How To Break Ungodly Cycles Through Sowing and Reaping

Recently my wife and I gave someone a gift. The nature of the gift is unimportant, but the goal and reasoning behind it is significant, and I believe holds a key to the breakthrough that some people need in areas of their lives.

The Bible shows us multiple places where gifts were used to release honor, peace, favor, and blessing:

Genesis 30:20: Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

Genesis 32:20: And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”

Psalm 45:12: The city of Tyre will come with a gift, people of wealth will seek your favor.

Psalm 112:9: They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.

Proverbs 18:16: A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Proverbs 21:14a: A gift given in secret soothes anger . . .

Gifts, especially well-timed gifts, are a tangible way to demonstrate that someone has value to you. When someone is angry with you, a gift can help them feel like you care about the things that upset them and help usher them into a place of peace. When someone receives a gift, it can be a means of honoring them, and honor has a way of releasing favor in return to the gift-giver. It was customary in the Old Testament to bring a gift any time one met with a king or ruler, partially for those reasons.

In our situation, we wanted to resolve underlying tension in a relationship and make room for a blessing in our lives. In order to accomplish this, we felt the best way to do it was to give the other person a gift. This gift-giving was an intentional act of honoring and blessing them, and we did this with full awareness that the law of sowing and reaping goes in effect.

Every action we make in our lives has ripple effects because each of our choices are part of a cycle of sowing and reaping. We wanted a different outcome in the relationship and in the things that relationship touched upon, so we intentionally sowed honor and blessing into that person’s life. This individual felt blessed, we enjoyed giving the gift, and a couple of hours after we did this, I actually felt a subtle but specific shift in the spirit. It is difficult to describe exactly what that felt like, but it isn’t a feeling I tend to experience.  While it was very subtle, it was uncommon and thus noticeable to me. While the shift in the spirit felt faint, it showed me that our gift-giving had influenced the kind of change we were looking for.

In reading this, some may find this action of ours to be highly self-serving. The truth is that sowing and reaping is designed in such a way that it is impossible to be entirely self-serving. If we wanted to sow and reap in that relationship arena, we had to actually expend time and energy to sow into the relationship in some way. While yes, part of our motivation was to influence something in our own lives, we did it through a demonstration of love, and as the Bible says, “against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:23). The issue here isn’t really about being self-serving because in order to obtain the result we had to give something to someone else and bless them. It’s actually a scenario where everyone wins, and that’s the kind of situation God likes.

Many individuals are struggling in relationships, jobs, with finances, in the business arena, or in other areas of life. I firmly believe that a key to freedom and breakthrough in some of these situations is intentional sowing of a gift. It is time to purposefully engage the law of sowing and reaping and choose to honor and bless someone who we feel holds the key to our breakthrough. In some cases it may be that a relationship needs resolution. In other situations it could be that a gift will open the way for favor in a situation. A gift doesn’t have to be money either. It could be an object of value or something that demonstrates meaningful thought. It could be an act of service or a gift of time. A gift doesn’t have to be money to be effective—it just has to be intentional and well-chosen for the desired purpose. It isn’t a bribe, as we aren’t relying on the gift to manipulate someone into doing something. It is a means of blessing an individual in such a way that it shifts the spiritual climate through the law of sowing and reaping to release a similar blessing into our own lives. I encourage you to give it a try, and if you do, please leave feedback on the results!

 

Spiritual Authority to Cast Out Demons and How It Actually Works

The subject of casting out demons is growing in popularity in some Christian groups, and for good reason—it is an important need and people are realizing their ignorance and choosing to learn. However, in order to take authority over a demon to cast it out, one actually has to have that authority. One of the subjects that I think is fairly poorly understood among Christians is that of spiritual laws and their relationship with spiritual authority. There is a lot of teaching out there about our authority in Christ, but far less on the subject of spiritual laws. Why does this matter? Because casting out demons is normally based on spiritual authority, and spiritual authority is based on spiritual laws. It isn’t a matter of “we can do whatever we want because we know who we are in Christ” but “through Christ we can operate to the extent of our authority based on existing spiritual laws. Now, before someone levels the heresy finger at me, lets discuss spiritual authority and how it actually works.

Authority of any kind is obtained through power delegated to an individual from a governing body. In order for a governing body to govern, there have to be rules in place that decide what is and is not permitted—in other words, laws. For a person to operate in spiritual authority (which is spiritual power that has been legally delegated to an individual based on existing laws made by the governing body), there must be spiritual laws.

I hear people teach on this subject, saying things like “Take authority over a demon and cast it out”—and they are 100% correct in teaching that. But sometimes even when one does that, the demon doesn’t leave. So how does that work, and why does the demon not always leave when we command it to in the name of Jesus? This is where understanding spiritual laws come into play.

First, before anyone decides I am wrong and that demons have to leave every time they are commanded out, let’s look at what the Bible shows us. We’re going to look at three separate situations that deal with spiritual authority and casting out demons, and what that means for us and our beliefs about whether demons can resist or refuse being exorcised.

The first is found in both Mark 5 and Luke 8, and recounts Jesus’ encounter with the Gadarene man possessed by a legion of demons (a legion is roughly 4,000-5,000 men). In it, Jesus actually had to command the demons out twice (as the first time clearly didn’t work and only agitated them further), and the second time only occurred through bargaining.

