because God loves us so much, He breaks the power of presumption in our lives through something a speaker I heard recently call, “redemptive abandonment.” God hides His face during seasons of our lives, not because He doesn’t care, but because He cares so much.

Peter declares, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not… Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” (Mark 14:29; 31) Peter has been favored as the top apostle and has come to the wrong conclusion. He believes he is strong, a veritable mountain of faith, immovable from his devotion. We can hear in his words, “all may fall away, yet I will not,” disdain for others who aren’t as strong as he presumes he is. His future leadership would be very limited if he continues with the false impression that he is somehow better than those he is leading, so Jesus explains to him the reality of prophetic abandonment.

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have returned, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) Before he falls, Peter despises the weakness of those around him because he presumes he has it all together. After he falls and is picked up again by God, he will see clearly that the plan is about Divine grace, not human strength. Peter will now be able to lead weak people with gentleness and understanding as a humble servant instead of as a know it all.

Because David (the author of the passage above) and Peter experienced the reality of how weak they were apart from God (abandonment), they were in a position to experience the favor of God (redemption) without becoming proud. Mourning can become dancing when the burden of presumption is broken off our lives.

Posted in John, Luke, Matthew

Is there a Fire in You?

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” Luke 12:35

We are called to carry a fire in us, the very light of life. (John 1:3) It is a fire of grace, meaning that only God can produce it and sustain it, yet we play an important part. Jesus commands all disciples: “keep your lamps burning.”

God’s revealed presence serves as the spark and lighter fluid to get the fire going. The Word of God in us serves as the kindling (the milk of the Word) and the large logs (the meat of the Word) which brings the fire to a blaze and makes a way for it to keep burning.

Jesus said, “If you abide in Me (His presence), and My word abides in you, you will ask whatever you wish and it will be done.” (John 15:7) When the fire of grace is burning in our hearts, our desires become purified to the point that they are unified with what God desires. When this happens there is great authority to bring the kingdom on this earth; our sin nature loses its hold without us having to try hard to fight it; and our lives bring others light and warmth in an effortless way. If you keep your lamp burning, everything else will kind of take care of itself!

So why do so few Christians today seem to have a fire burning in their hearts? Some love the presence of the Spirit but neglect the word. Their hearts are like pouring lighter fluid on a little kindling, lighting it, and watching it burn impressively for a brief period of time. When the fire goes out, they have to look for another meeting where the “Spirit’s moving,” and so eventually become disillusioned.

Others only want the word and neglect the importance of the presence of God. They presume, like the Pharisees, that because they diligently seek the Scriptures they are close to God. (John 5:39) This is like having a big log in your fireplace that is unlit. It may have great potential, but it can’t warm or purify anyone because there’s no fire.

Building a good fire is an art; keeping it going is a discipline. Jesus said He would not put out a smoldering wick (Matthew 12:20), so if we acknowledge our need He will bring us His flame again. John the Baptist said He came to “baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

Posted in Luke

Encountering Jesus 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other: ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” Luke 24:31-32

It was resurrection day but these two disciples were sad and discouraged because they didn’t yet believe. It took an encounter, a revelation, for them to truly believe Jesus was alive and the Savior of the world.

A few years ago I was in Belize when I experienced this truth first hand in the life of a young mom. She asked for prayer at the end of the service and told me the problem was her right wrist. A bone had come out of joint and she was very limited in the use of her arm because there was a lot of pain if she twisted it to the left or right. I laid my hands on it and prayed a very short prayer releasing God’s healing presence in Jesus Name. I asked her to test it and when she did, she found she could move it back and forth more easily but said there was still some pain. I prayed another short prayer and tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“The pain is gone,” she said as she demonstrated full movement of her hands and wrist by twisting them to the right and left. We also prayed that the bone which was sticking up would go back down but nothing additional happened.

This woman (who gave me permission to share her story) works in the kitchen for the missionaries we were visiting so a few days later during breakfast I asked her to tell the story of what happened. She told me that after she became pregnant, a year earlier, the father of her baby was abusive and had twisted her arm in a way that the bone was moved out of joint but she never went to the doctor. She had just lived with the pain and restricted mobility.

The first time I prayed for her she said she felt pain go out of her fingertips. The second time we prayed she felt the rest of the pain leave and knew she was healed.

“The reason for the tears was that I always wanted to believe God was real. When my wrist was healed I knew it for sure.” She told me that when she woke up the next morning the bone was back in place as well and then showed me that both wrists now looked the same.

God encountered this precious young woman in a way that she would forever know it was Him. He is risen!