Praying in the Dark by Ron Wood

“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the
house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” Mark
1:35 NAS

In my youth, my first power encounters with God occurred in the dark. I
would shut my bedroom door, turn off the overhead light, bury my face
and muffle my voice in a pillow and cry out to God. To this day, I
still enjoy praying in the dark; no distractions, no interruptions,
alone with the Lord in a solitary place that is suddenly filled with
Presence.

Yesterday’s Anointing
In Mark chapter one, Jesus had just left a powerful meeting. To all
intents and purposes, from every measure of religious expectation, he
was now a success. The inaugural push of his ministry was off to a good
start. Crowds were gathering. Publicity was growing. Spectacular
results were appearing. He had begun healing the sick. Demons were
being dramatically exposed and expelled. Yet to Jesus, that was already
yesterday’s anointing.

The realization that you’re walking in yesterday’s anointing can come
after a decade, after a year, or even after a very short season. For
Jesus, it came early. The power he had walked in yesterday was not
sufficient for today. The fact that he was moving in divine momentum
was irrelevant-- he wanted a fresh touch. He had the ear of the crowds,
but he wanted the ear of his Father. He knew acknowledgment by priests
and had recognition by evil spirits, but the honor of his Father’s
fellowship was superior to people’s accolades.

Yesterday’s anointing is the only anointing we can know because we
can’t write books about tomorrow’s anointing since we haven’t
experienced it yet. It is difficult to describe something we’ve never
seen before. It is difficult to grasp something we may read about even
in the Bible but have not yet seen modeled in wholesome ways or proven
in practice where it can be examined and shown to be effective. The
familiar seems better.

Earlier this year, the Lord spoke to me at a small home gathering where
I met with people hungry for prophetic impartation. He said to me, “You
don’t know what you don’t know, and you’ll never know it unless I
reveal it to you.” How that word humbled me!

Recently, the Lord spoke again to my spirit and said to me, “You don’t
NO what you should NO.” He meant I didn’t fully understand my
transition season, that I had to stop doing some things in order to
make the internal changes of thinking to embrace some new things. We
humans are creatures of habit. We resist change. We carry our past
gifting, our past methods, our past understanding into the present,
beyond the point where God is still blessing them, and thus we limit
our future to more of the past.

Praying in the Dark
Jesus came away from a ministry of public power but knew the secret to
power was secret prayer. Therefore, he went away to a secluded place.
Praying in the dark is more than early morning prayers. It even means
more than seeking God’s face before sunrise.

For some, it may be late at night when you can escape the presence of
people and find the presence of God. It is more than a place; it is a
posture. Praying in the dark means sitting in the Lord’s anteroom
awaiting an appointment in the throne room, waiting with the light from
yesterday now waning, waiting with the remembrance of glory from
previous visitations now lifting, waiting with the words of revelation
from prior holy moments now fading, waiting and wondering what is
coming next and what your role might be.

Praying in the dark means serving God in the little things while you
hope for the big things. Praying in the dark means dealing with the
frustrations of weakness and ignorance and weariness while you seek the
power to press on, the wisdom to know God’s ways, the strength to
prevail over enemies and obstacles and self.

Praying in the dark is more than mere praying words: it is
heart-hungering, longing for communion with the One who is your source
of light, your reason for being, the author and finisher of your faith,
the creator, sustainer, and refresher of your spirit, intellect, flesh
and family. Praying in the dark is seeking a God encounter, not just
seeking what He can do for you. Praying in the dark is touching His
face, not just His hand. Praying in the dark is pushing past what gains
approval from men and finding the still, small voice that says, “You’re
mine and I’m pleased with you and you have nothing to prove.”

Praying in the dark means praying by grace through faith, not sight. If
you can figure it out, then you don’t need faith. Faith only grows when
you don’t feel like fighting, but you stand true anyway. Praying in the
dark is when you are surrounded by an absence of confirming signs yet
you keep on praying because you know God is faithful.