Mark 5:6-8 says, “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!’ For Jesus had said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you impure spirit!’” This passage shows us that the demons started yelling after Jesus commanded them out, and it was then that they started speaking through the man’s body.

Mark 5:11-13 continues the story, saying “A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” I can’t pretend to understand what was going on that Jesus needed to let the demons go into pigs instead of sending them to the Abyss, and the passages are written in a way that suggest Jesus had the authority to send them there if he wanted to. Maybe he just felt like it, maybe he had another reason he chose the pigs, but in doing so it destroyed someone else’s livelihood (which is something Jesus would likely have avoided if circumstances were different), so Jesus probably had a good reason for doing it that way. Regardless, not only does this passage show us Jesus bargaining with demons on exactly how they will leave a man, but he was forced to command the demons to leave two times before it actually took place. If Jesus has to command demons more than once, even if it only ever happened to him one time (and that’s only what was recorded), we shouldn’t be surprised if we run into the same problem.

The second situation that shows us something about casting out demons and spiritual authority is in Acts 19:13-16 which says, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”

It was not unheard of in that day for certain Jews to perform exorcisms. This family exorcist-team heard about Paul doing it and decided to try his method, not realizing that Paul wasn’t working with a method like they typically did. Instead, Paul was operating out of spiritual authority. Notice that the demons not only recognized that both Jesus and Paul had spiritual influence, but that the demons also recognized that these seven brothers did not possess that same authority. The end result was a badly-failed deliverance.

The third passage is Phillippians 2:10-11 which states, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Yes, one day in time or eternity every knee will bow, but that hasn’t happened yet. Thus, it is only in theory that demons must obey, and in actual practice we sometimes have to make them obey.

What can we learn from these passages?

First, if a demon doesn’t leave, simply repeating oneself isn’t necessarily going to get the job done. Does that mean that it can’t work? No. What it does mean is that we will need to figure out why that demon is able to resist being cast out. The ability of a demon to enter a person is based on spiritual laws, as is its ability to remain. That’s why the topic of spiritual laws is relevant to deliverance to begin with. Demons already know spiritual laws, and know those laws well enough to know when they can and cannot remain in a person. When a demon is able to resist being cast out, it is usually because there is something connected to that individual that is making room, giving permission, or in some manner making an allowance for that demon to remain. Demons know these laws and that’s why authority doesn’t always work to cast them out. Theology that says authority always works to cast out demons is theoretically correct but in actuality wrong.

There are a number of things that can either give or help give demons access to a person. Unhealthy emotions and/or beliefs, sinful actions and desires (and feeding them over time), curses, generational iniquity, any form of abuse, and intentional engagement with the demonic are some of the main ones, but this is not an exhaustive list. The way this works is that all of these involve some human’s free will—and our free will is a significant contributor to demonic involvement in situations. There is a principle in the Bible that says that whatever happens on earth requires human involvement and agreement (Psalm 115:16, Amos 3:7). As such, for demons to afflict us and latch on to us generally requires someone (whether us personally or others perpetrating evil upon us) to utilize their free will to permit it.

When interrogating a demon to find out how it was able to gain access to a person, I have heard demons say on multiple occasions things like “They let me” or “They gave me permission.” Keeping in mind that demons lie as commonly as we breathe, the things they say are often a twisting of truth. For example, if someone has spent a lot of time engaging pornography, and have spirits associated with lust and perversion, while the demon may claim that he or she “gave them permission”, it wasn’t like someone sat there and said “demons of lust and perversion, please enter me.” But that’s what the demons make it sound like. No, it was that person’s actions which engaged the law of sowing and reaping (what you put out you get back) and the law of focus (what you engage will engage you). It is only by understanding spiritual laws that we can get a better handle not just on how people get demonized, but why demons are sometimes able to resist our efforts to cast them out. In the above example, if the spirits of lust and perversion won’t leave, it is usually beneficial for the person to renounce whatever actions, thoughts, words, activities, etc. they have engaged in that would constitute a form of spiritual agreement between them and the demonic. Again, while one might not be consciously invoking demons, the energy that our actions release has an attractive quality to it for either light or dark, good or evil. In fact, Proverbs 18:21 says it like this: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” While this isn’t just limited to the words we say, this is a perfect example. The things we speak, or really the energy we put out in any manner, will cause us to receive the fruit of those words or actions.

When we want to cast out demons, we need to identify where we operate in spiritual authority, areas of weakness or bondage in our own lives that undermine our spiritual authority, and our own limiting beliefs. We also need to recognize that in addition to learning how spiritual laws function, which is vital, we also have to *develop* our spiritual authority. Believe it or not, spiritual authority can be grown (we will look at that subject in another article). The Bible says in Luke 2:52 that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” While not technically authority, this passage demonstrates that Jesus had to grow in aspects of his walk as he journeyed through life, and we are no different. While in Matthew 28:18-19a, “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go . . . ” it doesn’t mean that they received all authority. He received all authority and has delegated it to us, but we don’t necessarily walk in all of it at once. In John 16:12, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” He recognized that their ability (and likewise ours) to handle everything he had for them at that time was limited, and v13-15 goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit will reveal and release more to us as we become ready for it.

