Dad, I Want A Truck!

This last weekend was pretty awesome. I got to see my best friend who flew to Texas to preach at the Alvin Healing Rooms, got absolutely blasted by the power of God and had a pretty radical inner healing and deliverance experience during one of the meetings, and God confirmed a number of things to me that He has been speaking to me recently time and time again throughout the weekend (Special thanks to the Alvin Healing Rooms for hosting the event!). While there were so many different things God did for me alone this weekend, not to mention the dozens of others present who He also touched, I really want to hone in on something God was speaking to me about—that He is a good dad who wants us as His kids to understand what He is like.

My friend Steve has recently been reminding me that we really need to deal with our father wounds—the pains in our hearts related to our earthly fathers, as well as the incorrect perspectives and the wrong lessons we have learned about what fathers are like. We all have them—wildly inaccurate views of what being a father is like, and thus have equally inaccurate beliefs about what God, our heavenly Dad, is like. For instance, my dad wasn’t a bad father as a whole. He loved me, would tuck us kids in most nights at bed by literally tucking the sheets around us—and we’d then lay still for a while because we didn’t want to get the sheets un-tucked. My two brothers and I both did that too—because when we got tucked in by him, we felt loved. On the other hand, my dad had an anger problem. From knowing his dad, my grandfather, who was a kind of aloof man and hard to connect with emotionally, I would imagine that for my dad his own father relationship was fractured and that presented challenges for him when it came time to be a good father himself. This isn’t a judgment against my dad either—I believe my dad has done the best he knew how at the time, and when we know better we do better. God is still working on my dad like He is with you, me, and everyone else.

The reason I tell you all this is that because of the way my earthly dad was, one of the things I learned about fathers is that they’re angry, and that on some level, it is your job as a son to fear your dad. To be fair, my mom would wait until my dad came home so he could discipline us so the role kind of got pushed on him to a degree as well, but the end result what that I learned on a subconscious level that dad = fear. Likewise, when it came to dealing with my Heavenly Father, I’ve had the same fear. I mean, I once experienced a miracle of literal gemstones falling from Heaven and hitting my body (you can read about it in my book Gemstones From Heaven) and while I was trying really hard to enjoy the miracle, I was simultaneously really afraid God was going to drop a big one right on my groin. That alone should tell you that I have had some really messed up perceptions about what our Heavenly Father is like. I connected God with fear and pain, so what I expected from Him was, well, not very much.

Jesus, on the other hand, was my Big Brother. I’ve always felt close to him because he is kind. He loves me and cares about me and helps me heal my hurts and pains. And the Holy Spirit and I? We’re friends. But the Father? Well, deep down I’m always watching out for Him because I find it hard to trust Him. Why? Because I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and Him to do something to justify the fear I feel toward “father.”

Well, God has been upgrading my beliefs, and right now He is working on my view of Him as Dad. My buddy Tyler said something this weekend that God was showing him, and it so ministered to me. He said that God was challenging him about how when one of his kids wants something, he goes out of his way to get them that thing as soon as he can—and God was like “If that’s what you’re like, what do you think I’m like?” It reminds me of that verse in Matthew 7:11 that says, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Well, he was like, “Okay Dad, I want a truck!” Well, he shared that with a few of us over a meal after the evening meeting, and I was like “That’s fantastic!” And really, it is. It is such a healthier view of God our Father than I have had for a while. So, I’m working on calling Him “Dad”. Why? Because the term “father” to me is formal and distant. I don’t call my earthly dad “father” so why would I distance God from me by doing that?

Well, not thirty minutes later, I decided to put this idea into practice. I had driven from outside of Austin to Alvin, an almost three hour drive, and figured I would find a place to sleep for the night after the meeting. Well, sitting at this restaurant I decided to pray a quick prayer. “Dad, I really want a place to stay tonight that I don’t have to pay for.” No more than three seconds had passed since I told my Heavenly Dad that when Brenda, the woman next to me, asked where I was staying for the night. I told her I hadn’t found a place yet and she made a nearby hotel recommendation—then following it up with “I haven’t stayed there myself, so I don’t entirely know for sure.” I told her “Well, I literally just finished praying about a place to stay right before you asked me, so if that place is what you suggest, that’s what I’ll do.” And truly, when we left I was going to go find that hotel and stay there for the night.

As Heavenly Dad would have it, just a few moments later she asked me “well, do you need to shower in the morning?” A strange question to some, maybe, but as a nurse I ask lots of weird questions so I’m pretty open about stuff. I told her no, that I had showered that afternoon right before I drove to Alvin, so I wasn’t necessarily planning on showering the next morning. She said, “Okay then, as long as you don’t need a shower . . .” and then she offered me a place to stay for the night at a local prayer room she runs that had couches and a bathroom—really all I actually needed for a decent night’s rest.

