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"The Intercessory Temper Tantrum"

Her parents could never forget the scene.  As hard as they tried, they could not delete the sights nor the sounds from their minds.  It ranked as one of the most disturbing moments that they had ever experienced in their lives…

For months prior to Christmas, little Dorothy’s parents had been scrimping and saving every penny in order to ensure that their only daughter’s fifth Christmas would be her most memorable.  Every week, beginning in September, a portion of the the weekly income would be placed in the “Christmas fund” by giddy, doting parents, who simply could not wait to lavish little Dorothy with a shower of beautifully wrapped presents.  Being a family with a modest income, it was indeed a sacrifice for them to store away their extra cash for Christmas gifts, but they reasoned that the joy that shone on their little girl’s face would make all of their hard work worth it.

Their excitement grew as the seasons changed and the weather became noticeably cooler.  As Christmas decorations began to appear all over town and the first flakes of snow made their way earthward, the young family could hardly contain their excitement!  They had worked hard, saved their money and could not wait to shower gifts upon their beloved daughter.

Then the big day arrived, Christmas Eve!

Mom and dad had put the finishing touches on the menagerie of gifts and lay each one carefully beneath the beautifully lit tree.  They sat there for a few proud moments, delighting in how far they’d come as a family.  They remembered their first Christmas with their little princess, when they were only able to exchange homemade gifts and cards.  Now, they had been blessed with work and income, and were able to do far more than was ever possible in previous years.  There was a sense of pride and contentment that filled their hearts as they sat there together in the light of the Christmas tree.  “Tomorrow,” they whispered to each other, “tomorrow is going to be a day that she’ll never forget!”

And with that, they made their way to bed for the night.

Early the next morning, little Dorothy was up well before the sun.  She jumped atop her parents bed, dancing and singing in her elfish little voice, “IT’S CHRISTMAS, IT’S CHRISTMAS!  FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA!”  Her parents wiped the sleep from their eyes, fumbled in the dark for their robes and slippers and then excitedly made their way to the Christmas tree.  This was the moment they had been anticipating for months!  They had dreamed of little Dorothy, eyes as big as saucers, squealing with glee as she dove into the mountain of paper, plastic and China-made goodness.  Their hearts fluttered nervously in their chest as they descended the staircase to the Christmas wonderland below.  Little Dorothy scampered down the stairs before them, her tiny feet pattering lightly against the wood.  And then suddenly, as though she had reached an invisible barrier, Dorothy stopped silently in her tracks.  She stood there, still as glass in the glow of the massive tree.  Her parents watched her from behind.  All movement had ceased.  There was no noise, no songs, so squeals - just stunned silence.  Mom and dad giggled and elbowed each other excitedly, and then dad posed the question, “So, darling, what do you think?“

A mostly awake mom fumbled with the video camera, and managed to get it on and operational just in time to hear little Dorothy’s response to her Father’s question…a response which both shocked and perplexed her parents.  A bone-chilling, goose-bump inducing scream shot from her mouth like a cold, razor sharp icicle!  Mom and dad froze as they beheld little Dorothy falling to her knees, rocking back and forth with violence.  Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she began pounding the floor with her tiny fists.  “PRESENTS!”, she wailed wildly, “I WANT PRESENTS MOMMY AND DADDY!”.

Her mother and father rushed to her side, assuring her that just inches in front of her lay a massive mound of presents just waiting to be unwrapped.  Little Dorothy seemed deaf to their words and completely oblivious to the presence of the presents.  Her moaning and wailing continued.  Her breathing became erratic and her parents began to fear for her safety.  Mom and Dad even resorted to personally unwrapping a few of the more eye-catching items in an attempt to calm their daughters nerves and assure her that there were indeed present laying before her.  All to no avail.  The young girl was absolutely inconsolable.

