Conditioned For Decay, Conditioning for Life

I was at church a few weeks ago when a friend of mine and I were discussing me selling an enclosed trailer I own.  I mentioned that once I sell that trailer I won’t need to keep the Dodge Ram 2500 that I currently drive, and I can look at getting a newer/different vehicle.  You see, the reason I initially bought this particular truck was *so* it could tow that trailer a number of years back before I moved to Austin.  I then mentioned to my friend that it’s just as well that I sell the trailer and won’t need that specific truck soon because my truck is 30 years old and I don’t know how long it will last.  On the drive home from church I was thinking about that conversation because I realized this was a perfect example of limitation thinking in my life, how I have been conditioned for decay, and need mental re-conditioning for life.

That’s kind of a vague series of statements, so what do I mean by all of that?  A few weeks ago on social media I reposted an old article I wrote called “There Is No Such Thing As Normal Wear And Tear” which talks about how the children of Israel went through 40 years in the desert where their belongings didn’t decay or break down, and how under a better covenant we should be experiencing at least that if not significantly better. We have been conditioned by the patterns of this world and constantly socialized to believe in the power of death that we often don’t notice where we have given ourselves over to death-based thinking and the ways we have come into agreement with decay.

Re-conditioning for life begins with noticing our thought patterns—because many of our thoughts and beliefs are habitual, and if we don’t notice when we engage those habitual thoughts we won’t notice how and when to shift them in a different direction.  I write about this in my book The Gospel of Life and Immortality, but we have been so indoctrinated by what I call the Worldwide Death Cult that we often have death-based thinking and language that we use regularly without realizing it.  Some examples include “until death do us part” in our wedding vows, thinks like a “bucket list” which only makes sense if someone is planning to die, statements like “I’m dead” in common vernacular when we are saying that something is extremely funny.  And these are just a few of the many.  Food that is “to die for” is another one.  Is the food really that good?

When we are able to recognize these phrases and habitual statements and the beliefs that underlie them, we can then shift our language.  I don’t have a single “hill I will die on” when I believe something emphatically because I won’t be dying.  Likewise, when I recognize that I have entered into agreement with death-based thinking and with the lie of limitation, it is important that I come out of agreement with that lie.  For me, often I will verbalize that shift as a way of helping change my thought pattern.

To demonstrate this, let’s use my truck as an example.  I might say “I break agreement with the lie that says my truck will break down and decay because it is old, and I come out of agreement with all decay-based thinking and with the lies of limitation and lack.  I choose instead to believe the truth that as a son of the Most High God I have authority to release creation from decay.  I command all rust, breakdown, and decay to reverse itself now in Jesus’ name.  I release the power of regeneration over this truck right now in the name of Jesus and I command repair to all of its processes and parts right now!”

It’s not necessary to say certain specific words.  This is just an example of how I pray in hopes that it is helpful to the reader to give you ideas of how you might choose to pray in a similar situation.  One person might pray a much shorter prayer and command “Get fixed now in Jesus’ name!” and leave it at that.  Someone else might pray even longer and specify which parts of the vehicle need what form of repair, etc.  There isn’t a single right way to pray.  There are a few wrong ones, however, and asking God “if it be your will” is definitely top of that list when praying for things He has already given us power and authority to fix.  If you truly aren’t sure what God wants in a particular circumstance than praying for His kingdom to come and His will to be done in that circumstance as it is in heaven is never wrong.  But in any situation where we are dealing with life and regeneration over death and decay, the only answer is life and that is, has been, and will always be His will.  In any situation where we aren’t sure that’s God’s will, there is only a single remedy—to become convinced.  The Father has already firmly expressed His will in this area in the person of Jesus, and that will never change.  The great news about that is that it lets us know that we can always decree life in any situation, whether dealing with my truck body, with a human body, or with anything else.

We have been conditioned by the patterns of this world for decay, breakdown, and destruction, but it is time for us to undergo conditioning for abundant life!  As we change our patterns of thinking, some things will come to us effortlessly.  We will experience greater levels of health, energy, creativity, and more simply as a result of believing God’s truth about us and about all creation.  We will experience greater prosperity, greater health in our relationships, and much more.  Creation literally responds to our belief patterns, and as we shift ours to align with heaven, earth and all creation will shift itself to match.  In music this is called entrainment, where with two slightly discordant musical notes, one note begins to match the other one until they are resonating in synchrony with one another.  We are meant to become Life to creation so that it entrains to the divine pattern we release to it.  There is a divine synchrony that is waiting to appear in our physiology that is unlocked by our belief patterns, and as we shift our beliefs into patterns of abundance and life we will not only unlock our own health and life but we will unlock the world around us into the freedom it has been longing for.

If you want to learn more about God’s plans for abundant life for you and your loved ones and help shift your beliefs accordingly, I encourage you to pick up a copy of my books The Gospel of Life and Immortality and Faith to Raise the Dead, as well as my friend Tommy Miller’s books Deathless and Transfigured.  You may also want to check out Fiorella Giordano’s courses.  All of them are good, but specifically the one called Becoming Goshen is very relevant to this topic.

 

The Expiration Date of Grief

I was talking to a dear friend the other day about grief, and she made an analogy I had never heard before.  She said that grief is a bit like a ball inside a box.  The ball never goes away, but as the box grows over time, the relative space that it takes up is lessened so the grief becomes less intense and/or less severe.  And while it becomes less intense, it never goes away because no matter how big the box gets, the ball is always still there.  While I have never heard it described in those terms before, I am familiar with the fact that most people seem to believe that grief has no end, that it will never fully leave, and that all we can do is let time and distance lessen the pain.  And for the nonbeliever and/or the secular world, that is probably fairly true.  But as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to play by the world’s rules, and I can promise everyone reading this that grief has an expiration date—a predetermined day when grief meets its end.

I recognize this is a bit counter-culture, as the idea that all grief can be fully healed, resolved, and go away forever is something very few seem to believe.  But I suggest that it’s what the Bible teaches us as a result of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, so I want to lay this out for us and then provide some options for people to walk out and experience the end of their grief in the here-and-now because I don’t believe in a heaven-if-you-die gospel, I believe in a gospel that is so powerful and transformative that it works right here, right now, and it applies to everyone.

In Isaiah 55 we see the prophecy commonly referred to as the “suffering servant,” which is generally recognize to be Isaiah prophesying about Jesus and what He would do for us on the cross.  It’s a great chapter to read because there is a *lot* that it speaks of when you delve into it, but I want to hone in on verses 4 and 5 in the NKJV specifically.  They say:

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.”

 I chose the NKJV for this specifically because it uses the word “grief” in there, and while other translations sometimes use the words “pain” and “suffering” instead of “grief” and “sorrows” they ultimately communicate the same concept.  Grief is painful, and sorrow is a form of suffering.  If the Bible spoke of Jesus saying that he would carry these things on our behalf, and not just carry them but carry them away, then that is what He did.  Jesus didn’t just come so we would have hope in the middle of bad things.  He came to *remove* the pain of the bad things and make them become good.  How can God possibly make evil things like death become good?  I don’t fully understand it, but He can, He does, and He has committed to doing so for all of us forever.

