Recovered In Christ

“The Hour of Revival is a time of crisis and few go through it without deception by the enemy. Bluntly, the Revival Hour is the occasion for evil spirits to fool the most spiritual believers into becoming deceived & possessed by evil spirits in their outer being through unwittingly accepting Satan’s counterfeits. The aftermath of the Revival in Wales, which was a true work of God, revealed many ‘honest souls’ swept off their feet by evil supernatural powers, which weren’t discerned as not being the true working of God. This is a glimpse into the mixed ‘manifestations’ which have come upon the Church, as almost without exception, in every land where revival has broken forth, within a very brief period of time the counterfeit stream has mingled with the true; and almost without exception, true and false have been accepted together. Evil spirit possession has followed, and checked every similar revival throughout the centuries since Pentecost and these things must now be understood, and dealt with, if the Church is to advance to maturity.” – Jessie Penn-Lewis

How many things go on in the Christian life that are misdiagnosed? Attributed to other things? Chalked up to one of hundreds of plausible reasons and excuses, yet they never really discern the problem bull’s eye?

How many of my friends; earnest and honest seekers…skim through passages like this,  barely scratch the surface of this, and quickly rush to “yes…but what is the solution?” sounds good right? What’s the magic formula? Which deliverance package should we use? What prayers do we do? In and of themselves they are not bad questions. But they are, in a way, part of the problem.

Imagine this, you walk into a hospital emergency room, you are quite sure that something is seriously wrong, and you are willing to allow the doctors to look into it. You answer all of their questions as honestly as you can and do your best to wait patiently for the test results, you also take their advice to ignore all of the suggestions being made by the mental patients loitering about, and all of the pharmaceutical company reps hanging around hoping to sell you something they can profit from. For a while.

Soon, through a mixture of fear, inexperience and that good ol’ self reliance, you start to listen to yourself. You start to demand different tests, you want a second, third and fourth opinion. You demand to be operated on immediately, you want chemo…just to be on the safe side.

There’s nothing wrong with a blood transfusion after all? Surgery can save your life. Sometimes chemo is necessary. So what’s the problem??

The problem, dear readers, is that spiritually speaking you are as terrible a patient as our friend here in the emergency room. He cannot trust the doctors, or the process. He cannot trust that there is good reason to avoid going in blind. How many books and teachers and Bible studies has the Lord provided you. But you can’t sit still in it. You read 2 chapters about the nature of deception and counterfeit spiritual experience and start drowning out the wisdom it could teach you with either your questions or your attempts to teach it 🙂

Come on guys, a BIG part of the solution is understanding the problem. You can’t skim over the depth of demonic deception and jump into truth in an attempt to avoid the fear and confusion that looking at your foundation brings – as the truth discerns and exposes that deception! Truth is not meant to hide you from how you’ve been deceived, rather it exposes all of the counterfeit experiences and beliefs you hold and delivers you from them.

Pray for patience, pray to know the difference between questioning all ideas/experiences against the truth in the word of God vs. neurotically questioning every move you make. One is being cautious and the other is trying to save yourself. One is trusting that the word and Spirit of God will discern those ideas/experiences and the other is trusting your investigative skills. Pray for God to make you a good student, pray for him to make you a good patient. Trust in the Great Physician.

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Sunday, February 23, 2014

Most of us have been terribly afraid of dealing with real emotional pain…phobic in fact. But all of our attempts to hide and flee from soul stretching pain does nothing except cause those wounds to fester. Christ’s healing power does not remove the sting of our pain in order that we may experience transcendent joy…rather, his glory is revealed in the darkest places of our pain. Our joy is in finding him in the loneliest places of ourselves.

“In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.”
– Augustine of Hippo

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People who mock and deride the Bible’s account of creation remind me of my extended peasant family in the villages outside of Damascus, Syria, who could not grasp the simple idea of a microwave…”But…but how is it possible to cook something in a matter of minutes that fire would need hours to do??…how is it possible that the inner walls of the microwave are not hot to the touch even though the food is? Surely you are not serious!!” Trying to explain to them the behavior of water molecules and electromagnetic waves produces the same look in their eyes that talking about God’s sovereignty over time and space produces in even the brightest of non believers.