All that Dorothy’s parents could do was stand there, shocked and horrified at their daughter’s behavior.  As parents, they were hurt that their daughter seemed blind to all of the love, care and preparation they had put into this moment.  They didn’t understand why something which was meant to be so enjoyable, was having such a negative effect on their daughter.  They were disturbed, distraught and hurt.  While they never mouthed the words, I’m sure that both mom and dad were thinking the same thing: that all of the money spent on gifts might have been better spent on some counseling for little Dorothy!

Now, let me be honest with you, the above story is completely fictional.  I’ve never actually read of a young child having a complete psychotic break down when faced with dozens of shiny and expensive gifts from “Santa”.  On the contrary, most kids are anything but apprehensive, let alone heartbroken, when free toys and electronics lay just inches before them.  Certainly, if little Dorothy were real, we’d have to concur, along with her parents, that she was either in need of a little more sleep, or a little bit of good old fashioned psychiatric treatment.

Allow me to be honest once more, while the above story is fictional, and while I have never witnessed or heard of such a scene taking place, I have witnessed many a grown adult acting in a way that makes little Dorothy look like the picture perfect example of mental stability!  Where have I witnessed such behavior, you may ask?  Whilst ministering in prisons, and/or mental institutions?  No.  Perhaps while serving at a homeless shelter or when visitng the elderly in a nursing home?  Once again, no.  You may actually be quite surprised by my answer, for if you really want to witness insanity that trumps ”Dorothy’s Christmas breakdown”, you need only visit one of the millions of Spirit-Filled churches which dot the landscape of planet earth.

Now, I’m certainly not making a referrence to the exercise of Spiritual gifts or of supernatural manifestations.  Those I’m 100% good with.  What I am referring to is our continued denial of God’s Presence in our midst, our blindness to New Covenant realities and our intercessory temper tantrums that we feel will bring into being that which already is.  At millions of gatherings, worldwide, some large, some small, the already present reality of all that Christ perfect work has afforded us, is largely being ignored.  Instead, we sing choruses, begging the Holy Spirit to come near us.  We preach and pray, requesting that the Father forgive us of our sins and give us a scrap of bread from Heaven’s banquet table.  We moan, groan and travail, begging God to bring us just one centimeter closer to Himself, and we think that somehow God is pleased with all of this.  We believe that angels must stand awestruck at our devotion and fervency.  The Holy Spirit rubs His hands together in anticipation, waiting for the Father’s instructions to “fall upon us”.

Dear reader, the Father is no more pleased with such behaviour than little Dorothy’s parents were pleased with hers!  Romans 6:20 tells us very plainly, that the eternal life the Father offers us is a gift!

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Take a look at one of Webster’s (*not the little guy from the old T.V. show*) definitions for the word gift: something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.

That being said, a gift is not something one can earn, buy or cry their way into receiving.  Gifts are given, and must simply be received.  Now the Bible makes us an incredible promise, that God offers us eternal life, freely, with no compensation - it’s a gift!  Now most would nod their heads up and down, signifying their agreement with that statement.  Any Biblically literate believer understands that salvation and entrance to Heaven are gifts which cannot be earned.  The problem is, that’s not all that “eternal life” entails.  Take a look at the words Jesus utters to His Father on the eve of His crucifixion:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (JOHN 17:3)

Jesus defines eternal life as not simply being a bus ticket to Heaven, but a lifestyle of being in intimate union with the Godhead.  Eternal life has nothing to do with the quantity of one’s years, but with the quality of one’s existence.  To possess eternal life means that we have entered into a lifestyle that smacks of the eternal; it smells of heaven and of the supernatural.  To possess eternal life is to possess the very life of God Himself.  It is the “abundant life” Jesus promised in John 10:10.  Simply put, eternal life is Eden.  It is men and women living in unfettered familial union with the Trinitarian family.  It is God, inviting men back into the eternal quality of life which we were all originally intended to walk in.  It is this life, and not simply an eternity in Heaven, which God offers us as a free gift.