Ultimately, spiritual laws help give us insight into how the spiritual realms operate, how the angelic and demonic are able to function, and ultimately give us a glimpse into how we can become more effective in casting out demons. Specifically, growing in spiritual authority is an effective means to reach that end, but ultimately there are a good number of tools we can use and even new ones we can develop by understanding how spiritual laws influence both spiritual authority and how to more effectively cast out demons.

 

Practical Tips To Engage the Flow of Revelation

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.10″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″]As an author and spiritual teacher, I find the process of engaging the flow of revelation to be an important one.  I have found myself pondering at times what that special something is that turns something from knowledge or information into revelation insight that brings inner transformation.  At other times, I have questions about things that I simply don’t sufficiently understand, nor do I have anyone I can ask who gets it better than I do.  Thus, I have had to learn over time how to engage the flow of revelation from God.

Because I enjoy writing, one of the ways I have learned to engage the revelatory flow is to write.  Part of why this works is what I refer to as the Law of Focus, a subset of the Law of Sowing and Reaping.  This spiritual law basically states that whatever I focus on and engage, I attract to me.  In the process of focusing on a topic, I end up receiving revelation simply in the writing process.  I do also study the Bible and relevant material from others, but even as I ponder and study a subject, new ideas come to me.  Sometimes when I study I gain profound new understanding as my research turns into an interactive revelatory flow.

In reality, all information is knowable in the spirit, and anyone who knows how to access it can access revelation simply by wanting to.  However, multiple factors can influence how easily we do or do not receive that revelation.  If we want to engage revelatory flow, we should do things that position us under the spout where the revelation comes out.  Prayer and fasting are two tools we can use to help position ourselves, as is surrounding ourselves with others who are headed in the same direction.  However, at the end of the day much of what this all does is still make use of the Law of Focus.

While I do all of those things at times as well, this is why writing is such an important key for me.  I tend to process well when speaking out loud, but finding someone who wants to listen to me talk something out isn’t always possible, which is where writing comes in.  Another great way to do this is to teach or speak on a subject, but that is often limited to those who already have a platform of some kind.  While I understand that teaching a subject you might not fully grasp in order to learn about it might seem disingenuous, I believe in championing messages we have not yet fully apprehended.  I wrote about this in an article titled “Forerunners and Imposter Syndrome” which explains why I believe this can be important:

The apostle Paul ran into this same problem, to the point that he repeated himself twice when speaking to the Philippians about this in Philippians 3:12-14, saying, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul was very clear that he had not already attained the fullness of the revelation he was preaching, but he didn’t let it stop him from proclaiming the revelation.

I had a dream the other night that seemed to suggest there are two main ways God gives us a message He wants us to carry. The first is as a prophetic revelation, and this typically comes first. Prophetic messages are often those given by the forerunners, as they are speaking of realities that have not manifested as of yet. The second are apostolic messengers—those who have lived out the message, have struggled through the ups and downs as they have pioneered the experience, and who have become the living embodiment of that which they speak. Neither means of carrying a message is better than the other, nor is either inferior to the other; they are simply different. Apostolic messengers carry the experiences within them, while the prophetic messenger is often speaking of things he or she has yet to attain to. It is important to understand whether a message is prophetic or apostolic as defined above, as prophetic messages are those that place us in greater danger of Imposter syndrome.”

The point of releasing a prophetic message is that while we have not yet fully grasped or lived out the content of our message, by releasing the revelation we have, not only do we pull on heaven to give us more but we also help position others to do the same.

While not everyone is an author, teacher, or speaker, we can all make use of simple tools to engage the Law of Focus and activate the revelatory realm.  Journaling and discussion with others are two easy ways to do this.  Another option is to talk to an empty room.  I like to pace while I talk, and if I am on a long phone conversation I can be found doing laps inside the house or wearing a hole in the grass, and have done the same while practicing preaching messages.  While at first it feels a little strange to talk to no one, as long as I ignore the fact that I would look like a total idiot to anyone watching, all goes well and it is very fruitful.

Regardless of the method used, whether in public or private, there are a variety of different ways we can actively engage the flow of revelation which in turn will enhance our spiritual growth.

If you have other methods they use to engage revelatory flow, please share in the comments below and let us know!
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”][/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” _builder_version=”3.16″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”on” button_letter_spacing__hover=”0″ button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”] [/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Understanding Spiritual Laws and Forces: The Paper Airplane Model

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]

Many people wonder why prayers don’t get answered in the time or way they are asking. Other times, people have listened to a preacher state a single “guaranteed” method to have prayers answered, but when put into practice, they only work a small portion of the time. There are a number of reasons for this, but I think they are best explained through an example I was telling my wife the other day: the example of throwing a paper airplane.

Throwing a paper airplane seems like an incredibly simple process:   You fold it, you throw it, done.

Yet, if you think about all the variables and factors that go into how that airplane flies, it is much more complex than it first appears.
In order to throw a paper airplane, there first has to be a paper airplane. The airplane could be made with a variety of sizes and thicknesses of paper, each of which has its own weight. There are a variety of airplane designs that involve folding the paper different ways to arrive at a flying object, and while each is unique in its appearance and design, all of them are still paper airplanes. To add even more variation, while it doesn’t influence the function of the object, the airplane could be a wide range of colors or designs as well.

