What We Tolerate, We Empower

I posted something on social media the other day about gratitude, and how important it is to be thankful to God for even small things (In this case it was God showing me that a supplement I had started taking contained an item I have a food allergy to, and I didn’t realize it when I started taking it). While some of the conversation the post generated was nice, one comment was unnecessarily-instructional, informing me how I needed to pray to deal with the food allergy—as though it had never occurred to me before that I’m not supposed to have food allergies and that God has planned significantly better for me. I replied in the most positive way possible—thanking the individual for reminding and encouraging me to pursue God’s best for my body and my overall health. My reply got me thinking, however. How often have I tolerated these food allergies? I’ve had them for years so I’m definitely used to them, and have developed eating habits around them. I have certain supplements I take when things get out of hand because over the years I have found they work well for me. But in the midst of my dealing with the problem as it comes and managing my life around it, how much am I tolerating it because I am used to it instead of addressing it on a spirit, soul, and body level to become totally healed and set free from it?

I don’t actually know, which is why this got me thinking even more. I already do inner healing sessions regularly (I currently work with a woman who is highly skilled in what she does and has been a God-send for me—check her services out at Risen Light Works), so I’ll plan to do one or two that really hone in on any emotional issues and beliefs I have that are contributing to it. That will at least help deal with some of the soul-level issues that contribute. I already have supplements worked out that help me, but what am I doing on a spiritual level to deal with it? Certainly I could deal with demons, but I generally do deliverance in conjunction with inner healing, so I already expect to deal with that. But how am I inviting allergies and/or contributing to the issue in a spiritual level? That’s worth looking at.

We have to remember that it’s not always the big things that cause us problems in life. Certainly big-ticket items like abuse in any form, traumatic events and memories, and massive life stressors negatively impact us, but they’re low-hanging fruit in that they’re really obvious and we don’t have to look far to see their effects in our lives. No, it’s the little things that are harder to notice. Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” This verse is a really good reminder that while the big things like trauma, grief, abuse, and other pain can be big destroyers, quite often it’s the little things running around and messing stuff up in our lives. The little things are insidious because they become easy to ignore. A lot of little things can build up and collect over a length of time before anyone starts to pay any notice, but those little things truly do add up. A single termite doesn’t matter, but a bunch of termites will destroy a house.

In order to truly look at this issue, we have to look at the topics of sowing, reaping, and agreement. Sowing and reaping is an extensive subject, such that I have written entire book chapters about it in my book The Power of Impartation. You can also search the term on this website and find multiple other articles I have written about it for free so I won’t discuss it in depth here, but sowing and reaping is definitely a key. Agreements are a separate-yet-related issue. What I agree with I automatically sow into and reap, but how do agreements come into play with health problems?

Agreements have to do with things we come into alignment with. The way we align ourselves and what we align ourselves with causes attractive and repulsive forces in the spirit, and those things directly affect our lives in visible and invisible ways. If I come into mental assent with the presence of food allergies, then I am in unconscious ways deciding that those food allergies are permitted to remain in my body and negatively affect me. If I come into subconscious or unconscious agreement with the presence of allergies in my life, then I will have a hard time getting rid of them. Why? Because I’m the one giving them permission to stay!

So, now I need to identify ways I may be tolerating food allergies in my beliefs and actions. Do I take supplements because I’ve given up and am settling and tolerating them, or do I take them while I am *on the journey* toward wholeness? In honesty it’s probably a bit of both, but that’s where the heart-check comes in. How am I tolerating this in my life? Because what I tolerate, I empower.

That might seem like an unlikely statement—that the simple act of tolerating something bad empowers it—but there is no true neutrality in the Kingdom. There are people and even I believe spirit beings that try to remain neutral, but it’s an impossibility. We are either supporting light or darkness with our actions, but also with our inaction. Inaction has helped many dictators rise to power. Recent lockdowns and shutdowns in the past few years have been able to occur largely because of inaction—that we tolerate evil and wickedness and go along with it just enough to not resist. Passivity and tolerance of evil empowers it because it lets it run free without attempting to stop it. So the question I have to ask myself is “how am I tolerating food allergies?” And what other un-health am I tolerating in my life?

