Weaponized by Heaven
Picture the scene on a mountaintop outside Jerusalem in first-century Judea.
It is Ascension Day, the day Jesus’s body left the earthly realm, and this remarkable Jewish man (who has risen from the grave) is enveloped in a chariot cloud that transports Him to the Father. At this very moment in history, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Risen Lamb, walks back into the throne room of Heaven!
His eyes are burning with fire; His hair is as white as wool; “His voice as the sound of many waters” (Rev. 1:15 NKJV). He sounds more remarkable than the cascades of water at Niagara Falls. His feet are glowing, as though they were in a blacksmith’s furnace. He has a golden sash on His robe, and coming out of His mouth is a sharp, double-edged sword. His face is like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
This is the ascension moment, a moment of enthroning Jesus.
This is His reentry into Heaven. He moves to take His place at the right hand of the Father, and in a statement of permanence, He sits down.
He has come home. He has returned. He is not bound to the earthly realm anymore.
He has ascended to the throne room, and all authority and power is His. [Jesus is] far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything (Ephesians 1:21–22).
Jesus’s throne in Heaven marginalizes all earthly thrones. Every other throne or king is puny in comparison. His rule has supremacy over all other thrones, principalities, and powers. Nothing compares to His power and splendor.
Then the most remarkable thing happens!
Jesus’s attention turns to us, and one of the first things He does in this new, ascended place is to give us gifts:
When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people (Ephesians 4:8).
Who are the captives mentioned in this verse? Matthew 27 delightfully (and shockingly) writes of many holy people who had died coming back to life at the same time as Jesus. They also went visiting people in Jerusalem, appearing to many. These people fly with Jesus, back to the throne room. What a celebration it must have been when God the Father received Jesus and the captives back home!
One of the first things that Jesus does in His new, ascended place is to give us gifts.
We are handed gifts!
In the very midst of these festivities of receiving Jesus the conquering King, at the point of ascension, we are handed gifts! One of those gifts is prophecy; other gifts include miraculous powers, healing, tongues, faith, discerning of spirits, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, interpretation of tongues, prophets, apostles, evangelists, teachers, and shepherds.
By the way, it is worth remembering that there is a gift called “miraculous powers.” Perhaps it is the most forgotten in the 1 Corinthians 12 list of gifts, but Jesus walked on water, walked through walls, floated in the air, shone resplendent in glory at the transfiguration, disturbed funerals by raising the dead, changed the weather, and we too are handed the ability for miraculous powers!
- Miraculous powers sees Joshua command the sun to stand still.
- Miraculous powers enables Moses to see water pour from a rock.
- Miraculous power is attached to Jehoshaphat’s worship, and his enemies end up killing each other before God’s people even turn up!
- Miraculous power sees the Red Sea part, opening a way where there seemed to be no way.
Is this a gift that you have asked for?
Is miraculous powers a gift that you have asked for?
Throne room gifts to enforce the Kingdom
Prophecy, healing, tongues and miraculous powers are not “optional extras” that we can take or leave, depending on what mood we wake up in.
All these gifts come from the most powerful place in all the heavenly and earthly realms and are given to us so that we might enforce the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. As we partner with the Holy Spirit and use these gifts, we become directors of Heaven on earth; we are trusted ambassadors who can legislate for His Kingdom with each use of every gift.
And perhaps one of Jesus’s first thoughts when He returned to Heaven with the captives was, “How am I going to weaponize My people with My power?” He would have been considering the abundance of what He needed us to have to make us unstoppable and to empower us without limit to change the world! Remember, Jesus is not mean or stingy, and He doesn’t hold back from giving us the very best.
Prophecy, healing, tongues, and miraculous powers are not “optional extras” that we can take or leave, depending on what mood we wake up in.
Weaponized by Heaven
Spiritual gifts
For years we have yo-yoed with our focus on spiritual gifts, struggling at times to see their relevance and often not seeing them as necessities for everyday life.
One of the problems we have in seeing gifts as fundamentally important is with our translation of the Greek word charisma (translated “gift”) that Paul writes about to the church in Corinth.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them (1 Corinthians 12:4).
We see the word gift and think of fun, frivolous, and not particularly useful like a quirky and strange Christmas gift given by an elderly and out-of-touch relative!
Yet charisma means spiritual enablement or spiritual empowerments; spiritual endowment; given free, in undeserved favor. In fact, the root meaning of the word charisma means to rescue.
Spiritual gifts are extraordinary powers, given liberally and without us earning them. They are for all believers, no matter what you think of yourself. This means you must lay down and release your hold on any low self-esteem and self-rejection still operational in you right now.
Spiritual gifts are empowerments provided by God to manifest His Kingdom and to rescue others. You have been weaponized by Heaven! This truth must underpin our attitude to them.
You have been weaponized by Heaven!
The gifts are not optional, extra additions for our lives or only for a few special people. Prophecy, healing, tongues, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and discerning of spirits are gifts in the same way that bagpipes, tartans, swords, haggis, and the cèilidh dance are gifts to the Scottish people! It is who the Scottish are; they’re intrinsic to their identity. Think Scotland, think tartan. Think spiritual gifts and powerful miracles, think the church—think you!
Divine empowerments
When we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit, it is expressed in a very determined way:
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8 NKJV).
The Greek word for power is dunamis, but one of this word’s first meanings is “force.” In other words, one might say, “You will receive a force when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!”
When you use spiritual gifts, you have remarkable ability, explosive strength, and forceful power!
Likewise, we read: “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20 NKJV).
“Power” here also means “force.” The Kingdom of God is not in word but is a spiritual force.
It is time for it to dawn on us just how far we have fallen from the original intent of God to make us a spiritual force, with military capabilities and the power to rescue people.
We are usually more interested in being well thought of, or not wanting to stand out too much, or of avoiding being too strange or different. We are often too afraid to step toward others in fear that we might accidentally offend them.
We have surrendered and lost the mindset of power and the thought process that, “I have been asked to intervene in the world and to rescue many.”
The spiritual gifts are divine empowerments to operate in the power of God to rescue people.
We must recapture an inner way of seeing the world that understands that “I am a solution; I am carrying spiritual nuclear bombs and prophetic flamethrowers! My spiritual slingshot, my gift of prophecy, my bow and arrow, my gift of healing, will liberate you and show you Jesus!”
Emma Stark
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