Once the paper airplane is folded, it is now time to throw it. While this seems straightforward, there are many things that influence how it flies. Aerodynamics of the plane design show their influence here as both lift and drag exert their influences. Then there’s the force used to throw the object, which is gradually slowed by friction in the air but the momentum behind the plane works to counteract that. Gravity is part of drag that works to bring the plane down to the ground, but that doesn’t fully account for the level of atmospheric pressure exerted when at sea level versus a higher elevation, meaning that at different elevations, the pull gravity exerts is different. Furthermore, there are other external factors such as wind speed and direction that will influence the airplane’s flight.

So how does all of this relate to spiritual laws and answered prayers?? First, let’s take the example of the airplane and pretend it is the person. Each person is designed uniquely by God, and each of us are wired to function optimally in certain ways. The reason personality profile tests work is because there are still main “types” of people, but at the end of the day no two people are fully alike. This is exactly like making a paper airplane. Paper size, shape, thickness, and even color are like the differences between people and personalities, but there is more. Each of us have different life encounters which also cause us to have different beliefs and inner wounds. We each have certain areas where we either understand or misunderstand God’s nature, our nature, and that of the world around us. There is the influence that our spirit and soul exert on various aspects of our lives as well. These are like the differences in the paper and folding of the airplane. Those unique perspectives (whether healthy or unhealthy) and subsequent inner soul and spiritual influence, shape who we are and how we interact with the outside world, and, akin to the flight of a paper airplane, they affect how spiritual laws influence us as well.

Now let us bring in external forces: demonic resistance and the curses of others, angelic assistance and the prayers of others, and bloodline blessings and iniquity, all of which influence how, when, and if prayers get answered. There is our faith, the faith of other people praying in that situation as well, as well as our and their doubt and unbelief. There are regional atmospheres influenced in part by angels and demons and other spirit beings but also by the collective consciousness of the people living in that region.

Then there are other spiritual laws such as sowing and reaping, focus, honor, impartation, blessing, and more. All of these various factors act upon us simultaneously, and each one exerts its own influence on how, when, and if our prayers get answered. It is only when we don’t understand that there are multiple factors at play and do things to actively enhance or mitigate their effects that we lose out.

With a paper airplane, we can do something that adds weight (usually a paperclip) to help it fly better/longer, we can increase the force of the throw, move somewhere without wind or turn so we are throwing with the wind current, and stand on a higher elevation so it takes longer to reach the ground. Each of these actions address some of the opposing forces that negatively influence the paper airplane’s flight. Likewise, when we understand the various spiritual laws and spiritual forces at work in our lives, we can make conscious choices that promote the outcomes we desire. Both inner healing and mind renewal decrease the ability of demons to influence us. They also can decrease doubt and help enhance our faith. As we pray to engage the angelic host and bind demonic forces, we will experience a greater measure of spiritual assistance. As we sow with our thoughts, words, and actions over time we will reap the benefits of those choices as well. If we gather in a group with others, we can purposefully extend a targeted influence over a certain situation, problem, etc. that affects our region and that is influenced by regional collective consciousness, shifting the atmosphere our way. All of these are examples of a great number of things that can be done to influence prayers and outcomes in our lives, but it all boils down to a simple concept: At the end of the day, our input decides the output and if we want a different outcome, we need different input.

As we change the input coming through our lives toward heaven, then the output of heaven toward us will alter accordingly.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”][/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” _builder_version=”3.16″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”on” button_letter_spacing__hover=”0″ button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”][/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

How To Partner With Your Angels

I recently listened to an audio message by Dan Duval about angels on his podcast program Discovering Truth With Dan Duval. This particular message confirmed something for me that I have thought about but never clearly formulated into words—that angels grow and develop over time like we do, and that in fact they are always growing in maturity. Furthermore, Dan pointed out that we can empower angels by praying for them and by praying to God about things so that we can engage and release their various functions and abilities.

The idea that we empower angels with our prayers isn’t really a new concept, nor is it new to me, but I don’t think that people typically word it that way. In fact, I don’t recall that Dan specifically phrased it that way either, but I certainly am right now. We empower angels with our prayers.

To some this might not seem important or significant, but I think this subject has immense value not only for our spiritual growth, but for every aspect of our lives. Consider that God has assigned angels to each one of us for our protection, but also for destroying works of darkness and advancing against the enemy (Psalm 91:11-13). If God sees fit to assign angels to us as messengers, protectors, and fellow servants-in-arms against the enemy, then it seems prudent to me that we should understand not just that God uses angels (read Why Does God Use Angels?), but how we can partner with them to manifest God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

Before going further, I tend to get a lot of kickback when I say things like “let’s partner with our angels”, so let me explain what I mean. It should already be incredibly apparent I’m not talking about worshipping them—only an idiot or someone intentionally misinterpreting what I am saying would think that. The Bible prohibits it in multiple places (Exodus 20:2-3, Deuteronomy 5:6-7, 1 Corinthians 10:14, Colossians 2:8, Romans. 1:24–25, Revelation 1:8-9, Revelation 22:8-9). What I am saying is that God has given angels certain spheres of authority and assignments, and that their jobs include a number of things that are helpful for us as we walk out everything God has for us. Some of the more obviously scriptural functions of angels include giving us messages from God, protecting us physically and spiritually, delivering us from bad situations, guiding us, and even delivering objects such as food from time to time. With such a wide range of potential functions (my list of which is by no means exhaustive of their full abilities), it would be downright foolish for us to ignore the things that God has sent angels to partner with us to accomplish in the earth.

