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These are new additions for the benefit of those who have already read the older
publications
Full Teachings (Total: 28)

Find full length teachings covering a wide range of topics.
Articles (Total: 70)

Many articles separated into 12 different categories.
The Blessing Kids Manual (Total: 16)

Lessons on daily living and Christian principles based on the Word, for your younger
children.
Prophecies (Total: 8)
Prophecies given by the GMRN Apostolic Oversight.
Top 10 Visited Pages
(June 2002)
Last updated: 6/8/2002
GMRN Archives (126)

Childrens Stories (126)
Full Teachings (85)
Articles (70)
Interpret Dreams by the Spirit (54)
Sorted By Title (53)
Prophetic Intercession - True Prayer (41)
The Power of the Anointing Oil (41)
The New Move - A Prophetic Word for the Future (30)
Hearing the Voice of God - Introduction (27)
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Articles Sorted By Title
• Full Teachings • New Articles • Articles • Prophecies • Childrens Stories • Sorted By Title •
2002: The Year Ahead Hearing the Voice of Prophetic Preparation

God Author: Les D. Crause
Author: Les D. Crause - Part 1 Type: Full Teaching
Author: Les D. Crause Contents: From the Prophetic
Type: Apostolic Article
Type: Full Teaching Course, how God calls the
Contents: Second in the series trainee prophet to death as part
on how to hear the voice of of the training. All true
Anointed and God. prophets will fully identify with
this teaching.
Appointed
Author: Colette Toach
Type: Ministry Article
Hell, A Glimpse Of
Contents: An Illustration
Author: Colette Toach Psalmody: Origins of
Using the Life of David. Music
Type: Evangelistic Article
Author: Les D. Crause
Type: Full Teaching
Anointing Oil, The Contents: From the Prophetic
Inner Streams, The Course, a look at the true origins
Type: Anointing Article Author: Les D. Crause of music and the role it plays in
Contents: Is it Scriptural to use Type: Anointing Article God's economy.
anointing oil for everything? Contents: Recognizing the
underground streams in your
own spirit
Psalmody: The Power
Anointing Unlimited? of Praise
Author: Mark Stalnaker Author: Colette Toach
Intercessor, Are You Type: Full Teaching
Type: Anointing Article
Contents: Is the anointing An ? Contents: From the Prophetic
limited or can we have an Author: Daphne Crause Course, how to use your musical
unlimited anointing? Type: Prayer Article talents in ministry.
Answer to Prayer, 6 Intercessor... Not An

Intercessor? - Revival, How It Comes
Principles That
Guarantee An Testimony Author: Les D. Crause
Author: Daphne Crause Type: Anointing Article
Author: Les D. Crause Contents: Dealing with some
Type: Prayer Article Type: Prayer Article
misconceptions concerning
revival.
Applying the Spiritual Interpret Dreams by

Pump the Spirit
Author: Les D. Crause Author: Colette Toach Revival, The Price of
Type: Anointing Article Type: Full Teaching Author: Les D. Crause
Contents: How to draw out of Contents: How to interpret your Type: Anointing Article
your own well of anointing. dreams spiritually. Contents: There is always a
price to pay for revival.
Approaching God, 8 Intimacy With Jesus

Ways Of Author: Colette Toach Revival, The Way To
Author: Les D. Crause Type: Relationships Article Author: Les D. Crause
Type: Ministry Article Type: Anointing Article
Contents: Revival is not as
difficult at you thought.
It's Ok! You Do Not
Backlash, Dealing With Have to be Perfect!
A Author: Colette Toach
Author: Craig Toach Type: Apostolic Article River of Life, The
Type: Prayer Article Author: Les D. Crause
Type: Anointing Article
Contents: Making a river to
Kingdom of Darkness, flow from within.
Bulldozing Through The
Prayer Problems Author: Les D. Crause
Author: Daphne Crause Type: Full Teaching
Contents: How Satan's Scriptural Pattern for
Type: Prayer Article
Kingdom is set up, with the Discipleship, The
various levels of demons, and Author: Les D. Crause
how they affect us. Type: Full Teaching
Called, 6 Ways to Contents: From The Way of the
Know if You Are Church - God's pattern for
Author: Les D. Crause training and leading others,
Labor, Die and Be using Jesus' method of training
Diligent - His disciples.
Called - 8 Attitudes
Content: You Can't Just Add
That Do Not Prove you Milk! Speaking in Tongues,
Are The Purpose Of
Author: Les D. Crause Author: Les D. Crause
Type: Ministry Article Type: Ministry Article
Life With Jesus
Author: Cassandra Kaur
Type: Evangelistic Article
Called to Ministry Spiritual Gifts - 7
Author: Craig Toach Things You Should
Type: Ministry Article Know About
Line is Drawn, The
Call, The
Type: Prophetic Article Starting the New Year
Love in the Heart of a
Prophet Right!
Author: Colette Toach Author: Craig Toach
Call to Leadership, The Type: Prophetic Article Type: Ministry Article
Love Thy Neighbor! Taking His Hand

What!? Author: Colette Toach
Can Children Decide? Author: Colette Toach Type: Ministry Article
Author: Cassandra Kaur Type: Relationships Article
Type: Family Article
Tapping the Supply

Marathons of Life, The Within
Can My Child Hear the Author: Craig Toach Author: Les D. Crause
Voice of God? Type: Ministry Article Type: Anointing Article
Author: Colette Toach Contents: Tapping the
Type: Family Article resources of the Holy Spirit
inside you.
My Lover, My Groom
Child vs. Parent Type: Relationships Article
Relationships Templates and
Author: Daphne Crause Triggers - Introduction
Type: Family Article Author: Les D. Crause
Nature of Man, The
Type: Counseling Article
Type: Full Teaching
Church of the Future Contents: The structure of man
Author: Les D. Crause as spirit, soul and body, and Templates and
Type: Apostolic Article how these parts work together in Triggers - The Way to
a believer.
Victory
C.O.I.N. Warfare Type: Counseling Article
Author: Colette Toach Next Move of God -
Type: Article on Demonic What Will It Look Like?
Realm Author: Les D. Crause Testing Time
Type: Full Teaching
Conviction, A Look At Contents: Does God test a
Network believer? This teaching answers
Indestructible, A this question in detail.
Type: Full Teaching
Contents: Taken from the
Dawning of a New Era, Prophetic Course, the pattern for Things (7)
The setting up a network of prophets Psychiatrists Want You
Author: Colette Toach internationally. to Believe
Type: Prophetic Article Author: Les D. Crause
Type: Medical Article
New Church: The
Death an Act of Love? Blueprint Unveiled,
Things (6) That Will
Author: Mark Stalnaker The
Type: Ministry Article Ruin Your Marriage
Type: Marriage Article
Death of a Vision
Author: Les D. Crause New Testament Tithing
Type: Ministry Article Things (10) Satan is
Afraid You Will Find
Type: Full Teaching
Contents: Tithing is not Out
mandatory for New Testament Author: Les D. Crause
Death of a Vision, My Type: Article on Demonic
believers. This article shows
Testimony you why. Realm
Author: Cassandra Kaur
Power in Being Time For Change: Is

Glorified, The Your Church Ready?
Demons, Dealing With Author: Les D. Crause
Author: Les D. Crause Type: Apostolic Article
Type: Full Teaching
Type: Full Teaching
Contents: How to move beyond
Contents: Satan's kingdom and
death and resurrection to
how demons work to block our
experience His Glory.
blessing. Overcoming demonic Traditions (7)
forces. Denominations Will
Not Give Up
Power of the Tongue, Author: Les D. Crause
The Type: Ministry Article
Depression, Causes of
Type: Full Teaching
Contents: The main causes of Transforming Hurts to
Depression in a Christian. Healing
Pregnant, You Can Be! Author: Daphne Crause
Author: Daphne Crause Type: Counseling Article
Depression, Solution to Type: Family Article
Type: Full Teaching Tricks (7) That Will
Contents: How to overcome Preparation of a
Cause the Scriptures to
Depression. Prophet, The
Author: Les D. Crause Open Up To You
Type: Prophetic Article Author: Les D. Crause
Détente
Author: Bill Jacob Problems, Cause of
Author: Les D. Crause Understanding the
Type: Full Teaching Anointing
Contents: The root causes of all Author: Les D. Crause
problems in the spiritual life. Type: Full Teaching
Divorce and
Contents: From The Way of
Remarriage
Anointing - a full description of
Author: Les D. Crause the two kinds of anointing that
Type: Full Teaching Problems, Solution to exist.
Contents: How a believer Author: Les D. Crause
should deal with divorce and Type: Full Teaching
remarriage, from Les D. Contents: God's solution to the
Crause's personal experience. root problems of the spiritual Using the Prophetic
life. Anointing
Type: Full Teaching
Do We Need Another
Contents: From the Prophetic
John the Baptist? Prophetic Calling, Course - a full explanation of
Author: Les D. Crause Signs of The how to function as a Prophet in
Type: Ministry Article Author: Les D. Crause ministry in the Body.
Type: Prophetic Article
Facts (5) Politicians Victory Over Spiritual

are Ignorant Of Prophetic Child, The
Author: Les D. Crause Author: Colette Toach Battles
Type: Ministry Article Type: Prophetic Article Author: Daphne Crause
Type: Counseling Article
Facts (7) Most Doctors

Prophetic Intercession -
Ignore
True Prayer What's Happening
Author: Les D. Crause Lord?
Type: Medical Article
Type: Full Teaching Author: Daphne Crause
Contents: A detailed look at Type: Ministry Article
true intercession and the various
False Prophet,
types of prayer.
Identifying The
Why Marriage?
Type: Full Teaching
Type: Full Teaching
Contents: Pointers on how to Prophetic Listening
Contents: Is man superior
recognize a false prophet. Author: Les D. Crause woman? Why did God institute
Type: Full Teaching marriage? Some good answers
Contents: From the Prophetic here.
Course - Seven ways of hearing
Fighting Darkness from God prophetically.
With Light
Author: Colette Toach Why Salvation?
Type: Ministry Article Author: Les D. Crause
Prophetic Ministry. The
Type: Full Teaching
Author: Les D. Crause Contents: From The Doorway
Finding the Perfect Type: Prophetic Article to Life - Salvation involves a lot
Partner more than going to heaven.
Author: Daphne Crause You need to know the fullness
Type: Relationships Article of what is available to you.
Prophetic Ministry in
Marriage
Godly Wife Type: Full Teaching Wives! Submit to Your
Author: Daphne Crause Contents: From the Prophetic Husbands!
Type: Marriage Article Course, the problems associated Author: Colette Toach
with having a spouse who does Type: Marriage Article
not share your ministry zeal.
Hearing the Voice of

God Word of Wisdom, The
- Introduction Prophetic Office, The Author: Les D. Crause
Author: Les D. Crause Type: Full Teaching
Type: Prophetic Article Contents: The difference
Type: Full Teaching
between fortune telling and
Contents: The first of a series
prophetic revelation. How to
on how to hear the voice of God
use the prophetic gift
effectively.
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Full Teachings
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Teachings listed by alphabetical order.
1. Dealing With Demons

By Les D. Crause
2. Depression, Causes of
By Les D. Crause
3. Depression, Solution to
By Les D. Crause
4. Divorce and Remarriage

By Les D. Crause
5. Hearing the Voice of God - Introduction

By Les D. Crause
6. Hearing the Voice of God - Part 1

By Les D. Crause
7. Identifying the False Prophet

By Colette Toach
8. Interpret Dreams by the Spirit

By Colette Toach
9. Kingdom of Darkness, The
By Les D. Crause
10. Nature of Man, The

By Les D. Crause
11. Network Indestructible, A

By Colette Toach
12. New Testament Tithing

By Les D. Crause
13. Power in Being Glorified, The

By Colette Toach
14. Problems, Cause of

By Les D. Crause
15. Problems, Solution to

By Les D. Crause
16. Prophetic Intercession - True Prayer

By Les D. Crause
17. Prophetic Listening

By Les D. Crause
18. Prophetic Ministry in Marriage

By Colette Toach
19. Prophetic Preparation

By Les D. Crause
20. Psalmody: Origins of Music

By Les D. Crause
21. Psalmody: The Power of Praise

By Colette Toach
22. Scriptural Pattern for Discipleship, The

By Les D. Crause
23. Testing Time

By Les D. Crause
24. Understanding the Anointing

By Les D. Crause
25. Using the Prophetic Anointing

By Les D. Crause
26. Why Marriage?

By Les D. Crause
27. Why Salvation?

By Les D. Crause
28. Word of Wisdom, The

By Les D. Crause
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Articles
Select one of the categories below or scroll down for the listing of all articles.
Fivefold/General
Anointing Evangelism
Ministry
Apostolic Prayer
Family
Counseling Prophetic
Marriage
Demonic Realm Medical Relationships
ANOINTING
Look for more teaching in the 'Full Teachings' archive.
1. Anointing Oil, The

By Colette Toach
2. Applying the Spiritual Pump

By Les D. Crause
3. How Revival Comes

By Les D. Crause
4. Inner Streams, The

By Les D. Crause
5. Price of Revival, The

By Les D. Crause
6. River of Life, The
By Les D. Crause
7. Tapping the Supply Within

By Les D. Crause
8. Unlimited Anointing?
By Mark Stalnaker
9. Way to Revival, The

By Les D. Crause
Back to Top
APOSTOLIC
1. God's Plan Unfolded: The Church of the Future

By: Les D. Crause
2. It's Ok! You Do Not Have to be Perfect!

By Colette Toach
3. It's Time For Change: Is Your Church Ready?

By Les D. Crause
4. New Church: The Blueprint Unveiled, The

By Les D. Crause
5. The Year Ahead: 2002
By: Les D. Crause
6. What Will the Next Move of God Look Like?

By Les D. Crause
Back to Top
COUNSELING
1. Victory Over Spiritual Battles

By Daphne Crause
2. Templates and Triggers

By Les D. Crause
3. Templates and Triggers - The Way to Victory

By Les D. Crause
4. Transforming Hurts to Healing

By Daphne Crause
Back to Top
DEMONIC REALM
1. 10 Things Satan is Afraid You Will Find Out

By Les D. Crause
2. C.O.I.N. Warfare
By Colette Toach
Back to Top
EVANGELISM
1. Glimpse of Hell, A
By Colette Toach
2. Life With Jesus

By Cassandra Kaur
Back to Top
FAMILY
1. Can Children Decide?

By Cassandra Kaur
2. Can My Child Hear the Voice of God?

By Colette Toach
3. Child vs. Parent Relationships

By Daphne Crause
4. You Can Be Pregnant!

By Daphne Crause
Back to Top
MARRIAGE
1. 6 Things That Will Ruin Your Marriage

By Les D. Crause
2. Godly Wife
By Daphne Crause
3. Wives! Submit to Your Husbands!

By Colette Toach
Back to Top
MEDICAL
1. 7 Facts Most Doctors Ignore

By Les D. Crause
2. 7 Things Psychiatrists Want You to Believe

By Les D. Crause
Back to Top
FIVEFOLD/GENERAL MINISTRY
1. Anointed and Appointed - An Illustration Using the Life of David
By Colette Toach
2. Labor, Die and Be Diligent - You Can't Just Add Milk!

By Colette Toach
3. What's Happening Lord?

By Daphne Crause
4. 5 Facts Politicians are Ignorant Of

By Les D. Crause
5. 6 Ways to Know if You Are Called

By Les D. Crause
6. 7 Things you Should Know About Spiritual Gifts

By Les D. Crause
7. 7 Traditions Denominations Will Not Give Up

By Les D. Crause
8. 7 Tricks That Will Cause the Scriptures to Open Up To You

By Les D. Crause
9. 8 Attitudes That Do Not Prove you Are Called

By Les D. Crause
10. 8 Ways of Approaching God

By Les D. Crause
11. Called to Ministry

By Craig Toach
12. Call to Leadership, The
By Colette Toach
13. Death an Act of Love?

By Mark Stalnaker
14. Death of a Vision

By Les D. Crause
15. Détente
By Bill Jacob
16. Do We Need Another John the Baptist?

By Les D. Crause
17. Fighting Darkness With Light

By Colette Toach
18. Line is Drawn, The

By Colette Toach
19. Look At Conviction, A

By Colette Toach
20. Marathons of Life, The

By Craig Toach
21. My Death of a Vision

By Cassandra Kaur
22. Power of the Tongue, The
By Les D. Crause
23. Purpose of Speaking in Tongues, The

By Les D. Crause
24. Starting the New Year Right!

By Craig Toach
25. Taking His Hand

By Colette Toach
Back to Top
PRAYER
1. 6 Principles That Guarantee an Answer to Prayer

By Les D. Crause
2. An Intercessor... Not An Intercessor? - A Testimony

By Daphne Crause
3. Are You An Intercessor?

By Daphne Crause
4. Bulldozing Through Prayer Problems

By Daphne Crause
5. Dealing with a Backlash

By Craig Toach
Back to Top
PROPHETIC
*** New Prophetic Course Launched ***
Test Drive the new Prophetic Course for FREE!
1. Call, The
By Colette Toach
2. Dawning of a New Era, The

By Colette Toach
3. Love in the Heart of a Prophet

By Colette Toach
4. Preparation of a Prophet, The

By Les D. Crause
5. Prophetic Child, The

By Colette Toach
6. Prophetic Ministry. The

By Les D. Crause
7. The Prophetic Office, The

By Les D. Crause
8. Signs of the Prophetic Calling
By Les D. Crause
Back to Top
RELATIONSHIPS
1. Intimacy With Jesus

By Colette Toach
2. My Lover, My Groom
By Colette Toach
3. What!? Love Thy Neighbor!?

By Colette Toach
4. Finding the Perfect Partner

By Daphne Crause
Back to Top
Contact Us Feedback
The Blessing Kids Manual
Written by Craig Toach
Lessons for the Christian Family!