They think it takes a turning away from science and ‘reason’ to accept the possibility that God created the universe in the way he says he did in Genesis…when the truth is, their blind faith in the impossibility of a God who works outside the confines of their understanding is truly the most unscientific attitude there is.

It is as insane to deny an intelligent creator as it is for my friends down at the mental institution to deny that there are trees and grass in the park we sit in – trees and grass that we can plainly see but that they are unable to. It is not for lack of evidence. But lack of sanity. Spiritual sanity.

On the flip side – ‘believers’ who mock and deride those who cannot accept God at his word – do not understand the nature of fallen man and his inability to see the truth of the Gospel, to see what is so plain to a believer. He has substituted God’s supernatural work of grace that has dropped the scales from his eyes for a prideful jeering. Careful brother, for it is God’s mercy alone that enables you to see. It is God’s power alone that has corrected your perverted vision. Make sure your footing is stable lest it be you that slips.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,  because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”  Romans 1:18-24

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Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

St. Valentine…
I hope you remember the real story of St. Valentine today…that because he worshipped Jesus openly as his King…back in those times, that was viewed by the emperor as treason…Valentine was beheaded when he refused to renounce Christ as His Only King, not because he was so brave, but because he literally could no longer deny the Love of his life! The story goes, that while waiting for his execution he healed the jailor’s daughter who was a deaf mute…..can you imagine, the kind of love it takes to literally give up your human life because you are that much in Love with Jesus….can you imagine having that much love…that you would heal your jailor’s daughter??

Now, can you imagine the burning Love and agonizing passion it would take for God to give up his life so that we could go free?

That is THE real meaning of Love…you can’t get it, you can only receive it!

I pray that today you experience the burning zeal, yet utter peace and clarity that can only be experienced through the presence of the King, Jesus the Christ.

“Authentic love involves sacrifice. Love involves the total giving of self.”

 Love can even mean “laying down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13)

“There is transcendent meaning in sacrifice and suffering. If endured for the good of others, it is truly sanctifying (1) and salvific (2). To a world that tries to avoid discomfort of any sort, this seems ridiculous. Instead, it is just one of countless examples of how the way of Truth runs counter to human expectations. This, by the way, has always been the case. The first people to hear the story of Jesus were just as struck as we are today at the strangeness of it. Saint Paul wrote 2,000 years ago, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians:18)”

“Passion stems from the Latin work pati, meaning “to suffer.” The stem pass comes from the word passive meaning “capable of suffering.” Pass was coined in the early 16th century to denote “the suffering of Christ on the cross.” English also acquired the word through the Old French word passion meaning “strength of feeling.” This has been transferred in our modern times to denote sexual attraction and anger. Webster states the word passion “is a strong feeling, especially of anger, love or desire.” It says that passion “is an emotion, an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.” It also says that passion “is the sufferings of Christ between the night of the last supper and His death.” Interestingly enough one version states, “it is also the state or capacity of being acted on by external agents or forces.” What stronger force is there then God? Wasn’t it God who wanted “The passion of Jesus” to be a reality?”

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“Behold, I am with you always” says Jesus Christ. This has been a verse close to my heart since the moment I heard it years ago. Its meaning to me has changed significantly since scripture stopped being my custom made band aid anytime I was wounded (usually by self inflicted spiritual wounds) and instead, became what it really is – the word of God.

In obeying Christ’s command of being discipled and baptized in His Name, and being taught to obey everything he taught the apostles and early disciples…I have become absolutely convinced of the perfection and reason for his following words…and surely/behold/lo….I am with you always, to the very end.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 18-20

Only those who have been truly born again and are heart committed to doing the will of the Father in bringing souls to Christ and welcoming them to his ONE family…ONE kingdom and ONE body will truly appreciate the need of the Lord being with us in our efforts to win them to Christ rather than to our particular group or church.

