A Tale of Three Kings Read Online Free

jealousy, filled with self-importance, and willing to live in spiritual darkness.
    Is there a moral in these contradictions? Yes, and it will splinter a lot of your concepts about power, about great men and women under God’s anointing, and about God himself.
    Many pray for the power of God. More every year. Those prayers sound powerful, sincere, godly, and without ulterior motive. Hidden under such prayer and fervor, however, are ambition, a craving for fame, the desire to be considered a spiritual giant. The person who prays such a prayer may not even know it, but dark motives and desires are in his heart . . . in your heart.
    Even as people pray these prayers, they are hollow inside. There is little internal spiritual growth. Prayer for power is the quick and the short way, circumnavigating internal growth.
    There is a vast difference between the outward clothing of the Spirit’s power and the inward filling of the Spirit’s life. In the first, despite the power, the hidden man of the heart may remain unchanged. In the latter, that monster is dealt with.
    Interesting about God. He hears all those requests for power, which fervent young men and women pray (in every generation), and he answers them! Very often he grants these requests for power, for authority. Sometimes, in answering them, he says yes to some very unworthy vessels.
    He gives unworthy people his power? Even though they are a pile of dead men’s bones inside?
    Why does God do such a thing? The answer is both simple and shocking. He sometimes gives unworthy vessels a greater portion of power so that others will eventually see the true state of internal nakedness within that individual.
    So think again when you hear the power merchant. Remember, God sometimes gives power to people for unseen reasons. A person can be living in the grossest of sin, and the outer gift will still be working perfectly. The gifts of God, once given, cannot be recalled. Even in the presence of sin. Furthermore, some people, living just such lives, are the Lord’s anointed . . . in the Lord’s eyes. Saul was living proof of this fact.
    The gifts cannot be revoked. Terrifying, isn’t it?
    If you are young and have never seen such things, you may be certain that sometime in the next forty years you will see. Highly gifted and very powerful men and women . . . reputed to be leaders in the kingdom of God, do some very dark and ugly deeds.
    What does this world need: gifted men and women, outwardly empowered? Or individuals who are broken, inwardly transformed?
    Keep in mind that some who have been given the very power of God have raised armies, defeated the enemy, brought forth mighty works of God, preached and prophesied with unparalleled power and eloquence . . .
    And thrown spears,
    And hated other people,
    And attacked others,
    And plotted to kill,
    And prophesied naked,
    And even consulted witches.

 
Chapter 16
    “You still haven’t answered my question. The man I sit under: I think he is a King Saul. How can I know with certainty?”
    It is not given to us to know. And remember, even Sauls are often the Lord’s anointed.
    You see, there are always people—everywhere, in every age, and in every group—who will stand and tell you: “That man is after the order of King Saul.” While another, just as sure, will rise to declare, “No, he is the Lord’s anointed after the order of David.” No one can really know which of the two is correct. And if you happen to be in the balcony looking down at those men screaming at one another, you may wonder to which order they belong.
    Remember, your leader may be a David.
    “That’s impossible!”
    Is it? Most of us know at least two men in the lineage of David who have been damned and crucified by other men. By men who were absolutely certain the ones they were crucifying were not Davids.
    And if you don’t know of two such cases, for sure you know of one.
    Men who go after the Sauls among us often crucify the Davids