The following are just a few lessons from the Blessing Kids, Children's
Manual by Craig Toach. A teaching resource for parents, youth pastors and
Sunday school teachers.
How do you teach kids the powerful principles of the Word in a way they
can understand it? The Blessing Kids Manual is for you! Lesson by lesson,
you will be educating your kids with the truth of the Word and the power of
the spirit! (Projects for children and teachers to be added soon!)
THE LESSONS:
A Lesson On: Protection A Lesson On: Confidence
Jesus Protected Me Talking Out Loud
Teaching your child on safety and protection Does your child struggle to stand up and speak in front of his
needs to go beyond the natural. A lesson to share class? Encourage your child, by sharing how the Lord can help
with your children on standing in divine protection him overcome his fear of man.
24 hours a day. Bible Illustration: Moses Facing Pharaoh (Exodus 3:1-18)
Bible Illustration: The Syrian King against
Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-19)
A Lesson On: Fear A Lesson On: Forgiveness

Daddy I'm Scared! Forgiveness Isn't Hard
Nightmares, the boogieman under the bed and Teaching your child that they need to forgive is not easy,
scary thoughts are something every child faces. especially when they are angry. But the Word has a solution.
How can you help your child overcome fear? This This lesson will teach your child how to forgive.
lesson will give the perfect solution! Bible Illustration: Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 32)
Bible Illustration: Daniel in the lion's den.
(Daniel 6:16)
A Lesson On: Generosity A Lesson On: Getting Lost

Giving Is Fun! Help! I'm Lost!
All of us would like to think that we have loving No parent ever wants to face the fear of a child going missing or
and generous kids. But how do we teach them to getting lost. But should this ever happen, does your child know
love as Christ does? This is a powerful lesson that what to do? This lesson gives a practical solution that will keep
will help your child see that giving and loving is them safe and sound.
fun! Bible Illustration: 12 year old Jesus left in the temple. (Luke
Bible Illustration: The good Samaritan. (Luke 2:40)
10:30)
A Lesson On: Overcoming

Disappointment
I Can Do This!
Children do not handle disappointment very well
at times, but how do you get them to face their
failures and try again? A lesson on trying again
until you succeed!
Bible Illustration: Saul made king. (1 Samuel
10:21)
A Lesson On: Wisdom A Lesson On: Faith
Jesus Gave Me Wisdom Lord Jesus Listens
Everyone wants their kids to be top of their class. Jesus did not say that we should have faith as children for
But how do you encourage your child to apply nothing! Teach your children how to use their faith and nothing
themselves without putting pressure on them? Let will stand in their way in receiving the things they desire!
Craig help you out on this lesson on wisdom. Bible Illustration: Matthew 21:22
Bible Illustration: Solomon asks for wisdom. (1
Kings 3:5)
A Lesson On: Prayer

A Lesson On: Salvation
Help Is On the Way!
The Loving Shepherd Does your child know what to do if they get into danger or have a
Are you looking for a simple way to share Jesus problem they cannot overcome? Here is a lesson on receiving
and salvation with your children? This beautifully help when you need it most!
shared lesson will help them see the Lord as they Bible Illustration: Joshua and the walls of Jericho. (Joshua
never knew Him before! 5:13)
Bible Illustration: The shepherd and his 100
sheep. (Matthew 18:12)
A Lesson On: Divine Healing A Lesson On: Sibling Rivalry

I Am All Better! I'm a Big Brother!
A lesson on divine healing that even a child can Expecting another little one into the family? Help your older child
understand! Teach your child the principles of adjust to the changes that a newborn brings into the home.
healing! Bible Illustration: Baby Moses and Miriam. (Exodus 2)
Bible Illustration: Jairus' daughter. (Mark 5:22)
A Lesson On: Moving House

Leaving It Behind
Moving can be a tough time for everyone on the family, but for
kids it can be especially hard. Share this lesson with your child
and make the transition easier for them!
Bible Illustration: Moses leaving Egypt. (Exodus 2:11)
A Lesson On: Love A Lesson On: Faith
Jesus Loves Everyone I Got What I Asked For
When kids go through phases of fighting with their Children have the faith to believe for the impossible! Harness
siblings and not being loving, how do you teach your child's imagination and faith by presenting them with the
them to love as Christ loves? A simple lesson on possibility: Faith can move mountains!
loving like Jesus. Bible Illustration: Jesus and Peter fishing. (Luke 5)
Bible Illustration: Jesus and Zaccheus (Luke
19)
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International
Copyright © 2001 Global Ministry Resource Network. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Contact Us Feedback
Prophecies
1. A Prophetic Word for 2003

By Les D. Crause
Date: December 28th, 2002
2. A Vision of The Church: The Coming Storm

By: Apostle Les D. Crause
Date: January 11th, 2002
3. A Prophetic Word for the Future: The New Move

4. America Under Attack - A Word to the Body of

Christ
By Apostles Les D. Crause and Colette Toach
Date: September 11th, 2001
5. Calling All Mosaic Apostles

By Les D. Crause
Date: August 16th, 2000
6. Speak the Word

By Colette Toach
Date: May 3rd, 2000
7. Time and Season

By Les D. Crause
8. Launch of the Apostolic School

By Les D. Crause
Date: November 11th, 1999
9. The Coming Apostolic Move

By Les D. Crause
Date: September 27th, 1999
10. God Will Do A New Thing

By Les D. Crause
Date: June 28th, 1999
11. The New Millennium
By Les D. Crause
Date: Beginning of the year 1999
Contact Us Feedback
The Year Ahead: 2002
Apostle and Founder

G.M.R.N.
(If you wish to receive further words and teachings that the Lord has given Les D.
Crause, follow subscription notice at the end of this publication)
The Year Ahead - 2002

As I sought the Lord concerning the year ahead, there has been a
growing awareness in my heart that God is about to move into the next
stage of His plan to manifest the End Times Apostles whom He has been
training in secret.
Today warfare has taken on a new dimension, under the influence of the
kingdom of darkness, and terrorism has come to every nation. The
modern method of warfare, which I have described in our teaching on
Prophetic Warfare and elsewhere, is COIN warfare, or Counter
Insurgence.
Having grown up with the threat of counter insurgence, and being

exposed early in life to this form of warfare when I was first called up to do
my National Service for my country, I have realized that the reason this
method of warfare is so effective is because it is the method that Satan
uses in his attack against the Church.
The basic principle behind this warfare is to infiltrate the land of your
enemy without him being aware of it. Unlike early conventional warfare
where the element of surprise involved suddenly attacking your enemy
and seeking to destroy him, coin warfare involves entering the enemy
territory under the guise of a friend, and slowly bringing an influence that
eventually will displace your enemy.
It is like a cancer in the body, that slowly attacks the cells, taking them
over and spreading through the body. When the cancer is finally
discovered it is often too late to do anything about it, because it has
already so spread through the body, that it cannot be easily eradicated
without destroying much of the healthy tissue in the body.
Now here is what the Lord told me concerning how we as the Body of
Christ are to take the land for His kingdom and overcome our enemy. We
are to beat him at his own game. We are to use his own method of
warfare against him, and infiltrate his camp secretly. Then when he
finally realizes we are there, he is powerless to stop us.
The early church used an approach that was very similar to conventional
warfare in many ways. It resulted in a rapid spread of the Gospel, but it
also resulted in such a lash back from the kingdom of darkness, that the
early apostles and church leaders were soon eradicated, and the church
robbed of its power. Then the enemy began immediately to fill the church
with his poison, using his coin warfare methods, until the church was filled
with false teachings and the doctrines of man, and lost its power. It was
plunged into the dark ages.
The End Times Church will be different to the Early Church, and will use
an approach that is totally different. We are going to use COIN Warfare
from the start, and we are going to so saturate the realm of Satan with the
Gospel and the truth of God's Word, that the Kingdom of God will displace
the kingdom of darkness.
So the Lord's Word for the New Year came to me loud and clear. I have
included a prophetic word concerning the New Move, but here is a
summary of the principles that we should take heed to as we move into
this new year of opportunity that stands before us.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ATTACK OPENLY
When you do, you expose yourself to the enemy and you will find yourself
no match for him, because he has the whole world under his control. He
will snuff out your life as he did to the early apostles and you will
accomplish little in the earth.
Your attack must hidden and subtle. Rather than fighting with the arm of
flesh, you should be fighting using your spiritual weapons. And the only
way to do this is to get those who are on his side to defect to our side. We
must steal his soldiers one by one until he has no more army to fight for
him.
Realize that the only power that the enemy has is contained in man.
Without man he can accomplish nothing in the earth. So the only way to
beat him is not to attack and destroy his soldiers, but to win them over to
our side.
DO NOT BOAST IN MAN
There is a tendency to look for great leaders to be our champions, and we

make the same mistake as the Israelites did when they cried for a king.
God does indeed work through His leaders, but His chosen leaders are
not those who seem to be something in the earth. Paul tells us the
following
1 Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brothers, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
[are called]:
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things that are mighty;
28 And insignificant things of the world, and things that are
despised, God has chosen, [yes], and things that are not, to bring
to nothing things that are:
29 That no flesh should boast in his presence.(GMR)
Your salvation is not to be found in your governments or political leaders.

It is not to be found in your professors and doctors and experts. It is to be
found in those humble men and women of God whom He is raising up to
lead His church.
DO NOT FEAR WHAT MAN CAN DO
Satan's choice method of attack in the times in which we live, is the use of
terrorism. He knows that if he can get man to fear, then the door is open
for him to take complete control. When the Church of God is filled with
fear, she loses her power. Fear paralyzes us, and makes us ineffective in
our spiritual warfare. And the dangerous thing about fear is that it only
takes a little of it to contaminate and neutralize our faith.
You might be full of faith and desire to do great exploits for the Lord, but
when you look around you at the events taking place in the world and
where you live, and you permit even the slightest bit of fear to enter in,
you become totally ineffective for the Lord.
The truth of the matter is that
The Enemy Fears You

It is time that we turned tables on the enemy and started to put some fear
into him and his helpers, so that they are paralyzed instead of us. Instead
of being the victims of terrorism, we should be using his own methods
against him. We should be destroying his plans and his structures by
infiltrating them and demolishing them. We should be keeping him on the
run.
The Year Ahead

So as you move into the New Year, go boldly with these principles in your
mind. Know that God is about to do some wonderful things in the earth,
and you are able to become part of it only by refusing to be caught up into
the things that the enemy is trying to use to sidetrack you.
To Be Continued...
A Prophetic Word
Click here to read
Concerning the Future
Global Ministry Resource Network

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The New Move
Apostle and Founder

G.M.R.N.
(If you wish to receive further words and teachings that the Lord has given Les D.
Crause, follow subscription notice at the end of this publication)
Prophetic Word Concerning the New Move

Given December 25th 2001
by Les D. Crause
Behold I am raising up my Joshua's and Solomon's says the Lord, and they will begin
to move out into the place that I have ordained for them. For as Moses and David
have been working in the background to prepare the way in secret for my end times
apostles, so now a new generation of leaders will arise, who will go forth and begin to
prepare the way for the coming move that I will do in the earth.
Many have sought to find those who will lead the Church into its final glory, and like
the wise men of old, they have looked in the wrong place. Assuming that the king
would be found in the palace, they sought the face of Herod to find Him. But He was
hidden away from view, where the enemy could not touch Him. Even so have I
prepared my apostles in secret says the Lord. And just as Joshua was trained at
Moses' side before he was manifested to Israel, so I have prepared my End Time
Joshua's and trained them for the work to come.
Therefore it is time for my Joshua's to arise from their secret place and become
manifest to the Body of Christ. And they will arise, not from the obvious places in the
existing church system, but from the obscurity of their training ground. Like the Son of
Man, they will not appear as a king on the throne, but as humble men and women of
destiny, who know their God and His power, and are ready to obey His commands.
Though trained for battle, they will not use conventional methods of ministry and
warfare, but will obey my instructions and carry out actions that many will interpret as
foolish.
For what general takes a city by marching around it in weakness? Yet Joshua's
actions started the conquest by causing the walls of Jericho to fall. And so shall I
accomplish concerning the walls that surround my Church says the Lord. For my
people have built themselves walls of security and segregation. They have sought to
protect their interests by separating themselves from the world and from one another.
But in doing this they have also shut me out, and I am not given the liberty to move in
their midst as I want to. So the walls must come down first before I can move.
This will be the first task of the Joshua apostles. For they will go forth and speak my
word over the cities and raze to the ground those walls that divide my people and
block my power from moving in their midst. There will be no loud fanfare when my
Joshua's appear, but they will arrive secretly and quietly and begin to lay the
groundwork for what I am about to do. They will bring my ark back to its rightful place
- at the head of the activity. They will restore my glory and power and cause me to
take pre-eminence. And as they do this, my power will be highly magnified as it is
unleashed against the walls that stand, and I will break down every wall, so that my
Body will once again become vulnerable and open and totally dependent on me
alone.
And then shall begin the plundering and destruction of that which is not of me says
the Lord. For those things that have entered the Church that have brought a curse
instead of a blessing, will indeed be removed and destroyed, so that my Body can be
rebuilt the way I planned it to be. For the old ways will have to bow to the new, and
the traditions of man will have to bow to the freshness and ongoing leading of my
Spirit. And I will once again take my place as the rightful leader of my people says
the Lord.
Then shall a new foundation be laid for my house says the Lord, and new walls shall
be built, that are built in righteousness and truth. For a new house will arise, and a
new city will be built that far exceed anything that the Church has known in the past.
For as I have removed from the existing that which is not of me, so shall I also add
that which I have been preparing in the secret places. For then shall my Solomon's
arise also to rebuild my house with glory.
And I will take of the old and add to it the new that I have been preparing in secret,
and then shall there be an ingathering of the lost such as this world has never seen,
and such as the Church has never known. For as it was on the Day of Pentecost, so
shall it be in the End Times says the Lord. And as my new leaders will rise up, they
will far exceed the number of those who began the work in the Early Church. For they
will all move in mighty power and authority, and they will cause a new Body to built
that is far greater than the Body that has existed in the past.
Indeed my emaciated Body will be restored to health, and those limbs that have been
detached and separated will be restored says the Lord, and the Body will come
together in fullness and in power and unity, such as has never been seen before. For
I have prepared the head of my mighty warrior in secret and now it is time for the rest
of the Body to come together. And as I shall gather together from all nations, tribes
and tongues, those who will take their place in my Body, there shall come a shaking
and a trembling in the earth, and the mighty giant will arise in the fullness of my glory
and power.
And as the temple of Solomon came into being and I filled it with the cloud of my
glory, so shall this latter house be says the Lord. This house will resemble the former
house in some ways, but it will be so much greater and more magnificent, that those
who have known the former house will barely recognize it. And the world that has
long scorned my Church and trampled it in the dust will suddenly be filled with fear
and awe at the sight of this mighty giant arising, clothed in my armor and filled with
my strength.
Then shall the powers of darkness be filled with terror at the sight of my mighty
warrior, and the enemy will seek to destroy it, but he will be no match for it. And just
as he sought to destroy the Christ child before he arose, so he has sought to destroy
this new move and those whom I have been raising up to lead it. But he has not been
able to succeed in this, for I have hidden away my servants, just as I hid away the
Son of Man until it was time for His manifestation.
Therefore do not look to see from whence these new leaders will come says the
Lord. For they will arise slowly and secretly, and they will not make themselves
known until the Mighty Warrior is ready to face the enemy in battle. And when you see
the kingdom of darkness lashing out and bringing destruction, fear and carnage in
various places, know that these are simply the vain attempts of the enemy to destroy
this new move as Herod tried to do by killing all the babies in his attempt to destroy
the Christ child.
But he will not succeed, for I have raised my servants up in many different places,
and they will emerge from many quarters, in ways unexpected, and in unexpected
places. They will not make a fanfare or engage in open attack on the kingdom of
darkness, but will like Joshua, simply go around the walls preparing the way for my
power to be revealed. And then when the time is right, and all are ready, there will
come the shout and my power will be unleashed upon this earth in greater fullness
than man has ever seen says the Lord. For the mighty giant will arise suddenly in his
fullness, and his limbs will stretch across the sea and land, as my Church rises up
from many nations at the same time.
Therefore when you shall see the enemy lashing out in various quarters do not be
amazed and do not fear says the Lord. For he is simply trying to locate where my
new leaders are and where my Body will arise. And like Herod's attempts, this will
lead to much pain and suffering, and much loss of life. But I will protect my people,
and I will protect those on whom I have set my seal, just as I protected their champion
when He first appeared in the earth. So when you see these things do not be
downcast and dismayed says the Lord, but know that the manifestation of what you
have been waiting for is at hand, even at the doorstep.
When these signs shall become open and clear, do not look for the sudden
manifestation of my Moses and David apostles, for they will continue to lay the
groundwork that I have called them to do, and Moses will continue to form the
infrastructure for the new Church and prepare the Joshua's who will lead the End
Times Church.
David will continue to train his mighty men, and set up the elements that will be added
to the final pattern for the church. Until the time is right for Solomon to take the throne
and bring together the old and the new with the final pattern that both Moses and
David have provided. For then the old and the new will come together as one, and
there will no longer be a distinction between those in the status quo church and those
outside of the system.
For there will come both a dividing and a uniting together in the visible church. And
those who truly are committed to me and to my purpose in the earth will become one
in me, whether inside or outside of the church system. But those who have a form of
godliness that denies my power will be seen clearly to be distinct and not part of this
new move. They will even try to fight this new move, attempting to lead the people
back to the old, as the Judaizers did in the days of Paul.
But my church will shine like gold and be filled with my power says the Lord. And my
bride will put on new garments and clothe herself in fine linen and costly jewels of
beauty that will make her shine for her bridegroom. Many will look on in envy, and
some will join in and become part of this, but many will turn away and go into deeper
darkness and deception. But both of these will become more distinct and obvious as
my new leaders arise and lead the Church to its final glory.
This is of me says the Lord, and I have been working and continue to work to bring
this to pass. Therefore take heed to what the Spirit says to the churches at this time.
Get ready to let go of your walls of protection that have shut me out says the Lord, for
if they stand in the way of my purpose, they will be broken down and destroyed.
Remove from your midst the accursed thing, or you will cause my people to stumble
and fall before their enemies as at Ai. And those who persist in holding onto those
things that I told them to remove, will find themselves facing the judgment of Achan
when my Church arises in power.
Be ready to recognize and receive my Joshua's when they appear in your midst. For
as Rahab received the spies and was saved as a result, so you too will be saved from
the consequences of the destruction that will take place when my Joshua's rise up.
Do not look for those of reputation and honor, and welcome them to your table to
honor them. But be on the lookout for those whom I shall bring you that are my true
leaders. And like Abraham of old you may find yourself entertaining those of true
repute without realizing it. For when Abraham received the angels He was blessed,
not realizing they were angels until afterwards.
When I sent forth my servants long ago as I walked the earth, I sent them in pairs to
go forth in a way that was not conspicuous, and not self-exalting. I told them to go
and stay in one place at a time and to give forth what I had given them. And those
who received them were blessed, but those who did not receive them received
judgment, as the disciples shook the very dust off their feet against them. Therefore
be on your guard says the Lord, and seek not my choice servants amongst the mighty
and noble, but be ready to receive those whom I send to you in humility and
weakness.
As you shall do this, you will bring blessing into your midst, and I will begin to arise in
your midst secretly and quietly, and you will find your place in the Mighty Warrior that I
am bringing together. Then when the time is right and all things are ready, you will
hear the call to arise. You will hear Joshua shout for the walls to come down. And
then the revival that you have been praying for so long will suddenly become your
portion. You will rise up out of obscurity to take your place in that great and final
move of my Spirit that will sweep the earth say the Lord.

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Anointed and Appointed
An Illustration Using the Life of David
ow many times have you asked yourself the following questions:
- How will I know when I am in a ministry office?

