It's The Power

Countless books have been written on the topic of deliverance. Videos have been produced, workbooks have been printed, workshops have been held, and still, a cloud of otherworldliness hangs over the topic.

It has been mystified to such a level wherein it is no longer considered a function within the body of Christ, but rather some rare attribute that only a handful of people on the planet have been endowed with. If one needs deliverance, they must look far and wide for someone who knows what they are doing.

Some insist that there are special prayers that need be said, others that there needs to be anointing oil, or that the oil must be from olives grown in Israel, but it ought not to be this complicated. Everything that the body of Christ is mandated to do Scripturally is simple, straightforward, and easily put into practice. 

God’s intent was not to overly complicate things but to simplify them to the point that anyone with an open, obedient, and humble heart might readily understand.

The simple, straightforward truth is that when it comes to deliverance, the authority in which you approach the spirit is key as to whether or not the spirit will obey and come out.

You can have the purest of olive oils, from the highest of hilltops in the Holy Land, you can memorize prayers and have perfect inflection if you do not possess authority, if you are not hooked up to the power source that is Christ, there will be no deliverance forthcoming.

When Paul happened upon the slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination, there was no need for spectacle, Paul commanded the spirit to come out of the girl in the name of Jesus Christ, and the spirit came out that very hour.

Simple, straightforward, and effective. But see, Paul wasn’t trying to build a brand, he wasn’t trying to put on a show, he wasn’t trying to promote himself as the next great deliverance ministry, he was annoyed by the spirit’s proclamations, and knowing the authority he had in Christ, he commanded the spirit to depart.

Yes, there are those rare occasions when prayer and fasting are required for a spirit to depart. Much of the time it has to do with unconfessed sin because the spirit feels as though it has been granted residence due to said sin, but more often than not, the power and authority given you as a servant of Christ are more than enough.

You can lay hands; you can anoint, you can yell in a commanding voice if you do not possess the power, it’s all for naught.

Men continue to try to substitute the power with methodology, or props, but there is no substitute for it. They may be able to put on a good show, blow on people, punch them in the gut, or throw their sweaty blazers at them, but in the end, if there is no authority behind their words, if there is no power residing in them, the spirit will remain, and the individual will continue to be tormented. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

Choosing Sodom

It has been said that life can be summed up as being a myriad of choices, coalescing, leading into each other, intertwining, and blending, weaving the fabric of existence. We make countless choices every day, all day, from what color socks to wear, to what to eat for breakfast, to whether to give the panhandler on the corner some spare change.

Some choices require very little thought since they are binary. If the only two options afforded you are to go either left or right, the time it would take you to reach a decision would be far less than if you were asked to choose a place on the map to travel to. Other choices require prayer, thought, meditation, the weighing out of all the benefits and drawbacks, because only then will we make the right choice.

Certain choices we make have very little collateral implications, while others affect us for the rest of our lives, whether for the good or the bad. When we spend more time pondering where to eat dinner than we do where our spiritual man might best grow and mature, we allocate more time to the non-essential than to the essential things of life.

There came the point where Abraham and Lot could no longer share the same land. Their flocks had grown to the point that the grazing lands could not sustain both, and rather than argue among themselves, Abraham proposed that they go their separate ways.

Even though Abraham had seniority, and was Lot’s uncle, he allowed Lot to have the first choice as to where he would go. To Abraham, it mattered very little because he knew that whether he went to the left or the right God would be with him, and God would provide.

Lot, on the other hand, did not look with eyes of faith; he did not weigh the toll his choice would take on his spiritual man. He saw well-watered, fertile land, and he chose it hastily, even though the men of the region were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.

Did Lot know this? What did he know, and when did he know it?

I’m assuming at some point the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had some decent people living in them, people with families and children. How long did the descent into hedonism take to unfold in these cities? How long before young and old alike gave themselves over to lust and perversion to the point that one couldn’t have visitors without running the risk of them being violated and molested?

Because the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is so dramatic, we tend to forget that Lot chose Sodom. 

Because he prized possessions over peace, Lot chose to bring his family to a godless place where the people had no bounds, no moral code, and no humanity.

An entire city full of biped animals burning with lust, to the point that nothing mattered more to them than to satisfy their desires.

By the time Lot realized what he had done, by the time he had realized the consequences of his choice, it was already too late. Yes, his flocks had plenty of water and grass, his possessions increased, but his soul was tormented and vexed by what he saw.