Well, the meetings were amazing, I got hugely touched by Heaven as I mentioned before, and after the meetings were done and I was driving home, the sky grew dark and it started raining. It then went from rain to a torrential downpour and I had to slow down because of the sheer quantity of water on the road. As I drove out of the storm it was early evening and the sun was low in the sky, and I wanted to see a rainbow. I began looking around for one but couldn’t see very far behind me and continue safely driving. Well, since God is teaching me this lesson about what He is actually like, I figured I’d give it another try. I prayed, “Dad, I want to see a rainbow!” I continued looking for a few moments and then pulled over. In between the time I prayed and pulled over (because it wasn’t there moments before), a beautiful double-rainbow filled the sky and I could see the whole arch from one side to the other (the pictures don’t do it justice). I could sense God confirming to me yet again that I need to change my view of Him as my Heavenly Dad and that when the Bible says things like “Ask whatever you wish in my name and it will be done for you (John 15:16b)” and “Ask and it will be given to you (Matthew 7:7a)” that God actually means it.

I am continuing this process of changing my view of what my Heavenly Dad is like. I’m having to look at why I believe the wrong things I believe about Him, look at how those ideas got there, and then be intentional about choosing to believe something different (as well as get healing from the hurts associated with those inaccurate beliefs). In this case, I’m also changing my expectations and am starting to expect better from Heavenly Dad than I have prior to now. It’s a process, but God is committed to transforming my view of Him to see Him for who He truly is! What am I doing with this knowledge? Well, the battery in my truck is dead, again, and the engine likes to cut out when you go slowly in reverse. I’d really like a blue crew cab 250/2500 truck that runs well, so my prayer right now is, “Dad, I want a truck!”

The Solar System Model for Understanding Fragmentation and Dissociation

For those of you who have been following The Kings of Eden for a while, you know that I am a large proponent of inner healing and deliverance—largely because Christ died in part so we could be set free from all of the powers of hell and to live well and whole in spirit, soul, and body. When discussing this, I believe it is important that people understand how we get wounded and what happens when we do, all in order to better understand how to heal those wounds and pursue wholeness. Today, we are going to look at what I have named the “Solar System Model for Understanding Fragmentation and Dissociation” to better understand how we can heal the fractured portions of our souls and what happens inside as we go through this process.

If you are not familiar with fragmentation (something everyone has, not just those who have been clinically diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder) then you will probably benefit from reading my article called “An Introduction to Soul Fragmentation.” For a better understanding of how fragmentation influences day to day life and the inner healing process, and how dissociation actually works in the day-to-day, listen to Dan Duval’s message “The Airplane Model of Dissociation.” It does a very good job of explaining. Now, down to business!

The Solar System Model of Fragmentation is something I have developed after going through some of my own inner healing process, as well as through some discussion with friends who are either going through similar things or who are helping others in their journey through healing soul fragmentation. This model is designed to help the reader visualize and understand the different components of the soul, what wounding and degrees of wholeness look like, and can provide a useful visualization tool for those who are visually-oriented and/or operate in the seer aspect of prophetic gifts. First, we will break down the components, then we will look at how they work in conjunction with one another and what this means for the inner healing journey.

Much like how our solar system consists of a primary sun, multiple planets in consistent and deliberate orbit around the sun and in concert with one another, moons and satellites that orbit those planets, and then other space debris such as comets, asteroids, and more, our soul can be described in much the same way. If our primary or core aspect of our soul is displayed as the sun, then almost everything else—the other planets and moons, comets, and asteroids, represent other portions of our soul that have been broken into pieces through various emotional wounds and trauma throughout our lives and even in the womb. The levels of complexity inside the human soul mirror the complexity in our solar system so no analogy is perfect, but the Solar System Model provides a strong base of understanding that can be adjusted as needed for the individual’s system.

In a person who has no soul fragmentation (Jesus, to my knowledge, being the only one who has ever done this) the solar system would be composed of a sun and *only* a sun, as there are no other broken-off parts. The rest of us have a combination of planets and moons—parts that have reached some measure of healing and salvation and are walking in unity with the main personality, and comets and asteroids—parts that are still in conflict inside the system in some way.

Planets, of any size, can be likened to parts that have gotten healing and salvation in Christ, reaching a general measure of wholeness and possibly even some maturity. The moons around them are other parts, often ones that broke off from that planet sometime in the past when some wound caused already-broken parts to fragment even further. Their steady, regular orbit shows that while they have not reintegrated or reunited with the core, the sun, they no longer cause any conflict or problems inside the system and don’t tend to be targets for demonic attack.

Comets and asteroids, on the other hand, are the unhealed portions of the soul that are prone to demonic attack. While they still move around the solar system, their movements are generally more chaotic and they are influenced more easily by other factors both inside and outside of the system. These parts lack emotional healing and often also need a lot of help renewing their understanding. Where the Bible tells us to “take every thought captive,” the negative thoughts that require this attention are usually generated from these portions of our soul who lack an understanding of things like identity in Christ, the finished work of the cross, and often have a lot of other unfruitful beliefs.