Some people say we can command angels directly. Others believe we are supposed to pray to God and ask Him to command the angels. Others still believe we don’t address angels in any way and simply pray to God and let Him work out the details of how that happens. Regardless of which method(s) one chooses, prayer is a vital part of this process. Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.” Angels perform God’s word, so whether that is us declaring His word or Him speaking His words to them in response to our prayers, the more we engage heaven in prayer, the more that angels are empowered and released to do things.

If we recall back to Daniel 10, we find Daniel concerned about some things the Lord revealed to him, so in verses 2-3 he spends time fasting and praying for understanding. In verses 12-13, twenty one days after he began, an angel appears to Daniel and explains, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.” The key point of relevance here is that the first day Daniel began fasting and praying, the angel was sent to him with a message. However, it was another full twenty days before the angel actually arrived with the message, and it took an angelic prince, Michael, getting involved in a battle against a demonic prince for the other angel to finally get through. If the answer was sent on the first day, what the heck was Daniel doing fasting and praying for almost three more weeks??  Simple: His prayers were either directly or indirectly empowering the angelic host to win the battle and get the message through to him.

Why do I say this? There is an important principle outlined in Psalm 115:16 having to do with authority in the heavens and the earth. The passage says, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.” For whatever reason God chose to set it up so that things related to planet earth require our prayers. I don’t think it was coincidental that Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 6:10 to pray what I call a blank check prayer to God: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” What Jesus prayed in common vernacular was “God, do whatever you want here on earth.” The entire purpose of this prayer was so that God can manifest His will in His way, not being limited in any manner by limiting prayers. When we pray for God to do things in the earth, He often chooses to use angels to do it, and when He does, the power released when we pray is used in some inexplicable way to help them do their jobs better.

I see two primary ways to partner with angels to perform God’s will. The first and most basic method is to look at the needs in our own lives, and those of our family, friends, churches, cities, nations, and the world as a whole and pray to God and/or decree God’s will to the heavens and the earth based on our understanding of those needs.

A second way to partner with angels is to attempt to discern what angels are actually present nearby and either in talking to them directly or asking the Holy Spirit, find out what they need to accomplish their heavenly assignments, and then pray accordingly. While it still involves prayer, this method is more focused on helping specific angels with specific needs that they identify, whereas the first is focused on generally helping some angels out there somewhere with needs that we identify (And yes, talking to angels is incredibly scriptural. The majority of times we see an angel in scripture, they are having a conversation with a human.).

Neither method is more correct; both are simply different but equally viable means of engaging angels to accomplish God’s will in the earth. The method or methods one chooses to employ will usually have a lot to do with one’s belief system, which often has a lot to do with what religious system one was raised in, and what rules or regulations that particular religious system imposed on the individual.

For example, my dad is an Episcopal priest, and while my parents are charismatic-leaning to a certain degree, and even though I know my dad has had conversations with angels on more than one occasion, I have good reasons to believe that this idea the way I am presenting it would make them both pretty uncomfortable. Years ago, if someone had told me this same thing, I probably would have been uncomfortable with it too, but largely only because I had learned a lot of dumb rules and regulations from religious systems (not just from the Episcopal church, but from other denominations too) that limited and prohibited a lot of things based on their own fears and traditions (which are often developed out of fear and control). As I began to prayerfully and intentionally reason through what I believed and why, I started to see that some of the things we have been taught are incredibly stupid, such as the idea that we shouldn’t talk to angels. If we aren’t supposed to talk to angels, then neither should have Abraham, Jacob, Isaiah, Elijah, Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, nor the apostles John, Peter, and Paul.

In the end, it all really comes down to prayer, plain and simple. If we want to partner with our angels to see God’s will manifest in our lives to a greater degree, we must develop lifestyles of prayer.

If you want to hear more about this subject, I strongly encourage you to give a listen to the podcast that sparked this article, a free message by Dan Duval called “Angels: Our Brothers in Arms”

 

Provoking Faith For The Impossible

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why Does God Use Angels?

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ inner_width=”auto” inner_max_width=”none”][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code]<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905″></script>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″]

 

[/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

elementalspirits earthairfirewatermetalwood stoicheion

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

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ inner_width=”auto” inner_max_width=”none”][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.7″ text_font_size=”15px” text_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_vertical_length=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_blur_strength=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_vertical_length=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_blur_strength=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”ul_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ul_text_shadow_vertical_length=”ul_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ul_text_shadow_blur_strength=”ul_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”ol_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ol_text_shadow_vertical_length=”ol_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ol_text_shadow_blur_strength=”ol_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”quote_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ quote_text_shadow_vertical_length=”quote_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ quote_text_shadow_blur_strength=”quote_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_2_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_2_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_2_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_2_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_2_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_2_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_3_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_3_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_3_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_3_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_3_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_3_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_4_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_4_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_4_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_4_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_4_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_4_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_5_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_5_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_5_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_5_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_5_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_5_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_6_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_6_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_6_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_6_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_6_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_6_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ z_index_tablet=”500″]

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

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

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

“It’s not a demon.”

