Have you ever noticed that some people are naturally funny? They have a wit so quick, you wonder, how could they think of that so fast.
Why?
Think about these verses in the context of laughter…
James 1:17 (NKJV)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Romans 12:8 (NIV)
8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously;if it is to lead,[a] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV)
22 A merry heart does good, like medicine,[a] But a broken spirit dries the bones.
I’m convinced that comedy is a God-given spiritual gift of exhortation.
I mean, what is more encouraging than a good laugh? A well-placed laugh in a good sermon only helps keep the audience engaged and possibly drive a point home.
The bible tells us that one of the promises from God is that we will all see trouble during our days on this earth…
Job 14:1(NKJV)
14 “Man who is born of woman
Is of few days and full of trouble.
It’s God’s gift of laughter that gets us through many of those tough days.
I’m convinced that God has appointed some of us Ministers of Laughter…
So, do you know anyone with a special anointing to make the best situations better and inject some encouraging humor into the worst. Those who can make us smile when we feel like crying. Is it you?
Unfortunately, many comedians and comediennes use their gift to glorify the enemy through vulgarity and profanity, but that doesn’t mean the gift isn’t from God. It’s just misdirected.
Are you a Minister of Laughter? If so, walk in your anointing. You’re important to the Kingdom of God!
We experience the physical world through our 5 senses. Would you even know you that the world was real if you had not ONE sense?
No sight?
No hearing?
No smell?
No taste?
No touch?
As real as this world is, we only know it’s real because of our five senses. We experience the world through our senses. They make us aware of the evidence that the world is real.
Faith is the spiritual equivalent to all five of our spiritual senses. It is our faith that enables us to experience the spiritual world that we can’t see.
Atheists claim God isn’t real because they say there is no evidence. This is because they aren’t exercising the measure of faith that God has given all of us, so just as a person with no senses can’t experience the physical world, they can’t experience God
Romans 12:3 (NKJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Think about it, God’s word confirms that faith is our sixth sense through which we see, hear, touch, smell and even taste God…
SEE
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
Now faith is the [a]substance of things hoped for, the [b]evidence of things not seen.
HEAR
Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
John 10:27 (NKJV)
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
TOUCH
Matthew 8:3 (NKJV)
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 17:7 (NKJV)
7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”
SMELL
2 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Ezekiel 20:41 (NKVJV)
41 I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.
TASTE
Psalm 34:8 (NKJV)
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 119:103 (NKJV)
103 How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
And just as our physical senses need to be enhanced through wearing glasses, contact lenses, hearing aids etc., so does our faith need enhancing through prayer, studying God’s word, praise and sincere worship.
So, please don’t neglect your spiritual sixth sense!
Feed your faith!
Exercise your faith!
Take care of your faith just as much as you do your 5 physical senses.
One of the most disturbing and confusing accounts in the bible is that of when Uzzah reached out to prevent the Ark of the Covenant from falling and God struck him dead.
2 Samuel 6:6-8 (NKJV)
6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out hishand to the ark of God and [a]took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his[b]error; and he died there by the ark of God. 8 And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place [c]Perez Uzzah to this day.
Wow! That seemed so unfair. Uzzah obviously meant well and was paid with death.
Remember this…the Old Testament gives us numerous extreme examples of how God reacts to our behavior. These reactions teach and and leave examples of not only what He loves and what He hates, but also to what extreme. For example, when we totally forsake His day of rest every seven days, even under grace, to do work we could have easily done another day…God considers it worthy of death (Numbers 15:32-36). Yes, Yeshua said it’s okay to remove an ox from a ditch, but too many people have ‘oxen’ that fall in the ditch during the middle of the week and wait until The Lord’s Day to remove them.
Notice what God teaches through Paul about Old Testament examples…
1 Corinthians 10:1-10 (NKJV)
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us [a]tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
So, what about Uzzah?
God said very clearly that no one was to ever touch the Ark of the Convenant, period. God said DON’T TOUCH IT.
When God says NO, He means NO!
Even though Uzzah was doing it for the right reason…NO still meant NO!. God left behind an example that we can never do something He told us never to do for what we judge to be the right reason.
Is it confusing? Yes. Even if it doesn’t make sense to us, it’s God’s word and remember what He told us through Isaiah…
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
One contemporary example of people doing the wrong thing for the right reason is when a parent gives their adolescent daughter birth control because they don’t want them to get pregnant, or gives their son condoms so they won’t get a sexually transmitted disease. If God commands no fornication, parents must as well. If the child choses to be disobedient, then that’s between them and God.
Can you think of when you many have done the wrong thing for the right reason?
BE BLESSTIFIED! 