The Source of Life

By David Hobbs

On a missionary trip to India several years ago, I was in a healing/evangelistic meeting as an altar worker (picture above). When the people were called up for prayer, a demon-possessed young man was brought up for deliverance. But before we could do anything, a couple of native, older women came up with huge Bibles and began pushing them into the face of the demon-possessed, as if the physical Bible itself had the power to cast out the evil spirits.

We might chuckle at that display of ignorance, but Jesus had to confront the Jews about a very similar misconception. In John 5:39 (NIV) He told them:

"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."

The Jews thought that by carefully studying their Scriptures, that would somehow qualify them for heaven. But when Jesus showed up, who was “the Word made flesh” and the very author of life, they wanted nothing to do with Him. Their hope for eternal life was in the Scriptures alone. Yet the Scriptures by themselves are the letter of the law. And we know that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6 NIV).

Recently the Holy Spirit quickened to me that much of the Christian church is in the same place today. Our hope and trust are in our Bibles as though they would grant us eternal life. You know, like the salvation Scriptures we quote all the time:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9 NIV)

If it is the gift of God, then we must come to God to receive it! The Bible does not bestow it—Jesus bestows it. (The Bible promises, but Jesus bestows.)

Jesus went on to say about the Scriptures: "These are the Scriptures that testify about me". The main purpose of the Scriptures is to be a huge flashing signpost with a thousand arrows all pointing to Jesus. And yet we think eternal life is in the signpost! "You think that by them you possess eternal life. "

Too many Christians, once they come to Jesus for salvation, are content to read their Bibles, say prayers, go to church—none of which impart life. Yet they won’t develop an ongoing relationship with Jesus: the Giver, the Creator of life.

2 Tim. 3:16-17 (NIV) says about the Scriptures:

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.

The Scriptures are God-breathed, and useful for many things. But by themselves they don't have the power to impart life. That power is reserved for the Godhead, as Jesus declared earlier, in John 5:21:

"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it."

What am I saying? Life comes through our relationship with Jesus, not from how diligently we study the Bible, memorize its verses, or even believe its promises. The Bible is a signpost, pointing us to Jesus. ("These are the Scriptures that testify about me") Yet we’re content to haul around our signposts, instead of going to the One they point to!

What is eternal life anyway? Most Christians look at it as an admittance ticket to heaven. Yet Jesus said:

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3 NIV)

Our “Free Admittance Ticket to Heaven” analogy for eternal life is flawed. A better analogy is the vine and the branches. As long and as deep as the branches are sunk in the vine, the more life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit will flow into them, imparting the same life Jesus has. It’s not a onetime deal—either one time when we’re born again, or one time at death—but an ongoing process like the golden pipes in the Old Testament constantly imparting oil to the candlestick which burned before the Lord (see Zech. 4). [“Salvation,” or being born again, is when those branches are first grafted into the vine. But they are to be continually flowing with sap as our love relationship with the Lord grows and deepens.]
We need to be continually coming to Jesus in prayer: not only making requests, but building relationship. After all, since we’re going to be His bride throughout eternity; shouldn’t we be getting to know Him now? Or putting it another way: how can we ever hope to be His bride throughout eternity if we're indifferent to Him now?

Are You Prepared for Heaven?

By David Hobbs

Most Christians are longing for heaven. Quite a number are expecting the Rapture to take them there momentarily. The fact that brother Camping is predicting Jesus’ return for this May 21st (about a week from now) has more people than usual thinking about eternity. But are we ready? How much in sync are our lives with the flow of life in heaven?
Most people are clueless to what heaven is all about. They think it’s like life here on earth except on a higher level. So up there we will have WWF wrestling with mighty angels instead of Hulk Hogan types. We’ll have TV programs about voting an angel off a galaxy every week, and competitions to see if angels can sing better than the redeemed. And who knows, probably some kind of sports’ contests….
As we think about all this (to the extent we do at all), Jesus doesn’t seem to play much of a role. We might need Him if there is a disputed contest, or if an angel starts acting up. But in the normal course of activities, we don’t see Him showing up much, just like He plays no role in events down here on earth. We don’t expect Jesus to show up at a NASCAR race, or an NFL game—we’ll catch up with Him at church Sunday morning before the Sunday afternoon golf match and boat regatta.
People of this mindset are about as prepared for heaven as a slug is prepared to swim the English Channel.
While it’s true there is a lot about heaven we don’t know, there are many things we do know. In heaven, the focus of everything is on Jesus: who He is and what He’s done. Here on earth in church, we sometimes have a time where people can stand up and give a testimony for the Lord. In heaven that goes on all the time. On earth, in church, we sing a few songs and have an opportunity to worship the Lord. In heaven, full-blown worship goes on nonstop. On earth we try to get good seats at sporting contests—we try to get close to the 50 yard line or home plate. In heaven, it’s all about getting close to Jesus.
1 Peter 1:10-12 says the former prophets and the angels in heaven are longing to understand the mysteries of redemption: the suffering of Christ on the cross and the glory of the resurrection that followed. Psalm 145:4 gives us another picture of life in heaven when it says, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” Now that will be a testimony service!
The Book of Revelation gives us a better picture of life in heaven than anywhere else in the Bible. We see tremendous praise and worship services like in Chapter 5:11:

“And I beheld, and I heard the voices of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 13And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

How much of your time last week did you spend in worshipping the Lord? How much in giving and receiving testimony about what He’s done?

