Bearing Fruit That Lasts

As I said recently in a social media post, “Inner healing isn’t always fun, but it is always worth it. Sometimes the fruit isn’t instantly evident, but that’s how we’ve been trained to believe and expect things to happen in our microwave Western culture. The question we have to ask ourselves is not “does this look nice and tidy” but “does it bear fruit that lasts? (John 15:16a)”

Inner healing should bear positive results over time, but the unpopular truth is that it doesn’t necessarily mean that at the end of every session someone will feel more peaceful, joyful, or even more hopeful. Certainly one could make the argument (and many do) that if God was in it, then one should leave a session of inner healing with more fruit of the Spirit as a whole, and while that is usually true, it simply isn’t always true. Sometimes part of the inner healing process involves grieving things that you let go of. Grief doesn’t look very much like hope, joy, or peace. So while inner healing may be good, and healthy, and helpful, it is also a process.

One of the struggles of the inner healing movement is that it sometimes looks very counterproductive from the outside. What I mean by that is that if someone goes through deep inner healing and starts uncovering repressed memories of childhood abuse, traumatic circumstances that have caused PTSD, or other painful memories of past events, the long-term result will eventually be wholeness. In the short term, however, there may be an increase in emotional triggers and a grieving process for things that have been lost may occur. Mind you, Holy Spirit is the Counselor and Comforter, and during this process, He is ever-present to give both counsel and comfort, but that doesn’t always mean everything is fixed in ten seconds. To the outside observer, this tends to make things appear like they are making things worse instead of better, but that’s only if the goal is instant results instead of fruit that will last.

On the other hand, sometimes inner healing ministers, coaches, and counselors can be their own worst enemy. Certainly, there are conditions and circumstances that tend to take a lot of time and energy to wade through. At the same time, not every person or situation requires that same level of depth. If there is a high level of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), Freemasonry, or other bloodline-related issues in a family line, those can take a good bit of time and energy to unravel, and even moreso if the individual is an SRA survivor as well. While bloodline issues tend to far more prevalent than we wish they were, the good news is that not everyone falls into those categories, and not every situation requires years of inner healing work to unravel.

The best thing we can do for ourselves and our families is to get inner healing early and often. I say early because the sooner one deals with things in his or her family line, the better one’s future will be, and this is also passed down to any children one has as well. If people get inner healing as children or teens, they won’t have the same level of problems as if someone is fifty and just beginning the journey. I say often because life throws things at us on an ongoing basis. Whether it is something as simple as remembering to forgive a coworker who upset us or something more complex such as breaking off occult curses that have recently been sent our way, engaging this process often, even if only to a minimal degree, ensures we not only maintain but continue to progress in our personal journeys to wholeness.

While Jesus is the Healer and Savior and delivers us from our distress, even He went through difficulties and problems. The Bible says in Isaiah 53:3a that, “He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. (NLT)” In Hebrews 12:2b it says of Jesus that, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus knew that some of the things he would go through would be exceedingly difficult. It was so hard that in Luke 22:42a Jesus even asked “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me . . .” The difficulty Jesus faced at that time was more emotional than anything else. He knew what He was getting Himself into, and He really didn’t want to do it. Yet as Hebrews 12:2 says, Jesus endured all of the pain and difficulty, grief, sorrows, and shame because He recognized that on the other side would be great joy.

At the end of the day, whether the issues in one’s life are simple and easy to move through or extremely complex, highly traumatic, and difficult to deal with, it is important for us to remember that we need to be looking not just for short-term easy solutions, but for long-term fruit.

Four Simple Steps To Hear From God

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Everyone needs to hear from God. However, while in theory it should always be easy to hear God speaking to us, sometimes this can be difficult. Some factors that make this more difficult are when we are stressed or tired, but we can also hit demonic resistance that attempts to block our ability to hear God. Sometimes the problem is that we haven’t learned how to recognize God’s voice speaking to us whether in words or images. There are, however, some keys to help us hear Him more easily. We will look at four simple steps to hear from God that may help ease this process.

Step 1) Set aside uninterrupted time to focus on hearing God.

This time is meant for listening to God, which also means not doing anything else. Demons like to create distractions when we set aside time like this to keep us from honing in on connecting with God, so plan in advance to reduce distractions. Turn off your phone if needed. Go to a quiet location, whether that is sitting in your car, the library, or your room. Take the pets out to the bathroom before you start so they don’t start whining at the door. If you have kids, you may need to find an activity that will keep them both occupied *and* not fighting with one another. Naptime is especially good for this, but a movie can also be helpful.

Step 2) Write down your thoughts, questions and concerns.

Some prefer pen and paper, but I prefer to use word processing software on my computer. One could also use a tablet of some kind with a writing app. I have a friend who doesn’t know how to type but writes all the time, so he uses a text-to-type software. However works best for you, write out the things on your heart, sort of like journaling, but with intention and expectation on hearing God’s thoughts as answers for the questions and concerns that you bring up.

Step 3) After asking a question, stop writing and listen.

This can be the hard part if you aren’t used to it, as often you are waiting for responses to enter your mind. Write down the thoughts or images that come to mind. Usually this is God communicating with your spirit, which then flows down into your soul/mind and is processed by your brain as thoughts. The difference is that these aren’t your thoughts, which is usually evident because at this point you really aren’t thinking anything at all other than being still and listening. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you feel you have covered everything on your mind.