Looking at this from another angle, 1 Corinthians 15:55 speaks of death having a victory and a sting, and that paragraph explains how there is a moment when death will fully lose its victory and sting and be swallowed up completely in the victory that Christ accomplished.  In 1 Corinthians 15:56 it says that the sting of death is sin, the word hamartia in Greek.  Hamartia means, among other things, to miss the mark, to fall short of the intended target, or to violate divine law in thought or act.  I think it is pretty safe to say that grief itself is a violation of God’s divine order and plan, as death is also in violation of His plan for abundant life.  If the sting of death is in how it violates divine order, and the power of that sting comes from the Law that Jesus came to fulfill and then lay aside, then it would make perfect sense that what Jesus completed on the cross provided the ultimate solution for sin, death, and also grief.  Said much more simply, I think of grief as part of the sting of death, and that sting has a predetermined end.  It has an expiration date.  It will not last forever and it *cannot* last forever because the blood of Jesus *demands* that there is a solution for it.

If grief was God’s plan for us, then why would Revelation 21:4 declare “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”?  Grief is not God’s plan for us.  And to take this a step further, did you know that Revelation 21 is already partially fulfilled?  And if that is true (which it is and I’ll show you), then this means that we can access the promises of an end to death and grief here and now.

Most people read Revelation 21 as a future prophecy of a someday-event, when the first verse gives us at least a portion of the context that it was speaking of and what it was speaking of finished transitioning by the end of 70 A.D.  How can I make such a bold claim?  Because we have historical context to reveal this to us.  The Temple complex was constructed in three main parts—the Holy of Holies (referred to as Heaven), the Inner Court (referred to as Earth), and the Outer Court (referred to as “the sea”).  What Jesus did on the cross opened the way to God fully for all mankind and removed all barriers and blockages, so there was no longer a need for the Outer Court (or the “sea”) where the Gentiles were relegated, because in Christ the separation between Jew and Gentile was ended.  All are included in Him as one new man.

I am no expert in covenants, but as my friend, apostle Tommy Miller teaches, any time there is a change in the covenant, there has to be a new priesthood, a new temple, and a new sacrifice.  The new priesthood is that of all believers.  The sacrifice was Jesus on the cross.  And the new temple is in mankind, no longer a physical temple with physical walls.  Thus, John’s metaphorical experience where he saw a new Heaven and new Earth and there was no longer any sea was speaking of the New Order that Jesus established through His body and blood on the cross.  And Revelation 21:4 speaks to this again saying “for the old older of things has passed away.”  It isn’t saying that at some future point the old order will pass away, but rather that the old order is already finished and gone.

So what does that mean for us?  We are under a different order.  We do not have to carry grief and pain with us forever any longer.  That doesn’t mean that it isn’t ever painful for a time in the interim, because it is, but the blood of Jesus demands that grief has a predetermined end.  It is my desire for every person on the planet to experience the end of grief, pain, and sorrow, and to the extent that we still experience it, it is because we need to apprehend that which has already been purchased for us.  It is a bit like when we buy something online.  We have already bought the item, but the delivery sometimes takes longer than we want.

As obvious as it sounds, Heaven’s primary delivery system is called “prayer”.  When we have yet to fully apprehend or experience something Jesus already purchased for us, prayer is generally the answer—and I encourage anyone experiencing grief to do that.  And while that sounds overly simplistic, and may even sound trite (which it isn’t meant that way), sometimes it truly can be that simple.  The barrier we often hit is that when we pray, if we don’t receive the full result in that moment, we can think it didn’t work.  Often with things like grief that tend to be pervasive through much of our soul, it can take persistence and consistency over time to experience the fullness we should expect, but all prayer does something, and sometimes it helps to have some direction on how to move forward with that.  So.  I’m going to post some links below.

The first is a very short book by Praying Medic that gives a simple and easy to use prayer template to know how to pray through painful emotions when you’re not sure what to do.  Prayer always works, but sometimes it takes praying multiple times in a row and/or persistence over time.  There are some Flower Essences by Freedom Flowers that can help someone process through grief and heartbreak and return to a place of joy (there are other essences that help with other things, but I’m posting ones that target these specifics here).  Then, there are people.  I personally recommend each of these ministers, and you will have to contact them to see if they are a good fit for your specific needs or not, but all of them should be able to help you and/or refer you to someone who is a better fit.

 

Books:

Emotional Healing in Three Easy Steps by Praying Medic

 

Flower Essences:

Good Grief

Heart Healer

Joy

 

Prayer Ministers

Integrated Life Strategies – Robin Perry Braun

WhenYouNeedGrace.com – Grace

Transformations Community – Adena Hodges

Risen Light Works – Danielle

Holy Fire Disciples – Mason Ledbetter

 

 

Healing the Bora Chief

During my time in Peru with Overseas Missions, we spent a day on a tributary of the Amazon.  We saw some cool animals (sloths, crocodiles, weird turtles, macaques, and more), swam in the river, and toward the end of the day we stopped by a village of the mostly-indigenous Bora people.  Their chief, Walter, was quite the clever businessman, and their actual village was a 4-minute walk away, but they had created a model-village close to the river for tourists.  It was late in the day so many of the villagers had left for home already, but because our local Peruvian contact knows the chief, they arranged for some of the villagers to remain behind to welcome us.  What happened next was awesome.

First, Walter and his tribe welcomed us with a number of traditional dances of the Bora people, and afterward they showed us some of their tribal wares.  The items were pretty cool, as they included jewelry made of porcupine quills, artwork, and more.  I didn’t look at the artwork much though because we brought some gifts for the tribe, which I briefly explained to Chief Walter—we brought medicine.

One of the things that made this trip so fun was that so much of what we did was counter-culture to how life normally goes.  Usually, Chief Walter does a presentation with his tribe and they are in a service-role to the tourists as a form of income.  And while our team was honored to receive similar treatment (even better than usual if you consider they stayed late in order for us to see them), it is uncommon for the tourists to bring gifts for the tribe.  We provided pain medications, vitamins for the children and pregnant women, and other medications that are both generally useful and not readily available in the jungle.

Because Walter and the tribe were largely believers already we didn’t preach to them, but we did make sure to pray for anyone with pain and injuries before we left.  An elderly man came up for prayer who had lost much of the sensation and mobility in his arms after carrying a heavy load through the jungle.  He fell and was injured and afterward he could no longer move or feel properly.  While from a medical perspective I suspect he had some level of nerve impingement in his upper back, the fact is that this negatively impacted his quality of life.  Until Jesus showed up, that is.  One of our team, Shawn, prayed for him and he regained all range of motion and sensation and all the pain in his body left!