Below are some excerpts from one of the greatest teachers of God – Charles Spurgeon, who deals with this with true grace and simplicity. I have attached a link to his full sermon below, I pray that God will use it to bless you and enlighten you and encourage you as you read it.

Much Love
Layla

“Now, in the course of our ministry, we shall meet with many failures in this matter of soul-winning. There are many birds that I have thought I had caught; I have even managed to put salt on their tails, but they have gone flying off after all. I remember one man, whom I will call Tom Careless. He was the terror of the village in which he lived. There were many incendiary fires in the region, and most people attributed them to him. Sometimes, he would be drunk for two or three weeks at a spell, and then he raved and raged like a madman. That man came to hear me; I recollect the sensation that went through the little chapel when he came in. He sat there, and fell in love with me; I think that was the only conversion that he experienced, but he professed to be converted.

He had, apparently, been the subject of genuine repentance, and he became outwardly quite a changed character, gave up his drinking and swearing, and was in many respects an exemplary individual. I remember seeing him tugging a barge, with perhaps a hundred people on board, whom he was drawing up to a place where I was going to preach; and he was glorying in the work, and singing as gladly and happily as any one of them. If anybody spoke a word against the Lord or His servant, he did not hesitate a moment, but knocked him over. Before I left the district, I was afraid that there was no real work of grace in him; he was a wild Red Indian sort of a man. I have heard of him taking a bird, plucking it, and eating it raw in the field. This is not the act of a Christian man, it is not one of the things that are comely, and of good repute. After I left the neighbourhood, I asked after him, and I could hear nothing good of him; the spirit that kept him outwardly right was gone, and he became worse than he was before, if that was possible; certainly, he was no better, he was unreachable by any agency.

That work of mine did not stand the fire; it would not bear even ordinary temptation, you see, after the person who had influence over the man was gone away. When you move from the village or town where you have been preaching, it is very likely that some, who did run well, will go back. They have an affection for you, and your words have a kind of mesmeric influence over them; and when you are gone, the dog will return to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Do not be in a hurry to count these supposed converts; do not take them into the church too soon; do not be too proud of their enthusiasm if it is not accompanied with some degree of softening, and tenderness, to show that the Holy Spirit has really been at work within them.

I remember another case of quite a different sort. I will call this person Miss Mary Shallow, for she was a young lady, who was never blessed with many brains; but living in the same house with several Christian young ladies she also professed to be converted. When I conversed with her, there was apparently everything that one could wish for. I thought of proposing her to the church; but it was judged best to give her a little trial first. After a while, she left the associations of the place where she had lived, and went where she had nothing much to help her; and I never heard anything more of her except that her whole time was spent in dressing herself as smartly as she could, and in frequenting gay society. She is a type of those who have not much mental furniture; and if the grace of God does not take possession of the empty space, they very soon go back into the world.

I have known several like a young man whom I will call Charlie Clever, uncommonly clever fellows at anything and everything, very clever at counterfeiting religion when they took up with it. They prayed very fluently; they tried to preach, and did it very well; whatever they did, they did it off-hand, it was as easy to them as kissing their hand. Do not be in a hurry to take such people into the church; they have known no humiliation on account of sin, no brokenness of heart, no sense of divine grace. They cry, “All serene!” and away they go; but you will find that they will never repay you for your labour and trouble. They will be able to use the language of God’s people as well as the best of His saints, they will even talk of their doubts and fears, and they will get up a deep experience in five minutes. They are a little too clever, and they are calculated to do much mischief when they get into the church; so keep them out if you possibly can.