Praying in the dark means praying in the mystery of the Spirit not just
with the light of your understanding. Praying in the dark is when your
mind has no illumination and nothing makes sense and you are perplexed
and stymied. Praying in the dark means continuing to trust that He
knows the way even when you don’t have a clue. You’re not trusting in
your ability to be right, but the Lord’s ability to make you righteous.
You’re not depending on your ability to hear, but on God’s ability to
speak.

Praying in the dark requires humility. It means living as a limited
human being, not knowing everything, not having all the answers,
acknowledging your limitations, respecting your boundaries, knowing
your defined measure or circumscribed sphere, not having to do it all
yourself, but trusting God to give you the resources, the team, the new
level of grace and insight you need so as to succeed in doing His will
tomorrow.

Training Teammates
Jesus wasn’t content to be a mere success. After he prayed in the dark,
he moved from personal success to identifying and equipping his
successors. He did it as an example, then he let them watch him do it,
then they did it while he watched. There is no success without
successors. God’s father-heart insists on bringing many sons to glory.
God gives it away without keeping the good stuff back. The purpose of
life is not to merely survive, but to reproduce. We know we’ve
succeeded when the next generation can do it.

We short-circuit God’s program when we become short-sighted and don’t
discover our part in equipping the next generation. This is a relay
race, not a one-man sprint. David’s crowning moment wasn’t wearing his
crown as king, but when he laid up wealth for his son Solomon to build
the temple. The kingdom of God is multi-generational-- Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. The Bible says, a good man leaves an inheritance to his
children’s children. By that definition, many wonderful preachers are
not yet good men. The hand-off to the next generation is often fumbled.
We make no room to bring anyone alongside, as though we might diminish
our special place if we shared it. Truly great leaders know
instinctively when to make room for the next generation.

Jesus didn’t keep all the glory to himself. He reveled in the power of
his kingdom and wanted to share it with others (Luke 10:17-21). He
taught and fought so his kingdom would increase (Matthew 6:10). When
Jesus prayed in the dark, he became a carrier of the light. When he
walked into a church, the light of God exposed demons like cockroaches
on the kitchen floor (Mark 1:21-28). You can’t read Mark’s gospel
without seeing Jesus at war.

Praying for Power
Jesus regularly went to church, not just to worship, but also to wage
war. He didn’t make peace with the spirits contaminating the religious
leaders and controlling the religious institutions of his day. He
expelled the demons that were plaguing the people in the church.
Everyone whom Jesus sent out to preach was instructed to heal people of
spiritual oppression. This is still true. His anointing hasn’t changed
(Acts 10:38), but modern people have become materialistic and oblivious
of the spiritual things. Anytime the focus shifts in church from Christ
and his cross to man and his rights, the formerly holy temple can
become a defiled habitation of foul spirits. Jesus knows how to clean
us up!

Mark’s gospel is typical of Christ’s task as a “termite inspector” and
“evil spirit exterminator” for the temple (Mark 1:23, 39; 3:11, 15, 27;
6:7-13, etc.). Jesus and his disciples dealt with demons. When the
kingdom of God comes in power, we will, too. If we persist in praying
in the dark, the time will come when the darkness will have to flee.

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Praying in the Dark © 2004 by Ron Wood
Touched by Grace Inc., P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405
www.touchedbygrace.org

The Shame Game

One of the most powerful weapons Satan uses against believers is shame.
Shame afflicts people internally in their emotions and affects people
externally in their relationships. Shame is an enemy of heartfelt faith
and a thief that prevents peace with God. In teaching on deliverance
from bondages recently, this was an issue that came up as a hindrance
to many people.

My dad habitually abused alcohol. I remember the shame of seeing him
drunk. He was a creative man and a talented leader, but was brought
down by shame. Asan adult, I found grace to forgive him and soon God
saved him. The love of my heavenly Father washed me of the feelings of
shame I had carried for years.