Then, my buddy Troy and I prayed for Chief Walter who had some kind of injury to his foot.  Considering the 40-minute walk twice a day along with the multiples of dances they performed barefoot, I suspect he had plantar fasciitis or similar—but regardless of the condition, it meant that simply doing daily life was painful, much less his job as the village leader.  Well we prayed and the pain left!  Now, when healing the sick and injured it can be easy to pray, not test anything, and leave feeling like we have added a notch to our belt and witnessed God heal someone, but I’m not a fan of leaving things untested if there is a way to try it out.  We began by having the Chief stomp his feet, which he was able to do without pain, so we took it to max-level.  I asked him to jump up and down on it to really make sure he was healed.  And He was, because Jesus still heals!!

Often, manifesting the Kingdom is as straightforward as being more engaged than people normally are, and other times it looks like gifts of medicine.  In this case it looked like both of those and healing prayer—but however we release the Kingdom, the key is for us to just step out and do it!  Faith looks like risk, but when we step out and risk something we create opportunities for God to show up and show off His immeasurable goodness and love.

Receiving a Spirit of Adoption and Divorcing the Other Fathers

I want to do some teaching today that touches on the importance of receiving the Spirit of Adoption—aka the Holy Spirit.  It definitely is sort of an “identity in Christ” message, but it isn’t one that is really taught. In fact, I have only ever heard one person teach on this subject, and it was a few weeks after I wrote this.  As such, I would be very surprised if most readers have encountered some of the things we’re going to look at today—and a lot of it is straight from well-known scriptures too. The reason I say this is that I expect this will be a significant theological challenge to some.  Before going further, I get that this topic is not likely to win me any Popular Theology awards in Christian circles, but I think it is important we take a deeper look at why our identity in Christ matters, and to do that we have to take a long, hard look at what I broadly refer to as the Other Fathers.  I’m going to be breaking a lot of theological boxes today, so I highly recommend that anything you have questions about that you take time to mull over, pray about, and really think about the broader implications instead of just rejecting things that don’t fit the “normal Christian teaching” box.  Besides, if you’re reading this, I would hope that you know by now that I don’t do a lot of “normal Christian teaching” here anyway.  And if you are new, welcome! . . . and buckle your seatbelt!  Fair warning, this is much longer than most of my articles but the subject matter doesn’t lend itself well to breaking it into multiple posts, so here it is all at once.

The subject of the Other Fathers came up for me about a year and a half ago.  I was chatting with a close friend on the phone and a guest at her house briefly joined in the conversation and mentioned something about “the Other Fathers” in reference to some inner healing stuff we were discussing.  I had the opportunity to ask her a bit more about it at a later date, and the things she told me not only made a ton of sense, but I could see where it all fits in with the scriptures, and not only that, but the Holy Spirit has brought me more understanding on the subject since.  I think there is a lot of potential benefit for the Body of Christ from an inner healing and deliverance perspective, so let’s first begin by looking at where we see the Other Fathers in scripture, see how the subject ties in to other aspects of our lives and spirituality as a whole, and what we can do about them.

First, let’s take a look at the Lord’s Prayer—more specifically, how it begins.  It goes, “Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name.”  Interesting, isn’t it?  Jesus began the prayer by identifying which Father he was referring to, and specified the holy one in heaven.  If there is only one Father, why did he bother specifying it in the first place?  That’s like saying you are speaking about “that white man standing over there” when there is literally only one person over there to begin with.  Adding that he is white, male, and standing are unnecessary details considering he’s the only one present.  If there is only one father possible, I don’t think Jesus would have specified which one He meant when he was teaching His disciples to pray.  But there’s more.

John 8 is very fascinating chapter where Jesus is talking to the Pharisees.  The entire chapter is important for context, and there are multiple more verses in that chapter than I will quote here that support my point, but for brevity’s sake I will only quote some of the more obvious parts in the middle.  The context of this passage is that Jesus is teaching in the temple courts, and the Pharisees are trying to entrap him.  The portion we will cover here begins with Jesus speaking, and the italics are my emphasis on the subject of Fathers.  It says:

“I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”

“Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  (John 8:38-44)

 

If we read this chapter closely, we see that both Jesus and the Pharisees understand the concept of spiritual fathers, because that is what is largely being discussed here.  Jesus starts by differentiating between what He has seen in God the Father’s presence, and then tells the Pharisees that they are following the directions of a different father.  The Pharisees retort that Abraham, who is a servant of God, is their father, to which Jesus reveals that their actions are something Abraham never would have done in a million years, and thus invalidates their claim.  He goes a step further to affirm a second time that they have a different father.  They angrily deny that they are illegitimate children of another father and then Jesus a third time challenges them on this.  He makes an if/then statement say if God was their father (which He isn’t) then they would love him (which they don’t).  Jesus then really drives the knife home as he states “You belong to your father, the devil . . . (v44a).  Jesus wasn’t just being insulting here though.  He stated three times that the Pharisees had a different spiritual father than Jesus did, and he even specified the third time that the devil really and truly was their father.  The last part of the verse, Jesus states again that the devil is the father of lies.

The thing is that Jesus wasn’t using figurative language, but rather describing a very real spiritual reality.  God the Father in Heaven is unfortunately not the only spiritual father out there.  In fact, most cultures have some sort of spiritual father figures—and most people have heard of at least some of them.  Some of the ones that come more immediately to mind are Zeus, Odin, Ra, Osiris, Horus, Cronus, Jupiter, and Anu, but there are many more.  You will observe that these are all the names of mythical gods, but that isn’t a coincidence.  These beings, and most other mythological gods and other beings, are based in reality.  Yes, they do exist, and more than just in the minds of men.  Many of these beings fall under the category of “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” mentioned in Ephesians 6:12.  I wish they didn’t exist, as it would make things a whole lot easier, but they do.  Genesis 6 speaks of how cosmic heavenly beings, the “sons of God”, mated with the daughters of men and birthed the Nephilim, of which Nimrod was the greatest.  So how does this relate to us and spiritual fathers?

Well, consider what it says in Romans 8:15, that “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”  We have all heard this verse many times, and it ties in very importantly to the issue of our identity in Christ, but there’s something else it alludes to that I had never noticed before this subject came on my radar.  It says we have not received a spirit that makes us a slave again to fear—which means we already were slaves to fear once.  Have you ever thought about who we were adopted from when we got adopted into God’s family?

Think about it.

In a natural family, there is a father and mother.  In fact, genetically and biologically speaking, for a child to be birthed there has to be a father involved somehow, as his DNA is required to produce a child.  In Vitro via sperm donor, natural intercourse, whatever—a father has to be involved in some manner.  Yet, the scriptures seem to make it clear that God was not necessarily our original father. After all, my biological dad didn’t adopt me in order for me to become part of my family.  If I had been adopted, then my biological dad would have had to have made me and then I would have been adopted into another family with a new father (to clarify, I’m not adopted).  But this is the language this passage uses.  It speaks quite plainly, here and elsewhere in scripture that we were not born naturally of our heavenly father, but have to be adopted into His family.  This means quite simply that we each have to have Other Fathers somewhere that are in some way responsible for our existence.  Kinda trippy, right?  And not only that, but that we weren’t just their children in some way, but according to Romans 8:15 we were also their slaves.  I mean, what are the implications of that??