I remember one who was very saintly in his talk, I will call him John Fairspeech. Oh! how cunningly he could act the hypocrite, getting among our young men, and leading them into all manner of sin and iniquity, and yet he would call and see me, and have half-an-hour’s spiritual conversation! An abominable wretch, who was living in open sin at the very time that he was seeking to come to the Lord’s table, and joining our societies, and anxious to be a leading man in every good work. Keep your weather eye open, brethren! They will come to you with money in their hands, like Peter’s fish with the silver in its mouth; and they will be so helpful in the work! They speak so softly, and they are such perfect gentlemen! Yes, I believe Judas was a man exactly of that kind, very clever at deceiving those around him. We must mind that we do not get any of these into the church if we can anyhow keep them out. You may say to yourself; at the close of a service, “Here is a splendid haul of fish!” Wait a bit.

Remember our Saviour’s words, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” Do not number your fishes before they are broiled; nor count your converts before you have tested and tried them. This process may make your work somewhat slow; but then, brethren, it will be sure. Do your work steadily and well, so that those who come after you may not have to say that it was far more trouble to them to clear the church of those who ought never to have been admitted than it was to you to admit them. If God enables you to build three thousand bricks into His spiritual temple in one day, you may do it; but Peter has been the only bricklayer who has accomplished that feat up to the present. Do not go and paint the wooden wall as if it were solid stone; but let all your building be real, substantial, and true, for only this kind of work is worth the doing. Let all your building for God be like that of the apostle Paul, “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

“We do not regard it to be soul-winning to steal members out of churches already established, and train them to utter our peculiar Shibboleth (a distinguishing custom or principle): we aim rather at bringing souls to Christ than at making converts to our synagogue….

….There is such a thing as selfishness in our eagerness for the aggrandizement of our own party; and from this evil spirit may grace deliver us! The increase of the kingdom is more to be desired than the growth of a clan. We would do a great deal to make a Paedobaptist brother into a Baptist, for we value our Lord’s ordinances; we would labour earnestly to raise a believer in salvation by free-will into a believer in salvation by grace, for we long to see all religious teaching built upon the solid rock of truth, and not upon the sand of imagination; but, at the same time, our grand object is not the revision of opinions, but the regeneration of natures. We would bring men to Christ and not to our own peculiar views of Christianity. Our first care must be that the sheep should be gathered to the great Shepherd; there will be time enough afterwards to secure them for our various folds. To make proselytes, is a suitable labour for Pharisees: to beget men unto God, is the honourable aim of ministers of Christ…

…By all means let us bring true converts into the church, for it is a part of our work to teach them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded them; but still, this is to be done to disciples, and not to mere professors; and if care be not used, we may do more harm than good at this point. To introduce unconverted persons to the church, is to weaken and degrade it; and therefore an apparent gain may be a real loss…

…It is a serious injury to a person to receive him into the number of the faithful unless there is good reason to believe that he is really regenerate. I am sure it is so, for I speak after careful observation. Some of the most glaring sinners known to me were once members of a church; and were, as I believe, led to make a profession by undue pressure, well-meant but ill-judged. Do not, therefore, consider that soul-winning is or can be secured by the multiplication of baptisms, and the swelling of the size of your church…

…To try to win a soul for Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the mind of the Spirit; and to endeavour to save men by mere claptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to hold an angel with bird-lime, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else. Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel. You need no other nets when you fish for men; those your Master has given you are strong enough for the great fishes, and have meshes fine enough to hold the little ones. Spread these nets and no others, and you need not fear the fulfilment of His Word, “I will make you fishers of men…

…First, regeneration will be shown in conviction of sin. This we believe to be an indispensable mark of the Spirit’s work; the new life as it enters the heart causes intense inward pain as one of its first effects. Though nowadays we hear of persons being healed before they have been wounded, and brought into a certainty of justification without ever having lamented their condemnation, we are very dubious as to the value of such healings and justifyings. This style of things is not according to the truth. God never clothes men until He has first stripped them, nor does He quicken them by the gospel till first they are slain by the law. When you meet with persons in whom there is no trace of conviction of sin, you may be quite sure that they have not been wrought upon by the Holy Spirit; for “when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” When the Spirit of the Lord breathes on us, He withers all the glory of man, which is but as the flower of grass, and then He reveals a higher and abiding glory. Do not be astonished if you find this conviction of sin to be very acute and alarming; but, on the other hand, do not condemn those in whom it is less intense, for so long as sin is mourned over, confessed, forsaken, and abhorred, you have an evident fruit of the Spirit. Much of the horror and unbelief which goes with conviction is not of the Spirit of God, but comes of Satan or corrupt nature; yet there must be true and deep conviction of sin, and this the preacher must labour to produce, for where this is not felt the new birth has not taken place.” – Charles Spurgeon