Why does this matter? Half of the problem with fragmentation is the conflict inside the system. When I first started doing this type of inner healing work, I thought that getting parts integrated (rejoining the broken pieces with the main core of the soul) was of primary importance. I have come to learn that integration can be likened to the final 1% of an inner healing process, where the other 99% consists of healing wounded emotions, learning healthy mindsets and beliefs, and removing the demonic and other harmful spiritual influences. What makes inner healing so difficult is that the sun and the planets, which are easier to access, don’t tend to have a lot of wounding. Most of the wounding is carried on the parts zooming erratically around the solar system, making it more difficult to access the parts and thus harder to heal the wounds. As different parts receive inner healing and freedom in Jesus, they move from a chaotic and irregular orbit into the ordered portion of the solar system.

As more inner healing occurs, the soul becomes more ordered and healthy with less chaos, randomness, and disorder. The demonic like to attack the parts that are lacking in protection (the asteroids and comets) because they are easier to attack. These parts often form agreements with the demonic (which for our understanding can be viewed as subconscious or unconscious agreements we have made) and are easily tricked by the enemy. When these parts get brought into a stable orbit, which means more healing, greater safety in Christ, and often a greater ability to grow into maturity, they become less available to the enemy, which means fewer avenues for demonic attack.

For the individual, the outward experience of this will be fewer life events that carry emotional triggers, a greater ability to handle difficult emotions, and hard emotions will simply be less powerful as a whole. One’s belief system will clarify itself as parts realign their beliefs with the truth, which means double-mindedness and unbelief (caused by these parts being unaligned with the core self, the asteroids in conflict with the sun) gradually work their way out of the consciousness as well. All in all it means a person who is more whole inside with greater emotional resilience to handle all that life throws at them.

While the Solar System Model can go into more depth, it provides a basic understanding for what fragmentation looks like inside the individual. As I continue to develop this model, I hope to be able to provide not just a more comprehensive understanding for how the broken and healing soul works, but to provide better resources as avenues to accelerate the inner healing process. For those who are interested in learning more about this method of inner healing, you can pick up a copy of Broken To Whole, a book I coauthored that covers inner healing for the fragmented soul. As I have developed this model after writing that book, it will not be in there, but in addition to other information, we do provide various exercises the individual can do to help jump-start their journey toward wholeness of the soul. If you want some help in identifying and working with parts, as well as supporting the inner healing process, you might want to try Fragment Finder, a flower essence that helps resolve the buried emotional wounds which have caused the formation of soul splits or fragments. For those who really want to dive into their healing journey, you can also buy the Broken To Whole Essence Kit, a package combination of five essence blends and a print copy of Broken To Whole. If this material interests you, be sure to check out the other related blog links below, and sign up for my email list to get updates when new books, products, and events are released! Blessings to you!

Gemstones in the Land: Unlocking Spiritual Inheritance

One of the things about seeing in the spirit is that you sometimes see strange stuff. And when you start to see that strange stuff consistently over time in different situations and locations, it makes you start to wonder why you are seeing what you see, and what it means. This last week someone posted something on social media, asking a question pertaining to spiritual things, “Has anyone ever seen gems in land?” Well, I’ve been seeing them for years, so while I answered on the thread it also made me think “How many other people see this kind of stuff and just have never heard anyone else talk about it?” So, in keeping with what I often do, I figured I’d share the strangeness here for all of you to read, ponder, pray about, and maybe even begin to encounter.

Gems in the land. Coming from a guy who wrote the book “Gemstones From Heaven,” you’d think I would already have some idea about what spiritual precious stones found beneath different properties would mean. At the very least you might consider that in all of my bible-studying that I’d have come across an answer already. Well, I haven’t. What I have discovered, however, are a few characteristics about these stones that are suggestive, at least to me, of what I am seeing, and they have implications for what we as believers can do with them.

First, spiritual gemstones in the land have always, that I have ever seen been far larger than any actual earthly precious stone could be. Normally they are the size somewhere in-between a 5-gallon bucket and a loveseat, but it often seems that the larger the property, the larger the stone. This isn’t an exact science, and the size of the stones don’t seem to scale to the size of the property, and sometimes a place has more than one, but normally I only see one per tract of land.

Second is the color. The actual hue can vary from place to place, but normally they are vibrant colors. When they aren’t, and look black or dark-colored, that is typically an indication of something bad happening—either active demonic activity, the land that has been hijacked by the enemy at some point and is still tied to it, or something else. At any rate, dark colors have never, in my experience, been an indicator of good things. On the other hand, colors that are vibrant suggest that spiritually that property is faring well. If the colors are light but lack vibrancy, then we can bless the land and watch the vitality return to the stone.