Here are some of my questions and thoughts on the subject, and these you can take or leave as you see fit, but I want to offer a perspective to ponder before we continue on.  What if when the Bible says in Jeremiah 1 that “before you were formed in the womb I knew you” that it is speaking of a pre-existence before earth—what I call “pre-incarnation?”  What if we actually all existed as spiritual beings in the spiritual realms, chose with God to come down here, but on the way got waylaid and ended up in some cases in kingdoms of darkness in the spiritual realms where we ended up enslaved by Other Fathers?  What if this spiritual battle we are in didn’t just start with Adam on planet earth but has been going on for aeons of time and eternity throughout the spiritual spheres?  What if what we see and experience on this physical earth is only a vague fraction of all that has occurred throughout the myriads of ages, and that this spiritual battle is far vaster than we have any concept?  What if the only way to fix any of this was for Jesus to do what He did on the cross—and even when it says that He sets the captives free, what if he was talking about all the children of all the Other Fathers? And what if somehow that included some of us?

Regardless of whether those musings are true or not, there is one things that is certain.  We must become aware that the Other Fathers do exist, and realize that Jesus actually directly taught on this subject himself.  As a result of this knowledge that they do exist, we must divorce from them in any ways we are connected in to them, and then as we come across their influence in our lives or those around us, destroy that influence and set captives free.  In reality, this doesn’t always have to be a hard thing, but in some cases and situations it might require more targeted prayer, for which I will provide an example prayer one can pray down below.  However, I did promise to tie this in to other aspects of our lives before looking at what we can do about them.  I already did that to a certain degree, but let’s look at the identity-in-Christ issue and how this relates.

If Jesus is setting us free from the Other Fathers through our adoption as sons of our Father in Heaven, then it is as He said—whom He sets free is free indeed.  That just means that when Jesus sets us free we can trust that He has truly set us free, and that we won’t still be drawn back to the Other Fathers somehow later on.  It also means that we get to walk in, enjoy, and live out all of the things that it means to be sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.  That means we get to walk in all of the authority He has provided for us, enjoy all of the blessings He has held onto for us in spiritual places in Christ, and we get to freely access Him—our Heavenly Father Himself!

So many believers struggle with the idea that we can come freely before God the Father, and that He isn’t about to smite us with some sort of heavenly smiting.  Where does that fear even come from?  Sure, it comes in part from our earthly fathers at times, but I suggest it also comes from the Other Fathers. Zeus, among others, is well known for having a big temper and for being a bit free with the lightning bolts.  You don’t want to cross that one because he is mean.  When I was in India in November of 2018, I asked one of the pastors there why the people served Kali and some of the other evil Hindu gods since they knew they were cruel spirits, and he explained that they do it out of fear—bad things happen to them if they don’t, or if they do it wrong, and until Jesus comes along, they really don’t have any other choices anyway. But Christ did come along and has provided a way for all of us to break free from every ungodly spiritual influence, including but not limited to the Other Fathers, and has made a way for us to permanently join His family forever!  This is how this subject relates to our spirituality as a whole, and it is fantastic news!

The final thing I said I would do is look at what we can do about the Other Fathers.  First, we need to recognize that there actually are Other Fathers out there, and that there are still many in this world who serve them.  For those who haven’t figured it out yet, we are in a spiritual battle.  There are those in this world who actively serve the enemy, who regularly perform magic, ritual sacrifices, and more in order to help the enemy gain power and influence in this world.  The Other Fathers are part of an evil spiritual army that seek to enslave not just all of mankind, but all spiritual beings for all eternity.  They are part of the force who were cast out of Heaven (Rev 12:4), and have set themselves against God the Father, seeking to dethrone Him and rule in His place, as though that were even possible.  In an attempt to gain sufficient power to do this, they have to include mankind, whom God has made in His image and likeness, and engage our free will to help them.  Thus, we must be on guard against the Other Fathers as well as other human who are either deceived or who lust after power and are actively taking part on the enemy’s side right now.

Next, I want to remind us that faith is a powerful protection against the enemy, Other Fathers included.  Ephesians 6 tells us that faith serves as a shield, so if we want to be protected from any ungodly influence, the first thing we should do is engage our faith to believe freely on Jesus, that He has provided us with the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee we have dwelling inside of us that we are legitimately and truly adopted as children of our Heavenly Father—whom scripture calls the Father of Heavenly Lights in whom there is no twisting and turning of shadows (James 1:17).  By engaging our faith to agree with our identity in Christ, we can give ourselves a degree of protection from their influence, as well as any other negative spiritual influences in the earth.

Finally, we must pray.  This is both an ongoing and active thing, in that we must continually pray for God to destroy the designs of the enemy in both the heavens and the earth and to raise up Godly people to will and act according to His perfect will to transform the earth realm to be like it is in the Highest Heaven where God the Father abides.  We must act in accordance with our prayers, releasing both mercy and justice in the earth, and also train others to take part in this spiritual battle alongside us.  And, in some cases, especially where people have been ritually abused or co-opted or deceived by the enemy in other ways to become willing participants on his side, we have to specifically target the Other Fathers in prayer to break free from their power and influence.  I have provided an example prayer below that can be used to pray through breaking off the influence of Other Fathers:

 

Prayer To Divorce From The Other Fathers

“Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I fully align myself with the new creation that I am in Christ Jesus.  I receive the free gift of your Holy Spirit, the spirit that testifies that I have already been adopted as your son/daughter and have become an heir of your Kingdom.  I break every agreement, oath, contract, ritual and document whether known or hidden that has placed me or any aspect of my God-created humanity as part of any other kingdom or as a child, servant, or slave of any of the Other Fathers that are not you, the One True God and Heavenly Father of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  I fully divorce myself from every Other Father and any other spirit beings that have laid any claim upon me, and I send the angelic host to break, shatter, and destroy any shackles, chains, or other bonds that would seek to prevent any aspect of my God-created humanity from coming fully under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and receiving the freedom of the Children of God.  I hand over every spiritual device, object, or other spiritual matter that in any way denotes my position, power, influence, or authority of kingdoms other than God the Father’s and I reject and renounce anything I have received in any way through my involvement, known or unknown, in those kingdoms and inheritances.  I decree that whom Jesus has set free is truly and completely free, and I receive that freedom in every aspect, level, layer, and area of my being in spirit, soul, and body throughout time and eternity.  I lay claim to all of the inheritance that has been laid up in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and receive it as a replacement for all ungodly inheritances that I may have received from those who do not serve the Most High God.  I receive all of this freedom, wholeness, and abundance in the name of the True Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  Amen.”