What is shame and how does it affect us? First, it is more than mere
embarrassment.

Shame is an insult to the human soul that becomes lodged in the heart
by a penetrating blow. It strikes deep like an arrow into an
individual’s emotions where self-respect originates. From there, shame
releases paralyzing doubts, hobbling accusations, and disqualifying
arguments. Once shame has taken root, it remains a source of hidden
pollution, difficult to diagnose or dislodge, a constant aggravation
that hinders full life or joy or peace.

The Bible says in Ephesians 6:17 that our defense against the devil's
fiery darts is the shield of faith. Only a shield strong in faith can
extinguish flaming arrows. We can't stop the arrows from being aimed at
us: that's part of our job description as warriors for God. But we can
intercept them before they strike our vulnerable soul.

Shame was not part of God’s original intent for humanity. In the Garden
of Eden, the Creator enjoyed daily fellowship with Adam. The Bible
specifically points out that Adam was naked but not ashamed. Shame was
unknown until after the fall due to sin. Adam and Eve clothed
themselves, suddenly self-conscious as they faced their mortality and
their alienation from God’s glory.

The slithering assault by Satan succeeded in tempting them to sin, thus
injecting shame into their relationship with God. They lost their
privilege of eternal life; lost their unlimited access to God; and lost
the dignity of the image of their Father. Shame still makes people
hide. It still makes people cover up their true identity. It still
makes people run from the light.

In a universe of free moral agents, the power to choose carries the
risk of violating the Creator's will. A way of escape from sin is
needed, a Savior. Confession of sin requires honesty with God and faith
to receive forgiveness. Just like it is hard for us to comprehend the
height from which Adam fell, it is difficult to grasp the awesomeness
of the grace our holy God displays when He lifts us out of our sin.

To understand shame, we need to look at the difference between
conviction and condemnation. Conviction is good and clean, not unholy.
Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit as He disturbs the conscience
of an individual, warning them that they are trespassing. The
definition of sin is "to miss the mark," "to fall short," or to
"transgress." Jesus said the Spirit of God would convict the world of
sin. The good thing about conviction is that it is filled with hope. If
you repent, you can return and be healed!

On the other hand, condemnation has no such hope. The voice of
condemnation says, "You've always been this way. You will never be able
to overcome. You may as well give up, curse God, and die." The purpose
of conviction is to restore while the intent of condemnation is to
disparage, belittle, weaken, demoralize, and bring despair. Conviction
pulls you toward God and toward wholeness. Condemnation makes you want
to flee from God’s presence and hide.

Shame may begin with insults or disrespect by those you trusted or
looked to as authority figures. A true father will never shame his sons
or daughters but will affirm them. This is true even when they need
correction or discipline.

Verbal shame may take many forms: "You're stupid." "You've always been
fat." "You couldn't organize a three-car funeral procession." "Why
can't you handle money?" "You're no good." Notice, the most common
agent of shame is a human being. The method by which shaming occurs are
words: malicious, stinging words.

Shame is actually spiritual slander. It is not based on truth, but is a
clever accusation, a distortion of Scripture, half-truths designed to
distract and destroy. Shame is like a poisoned blade slid like a sharp
knife between the ribs of an unsuspecting believer; a wound infected
with a lying spirit. It needs to be cleansed and closed.

Leaders, anyone called of God to stand in an office or under an
anointing, are the special targets of shame. Satan forms weapons
carefully crafted to unseat these leaders, to impugn their integrity,
to undermine their authority, so that he can sow chaos and disorder in
the ranks and dishearten them. Gossip is one form of hate mail Satan
uses. Another weapon the devil uses is the media.