- If someone has prophesied over me that I am a prophet or apostle,
does this put me in office?
- What is the difference between being in ministry and office?
- How can I move from functioning in ministry to office?
It is very commonplace in this day and age to receive prophetic direction

concerning your calling. Perhaps the Lord revealed your calling to you personally
and you now want to know what to do with it all! So where do you begin? Are you
a prophet now? Are you an apostle now? Where do you start?
Anointed
Well I am going to take my favorite bible character and paint some pictures for
you. Let us take a look at King David. He was the greatest King who ever lived,
but when we first meet him, he is not upon the throne, but in the meadows looking
after his father's sheep. He is called to Samuel and there in front of his brothers,
he is anointed king.
The seal is set upon him! The Lord has let it be known that David is His chosen
one to take the throne after Saul. So where did this leave David? Right where he
began actually. Yep, David went right on back tending his father’s sheep. Now you
might find that strange. Why was there no ceremony, no party, no uprising to
throw Saul off the throne? The answer is simple: David was not ready yet. That
very anointing that came upon him as Samuel anointed him began a work in that
Shepherd boy to shape him into the king he was to come.
Can you identify a time when the Lord anointed you for ministry? It could have
been through a prophetic word, it could have been through a personal revelation
directly from the Lord. Either way, you KNOW the Lord had called you. But what
now? Does this now mean that you must begin functioning in the office the Lord
has called you to? Not at all, what this means is that from this day, the anointing
that was poured upon you, will now begin forming you into the image of Christ and
will be preparing you to take the throne of office!
Ministry Preparation
After that, it is easy to become full of pride and to say, "I am a ‘prophet’ or an
‘apostle’ now because the Lord said so." Sure enough, David was told he was king
as well, but that did not make him king did it? He was not called King David was
he? No, the first lesson David learned after being anointed was humility. After he
was willing to go back to the sheep, the Lord began training David for his
ascension to the throne. Where did his training begin? As a servant in the court of
Saul!
Saul called upon him to come and sing to him when he was in fits of rage. So
David, who knew that he was appointed to be king, submitted himself as a servant
to serve in all humility the man he knew had been rejected of God. Now in our
logical minds, this just does not make sense! Was this not the perfect opportunity
for David to usurp Saul and to take the throne? But what you might not know, was
in that humility, David watched and learned. He learned what the responsibility of
a king was. He learned how to submit and what to do as a king. He also learned
what NOT to do as a king. In the background, the Lord had begun training David
to take upon him the office of king!
How about you? Has the Lord led you to sit under the leadership of another? Have
you looked upon those you are beneath and said to yourself, "I can do this better.
Why should I submit to someone who is so out of order?" Could it be that the Lord
has placed you there to learn? It is here that you will learn the responsibilities of a
leader, how to do things and yes, also how NOT to do things.
Perhaps you are one of those who have said to yourself, "I will never submit to
man, I submit to God alone." Well, had David made that decision, he would never
have ascended the throne. If you are kicking against submitting to another, when
you know that the Lord has led you into such a relationship, then know that you
will not go forward and become a leader until you have learned to be a servant
first.
Training 101
So was David ready now to become king? He had learned everything he needed
to know about kingship. He had studied and got his degrees. Was he ready now to
become king? I have unfortunate news for you – this one step is the smallest in
your ministry training! This was just the Lord giving you a picture of things to come,
now comes the real training!
The first real chance David got to use some of what was within him was when he
faced Goliath. It was in the eyes of many that he got to stand up and use what he
had been receiving all this time. He had studied, he had prayed, he felt ready!
NOW was the time to show them all. And he did. The women sang his praises, the
men slapped him on the back.
"I have arrived! Surely now I am king?"
But it was not to be, there were a few more things David had to face. The Lord is
going to give you an opportunity to rise up and begin using everything He has
poured into you. All your reading and praying will pay off and the gifts that have
remained hidden until now will be given the opportunity to show themselves in the
sight of others. Perhaps you have already experienced this. Perhaps the Lord has
opened the way for you to flow in your gifting and to minister them forth publicly.
Does this put you in office? Does this make you king? No, all that is happening is
that the Lord is using this time to train you for the ascension to come. There is
much more to being king, than to take down a few Goliath’s with your sling.
Leadership Training
From this time forward, David was whisked away into Saul’s court and made a
commander in the army! He had arrived! He was even offered Saul’s daughter as
a wife. Surely now he was king? Surely now the Lord would hand him the throne?
The people sang his praises and there was not a single man under his leadership
who did not admire and respect him. He was popular, he was anointed…but was
he appointed? No, his time had not yet come.
Yet during this time the Lord taught David what it really meant to be a leader. First
he was a servant, now he was going to be a leader, yet still under the covering of
another. Perhaps this is where you are right now. Have you been put in a
leadership position in the church? Have you been given the opportunity to function
in the gifts that the Lord has given you?
This is wonderful! The Lord is teaching you how to be a leader. He is giving you
the opportunity to grow and to become the kind of minister He has ordained you to
be. But does this put you into office? Does this make you king? No, there is more
to ascending the throne than being made a leader by man.
Training to be King
Then the impossible happened! David was thrown out of Saul's court to live in the
Cave of Adullam! All seemed lost. Who would he lead now? How would he
exercise his ministry now? How could the Lord possibly use him in the desert? Yet
the Lord had everything in hand and had a very special plan for David. Here David
learned how to overcome the system within his own heart. For the first time he got
to be a true leader and to stand up for his convictions.
The Lord did not make it easy for him either! Firstly the Lord turned the whole of
Israel against David! Because of Saul’s rage, not a single man or woman was to
mention the name of David. The priests that helped David were slaughtered! So
there David is, no singing women, no hero-worshipping warriors. Just David, alone
in the wilderness, with a few family members. Then the Lord made it more difficult
for David and brought him all the scoundrels and outcasts of the day.
Imagine how hard it must have been to lead these undisciplined men! Haven’t you
found that the Lord does this to you sometimes? He puts you in the worst of
circumstances so that as you overcome those, you can face any other that come
your way.
So in the most unlikely of conditions the Lord now began to train David in earnest
to become king over His people! In the cave and in the wilderness, David learned
how to lead, he learned how to love and he learned how to sacrifice everything –
even his own wife – for the sake of the calling on his life. Did this make David
king? Did this appoint David to office? No, this was simply a single step towards
that office!
Perhaps you have lived this part already. Not only did you leave the system – but
you were chased out! No one was allowed to fellowship with you. You were left
alone with yourself and your family by your side. Perhaps you were worried for
your children, perhaps you were lonely and felt rejected. But do you now realize
that it is here that the Lord will train you to become his king?
Will You Become the Enemy?

During this time, David had the perfect opportunity to become the enemy of Israel!
The Philistine King Achish, gave David and his men Ziklag as a place for them to
stay. Here David was with the enemy on his side! Now was the time when he
could use these means to become king! But did he? No, even in his banishment
David fought for the people of God and went out destroying neighboring Philistine
cities – not leaving a single survivor! King Achish would ask him of his conquests
and David would reply that it was the cities of Israel he had been destroying, when
in fact he was killing the enemy right in their midst!
Can you not see why the Lord has placed you in obscurity? Can you not see why
he has led you to remain within the enemy's land? Because it is here that you will
defeat the enemy from within! Even while you are being rejected by others in the
system, you will be fighting for the strengthening of the Kingdom of God! Now you
have a choice to make. You can either use this time to try and puff up your own
kingdom, by tearing down other men and women of God. Or you could use this
time to undermine the enemy and take back the land he has stolen, so when the
time comes for you to rise up as king – you can take the spoils with you!
Appointed
Eventually after many years of trials and tribulations, there came a time when Saul
fell into the hands of the Philistines and the tribe of Judah sought David out to be
their King. Seven years later the entire nation of Israel sought David to be their
king! He had endured his season of affliction. He knew how to be abased and to
abound. In fact, David had been through so much in those years that I think that
he had given up the thought of being king quite a few times! Yet when David had
come to the end of himself and was willing to just do what God had told him to do,
the Lord arranged the circumstance for David to ascend to the throne.
The commanders came and laid their swords at David’s feet, the elders of the city
came and put David upon the throne! And so all bowed before their new king, a
king who would be the most powerful king of their time! This was a time in the life
of David and a time in the era of Israel.
Looking at your own life can you without hesitating recall the time of your
coronation? When were you put into office? Have you faced the preparation and
the training? Perhaps you are still looking after the sheep, perhaps you have just
received a word that you are called. Perhaps the Lord has just quickened to you
the reality of the calling on your life. Perhaps your pastor has recognized the call
on your life. Perhaps others have submitted to your leadership and recognize the
calling on your life. Does that appoint you to office?
No, it takes more than being recognized and flowing in the gifts to stand in office.
1. Firstly David was anointed to be king through a prophetic word - You received
your revelation.
2. Then David was prepared to be king through servanthood in Sauls’ Court - You
were led to submit to the leadership of another.
3. Then David was trained to be king through trials and testing in the Cave and
Wilderness - You were forced to leave the system entirely for a long
season.
4. Then David looked and acted like a king as He ascended the throne of Judah -
You were taken back into the system and began setting up your ministry.
5. But only when He was appointed by the elders, did he truly stand as king over
the nation of Israel - You were set aside by the laying on of hands by a
prophet or apostle, received impartation and release through prophetic
decree.
This pattern remains the same right through to the New Testament where we see
Paul and Barnabas being set aside for the work by the laying on of hands by
direction of the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus was appointed by a prophet the day he
was baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a
dove and remained. You see, it takes more than the appointment of man to set
you in office. It takes the appointment of the Holy Spirit and being released by a
prophet or an apostle of God who is already in office.
Until you can recall a specific time and date where the Lord set you into office and
appointed you to the throne, as it were, then you are not functioning in office and
cannot wear the titles of that office. You have not yet arrived and still have a path
of training and preparation to walk. I thank the Lord that there are steps and
progressions to be made in your calling!
Further, Higher, Deeper!

What an exciting life we live, knowing that there is always a higher level to attain
to! The day you become complacent and do not desire to move to the next level, is
the day you stagnate and remain on that plateau for the rest of your life. Know that
right now there is another phase. A higher mountain to climb, a higher office to
attain! NEVER be satisfied with a single portion. Never be satisfied for the Lord to
just pour a single measure into your life. Desire more, hunger after it and take a
hold of it!
Know that much awaits you in this glorious future and that as you come to that
place of being put into office, you will truly rise up as an end times leader in His
Kingdom, that you will indeed usher forth a new move into this earth and that the
Church will be changed as a result.
This in a nutshell in the mandate that the Lord has given the GMRN Team, and as
we have made ourselves available to Him, we have been blessed to be used of
Him to put His leaders into office. He has used us to release his leaders into their
mandate and impart the anointing into their lives for their call. This is the essence
of what we have accomplished at the GMR Fivefold Ministry School and GMR
Fivefold Training Center. Yet the greatest excitement we have is that this is simply
the tip of the iceberg, that the expectation we feel in our hearts is but a taste of
things to come. No matter how high we go, how far we reach and how many great
men and women of God we raise up and appoint into office through this ministry,
we have yet to grasp the fullness of what the Lord has for us.
Men and women of God, NEVER settle for anything less than the fullness! It is
available to you through the Lord. Do not stop at just being anointed and think you
have arrived. Press on through and step into the office the Lord has for you. Then
when you stand and say, "I am a prophet of God," or, "I am an apostle of God,"
you can say it with the fullest assurance that you are anointed, appointed and set
in place for this end times move!
MORE...
BOOKS AND CASSETTES: Look for all GMRN materials to
purchase at GMR Publishing.
www.gmr-publishing.com
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The Power of the Anointing Oil
t has become common practice today to use anointing oil as part of the
healing line, in our homes and for the casting out of demons. I would like
to approach this subject by the Word and look at its origin, leading you to
the conclusion of what the power the anointing oil of the New Testament
carries today!
The Glory of God!
In obedience to the pattern the Lord had given Moses, He set his heart to putting
the tabernacle of God into place and function after descending the mountain the
sixth time. This was the last time that Moses went up the mountain of Sinai and an
event the people would not forget – because the Lord had passed before Moses
and his face shone with the glory of God.
The Lord made it clear in a visual way to the people of Israel that He had set
Moses apart to rule and lead them! So much so – that Moses had to cover his face
to calm the fear that gripped their hearts at the sight of God’s glory!
There was no man who anointed the head of Moses with oil, as were others in the
Old Testament, such as Aaron, Saul, David and every ordained king of Israel after
that. There was no doubt in the heart of man, that when a person was put in a
position of authority – the oil that was poured on his head represented his office
and God’s seal of approval.
Moses was the only man in the Old Testament whose head was anointed in such
a way from God directly – that it shone with His glory!
There was another man whose head was anointed by God and not by man. Can
you remember who? This man was born in a stable and to a family of lower class.
He was not very well known by the people of his time and as he grew he was not
exactly an out-standing member of society! Yes – Jesus was the only man
anointed directly by God that He glowed with His glory! On the Mount of
Transfiguration Jesus was revealed to His disciples as proof of His ordination to
the call placed on His life from birth.
Has God done away with the anointing of oil, now that we live and move in a new
covenant? Does the old pass away now that we are sanctified by the blood of
Christ? Firstly let me elaborate on the representation of the oil. The Old Testament
was written as a type and shadow of those things to come. So in the building of
the tabernacle and in the structure of the pattern given to Moses, the Lord was
building images in our minds of a type and a shadow – of those things spiritual to
come.
Did not Jesus say to the Samaritan woman that they look to the mountain as Holy
– but there was coming a time when we would worship in spirit and truth? The Old
Testament was a visual illustration of what Christ would accomplish on Calvary!
Anointing the Tabernacle
Exodus 40:9 And you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the
tabernacle, and all that [is] therein, and shall hallow it, and all the
vessels of it: and it shall be holy.
As Moses dedicated the newly built tabernacle to the Lord, he anointed it with oil!
The scripture says that as they dedicated these objects to the Lord, that they were
made Holy unto the Lord! It is very clear that the Lord was pleased with all Moses
had done, because when all was completed He came down in glory and the
Israelites were made a nation to be feared and respected.
Where the tabernacle went – blessing went also. Where the tabernacle went, the
enemies of God fled in fear. Where the tabernacle went, righteous judgment was
issued, shown in the classic example of when Miriam and Aaron stood against
Moses. So was it the oil that made the tabernacle such an object of blessing to the
Israelites, and an object of fear to their enemies? May it never be! It was the
power of God contained in that tabernacle that made that object contain such
power.
The Oil of the New Testament
You might say in your heart, " I wish we had a tabernacle today! Could you just
imagine having it in our meetings? Just imagine the glory it would bring!" Do you
know what? The tabernacle IS here today! It is in the spirit of every single man
and woman of God. It is residing in every child of God, born again by the Holy
Spirit! Does the scripture not say:
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you?
You are the living moving temple of the Holy Spirit and you have within you the
tabernacle of His presence! So how then would we anoint that tabernacle with oil,
just as the tabernacle was made holy in the Old Testament? I would like you to
consider:
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from him
abides in you, and you do not need any man to teach you: but as the
same anointing teaches you about all things, and is truth, and is no
lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him.
If you look up the word ‘anointing’ from this passage in the Greek text, you will find
this definition:
5545 chrisma- (khris'-mah);
anything smeared on, unguent, an ointment, usually prepared by the

Hebrews from oil and aromatic herbs. Anointing was the inaugural
ceremony for priests.
Are you beginning to get the picture? Is that very anointing not beginning to rise in
your belly even now? The Lord painted a picture in the Old Testament for us to
recognize and apply in our spiritual walk today. For our temples to be made Holy
unto the Lord and to carry the same kind of protection, power and judgment we
need to consecrate our temples with the oil of the New Testament!
What is the oil of the New Testament? It is the ever living and most powerful
anointing of the Holy Spirit, given in power to every believer of the Lord Jesus
Christ! When Christ ascended and offered His own blood on the tabernacle in
heaven, He brought down with Him an aromatic oil that will never wear off or leave
us! He gave us the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Applying the Oil to Our Lives
So how do we apply this oil that the Lord has given us in the New Covenant? Do
we purchase ‘blessed oil’ and then rub it on our skin? For even Jesus said to His
disciples that it is not the externals to which God looks – but to the heart! So we
need to set ourselves to applying that anointing oil to our souls that they might be
made holy unto the Lord and carry the power that the tabernacle of old did! Jesus
said to His disciples at the last supper
John 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might
be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither do I pray for these alone, but for those also that shall
believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as you, Father, [are] in me, and I in you,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you
have sent me.
22 And the glory that you gave me I have given them; that they may
be one, even as we are one:
He explained to them that He was going to leave them, but not to worry because
He was going to send them the comforter, and that even He was going to abide
within them along with the Father. He made is very clear that even as the Lord had
given Him the glory, that He in turn was giving it to them!
This glory was made manifest in their lives on the day of Pentecost when the
power of God descended on those gathered!
We have the anointing oil in our very spirits! The day you received the Lord Jesus
as your Saviour, you received the anointing oil that made you Holy and entitles
you to the Glory that Jesus had! The problem is that we are not using it! It is
contained in our spirits and not allowed to spread out and smear over our souls
and our flesh.
But instead man has sought to receive that protection and glory, by smearing
physical oil on the flesh to bring that protection. Why is it that we in the flesh
always do things in the opposite order to what God ordained? Is not the spirit first
and then the flesh? So also should the order of God’s glory flow – from our spirits
first and then out to the flesh!
Applying the Oil to Our Homes
In the Old Testament objects that were cursed had to be destroyed, as the Lord
showed very clearly when Joshua led the people to utterly destroy Jericho and
Achan held back for himself some articles of gold and clothing. The objects could
not be cleansed of the curse they carried and as a result Achan and his entire
family were destroyed for the preservation of Israel (See Joshua 7:1)
For Jesus had not yet come and the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, so cursed
objects remained cursed and for a human to rid themselves of the curse of sin,
they had to sacrifice the blood of bulls and sheep to appease the judgment of the
Lord. But as we stand in the New Covenant we can rejoice that when Jesus cried
"It is Finished" that we are cleansed of the curse of sin and death in our lives
through the power of the cross - that cleansing being claimed by faith in the name
of Jesus.
There was however only one way that an object could be purged of any curse in
the Old Testament and that was by that object being dedicated to the Lord and
placed in the tabernacle. This is wonderfully illustrated to us in the account where
the Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant and then found themselves
facing the wrath of God in their midst! Firstly their god Dagon was found lying face
down in front of the ark, and then later when they sent the ark away, they placed
within it objects of the wrath God had inflicted upon them.
Did Dagon need to be anointed with oil for him to fall? Did those objects need to
be anointed with oil for them to be made holy to God? No! As they were dedicated
to the Lord for His use, the very presence of the Lord sanctified those objects and
the very presence of God in the tabernacle caused Dagon to fall on his face before
the Lord of Lords!
The power of the oil lies in the very presence of the Lord. In terms of the new
covenant: for us to tap into that source of power, we no longer have to go by the
means of blood or oil. Instead we tap into it by the name of Jesus, which is the
name above all names and whose name is given over EVERY power of the
enemy!
So any object that you have in your home that has been cursed, or contains a
spirit not of the Lord, there is a very simple solution in ridding it of the power of the
enemy. You dedicate it to the Lord and make it Holy unto Him for His use. This
means giving the Lord the rights over that object. Then use the power of the Spirit
within you to speak the blessing of the Lord – replacing the contamination.
For just as Paul had cloths laid on him to be carried to the sick – so we too have
the anointing with us that we can impart into any object. Why use ‘blessed olive oil’
to anoint the object, when you have the ultimate blessing and anointing power in
your very being? Use the seal of the covenant to come against every dark work of
the enemy! What is the seal of the covenant? Take a look at:
2 Corinthians 1:21 Now he which establishes us with you in Christ,