As we identify the things we are tolerating in our lives, unconsciously or subconsciously coming into agreement with, we can them break those agreements, stop tolerating them, and as a result we will even shift things like our physical health!
Often it begins with identification, but once you identify the problem, then you can do something to fix it. I encourage you to take a moment to run a sort of personal inventory on the little problems in your life. What kinds of things have you been tolerating recently? And what do you want to have happen instead?

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.

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?

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!”

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!!

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

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!

Ignorant No More: A Realistic View of Spiritual War

There is little I find more disheartening than when talking to people who should be mature believers but who are somehow still very much asleep to the spiritual realities around us. A recent conversation with a friend highlighted this to me. We were talking about some of the issues in the USA right now—the riots, media manipulation, child trafficking, rampant political corruption, and more. I mentioned that I expected some of these issues to worsen through and after the 2020 Presidential election due to many individuals who are pulling out all the stops to keep from being arrested and tried for treason, sedition, and other high crimes. My friend, who doesn’t like to deal with anything negative, said something like “Michael, can’t we pray and fix all of that? That’s such a hopeless view of things.” No, it’s a realistic view of things because, like it or not, we are in a spiritual war.

Anyone who has followed my blog for some time knows that I have pretty high expectations as far as the workings of God in our lives. Whether inner healing and deliverance, raising the dead, immortality, or spectacular miracles such as gemstones and feathers from heaven, oil, manna, and much more, I am constantly pushing forward to access all that God has prepared for us in Christ Jesus. And yet, it would be the height of foolishness and immaturity for me to ignore the spiritual war we are in, all in favor of focusing only on the positives. In fact, while I value Bethel for many of the good things they bring to the Body of Christ, that is one of their major weaknesses. They don’t like to deal with the demonic (nor teach people how to) because they, of their own admission, don’t want to “give glory” to demons by acknowledging their existence. Well, demons would like nothing more than for us to ignore them because they try pretty hard to remain hidden. Failing to train believers to cast out demons isn’t maturity. Ignoring negative-sounding things in favor of positive-sounding ones only goes so far before it causes problematic imbalances.

Let’s be honest. Do I enjoy knowing that human trafficking exists in this nation in part to provide human sacrifices for people who willingly serve Lucifer so that they and demons both can gain power in the earth? No—nothing about that is enjoyable, and it can be disheartening to know that most of the time there is little more I can do about it than pray. Yet, remaining ignorant doesn’t help those people, and it won’t save the next victim either. Ignoring the undeniable fact that we are in a spiritual battle only serves to tie my own hands and reduce my effectiveness in dealing with the enemy.

My buddy Steve reminded me once that in every interaction he has had with angels during any kind of demon encounter that they were always armed with swords. And the reason that angels carry swords is because they know they are in a war and are fighting an enemy. We have been given spiritual weapons to fight this same spiritual war, and yet sometimes we teach and/or are taught to lay those weapons down because we are too negative or focusing on things that aren’t nice to think about. We need to learn how to be awake to the designs of the enemy, fight the battles in front of us, and yet also fix our eyes on the prize. There is a reason that Jesus is the desire of the nations, but even as we pursue Him we need to remember that as Revelation 1:16 shows us, even Jesus has a sword.

This past December 10th I had to put my dog Rowan down. She was the first dog I had ever had as an adult, and while she was a bit anxious at times, she was a sweetheart. Any time I was doing inner healing and deliverance with someone she wanted to be in the room. And the reason we had to put her down? 100% due to witchcraft attacks on our family. In fact, a few weeks prior to that a witch spoke to me and told me they were going after her because they wanted me to suffer. Super thoughtful, right? Ultimately, Rowan started having tonic-clonic seizures that we couldn’t get under control, then post-ictal she started trying to attack us, and since we couldn’t predict when she would have them it became unsafe for her to be around the kids, so we put her down. It absolutely broke my heart, and the rest of the family was just as devastated. And all because we are in a spiritual war that has real enemies and real consequences.

Sure, we can pray for God to fix things, and believe me, from the time the witch threatened me I was praying over my dog and my family—and yet we still lost the battle. It must be nice to be one of those people who can delude themselves into believing that life with Jesus is all roses and bliss, but that’s not reality. The reality is that while in His presence there truly is fullness of joy, we are still in a spiritual war and we don’t win every battle.