We have very little problem with salvation being free, but we have a very hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that a life of supernatural abundance is free.  We, much like little Dorothy, have no revelation of the power of our parent’s purchases.  Jesus Christ purchased everything that God ever intended for you to walk in upon the Cross, the tree upon which He was cursed. (GAL 3:13)  The “presents” which lay beneath this “tree” are of such a high quality, that they could only be purchased with the blood of Divinity.  Everything which your soul has ever desired in God, lay available and accesible in light of Calvary’s tree.  Yet we, like little Dorothy, are mostly ignorant of their presence.  And so we hit our knees, pounding the floor, petitioning heaven, begging for things which are already ours!  Such behaviour befuddles the angels, perplexes the saints and grieves the heart of our Heavenly Father.

The writer of Hebrews was addressing a group of individuals who, in addition to believing on Christ for salvation, were also returning to the shadowy system of temple sacrifice in order to receive the forgiveness of sins.  Perhaps they thought that a little extra blood couldn’t hurt anything, right?  Yet the writer addresses their unwillingness to honor Christ’s once for all sacrifice, and refers to their extra religious efforts as being “sin”.

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left…” (HEB 10:26)

The sin being referrenced by the writer here is not adulterey, theft, drug use, or any other such thing that we would define as being “sinful”.  Rather, he is referring to their return to the Mosaic Law’s system of sacrifice for forgiveness, and, in a nutshell, unbelief.  They were no longer resting solely on the power of the Cross, but also upon their own self-efforts and works.  The Bible is clear that Law keeping is not based on faith (GAL 3:12), and that anything which is not of faith, or simple trust in Christ, is sin (ROM 14:23).  Therefore, adding the works of the Law to the simplicity of faith ceases to be faith and becomes sin.  This “sin” is a rejection of the simplicity of faith in Christ alone and a literal rejection of the New Covenant.  According to the writer, it is also most offensive to God.  Look at what the writer states such an action is, in effect, doing:

 ”Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (HEB 10:28-29)

God did not see their behaviour as “holy”, or as “going the extra mile”.  He saw it as an insult to all that He had accomplished in Christ.  Much as little Dorothy’s parent were insulted at the way their daughter had trampled on their kindness, made light of the money they had spent and insulted their generosity, so the Lord is insulted when we ignore the provisions of the New Covenant, and choose to throw “intercessory temper tantrums” instead.

Many believers all over the earth are abstaining from food, screaming at the heavens and exhausting their physical frames, all in an attempt to gain access to that which Christ’s sacrifice has made available.  They sit there, much like Dorothy, in the light of the “tree” (the Cross), and are absolutely oblivious to all of it’s provisions.  We must change our paradigm!  God is not pleased with such behaviour.  He is pleased with faith.  Simple, honest, childlike faith.  Faith that sees a present and rips into it like any other sane child would on Christmas morning!  It’s time that we honored the Cross once more!  Not by screaming and throwing temper tantrums in it’s light, but by agreeing with our Father’s voice that says, “Everything you need is under the tree!”

Friends, I encourage you today to receive the Gift of eternal life!  I’m not just speaking of salvation.  I’m speaking of the eternal, supernatural quality of life that you so desire.  The life marked by revival, signs, wonders, divine encounters–that is eternal life.  It can’t be conjured up through tantrums.  You can’t cry or wail your way into it.  You must simply realize that the answer to all of your desires lay directly in front of you.  You must simply trust in your Father’s goodness, believe upon the Finished Works of Christ, and dive in with reckless abandon.  Your “presents” are not coming, they’ve already arrived.  You’re job is to access them through the simplicity of faith.

“…Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here…” (HEB 9:11)

Dear friends, let us no longer “whine in light of the ‘tree’”, but let us instead “dine in light of the ‘tree’”.  The cross purchased it all.  Do not allow your desire, or your fervency to become an insult to Christ’s works.  Simply believe.  It really is that simple.

Unwrapping His gifts,

Jeff

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