and has anointed us, [is] God;
22 Who has also sealed us, and given the deposit of the Spirit in our
hearts.
The anointing is the seal of the covenant (we saw earlier that the anointing refers
to the Old Testament oil being ‘spread’ and ‘rubbed on’) and the best part is – it is
dwelling within you! You do not need to run and look for an oil or perfume, cloth,
prayer shawl or any object for the power of God, the only object of anointing and
power you need, is that of the name of Jesus – resident in your very spirit!
Victory Over Evil Spirits
Do you have contaminated objects in your home? Or perhaps it has become clear
that you have a curse in your home. You are struggling with strife, destruction, fear
and theft and you seek to gain victory over every evil spirit. Then I want you to
throw away the oil and take the seal of the covenant given you at the ultimate
price: the blood of Jesus – and I want you to apply it!
Firstly, dedicate every object in your home to the Lord. Lay your hands on each
object and piece of furniture and dedicate it to the Lord for His service and will.
Lay your hands on the door posts and walls if you feel led and dedicate your entire
home to the Lord. As you do this you are making your stand very clear: "This
home and all that lies therein is dedicated and Holy unto the Lord and in terms of
His covenant I have in turn received, blessing and protection from every work of
darkness."
Then once you have dedicated your home, you take your stand and tell Satan to
get out in the name of Jesus. For the name of Jesus us above every name of
those things in heaven and on the earth and under the earth! Get into the word
and learn that authority in Christ! Then direct it at the enemy with all the anointing
that lies within you. Pray that the Holy Spirit would come and be resident in your
home and as the truth of your authority is made real to you – you shall be made
free indeed, just as the scriptures teach.
Learn to walk in this earth applying the oil from within to every aspect of your life
and watch as the Lord moves on your behalf. Because when you release the Lord
to work on your behalf the enemy has no room to stay – for where the light is the
darkness will have to flee! I would also like to suggest that you read or listen to the
Way of Blessing series available by Global Ministry Resource Network, which will
not only teach you your authority in Christ, but will also guide you through dealing
with all the curses in your life, and gaining victory over the enemy, so that you
might rule and reign with Christ!
Make a Commitment for Revival!
Do you desire to walk in that kind of glory as the Israelites did? Are you
passionately seeking to walk in that kind of protection and blessing? Then it is time
you learn to tap the anointing of the spirit of God, instead of looking for external
means to bring His presence and glory! How is the anointing of God released into
the earth and behalf of our lives? Through words and actions! You need to tap the
spirit within and pour out what has been given you as an inheritance. Those in the
Old covenant had to work at their salvation and blessing, but ours is received
through the righteousness of faith!
Tap into that inner resource right now by praying in the spirit and speaking that
anointing oil from your spirit to your mind, emotions and will and then into your
flesh! Very soon your face will begin to glow just as Moses and Jesus glowed from
the spiritual oil poured upon them by God Himself.
Then shall man see that you are indeed ordained by God and called to complete
the work He has set you in this earth to do! Will you open your spirit right now and
receive the fullness of anointing that the Lord has for you right now?
If this is your desire, then pray with me.
Jesus I submit myself to you right now in spirit, soul and body. Lord you are Savior
over my life and I withhold nothing from you. Thank you Holy Spirit for abiding in
me and bringing with you the inheritance bought for me on Calvary.
Lord I dedicate my spirit to you right now and I would pray that you would make it
Holy unto yourself. It is yours Lord and for your will and plan. May you do with it
what you will.
Lord I give you my soul right now. Holy Spirit I pray that you would purge my mind
of every thought that is not of you. I bring every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ right now and I ask that your anointing would cover my mind
and that you would use it for your purpose alone.
Lord I dedicate my emotions to you. I pray that you would anoint every feeling I
have and that you will use every emotion for your will and purpose. Lord I dedicate
my will to you. May you use it for your will and may I be turned towards your will
for my life and not towards the will of my flesh. Anoint my will Holy Spirit.
Lord, I dedicate my physical body to you. Lord may your anointing permeate every
fiber of my being. May this body be made Holy unto you – I dedicate it fully for
your service and I give you the right to use it according to your will and purpose.
May the anointing fill my body from my toes, right up until my head and as I walk
through this world may your anointing show upon my face and may my very body
and face show them Jesus that I might be a testimony for you.
Guide my path Lord Jesus and as I dedicate myself to you wholly, I thank you for
your protection. For as everything that is made holy to you is protected by your
anointing, I thank you that I am made holy in spirit soul and body and that I will
indeed walk in blessing and protection. As your light permeates every fiber of my
being I thank you that every ray of darkness will leave in Jesus name, for where
there is light no darkness can prevail.
Come Holy Spirit. Come in your glory now and fall upon your people in power!
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Feeling Stressed?
You need ...
Unlimited Anointing?
By Mark Stalnaker
would like to deal with something the Lord has seemed to keep bringing
up lately. Many people in the church these days are asking for the
double portion of anointing or a greater anointing. Many feel that only
Jesus had the anointing without measure, that believers could not be
anointed without measure. Why limit God?
This notion of a limit of anointing on the believer bothered me, it nagged at me. So
I went to the Lord about it. I said, "Now Lord I know you said that the whole body
rises into the full stature of Christ, but does that limit the amount of anointing on
the individual believer? He quickly asked me a question, "What if I gave you all of
my anointing, what would be left?" Before I could answer he said, "All of it, all of it
would be left. That is the definition of infinite. I am an infinite God." I pondered this
and realized that the Lord was able and desired to anoint every believer without
measure.
He gave every believer all his Spirit, he did not hold him back. He poured his Spirit
out on all flesh. He is a well spring that never dries up. He is more than enough.
Where sin abounds, grace abounds more. Who can fathom the riches of his
kindness; The breath, the width, the depth of his love. All scripture screams of his
infinite nature, the God of more than enough. Yet we limit him. Why? Because we
are looking at ourselves.
Paul said, "Let this mind be in you, that thought it not robbery to be called equal
with God." Why can Paul say such an outlandish thing? Simply because it is by
faith not works, so that no one can boast. Our righteous is of him not ourselves.
We don’t qualify us, he qualifies us. We don’t look at us, at our qualifications. We
look at the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus. He is the one who is faithful and
true. Our life is hidden in God, in Jesus. We are one with God, because we are in
Jesus.
So what holds us born again believers back from flowing in the anointing without
measure? Simply the renewing of the mind. "Let (allow Jesus to reveal who you
are in him) this (renewed) mind be in you, that thought it not robbery to be called
equal with God." You cannot walk in what is not real to you, it is not real to you
unless the Spirit reveals it to you. ("He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit is
saying." Jesus was talking about revelation knowledge.) I dare say most of you
walk in your salvation in joy and comfort, no one could even come close to
challenging your salvation. Why? Because it is real to you, because your mind is
renewed in this area. Because you know the truth, and in this area you are free. It
is no different with walking in God’s full anointing. Once who know the truth of it
and Jesus reveals it to you, it will be real to you and you will forever walk in it.
Someone may say God can’t give us his full anointing because we may miss use
it. Really? Remember faith works by love. If you’re not walking in love don’t worry
about misusing the power of God, you won’t have it. The greatest revelation is not
of power anyway, it is the understanding and realness of love, the very nature of
God, the image of his Son. So don’t limit God in your life, believe for him to reveal
all he is in you, and walk in his unlimited anointing.
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6 Principles That Guarantee An
Answer To Prayer
You must pray according to the will of God
You must pray believing
You must be specific in prayer
You must see the answer
You must declare the answer
You must release the answer

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Applying The Spiritual Pump
Acts 3 : 6-7 - Then Peter said, Silver and gold I do not have; but what
I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
walk.
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted [him] up: and
immediately his feet and anklebones received strength.
Revelation 5 : 8 - And when he had taken the book, the four beasts
and twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one
of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers
of saints.
Revelation 8 : 4 - And the smoke of the incense, [which came] with

the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's
hand.
hen I was at school (in the old old days) they taught us in science about
two different types of pump that you can use to pump water. If I
remember correctly they were the lift pump and the force pump. Don't
ask me to remember what each did or what the difference is between
them - I don't think I even understood it then. But I recently found a plastic water
pump to use in our large bottles of purified water and I was curious to see how it
worked. I think it is probably a lift pump, because it lifts the water up out of the
bottle. I imagine the pumps that they use to draw water up from boreholes are
similar.
There is just one thing about the pump that is quite frustrating at times. When it
has been standing without use, the water that is in the column of the pump seeps
back out into the bottle, leaving it full of air. This means that if you want to pump
water out you have to first fill the column of the pump by pumping out the air and
filling it with water. Once the column is full of water, the water gushes out with
each pumping action.
I began to realize that this is exactly the way it works with our spiritual
underground stream. We have sunk our pipe down into the underground stream,
but the water is deep in the earth. The column of our pump reaches down to the
water, but when we try to pump no water comes out. The reason for this is that we
have to cause the column to fill with water first before it begins to pump out. This is
the same concept we looked at last time concerning 'priming' your pump. You see
if the column is full, then it takes very little action to cause the water to gush forth.
But if it is empty there will be a lot of pumping without any action.
Have you ever gone to the Lord in prayer and found that it feels like He is a
thousand miles away? Well we know that He is not a thousand miles away,
because He is in our hearts. But you see the evidence of His presence that is
communicated by the Holy Spirit is in your underground stream. The presence of
God is as far as your pump is from the water. If your pump is filled then you will
see results the moment you start to pump. How do pump? Well what is the only
gate you have through which data can be sent out from within your spirit to the
world? Of course, it is your mouth.
You see there are five gates through which information may be received into your
heart, but it is only via your words and your bodily actions that anything that comes
out of your heart can be sent out into the world. So if you are going to draw water
from your underground stream, you are going to have to 'pump' it out with speech.
This is a complete subject in itself and we will be covering it in tomorrow's Word.
What I would like to see today is how we can come to the place where our pump is
continually 'primed' and the column continually full of water, so that when we need
to draw out it is available immediately. Then I would like to consider how we could
also build up a reservoir that would give a large supply and also increase the
pressure. Have you noticed a windmill as you have driven through a country area?
What has happened is that someone has sunk a pipe deep into the earth to an
underground stream. They have set up a pump on it and they have attached this
pump to a windmill.
Now when the wind blows, the windmill turns and it begins to pump water. This
would be a problem if the wind were blowing all the time, because you would keep
pumping out water even if you didn't need it and it would be wasted. So the way to
do it is to get the pump to fill a water reservoir, and when the water level reaches a
certain point, the pump disengages from the windmill. (I think that's how it works).
Now you have an immediate water supply, and when it runs low, the pump starts
pumping again with the wind.
What we have here is a beautiful picture of how we should set things up in our
spiritual lives. You start by tapping into your underground stream with the Word.
Then you attach a pump by learning to pray the kind of prayer that Jesus taught us
to pray. In what has become known as the Lord's pray, Jesus taught us to pray by
starting out with two important processes. We start with praise and worship to the
Lord - "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your Name." This causes the
water to start pumping up from within.
If you want to consider the idea of producing a river from a source, you can see a
similar principle here. Our prayers and worship we are told are like vapors rising
up to the Lord. If you think of these as the mists that rise up in evaporation to form
clouds, then the more you do it the more you create 'clouds of blessing' which start
to come down in rain, forming streams that collect to create a river.
The second thing Jesus taught us to pray was, "Your Kingdom Come, Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven." This statement is not a request but a command.
It should say, "Come Your Kingdom. I command your will to be done on earth." In
other words it is a prayer that takes the water that has been drawn up through
praise and pours it forth into the world, causing God's power to bear upon
someone in need or a situation in this world. It is the release in ministry of that
which you have drawn from within the well of your spirit, from the indwelling Holy
Spirit.
Many believers have failed to realize this and think that prayer involves us crying
out to the Lord and then standing back to watch Him rain down from heaven. You
need to realize that what God does in the earth He does through human vessels.
You are His instrument in the earth. You are His hand extended. It is through you
that He wants to pour forth His blessing. And if you expect to be an instrument for
His glory, then you will need to recognize that this can only happen when you
have learned to tap the power that is within your own spirit through the indwelling
Holy Spirit.
So what you need to do is set up your windmill and get 'prayed up.' You need to fill
your reservoir by spending time in the presence of the Lord, not crying out to Him,
but drawing out of His resources in you through praise and worship. Instead of
coming to Him with your request, come to Him in adoration. Soak up His glory like
someone walking through a rain forest. Fill up your reservoir until it is so full you
cannot take any more. Now go with that power and give it out to a world that is in
need.
When Jesus heard that Lazarus was dying He prayed to the Father to find out
what He should do. At that point He knew that His prayer was answered and He
did nothing more than continue in the presence of His Father daily as He had
always done - filling up His reservoir. When He came to the graveside of Lazarus,
he did not cry out to the Father to raise Lazarus. The prayer He prayed was not for
His benefit, but for the people to hear. But then He took from the resources He
had gathered in the presence of His Father, and He spoke to the dead body
Himself. And when He did, that power went out and raised him from the dead.
Perhaps you are feeling too 'humble' to do something like that. You would rather
cry out to the Lord to help someone when you pray for him or her. But Jesus and
the disciples did not operate that way. Jesus had told them 'freely you have
received, freely give.' So they took what they had received and gave it away. Peter
said to the man at the beautiful gate, "I don't have silver or gold, but what I do
have I am giving you." And that is exactly what he did. He obviously had his
windmill in place and had filled his reservoir. He was already prayed up and could
tap that power whenever it was needed.
It's quite simple really. You don't have to make any effort. All you need to do is 'get
in the wind.' The Bible uses wind also as a type of the Holy Spirit. So you learn to
let the Lord move on you by being available to Him at all times. You know then
that when you come into His presence on a daily basis, the wind will blow, and
your windmill will turn, and you will be filled and overflow until you have built up a
resource that is available to meet the needs of others. If you cannot find the time
to do this, then not only will there be no water in your reservoir, but also the
column that goes down to the water will have drained. Then you will pray and
nothing will seem to happen, and God will seem a million miles away.
The decision is yours. The river is there. The Word is there. The pump is there. All
you need to do is put them together and get into the wind. As you do, your life will
change and you will enter into a spiritual dimension that you did not know existed.
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8 Ways Of Approaching God
Penitence - the prayer of repentance
Praise - the prayer of adoration and worship
Petition - the prayer of requests
Intercession - prayer on behalf of another
Agreement - group prayer
Fasting - sacrificial prayer
Confession - praying the Scriptures
Prophesying - speaking God's decree into the earth

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Dealing with a Backlash
By Craig Toach
We cannot begin to tell you how many times prophets have written us and said: "I
ministered to someone who was sick or in bondage and I was barely out the door
when everything began going wrong in my life!" Some came down with the same
physical symptoms, some experienced strife in their homes, some theft, some
destruction...cars breaking down, accidents, sickness, appliances breaking, children
getting hurt...the list is endless!
To read a foundational book on this subject, Les D. Crause gives instruction on how
to deal with curses in 'The Way of Blessing'. This article by Craig Toach
specifically covers dealing with a backlash after ministering to an individual. This
includes personal ministry, prayer by the laying on of hands and intercession on
behalf of another.
Dealing with a Backlash