If you don’t have anything specific in mind, ask the question “God, what do you want to say to me today?” We may have our own questions, thoughts, and agendas, but often God has things He wants to say that are unrelated to what we are asking. When we take time to hear not just God’s thoughts for specific situations, but open ourselves up to whatever He wants to tell us, we will often be surprised by what He says

Step 4) When you feel you are done writing, read back over what you wrote.

See what feels like it resonates. If something doesn’t feel like it fits, ask yourself why. This final step involves discerning what we feel is and is not what God is saying, and is an important step. Sometimes the things we hear come out of our own fears, questions, hopes, and concerns. Sometimes we get conflicting voices speaking to us. Sometimes, we are both hearing God and getting things muddled up with our own thoughts at the same time. Discernment is important, and taking time to review what we feel we have received helps us to develop that skill.

While not foolproof, this is a method that I often use to hear from God. As a tradition, I also take time to do this around Christmas each year with no agenda other than to hear what God wants to share with me about my life, that of family and friends, and even sometimes things in the world in the coming year. I will sometimes get prophetic words for a few friends and family at that time as well. This simple four-step process is an easy way to get into a mental space to hear from God, and helps to clear all the emotional clutter out of the way by setting aside purposeful time with God. Life gets busy, but we never should get so busy that we can’t take time to listen to God’s thoughts toward us.

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Provoking Faith For The Impossible

Back in the early 2000’s I first heard about gemstones appearing supernaturally from heaven, brought in some cases by angels. I began to ask the Lord to let me experience this miracle myself. Roughly ten years later, in 2013, I was blessed to begin to experience gemstones appearing from heaven for myself, and it has sent me on a journey of further provoking faith for the impossible.

Since my book Gemstones From Heaven was first published in August of 2015, I have continued to pursue these types of miracles to chronicle them in my God Signs book series. The second book in the series, Feathers from Heaven, was published a year later in August of 2016, and shares scriptures, stories, and my own encounters with this particular heavenly manifestation. I have other books in the series on gold and gold dust, heavenly oil, and manna from heaven that are all in various stages of being written.

While it might seem a fruitless pursuit to some, and one that takes people’s focus off of Jesus, I have a different perspective. I believe that through enjoying and engaging the gifts that He gives us, God provokes us to have faith for the impossible.

A friend once shared a dream with me, and in this dream, she and a group of people were in a period of economic hardship and religious persecution. They took the gemstones they had received supernaturally and used them to trade for things they needed. When I say “trade”, they weren’t bartering with other humans—they were trading with heaven. The gemstones were the “evidence of things hoped for and substance of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1)”, and in the dream, they used these miracle jewels to access heaven’s supply in their times of need.

I believe that when we engage our faith for the impossible, we become better equipped to manifest God’s solutions into the practical problems of this world. In fact, I believe that almost all miracles are practical and are meant to solve problems and that our faith plays a major role in miracles being released into the earth.

Right now in Georgia, there is a bible that is flowing with oil. It began over a year ago, and thousands of vials of oil have been given to those who are hungry for God to move in their lives. While the oil itself is not a mystical object with special powers, it is appearing miraculously, and that oil is being used to anoint people and pray over them, and many are getting healed. Multiple accounts of cancers being healed have even been reported. You can read more about the oil here and watch a compilation of videos on the subject here. God is using this oil miracle to enliven the faith of His people, and as a result, they are believing God for the impossible, and are seeing the impossible happen.

Sometimes it seems silly to believe for seemingly-impossible things, but when the impossible starts to actually happen, something changes inside of us. When we step out in faith, our faith grows. The parable of the mustard seed of faith wasn’t about having little to no faith—it was about a growth process to expand our faith.

Personally, I have been praying for years for leaves from the tree of life. Think about what that would look like. Imagine being in a church meeting, or even in a Bible study in someone’s home, and beautiful leaves begin to float down from the ceiling or appear on the surfaces around you, and a sweet aroma fills the air. As you pick up one of these leaves, the allergies that have been plaguing you evaporate, and the nagging nerve pain in your low back vanishes instantly. Imagine bringing a leaf home to your sick spouse, who hasn’t spent a pain-free day in years. He or she takes it gently in their hands, and as they hold it, you see the lines of tension on their face soften, and fade away. They get up and start doing things they haven’t been able to do in years, and laughter begins to fill the house once again. This seems far-fetched to some, but Revelation 22:2 says that, “. . . the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Nations are made up of large quantities of people, so leaves that are meant to heal the nations are made for you and me.

Bread and manna miracles in the Bible were an act of God’s provision for His people. Jesus changed the water to wine to provide for people. When the jar flowed with oil supernaturally in 2 Kings 4, it was to provide for God’s people. When Moses struck the rock and it flowed with water, that again was the provision of God for His chosen ones. God wants us to experience miracles, and He is doing it on purpose as a way of provoking faith for the impossible. After all, if we can believe that leaves or feathers or jewels will appear supernaturally, is it really that hard for God to fix a marriage, or finances, addition problems, or incurable diseases? It’s time for us to raise the bar of our faith a bit higher and believe for the impossible.

Why Does God Use Angels?

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A question that some readers have asked me is “Why does God use angels?” After all, we have Jesus, and the Holy Spirit lives in us, so what role could angels possibly play that God Himself can’t just take care of on His own? I see the logical reasoning behind the question, but I think that it leaves out a lot of details about who God is, how He works, and what we have seen Him do throughout Biblical history both before and after the cross.