Rev. 7:15 talks about those who were saved out of the Great Tribulation serving God day and night in His temple…. When was the last time you were at an all night prayer meeting? How much did you enjoy it?

People say, “But even if I don’t do those things on earth, once I get to heaven it’ll be different.” In her book The Priestly Bride, Anna Rountree was taken to heaven and spent much time with Jesus. On page 22 she had this conversation with Him:

[Jesus] lifted my chin. “Anna, look at me,” He said. “Even a king wishes to be loved for Himself, not for the gifts He bestows.” He smiled at me, “If you do not enjoy being with me now [on earth], why do you believe you will enjoy my company for eternity?”

Jesus is the same forever. He won’t be any different in heaven than He is now. How much do we enjoy spending time with Him now, not only in asking for things, but spending time with Him because we enjoy it? How much time have you spent with Him this week? What makes you think it will be different in heaven?

Everybody wants to go to heaven. But the big question is, are you prepared for heaven? There won’t be all the pleasures we enjoy on earth—no TV or movies or video games or junk food or sports, not even marriage and sex (let alone sexual activities outside marriage!). We may have a mansion on a hill on the streets of gold, but we won’t be watching American Idol in that mansion. We may be able to eat from the tree of life, but not from McDonalds or Starbucks! Are you ready? Have you re-programmed your desires from the earthly to the heavenly? Have you crucified yourself to the desires of the flesh? Do you already enjoy what heaven offers? If not what are you going to do about it? (If you've never given yourself to the Lord, that's where you need to start!)

Surprising Victory from Total Defeat

By David Hobbs

Not long ago I awoke early in the morning to go out to the church to pray. I was tired and would have preferred going back to bed. But I really wanted to meet with the Lord so I pushed through that, got dressed, and made my way out to the church, a 15 minute drive away.

Once at the church, things didn’t get much better. I sat and waited on the Lord for awhile, invited the Holy Spirit, felt His presence come to a certain degree, enjoyed what measure I had.... But I was still tired and couldn’t muster any energy. I didn’t have the strength to pray, sing, or even walk around. I could say there was a lot of spiritual oppression, but then some dear saint would correct me, “Why do you always have to make everything spiritual? Wasn’t it just plain old physical tiredness from too early in the morning?”

I have found that the enemy will take any negative condition we’re in and multiply it against us. If we’re sad about something he will try to turn it into depression. If we’re disgusted about how we’ve failed God and fallen short, he’ll turn it into condemnation. And if we’re weak or tired, he’ll multiply that into spiritual oppression.

So yes I was tired, but that wasn’t the whole story. That was just the beginning of the story. When we’re stymied in prayer, we rarely know why. We know we can’t break through, but have no idea what we’re up against because we can’t see.
Daniel didn’t know why he couldn’t break through in prayer for 21 days, even though he was fasting and doing everything right. He had no idea he was being resisted by the mighty spirit prince of Persia, until the angel Gabriel was able, with Michael’s help, to break through and tell him (Daniel 10).

So that morning I had no idea to what extent the resistance I was experiencing was from my tired flesh or from some spiritual power outside myself.

I tried as hard as I could to focus on God in my thoughts, to at least give Him my time and attention, even if I couldn’t bring forth any praise or worship. But it was a losing battle. I got up and moved to a different location, still trying, but still facing a brick wall.

Well into the second hour I started losing focus and falling asleep. Once you enter that stage, there’s little chance of recovery.

I finally gave up, turned off the lights, locked up and headed for home. I had been there an hour and a half, said nothing, sang nothing, prayed nothing did nothing. From my perspective it had been a total loss. I had not prayed any prayers, walked in the Spirit, received anything from God, experienced the anointing, or accomplished anything in the spirit realm. If I had judged my performance I would have given myself an “F” for “Total Failure.”
I went home and went back to bed.

So what’s the story? Why am I even telling this? Don’t we all fail like this in life over and over? Welcome to the real world, Hobbs!

Ah but here’s the rub. Later that morning when I started my day’s work—which this day was calling Christian school librarians about sending them a copy of my Out of the Fire book—as soon as I started calling, the heavens opened and the blessing came down! For two hours everybody I called was available and everybody I talked to was enthusiastic. I was sending out books right and left. I’d been doing this for over a year, and had never had a series of responses like that—it was off the chart. To my thinking it was a better answer from heaven than I would have expected if I had had a smashingly successful prayer time: shouting out praises and victory declarations; taking song requests from angels; falling on my knees in joyous worship... the whole nine yards.

I was greatly encouraged, and greatly humbled, to see once more that God is sovereign; He can do as He pleases. And He was pleased to bless my prayer offering that day, even though it appeared pitifully small. He does not always judge success the way we do. I was not being flaky or lazy or apathetic. I really was giving Him all I had, though it seemed pathetically weak. I imagine there might have been great, unseen forces arrayed against me that day, but who knows?

What I felt the Holy Spirit telling me through this experience was, “Pray on, my son! Pray on!