By: Craig Toach
I am sure that everyone at one time or another has taken a good hard look at the
world in which we live in. You have seen the lonely; you have seen the lost and the
hurting and have felt the heart of Jesus crying out to see them healed. You have
said: "Send me Lord I will go!"
As your earnest cry went out, so the Lord has brought you those to whom you have
ministered to. Their lives have been changed and you have seen them grow from
strength to strength and you feel on top of the world.
Yet there are times when you have ministered forth and then found yourself under
the greatest of attacks! It is like you have stirred up a beehive and everything seems
to be coming at you. Everything seems to go wrong and you are left wondering,
"what exactly happened there?" Well you have just experienced a backlash in the
spirit! Today I would like to show you what a backlash is, how it happens and what
you can do to stop it from happening to you.
What is a backlash?
It is a common belief that if you have prayed or ministered for someone and you
come under a spiritual attack it means that you have really made the devil mad and
you are on you way to victory. You know the old idea that if you want to get honey
from a beehive and you make them mad they will come and get you! That is a lie
from the pit of hell and it is a weapon that the enemy is using to stop the church
form being victorious.
So what is a backlash? Well very simply put, it is a spiritual attack a person will
come under after they join their hearts and spirits with another person who is under
a curse.
How does in happen?
Backlashes happen in two ways.
Through Contamination
The First is through spiritual contamination. Have you ever seen a blood transfusion
take place? In the early days of medicine, what happened was that if someone
needed blood, two people with the same blood types would be put next to each
other and a tube placed into each of their veins. And so blood would be transferred
from one to the other. The problem with this was that if there were any viruses in
one person’s blood they could travel in the tube between them and go into the other
person and thus infect them too.
Well this is what is it like when you minister to someone. In the spirit you open you
heart to the person you are ministering to and link with them in the spirit. Now as
you flow out to them you are doing a kind of spiritual blood transfusion. As you
minister - what is happening is that you are pouring forth the healing, revelation and
anointing into that person, but because you are also opening up yourself to them
and they are pouring into you in turn.
Now if you are not careful the very contamination they have in their spirit will be
transferred into yours and it won’t take long before you start show the symptoms. If
you minister to someone with an addiction, you might find yourself craving for that
very same thing. It they were under a curse in any way, you might start to see
yourself come under that same curse. Now you can see why it is written:
1 Timothy 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be a partaker of other men's
sins: keep yourself pure.(GMR)
Through Rejection
The second way of receiving a backlash is by rejection of your ministry. I am sad to say that
your ministry will not always be accepted. There are many reasons, but the two most common
ways are either, that the person did not ask for ministry, but you ministered anyway or that they
did not believe what you had to say.
What happens is that the very demon you where supposed to deal with and set that person free
from, will later on attack you. You see unless the person you are ministering to closes the door
to the evil influence you have no right to interfere.
Would you have the cheek to go to your neighbor’s house and tell his the party guests to go
home? No, you have no right and until the neighbor gives you that right, you are looking for
trouble. Well the spiritual side in no different. That is why it says:
Matthew 10:14 And whoever will not receive you, nor hear your words, when you leave that
house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.(GMR)
So if you are to minister forth and help the lost and hurting, how can you do this without
receiving that backlash?
How do you prevent it?
There is a very quick and simple solution that you need to follow but before I go into it I would
like to show you why you need to apply this solution every time you minister forth.
In the case of the spiritual transfusion, you have now poured forth what the Lord has given you.
You have followed through to the end and you can see the victory. At this point many people
just leave it at that and do not take the tube that is linking them together away. So what
happens is you are still linked to each other and are still flowing into each other. You need to
take that tube away and purify yourself from any contamination. Otherwise all you will do is
spread it around to anyone else you minister to.
In the case of the person rejecting you ministry, they have opened the door to a curse and to
the enemy. With you ministering to them you have in a sense partaken of that curse and come
under it’s influence. You need to get rid of that curse so that you can be free to carry on without
being hindered in any way.
Well unlike the natural, the spiritual realm plays by a different set of rules. You do not have to
be contaminated or come under anyone’s curse! And this can be all done by prayer. Prayer you
might ask? Yes it is as simple as that, no need to fast or to go into quarantine!
As you leave the home of the person all you need do is break spiritual links and renounce
anything you might have picked up. A simple prayer of:
"Father I submit myself to you and break all spiritual links with this person.
I renounce any contamination or curse I might have received from them.
In Jesus Name
Amen"
By doing this you are clearing your spirit and stopping the enemy from gaining a hold in your
life. If you do this every time you finish ministering will never experience a backlash in the spirit
again. And should you forget to do it right away and things get a little out of hand. Well it is
never to late to say that simple prayer.
You are called to be a spiritual doctor, to take care of the sick and hurting. You are called to
free them from the bondages that hold them back. You have the answers they need and can fix
any problem! But you need to ask yourself this question:
If even in the natural worldly doctors always look after their own health and safety first to be
more affective – should you not to do the same for your patients?
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Bulldozing Through Prayer Problems
By Daphne Crause
ave you ever suddenly come up against a very taxing problem that
seems far too big for you to handle? I’m sure you have. It’s an awful
feeling. It seems like you can’t move in any direction and you sometimes
even feel like the Lord has forsaken you and can’t solve your situation.
Well, let me lighten your load. Whether it’s in the area of finances, health or any
other area of life, you can break through the barriers every time if you follow some
basic principles. I want to share with you from my own experience just how to do it
because it’s exciting and pretty easy to do.
The first thing to do is DON’T PANIC if you get bad news. Okay, okay, I know
that’s a hard thing to do, but if you allow fear to come into your heart it stops all
confidence in the Lord and His divine ability to help you. Head for your Bible.
That’s the starting point for all prayer successes. Find two or three good promises
that you can stand on and write them down.
It says in Psalm 103 that the angels heed the voice of His word in the earth. This
means that every time you speak a Scripture promise out the angels respond to
what they hear and begin to work on it. But, let me explain a little more before I get
to this. Once you’ve got your promises go to a quiet room away from everyone (if
that’s at all possible). Make yourself comfortable, or if you prefer it, clear the floor
so you can pace up and down. I prefer to do this because I find it easier to believe
the word when I’m walking around. I guess I should be pretty fit by now with all my
‘spiritual’ exercise. Not!!
Anyway, the next thing to do is focus on exactly what you’d like the Lord to do in
your situation. Some people think maybe the Lord will just do His will in the
situation and if it doesn’t work out well that’s tough. But I remember that in the
Bible the Lord asked a blind man specifically what he wanted Him to do. I believe
we can do this as well. The only thing to make sure is that it is not against His will.
Every promise in the Word is ours and we have the right to make it ours. Also, in
James 1 it tells us that every good and perfect gift is from the Lord. He doesn’t
give us bad things! He can’t. There are so many Christians out there who are
walking in poverty, ill health or defeat and not in their full potential, because they
don’t make the promises their own.
Okay, now it’s easy, but sometimes time-consuming depending on the nature of
the problem and how soon you need the answer. I always begin by praising the
Lord for His goodness and greatness and the fact that He’s above all situations.
Then, tell the Lord out loud what you desire from Him and thank Him that He’s
heard you. Now this is very important - begin to ‘see’ the answer. Don’t see the
situation now or the problem! See the answer, and then speak the scriptures that
you’ve chosen and promise the answer.
If you have 3 scriptures you want to stand on, you can speak them one at a time
until you’ve done it say 50 times, then go onto the next, or speak all 3 out 5 or 10
times each then repeat them. It doesn’t matter how you do it. The important thing
is that you visualize your answer and speak the promises OUT LOUD. Each time
you do it you firstly get the angels moving on your behalf, and secondly, you begin
to build up your own faith by hearing the Word.
After a while you will begin to feel something rising up on the inside of you like a
charge. You will find it easier and easier to expect the Lord to give you the answer.
In fact, there will come a time when you just suddenly KNOW that you have the
answer. You are so sure of it that if someone were to come to you and say, "Hey,
it’s impossible for the Lord to give you that $4000.00 you’ve been believing Him
for," you would reply, "No, it’s not. Now go and blow bubbles because I HAVE
RECEIVED IT!"
When you reach that stage, claim that you have it and write it down if you can. It’s
useful to have a small book just for this purpose. Write down the date and time
and declare that you have received what you’ve been asking for from the Lord’s
hand. The Lord once said to us that it then becomes like a legal contract. It is
binding and nothing can stop it! Now all you need to do is thank the Lord that you
have received it, and confess that you have received it.
Remember, though that sometimes it may take time to receive the answer in the
earth because depending on what you’re asking for, the angels have to set things
in motion and put people in the right place at the right time, but if you have that
assurance nothing can sway you. Most times it comes much quicker than
expected. Just a word of caution here. Don’t tell the Lord how to do what you
want. If you need finances, don’t try and figure out how the Lord will bring it to you.
Leave it to Him. He’s full of surprises and loves to do the unexpected. You just
‘see’ Him giving it to you.
Well, now that I’ve given this whole long explanation, let me quickly give you two
examples from my own life to back up what I’ve said. The first thing I want to share
took place when I was married to my first husband, but even then the Lord was
beginning to show me the power of standing on His word. I had been going for
driving lessons so I could get my licence, and I booked the appointment for my
test, but never told any family members I was taking the test. I wanted to surprise
them with the results because I don’t think many of them thought I could do it.
On the day of the test my instructor took me to a practice place the same as at the
testing grounds but I messed everything up. I was exceedingly nervous and it just
seemed that nothing was going right. Eventually we decided even though it was
still an hour or more away to the test, we’d just go and wait there. My instructor
went off to talk to someone and wait in another place, so I had some time to kill. I
really wanted to get my license so I asked the Lord to help me, then began quoting
the scripture, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It was a bit
difficult to really hit it hard out loud because there were a lot of people around, so I
went to the restroom and spoke softly when no-one else was there. Then I
whispered it over and over again on the way to the waiting room. All the time I was
visualizing getting my license.
When the time came to do the test I just relaxed and thanked the Lord for His help.
Guess what? All the things I’d made a mess of earlier I flew through with 100%
accuracy. On the road I made a few mistakes (like nearly throwing the examiner
through the windscreen every time I braked – but they know people are nervous!)
When we arrived back she smiled at me and said, "Passed!" I shocked my entire
family when I let them know. I couldn’t have done it without the Lord, though and
trusting Him.
When Les and I first got married we decided we would like a baby seeing as I
hadn’t had any children from my previous marriage. My first husband was unable
to have kids but there was no reason why I shouldn’t be able to, yet for the first
year I never fell pregnant. After 11 months or so of nothing happening it was
suggested I go to a gynecologist to have it investigated. I loathe doctors of any
kind and I must confess the idea terrified me. Then I thought, "Hey, this problem is
small in the eyes of the Lord. He made me and I want Him to sort it out without
medical help."
We felt there must be a blockage somewhere that was preventing me from falling
pregnant, so I set out to ask the Lord to remove it. I took the scripture from Mark
11:23 – ‘Assuredly I say to you, whoever shall say to this mountain, be removed
and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those
things he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatever he says." Since I had
no idea where or what the blockage actually was, I simply visualized a blockage in
my womb and saw it being removed. As I did it, I confessed the scripture and said
it out aloud 100 times. By the time I reached the end my mouth felt like sandpaper
after speaking such a mouthful out, but I had such an assurance that it would
happen. I didn’t confess any more but simply rejoiced.
Nothing more happened for another 2 weeks until we were praying for someone
one night for a physical problem, and the Lord gave me a vision of Les praying for
me. It seemed that we were about to end so I mentioned it to Les. I went and sat
next to him and he laid hands on me and the Lord gave him a vision of my ovary
and fallopian tube. It was as though he was inside me, and the Lord took him in
the vision down my fallopian tube until he saw that it kinked and stopped the egg
from passing through. He commanded the kink to straighten out and we thanked
the Lord. Then the meeting ended.
It was about 10 days later that I began to feel very hot and a little off color and
discovered that the Lord had honored our faith. I was pregnant! We now have a
beautiful son who is 6 at the time of writing.
If you’re facing any problem right now I pray that this article will have encouraged
you to believe and trust the Lord for the answer. Just hang in there and don’t get
discouraged. It sometimes takes a while to build up your faith until you have the
assurance of the answer, but keep on going. It’s well worth the effort. If you’re
battling and feeling weak and need someone to stand in agreement with you to
combine two people’s faith together, please drop me a line and I’ll stand with you
in support. The Lord has used me often in the ministry of intercession, and I’ve
seen some wonderful results. I would love to help by standing with you in prayer.
May the Lord bless you as you learn to grow in Him.

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6 Ways To Know If You Are Called
A desire has been burning in you for a long time to minister to a

specific type of person. This is not a passing fancy but something
that has burned in you for a while. It could be a desire to bring
unbelievers to know the Lord, it could be a desire to help fellow
Christians in their daily walk. It might be a desire to help people
know the truth. It might be a desire to warn people of certain
dangers. Whatever it is, this thing has taken hold of you and will
not let go.
The call of God comes from God and not you. All you can produce in
yourself is sin. Paul says in Romans 7:18
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good

thing: for I really want to [do good] ; but [how] to practice that
which is good I find impossible.
The desire to do the work of God is planted by God and grows over a
period of time. If you desire to do something for God's glory then it must
have come from Him. If it does not fade over time then it is not an
emotional fantasy but something real
Not many people share your enthusiasm for what you want to do.
They may warn you to be careful, to calm down. They might even
accuse you of being paranoid. They tell you not to 'rock the boat.'
You have begun to wonder if this thing is of the Lord.
Since each person is like a different part of the body, you could be an eye
or ear - there are only two of those in the body. Or you might be a nose -
there is only one. Your ministry is unique, so do not expect others to
share your burden for ministry. The fact that you want to do something
different could be proof that this desire is from the Lord.
Your desire is other-oriented. You are not so much concerned with

making a name for yourself as you are with helping other people.
You will gladly give up things that are important to you so that other
people may benefit from your actions.
Ministry is servant hood and is likely to cost you a lot. If your desire is not
to help others then it is not a calling to ministry. Jesus said in Matthew
20:27-28
27 And whoever will be chief among you, let him be your

servant:
28 Even as the Son of man did not come to be ministered
to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many
Over a period of time you have found yourself ministering to a

particular area of need more than others. It seems that you always
end up on a particular subject or type of ministry. And when you do
something happens inside you and you sense a surge taking place.
The Lord will prepare you for ministry by creating opportunities for you.
Often you will not be aware of this. You only know that you feel content
doing certain types of ministry. If your ministry is evangelistic you end up
sharing the gospel with unbelievers all the time, and it gives you a great
sense of accomplishment. If your ministry is to believers, you find
yourself ministering more to fellow Christians than to the unsaved. You
might find that your greatest ministry lies in prayer. These are all
signposts showing you the way.
People have told you that you have helped them, even when at
times you have not been aware of it. Sometimes others can see
your ministry more clearly than you can see it yourself.
Solomon said in Proverbs 18:16
A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before
great men
If you have a calling you will not be able to hide it. It will start to show
itself in time and others will begin to notice it.
You feel unqualified to do the work of the Lord and usually feel
unworthy to push yourself forward to suggest that you be given an
opportunity. When appeals are made for help you wait for everyone
else to step forward first before you offer your services.
Humility is a sure sign of your genuineness. The Spirit of God always

leads gently. He is likened to a dove, that is meek and easily frightened
away. Jesus is called the Lamb of God. A lamb is also a gentle creature
that does not push its way. Since the call comes gently, you may even
wonder at times if you heard right.
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8 Attitudes That Do Not Prove You
Are Called
You have a burning desire to become a famous big name preacher

with everyone clamoring to have you come preach in their church.
This must surely be the call of God.
The call to the ministry is never a call to self-exaltation. It is a call to give

up all and follow Christ. Jesus said that the one who wants to be great
should learn to become the servant of all
You have studied all the doctrines and are an expert on any
theological subject. You can preach on any subject at the drop of a
hat. You must be called to the ministry.
It is good to have knowledge that can be used for the Lord, but it is not
essential to the work of the ministry. Your knowledge might help if you
have a call, but it will not qualify you to be called.
You have failed at everything else you have tried in life, so surely it
stands to reason that you must be called. The Lord has caused you
to fail at everything so that you would go into the ministry.
If you have failed at everything else then you will most certainly also fail
in the ministry. The work of the ministry requires a commitment and
determination far greater than any other work. It will bring far greater
pressures than you have ever known before.
You have a natural ability to instruct others and people are often
coming to you for advice. Surely a person with such natural talent
must be called to the ministry.
The call of God imparts abilities you did not have before. If your ministry
was based on your natural talents then you would not need the Lord's
help. Your calling comes from God alone and makes you totally
dependent on Him
Your have a great power in oratory and debate and always win your
arguments. You are perfectly qualified to be a preacher and to
convince people from the Scriptures.
The same thing applies as the previous point. Although your abilities can
be used by God if you submit them to Him, He doesn't need them to do
His work.
You are a strong natural leader and people look up to you and
respect you. This obviously makes you a perfect candidate for the
ministry.
Leadership in God's Kingdom is based on submission and letting the

Lord rule through you. Your natural abilities might just get in the way. As
in the others, the Lord can use these abilities but He does not need
them. The Scripture says that God has chosen the weak and foolish
things to confound the wise.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to

confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things that are mighty;
28 And insignificant things of the world, and things that are
despised, God has chosen, [yes], and things that are not, to
bring to nothing things that are:
29 That no flesh should boast in his presence.
You are highly educated and above average intelligence. With your
ability to study and absorb knowledge you are able to understand
the Bible better and teach it in detail to others.
Knowledge of God's Word does not come by intellectual study but by

revelation from the Holy Spirit. No doubt you would make a good elder in
the church, but a teaching ministry is a gift from God, not a natural ability.
You have a degree in psychology and are able to counsel anyone

with problems. So you would make a great shepherd and
counselor.
Actually since most of the psychological views are based on the

reasoning of man and not the Word of God, your knowledge will be more
of a hindrance to ministry than an asset.
If you have some of the above attitudes you might think that the Lord is really
lucky to have someone like you around. You might even be able to convince
some groups to accept you into the ministry, but you certainly don't understand
what it is that God requires of one who is to be His Servant to the flock. If the Lord
does call you to do His work you will have to go through a time of preparation that
will cause to learn not to depend on your natural abilities.
Paul was such a person. He had a lot of natural skills and strengths. But it took
years before he could come to a place of being of use to the Lord. He had to let
go of everything that he thought counted. In Philippians 3:7-8 he says
But the things that were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yes without doubt, and I consider all things [but] loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and count them [but] dung, that I
may win Christ.
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Called to Ministry
By Craig Toach
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither do I consider
my life important to me, so that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God.
ow many times have you said or heard people say " I am not called to
the ministry" or "I would love to, but I am not qualified to do it?" Well I
used to dance to that tune. Before I came to know the Lord, I thought
that only super natural people could do it. But do you know that you too
can be that super human?
Firstly, What is Ministry? What are the conditions? What must I do to start?
Ministry
Ministry to me is the giving of one’s self to help others that are in need. The funny
thing is that you don’t need money to start it. You don’t need papers to say you are
now able to do this. All you need is a desire to want to do this - and the Lord will
do the rest. It could start by just being there for a friend who needs a shoulder to
cry on and a supportive word to say "I am here for you no matter what." It could
start by a giving of one’s time to teach someone else’s child to ride a bike. The
opportunities are endless.
The Conditions
Do it to the Best of your ability.

Be open to leading and training by the Lord.
Do it for the Kingdom of God and not for self-importance or gain.
And the biggest one of all is not to expect anything in return.
The Result
The self-satisfaction and enjoyment of seeing others benefit from your help.
How to Start
Well, it all starts with a desire placed there by the Lord and an action to get the ball
rolling. What do I mean by this? Well what I am going to do is to use myself, to
show you.
It all started the night I gave my life to the Lord. I gave the Lord license to use me
in any way possible for the extension of His Kingdom. It did not happen overnight,
but slowly I started acting and doing things I didn’t normally do. I started wanting to
do things to help others that had never been there before.
So I approached someone who could confirm it to me and could help me develop

into what the Lord wanted me to do. This also meant that all my weaknesses and
failures had to be dealt with and overcome. It is not easy and some times I think
maybe I should just give up, but the Lord is always there to give me a comforting
word and a helping hand to get me back on track again.
How did I start? I started by giving money to people that were in need. Now I am
not talking large amounts, but I gave what I could. The greatest thing was as I
gave, the Lord started giving back. You see when you do unselfish things and
expect nothing in return, the big Daddy is so proud of you he gives you more than
what you gave. Now I am not talking of things you can noticeably see. It might be
someone else doing some thing for you. You just need to be open to see it.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure,
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men
give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use it shall
be measured to you again.
Now what I am going to share with you I am not doing for self praise, but as an
inspiration to show you that you to can do a good turn for others.
I obtained a whole band of musical instruments. The only problem way the only
musical instruments I play are my Tape recorder and CD player. At the time I
really had a burden to play bass guitar and as it so happened that was one of the
things that was given. It was a red Washburn bass and man was it beautiful. It was
my pride and joy.
Then one day as I was praying I felt the Lord say to me that I should give these
instruments to a couple my wife knew. The funny thing was I had never met them
before. So I asked my wife to please get in touch with them and offer the
instruments to them. Well she did and to my joy they where in need of instruments.
You see as it turned out, they were two weeks away from opening a new Church
and were praying for the very things I had. Now not only was this a provision for
them, it later turned out that my pride and joy (the bass) as hard as what it was for
me to give away, turned out to be an answer to another prayer.
One of the sons of this couple was praying for a ‘red Washburn bass guitar,’ which
the parents could never have afforded. It wasn’t easy to give it away, but if I could
go back I would do it all over again. I not only heard right, but answered two
prayers in one. Is the LORD NOT GREAT !!
Well HE is great, because He answered my prayers. He opened up the

opportunity for me to go into full time ministry. I was not only given a brand new
bass, far better than the one I gave away, but I now also have the time to learn to
play it.
Now this is my plea to you today.
Seek your heart and listen to what the Lord wants you to do and start that small
thing that could lead you to greater things. Who knows, it might just be what you
always dreamed of? You see I started small and as I grow spiritually the Lord can
trust me with more. I would also like to add that each case is different and will take
a different course for you to reach your goal. Just be open to the Lord and be
willing to learn and do anything possible to be more effective. To some people it
might mean Bible Training at a later stage or like me to have a helpful and willing
leader to teach me what he has learnt.
I pray that this article will bless you and help you move into what the Lord has in
store for you. I also pray that the Lord bless you on your path as he has me.
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The Call
here is a call to the Prophets. A 3-fold call to action. Do you desire to be