Even if a righteous man happens to live in Sodom, whether by choice, necessity, or circumstance, he does not embrace, validate, or celebrate the ways of Sodom. The natural reaction of righteousness to witnessing unrighteous acts is vexing and torment of the soul. Just as truth cannot abide the lie, and light cannot abide the darkness, righteousness cannot abide sin. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

The Offended Generation

Never ask my wife if she thinks you’re getting fat. If you are, you won’t like her answer. She is one of those brutally honest people who will tell you the truth without regard for how it lands.

I was within the general vicinity when one of her friends asked if she thought she was getting pudgy around the middle, to which she replied, “I don’t think you are, you are.”

Later on, after her friend left, I asked her about the exchange and whether she could have been more tactful, to which she replied, “why would I lie to someone I love?” Made sense at the time, and it still does to this day.

It used to be you could tell people the truth, and they would appreciate your candor. Even if the truth you shared didn’t land well, or make them feel good, they knew it wasn’t coming from a place of animosity, but rather a place of love, or concern, or just honesty. Those days are long gone, and what’s worse, this destructive mindset has weaseled its way into the household of faith.

Because the number of pastors, preachers, evangelists, and spiritual leaders would rather see people end up in hell than risk offending them in any way keeps multiplying, repentance, righteousness, and holiness unto God are no longer preached, focused upon, or taught.

This new trend is wreaking havoc and leaving countless souls with a false sense of security. Because no one loved them enough to speak truth to them, they cling to their sin; they cling to their vices, they cling to the things God himself finds abominable, all the while believing that it is well with their soul.

On the flip side, the number of those who approach God not from a place of humility and repentance, but one of entitlement and pride has skyrocketed to heretofore unseen levels as well. The question is no longer what must I do to be saved; it’s not even phrased as a question anymore. Rather, men today approach God with a laundry list of demands, exemptions, and cutouts, then command Him to assure them that they are saved.

If perchance one in ten does ask what they must do to be saved, the Biblical answer will likely be met with perplexed looks, quickly followed by accusations of legalism and works salvation.

When the sheep start leading the shepherd rather than the shepherd leading the sheep, disaster is certain, and the outcome is foreseeable. Watching these role reversals take place is sad, and what’s worse, as long as the so-called shepherds get their monthly stipend, they don’t much care. Less work for them translates to more time to enjoy the links.

Even if they tried, they would likely be met with resistance and a reprimand from the deacon board, the treasury board, or the board of overseers. Who wants to pack up and move their family to yet another town, to get to know yet another group of stiff-necked souls whose only desire is to revel in their sin while still being assured that heaven’s gates are flung wide open ready to receive them?

This is the offended generation, and they have Yelp. It takes thirty seconds to find a church that fits their predilections, and they can even leave you a bad review while walking to their car. Remember that the next time you try to challenge sin, or preach the Gospel. How dare you try to lead them to still waters or green pastures? Sugar water and cream puffs taste so much better! 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

The Chicken or the Egg?

It is the quintessential question. The question that has likely passed the lips of everyone reading these words at some point, in some context or another, because it is ubiquitous. Which came first the chicken or the egg?

If we think it through logically, it’s not such a complicated question, especially if you believe as we do that God created all things. The chicken came first. That’s obvious enough. God created the chicken, the chicken laid the egg, and the universal question was answered at its genesis.

I woke up early this morning. I usually do. It’s quiet. The kids and wife are still sleeping, the house is silent, and it’s my time to be alone with God. Some mornings it’s as early as 3 am, others as late as 4, but for at least an hour I get to read, pray, and meditate on the Word of God.  

As I looked out my window and watched the breaking of the dawn, a thought forced its way to the forefront of my mind, and would not relent: Which comes first, passion or vision? Do you first have to have the vision to stir up the passion, or do you first have to have the passion to birth the vision?

Simple as this question might be on its surface, it is an intellectual conundrum, one that took up most of my morning. In the end, as I heard the rustling from upstairs, and knew that my alone time would be short-lived, the conclusion I came to was that passion must exist for vision to materialize.

Passion must precede vision. If you have a passion for serving God, He will provide you with the vision, and since the passion is already there, you will take the necessary steps to make the vision a reality.

It begins with an all-consuming desire to serve. Once that passion, that desire is there, God will supply the vision, but not just. Not only will God tell you what to do, He will also show you how to do it, and instruct you as to when to do it.