What should we do with this information? I guess that depends. I am of the opinion that each nation, landmass, and even property have their own divine inheritance—a blueprint of sorts from Heaven as to what they are best-designed to do and how those who live on and use the land are best able to partner with Heaven to match with that blueprint. I think of it as a spiritual inheritance that God put in creation that has, in many ways, been co-opted by the enemy and which we, as the sons and daughters of God, have been given authority in Jesus to restore to its rightful place. Romans 8:22-23 tells us that all of creation is groaning and waiting for us, the sons and daughters of God, to release it from its bondage to decay. While I don’t pretend to have the whole picture, maybe what I am seeing, these precious stones hidden inside the land, are a means by which we can bless what has been cursed, to take dominion over the earth, and release the realm of the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven!

What Religion Isn’t Ready For, It Will Revile

About 8-10 years ago, I helped run a prophetic training and activation group on Facebook, where I would put on practice-events so people could practice hearing God for one another and stretching themselves by doing it in unique ways such as them not knowing whom the word was actually for. During this time I was learning a lot about Christian traveling in the spirit (insights which are included in my book The Beginner’s Guide to Traveling in the Spirit, available on Amazon), and as Religion normally does, the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down.

In this instance I was being accused of prophetically spying on others in the group and traveling in the spirit to their homes, and not only was I being accused of this, but I was grossly unaware of it at first until a close and well-trusted friend told me what was going on. They had tried to rope him into it by having a group discussion without my knowledge so they could “deal with me.”

While there are multiple issues with all of this, the first is that I had no awareness of the problem they were planning to fix on my behalf because no one told me (and considering I wasn’t guilty of their accusations to begin with, there really wasn’t anything to fix besides their behavior). When my friend told this group of dissenters that nothing they accused me of fit my character and when he confirmed zero people had spoken directly with me about it, he did, which I appreciated.
I then spoke directly to the ringleader, who denied, denied, and denied some more, and then continued to tell me how much she loved me and my family and spoke all kinds of nice words to me. I confirmed again with my close, trusted friend that all he had told me was indeed the case and then readdressed her. She continued to deny everything, and yet while this was happening these secret conversations began expanding into the group dynamics and various group members began to show up where they never or rarely had before to dissent on various things I wrote on the subject of spirit travel. As it became rapidly apparent this woman was lying to me, I ended our communication (with her lying and denying to the last), and the group almost unanimously asked me to leave.

The ironic part is that this was a group to train people in the prophetic, and this was an opportunity to teach people how to discern spiritual things. If demons can masquerade as angels of light and angels can appear as humans, is it really that much to imagine that a malevolent spirit could pretend to be someone else in order to stir up trouble? Only if you are tied so closely to religion that you refuse to actually discern what is going on. A short few years later, Christian spirit travel became a big thing and now it is entirely normal in some Christian groups and some believers center their ministries around this topic.

A long story for a short lesson, but the lesson is this: the enemy will always come up with ways to get Religion to get you to conform to its rules and regulations, and when you don’t fall under its thumb of control the Religion will attempt to crucify you in some way to stop you—much like it tried to do to Jesus.

If God has placed something in your heart, don’t let the naysayers stop you. Don’t let the voices of anger and negativity and opposition drown out your courage to move forward. Always remain firm in the unwavering truth that Jesus loves you, His Undying Spirit lives and breathes within you, and that with God all things are possible. If you can’t fail Him, and He is always with you, then anyone else against you is simply noise. Drown out the noise, ignore the reviling of Religion, and keep walking forward in Him!!

A Prayer of Freedom from Terror on 9/11 — September 11, 2001

During an inner healing session a friend was doing with me this past week, we hit on something unusual—or rather I should say unexpected, but in hindsight it wasn’t really that surprising. What the Lord was showing her was that sometime around age 18 I had some kind of event that caused terror, and it was somehow related to my high school. Well, “terror” is a fairly specific term with a pretty specific meaning, and I could not recall a single event in high school that evoked—

Wait.

September 11, 2001 happened two months before my 18th birthday. You know, a “terror attack” on the United States. I was in my second period classroom in Pennsylvania that morning when we watched it on TV.

That was it.

Now, as a 37 year old I am significantly more aware of some of the details they did a poor job of covering up, like the inside operation that it was, the third tower that automagically fell down on the same day, and the demolition explosives that are visible in all three buildings that fell that day (remember the third plane that went down? It was supposed to hit a third building so they could claim all three were terror attacks, but since people on board supposedly downed that plane, they just blew the building up anyway), as well as the extreme lack of plane debris and the impossible-to-miss street lights the theoretical Pentagon plane should have hit had it actually done as claimed, not to mention that jet fuel is physically incapable of causing the structural damage-leading-to-building-collapse that we all witnessed in New York that day.

However, while there were a bunch of theatrics along with very real explosions and very real deaths in a massive bid to create more war and push forward certain agendas (including the Patriot Act), there was something else at work that day. Through one highly televised act, there was a psychic attack leveled by the forces of darkness on not just the US nation but I suggest worldwide. This event was specifically designed to create a spike of terror in millions if not billions of people and was like a feast day for the demonic. And you know who didn’t miss out on that? Those humans who actively and purposefully serve the kingdom of darkness, who used that day and that event to harvest all of that terror and fear and pain to forward works of darkness in the Earth.

