Forks
WORD PICTURE: FORKS
Scriptural Reference: Psalm 23:5, Rev 19:9.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)
Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' " And he added, "These are the true words of God." (Rev 19:9)
1. Show various forks (a large meat fork, a regular dinner fork, and a tiny shrimp fork), one at a time, asking people what each one is called.
2. Have someone(s) read Psalm 23:5 and Rev 19:9.
3. Thesis is that God has spread an abundant banquet table before us, especially when it comes to His promises. It seems clear in Scripture that we are to use the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Jesus did, when the devil tempted Him in the desert (Matthew 4) and His response to each temptation was, “It is written.” To me, that means using the MEAT fork. Yet most of us are using the tiny shrimpy one.
What I Shared
I first tried this when we had two severe colds in our family of three -- so severe that our already-paid-for flight to Disney World was suddenly in mortal danger. My son, highly motivated to meet Mickey and Minnie, reminded me that the Bible says we can stand on the enemy’s neck. So we did -- right in the middle of our kitchen. We took a Bible, opened it, turned it upside down, and, together, said, “Satan, read this.” We told him everything we could think of that it says about his lack of authority over us, that he may have formed a weapon against us but it shall not prosper, that by the stripes of Jesus Christ we were healed 2,000 years ago, that He sent His word to heal us -- et cetera et cetera et cetera. The very next day, we were completely better. Completely better. We had, apparently, used the meat fork.
The very next day, a neighbor waved at me to stop my car as I was driving by. She unrolled her window, seeming unusually distraught for someone who was generally calm and collected. “I’ve been depressed!” she practically shouted over the painted white line, to which I replied, “I’ll follow you home.” When we got there, I told her what had happened when we stood on the enemy’s neck. She and I walked to the end of our road and into the marsh where our children trap crabs and catch fish. In the reeds, we stood and prayed in exactly the same way -- with the meat fork. Two days later, she waved me down again saying, “I’m all better. “I’m healed!”
Again, apparently, we had approached the banquet table with the meat fork, not the little shrimpy one. Like God tells us to.
Conversation Starters:
So my question is, which fork are YOU using? And why?
Pop quiz on how far you are willing to go with your MEAT fork. In the Bible, God says He heals ALL diseases, for example (Psalm 103). Review the lashings that shed His blood (the 39 stripes that encompass all diseases). It says ALL diseases, not some. And here’s more food for your meat fork:
Asking His will ---> Yes and Amen (2 Co 1:18)
But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No."
Asking in His name ----> granted (1John 5:14-15)
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Appropriating what we have (Mark 11:22-24)
“Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Another illumination: He brought scripture to mind about what’s lawful and what is not -- it is lawful (for a little longer) for the enemy to hurl horrible stuff at us (sickness, sarcasm, etc.) BUT it is NOT lawful for those lies to stick. Image that came to mind: Peanut Butter recipe with an oily spoon. That’s why it cannot stick to us -- it just slides right off like the law of gravity. If it doesn’t sick, it doesn’t hurt. In Jesus, it’s like I’m covered in oil. It’s as though He’s changed this skin of mine -- my earthsuit -- so that the enemy’s slime just slides off. I’m covered with the Holy Spirit like oil. The enemy’s lies -- even they be facts -- cannot stick.
So -- there is no shame in having this stuff hurled at me. The shame is if I bow to it -- allow it any credence in my life. It would be like saying to an apple that is ripe and ready to fall from the tree, “Fall UP instead of dropping to the ground.” The law of gravity says that’s impossible -- it just can’t happen. God says we’re like that.
So my question is, which fork are YOU using? And why?
All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).
Copyright by Whitney McKendree Moore, May 2002