Jesus gift to His church? And are you willing to act on that desire?
I want My people to know my love for them. I want them to stand and
bask in my breeze. I want them to feel My touch upon their skin and I want them to
embrace Me. I created man for fellowship and how I long to have them love Me
from their hearts. How I long for them to embrace me and call me Lord with
affection. I want nothing more than to see My bride adorned in glory. To see Her
set upon a hill as an example to the nations. How I wish to see Her shine in beauty
and glory proclaiming My name. How I desire to see Her rise up and shake off the
bonds that have kept Her captive. How My heart burns to see My bride armed and
ready to rule over this earth I have placed before Her. How I desire to see My
people rise up and take these things I have given Her. It breaks my heart to see
my beloved trampled in pain and rejection.
It aches Me to see my sheep cut down and torn by wolves. How I would gather
them in My arms and comfort them – but they push My hand away and insist on
coming together on their own. Can they not see that without my breeze of love
they remain broken? Can they not see that they cannot restore or heal what only
My spirit can restore and heal? And so I have to take away the safety of the fold. I
have to remove the fences the flock has become so comfortable with, that they
might see the pastures that await – that they might see the glory I have for them.
I have to strip my Bride of Her clothing, so that she can clothe Herself with My
wedding garment and I have to take away Her crown of hay and replace it with My
crown of Glory. So as My Bride is about to go through a stripping of everything she
holds dear to Her: comfort Her and breathe upon Her My breath of life. Then as
you do this I can clothe and bestow upon Her the glory and plan I had for Her from
the beginning. Rise up now my children and speak out to my beloved. Tell Her that
She is loved by Her Groom. Tell Her to let go of Her rags and stubble and tell Her
to embrace Her Savior who desires to set Her upon that hill for My glory!
Our Call
It is a call to War! It is a call to love it is a call to action! Our task is 3 fold.
1. Destruction - As prophets we need to stand now as that network and speak

into the earth this word of the Lord. To speak for the destruction of the old and the
coming of the new.
2. Reconstruction - To decree forth the building of the new. To call forth those
hidden apostles, prophets, teachers and yes…pastors! To call forth a new breed
of ministers who are after God’s own heart!
3. Love - To show the Bride the beauty of Her Groom. To lead Her by the hand
and encourage Her to fall in love with Jesus. To breathe upon Her the breath of
Life, Love and Light. To open Her eyes to the darkness and to usher Her into the
light.
This is the greatest take of all 3 tasks, because as the Bride of Christ learns to
harness the power of love she will be invincible to any power of darkness. She will
be untouchable and will be as that light upon a hill – and all the nations will indeed
be drawn to the brightness of Her rising!
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The Call to Leadership: Servanthood
"For as Elisha washed the hands of Elijah, so also you must

learn to be a servant first. Indeed Elisha rose up in double the
anointing, as shall you - but it did not come without cost. It came
from being a servant. And so will your ministry begin. In the
shadow of the one I have placed over you.
Allow me to make of you an example of a true disciple. Then as

you excell in being a disciple, I will make of you a master. But
first begins servanthood. So follow close to My heart and know I
have planned your steps. Trust now and rest in faith - for I
indeed have all in hand says the Lord. "
his is a portion of a journal the Lord gave me in my private time. As the

Lord leads me through my personal preparation and training, I am
learning vital principles on this position we call ‘leadership. I have
learned over the course of these 2 years that a leader never defends
himself, but stands in his authority. I have learned that a true leader is one who
has no fear of being transparent, allowing others to see his weakness as a man. I
have learned also that true leader is so secure in that leadership that he has not
problem humbling himself publicly. He does not fear the rejection or rebuff, for he
is secure in his relationship with the Lord and he is secure in what the Lord has
placed in him.
The lesson I am learning now as the Lord leads me into apostolic training is that a
leader cannot be trusted to lead until he is made a servant first! It is very easy to
look at those who are in a position of leadership and authority and envy what they
have. It is easy to look at them and say: "I can do that! What makes them so
special?"
Many think that to be a leader means you have to ‘act’ like one. Many think that to
be a leader you need to gather and work up agreement in others. The definition of
a true leader is really quite simple: A leader is one who has a following. The
Lord is teaching me stage by stage that to be s true leader you need to be a
servant. Before you can truly understand the pressures and responsibility of a
leader, you first need to remain in the shadows, learning and being trained by
example.
When I look at the example of Elisha and Elijah I am reminded what a servant
Elisha truly was. How humiliating it must have been to him to carry out those
menial tasks – like washing the hands of Elijah – a woman’s job! Yet every for
every step Elijah took, Elisha was there, learning, taking it in and watching. As I
pondered this, the Lord showed me the innocence of a child.
Just consider one of your children. Do you remember when they first began
talking? How they would use your expressions? Deborah-Anne (my eldest) follows
fast in my foot steps. She puts her hands on her hips, when she is annoyed – just
like I do! She paces the floor up and down pretending to preach – just like I do!
She even makes up her own songs about Lord Jesus – just like she has seen her
mom and gramps do in the spirit!
Now did I have to set her aside and teach her these things? No, she just followed
by example. She has not questioned if this was the ‘right way’ of doing things. She
just copied what I do. The time is coming soon when she will use those skills for
herself. I am reminded of a time not too recently when she met up with another
child in the local park. I ‘listened in’ to their conversation and it was hilarious! It
went something like this.
Chad (to Deborah): Destiny is afraid of the boogie man!
Destiny: No I am NOT!
Chad: Yes you are!
Destiny: Ok, maybe when it is night, I am scared of the boogie man.

But if my mom switches the light on I am ok, but still a little scared.
Are you afraid of the boogie man?
Deborah: "I am not afraid of the boogie man! I just tell him to ‘Go
away in Jesus Name!’ and he goes away"
I did not teach her how to deal with the boogie man, she learned it by example.
This is how a true disciple is born! As she rises up, she will in turn pour into others
what she has learned. But before she can be a leader and an adult, she must
learn first to be a disciple and a child.
So also we need to learn this important step in becoming leaders in the Kingdom
of God. If the Lord has placed a leader over you, instead of misunderstanding and
kicking against all you see that is wrong, allow yourself to become a servant! The
one who has been placed over you, got there not by chance, he got there by
giving of himself for the Kingdom of God. He got there because of what the Lord
has put into him. He may have faults and he may have weaknesses, but yet he
holds that position because he learned to first be a servant.
No one is born into leadership. Leadership, authority and respect are earned and
they are earned through humility and sacrifice. If you have a desire to change the
Body of Christ and to lead others in the truth, learn first to be a disciple. Because
soon enough the Lord will raise you up as a leader of His flock and you in turn will
have diciples beneath you. Having been there you will in turn pour out in the
correct order.
Choosing a Leader
Of course to be a disciple you need a ‘master’ to follow. The relationship does not
necessarily need to be personal – all you need is to find someone you want to be
like. Look around for someone with the qualities of leadership that you most
desire. Then submit yourself to their instruction and teaching. Do not compete or
try to prove yourself. Just sit and watch and take it in. Soon enough the Lord will
raise you up into their anointing as you desire and follow after with passion. An
example from Christian circles would be to look at Benny Hinn, who is known as
the one true disciple of Kathryn Kuhlman. Yet do you know he two of them never
met? Benny watched all her shows and desired to be just like her! If you look at
him now, you would think they were blood related! They look the same, operate
the same and even dress in the same white clothes!
In the New Testament Paul and Timothy are also a good example. Timothy took
all Paul taught him and implemented it in his own churches. I bet if you had to
bump into Timothy on the street, he probably spoke like Paul, walked like Paul and
preached like Paul! It is God’s order. When Jesus ascended He told the disciples:
"Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all men!" The Apostles could go
and make disciples, because they sat under Jesus for those three years. They
gave up their families, homes and lives for Him. They were as servants for Him.
Preparing the meals, organizing venues to sleep and to eat. Yet look what they
birthed in the New Testament church! This is God’s order and if you would just
learn to humble yourself for a season then the time will come when the Lord will
raise you up in the sight of others.
When that time comes, you will rise up in humility and you will rise up in fear and
trepidation, realizing the responsibility and weight of the call the Lord has placed
on your shoulders!
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Can Children Decide?
By Cassandra Kaur
Can Children Make a Meaningful Decision for Christ?
Matthew 19:13-15
Then little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands
and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not hinder them for
the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." When he had
placed His hands on them he went from there.
will never forget that evening, when I heard about and took serious
interest in the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time in my life. It was in an
overseas Christian fellowship meeting held in a small Baptist Church in
Australia and all I understood after having spent a few days with some
very special and kind Christians there, was that I could ask Jesus to become my
friend and He would be a Friend like none other.
"Exactly what I need!" I thought to myself. In a country where I knew practically no

one, was far away from home and family, where I did not entirely feel at home with
the culture, and could not immediately identify with the locals, I was open to the
idea of having a friend - it sure looked like I could use one :-) So a few weeks after
that day and after a series of several other meetings with these young, energetic
Christians, I got down on my knees in my small dorm room one night and asked
the Lord Jesus to become my Friend. I felt a blanket of love envelope me and I
wept.
I moved on after that but spent the next few months without a Bible and did not go
to church because I did not know of any and did not know why I would need a
bible or what church was about. I continued to spend time with Christians and
figured that this was all there was to it and thoroughly enjoyed the new friends I
had made. I spent my time in my room talking to the Lord as I would with a friend
and poured out my fears and frustrations to Him. The Lord and I had many fun
times just 'chatting' with each other. He was fast becoming my Best Friend
because He always had time for me, never let me down and always stood by me
and knew my inner-most thoughts. I felt like I did not need to explain myself to
Him, He understood me completely and quickly.
It was not long before someone invited me to a church and while I was there, was
led to someone who would spend some time with me in discipleship. It was then
and only then that I received a full explanation of what the Good News of Jesus
Christ was in its totality. I heard about what He had done on the cross, what its
relevance was to me, how I needed to repent and confess my sins and ask the
Lord to take over my life and lead me in the purposes that He has for me. Over the
next three weeks or so I did all that and more and got a more solid grounding in
the Word; one that could not be as easily shaken; one that was to be built on a
better understanding of the character and will of God as revealed in His Word.
You are probably wondering what relevance this sharing has to the topic at hand
concerning children. Well, so was I, initially :-) I was surprised myself that the Lord
led me to share it and as I came before Him to seek to understand where He was
leading me with this, I felt Him asking me to look for some simple parallels
between my experiences as a baby Christian to that of the possible stages that a
young child goes through with regards to their understanding and growth in the
things of the Lord, from the first day they hear about Christ, and beyond. But first...
I have always felt drawn to children ever since I can remember and so it was not
surprising that when I became a Christian, my first few serious prayers centered
around the children of the world- their plights and their needs. But it was not long
after this that I noticed that in prayer meetings at church, few prayers mentioned
the children of the families that gathered there every week and almost nothing else
was uttered about the children of the world in general. For a while I was perturbed,
but it was not long after that either, that I decided that there were indeed other
"more important things" to pray about too. I stopped praying for children and
'matured' in my Christian thinking - I moved on to other more serious matters that
needed my fervent and immediate attention.
Unfortunately for me, my Christian maturity came at a cost; I lost the initial child-
likeness and simplicity that caused me, in the first place, to see children as
important individuals and a very significant part of His Kingdom. I had to repent of
that and now make a more conscious effort to pray, consider and think about the
spiritual lives and destinies of the children I come into contact with every
week/regularly.
Sometimes, as adults, we do not fully comprehend or appreciate the need for
children to hear and/or to respond to the invitation from the Lord Jesus Christ
extended to them, to give their lives over to Him completely. Or perhaps we see
that there is a need to tell them about Jesus but leave out some essentials
thinking that children cannot possibly understand (until they reach their
pre-teen years anyway) what we seek to explain to them. We think that since it is
possibly beyond their understanding, their act of receiving and responding to the
invitation to receive Christ is in fact questionable and is at best incomplete. Better
left for later ...much later when the child grows into greater maturity in his teenage
years.
We often think that a child cannot make a fully argued and thought-through
decision and so, should not as yet, hear the gospel. We may think that they have
not sufficiently tasted the world to make a real decision. We sometimes think that
maybe if they experience entering into the depravity of the world first and then
know what they are really saved from, then and only then, will their conversion be
really real. We go on to rationalize at times, that until they do experience hardship
and taste a little of the world, their decision for Christ cannot possibly be
meaningful.
Why do adults (myself included :-) think this way? Maybe it is because we have
seen or heard of miraculous conversions of drug addicts and other criminals so we
know that their decisions must be real because of the outward evidence of utterly
changed lives? Therefore a child's decision for
Christ cannot be as genuine because their conversion is too simple and not
dramatic enough? Perhaps only an emotionally charged response to the Lord is
the best one? But we need to realize that little children can come unemotionally,
but lovingly and trustingly to Jesus - and it can be just as real. It IS just as real!
We do not need to wait for children to grow up and get messed up by secular,
worldly thinking before we share with them about Jesus. I do not wait for a crisis to
hit the lives of my friends before telling them about Jesus. I do not need to. In fact I
tell them about Jesus as soon as I get an opportunity to do so, precisely so they
will be equipped to handle life's on-going challenges
and difficulties better as soon as possible.
Likewise I do not need to wait for a child to grow up and make mistakes before I
share with him/her the goodness of the Lord. So when is the best time to share
with them about Jesus? I believe that it should be done as soon as it is possible to
do so; as soon as we have
the opportunity to do so.
The prevalent belief is that if children cannot understand the gospel, we should
refrain from telling them anything altogether. One of the most commonly quoted
verses in the bible says:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that
whoever understands (??) Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16
Which word does not sound right here? It is not "understanding" is it? The verse
actually reads:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John
3:16
It is about believing - believing (having faith) in Him. This is all that is important. It
is impossible to please God without faith and faith often requires us to believe Him
even when we do not fully comprehend. Over and over again Jesus would ask
people if they believed and it was their lack of faith (not lack of understanding) that
prevented the Lord from moving powerfully on their behalf.
Take a look, for example, at the early church-Paul and Silas while in prison were
praising God and their chains fell off. The jailer came in and he saw these
happenings and believed. The bible says that in that very hour he and his family
were saved. What time did he have for understanding? ...none! He believed and
with no real understanding of the Jewish Scriptures yet
(because he was Gentile) the gift of eternal life was His in Christ Jesus in that
instant. Jesus spoke about time and again not about understanding, but believing.
If we believe we shall receive.
If children come to him believing, they will receive in that instant, even if they do
not fully comprehend yet! We can share Jesus with them now and in that one
instant that they believe, (even if they do not fully understand) their response is
precious to the Lord and it shall be honored and shall be watered to bear much
fruit in the life of the child and of those around him/her in years to come.
But how important are children to the Lord and to His kingdom? How do they
rank?;-)The disciples found out by asking Jesus a simple yet important question.
Matthew 18:1 - At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked,"
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
It was a good question wasn't it? I would certainly have looked up quickly to see
what He would do/say. Would the Lord walk into the crowd and point to a man
destined for great things? Who really is the greatest today? Who really gets the
closest? The Apostles? The Prophets? The Pastors? ;-) Which denomination? The
Baptists, Anglicans, Pentecostals? But Jesus amazed them with his answer:
Matthew 18:2-5 He called a little child and had him stand among
them. And he said," I tell you the truth, unless you change and
become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little
child like this in my name welcomes me."
My jaw would have hit the ground :-) "A child? Become as humble as a child?
Change and become as a little child? But Lord, I thought little children are meant
to change to become more like me." ;-) Nope, the Lord wants us to become more
like them in humility, in simplicity and in faith. Adults expect children to be grown
up to be able to fully perceive but it is us the Lord desires to be more like children.
They just believe and accept Jesus in their simplicity and they are highly esteemed
by Him for it. We as adults have to turn and change to become as little children in
our faith, it is not the other way around, never was.
But there is one age group that does not have to become as little children - it
already is! Children are already as children;-) and so are already ready to receive!
Would it not be tragic if God creates children with such a beautiful, simple and
accepting nature and we forget all about this wonderfully receptive age group?
Jesus said "Go into all the world..." - all the world includes children.
We must never forget this no matter how many other pressing matters call for our
attention. We must maximize every opportunity we get to share with the children
we come into contact with. We are to do it wisely and sensitively but we are not to
ignore the opportunities the Lord presents us because we feel that children are not
ready or are insignificant.
Some may say that adults are forcing children into something they do not really
want. A child, like an adult, cannot be forced into giving their hearts over to the
Lord. It is something that comes from a conviction of the Holy Spirit within. Have
faith in God's ability to gently woo the young ones in our midst. He will never force
Himself on any adult much less a child. The fault of the church has not been so
much in forcing children to receive Christ as much as in perhaps never having
given enough opportunities for them to respond to Christ and in not having taken
their subsequent responses seriously enough.
We, as adults, need to be more open and available to His prompting to share with
His little ones. We will see amazing things happen to children once they surrender
their lives to Christ. Their simplicity causes them to pray with a boldness and
seriousness that sometimes catches me off-guard ;-) He is the one who will woo
them. He is the one who will water what has been faithfully sowed, He is the one
who will lead them and will show Himself mighty on their behalf. We only need to
obey His voice and be willing to reach out to a child who is hurting and alone when
the
opportunity is there.
As I had shared earlier, when I first heard about Jesus, I accepted Him as a
Friend. I did not understand anything about the Bible or the cross or the
resurrection. I was unable to apply the truths of the Word into my life and did not
even understand it. I did not have a Bible, neither did I immediately have a desire
to obtain one. I did not understand what "Messiah" meant much less feel that I
needed one in my life. I was given a very very sketchy idea of who Jesus was and
who He could be in my life and I warmed up to that idea and responded simply.
My 'friendship' with the Lord laid a foundation that could and would be built on.
Later, I did indeed accelerate quickly in my relationship with the Lord, when I had
the gospel message explained to me in greater detail, because by that time, the
Lord was already fast becoming my Best Friend :-) So repenting and trusting Him
with my life was not a major obstacle for me by then. It came naturally, where
previously I would have battled and kicked and would have slowed down what the
Lord wanted to do in me. I did not have to understand the full gospel message
before I made a commitment. I took small steps that slowly brought me to the
place the Lord would have me to be ...to a place of deeper commitment. ...to a
place of greater intimacy ...to a place of greater maturity in Him.
Likewise, a child may not understand or be able to fully grasp all the truths of the
Word yet, but we can introduce them to the Lord Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to
take it from there. By doing that, we are allowing the Lord to lay a foundation that
He can build on and use in the future. If we allow one child the opportunity to hear
about Jesus, then we are giving that one child an opportunity to start taking small
meaningful steps in the right direction in life. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
We will always need to seek the Lord continually on how best to share with each
child and ask Him to reveal to us what a child specifically needs to hear about
Jesus at any one time, but we first need to be convicted that children need to hear
about the Lord Jesus Christ and that their responses to what they hear about Him
are meaningful to them and are honored by the Lord and therefore should also be
respected and be regarded as important by us.
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Can My Child Hear the Voice of God?
can recall in an instant the confusion as a child, when my parents