Why does this matter to you? Well, when I observe something in an inner healing session, especially if it is something that is likely to affect a lot of people, I like to test it out a bit and see if what I think is a widespread issue actually is a widespread issue. With some things I talk to friends, test out my theory on them, and often find I am correct. In this case, I just asked friends who do inner healing and deliverance regularly, and found that there indeed were many people’s mind-control programming that got activated that day, including end-times stuff, creating new soul fractures through trauma (funny how terror events can do that), and more. The powers of darkness like to use massive events to co-opt the mental and emotional energy of millions of people, which is why things like yearly Superbowl halftime shows are so demonically inspired. They know millions will be tuned in and engaging with whatever they do on stage, so they hold thinly veiled ritual ceremonies with dancing, singing, props, and more to literally pull in and focus the psychic energy of all of the participants toward predetermined effects. I suggest 9/11 is no different in that way.

What did we do about it? We prayed to break off all spellbinding tied to us and anyone in our bloodline through birth, marriage, or adoption from the psychic trauma of that day. We declared that the blood of Jesus would disconnect us all and cleanse us from every way the enemy has tried to tie us into their workings through terror that was evoked through the events of September 11, 2001. While technically the session was for me, the issue was related to both of us so we prayed together for us and our families, and we both felt a shift afterwards, as well as hit on some other spiritual stuff that praying about the issue pulled up as well.

Now, since I was 17 at the time and just one of millions of Americans who were affected on that day, not to mention anyone else in any other nation who may have been negatively influenced as well, I have written the following prayer. If you feel this issue relates to you (if you were alive on that day I can almost guarantee it is worth praying) then pray the following. Some may feel a need to adjust certain wording to their situation, but as a general whole this is a blanket prayer meant to cover many issues that the enemy has seeded in the hearts of mankind through that evil event.

“In the name of the One True Lord Jesus Christ I speak this prayer over every aspect of my being in every realm, timeline, and dimension of time and eternity. I send the effects of this prayer throughout my bloodline including marriage lines and adoption lines both forward and backward in the generational line. I break off ever hex, spell, incantation, curse, evil prayer, psychic trauma, collective consciousness of terror, and related tied to the events of September 11, 2001 and days surrounding it. I reject, repent, and renounce any ways in which I may have been connected or co-opted, knowingly or unknowingly, into any form of ritual, spell, or other practice that used the terror, fear, pain, and other emotions, beliefs, and collective consciousness of that day for evil purposes. I take authority over those things and destroy them. I collapse every realm, alternate timeline, dimension, and every portal, gate, or other opening that was created by the enemy through the workings of that day. I remove the right of access that was gained on that day and subsequent days to the Earth realm and all connected spaces from any and all spirits who do not serve the Most High God and I send the heavenly hosts to go remove all trespassers from those places. I break off all access to Earth that was given to evil and fallen cosmic heavenly beings through the events of that day. I decree the removal of all demonic forces, all of their instruments and objects, and all of their effects that were derived from that day and subsequent days from myself, my bloodline, marriage lines, and adoptions lines, and from every part of my sphere of authority and influence. I command healing into every aspect of my being that was negatively affected on that day and apply the finished work of the cross through Jesus’ precious blood sacrifice to bring total wholeness to my spirit, soul, and body and to bring me into total and complete freedom in Jesus Christ. I apply the blood of Jesus to that day in history to wash it completely of all ill effects and for that finished work to resonate throughout every timeline and dimension until the restoration of all things. I receive this now by faith as a complete and permanent work in Jesus mighty and worthy name. Amen!”

We Labor With All of His Strength

While talking with a friend the other night and doing some prayer-counseling, we got completely off-topic and began to discuss something I think people often mistake and/or misunderstand—the issue of co-laboring with God to do Kingdom work on the earth. There is this concern that some people have that if we say we are healing the sick or performing miracles than we are taking credit or stealing glory from God, which then bleeds into this false-humility thing where the moment God does something through us we start denying any involvement and weirdly start repeating an “It’s only Jesus, not me” mantra that comes off quite disingenuously. In reality, co-laboring is as it sounds—a partnering together with one another.

The Apostle Paul seemed to be acquainted with this issue to at least a small degree, and I think he did a good job of expressing how this works in Colossians 1:28-29 where he said, “He [Jesus] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Another way it is translated is “I labor with all of His strength.” Partnering with God is all about us stepping out in faith to do the works He commanded us to do, but relying on His power, grace, and strength to complete that work, not our own.