For me, that fact simply spurs me on harder to mature and become all that I must become in Christ to be both a sword against our spiritual enemies and a shield in front of my family and friends, but not everyone responds to problems the same way. What would have happened if the prophet Daniel had decided that fasting until an answer came wasn’t worth it, or wasn’t needed because “finished works” theology told him that fasting isn’t needed any more? I rather doubt that Michael the Chief Prince and the angelic messenger in Daniel 10 would have been able to win against the Prince of Persia if Daniel had not dedicated himself to fasting and prayer during that time.

If we choose to remain asleep to the war then we are relegating ourselves to the sidelines and making ourselves of little effect, and more often than not when sidelined we will either be ignored by the enemy because we are so harmless or we will be attacked relentlessly and destroyed. And neither outcome is acceptable.

I’m not saying we need to become hyper-suspicious of everything around us, nor am I saying that we can never have fun. No, it is important that we learn to live from a place of inner rest, enjoying the goodness, love, joy, and peace of God, and yet from that internal position rise up to put a stop to the darkness that encroaches upon this world God has given us responsibility over. Yes, the elections are important. And yes, the corruption in our political sphere, the Covid-lockdowns, the riots, and much more all need to end. But all of those things need to be put in context of a spiritual war that has been waged for thousands of years (and possibly even for millennia).

Earth isn’t the only battlefield. There are spiritual battles that occur all the time in star systems in far off galaxies and in other dimensions. Our prayers actually have ripple effects through the multiverse and across dimensions into other realms and realities that shift the tide in favor of God’s people throughout all of time and eternity. Our prayers are powerful and accomplish far more than we realize, but it is time that we realign our perspective on reality. It is time that we mature enough that we can both remain idealistic about the plans that God has for us to bring us prosperity and goodness and yet also effectively fight and win against the powers of darkness that seek to stop the promises of God from ever coming to pass. I can’t pretend to know what that will look like for each individual, but we need to examine our hearts, be open to the Holy Spirit dealing with our immaturities, intentional ignorance, and our fears, and learn to stand strong against the evil one. For, as Ephesians 6:12-13 reminds us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

A Glimpse Behind the Conference Curtain: Offering and Sales Manipulation

At the beginning of 2019, I and the entire board of the Portland ministry we were on staff with resigned—all on the same day. There were a number of reasons behind it, but much of it ultimately all boiled down to a subject I want to discuss today: Manipulation and Control. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the goings-on behind the scenes of dysfunctional ministries that host big-name conference speakers for large events. Keep in mind that not all ministries who host big-name speakers are dysfunctional, nor are all speakers, by any means. However, there are definitely wolves among the sheep and as we are seeing God expose the hidden things in the church—gross sexual impropriety and much worse—it seems appropriate to speak out about the manipulation that can occur when egos and ministry-building get in the way of equipping the Body of Christ for works of service. While this is only one of the troubling manipulation-issues behind why we quit, we’re going to take a glimpse behind the conference curtain, looking at offering and sales manipulation.

Scripturally speaking, it is not wrong to take offerings at a meeting, nor do I think it is inherently wrong to sell resources such as books and CDs that a minister has produced. The issue isn’t so much in whether or not those things are happening, but how they can happen, and why. For example, I have literally been present for conversations between the ministry leader and “big-name” speakers where they were discussing who should announce the offering. Normal, right? It’s a good idea to communicate among those leading a meeting to identify who is doing what tasks. . . except that wasn’t the purpose of the conversation. The express point of that talk was to identify which person would be able to draw in the biggest dollar amount in the collection plate by leading the offering, and how they would go about doing it.

It was all about the money.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is a practical side to wisely stewarding money, and any time I would lead the offering I would usually make a very brief statement about what the offering was for and why it was important, and then we would go about passing the plates. Everyone present already knows what an offering is, so letting people sow into the ministry to help cover the financial needs of running the event and further supporting the ministry seems perfectly reasonable to me. What is totally unnecessary is a 20-minute sermon to share bible verses we all know—especially when the only reason that message is being shared is to create an atmosphere that manipulates the listeners into being more likely to give. Some could argue that they are doing this to break off demonic strongholds that prevent people from giving how God wants them to, and I could certainly make a little room for that line of reasoning, but that isn’t usually what happens when speakers take offerings. They tend to dress it up and make it sound incredibly spiritual—as though God has ordained a special blessing for those who pay money into the plate on that particular day. They use super-spiritual language to try to sell God’s blessings in what is the Protestant version of old-time Catholic Indulgences.