 

 

I have recently published a good all-purpose prayer to deal with freedom in the soul as well, which you can find here:

https://www.thekingsofeden.com/2022/02/a-general-prayer-for-freedom-in-the-realms-of-the-soul/

Bride Ministries (a ministry I recommend but which I am not part of) has two significantly longer prayers that can be used for similar results:

Freedom from Constellations

Freedom from Fallen Angel Bloodlines and Genetics

These prayers are very specific and were crafted to deal with a lot of spiritual realities that most people are unaware of, and often times are unaware of some of the things they are being influenced by.  Accompanying the prayers are lists of names that might apply and be worth praying to break off the influence of.  In many cases, these names will correspond with Other Fathers, which is why I reference the prayers here.  The best way to use those lists is to read through them slowly.  If any of the names feel like they jump off the page, feel more noticeable somehow, or cause some kind of emotional or physical response, then they should be included when praying to break off those influences.

If someone likes those two longer prayers, or wants help in knowing what kind of prayers to pray in a variety of life situations including general prayers, warfare prayer, prayers against witchcraft, and those for deliverance from evil spirits, you can get a copy Dan Duval’s two prayer books:

Prayers that Shake Heaven and Earth

Advanced Prayers that Shake Heaven and Earth

I own both and have found them useful in my own life journey, and hope that they, along with this teaching on the Other Fathers and the subsequent prayer, are helpful and freeing to you as well.  God bless you!

 

 

A General Prayer for Freedom in the Realms of the Soul

One of the things I have written on in depth is the subject of emotional wounds and soul trauma and the resulting fracturing and fragmentation of the soul, as well as some methods one can use to go about healing it all.  I have coauthored the book Broken To Whole partly as a means of educating people about these things and partly as a way of providing solutions for fragmentation and emotional wounds as a whole.  This subject gets a lot more complex than some people prefer to go, but the soul is complex and we all have one, so it seems prudent to me for us to be taught and prepared accordingly.  For those who are unfamiliar with this subject I recommend you start with the following blogs, in that order:

Uprooting the Poisonous Tree—The Process and Value of Inner Healing

An Introduction to Soul Fragmentation.

The Solar System Model For Understanding Fragmentation and Dissociation

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.”

You will also want to pick up a copy of Broken To Whole and give it a read.

 

Because inner healing is so important to how we overcome as the Body of Christ, I have crafted a prayer that can be used to help pray through soul-related problems.  I call it a “General Prayer for Freedom in the Realms of the Soul, and this prayer is written in such a way that it can be prayed over oneself or prayed over someone else.  It has been designed to be somewhat comprehensive because while I want people to be equipped to pray through things they are aware of, often we have problems we are not consciously aware of or do not know how to address.  This prayer is written in part to cover inner healing needs we have that we are not consciously aware of, as well as to address spiritual forces that we may also not be aware we are battling.  Some of the language addresses things I and others have encountered in the spirit (most of which can be found in scripture if you know how to look) that some may simply be unfamiliar with, but the purpose of this post isn’t to teach on inner healing, but rather to provide a prayer for use, so I am not breaking down the prayer and why I included what I did.  My prayer for you is that you find a greater measure of freedom in your life and the lives of those you love as you use this resource.  On to the prayer!

 

General Prayer for Freedom in the Realms of the Soul

 

Heavenly Father I command the hosts of Heaven to go inside the system/soul dimension of _____.  I send them to destroy every stronghold of darkness and to release every captive part of my/his/her soul in every realm, timeline, and dimension of time and eternity and bring them into the safe place in the realm of the Kingdom of Light within the soul.  I release healing light to touch every area of brokenness within the soul and to heal every emotional wound carried by the various parts within the soul dimension.  I send angels to every part of anyone else’s soul who is captive within my/that person’s soul dimension.  I remove every restraint, chain, or shackle of any kind, every weapon or impaling object, and any other devices, implants, or other objects that have been attached, implanted, or connected to those aspects of the soul in any way, and I disable, dismantle, and remove any traps or tripwires that would prevent them from being removed or that would be set off upon removal.  I apply the fire of God to destroy all of these objects and any others I have not yet named that do not come from the Most High God and servants acting on His instructions. Separate out those souls, disconnect them from him/her, and to take them to the feet of Jesus for him to decide what to do with them, and I remove any further access from those soul parts to any part of my/_____’s being in the future.

 

I take authority over every demonic spirit that has gained access to me/ _____ as a result of emotional wounds.  I break, shatter, and destroy your power and authority over him/her and remove all future access.  I bind you all and every spirit working with you, for you, or who is in any way connected to you and I cast you out of me/ _____, never to return.  I send angels to clean up everything these spirits have left behind, removing every essence, energy, residue, all objects, remnants of strongholds, and to fix and clean up anything that has been negatively influenced by any being who serves the kingdom of darkness whether intentionally or unknowingly.  I loose the fire of God to cleanse and purify every area of the soul that the kingdom of darkness has accessed or influenced, and I expand the light of the One True Lord Jesus Christ to those places of the soul, permanently extending the Kingdom of Light into those regions.  I decree that this work is finished and permanent in Jesus’ mighty name!

 

 

For those who are interested in learning more about this aspect of inner healing as a whole, 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.

Other good resources I recommend and use for Praying Medic’s book Emotional Healing in Three Easy Steps and Karol Truman’s book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, and for more complex spiritual issues, Dan Duval’s books Prayers that Shake Heaven and Earth and Advanced Prayers that Shake Heaven and Earth.

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 upon you!

 

 

Hearing God: Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers

Since my buddy Kyle died this summer, I have been struggling to a certain degree with raising the dead—not in deciding whether to move on or give up on his resurrection as much as with finding an answer and a fruitful way forward in my own heart. I have been wrestling with how to become actually-effective in raising the dead. I have been wrestling with how to become whom I must become to carry the miracle-answer in any situation of need. And I have been dealing with the discouraging fact that every time I pray to raise the dead, the only thing that my Heavenly Dad says to me is how much of a great job I am doing, even when they haven’t returned yet. I suppose I should find what He tells me encouraging but it simply tells me that there is nothing different that I could be doing to be more effective than I am and have the resurrections occur—and to me, that’s rather discouraging.

Well, my buddy Steve reminded me recently of something that I already know, but where in our conversation he helped put it in context of this specific situation—namely that there are rules that govern how God can and cannot communicate with us based on where we are at and how we are able to hear Him. In any given situation it isn’t that God isn’t willing to talk to us, but sometimes He is limited in what He can successfully communicate with us.  I have written more in-depth on this subject in a recent article called The Rules of Speaking With God, but I’ll share some details here that relate to where I am going with this article in a different direction.   It isn’t that God is limited—its that we limit what we can receive. There’s a reason Jesus told his disciples “there is more I have to say to you than you can now bear.” It’s because they had to become different and grow their weight-bearing capacity before they could handle deeper and heavier things. It is likewise with us, and God has to help grow us from where we are to where we are heading in order to handle things God already wants to teach us and reveal to us right now. The fact is we simply aren’t ready, whether by our unbelief (meaning He will tell us things and we are unable to believe, receive, and/or understand it based on our deficits) or by means of some other lack in our lives. Sometimes it is that the demonic successfully block the messages God is sending us, whether that an angel is carrying a message and they block that angel and/or steal its message, or some other kind of blockage. However it happens, there is limitation in the spirit that reduces or influences God’s ability to successfully get the messages through to us when we ask.