FULL Sermon: “What Is It To Win A Soul”
http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/sw01.htm

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The #1 ministry that God has given me – is my son. It is the number one ministry that he gives to every mother. Everything else follows, motherhood may be closely linked to and a part of our church life, evangelism and outreach, but God in His infinite wisdom and wonderful grace has given mothers a very specific ministry, and it has been my obedience to His will in this that has taught me and trained me in what true ministry work really is.

This isn’t a blog post defending the much debased and ridiculed traditional roles of women, rather it is a springboard for what real discipleship looks like. There are hundreds of “believers” that I come in contact with every year that are hungry, seeking discipleship, mentorship, community. They “want what I have” and are impassioned to follow in my footsteps and in the footsteps of my close brethren who walk this walk with me. Invariably the majority fall away..looking for quick fixes..avoiding the painful work that is required to truly grow. They run from the very thing they have been searching for.

The problem, is that the very qualities and dynamics necessary for proper biblical discipleship and community are absent from most of what these people have been presented with for years, and so when they come in contact with real community, real accountability, REAL relationships, they buckle.

There is a reason why my 12 year old son has more emotional maturity, more spiritual stability than people 3 times his age, and demonstrates a startling discernment absent from most – it is not because “as my son” he reads the Bible 24/7, it isn’t because he stalks my every post cutting and pasting my wisdom to his wall, it isn’t because he attends spiritual retreats and compulsively downloads sermon podcasts. It is quite simply that he walks with the wise. He walks with us.

That is what real ministry is, it is a daily walk with Christ, a daily walk with those you claim to be taught by…daily…consistently…continuously walking…working…praying…reading….growing.

Through great times and scary transitions. Through thick and thin, everything that  I am is poured out for my son everyday, that was the beginning of my ministry. That is the only kind of ministry that disciples and grows real, mature Christians.

In our fast paced, disposable culture of throwing away friendships in a click of a Facebook button, of walking away from anyone who makes you feel uncomfortable, of hopping from teacher to teacher and church to church – these droves of “believers” are stuck in a delusion of what community, fellowship and Christ’s family actually is. They have drunk from the cup of spiritual pride that has seduced them into thinking they can recreate the body of Christ. Because they think that by blocking and deleting and hiding from people who challenge them, and by shunning churches that refuse to hand over the keys to a new convert, they are trailblazers…when in reality…you are foolish children.

My prayer for you is that you would set aside the burning rebellion and chokehold of pride that grips you – it seems impossible, but you can do it, and pray for genuine humility and a teachable heart.

“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” Proverbs 13:20

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If you would seek God’s opinion of who you are and no one else’s – you would never again need to ask the question. Ever! Many people have asked me over the years where my confidence comes from, in hopes of discovering my “secret formula” for some kind of self-esteem boost, or in the hopes of reassuring themselves that I’m just delusional in their attempt to avoid the discomfort of being challenged! In so many cases, even the most devout Christians who come into “agreement” with me – are still trying to figure out how to own the authority that I have. Is it belief? Is it faith? Is it grandiose narcissism? 🙂

The truth is – ALL my life I have listened to the voices in the world, and to the voices in control of the world, not realizing what was at play… not thinking anything of it! From my earliest memories I have been surrounded by the most vicious and brutal opinions of me that I’ve ever heard of. My nickname since I was 4 or 5 years old was ugly. whore. stupid. garbage…..given to me by the people closest to me. Try to imagine hearing that every single day. Feeling it. Owning it. Being it! As my bones and flesh and hair grew..so did the power of those opinions about me….the ones given to me and the ones I formed independently. We could pause here and chat about nature vs nurture? Did I become a monster because of the evil that surrounded me? Would I have become the depraved sociopath I became regardless of who’s opinion was fed to me?