First, we need to recognize something about God’s nature. The very first thing we see about God’s nature in the Bible is in Genesis 1, where God reveals Himself as Creator. God likes to create. If we consider the sheer number of different insect species in the world, not to mention all the birds, fish, mammals, etc. He has a limitless ability to envision and create living beings. God created Angels, Powers, Thrones, Dominions, Living Creatures, Elders, and more in the heavenly realms, possibly all before He even began to fashion the earth. God did this partly because He loves to create. He also loves to love, and I personally believe that part of the reason God created such a myriad of different beings was partly because He wanted to love them. God gave us a job in Genesis, which was to take dominion over the earth. The Bible speaks of angels’ primary job as being messengers. If nothing else, God made angels to serve certain functions in His universe, in the same way that He created us to serve certain other functions in that same universe. So the first reason angels do certain things is simply because God designed it that way.

Second, let us look back at the work of the Holy Spirit and angels in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit appears in a few places: as the Cloud and Pillar of Fire (Exodus 13), where He comes upon Saul (in 1 Samuel 10:10), and when the priests made sacrifices to consecrate the first Temple 91 Kings 8:10-11).

Angels appeared *many* times throughout the Old Testament: to Hagar (Genesis 16), Abraham (Genesis 18), Lot and his family (Genesis 19), Jacob (Genesis 32:1), Moses (Exodus 3), the Israelites (Exodus 23:20-23, 33:2), to Balaam and the donkey (Numbers 22), the nation of Israel (Judges 2), Gideon (Judges 6), Manoah and his wife (Judges 13), David (2 Samuel 24), Elijah (1 Kings 19, 2 Kings 1), Daniel (Daniel 6, 10), the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 1-6). Furthermore, Angels showed up in the New Testament to Joseph (Matthew 1:20, 2:13, 2:19), Zechariah (Luke 1), Mary (Luke 1), and a group of shepherds (Luke 2). Angels play a consistent role as messengers in the Old Testament, so it should not surprise us when God uses Angels in such a role today.

Another point to consider is that the Bible speaks of angels in a few different places in both the Old and New Testaments as being involved in heavenly warfare. If we think about the implications of this, it means that there are a bunch of spirit beings who are not God the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit who are warring against one another in the spiritual realms. We are instructed by God to be involved in this battle, and God didn’t simply exercise His God-level powers one time the moment everything went wrong and squash all the baddies. For whatever reason ( *ahem* free will), God decided not to do that and has involved angels in that celestial battle. As such, why should we find it surprising when God uses angels to fight in what is literally a spiritual holy war?

We also need to remember that Heaven operates on a hierarchy system. God is the Supreme Emperor of all things. Monarchs don’t do everything themselves—many things they delegate to their subjects. The Throne Room in heaven also has twenty-four elders (Revelation 4:4) and four living creatures (Revelation 4:6) who presumably have some sort of ruling authority, with one-hundred-million angels surrounding them (Revelation 5:11). We see in Joshua 5:13-15 that God has an army, and that the army has a commander. Daniel 12:1 refers to Michael as a “heavenly prince” and in Daniel 10:13 Michael is referenced as “one of the chief princes”, meaning there are other chief princes and other not-chief princes as well. Ephesians 1:21 and 6:12 and Colossians 1:16 also list rulers, authorities, dominions, thrones, powers of this world, and wicked heavenly spiritual forces. If heaven operates on a hierarchy system, and it clearly does, why would we expect God to do everything Himself when He has clearly designed other beings for us to partner with to release His will in the earth?

At the end of the day, while the answer “God made it that way” isn’t a very satisfying answer, that really does seem to be the most apparent reason why God uses angels, but as we have seen, the entire Bible supports this fact as well, so when angels are sent to us by God we can be confident that we are not only permitted but encouraged to partner with them to bring heaven to earth.

If you want to learn more about how to partner with angels, join my free email list (below) and you will receive my ebook “Engaging Angels” as a thank you.

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Is The Law Of Attraction In The Bible?

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The concept of the “Law of Attraction” was made famous by the book “The Secret” which was published in 2006, and its material has garnered quite a bit of attention over the last decade. This “law” is based on the idea that the things we release as far as our hopes, dreams, goals, and most specifically our inner intentions go out into the universe where they will then be reflected back upon us with the things that we desire. The term most often used for this is “manifesting”, where someone releases an intention into the universe and “manifests” their will. While the concepts in it are usually applied to money or possessions, and are not new ideas even among the New Age where it is primarily marketed and targeted, it certainly can be confusing to a reader who feels like the information resonates in some way but isn’t sure how this “Law of Attraction” fits in with biblical principles. Let’s take a look at the answer to the question, “Is The Law of Attraction in the Bible?”

The simple answer is “No . . . and Yes.” So, really, not so simple after all.

The Law of Attraction as it is usually touted is based on the concept of a benevolent and intelligent Universe that keeps track of our thoughts and intentions and reflects them back upon us. Keep in mind that “universe” is always capitalized in this context because it is treated not as an inanimate existence, but a benevolent force with a mind of its own. In fact, this Universe sounds SO benevolent that it almost could be mistaken for God. And that’s really where it fails the Biblical sniff-test. This teaching takes the created universe and elevates it to the level of God, something that believers were warned about pretty clearly in Romans 1:18-23. The passage is actually pretty enlightening regarding this subject, so let’s read the whole thing then continue:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

While the focus of the verse is on the wrath of God, let’s skip that part and look at the why of the wrath. It says that God has made His nature plain to everyone because of what? The creation. God’s creation displays His invisible qualities, such as His eternal power and divine nature. Furthermore, it goes on to explain that because this is all clearly visible in creation, everyone is without excuse.