Because you desired to serve, and not to make a name for yourself, or be great in your own eyes, you will be humble enough to follow the instructions you are given without deviating from them.

This is where countless souls get stuck in the mud. They have the passion; they get the vision with the requisite instructions, then start believing they can do it better, faster, or on a larger scale.

Why just have a congregation of fifty when it can easily be five thousand? Why just preach to one nation when I can be an apostle to the nations? Why just have one orphanage when you can have five?

Because fifty souls, or one nation, or one orphanage, was the extent of the vision God gave you. Be faithful in that, and if a new vision is birthed in you, you will once more receive the necessary instructions to accomplish it as well.

The importance of following God’s instructions to make a vision a reality cannot be understated.

One of the most humbling experiences of my life was putting a child’s bed from Ikea together. I leafed through the instructions, and they made no sense. They seemed out of sequence, so I lay the instructions aside, and proceeded to do it on my own. How hard could it be? It was a child’s bed, not a nuclear reactor.

Three hours later, frustrated, and sweating, I had to take apart everything I’d put together up until that point, and go back to the instruction manual. I was done within the hour.

If God gives you a vision and gives you clear instructions, even if they seem out of sequence, even if intuitively you would have started somewhere else, trust the plan, follow the instructions, and you will see the vision come to life.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

The One Place

Wherever you find yourself in this great big world, there’s always a chance of running face first into a natural disaster, or some event that will require divine intervention for you to survive. It’s the reality of the world we live in, and anyone who says they live in the one place where there aren’t any earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic activity, flooding, or typhoons, where they live, just haven’t lived there long enough.

Strange things are afoot, and although we are seeing things such as earthquakes in places where we would expect to see them, we are also seeing them in places we’d never expect. The same goes for tornadoes, flooding, and other things we deem to be natural disasters.

Those who believe they can affect the earth’s core temperature just because they drive their Buick to the local stop-n-go keep insisting that we should stop cows from tooting, planes from flying, and cars from driving to save the planet. The self-importance some people give themselves nowadays is laughable, but they are zealous in their beliefs and fierce crusaders for the extermination of plastic straws and Styrofoam cups. They need to cling to these fairy tales, because of the need to hold out hope that they have some sort of control. They need to believe that by their actions, they can affect the outcome of the world.

 Those of us who have read the Word of God understand that these are just signs of the times. They are things we should be living in anticipation of because along with sings in the sun, the moon, and the stars, there will be perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the seas, earthquakes in various places and various other things we tend to call natural disasters.

Such things will not diminish. They will increase as time goes on, both in frequency and intensity, and it has nothing to do with man-caused global warming, global cooling, climate change, or climate disruption. It’s just a dog shaking off fleas when they start to become an annoyance. It is a reminder of man’s impotence though he thinks himself a god.

It is inevitable that with every tremor, or increased geyser activity, flooding, or tornadic activity, the fear mongers come out of the woodwork, and hysterically insist that you should pack up, move out, do it now, don’t wait until dawn. What they never seem to tell you is where exactly you’re supposed to go, or if their insistence is born of a human reaction to fear, or if God spoke to them regarding you specifically.

Because their hysteria is meant to amplify fear, and amplified fear leads to irrational decisions, some people find themselves in a U-Haul truck five hundred miles from home before they start asking themselves where it is that they’re going.

As someone who hasn’t bought a bunch of land in the middle of the jungles of Paraguay or Uruguay or Belize trying to start my version of Jonestown, let me be the one to tell you that there is only one safe place you can be, and you can’t find it on any map.

It won’t require you to purchase acreage deep in the Amazon or reserve your below ground bunker at the cost of a million dollars; it will require your heart, your obedience, and your faithfulness. The one place you will be safe even in the midst of chaos is Christ. The one place you will have peace even amid uproar is in Christ.

I’m not looking for a place to run to, I’m working toward growing deeper in Him, trusting Him, and serving Him every day, knowing that He can protect, He can sustain, and He can provide. Surrender to God’s will, and your fear will evaporate. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

Straws and Camels

I’ve always found the straw that broke the camel’s back to be an odd saying. I guess to me it’s the contrast between a stalk of hay, something so weightless it gets blown around by a light breeze, and a camel’s back, which I have personally seen carry well-fed tourists a good hundred pounds on the wrong side of rubenesque, without complaint.

