So Much More: Moving Beyond Kingdom Principles to Kingdom Power (18 page)

Maybe you received the Holy Spirit when you believed and think that is all there is. However, as we have already seen, the disciples had already received the Holy Spirit but they hadn’t been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Let me give you another example that clearly shows that these are two separate events. In Acts 8 there is an incredible evangelist by the name of Philip who was preaching both the message of the kingdom and doing the ministry of kingdom in Samaria and a huge revival broke out. People were coming to Jesus left and right. It was a beautiful thing.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

—A
CTS
8:14–17

Notice these people in Samaria had trusted Jesus for salvation and been baptized in water. They were saved. However, they had not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on any of them. Then the apostles came and laid their hands on them and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Conversion and the baptism of the Holy Spirit were two separate and distinct events. Just because we have trusted Jesus for salvation does not mean we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit for power. But I have good news! Jesus still baptizes people in the Holy Spirit today.

Our assignment has not changed. We too are called to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8,
NKJV
). Just as Jesus needed the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit to destroy the works of the devil and He then instructed His disciples that they were not ready to perform kingdom ministry until they received Holy Spirit baptism, we too need Holy Spirit baptism. This baptism of fire changes everything!

How do you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The same way you received salvation. You ask for it by faith.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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 him!

—L
UKE
11:11–13

Chapter 9
IDENTITY CRISIS

O
NE OF THE
clearer memories I have from childhood is of my mother praying with me almost every day before I left for school. Talk about putting a wet blanket on any sinful plans I had for the day! Then before I would walk out the door, she often said this, “Remember who you are and remember whose you are.” It is absolutely critical that those of us who are called to do the ministry of the kingdom know who we are and whose we are.

When we are born again, we are born into the kingdom of God. And when that new birth occurs, when God infuses our dead spirit and brings about this new birth, we are instantly in His kingdom and we are given a message to preach—the message of the kingdom. In this kingdom the King Himself gives us a ministry to carry out. It is the same ministry that Jesus performed. It is the ministry that demonstrates that the kingdom is here.

But if it is true that we have been given the power of the Holy Spirit and been delegated authority from the King to go out and take dominion by advancing His kingdom, why is it that so many believers still live as though they are afraid of the demonic? Why do so many believers feel unworthy to ask for healing or blessing or anything else from the King? Why are so many believers simply content to receive salvation but never fulfill their assignment to advance the kingdom? I believe it’s because we don’t really know who we are and we don’t really know whose we are. We don’t understand our identity in the kingdom.

In Luke 15:11–32 Jesus told one of his most famous parables. It’s a story that most of us have read or at least heard at one time or another. It’s the story of the prodigal son. This story can help us get our arms around the truth of our identity and the difference that embracing our identity can make when it comes to advancing the kingdom.

The story begins with the younger of two sons deciding it was time for him to leave home. Maybe he was tired of Dad’s rules. Maybe he wanted to see the world or prove that he could make it on his own. But whatever his reasoning, this son approached his father one day and made a request of him. He said, “Dad, I would like you to give me my share of the inheritance.” Now this was a shocking request that revealed that this boy had a complete lack of respect for his father. You see, in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day, it was absolutely unheard of for a son to go to his father and ask for his share of the inheritance. The father was the one who would decide the right timing to give the inheritance to his son. But this boy disrespectfully asked the father to give him his share of the inheritance.

It was also the custom of that culture that when the inheritance was given a respectful son would never think to take that inheritance and use it selfishly to make his own way in the world. He would use the money, first of all, to stay home and take care of his parents until the day they died. But that was not the case with this son. He wanted his father’s money but not his father’s rules, and so he went to his father and asked for his portion of the inheritance. What’s even more amazing is that the father granted his son’s request. He gave the boy his inheritance. I can picture this father watching his son leave home with his pocket’s jingling. There were most likely tears in his father’s eyes because his heart was broken, but he let the boy go. He didn’t try to stop him.

What did the boy do with his newly acquired funds? As Jesus tells the story, He said the boy wasted his father’s money on wild living. We don’t know for sure what that included, but I think we have a pretty good idea. Perhaps drugs, parties, drunken binges, prostitutes, or maybe he gambled it away. All those would be things that we would refer to as wild living. And while we don’t know exactly what the wild living was, we do know that he blew all the money that his father had given him. This money took his father a lifetime to accumulate but the prodigal wasted it all in a short period of time.

All of a sudden the boy found himself homeless and broke. He was in desperate shape. But as desperate as he was, things were about to go from bad to worse because the next thing that Jesus told us was that there was a severe famine in the land and the boy got pretty hungry. It’s bad enough to be broke, but to be broke during a famine is really bad because there is no way to live off the fat of the land and survive.