While that is frustrating and at times disheartening, it means that we have to learn to change how we do things. Sometimes we are asking a question but it isn’t the right question, and based on the rules we need to start asking different questions to get the answers we need. Sometimes we are asking the right kinds of questions but we need to stop being broad and get more specific. And sometimes the question isn’t the problem but our level of growth and maturity is—so we must grow in certain areas before we will be ready to receive the answers to our questions. There are different ways we can get around some of this, and while little short-changes the need for growth (other than impartation, and even then it doesn’t fix everything), we can use certain strategies to overcome and move forward.

I was talking to my friend Hope this evening (the evening after I talked to Steve) about this very thing in regard to physical healing. She has been believing God for her healing for years, and God does answer with miracles at times for her—more than most people I know. And yet, she still has dealt with a lot of physical pain and suffering. What I told her is a strategy we can use in any area, but just target it toward the relevant things we are seeking and engaging. What I told her is that while she wakes up every morning with a faith and expectation that her healing has just manifested, she then discovers each day that it has not happened yet. Sure, we can say let’s just continue in that vein and one day eventually it will, and that is generally true. However, it is also safe to say that what she is doing literally isn’t working, so to continue to do that and expect a different result without changing anything might also be unwise. What I suggested she do is in addition to continuing to wake up in faith each morning that healing has come, to begin to ask the Father how she can partner more directly with Him to see it manifest.

What are the wisdom steps she can take right now to help herself on the journey?

What are the things God is trying to teach her or tell her right now that she hasn’t asked about that would move her closer to her healing?

What lessons does God have for her that will help her grow into her healing?

What are the things that are holding back or delaying or preventing the healing from manifesting?

As we start to ask different questions, something about engaging God differently allows Him to move differently. I don’t entirely understand why that is because I don’t quite understand the rules that govern how this works, but there are rules and this is why it works this way. When we stop just expecting or praying for one thing repetitively and start addressing the problem from different angles, we will find ourselves moving closer. Think of it as trying to push through a hurricane to reach the eye of the storm—pure force will make that exceedingly difficult if not impossible. However, if instead of trying to push straight into the eye and/or push against the wind forces, what if someone went at a slant in the direction the wind was moving but consistently inward? While I recognize actual hurricanes have a number of variables that would make this not work, the concept example is what I am going for. Consider that changing the approach from something that is inherently incapable of working to a different method creates an opportunity that didn’t exist before. Asking the Father different questions, praying a different way, and approaching the situation differently all will change us in ways that cause the answers to start to filter through, our prayers to become more effective, and the situations to begin to change. From a perspective of the Law of Sowing and Reaping (I explain this in depth in my book The Power of Impartation), if we start sowing differently, we will start reaping differently.  And the end result will be growth, forward movement, and answered prayer!

 

 

Guatemala Missions 2021: A Story of Healing and Redemption

My trip with Overseas Missions to Guatemala this November was eventful, to say the least, but there were certain things about it that were more special than others. One, in particular, was very precious to me because it felt like God redeemed a moment in my life that felt like a failure—not my failure, per se, inasmuch as the failure wasn’t by my choice or for my lack of trying, but because the situation did not proceed how my heart desired, and God in His infinite kindness offered me yet another opportunity for change, and to release His life to others.

One of the things I am discovering about myself is that personality-wise, as my Enneagram type is a 2, one who thrives largely on service to others, is that a desire to help others truly is a significant part of my life. As such, when I joined Overseas Missions in 2018 on a trip to India, my wife and I had prepared additional funds for some kind of emergency-need should the situation arise. And it did—in the form of a grandmother whose leg was badly infected with gangrene. Having already spoken about the funds to the leader of the India-side of our medical team, when this need arose she approached me and asked if I would be willing to cover the medical costs for this woman—which I instantly agreed because if she was not treated appropriately, she would die. Our team leader also took the situation seriously and followed up with the local pastors to make sure they tracked the family down to get the job done.

It was only later that night that I found out that the adult son had refused any kind of aid because he didn’t want our money. I still to this day don’t understand what it was he thought I was trying to give, or if in his pride he thought I was trying to take something from him by helping his mother. I will probably never know. I found out in the worst way too—everyone thought I already knew so spoke of it casually, but to discover in casual conversation that this woman was essentially sentenced to death was really hard, and I won’t lie, I ran away from the dinner table crying. Thinking about it now still makes me cry, actually. But that’s why this particular event on the Guatemala 2021 trip was so special to me—because as much as the one in India was damaging to my heart, this one was healing. Now that I’ve told you the background, I want to tell you what God did.

In Guatemala we paired up with a local missionary couple outside of Flores and their team who are growing and expanding Corazones En Accion (Hearts in Action), The Jungle School, and related business Itza Wood, all the while ministering to the local population. The school teaches children all the way through high school where possible (and you can support the children through their sponsorship program), and Itza Wood and other related businesses provide both marketable skills for those in the area, jobs that provide for a better quality of life for entire families, and the income helps support the mission work of Hearts in Action. Overseas Missions’ work this time involved setting up a traveling medical clinic, where we visited different villages and assessed their medical needs, providing medications and other simple treatments and education where relevant, and then armed with information on the physical problems the people suffered, our prayer team healed the sick, opened blinded eyes, and saw the lame walk once again. The leader’s thirteen year-old son took it upon himself to record the testimonies of what God did, and he filled over thirteen pages with healing testimonies from that trip, and he by no means got them all.

 

One day we had driven two hours to deliver food, pipes for a water line, and a message of the good news of Jesus Christ who still saves, heals, delivers, casts out demons, and performs miracles today to a tiny hamlet of seventeen families that was clearing part of the jungle to build new lives on land granted by the government. We saw some pretty spectacular healings (one in particular involved Troy, one of my teammates, which I will tell another time), then left to hold another medical clinic elsewhere. At that clinic, I met Antonio. One of the other nurses was talking to him about his wife Reina and her medical condition. It turns out she had miscarried a baby five months prior and subsequently had been vomiting every day since then, unable to keep food or fluids down. They had already seen a doctor the week prior and the ultrasound of her abdomen showed that her gallbladder was part of the problem. From what we could identify, it sounded like an infected gallbladder, which under the right circumstances is life-threatening, and after vomiting for five months, she was at very high risk.

 

You need to understand that at this point, regardless of what anyone else saw, I was seeing a similar situation to the prior trip. A man whose female family member was headed for imminent death if nothing was done to turn the situation around, and really we were the only ones who would be able to help because truthfully, Antonio didn’t lack for caring—my time with him showed me he is a kind man—he simply didn’t have the money to fix it.

I spoke with one of the missionaries and we agreed to take them to the hospital the next day, pay for the medical evaluation, and work to get her well. When we stopped by Antonio’s sister’s house near Flores where Reina and their son were living temporarily, Antonio met us there. He had taken two weeks off of work (which is a huge deal for them) and driven the two hours from where we met him toward Flores because we were coming to help—but his countenance was low and he had little hope.