The media in free nations exercises a powerful position of being a
channel of ideas and images. Images can be manipulated and viewpoints
can be interjected until the net effect is a fog of wrong thinking
which blurs the real truth. The media, in a sense, can cast a spell
over the minds of those who absorb its images without critical
analysis. This type of manipulation is also known as witchcraft. Paul
said believers could be "bewitched" to the point that the cross of
Christ was obscured (Galatians 3:1). If it was true then, it is still
possible today, especially with the awesome power of television to
inject ideas and images that warp right thinking.

Many of you reading this may say, "I've been slimed with shame!" Like a
computer infected with a virus, you’ve carried an indictment against
yourself that the Court of Heaven did not issue. How do you get free?
What do you do to escape the emotional quagmire of shame?

Generally, people are bound by shame in certain areas. In women, the
area of self-image is often tainted with shame. The mental tape player
repeats, “I’m not attractive. I’m not pretty. I’m overweight.” With
men, the shame may have to do with youthful exposure to sexual images
that left a defiled imagination or unrealistic expectations of their
spouse. These areas produce inhibitions or bondages in the sexual area
and contaminate the joy of acceptance and fulfillment in marriage. Or
maybe you were left shamed and shackled by bankruptcy or business
failure, or you suffered by comparison with your peers, or you endured
poverty as a child or abuse as a spouse or were painfully divorced.

Other people have been targeted by Satan to diminish their faith or
reduce their anointing. In fact, the more grace God has given you, the
more you may be assaulted to thwart your effectiveness. The calling of
God on your life may lead you down paths of great peril as a pioneer.
Realistically, not all pioneers survive the journey through uncharted
territory. Many arrived wounded, suffering loss of property or lives.
The suffering they encountered along the way was not because they were
wicked but because they were willing to obey God and take a risk of
faith. Having survived, can they now shake off the shame of their long
ordeal?

The ability to endure suffering without being shamed is a mark of
maturity for God’s servants. It is the perseverance that accompanies
real faith. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:8, “Do not be ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner…” In verse 12, he writes,
“I suffer these things, but I am not ashamed.” His self-esteem was not
connected to his circumstances. His identity and affirmation came from
God not from men.

When I make a mistake, or when I realize I have sinned and need to
confess it, I know to accept the blame, but not the shame. What do I
mean by that? I mean that I accept responsibility for what I have done.
I own up to my failure, my error, or my sin. But I quickly take it to
God and put it in the light with Him. God is quick to forgive me and to
erase the record. (See 1 John 1:9-10) Shame cannot remain present when
the healing light of God shines on it!

For those of you who have endured the crippling effects of prolonged
shame, the Lord has a promise for you: “You will forget the shame of
your youth.” (Is. 54:4-6) The rejection and the grief can be healed
permanently by walking in the light of truth about Jesus Christ and the
truth of who we have become by faith in the Son of God.

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“The Shame Game!”© 2004 by Touched by Grace Inc, P.O. Box 12749,
Wilmington, NC 28405. For more resources, visit www.touchedbygrace.org.

Blessing Your Business

Business men and women have an opportunity pastors don’t: they have the
privilege of rubbing shoulders on a daily basis with lost people. It is
in this setting where carriers of the Light intermingle with people
sitting in the dark that the kingdom of God shines the brightest. As
anyone knows who has ever been in the depths of a cave, even a candle
seems bright when all you’ve had before was total darkness.

I say it is a privilege, because Jesus our Savior seemed thrilled at
the opportunity to be among people who were pre-believers. He was
maligned by religious leaders for His propensity to eat with sinners,
drink with sinners, and spend time in the homes of sinners. The most
unlikely people were attracted to Christ when He went among them
without religious robes: people who confessed their sins, poured
ointment on His head or feet, and loved Him for the love He displayed.
This was in contrast to the Pharisees or Temple leaders, who wanted the
esteem of their office to be recognized and who were quick to judge
non-religious people who had not yet measured up to the standards of
their law.