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

Holy Spirit replied “An air spirit.”

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

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

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

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

A seraphim/fiery burning one caught on camera

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code]<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905″></script>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

miraclesupernatural oilmannawinegolddustfeathersgemstones

A Bible Flowing With Oil: The Miracle in Dalton, Georgia

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”16″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

Some of you may have already heard about the Bible in Georgia that is literally dripping, leaking, and producing oil.  This miracle began on January 27rd of 2017 after an intense time of prayer in the Lord’s presence a few days prior, and has continued for almost 2 years.  Many people have been healed, saved, delivered, and set free from all kinds of afflictions after witnessing this miracle or being prayed for and anointed with the oil coming from this Bible.  People have so many reactions, ranging from awe, wonder, and worship of God to skepticism, doubt, and even anger at what they refer to as “false signs and wonders.”  In this day and age, we must learn to operate in a deeper level of discernment in what the Lord is doing, so I want to share with you a few details about how the oil began appearing to this group and four of the things the Scriptures reveal to us about this miracle oil.

Author’s Note:  (The Kings of Eden is not affiliated with His Name Is Flowing Oil, so please don’t ask us for oil—we don’t have or own the Bible or any of the oil and cannot send you any or respond to requests asking for oil),

The miracle of oil was birthed out of prayer, much how most miracles and moves of God are.  Jerry and his wife, the owners of the Bible, had been meeting with five other people for over two years to pray for one another and spend time in worship and fellowship.  They met in a small store, Grace 251, located on 111 W Gordon Street in Dalton, Georgia.  After two years of prayer, the Lord told them in November of 2016 that after the inauguration, that He would reveal to them what He was doing.  It was January 27th, one week to the day after the inauguration that the supernatural oil began to appear.  The oil itself began appearing in the Bible at Psalms 39.  The center of the page was wet, but because their grandbaby was at the house, the wife checked to make sure nothing had spilled on it.  When they investigated further, they agreed that it was oil, and not from any identifiable source.  As the oil continued to accumulate, it was placed in a re-sealable plastic bag, and in three weeks it saturated from Psalms all the way to the back of the book, through Revelation and the concordance, while the front half was still dry.  Then, get this:  Genesis began to get wet, and it soaked its way back through the Bible until it reached Psalms again.  As of mid August last year (2017), they had moved it to their fourth container, as none of them had been large enough to contain the oil.

As they began to pray about this miracle, the Lord told them that as long as they continued to give the oil away for free, God would continue to replenish it and ensure it continued to flow.  To date, they have given away tens of thousands of vials of this oil, reaching over 50,000 vials of oil last year alone—all appearing supernaturally by God’s grace from a single Bible.  I spoke on the phone once with Jerry, the husband of the couple who own the Bible, and he was very down-to-earth, humble, and took no credit for the miracle.  He and those around him were very clear that this was the Lord’s doing in their midst, and that while they had been praying for God to come, and He had been revealing Himself, they had no idea what He had planned for them.  However, the appearance of this Bible flowing with oil has sparked a literal revival in that region, and many have been touched by the power of God released through this oil.  Marriages have been restored, people have been healed, and as of when we spoke, there had been four documented cases of stage 3 and 4 cancer being healed.  They have been mailing the oil out all around the world for free, but currently, due to the high demand of oil, they are not able to give the oil away outside of the meetings they are hosting and/or invited to.  If you want to learn more about their itinerary, events, etc. you can find them at HisNameIsFlowingOil.org

This miracle is an amazing testimony to God’s creative power, but what could it possibly mean?  Why would God do something like this?  The Bible has a lot of things to say about oil—far more, in fact, than one might imagine at first glance.

 

The Holy Spirit

First, oil represents the Holy Spirit.  We see this clearly in Isaiah 61:1 which says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me . . .”  The Holy Spirit rests upon Him in that verse because he has been anointed.  Anointing is an act where someone rubs or smears oil on someone, so here it is clear that as a direct result of God anointing him with oil, the Holy Spirit remains on him.  Acts 10:38 expressing this same concept:  ” . . . how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”  Jesus wasn’t just anointed with oil—he was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power.  This same connection is further represented in the life of the disciples when Jesus informed them the same would happen to them, saying “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  The same anointing by the same Holy Spirit that Jesus received, He informed the disciples that they, too, would receive—and this extends to all those who are followers of the Lord Jesus, even to this day.  Supernatural oil from heaven points to the active work of the Holy Spirit in our lives—His infilling, indwelling nature.  Likewise, when one is anointed with heavenly oil, it is a visible prophetic action demonstrating an invisible spiritual reality.