We prayed for her, then drove to a local hospital run by Samaritan’s Purse where, upon explaining the situation, they took Reina into their three-bed Emergency Room and began to evaluate and treat her. She got antibiotics for a urinary tract infection, further evaluation on her vomiting, gallbladder, and more. They identified that the bleeding from her ulcers had made her anemic and while she didn’t get a blood transfusion that day, they ended up giving her one a week later and she will probably need another in the near future. They managed her pain, nausea, and she was diagnosed with severe gastric ulcers as well as a gallbladder that needed removal but fortunately was not infected. While that doesn’t sound too medically intense, and in some ways it isn’t, as we regularly treat these issues in the United States with over the counter medications, this was literally going to kill this woman. And why? Because of lack of money. The only reason she had suffered so much for so long was because they didn’t have the money. To me, that is evil.

By the end of the day, things were different. Reina still looked and felt miserable, but to be fair her body was fully depleted in every way. Antonio, on the other hand, had a completely different countenance. Why? Because of love and hope. Think about it—this man had already lost his second child to a miscarriage, and was in danger of losing his wife as she slowly and painfully wasted away and died while he looked on, feeling powerless to do anything to turn it around. But, over the course of a single day, things had changed. By the end of the day he was smiling because God had given him hope again. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit had impressed on the head nurse for our team to bring a lot of Nexium with her from the States in spite of not knowing why she was bringing it—and it was the exact medication they prescribed Reina to help her ulcers to heal. Jesus is so good!!!

And in all of this, God healed something in my heart too. Why? Because this time it actually worked. This time instead of knowing that another person marched inexorably toward death through a lack of intervention and a lack of means, God was able to not only save a life but restore a family, and I was so touched that He had given me the gift of being involved in it. The situation in India was heart-crushing, but the one in Guatemala was heart-healing, and once again revealed God’s boundless and breathtaking kindness that He demonstrates to each one of us. And that’s not all.

It has taken some time for things to turn around for Reina and Antonio. They have incurred ongoing medical costs after that initial ER visit due to follow-up visits, an endoscopy, and a gallbladder-removal surgery, most of which has already been paid for through friends and followers of The Kings of Eden (In fact, I am going to a bank today to transfer those funds to the missionaries there to cover those costs). If you want to donate to cover Reina’s other medical costs during this process, send money via Paypal to Thekingsofeden@gmail.com, and 100% of all funds will be used for medical care (I don’t do “administrative costs”—what comes in will be sent back out). Not only that, but there’s some really great news! I got a text just yesterday from Suzanne, the wife of the missionary-couple of Hearts in Action with some really amazing news! Reina, who, remember, has been unable to eat anything and keep it down for over 5 months, has already gained four pounds and is now able to eat soup and smoothies. Not only that, but she and Antonio are going to get married in 2022! I didn’t know at the time, but they have never gotten married, and this situation has given them the push they needed to get married as well. How exciting! God has done a mighty work of restoration in this couple’s lives. Their son, age 5, had told me when I was there that he was looking forward to going back to their house because they have chickens and he wants to get a dog!

Guatemala 2021 was an amazing trip for many reasons, more of which I will share in future articles, but this aspect of the trip will always remain special to me. God redeemed a loss in my life, and I have been getting to see Him do exceedingly abundantly more this time around than I even expected. If there is any situation in your life where you have lost hope, where you feel that nothing can turn it around, or where you just don’t know if God cares enough to get involved, I want to remind you that if He cares enough to have people travel from another country just to restore the health and life of one single family who did no special great deeds to earn the favor or grace of a Deity, then He certainly cares about you. Antonio told me that afternoon after we left the hospital that God answered his prayers by sending us to help them, and if God hears the cries of a desperate husband in the jungles of Guatemala and answers them, God will answer your prayers too.

 

The Truth Sets Us Free

The Bible tells us that the truth will set us free, and I participated in a really great example of that the past two days. As a float pool nurse, I get moved around the hospital regularly, so I have taken to praying each morning for God to assign me to the location I need to be on that day—and He has been faithful to do so each day. While at work those days, I had the opportunity to speak into the lives of some of the other nurses on the floor, and the results were pretty awesome!

Both nurses in question were having relationship problems, although entirely different in nature. With the first, I was able to explain a bit about how the soul functions in three separate parts—the mind, will, and emotions—and how when our emotions are storming out of control we have to make some choices with our will and choose our thoughts in a cold, calculated manner regardless of our feelings, and that as we do that, we can help shift how we feel in a situation. I also began to declare over her that her relationship problem was going to resolve and all will be well. By the end of the day, her countenance had changed—as had her relationship! The keys I had already given her were working!

The second of the two problems was a little more difficult and while I was able to speak some encouragement and hope into the situation, I was glad I got assigned to the same floor the next day. In fact, I almost didn’t, and at literally the last second my assignment got switched (it was so last minute I literally arrived late to the correct floor for the day) to where I had worked the prior day.

Both the nurses were really happy to see me, and we began our shift as usual with the normal daily tasks and care. During a lull in the day I spoke with the second of the two nurses who shared a bit more of how things progressed with her relationship the prior evening after we spoke—and while it confirmed some of what I had been saying the day before, it still wasn’t good. I reminded her that while she felt like things were hopeless, that a promise from God in Jeremiah 29:11 told her that she has a hope and a future, and encouraged her to shift her perspective to expect that they have a future together and that things will improve.

God was already giving out His freedom-releasing truth, but it gets better! A key part of the problem with her relational issue was actually the same as the first nurse the day prior—emotions and beliefs. The guy she was having difficulty with has a lot of unhelpful beliefs that are causing him problems, and causing her pain. I gave her similar advice on how to manage her side of the situation, but then encouraged her to pray for him so he could find a way out of his struggles.

As we discussed this, I pointed out Hebrews 6:12 which ultimately points out that it is through both faith and​ patient that we inherit the promises of God. She wasn’t understanding why things hadn’t changed in just a week or two, and I was able to show her how we have to persevere in our prayer and PUSH—Pray Until Something Happens!

As we continued to talk on the second day, I pointed out that she had already turned from negative direction to positive, and now it was walking out the positive. She just had to remain patient. I reminded her that Galatians 6:9 tells us, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” In the end, we just have to keep persevering. God answers our prayers—just sometimes it is piecemeal and not all at once.

I explained the day prior about emotional healing and how it sometimes happens in chunks and layers, not 100% all at once. I shared my friend Praying Medic’s book Emotional Healing in 3 Easy Steps (which she used that night), and I encouraged her to keep going.

By the time we were done, she felt light. I could feel the lightness. It was freedom because truth had set her free. And it was going to set her man free. And bring freedom to her, to him, and to those around them! Yaay God!!