Now what could he do? He knew what he couldn’t do. He could never go back to his father’s house. So he jumped on Craigslist and searched for local job opportunities. He could only find one: working for a pig farmer slopping pigs. If you know anything about the Jewish people, you know they would have nothing to do with pigs. Pigs were considered unclean animals. Jesus was telling this story that day to a group of Jewish religious leaders. I picture them squirming in their seats because when, Jesus said, this boy went to work for a pig farmer slopping pigs there was absolutely nothing Jesus could have said to make this boy more despicable in the eyes of his Jewish father than this.

The boy was so desperate when he took this job that, Jesus said, even the pods that the pigs were eating looked good to him. Now that’s desperate! When the pig’s food starts to look good, you know you have hit rock bottom.

So here the boy is knee-deep in pig slop and, Jesus said, he came to his senses and began to dream about life back home. He thought about the servants in his father’s house and how they got three square meals a day and they had a bed to sleep in and a roof over their heads. He knew his dad would never take him back as a son, but he wondered if perhaps he would take him back as a servant.

He began to rehearse a speech. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, just take me back as one of your hired men.” After rehearsing the speech and getting it down pat, he apprehensively started back to his father’s house. What would his father think? What was he going to say? How was he going to explain how he had wasted his entire inheritance? Would his father even speak to him?

Much to the son’s amazement, as he got within a few hundred yards of home, his father came running out to meet him. He hadn’t even hit the driveway yet; but as he got close enough to be seen, his father, who had been watching and waiting for this moment when his son would come home, ran out to meet him.

The boy started to recite his speech, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (v. 21). But the boy couldn’t even get the words out of his mouth. His dad didn’t want to hear any more of this nonsense about no longer being worthy to he called his son. He shouted to his servants to quickly bring the best robe and put it on his son. He told them to put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. He said to get the biggest, fattest calf they had and slaughter it because it was party time! The son who was dead was alive again. He was lost but now found (vv. 22–24).

Most of us know that in this story the father represents God. He is the King of the kingdom. And the prodigals are every one of us who, like Adam and Eve in the garden, have rebelled against the King’s authority and said, “I don’t want to live in Your kingdom any longer. I want to go out and build my own kingdom.”

At some point along the way, many of us have come to our senses and have come to the conclusion that building our own kingdom was not at all what we thought it would be. We decided to go back home, back to the King’s palace to live under His rule and reign and experience His benefits. When we went back home we found that we have an incredibly gracious King who accepts us and takes us back and even celebrates our return.

But here’s what I think we so often miss. We miss the identity He gives us. We forget who we are and whose we are. Notice that when this prodigal came home, he simply asked the father to give him what he thought he might be able to earn. He simply requested a place as a servant living in the servant’s quarters. He wasn’t looking for anything more than that. But the father would have no part of that. He pretty much even ignored the request and paid no attention to his talk about being a servant. He didn’t even let him finish his speech. He interrupted him and said, “You will never be my servant. You are my son. Hey get the ring and put it his on finger, the robe on his back and sandals on his feet. Get the fattest calf we have and kill it because we are going to have a party! My son was dead and he is alive again!”

Pay attention to the items listed in verse 22 that the father placed on his son, because each individual item contains priceless and profound insight into our Father’s love for those of us who would bear the title of son or daughter. The father instructed them to “Bring the best robe and put it on him.” In placing the best robe on the boy, the father was telling the prodigal that his position as son was being restored. It was an immediate demonstration of complete acceptance, love, and approval. All of the major benefits of being his son were being restored.

Then the father said, “Put a ring on his finger.” A ring was not only a sign of great affection but it was also a symbol of authority. Pharaoh removed his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s finger when installing him into a position of leadership in Egypt (Gen. 41:42). In the Book of Esther, the king took off his royal signet ring by which the decrees of his government were signed and gave it Mordecai (Esther 8:2). The rings symbolically transferred to Joseph and Mordecai all the power and authority necessary for the promotions they received. The ring placed on the hand of the prodigal son indicated also a transfer of inheritance that would ordinarily have gone to the firstborn.

Then he said to put “sandals on his feet.” The prodigal returned home without shoes, a sign of having become extremely destitute; in ancient biblical times only servants and slaves went barefoot. Therefore, when the father ordered shoes to be brought out and put on his son’s feet, he was declaring once again that the prodigal was not to be treated as a servant but as a son with all the right and privileges that went along with that position.

Every single one of us who has ever been born again and has been born into His kingdom is a prodigal son or daughter who has come home. When we enter His kingdom, the King does not simply accept us as servants. We are adopted as sons and daughters of the King. We are not paupers living in the servant’s quarters. We are adopted as princes and princesses with all the rights and privileges that come with being a son or daughter of the King. We receive the inheritance of our older brother Jesus with all the rights and privileges He has in the kingdom.