 

Divine Healing

The oil secondarily represents healing.  The most well-known passage that shows us this is James 5:14-15, which says, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.” While this verse points to the prayer offered in faith as the thing that brings the healing, the oil is connected with the act of prayer.  Some denominations, most specifically the Catholics, Anglicans and Episcopalians, consider this to be a Sacrament, an outward and visible sign of an inward, spiritual grace or blessing.  Others look at this passage from a more historical perspective, speculating that the oil was used primarily as medicine—a direct means of healing.  Regardless of which one considers this to be, or maybe one believes it is both and yet more, healing is closely associated with oil in the Bible.  How much moreso should heavenly oil be associated with the same?

Some other verses that show oil as a medium for healing include Isaiah 1:6 and  Ezekiel 16:9:

Isaiah 1:6
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.

Ezekiel 16:9
“‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. . . “

Intercession

A third thing the heavenly oil speaks of is intercessory prayer.  We see a lesson in ongoing intercession found in Leviticus 24:1-3:  “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.  Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.'”  The oil is to be tended continually so the lamps are always kept burning.  The significance here is that oil can represent ongoing intercession, day and night before the Throne in heaven.  In Revelation 5:8 we see the 24 elders bowing before the Throne holding golden bowls of incense, which the passage explains, saying: “And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”  There is clear and significant prophetic linkage between the book of Revelation and the ordinances of the Tent of Meeting and later the Temple.  If prayers can be likened to the burning of an aromatic substance, which it could be argued is symbolic not just of incense but of oil as a whole, then there is a connection between tending the lamps continually and ongoing intercession.

Intimacy

The fourth message of the oil is that of intimacy.  Oils, also used as perfumes and spices, have been used for thousands of years to create sweet smells, and are often used even today in intimate creams and oils for use among married couples.  We see this sentiment expressed multiple places in Scripture:

Proverbs 7:16-18
I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.  Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!

Song of Songs 1:3
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you!

Song of Songs 1:12-13
While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.  My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, resting between my breasts.

Song of Songs 3:6
Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?

Song of Songs 4:10
How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice!

Song of Songs 5:13
His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.

Intimacy is a key message of supernatural oil because God wants to be together with us.  After all, one of His names is Emmanuel which literally means “God with us.”  God’s desire is, has been, and always will be to be unified with us.  Jesus gave his life on the cross, died, and rose again so that we could be united in Him.  Ephesians 1:7-10 shows us this, saying, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,  he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”  The word translated as “unity” in this passage is the Greek word anakephalaioō which means “to gather together into one”.  It is through the redemption brought us through the blood of Jesus that we can be gathered together into one.

Intimacy is the cornerstone of our relationship with God.  Jesus said this in somewhat plain terms to his disciples on Passover, the night before He was crucified.  In John 14:2-3 he said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  While this might not seem extremely clear, it was very plain speech Jesus was using.  The key, however, is that one has to understand Jewish wedding customs for it to make sense.  In ancient Jewish culture, when a young man wanted to get married, he would build an addition to the family house.  The man would go and prepare that room in his father’s house, and was required to fill it with as many niceties and lavish belongings as he could afford to ensure the new wife would be comfortable in her future home.  If one will recall, they often got married in their teens, so the man was actually a fairly young man, and it was somewhat sensible that an older adult was responsible for ensuring the process was done properly.  Once the groom’s father felt the groom had sufficiently prepared the room, he would allow his son to go and bring his betrothed to come live with them, and the wedding would commence.  This paints a totally different picture of intimacy and love than one initially would read from that passage.

The twelve disciples Jesus called were mostly young men, so this wedding-language was extremely close to home.  In fact, the scriptures show us Peter was married already, so had undergone this very process sometime in the past!  Jesus wanted them to know that He was deeply in love with them, and wanted them to understand the depths of love He had not just for them, but for all of us!  The Father and the Son are working together with the Holy Spirit to prepare a place for us to come and be with them, and the miracle of heavenly oil is a sign of the intimacy and love they have for us.  How amazing is that?

 

The miracle of supernatural oil in Dalton, Georgia is not only astounding, but it reveals to us God’s heart for us to be in communion with Him:  to know and be filled by the Holy Spirit, to receive healing from Him and Him alone, the source of all life, and for His desire to engage in deeper intimacy with us on an ongoing basis.  One of the things the Lord specifically revealed to the group in Dalton, upon which they based the name of their ministry, is out of Song of Songs 1:3; ” . . .your name is flowing oil” . . .  The Lord showed them that the physical manifestation of miracle oil represents God’s holy presence.  I encourage you, as you read this, to seek the Lord about how He wants to touch you with His Spirit, Healing, and Intimate Love revealed through His presence and through this miracle of flowing oil.  If you are able to travel or live nearby, I encourage you to attend one of the services (event schedule here) and see what God is doing through this miracle.  If you do, come back and share in the comments what you heard, saw, and experienced!  I pray that each of you is blessed with an overflowing measure of God’s power and presence in your life, and that you, too, will experience this miracle oil in your own life.  Amen.