I think we need to get a few facts clear. First, if we do not pray for the sick, the sick do not get healed. Second, if we do pray for the sick and they get healed, it was because we prayed for them. And third, when they get healed it was not because of any power we possess outside of the Spirit of God within us, but was the power of God flowing through us to make that healing occur. Thus, it is accurate when healing or performing miracles to say that both “I healed so and so” and “God healed so and so.” It would be most accurate to say “God healed so and so through me” or “God and I healed so and so,” but a lot of people seem to really struggle with this issue as though it weren’t true that our involvement played a huge part.

Signs, wonders, miracles, healings, and the like rarely happen without us, and they also don’t happen without Him. If we claim it had nothing to do with us then we aren’t being humble because it isn’t true—we are displaying false humility. If we act like we did it all on our own then we are displaying pride. Neither is healthy and both are lies, but in the bid to avoid pride, we tend toward false humility, as though one error is better than the other. Both are equally false.

The Bible has much to say about us growing up to become mature sons and daughters of God who are faithful with all that God has given us and who know how to rightly use the power and authority God has granted us (I cover the subject of power and authority as mature sons in my book Faith To Raise The Dead). When Jesus walked the earth doing ministry, He sent his disciples out in pairs (Matthew 10, Luke 10), giving them both power and authority to perform the works He had commanded them to do. When they came back excited about it, Jesus didn’t even tell them they were wrong—He simply told them there was a higher benefit they should be pleased about over and above performing miracles and casting out demons.

In the same way that Jesus reminded the disciples there is a higher benefit and gave them a mental reset after they performed wonders in His name, I think we need our own mental re-set. God is looking for those who will be faithful to co-labor with Him! God is looking for those who grow into maturity and can rightly discern what God is doing in a situation and co-labor with him in it! God is looking . . . for you!

I believe it is time we stopped living in fear that we are going to upset someone. There is far less risk of us stealing God’s glory (which has always been His anyway, and it’s not like Satan has succeeded in his attempts yet either) than there is of us living small because we are afraid we will either offend God by partnering with Him or offend people with religious mindsets when they see us doing it. We have been given the divine commission to do the good works that, get this, God has already prepared in advance for us to do!! That doesn’t sound like someone who is concerned about glory at all!! Let’s develop right mindsets about how this works so we can continue to labor to an even greater degree with all of God’s mighty power and strength to the glory of Jesus Christ!

Do I Have God’s Permission?

As a Christian author, I network with other authors and writers, as well as those who aspire to publish in the future. Some groups are Christian-writing focused, and one of the major blockages I observe Christian writers having is the issue of making sure we have “God’s permission” to write the things we want to say. In some cases, this issue prevents people from ever sitting down to actually write the things that are on their heart. I want us to take a look at this issue of permission from God and see what the Bible tells us about it, as this is a tactic the enemy uses to stop people from doing all that God has equipped them to accomplish.

In 2 Samuel 7 we see David talking to Nathan the Prophet, sharing his concern that God has given David a palace and victory over his enemies, but that God doesn’t have a place to reside. That night, God spoke to Nathan and basically said “I’ve never needed, wanted, or asked for a physical temple. Yet, David wants to build me one, so I will bless him greatly and I will let him get the materials and have his son build me a temple in the future.” It was never in God’s heart to have a temple of stone to begin with, as He had always planned to commune directly with mankind. And yet, when David voiced a desire in his heart of something he wanted to do *for* God, God spoke to the prophet and gave David the green light.

Why does this matter?

Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to “be in the middle of God’s will” that we don’t understand God will often adjust what He is doing or how He is doing it to match up with the desires in our hearts. God didn’t need a temple. He didn’t really want a temple any more than He wanted Israel to have kings. But God gave David a desire in his heart and decided to make that a part of His divine plan, thereby letting David do all that was in his heart to do and simultaneously putting him in the center of God’s will for his life.

Often, we can ask God for permission on some project or in some area of our life and we hear nothing. If God doesn’t clarify anything specific one way or another and it isn’t already explicitly clear in scripture one way or the other, I believe we can simply carry out what is in our hearts to do with wisdom. Even if God didn’t specifically say “Go ahead,” God has also not prohibited us. If we look back at the Temple, God didn’t start that–David did. But God saw what was in David’s heart and said “Okay, I can go with that. Do what is in your heart to do for me.”

Elsewhere in scripture it says “God gives us the desires of our heart.” That can be taken two ways–first, God fulfills our desires. Second, the only reason those desires exist is because God put them there. In either case, we cannot let our own fears stop us, and while I see this regularly with writing, it isn’t specific to writing.

There are so many different dreams and ideas people have that they never step out and make happen because they are afraid they will somehow be walking outside of God’s will for their life. What they are forgetting is that all of life is meant to be a partnership with God. God would walk in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, not because God needed exercise, and not because God was trying to map out the garden. He created every square inch and knew every leaf and root in the place. God wasn’t walking there because He needed something—He was doing it to be with Adam and Eve and what they were doing.

I think we can all agree that we don’t want to live outside of God’s will, but my point here is that unless we are in blatant disobedience, God actually wants us to be creative, to explore, and to try new things. God wants us to dream and step out and expand our horizons. God doesn’t have a specific to-do list for each of us that He is keeping divinely hidden so we have to work really hard to search it out, hoping that we get it right, fearful that we don’t mess up.