The truth is – I was destined to be fused as a villain and a victim from the moment I was born…there is no separation…on through the years of my life…I can’t tell you how many different opinions about me I have heard….to some I have been a saint, there are people right now in my community of believers who would take a bullet for me…who adore me to pieces…and there are others who loathe me…who actually threaten to physically harm me…who think I am a monster. What is the point of me telling you this?

I know you think you see it coming…how I’m going to launch into telling you some Bible quotes about my identity in Christ…and how I’m forgiven…and how I am redeemed and how I’ve really convinced myself that I’m forgiven and that all those opinions about me whether true or false don’t really matter because I only listen to God’s opinion.

I could tell you that! It’s all true! But I don’t think it will really help you – see, I’m worried about the person who is reading this, who really is like the boy whistling in the dark pretending not to be afraid of the shadows he sees around him…I’m worried for you, because I know that so many of you…DEEP DEEP down don’t really believe you’re anything other than what the world has told you that you are. Even those of you who love to come into fellowship with us and quote extensively to us about how God does not see your sin anymore, he only sees Jesus in you…or how you believe you are redeemed….I don’t believe you. Despite how many affirmations you memorize and how many excuses you make for yourself that it’s ok not to be perfect…and how many pictures of rainbows with quotes about being worthy you post…I don’t believe that you believe you are who God says you are.

It’s in your eyes. It’s how you carry yourself. It’s how you act. It’s oozing out of you! It’s like a grown man wearing a young boy’s outfit…you wouldn’t be fooled that he’s a kid just because of the clothes he’s wearing….I can see it in you, you are old and weary and truly believe and behave that you are worthless…I want nothing more than for you to TRULY see yourself the way that I see myself…through the eyes of the only guy’s opinion that counts – Jesus.

The truth is, that is never ever going to happen, so long as you continue to try and talk yourself into “standing on the word of God”…there is no way around it, you have got to get real with God. Will you do a dare? I dare you to ask God to reveal to you all your self-deception. Do it. Ask Him! Ask Him to reveal to you who you really are!!!!

The truth is, of all the nasty, horrible opinions of me that are floating around out there…there is no opinion of me that is worse than the truth about me.

That is who God revealed to me. The totally depraved, hopeless person that I AM in and of myself. Period. And what He did to redeem me through His Son Jesus Christ is my identity. I was literally born again in spirit through Jesus Christ. Born again. Every single iota of my spiritual DNA has been created new in Jesus Christ. THAT is who I am. I have learned, like a newborn baby to depend on God’s voice to be my milk, my protection, my dad. He is the voice I know. I have grown up in a new house, with a new family, in a new body, with a new mind in a new place, with God as THE ONLY voice that I will listen to. I know my father’s voice. It doesn’t matter how well clothed you are in scripture…I can tell who’s voice is in you.

So please, think about this, if I was willing to turn my back on the opinion of the people closest to me, and learned to wean myself off of needing their approval and acceptance….if I was willing to forsake the love of this world….do you really think that I am going to stop now? Stop coming…stop pushing? Stop standing? Stop pressing into the enemy’s territory? No. Very simply. No. It is one of the greatest weapons that God has ever given me. The quiet and unafraid “No”.

Every voice that comes into my life that has tried to destroy me, I can simply and yet irrevocably say No!

Every attempt to turn me against the broken people of this world through accusations, slander and malice towards me….I say No!

Every assignment, every dart and every which way the Enemy has tried to seduce me into turning against God….I say No!