 

 

Emergency Preparedness is Highly Spiritual

In my teens I spent a good amount of time in the Boy Scouts, including two summers as a camp counselor at a Boy Scout Camp. There was a lot that I learned during that phase of my life having to do with the outdoors, swimming, first aid, and more, but one thing that always stuck with me was the motto “Be Prepared.” There are a variety of ways one can follow that ethos, from emergency preparedness to financial preparedness and more, but I want us to consider something that follows more closely with the subjects on this site: spiritual preparedness.

I realized years ago that in any given situation I cannot guarantee that anyone else​ will walk in the anointing, identity, and authority as a son or daughter of God to get the job done in whatever the current circumstance is. And while I think it is healthy to a degree to rely on others in the Body of Christ, situationally, that is not always possible or even wise. Thus, I decided that I must grow to become whatever I must become in any situation to solve Earth’s problems with Heaven’s power and grace.

While that may sound arrogant to some, I think it actually aligns pretty closely with the nature of our Heavenly Dad—the one who goes by the name “Jehovah Jireh” or “the God who Provides.” I had a Mormon patient share with me once that God’s name “Jehovah Jireh” actually is better translated as “I Will Become Whatever I Must Become [to meet the need].” If we consider that God is determined to become for us whatever we need in any given situation, is it really too much to consider that we, being made in His likeness, are to walk in the same nature as our Father?  And while one can make the argument that God will always provide in any situation, how did God provide for the famine in Egypt?  He sent Joseph a dream so he had seven years to prepare.  For Noah?  He gave him over 100 years to build an ark.  Sometimes, faith looks like doing something in advance.

[box] Sometimes, faith looks like doing something in advance.[/box]

Fasting is a great discipline, although difficult at times, but when tragedy strikes is really not the best time to begin fasting. In fact, I think it is far better to have lived a general lifestyle that includes fasting if for no other reason than to be prepared. Prayer is a great discipline, but is it really effective to begin developing that lifestyle once a problem hits? I suggest it is far better to have developed that discipline and have those lines of communication open prior to issues springing up. Walking in spiritual gifts, the anointing, power, authority, identity and more are all really good things​ for us to do. But is the time to begin doing those things really the moment when problems befall us and those around us, or is it wiser to be like the Wise Virgins in the parable Jesus told and be prepared for future situations?

I suspect we have entered an era where there is little time left to prepare for the things that are coming our way. There is tyranny in the air, many opportunities for intentionally-manufactured economic ruin for individuals, families, and even different regions of the world. Certain sicknesses have been unleashed on the world to intentionally create ill health and death, and the “cures” for those diseases may end up being just as deadly. The time to prepare for all of these things and the many more possibilities I have not named is not someday in the far off future. The best time to prepare is years ago, but the next best time​ to prepare is begin today.​

So what does this preparation look like? What options do we have? Let me give you some suggestions—some of them are things I already do, some are things I need to do more of myself, and this is a reminder to me to do the same as well! The suggestions below are not exhaustive, but they will get you started on the road to new levels of spiritual power, new levels of mental preparation, and new levels of walking in the authority and anointing that God prepared in advance for you to walk in, to release His love and power into this earth!

  • Get intentional about fasting and prayer. The book Reece Howells: Intercessor is a great encourager in this area.
  • Spend time engaging in impartation of spiritual gifts with others. To learn more about this subject, read my book The Power of Impartation and then put the principles into action.
  • Transform your beliefs to reflect the Abundant Life that Jesus purchased for us. Learn about God’s desire to heal every sick person and raise every dead person back to life in my book Faith To Raise The Dead, and begin to practice and engage the material in your daily life.
  • Get intentional about transforming and renewing your mind. A great resource to do this is Chris Blackeby on Youtube.
  • Build your faith for the miraculous provision of Heaven. My two books Gemstones From Heaven and Feathers From Heaven are good ways to encourage this. Ruth Ward Heflin’s Glory books are faith builders, as is the autobiography of George Muller.  There are many fantastic books out there—find them, read them, and let your faith and expectation grow!
  • Get inner healing and deliverance. An old classic is Derek Prince’s book They Shall Expel Demons—the principles and wisdom in that book are timeless. I have coauthored the book Broken to Whole which deals with how we engage healing the broken and fractured parts of our soul as a result of pain and trauma. There are many other fantastic books and resources out there, but however you do it, spend time with intentional inner healing and deliverance prayer whether with someone else or by yourself and release the pain in your heart to God. My friend Praying Medic has a really good book called Emotional Healing in 3 Easy Steps that takes a lot of knowledge and “how to” and compacts it into a simple little prayer that anyone can use in just a few minutes. I highly encourage this method.
  • Ask the Lord what other areas you need to prepare in, and ask Him to lead and guide you to the resources and methods and means with which to get ready.

What are some ways you prepare for things spiritually?

 

 

Hold Firm To The Prophetic Promises

There is an important lesson in scripture on holding firm to the prophetic word even when other voices are telling us otherwise.  It is one of the harder tests of prophetic maturity, and one that we all will have to be challenged on many times as we learn and grow in the prophetic.  However, now of all times it is vital that we understand the importance of this lesson.  There have been dozens, if not hundreds of prophetic words, many of them from well-known prophets, about God’s plan for Donald J Trump to take a second term as President.  Some of those words came through even before his first term, and Kim Clement prophesied about Trump back in 2013.  I want us to take a look at a pretty clear lesson in scripture where life and death was on the line when it came to standing on what God spoke.  The passage is long, but it is an important reminder that it is our job to hold firm to the prophetic promises, not backpedaling when situations don’t look good.

 

 

1 Kings 13:1-32

By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’” 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.

6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.”

8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” 10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he replied.

15 So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.”

16 The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”

18 The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.

20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. 21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’”

23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25 Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.”

27 The prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they did so. 28 Then he went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29 So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. 30 Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, “Alas, my brother!”

31 After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

 

 

The man of God had a clear word from God, and when another prophet came along and validated him and then said something contrary to what God had said, the man of God backpedaled and wrongly went with the other guy’s version.  The end result was that the man of God was killed by a lion.

Now is the true time of testing for prophets and their prophetic words. Are you standing on what God told you in obedience? Or have you already begun apologizing for what He told you? The test isn’t as much whether you got the word right this week, but whether you are standing firm on that word into next week and the week after. This is going to be a VERY educational time for the Body as to where the various prophets stand and how they either stand or crumple under the pressure.  In fact, some have already begun to apologize, and we will find that those who didn’t stand firm will just have to apologize for their apologies in a few weeks.

There’s MASSIVE voter fraud that is being exposed and challenged right now, and the fraud is what is covering up an already-existing Trump Landslide Win. The words are spot-on, and people need to hold firm to them in faith and prayer right now precisely because of the election fraud, not backpedal and waver in doubt.

Visible circumstances are a terrible indicator of what God is doing, and prophetic words are obviously most helpful when situations get rough like they are right now.  If there was no challenge, we wouldn’t need so many words from God beforehand telling us the election outcome in spite of circumstances.  It is time for believers to understand how the prophetic is designed to function, and then pray and believe accordingly.

Continue to stand on the prophecies and fight in the spirit for righteousness, justice, and truth to prevail in this nation!

 

 

 

 

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