If you have been holding back from doing something, whether writing a book or anything else, all because you are afraid of “walking outside of God’s will” then it is time to deal with the fear. The world is waiting for you to be courageous, take a risk, and do what is in your heart to do for God. If God hasn’t said “no” and it isn’t blatantly against what you already know God stands for, then you have permission. God is looking to raise up mature sons and daughters who are able to maturely handle the word of righteousness and act accordingly. We teach three year olds how to put clothes on, but we expect thirty year olds to be mature enough to buy their own clothes at stores of their choosing, dress themselves, and do their own laundry. God is, in many ways, the same. We don’t always need to be told what to do—sometimes God is waiting for us to do what we already know because He has given us sufficient instruction in the past.

God has already given you permission. It’s time to unleash your dreams.

Featured Image used with permission by my granddaughter Sage Rivers at Lupineandsage.com

Numbers, Riddles, and Hearing God’s Voice

Have you ever felt like someone is following you? Well, sometimes I don’t feel like it’s a someone, but a series of somethings–numbers. Right now it’s the number 111, but at times it has been 1222, 1010, 555, or many others. This began for me almost fifteen years ago, and it started with the number 1222. At that time, if I looked at a clock sometime around noon or midnight it was going to say 12:22. I would be driving in traffic and find myself driving behind license plates with the conspicuous number 1222 written in the license, or even at times a combination of the letter B and 2 (B correlates with the 2^nd letter of the alphabet—I have observed corresponding combinations with letters that match the number scheme that is happening at that time) which might look like 1BB2 or 122B or similar. This happened for months before I finally discovered what it meant—12/22 is my now-wife’s birthday (we were not married or even dating at the time) and the prophetic confirmation that a steady stream of the same number combination “coincidentally” showing up all around me served as a powerful prophetic confirmation in a period in my life when I badly needed it. God in His wisdom knew this in advance and provided for me before I entered the season where I needed it.

Numerology has lots of different explanations for the significance of numbers and many different Christian groups have their own beliefs about what numbers are supposed to mean from a prophetic or symbolic perspective. While any kind of number-meaning-guide can be helpful, I find they often fall short of a clear meaning. I find that most interpretations offer some helpful suggestions, but they can miss the mark as well if someone doesn’t understand that numbers are a means that God uses to talk to us. Sometimes it will be a scripture verse God is pointing to, and other times there is another meaning

For me, it depends. Before we moved to Portland, Oregon back in 2009, for months I would see 11:11 on clocks, license plates, etc. I looked up every single bible verse with four 1’s in it, and landed on Deuteronomy 11:11 which says, “The land you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.” I began to declare this every time I would see those numbers, not having a clue what it meant.. I think we might have lived in Portland for a full year before I realized I had moved to a land of mountains and valleys that did nothing if not drink rain from heaven six months out of every year.

There is a principle related to the prophetic and hearing God’s voice that is found in a conversation God had with Aaron and Miriam. Actually, the Lord was rebuking them for speaking out against Moses and his leadership, but the information provided in the rebuke is interesting. Numbers 12:6-8 says, “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.” God literally descended in a pillar of cloud and told two of Israel’s leaders that He speaks to prophets in riddles, visions, and dreams, but with Moses He speaks face to face. What this says to me is that riddles are one of the ways God will speak to any of us, and having to piece together the meaning of a repeating number sequence seems pretty riddle-ish to me.

While I can never guarantee any specific meaning to any number or number sequence, I have learned a few things over the years. First, each situation is different. What a number sequence meant one time doesn’t necessarily mean it will have the same interpretation another time. And while the meaning can vary from one instance to another, often they will go in “flights” of numbers—where a number will repeat for a few weeks or even months (the longest I have had was sixteen months) and will have the same meaning the entire time. Yet, when there is a break in the numbers appearing or the sequence shifts, it usually means that God is saying something new. Second, you have to search out the meaning. Sometimes it is as simple as a well-known Bible verse like Jeremiah 33:3 which says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Other times it takes hunting, literally combing the Bible for scripture verses and discerning which fits the meaning. On other occasions, like with my wife’s birthday, it isn’t a scripture passage at all and the number has another meaning entirely.

While what the numbers mean and what God is saying to us may vary from situation to situation, one thing is certain: God uses numbers as one of the many ways He speaks to us, and the more we become attuned to the methods He uses, the more readily and easily we will recognize both when God is speaking and what He is saying to us. If you want to read a little more about God speaking to us through number patterns, or other ways God communicates with us, check out an anthology I am featured in called “God Speaks: Perspectives on Hearing God’s Voice” by Praying Medic, myself, Northwest Prophetic, Melody Paasch, Seneca Schurbon (who coauthored Broken to Whole with me) and others!