divorced. There went the whole world around my feet with no rock on
which to stand. My very foundation was shaken, my parents I had relied
on up until now to be my steady ground fell apart. Where to now? Where
does a young child turn to when there is nothing to hold onto? They do not have
the understanding of an adult – so where do they turn?
As a parent it is our primary responsibility to look after and care for our children’s
spiritual well being. When their spirits are healthy and in tune, everything will fall
into place. They will be free to express their skills, they will learn and be educated
easier and they will listen to reason easier, but alas it is the last thing you think of.
Especially when you are faced with a day when they do everything you told them
NOT to do, react in total rebellion and basically stretch the line very thinly between
your sanity and pending madness! ;-)
Ask yourself right now, Do your children have a solid foundation in the Lord Jesus
Christ? If your world had to fall apart tomorrow will they remain standing, or will the
devil blow them away with a wind of confusion? You look after your own spiritual
needs, so when last did you take the time to take care of the spiritual needs of
your children? Well – they are just children you might say, they do not have the
depth that I have as an adult. Well Jesus was mature enough at the age of 12 to
be discussing in depth philosophies with the priests in the temple, does your child
match up to that?
Well, you might tell me, my child is not as intelligent as that, he has a lot of
learning problems and does terribly at school, so I can’t see him understanding the
word. Well, Paul told us that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate teacher, maybe you
should be leaving the teaching stuff to Him. Ok, so how do you get your children to
come to a place of understanding then?
Reading your children bible stories and telling about the word is a good start, but
this is only the starting point not the only one. Once the seed has been planted in
their hearts, it is up to you to encourage it to grow. Yes, constant prayer helps
water the seed, but you need to make sure that your seed is planted in good soil.
What kind of example are you giving your children? When things get tough do you
throw your hands up in despair or do you go to the Lord immediately in prayer?
Children follow by example, if they see you set your face to prayer when things get
bad, then it will also become a habit pattern for them to pray when things get bad
for them. Look at yourself right now and ask honestly: "What kind of message am I
giving my children about Jesus? – not the words that I speak of Him, but rather the
actions and reactions I am portraying to them, about the Lord?"
You may feel like the task ahead of you is daunting, and indeed there are very few
responsibilities that equal the care of a child. Don’t worry, the same spirit that
raised Christ from the dead can surely lead you all on the path to a greater
understanding and steadfastness.
Ok, so you have told them all the stories, they see you pray and they know that
when they graze a knee or get real sad they just need to go and pray to Lord
Jesus and He will take it all away. How do we get them to the place where the
Lord is their solid rock, that no matter what happens around you they will be able
to stand in a spiritual strength of their own? Firstly do not underestimate them.
Jesus told us that we needed to be such as a child – and for good reason. Ever
see how a child just accepts what you tell them? Ever see how they are open to
new friends and new experiences? Tell a child that they can feel Lord Jesus and
that He speaks to them, and you will see how they immediately keep still to hear if
He is talking.
I did that with my youngest daughter. From when she was about one year old, I
used to tell her that Lord Jesus was in her heart. I used to ask her "Where is Lord
Jesus?" and she used to answer without hesitation "In a heart!" (a cuteness only
us moms can identify with and brag about;-)) I tell her often that He is speaking in
her heart all the time, she just needs to close her eyes and listen. I have
conditioned her thinking to the possibility that she CAN hear Him. She will not
grow up thinking that it is something she will need to attain to, it will be something
she takes for granted.
She is only 2 now and prays every night on her own, often it goes along the lines
of – "Thank you Jesus for giving me horsies and lotsa toys", but often she
astounds me with her faith. When I tell her, Sweetheart please keep quiet mommy
is feeling a bit sick today, she boldly ambles up to me, lays her tiny hands on my
head, closes her eyes in earnest and prays "Lord Jesus, make mommy’s head
better thank you". She then looks at me with such charming seriousness and says
– it is ok now mom Jesus made you better.
I never had to teach her any of that. I just introduced her to the Holy Spirit and He
taught her the rest. You often condition your children to the impossible because of
your own fears and doubts. The word holds the only truths in this world, and
indeed it is the truth that will set our children free of the bondages in this world.
Truths like, Jesus is alive in them, Jesus hears and answers their prayers and that
they have the ability to hear Him.
Still think it is impossible? My young brother John (seven at the time of this article)
has sat in on every prayer meeting, bible study and get together since he was a
baby. When we were going through a tough time, just before the Lord opened the
doors for us to come over to Mexico as missionaries, I got an e-mail from Daphne.
Telling me that while they were having a time of earnest prayer, John had piped
up, saying that he had seen two pictures in his head, that he had a seen us on a
roller coaster and then it stopping, the other one, he said was a ship coming from
the sea and stopping at the land. It was so specific to the time we were going
through at that point, it encouraged us to hold on just a bit longer.
Yes, the Lord can use your child, in fact if you gave Him half the chance, He could
raise your child to be something dynamic from very young. Do you know what will
make them so dynamic, what will allow them to raise people from the dead, heal
the sick, part the seas and move mountains? No one would have taken the time to
tell them that it was not possible.
A child will believe and trust in what it sees, has experienced and is told. Why not
start right now reconditioning your children to believing the truth? That all things
are possible for those who believe. That whomever says to this mountain be
removed and cast in the sea and believes it with all his heart it will be done. That
is the truth, it is a lie from the world that – you can’t do that! It is just inappropriate!
Are you mad didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t go around healing people!?
Tell them and show them the REAL truth, the rest will follow as you allow the Holy
Spirit to teach and train them.
Watch the mind of a simple child confound the wise. See your child as an
instrument for the Lords use. Hannah dedicated her miracle child to the Lord and
He produced through her Samuel - one of the greatest prophets who ever lived.
Your child could be a Samuel, a Moses, a Mary, a Paul, a Deborah, the
possibilities are endless.
Your child too has within her the spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and
probably has more faith and more simple understanding of the things of the spirit
than you do. Don’t be afraid now to give them the freedom and the
encouragement to release the power from within, you will stand back in awe as
you witness them doing it with an ease you have striving for for years! ;-)
May you and your family be blessed with an understanding and Power of the Spirit
that you have never had before. Move on in love and in strength.
God Bless.
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Child vs Parent Relationships
By Daphne Crause
little girl runs quickly to the front door and shrieks excitedly when she
hears her father coming down the driveway to their home. She waits in
anticipation for him to park the car in the garage, pick up his briefcase
and walk towards the front door. As he nears the door she bolts down
the pathway and he grabs her in his arms and hugs her while she chuckles in
delight.
Does this illustration seem too far fetched? Maybe it is a little overdone and there
are few homes that have anything remotely like this, but if only there were homes
where this sort of affection and physical love between parents and children were
evident. There would be far more people who were emotionally stable and able to
express their feelings to others, and more importantly, to the Lord.
I’m beginning to realize more and more as I share with people, that there are so
many who have scars from their childhood, which relate to a bad relationship with
one or both parents. It’s a sad state of affairs, but the good news is that no matter
what your relationship was like and how many scars there are as a result, the Lord
can reach in and heal the past and set you free.
During the time that a mother is pregnant with her child, and during the years up
until puberty, the mother’s relationship is of utmost importance. She is the one
who moulds the child’s character. She builds into it Christian principles or moral
codes that her family have thought important. The way the child acts and thinks is
very strongly influenced by her during that time. That’s an awesome responsibility
isn’t it? Praise the Lord that He is able to give parents the wisdom if they ask for it.
The father’s relationship with a child is not quite as important during the pre-teen
years. His main function though, should be simply to love the child unconditionally,
and sometimes be the disciplinarian. This depends on the home, but I don’t
disagree with this idea as long as he does it lovingly and restores love to the child
afterwards otherwise the child begins to feel rejected and unwanted. The Lord has
made man the one who brings love into the home, so he should become the
picture the child gets of a loving relationship
When a child reaches his teenage years then the father’s role becomes vital. He
leads a girl into womanhood and shows her how she should react to a man
because he is the only image she has of a man at that stage. He also leads a boy
into manhood and shows him the aspects of fatherhood and leadership.
Another important aspect of a father’s relationship with a child is that it affects the
way a child will see God. For instance, if your father was very authoritative and
tended to withhold things you wanted from him, the chances are good that you will
see the Lord in the same light. You are likely to think that He is going to punish
you if you don’t do what you should do and won’t want to give you the desires of
your heart.
By the end of the first 6 years a child’s character is firmly established and any
hurtful experiences are imprinted in it’s spirit and he will go through life with them
unless they are dealt with. However, they can be removed through inner healing
by someone praying for the Lord to shine His light on those painful experiences.
They influence things that happen later on in your life and you begin to wonder if
you’re going a bit made because you can’t seem to break out of the way you feel,
and there is no logical or rational explanation for what you’re experiencing.
Let me explain what I’m talking about from my own experiences so you will
understand more fully where I’m coming from. When I was a youngster I had a bad
relationship with both my parents. It was bad, not in the sense that I was abused
or neglected because we were a pretty affluent family and lacked no physical or
material thing. I went to a good private school and everything needed for my
education was taken care of. We had a beautiful home and went on vacation once
or twice every year.
The one thing, however, that was sadly lacking was love, both in spoken words
and physical contact. My parents loved me, I know because I was told that, but
always by others. They never told me themselves and they never showed me love
by hugging or touching or any other manner. I guess they didn’t know how to
communicate it, or maybe they found it hard because I looked so odd when I was
born. My mother had been ill the whole time she was pregnant and was put on a
great deal of tablets to stop her losing me. As a result, I looked decidedly weird
when I was born with no eyebrows or eyelashes, and very small and lanky.
I don’t know the reason for the way they acted, but I just know the whole situation
left me unable to express my emotions by showing love to others, and yet I cried
out for it continually. I also often felt rejected because if I did something wrong
they didn’t make things up to me, so I carried guilt and negative emotions around
continually and felt like I was worthless.
I built a very large protective wall around me from an early age and as far back as
I can remember I lived in a daydream world where everything was good and
sweet, and where there was all the love that I needed from everybody. It became
such a habit in me that I still carried on with it up until the time Les and I married
and he made me aware of it. I would slip into it easily and without even thinking.
I could neither laugh nor cry easily, but I always thought it was because
expressing emotions, especially negatively, was the wrong thing to do. You didn’t
cry in public, you bit your lip, hid your tears and controlled your feeling, and that
was acceptable. When I look back on it now, I can see how harmful these ideas
were. The Lord created negative emotions for a good reason – to get rid of things
building up inside of you, which harm your spirit. Crying frees your spirit and allows
the joy of the Lord to flow out of you again, and anger can be directed at a
problem so that it can be solved.
When my late husband died I carried around that grief inside of me for 10 full
months until I met Les and it was only then, after his encouraging me to talk about
everything and let it out, that I actually let rip and was able to release it. It was the
most wonderful feeling, in spite of crying my eyes out, but I felt as though a huge
load had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt free for the first time in years.
On and off throughout the early years Les and I were married, the hurts and
bitternesses I’d built up over the past kept surfacing and the Lord began to deal
with them little by little. If you desire to work for the Lord you are going to have to
purge out all negative emotions from the past and all things which could stand in
your way. For me, feelings of injustice had to go because Satan could use
someone to say something which made me feel like it was uncalled for or unjust,
and all the hurts would begin to surface again.
We were praying once and the Lord revealed that He was going to give me a heart
of flesh and remove the heart of stone which I’d put there myself. The heart of
stone prevents your natural emotions from flowing in and out, but the Lord desires
to give us hearts of flesh so that we can be free and flow out in love and care to
one another, fulfilling his commandments to us. This is what it says in the Bible
concerning it:
Ezekiel 11:19 – Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh…
If you have had this problem and are wanting to change your heart here are a few
things you can do:
Forgive the parent or parents who have offended you and helped to promote
this problem.
Do this by speaking out loud to them or even writing to them if you can’t phone.
The important thing is to use words that are heard or seen. If they are dead,
address them also out loud. Even though they are not around physically, you
still need to use your own words and hear them to bring about the healing. You
simply need to say something like this, "Mom, I just want you to know that I
forgive you for hurting me when I was younger. I forgive you and want you to
know that I love you."
If you still have a bitterness towards the offender you need to submit it to the
Lord and ask Him to forgive you and remove the bitter root because as long as
it is still there inside you it will keep on manifesting. You often think you’ve
dealt with it, but it comes along again and again.
Now you can ask somebody to pray for you if need be, and ask the Lord to go
back into the bad memories and shine His light on them. He was with you all
the time, even through the negative periods of your life. Now you need to
picture Him being with you and helping you, even though at the time you may
not have been aware of Him.
Receive your new heart by faith. Believe that the Lord has done it and removed
the barriers you put there to protect yourself. Believe that you will now be able
to start flowing out in and receiving more love and abundant life in all areas.
Now I want to share with people who are married and wanting a family. Even if you
have a family you can do this. I suggest you ask the Lord to deal with anything
negative from your own life before you start a family if it is possible. The bible says
in Deuteronomy that the Lord is a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children and children’s children to the third and fourth generation. Even if our
parents are Christians and serving the Lord, there are often still things in their lives
that need removing and unless they are dealt with it will pass down to you and
then your children and grandchildren.
The Lord would not allow me to fall pregnant with my son John, until I’d removed
some of the things in my life that would have caused him hurts. I was insecure and
needed the Lord’s touch in many areas of my life before it could happen. I’ve
discovered there are some vitally important things to do with your children to help
them to grow up blessed and free to serve the Lord and others. I want to share
them briefly before ending this off:
Love your children physically by hugging and kissing, and emotionally by
verbally saying it to them.
Let them know from as early an age as possible that the Jesus loves them and
cares for them.
Communicate with them. This is so very important. The Bible says, "Speak the
truth in love." As young as what John is (he’s now almost 7), right from the
word go I shared with him everything that I could about all different aspects of
physical and spiritual life. If I didn’t want him to do something I explained why I
didn’t like it and why it was wrong. You’d be amazed at what children
understand. Share with them and open up to them in accordance with their
understanding, and keep the flow going right from the beginning. They will
never feel you don’t care and will open up to you.
When you discipline them, whether verbal or physically, make up to them after
a while and let them know you still love them even though they disobeyed you
or whatever the problem was. Rejection will not be a problem to them if you
can do this.
Whatever takes place, remember that children are a blessing from the Lord. If you
mess up and blow up when you shouldn’t have (we’re still sinful humans even
when we’re Christians), just ask the Lord to help you and tell Satan to remove the
guilt you’re probably under as a result, then continue. I’ve found that John is
amazingly understanding. If I mess up with him I tell him, and he usually makes up
to me first. Parenting is hard I know, but we can attempt to avoid the pitfalls that
our parents may have gone through and build a generation of offspring on fire for
the Lord and living abundantly.
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God's Plan Unfolded:
The Church of the Future
Ministry Keys
We have often seen the Lord giving keys for ministry. For those called to the
Prophetic Office, the Lord will often call a person to training for Prophetic Office by
giving them a golden key. We have described the Prophetic Key in some detail in
our Prophetic School Course. There is also a key related to the Apostolic Office,
and it is a jewel encrusted key. There are also various other keys that we have
seen in the Spirit, and in each case they signify a kind of authority that is given to
a person to bind and loose, or open and close. Every believer has a key, and
Jesus referred to this when He told Peter that he was giving him the keys of the
kingdom of heaven. This is a fascinating subject, which we have not fully
addressed and hope to teach on at some time as the Lord leads.
Now I would like to share with you some things that God has revealed and given
to me personally, which I believe will help you to understand the latest vision which
I received from the Lord just a few days ago, and which has been burning inside
me since then. A few years ago, when we first began to train God's prophets, and
the Lord began to lead us to begin training also for apostles, the Lord gave me a
unique key that was different to others that we have seen in the Spirit. I was
placed into Apostolic Office through the ministry of the Prophets and one evening
several prophets jointly received revelation and spoke forth a word that resulted in
my receiving this key.
The Huge Golden Key
The Word of the Lord to me at that time from the prophets was that God had
called me to be a leader amongst the apostles, and that I would take my place
amongst others in the Body Universal whom God was raising up to lead the new
apostolic move. I was given a new golden key that looked like a huge giant sized
key, a kind of 'masterkey' and when I received this the Lord told me that this key
would be used to unlock doors, not simply for individuals as I had done in the past,
but for the entire Body of Christ. This seemed too awesome for words, and beyond
anything that I could have imagined or dreamed.
I kept it to myself, not wanting to exalt myself in any way or put myself forth as
something special. But over time the Lord began to instruct me to use this key to
speak forth decrees into the earth concerning the Body Universal. Each time I
would release a new phase in God's plan for the releasing of the end times
apostles and the New Move of God that would take place in the earth. And with
each of these phases came a new level of training and understanding of what God
was doing in the earth, and was planning to do in the Church.
The Crossing of the Jordan
Amongst the first such decrees that were sent forth, were the calling out of the
Moses and David apostles, to take their place in the Church. Then, at our first
international conference in November 2000, following the word that the Lord gave
concerning the beginning of a new move in the new millenium, the Lord gave
instruction concerning a significant step for the Body of Christ. Just prior to the
conference the Lord indicated that I was to begin functioning as a Joshua Apostle,
and I received the Sword of Joshua in the Spirit as a sign of this. Then at the
conference itself, the Lord spoke very clearly, and said that those present at the
conference would witness an event in the Spirit that would impact the Body of
Christ internationally. This was typified by the crossing of the River Jordan, by
which Joshua took the people into the Promised Land.
The Lord confirmed this on the second day of the conference in the evening, by
the appearance of an angel of God holding a scroll in his hand, and a prophetic
word from the Lord to proceed across the Jordan in the Spirit. We did this together
and the Lord told us that this marked the official beginning of the new thing that He
had been telling us about. From that time the training of apostles began in earnest,
and we saw many being led to come to us for training and mentorship. But there
was yet more to come, and it was only when our second conference began to
draw near that the Lord showed what was still outstanding.
In characteristic order, just prior to our second conference in May of 2001, the
Lord instructed me one evening as we waited on Him as a Team, to open a new
door in the Spirit for the Body of Christ, using the giant golden key that He had
given me. As I did this, I saw in the spirit a large door opening into a room, which
contained a stairway leading upwards. And I saw that the Lord was calling me to
go up into a place of intimate fellowship with the Father. For the first time in my
spiritual experience, I came into the presence of the Father Himself without falling
at His feet in fear and trepidation. And He began to speak to me, instructing me
concerning the task that lay ahead.
The Solomon Era
Then I saw myself seated on a throne, and as I looked about me I saw that I was
in a king's court, and as I pondered on what this vision meant, the Lord showed
me that this was the court of King Solomon. Up until then I had only identified
Moses, David and Joshua as being apostolic types. Now the Lord showed me that
there were actually four types, and that Solomon was the fourth. Thus began a
new era in my own spiritual experience, which led to a further release in the Spirit,
which actually only took place after the Second International Conference.
The Lord showed in the Spirit, a huge golden gate that we would go through. We
had scheduled an official opening of our live Training Center and had invited those
who wished to come for the launch. The numbers were small that day, and God
brought together only a handful to witness an event that took place totally
unexpected to us. I found that instead of launching the new training center, I
opened a new door in the Spirit for the Body of Christ. We saw the huge golden
gates swing wide, and the Lord spoke and said that this heralded the beginning of
the Solomon era.
David's Mighty Men (and Women)
From that time I began to receive from the Lord specific directions concerning our
mandate for the Body of Christ. I stood one day in the Spirit before the Heavenly
Tribunal and received a scroll containing three seals, which signified three stages
that were to be fulfilled before the Lord would release this ministry to begin to fulfill
the new plan that He had been preparing us for. The Lord had told me many years
ago that He was raising me up as a David to train and put together a band of
mighty men, and the number 400, which was the number of David's mighty men,
was given to me. He told me at that time that He would be bringing to me, 400
leaders in the Kingdom of God with whom I would be involved, as David was. Most
of these He said, would be husband and wife teams.
Now as the time drew near for the fulfillment of this new scroll, the Lord once again
confirmed to me that the time was at hand for me to gather these from nations
around the world, and set up a network of apostles that would together form part
of a group that would stand together and rise up together as part of this New Move
of God. Just as David had groups of mighty men that stood above the rest, He
also indicated that there would be those who would be closer and more involved in
leading the work.
The Year Ahead
As I broke each of the first two seals on the Lord's instruction, each one leading to
a further development in this ministry, the Lord indicated that the third seal would
be broken and the third stage released in February of this year. We have thus
been working steadily towards completing the training mechanism by the end of
this month, so that we can begin this new mandate from next month. The New
Year began for us with a Word from the Lord saying that the past year was a year
of death, but the New Year would be a year of resurrection. This has been
confirmed as we have seen this ministry literally explode from the outset.
This year is destined to be one of the greatest and most blessed years that
we have ever lived!
In addition to the new plans that God has given us for this year, we also found that
God was calling us to expand in a way that was greater than we had anticipated.
This includes moving into better premises for setting up the Training Center, and
having more available for those who wish to come for personal training and
release. All of this of course will require large amounts of resources, and we began
to look to the Lord to see how He was going to fulfill His word to us.
As I sought the Lord concerning not only our own needs, but also the needs for
Body of Christ and the work of God internationally, the Lord once again
unexpectedly brought me to an experience that I did not anticipate. As I waited on
the Lord recently for direction concerning our new plans, and the large amount of
resources that will be needed to implement it, He brought me once more to a
death to my own efforts, and I gladly allowed Him to place me on the cross afresh.
As I died to all natural aspirations, the Lord showed me a new key that I had not
seen before, and told me to reach out and take it.
The Huge Silver Key
This was a huge key, very similar to the large golden key that I had received
before, for releasing His blessing and purpose in the earth on behalf of the Body of
Christ. But this key was not golden, but silver. It is the first time I have ever seen a
silver key. And as I waited on the Lord for an explanation, He told me exactly what
it represented. He showed me that I would take my place as a Solomon finally and
fulfill the Solomon mandate to bring peace and prosperity to the Body of Christ.
This has long been my burden, and probably the first teaching we ever released to
the Church was the teaching on the Way of Blessing, which teaches God's people
how to enter into the blessing of the Lord.
The Lord told me that it was time for the fulfillment of what many have prophesied
and which He had promised in His Word. This was the promise that the wealth of
the unjust would be transferred to the just. This has been misinterpreted by many
to bring an overemphasis on wealth and temporal things, and has drawn many
away from the true call of God. We are not to be taken up with things, but are to
seek first His Kingdom and righteousness. But it is time that God's people break
free from the poverty mentality that has prevented so many from rising up and
doing what He has called us to do. Ministries are continually having to make
financial appeals and attempts to coerce money out of people to get them to
support the work of God.
But most of the wealth of this world is not in the hands of God's people. Even if
every believer gave everything they had to the work, as the early disciples and
Christians did, there would still not be enough to meet the needs. The wealth that
the Body of Christ needs is in the hands of the wicked one and his followers. The
Egyptians of this world still hold the wealth and believers have become slaves to
do the work of the spiritual Pharaoh in building his own kingdom. Now God is
raising up His Moses Apostles to lead His people out and to plunder the
Egyptians. He is raising up His Joshua apostles to drive the enemy out and take
the land for God's people. He is raising up his David Apostles to train the mighty
men and go subdue the land for His Kingdom.
And He is raising up His Solomon apostles to bring a time of blessing and