Invading the secular with the sacred is the assignment of the day! God
is commanding us to take the kingdom of God outside the sanctuary. He
wants us to sanctify our homes, our places of business, education,
entertainment, government, media, commerce, and our neighborhood. There
is no arena outside God’s oversight; there is no area that touches our
lives in which God is not interested; there is no person or profession
about which the Lord is not concerned. The kingdom of God is bigger
than just the church!

Yet “church” is what we usually relegate spiritual things to in our
thoughts. We want to separate the holy from the profane. Yes, we are
commanded to be holy, for our Father in heaven is holy, so we ought to
become like Him. But, we are not to draw a line and say “What I do on
Sunday is holy and what I do Monday is not. That’s God’s business; this
is my business.” That is erroneous thinking! If you are Christ’s, then
everything you do is for the Lord and is done in His sight. Your
business is God’s business!

How do you sanctify your business? The Bible says that “all things are
sanctified… by prayer.” This is why we have the common practice of
“giving thanks” over our meals. Not only are we grateful to God for
supplying our daily bread, but we also, by our prayer of thanksgiving,
sanctify that food so that it becomes holy for our use. This was
especially important to the early church since most food bought in the
marketplace had been previously offered as a sacrifice to idols. This
had become an issue to the church. The apostles said that it was
resolved by prayer and by thanksgiving. So how do you clean up
something that has been contaminated? By offering it back to God.

Jesus said that the “altar sanctifies the gift.” Whatever we place on
the altar as a sacrifice to the Lord, giving up our rights to it, by
that act, becomes holy. Why? Because the Holy One we are giving it to
is holy. God is holy. He “makes holy” whatever (or whoever) He receives
or relates to.

If something as earthly as the marriage bed can be holy, then surely
something as mundane as a place of business can also be holy! Amen? It
is up to us to keep defilement out of our sphere of influence and it is
up to us to bring God’s wisdom and God’s grace into our private and
commercial world. How do we do that?

I don’t believe we do it with slogans or signs. While there’s nothing
wrong with that, it may actually become false advertising unless we
first transform our ideas and actions to conform to God’s ways. For
instance, if an employer takes advantage of his or her employees by
requiring they work overtime but then doesn’t compensate them, yet they
have “Jesus is Lord” on their business’s stationery, does that really
glorify God? Of course not! God watches how we treat fellow workers.

To bless your business, you have to first become godly in all your
conduct. Here is where the Fruit of the Spirit, the Sermon on the
Mount, and the Ten Commandments give us parameters of behavior that can
produce God-ordained blessings. The greatest commandment, according to
Jesus, is that we love God with all our being and the second
commandment is that we to love those near to us, our neighbors.

In the old order of an agrarian society, our neighbors were those with
a family farm down the lane. Today, our neighbors are those who work
alongside us in our place of business. Most people today are closer to
their co-workers than they are with their neighborhood. Small group
meetings for prayer or Bible Study can network together better with
co-workers now than with neighbors, often due to the logistics of
two-income households and shifting work schedules. We spend more time
with fellow workers than we do with family or with fellow church
members. The Body of Christ has many connections.

Employees or students can become salt and light to the world when they
meet discretely for prayer and invoke blessings on their company, its
leaders, and their corporate mission. If they want a new boss, they can
get new one by praying for their old boss to get saved. There is secret
power publicly released when two or three agree together in Christ.

Much more could be said about invading the marketplace with Christ’s
peace than what I have space for here. The gospel is good news
everywhere it is received and acted upon. People who lead or manage
other people in business have a unique opportunity to bless them with
their witness and benefit them with their counsel.

The favor of God will flow upon leaders and their team when the
invisible Head of all things, our Lord Jesus Christ, is acknowledged
and honored.

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© 2004 “Blessing Your Business” by Ron Wood, President and Founder of
Touched by Grace Inc, P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405. Visit our
website for more materials at www.touchedbygrace.org. To partner with
us, send your tax-deductible donations to Touched by Grace. This
article may be copied and shared freely provided the contents and
byline are kept intact. We are touched by grace to touch the world!