The Need for Spiritual Sight

I have believed for many years that it is possible to see in the spirit much the same as how we see things physically, yet in the Body of Christ this is a rare thing. My issue is that while it currently is rare, I don’t think it should be. There are many Bible verses that talk about seeing in the spirit, and many of them suggest that it should be normal for us to see in the spirit, or at least more normal than it is right now. Let’s take a look at some of these verses, and consider why we even need to be able to see in the spirit.

2 Kings 6:17, 20 says, “And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha . . . After they entered the city, Elisha said, ‘Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.’ Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.”

In this situation Elisha prayed for those around him to see the heavenly warriors who were arrayed on their behalf, as they were looking only at natural resources available to them in their situation. Has anyone else ever been in a bad situation where they needed to see what Heaven was doing instead of just the forces of the enemy sent against them? Seeing in the spirit is a remedy for that.

In Job 10:4 it says, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?” This verse suggests that mortals see with physical eyes, yet the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are new creatures in Christ and no longer “mere men” as Paul chastised the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 3:3. In fact, Isaiah 29:10 suggests that the normative state for prophets is to have spiritual sight. It says, “The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).” This passage suggests that it is normal for prophets and seers to see in the spirit, hence why God had to cover them to prevent their vision.

There are many other passages that speak to our need and/or ability to see spiritual things, including multiple visions found throughout the Old and New Testaments by various prophets. In fact, in order for the disciples walking to Emmaus to recognize Jesus post-resurrection the Bible tells us their spiritual eyes had to be opened. Luke 24:31 says, “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” In Numbers 22:31, the prophet Balaam had to have God open his eyes in order to avoid getting killed by an angel. “Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.”

In the New Testament we are told to literally fix our gaze on non-physical, non-tangible realities, prioritizing things in the spirit over things in the natural. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Now, the reason for this is because unseen things are eternal in nature and have a more lasting value to them than physical ones. God wants us to be able to engage and interact with the spiritual realms, which is why Paul prayed accordingly in Ephesians 1:18-19a, that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

If you have never seen in the spirit before, or would like to have it happen more, begin by praying something similar to what Elisha prayed over his servant: “Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see!”

Revelation: The Power of Inspired Knowledge

Revelation is the supernatural release of wisdom, knowledge, or understanding about something—divine inspiration. It isn’t just a new idea that helps us think about something differently—it causes literal change in our beliefs and understanding and may alter how we approach and respond to situations. When we receive revelation, there is an inner expansion that takes place—a quickening of our spirit. It is usually accompanied by a mental moment where an idea clicks into place. Oftentimes after receiving it, the revelation seems so obvious that we don’t know why we didn’t understand or realize that particular concept before.

Revelation typically comes to us in one of four ways:

Directly by download from the Holy Spirit without prompting stimuli.
Download from the Holy Spirit during a prompting stimuli such as reading, meditation, worship, etc.
Through listening to teachings by others (a very specific prompting stimulus).
Given to us by angelic messenger.

In reality, the Holy Spirit is the one who quickens all revelation within us, so regardless of the delivery method all of them are ultimately His work. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit’s revelation-giving power in John 16:14 saying, “He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” The exact manner in which we receive divine inspiration is not always that important. In other words, it doesn’t matter if an angelic messenger delivers a missive or if we realize that same something while reading our Bible. What is most important is the internal transformation that occurs.

To be clear, information and revelation are not the same thing. I can listen to people talk about things I have never heard before, and as a result I will gain knowledge—new information. But something must take place on a spiritual level within me for that information to become revelation, and that is the key we are looking for. Why does it matter if something is inspired as opposed to learned? It comes down to impartation.

When we learn an idea, we have head knowledge. It is a mental construct that has no further ability or power beyond how we apply it with our minds and actions. With any form of divine inspiration, however, it carries virtue with it and creates inner transformation. In other words, when we receive revelation from heaven, we have in that moment received an impartation of something that makes changes in our soul and spirit. And, as we have discussed previously, once we receive something, we can give it away. Yet again, this is also a means by which we can receive impartation even if we are alone—as we engage the Holy Spirit He will reveal things to us, and as He reveals things to us they become implanted within our spirits and we can nurture that inspiration and let it grow and bear fruit.

In order to take advantage of this, it helps to understand how we can position ourselves to receive. Theoretically, receiving new revelation is not something we can make happen at will. By that I mean that if we were to decide right this moment that we wanted new revelation, it doesn’t mean we will suddenly be struck with a heavenly download. All wisdom and knowledge is there for the taking, and desiring new revelation can certainly influence the speed at which we receive it—it’s just not generally as fast as flipping a switch and turning a light on. Matthew 7:7-8 tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” If we desire inspiration, we can look at that verse and trust that God will give us what we ask, but we must learn to be patient and go through the process.

This is an excerpt from my book “The Power of Impartation.” If you have found this informative or interesting, then consider picking up a copy of the book, available on Amazon (click here) in both print and e-book, and soon to be on audiobook.