Here’s where this connects with The Law of Attraction and “The Secret”: In verse 20 it says, “for since the creation of the world. . . ” That word for “world” isn’t actually the word world, but the Greek word “kosmos” (Strongs G2889), which is, unsurprisingly, the English word “cosmos.” Another word for the “cosmos” is the “universe.” If we read it with that in mind, it tells us that the Universe spoken of in the Law of Attraction is 1) a created thing and 2) that it points directly to God’s power and divinity, so we are without an excuse to deny His existence.

The New Age has taken the universe as a created entity and done what the rest of the passage speaks of—turned it into what is essentially an idol to worship. This is where the New Age concept of the Law of Attraction isn’t just not-biblical, but is actually fairly anti-christ in nature, putting the focus on created beings instead of the One True God.

There’s more to the story however, because as I said before, it is both unbiblical and biblical. Let’s look at the other side of the equation, but before we do that, let’s ask ourselves the question, “Why is the Law of Attraction so attractive?”

What makes this idea so attractive are actually two primary things:
1) It has a positive feeling connected to it.
2) It works.

If it was just that someone gets good feels related to the idea, that wouldn’t really be enough to keep people on board long-term, but the fact that it actually works is why this idea is propagated and is partly why people are, dare I say, attracted to the Law of Attraction. People like things that work and people tend to tell others about things they have tried that work. In other words, the Law of Attraction gets a lot of word-of-mouth advertising when people find it effective. Since that’s the case, let’s take a peek at what about it is scriptural, and how we can put that to use in our own lives.

There are two primary verses that can be used to explain the Law of Attraction in Scripture. The first is Luke 6:37-38 which says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

It’s quite simple—what we put out, we get back, whether it is judgments, condemnation, forgiveness, or anything else at all. Furthermore, when we put it out, we get it back in a greater degree than we put it out, so there is a wisdom-nugget in there to be wise about what and how we act and think because “with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

The second passage that expresses this concept is Galatians 6:7-9 which states:

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

This passage shows us another aspect of this Law—that really, the Law of Attraction is simply the Law of Sowing and Reaping by a different name. It makes a mockery of God to think we can sow without reaping, because whatever we sow, we are guaranteed to reap. Galatians 6 has two tidbits of wisdom for us as well in this regard. The first is to pay attention to what we sow, because everything either brings death or life with it in return. The second nugget of wisdom is that we must persevere in our sowing because while things do not always appear immediately, as long as we persist, we will receive our harvest. Hebrews 6:12 explains that concept by saying, “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” Faith and patience are primary keys to reaping what we have sown.

To answer the “Yes” side of “is the Law of Attraction biblical, it is literally just a repackaging of the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping. It says that whatever we put out, we will get back . . in good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

One key point to remember here is that our prayers, our thoughts, our words, and even our actions all play a role in sowing and reaping. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The last part, thoughts and intents of the heart means exactly what it sounds like—the things we think and our intentions and expectations for things. That’s why Proverbs 23:7a says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” The things we think, we become—sowing and reaping yet again.

There are other ways of expressing this concept, such as “what you behold, you become” but at the end of the day whether we call it “Beholding”, “the Law of Focus”, “the Law of Attraction”, “Sowing and Reaping”, or something else entirely, it is all just various ways of expressing the well-supported biblical concept that what we put out, we will receive back in like kind. Even Jesus taught on this subject. However, regardless of what one reads and what tools someone decides to use related to intention, manifestation, faith, and attraction, please let us always keep in mind that we aren’t sowing it out to a benevolent and sentient Universe, but a benevolent and sentient God who created that universe. And let us always remember what Psalm 37:4 says, which is that as we delight in Him, this benevolent and sentient God of the cosmos will give us the desires of our hearts.

Walking Together In Disagreement

Normally, when we talk about “walking with” another person, we generally refer to being in agreement with him or her. However, in the current climate of our world, which on a political level is somewhat toxic, we need to understand the importance of walking together in disagreement.

Is it nice when we agree with one another? Sure. It certainly is convenient, at any rate. Comfortable too. In fact, some people become so comfortable in their place of agreement that they surround themselves with proverbial “yes-men,” and anyone who disagrees is removed from the circle. However, there is a certain danger in always keeping ourselves cloistered in comfortable agreement, and that danger is stagnation.

When we find people in life we disagree with, especially if we are able to handle that disagreement in a mature manner, we have an opportunity to grow. I’m going to use transgenderism as an example. I personally believe that most if not all transgender individuals have an underlying psychological issue or disorder that needs to be treated as opposed to it being a difference to be celebrated. I also believe that by celebrating dysfunction, we do these people great harm. In my line of work as a trauma nurse, I occasionally work with transgender individuals and help them along their healing journey after a car accident or other physical trauma. During that time, I call them whatever name and personal pronoun they prefer to be referred by, and treat them with the same respect I would give to any other human being. Basically, the transgender subject with that person only becomes an issue, in my mind, if it is somehow medically relevant or if they choose to bring in a whole lot of drama about it. The key to my entire example is this: I don’t have to agree with their perception of transgenderism to help them physically heal, care for them, or be kind and loving to them.

There are so many things in life where we disagree with one another. And while unity and agreement can be helpful and at times quite powerful, we also have to be able to walk together in disagreement with one another. I don’t even always agree with my wife, but we have been married for twelve years and are going strong. There are definitely a lot of times I have upset her, and she has upset me, and we disagree on a lot of things. However, the key to good relationships is learning not how to walk together in agreement, because that is easy. It’s when we disagree that we have to put the effort in and figure out how to keep moving forward.