Not only that, but these speakers know full-well that if they do all of this in a particular order that it will yield the highest monetary gain.

Step 1: Have worship so everyone opens their hearts.
Step 2: Have a well-known person share an offering message to turn those open hearts toward the subject of giving and generosity
Step 3: Plant the idea that they will receive something spiritually special on that night and that night only to create urgency in the room.
Step 4: Pray manipulative prayers over the congregation for those who pay money into the offering plate to pound home the urgency.
Step 5: Pass the plates and rake in the cash.

There is a sort of science to all of this based on how people function in group settings. When a group of people mentally focus in a particular direction, it creates a corporate energy in the room and if an individual is unaware then it is very easy to get swept up into that group energy. Essentially it is the same mechanism behind mob-mentality and why people who are normally peaceful and rational will go absolutely nuts when everyone around them is doing the same. Mob-mentality is a more violent mechanism of this same corporate energy, but in any group situation there is an opportunity for corporate energy to present itself. This happens at MLM conventions, sports games, movie theaters, protests and rallies, and more. And large church meetings are certainly not exempt. What sometimes feels like the Holy Spirit moving on our hearts is actually a combination of what God is doing in the room and the corporate energy of the group. And because our hearts have been opened up through worship, we become more susceptible to that manipulation—because it comes from the last place we expect it.

The same thing happens with sales at church conferences. Take the same group of people who have already been manipulated into giving more than they might otherwise have, and then have a big-name speaker share a message that also is the subject of a book they just wrote. As an author, I find it entirely normal that a speaker would talk about something they wrote a book about. The reason authors typically write books is because they have something to say about a topic, and in the case of ministers they often are trying to help the Body of Christ learn and grow in a certain area which is why they wrote a book and are speaking about it to begin with. I even find it perfectly normal that the speaker would announce that their new book is present, as some people will find that book subject legitimately helpful. The manipulation comes when the speaker talks about a topic and then at the very end of the message announces not only that they have their new book present (which, to some people, will be legitimately helpful) but then creates urgency by announcing a special sale, a limited time offer, and a limited number of books present—as though that same book can’t be bought online on a different day. Some ministers go so far as to peddle prophetic words as well—giving a “free” prophetic word or scripture to everyone who buys a book that day.

To balance this out a bit, it is important we understand that there are a spectrum of spiritual forces at work in any meeting. There is definite demonic resistance that wants to keep hearts closed off, prevent people from hearing God, and keep them from receiving from the worship and message. There is also angelic assistance to help protect from and clear out all demonic influence, open hearts, and help facilitate a revelatory flow for all present in the meeting. The Holy Spirit actively works in people’s hearts to create faith, love, hope, generosity and more, and reveal the fruit of the Spirit at work in our lives, and the unhealed aspects of our own hearts also come bubbling up to reveal our more base heart motives such as ego, self-centeredness, and pride. It is not always easy for a minister to try to sense the flow of what God is doing, discern how to push back against what the enemy is trying to do, and attempt to do it all in a way that releases the highest good for everyone present. It realistically isn’t possible to have everything perfect for every person at every meeting.

I truly believe that most ministers, pastors, and leaders honestly desire to honor God with the things they do in and around church meetings. And yet, having witnessed firsthand on multiples of occasions the intentional manipulation of the Body that can occur at big church conferences, it seems foolish to me to pretend that noble motives are the only things that exist. Thus, it seems that the instructions Jesus gave his disciples before sending them out still apply today: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) We must be wise to the schemes of the enemy, even those wolves who have infiltrated the flock, protecting our hearts from manipulation and control, all while keeping our hearts supple toward the Lord and all that He is doing in those same circumstances. It isn’t always easy, but by God’s grace, and through a greater awareness and discernment of what is going on around us, I believe we can succeed.