A camel is built to carry heavy loads, yet, at some point, even a camel has its limits. There is always a point when one ounce becomes an ounce too much, and what seemed indestructible collapses under the weight hoisted upon it.

Everywhere you turn there seem to be camels nearing the breaking point. From culture to society, to elected officials, hay bale after hay bale is being foisted upon the backs of the camels, and it’s obvious that they are struggling under the weight, and are nearing the inevitable snap.

The pressure builds and builds, until a small thing, something which in the great scheme would go unnoticed, brings everything crumbling to the ground, and chaos ensues.

By now it is obvious that those who keep hoisting the hay bales on the backs of the American citizenry are neither good-hearted nor well-intentioned. It is obvious that their intent, purpose, and goal is to collapse the system, to break the back of the camel so that the camel has no choice but to lay there and acquiesce to whatever they decide the best course of action is.

On the culture front, we see the systematic indoctrination of four and five-year-olds regarding gender, with schools now being mandated to teach that rather than male and female, as many as one hundred genders exist, depending on what someone feels like identifying as that particular day.

We see what were once fringe perversions being normalized and celebrated, even making inroads into the church, with some denominations allowing for transsexual story time in their sanctuaries.

These people understand the power of propaganda, of indoctrinating children while they are young, and they are relentless in their pursuit. Though they despise the Bible and the God of the Bible, they inherently see the wisdom of training up a child in the way he should go. They are fully aware that if a child is trained up as a child, he will not depart for that which he was taught when he is old.

On the societal front, we see tax paying citizens accosted, beaten, and violently abused by masked mobs while the police, those whose duty and responsibility is to protect and serve, sit idly by and watch it happen. The rule of law is no longer upheld unilaterally, and more people than ever feel as though they do not have equal protection under the law.

On the national front, you have swarms of individuals from a multitude of nations streaming into the country overwhelming the borders, and demanding to be naturalized the moment they set foot on US soil. The notion of legal immigration, of going through the process is scoffed at and ridiculed, and if anyone dares object, they are branded racists and told to pay their fair share.

Whether or not the camel’s back will break is a foregone conclusion. We know that it will. It’s only a matter of time. We are at a point where the only question that remains unanswered is which camel buckles first. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr. .

Little Children

I wake up every morning with a smile on my face looking forward to what is about to take place. Every morning, without fail, when I hear rustling in my younger daughter’s room, I walk in and say good morning, and am rewarded with a smile. It is an indescribable smile. It is innocent and loving, glorious and sublime, a smile that is Shakespearean in its ability to convey the deepest of emotion and the purest of intent. No words are spoken. No words are needed. That smile says it all, and it fills my heart to overflowing.

I relish every morning because I know at some point in the near future that smile will no longer greet me in the morning, but rather, like her older sister, I will be greeted with an oftentimes sullen “good morning daddy”, followed by “what’s for breakfast, or can I watch some cartoons.”

If you have children, you know what I’m talking about. That innocence and wonder dissipate at a certain point, and I know this because I lived it with my eldest daughter. By my calculation, I still have a good ten months of morning smiles that are like a starburst in the dead of night for my soul. After that, I may get the smile once in a while, but not every day, not every morning, it is not something I will be able to count on as surely as the rising sun.

As I have often said, I believe wholeheartedly that fatherhood allows you to understand the heart of God better than any seminary or workshop on divinity. This morning, as I walked into my daughter’s room anticipating that awe-inspiring smile, I couldn’t help but wonder if God’s heart is likewise filled when we greet him innocently and lovingly every morning and if He too anticipates with sadness a time when we will no longer do so?

I wonder, is this innocent, trusting, selfless smile the true meaning of first love? Is this innocence and excitement at seeing our Father every morning the thing we are warned against leaving?

Since I’ve never branded myself the perfect Christian, I can be honest with you and tell you that there are mornings when I catch myself going through the motions. There are mornings when rather than give God that loving smile, and bask in His presence, I give Him a “good morning, daddy.”

Maybe I’m in pain that morning, or I’ve got a lot on my mind, the mortgage is due, or I have to catch a flight, but whatever my excuse, this morning I couldn’t help but wonder if God misses my smile as much as I miss my eldest daughter’s smile whenever I don’t get it.

Whatever your circumstance, whatever your situation, whatever your trial, your hardship, or your thorn, greet God every morning with a smile. If His heart reacts to our smile as my heart reacts to my daughter’s smile, I know with certitude that it is something He looks forward to every single day. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.