While writing this, I was distractedly scrolling through my Facebook feed and came across a conversation about kids and Trump hats and a generally volatile real-life situation. I read through the comments and read the following quote: “my bias came out when I saw those ‘Make America Great Again’ hats. To me it just says bigotry, racism and limited thinkers.” The ironic thing about the above statement is it was possibly one of the most bigoted things the person could have written, and demonstrated extremely limited thinking. A bigot, by definition, is one who is intolerant of those with differing beliefs. The man who wrote the above quote looked at a person, saw a hat with a particular slogan on it, and immediately judged the character and heart motivations of the person wearing it without actually attempting to see if any of his judgments were actually true.

My wife and I have some family friends with very divergent political beliefs. The thing is though, that we have healthy and even enjoyable political discussions because we don’t let politics define our relationship. Our choice to share life together as friends is what decides how we manage our disagreements, not the other way around. Certainly there are times to limit the level of access that we give toxic relationships in our lives, but I think that these days we are far more focused on cutting out dissenting voices than we are engaged in learning from one another and committing to walking together even in disagreement. I think it’s high time that we bring back some maturity into our disagreements.

Should We Prophesy About Dates, Spouses, And Life-Altering Decisions?

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Over the past century, God has been restoring the prophetic to the Body of Christ. People have been learning about the gifts of the spirit, prophets, discernment, hearing God’s voice, and more. One of the things that are commonly taught when learning about prophecy are the three things that we should never prophesy. The first is dates that things will or will not happen. The second is who we will or will not marry, and the third is about any kind of life-altering decision. Should we prophesy about dates, spouses, and life-altering decisions? Let’s find out.

My dad is a Charismatic-leaning Episcopal priest, and he doesn’t like dealing with the prophetic. Why? Because he absolutely hates when people say foolish things and tack a “well, God told me so it must be true/wise/good” on the end. He’s always like “That’s the ultimate trump card. What am I supposed to say to argue with that, even though it’s obviously a dumb idea?” His solution to issues like this is to avoid it as much as possible, much like the prohibition on prophesying about dates, spouses, and decisions. There is some wisdom behind this to a certain extent, but it is also somewhat of a reaction to past abuses, and there is a risk that we inhibit future growth by avoiding these topics entirely.

Before going further, let’s look a little at the levels of prophecy in scripture. In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul outlines the gifts of the Spirit, and in 1 Corinthians 14 he expounds in more depth on the gifts of prophecy and tongues. Prophecy, in that context, is for building up others, strengthening one another, and comfort. There is another passage in Ephesians 4 that talks about prophets as a gift of Jesus to the Body of Christ. Some argue that anyone who can prophesy is a prophet, but the gift of prophecy from the Holy Spirit and the gift of the prophet from Jesus are two different things. Both can prophesy, but I suggest their functions are different. Furthermore, Romans 12:6 says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith . . .” Prophecy, then, has levels that are in some measure designated by our level of faith as well.

The common teaching in spirit-filled circles is that while all people can prophesy for building up, strengthening, and comfort, only people with the designated title of “prophet” should go in further depth and speak about dates, spouses, life decisions, and other more “risky” things. The rationale there is that certain people have a special grace to prophesy those things that others don’t have as a result of their “office” as a prophet. While I definitely agree that there are real prophets and there are differences between the grace on their life and that of non-prophets, I don’t think it means that no one else can prophesy about the three areas in question.

One of the major reasons people teach that no one else should prophesy on these subjects is due to a combination of fear and wisdom. Fear says that bad things have happened before and people have made bad decisions from prophecies that were inaccurate, so we should avoid it entirely. Wisdom says that people have made bad decisions from prophecies that were in accurate so we need to pay attention to who, how, where, and when we deal with those types of prophetic words. The former is focused on how bad the problem is while the latter on how to avoid the problem, but in reality both have the potential to miss a third aspect of the situation: discernment.

If we do not teach the body how to rightly discern between God’s voice, our own mental clutter and baggage and noise, and the enemy, then no amount of rules are going to fix the problem. Hebrews 5:14 says that we learn to discern through constant use. If we are never put into challenging situations, we will never hone our discernment. As a teacher, I want people to learn and grow, so I see no value in making arbitrary rules out of fear to avoid a problem that might or might not come up. Actually, I expect that not only will we have situations that are less than optimal, but that these moments are teaching opportunities. Why should we expect people to grow if there is no challenge?

Initially when prophets came into the Charismatic scene, there were some pretty impressive displays of accurate prophetic unction, including words of knowledge of people’s names, birthdates, social security numbers, and other very detailed information about their lives that God would share with the person ministering. Then, as excesses came into the movement and God and people began to work on stewarding things better, God was having people learn how to hear his voice and there was a pulling-back on the so-called extravagant prophetic words. However, I believe it is time for the pendulum to swing back in the other direction. We need men and women of God who know how to not only hear very specific and important information, but when to share it and with whom.

Most of the time I have seen rules put into place about what may and may not be prophesied, it is in situations with highly legalistic, dysfunctional, and manipulative leadership. That isn’t to say that all leaders who make those kinds of rules are those things, but “you shall and shall not say these sorts of things from God” rules are rarely in the heart of God for a situation. Certainly, 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that the spirit of a prophet is subject to his or her control, and there are times and situations to exercise wisdom and restraint, but that isn’t usually what is happening.