Tell God the truth. Ask Him in all honesty to reveal to you what you are most afraid of having confirmed about you – ask him! Say YES to Christ’s offer to take on to His Cross that Sin that you keep dancing around – and I promise – you will calmly and powerfully look EVERY single storm that comes into your life and simply tell it…No.

“Buffeted, knocked down but never knocked out, cast down but never in despair, persecuted but never forsaken, because – praise the Lord! – you have found the answer to what it takes to stand in the ministry you have received: a clear view of Jesus, in contemplation; in reflection of His glory in the midst of the battle; and then being made like unto Him as day by day your heart is lifted up to the Lord Jesus as He imparts to your life the sweetness and loveliness of His character.” 
– Alan Redpath

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:13-14 

(Re-blogged – Fan Favourite )

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The most powerful weapon of defense against the onslaught of the Devil, is forgiveness. But no one has the power to forgive or to be forgiven without the Son. No one has the power to live out that forgiveness without the Son. Forgiveness is Life. Eternal Life. You can’t have one without the other. You can’t understand one without the other. Do you know how to walk in life in a way that causes the most self assured non believer to begin doubting himself in your presence. Do you know how to overturn every demonic assignment in your vicinity to the point of making demons tremble at the sound of your name? Do you know what power really is? Do you want to be like Christ? Really?

You see, nothing and no one could move Jesus from His position of power. No one controlled him – no matter what they did. Despite all that happened TO Him, none of it happened outside of what he permitted. He was not a puppet of anyone’s opinion of Him…good or bad. He was the CAUSE of everything he demonstrated. He needed nothing and no one outside of Himself to be all that He was and is. Do you want that? Do you want to be such a badass that not even your persecutors…your haters…your murderers or even your greatest fans can cause you to react in any way other than in praising God and forgiving them? Do you want that? Do you want to be so open hearted that you love everyone around you more than your own life – and yet not a single one of them can control or deter you in any way from the Father’s Will?

If you’re waiting for a 5 step formula on how to “activate” this power within you, or a certain passage in scripture to memorize in order to access this forgiveness, you’re on the wrong page. You can’t start with forgiving others. You have to start at ground zero. Where you are. Do you know God’s forgiveness? Seriously…do you know it? Have you tasted it…has it permeated your being…do you walk around in life like a man who has been pardoned the moment before his execution?

How can you get to that place and stay there? It’s actually very very very simple…so simple that most people never really get it. You must be a person of prayer. And Jesus Christ is the one who teaches us how to pray. Is your life a life of prayer? Are you a person of prayer? Or are you so lost – that even as you read this you’re shaking your head thinking “what kind of prayer?”

I’m not talking about form, or a set of prayers, or how long you pray, or how often. I’m talking about continuous and ceaseless unbroken communion with the lover of your soul!

Understand that there IS NO WAY to be like Christ without Him. Reread that and think about it for a moment. The problem is that some of you thought that maybe I was going to offer a formula or suggestion on how to be more self assured like Jesus – relying only on the power within yourself. But there is NO power within yourself that can exist without union with the Lord. That is what Christianity is. Your union with the risen Lord. You cannot have anything that Christ had without having the man Himself.

Witnessing being born again with the very real spirit of the Lord and His Father coming to live in you, that changes you – the SAVIOR Himself is now closer to you than your own heartbeat…forgiveness becomes real. Salvation becomes real. Eternal Life becomes real. Grace overwhelms you. What can mortal man possibly do to you??

Pour your heart out to God…bow your head and confess all of your hidden thoughts and motives…sing songs to Him…praise Him….talk to Him about the flowers you saw this morning and how the breeze caught your attention…reveal to Him the hidden things in your heart – speak back to Him the hidden things He reveals to you.

If you do this…I mean really do this, really get into a real prayerful relationship with the Lord…He will supernaturally reveal to you and seal in your spirit the truth of who He is and what He has done for you…that…THAT is what will naturally lead to the kind of confidence, assurance and conviction it takes to easily forgive all others. You will naturally bear the fruit. If and when you start to slip, the very real and true voice of the Lord will warn you…you will become extremely sensitive to sin in your life. The enemy’s darts will have nowhere to land…the snake will have no opening by which to enter…you will start to put away childish things and stand as a man or a woman in the STRENGTH of the Lord. He will not let your foot slip.