*Please note I DO NOT own the Bible nor possess the Dalton oil to be able to give to anyone.  If you write me asking for oil, I can’t send you any and I also cannot respond, as I get deluged with requests for something I do not possess.  You will have to attend their events or follow the instructions on their website, HisNameIsFlowingOil.org

 

 

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905″></script>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″] [/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Worship, Energy, and the Home Field Advantage

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”16″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

I was buying groceries at the store yesterday when I saw someone wearing a Raiders shirt, and that instantly got me thinking about how tons of people gather readily and happily in stadiums to cheer for their favorite sports teams on a level that almost trumps religious piety.  I then began to ponder what the influence of that radical devotion is on a nonphysical level, and further considered what effect playing on the home field might have in that regard.  So, today we are going to look at worship, energy, and the home field advantage.

“Worship” means to give worth to something, but tends to mean to give adoration or reverence toward a deity.  However, what actually happens when someone worships someone or something?  I’ll tell you:  they give them energy.  This concept of energy may be super vague to some, but all living beings possess a certain amount of energy or power, even animals, as blood contains power.  Spirit beings also possess power even without blood—it’s simply how things work.  We constantly receive a flow of power from God that we use on a daily basis (see Acts 17:28).  In every interaction we have in life, we give and receive that power.  When we feel energized around people, it is usually because we are on the receiving end, bolstered by their energy, whereas when we feel drained by others they are usually taking more of our energy than we are receiving.

When we engage in worship, we take that energy and send it back to God, which lets Him do whatever with it that He chooses.  Albeit from an unexpected source, this article, part 2 of a 3-part series, gives what I find to be a revealing explanation of how we send our energy to Jesus when we worship Him.  I should clarify that this experience is written by witches who visited a Charismatic church (who I neither know nor condone/support), so their perspective on what is happening and why is not the most accurate.  For example, the “aggressive” feelings the one witch felt that was trying to “reverse the triple soul alignment” cultivation probably was God trying to realign her to Him, not actually harm her as she perceived.  However, I find they do make some very interesting and highly useful observations, especially related to the part about us giving ourselves and our energy freely to Jesus (which they unsurprisingly don’t understand).

At any rate, what these women accurately identified was that when we worship God, we are sending the energy and power He has entrusted to us back to Him to transform the world as He pleases, which they didn’t understand.  Nevertheless, this same dynamic happens in any worship environment—when we give adoration or reverence to someone or something, we send them a portion of our energy.  Knowing this, I formulated a hypothesis about sports teams, fans cheering them on, and what is known as the “home field advantage.”  What I suspect happens is that when fans get together at a sports game, they form what is essentially a corporate worship setting.  With two teams, it is essentially two sets of worshippers worshipping gods who are fighting one another for supremacy, and the team who has more worship-power being fed to them is going to perform better, and ultimately win.  Mind you, this could also potentially include those who are watching the game remotely as well, but those who are present presumably will have the most direct influence on the game via their collective energy.  In fact, this same dynamic occurs at concerts and other places where people gather in large groups to focus their energy, emotions, and attention in one unified direction.

Another interesting component about this collective, corporate worship, also observed by the witch at Bethel in the above article, is something that happens in any similar group setting.  Regardless of the situation when surrounded by people with such a pervasive corporate energy, you can find yourself getting pulled into it.  It’s almost like you are standing on dry ground and all of a sudden a flash flood forms around you, and suddenly you are in the middle of a river that is trying to carry you away in its flow.  It is certainly possible to resist that flow, but it takes a combination of awareness of what is going on and the ability to mount a resistance.  One of the reasons I often avoid movie theaters is that I find the pervasive flow of energy is very difficult to deal with.  I find watching sports uninteresting, so it is harder for me to get sucked in and the flow of energy doesn’t bother me half as much as a movie I actually want to see and enjoy but not get energetically sucked into.  This principle is also behind the “mob mentality” phenomenon, where people can literally lose themselves in their emotions and make really bad choices as a group as a result.  So, to close out this article, I’m going to share with you how to keep from getting pulled in when you don’t want to.

It mostly involves making a conscious choice in one’s heart to detach emotionally from the situation.  A river of energy works to pull you in by first inciting your emotions, and as your emotions get engaged, you unconsciously start feeding your energy into that river as well.    Thus, begin by withdrawing your emotions.  Once you do that, you will want to protect yourself from the river and keep it away from you, otherwise you will have to keep fighting the emotional pull toward it.  I usually do this by envisioning (also known as imagining or visualizing) a barrier of golden glory light around me, but you could also accomplish the same by picturing God as a pillar of rock underneath you that lifts you up out the energetic river, or any other visualization method that you find helps.  The key to visualization is that it helps you to engage your faith and direct your own energy (which in reality is faith energy, among other things) to accomplish the desired effect.  Once you do that, the sucking feeling should diminish considerably if not cease bothering you entirely.  If it doesn’t stop, you may want to consider either changing your location, or if that is not possible, to ask God to send angels to assist you.  Someone who is less visual than me might prefer to pray instead of visualizing, but the end result is the same.  Simply pray that the corporate energy has no power over you, is unable to touch you, and it loses all ability to try to exert its influence upon you.  If the desired results are not reached, continue to pray until it becomes effective.

I hope this helps shed a little light on some of the spiritual interchange that happens around us, especially in corporate gatherings, as well as equips you to deal with it when it occurs in unwanted fashion.  And if nothing else, I have given you a little glimpse into the spiritual world as I encounter it!  Blessings!

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905″></script>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″] [/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Recent Posts