As I see it, there is a measure of wisdom in stewardship, but also a good deal of fear veiled as wisdom. I believe we need to expect both the person prophesying and the person receiving the word to discern the veracity of the prophecy. We also need to make sure we are teaching people how to discern prophetic words and not just avoid talking about certain subjects. If God can speak through a donkey, then He can tell what he likes to whom He likes, and it isn’t our job to place man-made rules on who may or may not prophesy certain things. In fact, the moment we lay down those rules is probably the moment God is going to put someone in our path to break those rules, and while we will call them “rebellious”, there is a good chance God put them there on purpose to break them because they are stupid rules, although usually well-intentioned stupid ones.

I have learned over time that I am pretty bad about hearing dates accurately, so I personally just avoid telling people dates. Why? Because if I prophesy according to my faith with maturity, then I won’t mislead people when I already know I’m usually wrong about dates. I also have a high personal level of responsibility toward discerning and delivering prophetic words. I test it internally and make sure I am confident it comes from God before ever delivering it, as everyone should do before speaking a prophecy to someone else.

At the end of the day, if we want to see people grow in the prophetic, we can’t avoid the difficult areas. Mind you, we also don’t want to be foolish either, so as God pushes the Church to elevate the prophetic to new heights once again, we have some work to do. If we teach people not only how to discern God’s voice as the one giving the word, but to test every word we receive on the other end, then regardless of the situation, we can avoid a lot of problems while still engaging all that God has for us and the wisdom He wants to speak to and through us.

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Things Your Pastor Never Taught You About Elemental Spirits In The Bible

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Roughly a decade ago, I was working on my wife’s shoulder which was bothering her, and I had a visionary experience. I was trying to concentrate on what I was working on, but had this really irritating picture in my head of something that was doing a sweeping motion that I couldn’t get to go away. Whatever the thing was, it was messing with my concentration, to the point that I was spending more mental energy on making the image go away more than what I was doing for my wife’s shoulder.

At first I didn’t realize I was having a vision, and then I realized that it wasn’t going away due to the nature of the vision, so instead of trying to make it end, I began to pay attention. As I focused in on the sweeping motion, I sort of zoomed out and realized it was a broom that was sweeping off our front porch. Stuck in the cracks of the stone was a piece of paper, which I proceeded to pick up. I tried to read what was on it, but couldn’t.

As I did this in the vision, a really ugly spirit of some kind approached me and said something (I forget now), and I made him leave. Directly after that, I asked Holy Spirit how a demon could appear in my vision and interact with me, as I found that both confusing and new at the time. What He said to me was this:

“It’s not a demon.”

I was like “It’s ugly enough to be one… So what was it??”

Holy Spirit replied “An air spirit.”

I can already hear the sound of a record player coming to a screeching halt as someone says “wait, what?”

Right after Holy Spirit said this to me, He reminded me of Ephesians 2:2 which refers to Satan as the “Prince of the powers of the air.” The word ‘powers’ there is the word exousias, which is used in 2 types of places:

1) used when the New Testament talks about power, also thought of as virtue or energy, of the kind that Jesus used to heal people
2) found in the lists of heavenly hierarchies, specifically Colossians 1:17 and 2:15. In these lists, it’s the same word being used, but in reference to angels and/or other sentient spirit beings.

While one could make a reasonable argument that there is no connection between “Powers of Air” and what I would refer to as elemental spirits, there was something else that made me pay a little more attention to what He shared with me. Years ago, my friend Ben (I talk about him in my book The Beginner’s Guide to Traveling in the Spirit) was telling me once about an experience he and a couple of his friends had. They were practicing their gifts of discernment together, as Ben was a feeler, and one of his other friends was a seer. The name of the game was basically “How many angels are in the room?” They identified 11 angels in the room, except for one thing . . . some them weren’t angels—they were Powers. He described what they looked like to me. Of the Powers, one looked like a fountain. The other one was like a pillar of flame.

A seraphim/fiery burning one caught on camera

Now, I don’t believe in coincidences. When I put that story together with the Power of air that Holy Spirit showed me in that vision, suddenly we have air, fire, and water, 3/4 of what are typically known in mythology as “elemental spirits”. Furthermore, the Bible makes another somewhat veiled reference to this in Psalm 104:4 (which is later quoted in Hebrews 1:7) which states: “He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. (NIV)” In this passage it suggests that God uses either a sentient wind or Wind/Air spirits his messengers (or angels, as it could be translated), and he has servants who are flames of fire. Interestingly enough, “seraph” means something to the effect of “fiery burning one”. If that doesn’t sound like a fire-spirit of some kind, I don’t know what does. Now, while I’m not making the argument that seraphim are fire elementals, my point is that throughout scripture we actually see more references to Powers, or elemental spirits, than we might realize.

Did you know that elemental spirits are also referenced elsewhere in scripture? They are. Strong’s G4747 is the word “stoicheion” which means the following:

any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise, an element, first principal
the letters of the alphabet as the elements of speech, not however the written characters, but the spoken sounds
the elements from which all things have come, the material causes of the universe
the heavenly bodies, either as parts of the heavens or (as others think) because in them the elements of man, life and destiny were supposed to reside
the elements, rudiments, primary and fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline
i.e. of mathematics, Euclid’s geometry (taken from Strongs Concordance, Blueletterbible.org)

What the Bible refers to as “stoicheion” are literally elemental spirits–formed of the elements from which all things come from. Stoicheion are referenced in 7 places in scripture: Galatians 4:3, Galatians 4:9, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:20, Hebrews 5:12, 2 Peter 3:10, and 2 Peter 3:12. When we read these verses, it specifically refers to elements of creation. Galatians 4:3, the first mention, states “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world . . .”