“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” …One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” Acts 19:13-16

“Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29)

“Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!” (Matthew 26:41)

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27)

“This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is on heaven. Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever. Amen.”     – Jesus (Matthew 6:9-13) (Luke 11:1-4)                            

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For as long as I can remember, I have had something to say. For years  I have tried to figure out what that something was…whether it was through making something up or simply getting lost in the details of my own mind and life… (The unfortunate fate of many writers). But nonetheless I have always known I had something to say. I have tried to move away from that many times in my life, opting for a hobby or a calling that was much less dangerous to my reputation and Facebook friend count!!! But God has other plans!

The people in my life who know me the best, who truly know my heart, know that I am telling the truth when I say, that The Lord has truly changed my heart, he has put such a burden on my heart and spirit for the underdog, he has inflamed my heart to see people set free from oppression and bondage and the snares of the Devil. I mean that with all my heart and will.

I say this, because in the last 5 or 6 days I have witnessed some truly deceptive and demonic attacks come to pass on people I sincerely love and who have now set themselves against me, being driven by pride and demonic harassment to believe I am their enemy.

I could do nothing, I could – retreat, I could spare myself the drama…and yet…..I have something to say. And I have learned the hard way, over the years, that if there is one thing I know for sure about God, He is relentless in calling you to that which he burdens you with. And the burden on my heart is to talk about the deception and spiritual pride that has swept through the revival among some of my friends as it has many times in the past, in the history of the whole Church of Christ.

We’re going to start a series of blogs on the basics of some of the pitfalls and sidetracks of revival – starting with spiritual pride.

But first, we’re going to start with a great introduction on the subject through the work of Jessie Penn-Lewis and most importantly, prayer.

“The Holy Spirit is still in those who were baptized with the Spirit, during the last Revivals. The mistake at the time of the Revival in Wales in 1904 was to become occupied with the effects of Revival, and not to watch and pray in protecting and guarding the cause of Revival. The Spirit baptized souls, at present locked up in spirit, or side-tracked through Satanic deceptions, are still those who would be the instruments through whom God could work, were they but set free. Useless now, but priceless in maturity, and experience and knowledge for the guiding and guarding of a Revived Church, when they are once more liberated for true co-working with the Holy Spirit of God.

How, then, should the Lord’s praying ones pray at the present time? They should pray

(1) Against evil spirits now blocking and hindering Revival.

(2) For the cleansing and delivering of those who became possessed through deception during the time of later Revivals.

(3) That when Revival is once more given it may be kept pure, and

(4) For the preparation of instruments for Revival, trained and taught of God to guard against further inroads of the powers of darkness.

In brief, let all who pray for Revival, pray for light to reach those who HAVE BEEN ENSNARED INTO BONDAGE TO THE DECEIVING POWERS OF DARKNESS, that they may be set free, and once more become usable in Revival service; then will the forces of evil be beaten back from the ground they have regained, which still belongs to God.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the essence of Revival, for Revival comes from a knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and the way of co-working with Him which enables Him to work in Revival power. The primary condition for Revival is, therefore, that believers should individually know the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This term being used as a convenient expression for describing a definite influx of the Holy Spirit which thousands of believers throughout the Church of Christ have received as a definite experience. Such an infilling of the Spirit was the cause not only of the Revival in Wales in 1904-5, but of all other Revivals in the history of the world.

The fact that the counterfeiting work of Satan follows Revival through such an opening of the spiritual world as enables the evil spirit-beings to find access to believers under the guise of the Divine Spirit, must not hold back the children of God from seeking the true flood tide of the Spirit, for the bringing about of pure Revival, and the emancipation of the Church of Christ from the bonds of sin and Satan.” War On The Saints, Jessie Penn-Lewis.

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