One of the things I have come to realize in my life travels is that *typically* most people are in some measure of bondage to the elements of the world. And when I say “world”, I mean creation and the cosmos, not just planet earth. Think about it. The entire reason astrology works is because we are connected in some way to the cosmos, and even our position in space at birth causes us to be influenced in subtle ways by the energies of other stars and planets. It’s difficult to explain why astrology even works, but it usually does. The problem is that we aren’t *supposed* to be subjected to such things, but most people still are anyway. Thus, there is something about breaking free from the influence of elemental spirits, or at least the ones that don’t serve God, that is important. If Satan is in control of the elemental spirits of the air, then what other elementals are under his control?

While I have heard stories of people who have encountered elemental spirits, I have had some encounters of my own. Some of these spirits serve God, but more often than not they are ignorant of God’s existence and are very self-seeking and selfish. In fact, Colossians 2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” Something about elemental spirits tends to involve deceit, and one friend has pointed out that they tend to work through illusion, which makes sense in context of this verse.

Galatians 4:9 tells us that elemental spirits are actually far weaker than we realize (it says they are “weak and beggarly”), and from what I understand, they use deceit and illusion to get us to come back in bondage under then, and in so doing, they can use our power as their own. Why would they want to do this? 2 Peter 3:10-12 suggests they will be destroyed by heat and fire, and it is likely they want to use our power to somehow avoid that fate. Furthermore, there appears to be a connection between elemental spirits and getting us to follow highly proscribed rules and religious structures. There is something about getting us locked into definable patterns that helps them to engage and use our power.

I first wrote about this topic on December 1 of 2009, 10 years ago. Before then, there were a few people talking about it, but very few. In the last ten years, God has been giving even more people revelation about this subject and not only how elemental spirits can influence us, but what we can do about it and how we are supposed to bring them under the dominion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t pretend to have it all figured out, but I do believe that God wants us to have a greater understanding of this subject as a whole.

If you want to hear more about this topic, consider listening to a podcast episode on Discovering Truth with Dan Duval called Stoicheion, Elementals and Rudiments with Ruthie Andrews.

Can a Christian Have a Demon?

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This is a pretty common question that I hear people ask, and there are (unsurprisingly) two main answers: Yes and No. And in reality, there really are only two possible answers, although the different camps tend to break their beliefs down into further detail on the specifics. Before answering this question, I’m going to explain why it’s important to know whether a Christian can have a demon or not.

The answer to this question helps explain a number of significant things in the life of a believer. It helps assign blame appropriately when things go wrong in life. It helps us understand the root causes and influences of personal vices, sins, and ongoing life struggles. The answer helps us realize why we sometimes have difficulty overcoming in certain areas of our lives, while other areas we see great victory in. Most of all, the answer to this question helps us know how to walk in the freedom that Jesus Christ already purchased for us on the cross over two-thousand years ago.

The answer to the question is “Yes”. Yes, Christians can and do have demons. But that’s just the beginning. Not only can we have them, but we can have them influencing us in ways we never realized, and once we uncover their work and get rid of them, we can walk in levels of freedom, peace, and joy in Christ we never realized were possible. Many times we have been so used to demonic resistance in those areas that we just never realized there was something better to enjoy in God.

“But Michael, it says in the Bible that Christians can’t have demons!”

No, it actually doesn’t. People simply make assumptions based on what they wish were true and ignore the facts to arrive at that conclusion.

The most common verse people use to “prove” that a Christian cannot have a demon is from James 3:11, which states “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?”. The idea is that “fresh water” which supposedly represents the Holy Spirit here, cannot coexist with “salt water” which supposedly is demons, and thus a Christian, who has the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her, cannot have demons. The problem with this verse is, well, the first problem is that salt water isn’t used anywhere in all of scripture to describe demons, so it’s basically making things up. The second problem with this verse is that the context is extremely clear, and it is very plainly obvious that this passage is not talking about demons. Let’s look at the passage a little deeper. By reading a larger section of James 3 and not just cherry-picking verse 11 out of context, it gives this passage a pretty obvious meaning. James 3:7-12 says:

“All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

The entire passage is about the tongue, and the terms “fresh water” and “salt water” here are referring to our words, not the Holy Spirit and demons. Furthermore, in verse 10 it says “my brothers and sisters, this should not be” It doesn’t say cannot be, meaning it is impossible, but rather that it currently happens but it would be a good thing for it to not happen. So even if we pretended this passage was about demons and not about how we use our words, the passage would prove to us that it is possible, not the other way around.

In Acts 8, Philip went to Samaria, and verse 7 tells us he healed many people and cast demons out. In verse 15, it tells us that many new converts had been baptized with water, but had not yet received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. From this, we can recognize that Philip was doing a few different things all at the same time. He was preaching and converting people, casting out demons, and healing the sick. If all he had to do to make the demons leave was convert people, which the passage shows us he was already doing, why bother casting out demons? Why not just skip that pointless step and convert everyone if indeed conversion brings total and complete removal of all demonic forces from the body and soul? Simple: Because as much as we all wish it did, that’s not how it works.

In reality, demons make people uncomfortable. The idea that there are non-visible evil entities that can live inside us and influence our thoughts and behaviors is kind of creepy. The idea that we have a special protector named Jesus who keeps all the bad things away is of great comfort to many. The problem is that they take this fact to the extreme and apply it in ways it was never meant to be applied and in situations where it doesn’t work that way. While Jesus does give us the power to oppose demonic forces, that fact doesn’t automatically eject ones that have already taken residence up within us, and people have a hard time swallowing that. Actually, most people avoid all involvement with the demonic as a whole, including casting them out of people. I attribute this largely to a combination of fear and ignorance.

Many are afraid of demons, so if they ignore them, they can feel like demons aren’t there. Others are simply ignorant of the workings of the enemy and simply don’t have a clue of what is going on in the unseen realms around them. Still others have no clue but don’t want to get a clue because remaining ignorant means they get to stay happy in their self-protected bubble of inaccuracy. Ignorance, however, is not part of the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6; on the other hand, the belt of Truth is.

If we want to lead fruitful and effective lives, throwing off “everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1b),” then we need to include casting out demons in the mix. This goes for Christians, not just unbelievers. Most of the people I have cast demons out of have been followers of Jesus for years, oftentimes a decade or more. And while the common party line of those who erroneously think Christians can’t have them is “Well, they must not have been really saved to begin with”, the fact is they’re just wrong and don’t want to admit it.

Some people find it easier to play a round of theologymnastics to try and make all life situations fit into their inaccurate belief system than it is to admit they are wrong and learn new things. That seems silly, fruitless, and extremely immature to me, so I don’t play that game. If I’m wrong about something, I might as well realize I lacked sufficient information before, then include new information to arrive at a better understanding of how creation actually works. There is nothing shameful or wrong about not knowing something, and we are all hopefully learning new things on an ongoing basis. What is shameful is ignoring the truth when it is presented in favor of further entrenching oneself deeper into ignorance.

Casting out demons may not be everyone’s preferential way to spend their time, but it is important to at least know what to do when demons decide to unexpectedly appear. As believers, the Bible says we have been given authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and we need to both understand and walk in that authority, even if we do so infrequently. If you don’t know much about this practice, it’s time to learn because demons don’t stop their work just because you don’t know what to do when you discover a Christian has a demon.

Below are a series of articles I have written that may help you better understand how to deal with demons when they manifest in yourself or those around you:

http://www.thekingsofeden.com/2016/04/divine-healing-that-works-part-2/

http://www.thekingsofeden.com/2016/05/divine-healing-that-works-part-5/

http://www.thekingsofeden.com/2018/01/dont-fear-demons-make-demons-fear/

http://www.thekingsofeden.com/2015/08/the-influence-of-demons/

Inner Healing Encounters: Guardians Assemble!

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As a strong proponent of inner healing and deliverance, from time to time I learn new things. Recently, I was taking a little time to do some inner healing on myself, but kept getting interrupted by demonic activity inside my system (for some background, read these posts about systems and fragments and alters.) Normally, I have all the parts with a particular issue or emotion gather into one location in the system, then I pray a prayer for us as a group out loud, and usually, most every part receives healing for that issue. We kept getting interrupted in a variety of ways inside by the demons which prevented me from getting anything done.

Honestly, it was annoying. I’m used to it because this is common when I do work on myself, but it is still annoying. On this particular occasion, however, inspiration struck. I had a bunch of guardian parts fend off the demons while I did inner healing with everyone else, and it worked great! Then, I asked all the parts who were ready to integrate to raise their hand, which they did. I then prayed for all of them to integrate not into my core/main/presenting self (ie. Me), but into all of the guardians. What this did is it gave each of the guardians a larger portion of my soul, and thus made them each a little bit stronger. I’ve done this before in other situations and with other people and it has worked well, so I did it here to good effect. I could sense the guardian parts not only getting stronger, but they had an easier time keeping the demons away as well! Since it worked, I continued to do some more inner healing without interruptions thanks to those parts doing a great job protecting everyone inside the system.

To back up a little bit, let me explain what a guardian is. As best as I understand it, a guardian is a fragment or alter who has become a protector of other parts or things inside the system. Unhealthy guardians often prevent inner healing work from getting done because they see the prayer counselor and sometimes the presenting personality as threats to the well being of them and those under their protection. On the other hand, a healthy guardian is not just experienced at some level of spiritual warfare, but is going to work with you to get things done. Knowing this, I leveraged their influence and it worked well.

I posted a status about this on social media and a friend asked how it made them feel. These were healthy guardians, so they handled it just fine as far as I could tell. If they hadn’t been, I don’t actually think the method would even have worked. On the other hand, I also don’t think it’s a fantastic idea to only integrate parts into other parts. Most of the time if I integrate a part, whether working with myself or someone else, I do it to the main self, and if I am ever unsure what to do, I ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. So while I don’t plan to constantly integrate parts into the guardians, I think I’ve got myself a new tool for inner self-healing, and from what I can tell self-inner-healing tools that work with fragments and alters are growing in demand.

#AvengersAssemble
#GuardianPartsForTheWin
#BrokenToWhole

If you want to learn more about working with fragments and alters and doing inner healing on your self and/or others, consider the following book I coauthored with other inner healing ministers, authors, and survivors of Satanic Ritual Abuse called Broken To Whole.

You might also be interested in some other self-healing exercises and related articles:

http://www.thekingsofeden.com/2016/12/did-self-healing-integrating-fragments-and-alters/

http://www.thekingsofeden.com/2017/09/focus-healing-fragments-alters/