abundance that the Church has never known. With Solomon came the cloud of
God's glory, and an abundance of wealth. And now as God has been raising up
and training His apostles, each of these different apostolic types is about to come
forth out of hiding to accomplish the task that God has called them to. The year
ahead will see the beginnings of both the Joshua and Solomon ministry.
Displacing the World System
Joshua will go forth and displace the world system that is preventing the Church
from rising up and taking the land. The Joshua ministry will lead to an emphasis on
evangelism and revival far greater than anything that we have seen in the past.
God will call many into his kingdom as a result of this ministry, and He will also
begin to remove the taint of the world from the lives of His people. It will be a time
of purging and renewing, and God's people will begin to remove from their lives,
those things that they have willingly accepted in the past.
This will not be a move of legalism and self-effort, but a true turning to God in full
commitment. The Church and the world will begin to become distinct entities and
you will be able to recognize a Christian from an unbeliever more easily. God's
people will begin to rise up in power and will no longer allow themselves to be
dominated by this world or its influences. They will destroy the things that are
bringing a curse into their lives, and walk in power and victory, so that the world
will fear and tremble in their presence. The Church will be known for its power and
be feared or revered instead of despised. No longer will we hide away or turn in
fear in the face of the kingdom of darkness, but God's people will become powerful
for Him and turn the world upside down as they did in days gone by.
Solomon will rise up and displace from the Church system, those practices that
have crept in that have made the Church no different to any worldly organization.
Whereas Joshua will take the world out of the hearts of God's people, Solomon
will take the world out of the Church System. Solomon will bring a purging of the
traditions of man, or wrong motives in ministry, and religious practices, and bring
the church to a place where the cloud of God's glory will descend. He will bring the
Church to a place of wisdom and prosperity and peace. He will cause the world to
serve the church, instead of the other way around. And the wealth of the wicked
will come into the hands of those who mean business with God.
Business in Ministry
Under Solomon God will raise up those who will with wisdom conduct themselves
in business in this world, not as a means to self exaltation or personal wealth, but
as a means to funding the work of God, and the needs of every single believer, as
the early church did. No more will wealthy businesses give to the work, and then
dictate to the servants of God how to minister because of their obligation. Instead
these business will be part and parcel of the work of God. This does not mean that
the church will become a Papal system of accumulating wealth and natural
resources, but it means that the wealth will be in the hands of God's people, and
will be used to extend the Kingdom of God instead of building empires for man.
Separation of Church and State
No more will the Church of God sell its birthright for a mess of 'financial pottage' by
allowing the governments of the world to control it through the deceptive offer of
financial and tax concessions, giving up in the process its right to speak the Word
freely and with boldness. But the Church will rise up to become a force to be
reckoned with. This does not mean that the church will become involved in politics
or attempt to integrate itself in any way into the world system. It will stand out
distinct from the world and be clearly seen as different in its aspirations and
approach.
The Church will not rise up as a militant worldly body, but will become the envy of
the world, who will attempt to test it and expose it until they find out that the Body
of Christ has what it lacks. There will be those who will oppose and attack and
attempt to destroy the work of God, but there will also be those who will come in to
commit themselves to the Lord and His Kingdom. The Church of God will be
unshakeable and stand firm, and continue to hold out its hand of blessing as the
Kingdom of God is extended into the earth.
Unity in the Body
There will be a unity in the Body as we have never seen or heard of in our lifetime.
Denominational and Sectarian divisions will no longer pose a hindrance to the
unity of the Church. But God will raise up many of his servants who will lead His
people into a place of relating to one another in love, and these leaders in turn will
relate to one another in love, so that there will no longer be competition between
church organizations or the need for each to build their own empire by tearing
down others.
If you wish to see the future of the Body of Christ, and the vision that God is giving
for His end times church, you will find it described so well by the Apostle Paul in
his epistle to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 4:13 Till we all arrive at unanimous agreement concerning

the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to
the level of maturity of the complete Christ:
14 That we should no longer be children, tossed about and driven
with every wind of doctrine, by the subtle deception of men which is
designed to lead you astray;
15 But speaking the truth in [agape] love, may grow up in all things
into him, who is the head, [namely] Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying
of itself in [agape] love.(GMR)
I am ready to do my part in helping to bring the Body of Christ to this place,

and those who are involved in this ministry and its partners and associates
have joined together with one heart and purpose to fulfill this mandate.
Are you ready to become a part of this?
May the Lord challenge each one who reads, and may you find your place in
this wonderful vision that God has given us for the future.
In His Love
Les D. Crause
Apostolic Father and Servant of Jesus Christ
Global Ministry Resource Network : http://www.gmrn.org

Apostolic Movement International : http://www.apostolic-movement.com
The Mighty Warrior : http://www.mighty-warrior.com
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C.O.I.N. Warfare
Become a Terrorist for Jesus

e looked in the Warfare 1 lecture in the Prophetic School, how the
enemy uses his devices to sneak in causing havoc using the principles
of Counter-Insurgence warfare. How he comes undetected, as a wolf in
sheep’s clothing. For way too long now the wolf has devoured the Lord’s
sheep and as we look around, you get discouraged when you see how the enemy
is destroying those in the Lord’s work and His people. How Christianity had been
more and more restricted over time. How is has been taken out of the schools, the
government and every aspect of our social lives. Looking at the big picture, it is
clear to see how the enemy has sneaked in over time and has taken over the
system of this world.
Well, I have a challenge for you. Today I want you to rise up and use the enemy’s
own weapon against him! We are going to infiltrate his dark kingdom and now we
are going to come as wolves in sheep’s clothing! You see, if you come against the
world’s system and the darkness of Satan, roaring in anger, you are spotted from
a mile off. And it does not take much for the enemy to use the world to quickly
squash your enthusiasm and attack you with whatever means he has at his
disposal.
It is being done all wrong! Many think that the only way to be heard is to stand on
the rooftops and shout, but I have a different angle for you to look at today! The
Lord gave an awesome word where He showed us how we had sneaked into
Satan’s’ domain without him even knowing it. He showed us that as we were being
hidden, being trained, the time came when we rose up and the enemy was caught
unawares, because he never even knew we had got in!
Wherever you are today. Wherever you stand, you are in the domain of Satan.
You already have an in! You do not need to stand and shout and throw a fit! That
is not what will change the hearts of men! Your heated arguments and anger will
not change the hearts of men, your persistence of right and wrong, black and
white will not change the hearts of men. Using the world system to fight the world
system will not change the hearts of men! The only power that can change the
heart of man is the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. The Words of the Spirit of
God, spoken under the anointing of His love.
Stand now and dedicate your heart and your lips to the Lord. You have in your
spirit, His life. You have dwelling in your bosom, springs of living water. If you
would only open your mouth and release some of that life, you would be drenching
ground the enemy does not have under his tight scrutiny! You see, he expects you
to shout and run in rampage, but what he does not expect, is for you to sneak into
his camp as an armed terrorist, to spread confusion using the weapons of love,
faith and hope.
Don’t you see it? You already have what you need within you to topple
governments! It has been proved time and time again, that the most powerful
warfare is the warfare of counter-insurgence. Why is it then that so many
Christians choose to come against the world by racing wildly, unarmed into battle?
Don’t you know that you have the most awesome atomic bomb right inside of you?
All that needs to be done is to position that bomb in the right place at the right
time, and as it explodes there is no telling how many lives will feel the effects of it!
If you try to attack coming from without, you will soon be spotted and destroyed!
But if you can sneak in and use the circumstance you find yourself in to good, you
can use those weapons and come against the enemy with a weapon he cannot
even begin to comprehend. The weapon of love! As you commit your lips, heart
and spirit to the Lord, you are going to begin rising up out of the darkness. The
rays of life you start spreading into the lives around you will soon start causing a
glow! Then before the enemy even knows it, there will be a raging inferno in his
camp that he cannot contain!
Speak words of life! Put away your works in the flesh. Put away your striving and
reliance upon your intellect. Use that spiritual weapon filled with faith hope and
love that is at your disposal right now. You see, you can argue with those in
power, you can argue with all the activists you like, but you will not make a dent.
Paul says in the New Testament, that we should refrain from idle argument
because it amounts to nothing! Why? Because trying to hammer thoughts into a
person’s head is not going to change them! The only time they will change is if
their heart changes, and the only way their heart will change is if light enters it,
and the only way light will enter it is when you speak that life into it under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For we are in the light as He is in the light! The Word
says that darkness cannot comprehend light! Forget about trying to drag the
darkness out of the with works and fleshly effort and set your face instead to
pouring light in to dispel that darkness!
Set your face as a flint right now. Commit to speak life into the hearts of men.
Commit to speak conviction into the hearts of men as they pass you in the street.
Speak forth the two edged sword that divides and pierces. Speak it in your home,
speak it in the car on your way to work. Speak it when you are out having lunch.
Every time you see a person who needs Jesus, claim them there and then for the
Kingdom of God. Speak blessing on them and shine a light into their hearts.
That is what is so awesome about the anointing! It passes the intellect and
common sense and goes straight to the heart. It hits a man where no plain word
can hit him! Because His are the words of eternal life! Rise up this day and use
what the Lord has given you. The power of His sprit, and the word of your
testimony! Speak life into every dark heart. Speak love into every stony heart and
speak water into every dry heart!
The Lord has you right where you are meant to be! Yes, maybe today you find
yourself in the darkness of the enemy’s camp. But consider then that you have
been chosen as a terrorist for the Most High! Yes a terrorist that will terrify every
dark work and destroy every demonic force! Yes, rise up today and speak forth
into the air the life that changes the world!
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A Look At Conviction
ou need to keep in mind that conviction and guilt are not the same thing.
Conviction is applied by the Holy Spirit. It is nothing we have control of.
It is His work alone. And when you start taking into your own hands the
task of bringing a person to conviction, what you are in fact doing is
bringing a person under guilt and condemnation. The Lord can convict without you
even having to preach a convicting message. I remember a story of Smith
Wigglesworth who boarded a train. He was put in a compartment with unbelievers.
He just kept to himself and stayed out of their conversation.
Not long into the trip, each of them began falling on their faces repenting, asking to
be forgiven. Wigglesworth did not even need to say anything! Just his mere
presence convicted them! Jesus in him convicted them. Leave the work of
conviction to the Lord. More often than not I have found that conviction comes
when you least think about it!
When I have preached the most loving and exhortatory word, I have had people
come back and say, "Your message dug so deep! It convicted me and made me
see my sin." I thought, "What!!?? I was trying to exhort. My message was one of
love and encouragement!" But you see, they saw the love of the Lord and felt His
presence and they felt their filth in it. They saw their failure when they compared it
to His love.
One of the most powerful ways to bring change in a person is to show them love
when they know they do not deserve it! When you say to a person, "You are so
tender and caring. You are such a blessing to me, thank you," and they know very
well they have not been, what a more powerful way to bring them to conviction!
They realize that they do not deserve that love, because they have been behaving
so badly!
Yet come to that same person and say, "You have been a rotten horrible sinner
and you fail at every step," and immediately they will begin to defend themselves.
People will find conviction in the eyes of Jesus. When Jesus walked the earth,
those who were convicted were the prostitutes and tax collectors. Yet, you never
hear of him condemning them. You never hear a message of Jesus saying, "You
who are prostitutes and thieves and murderers, I condemn you to hell! Repent you
rotten sinners!" No, He went amongst them and healed them. Just His presence
convicted them. They saw love in His eyes and they knew they were not worthy of
it.
Jesus condemned only the religious, and you do not read of them ever being
convicted by His words. They were angered by His words, but their hearts were so
closed, that the Spirit of God could not enter in and bring conviction. So as you go
out this week and as you minister to those around you, keep in your breast always
the heart of Jesus. Remember His days on the earth and see how He treated the
lowly and the sinner. Then look deep in your heart and ask the Lord how He would
like you to treat them.
As you follow the principles covered in this lesson, you are going to find that the
Lord is going to entrust you with more. You are going to get more response with
what you share and you will see more positive results in the lives of others as you
stretch out and bring God’s changing power into their lives!
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The Dawning of a New Era
e have seen in the last century many outpourings of the Holy Spirit. We
have seen the fire and felt the purging of its flame. We have seen the
river and frolicked in its joy and cleansing. But there is a new move of
God that has been released upon the earth that is going to surpass both
these manifestations of the Holy Spirit. I want to begin by sharing a dream the
Lord gave me and I pray that as I continue that the Holy Spirit would direct me and
sow those seeds of revival and power into your heart as you read.
May you not only catch this vision but may you take it and run with it to
every nation, every people and every tongue!
I was standing on a bare plain. In the distance I saw clouds forming. These clouds
were strange - as they were forming on the ground! Then in the distance as the
clouds got denser, they began to swirl from the ground high into the sky. I looked
on and saw something approaching. It looked like the ocean surf as it comes into
shore, sweeping across the floor of the plain. As I stood with this wave
approaching. I braced myself to feel the cold water hit my feet, but as it passed
over my feet and ankles - I felt only a gentle warm breeze.
As I looked down I saw passing over me this wind, first gently and then beginning
to increase in speed. I felt the breeze on my ankles, then on my knees until my
whole body was totally wrapped in this breeze, that seemed to go over me,
through me and into me! I was so caught up into it! I faced now the rest of the
land, with the breeze blowing behind me. It swept through my hair and I was
caught up into the presence of the Holy Spirit. I was revived, I was enabled, I was
swept into His very arms as I watched the breeze now move onto the rest of the
earth!
The Gentle Breeze of Jesus

This is the move to come! The gentle breeze of Jesus! It will sweep across
nations. It will sweep across people of every tongue and race! Before now, you
had to go to a fire to feel its warmth. You had to find a place where the fire was
burning to be touched by its flame. To drink of the river, you had to go to its banks
to draw. You had to find a riverbed to touch and swim in its glorious waters. But
the breeze of Jesus is not restricted to a woodpile or a riverbed! It is not going to
be restricted to 4 walls! No! The wind blows where it wishes to blow.
The breeze goes TO people. It seeks them out and finds them in the highways
and byways. It finds them in their sin and draws them into His arms. It finds them
in their lack and brings them blessing, it finds them in their filth and it cleanses
them! They do not have to seek it out and neither do they need to follow it! All they
simply need to do is stand and see the salvation and hand of the Lord!
When Ezekiel looked upon the dry dead bones and called them to life – the bones
did not get shoved into a building! No, the wind came to them and revived them.
The wind came upon the dry bones right where they were lying and it gave them
life! It lifted them up, and as they united into an army they stood in power and
magnificence! The wind has begun to blow and every nation and every people will
feel its warmth on their skin!
The Love Anointing
So what is the Gentle Breeze of Jesus? We have seen the manifestations and
miracles, we have seen all the glory – what more could we possibly expect to see
in these end times? The breeze is like no other revival anointing! The breeze of
Jesus is the love of Jesus. This new anointing about to be unleashed on to the
Body of Christ in power is the Love Anointing! It is the power to unite! To break
down walls, to cause the Body of Christ to be joined together from all around the
world! For the entire body to rise up and take the position set for Her from the
beginning of time!
For every Christian to take their place in the Kingdom of God! For every eye to see
and every ear to hear! For revelation to come to the children, for the old men to
dream dreams. For every man and woman to wake from their sleep and to rise up
as a single body – as a giant rising from its slumber. There will be a stirring in
every heart. There will be revelation in every mind. The word of God in the hearts
of His people will be burned as gold and they will rise and pour forth in power what
has been in them all along!
No longer will words be empty! No longer will acts be in vain! For every word that
will be spoken and every action taken will be made in the power of Jesus love and
His words will go out in power! Seeing change over the whole world!
But why Love?
The Lord has been preparing His people for some time now to receive His most
precious gift – His heart! Love is the most powerful of all weapons against the
enemy! For the enemy can counterfeit the manifestations, the enemy can
counterfeit the miraculous – but he cannot counterfeit the power of love. When the
light was created and came into the darkness – the darkness did not comprehend
it! Satan has no clue what love is – and cannot comprehend it to counterfeit it!
There is no weapon he has that can overcome the power of love!
There is no curse that can overcome the power of love! God’s people have
lived in slavery for so long now! Slaves to poverty, slaves to illness, slaves to debt,
slaves to guilt, slaves to accusation! No more! The power of love overcomes all of
these! Love overcomes fear, it overcomes theft, it overcomes destruction it
overcomes strife! The time has come for the Body of Christ to stop being on the
defense and to rise up on the offense. There is so much fear abounding to step
out of your comfort zone, to try and be anything more than the mold you have
been placed in by this world and its system.
The time has come for a new era. For the Bride of Christ to be crowned in glory!
And the whole earth will look upon her magnificence and will be drawn to the
brightness of Her rising! For indeed a darkness is going to cover the earth and
over all the people, but the Glory of the Most High God will shine upon His people.
And she will be seen from afar! She will be a light in that darkness! She will walk
across the land and bring in her hand the breeze of Jesus! The breeze that will
heal nations, the breeze that will draw nations unto her! A breeze that will
empower her to conquer every work of the enemy! Her doors will never be closed
and the world and its power will be her slave.
The breeze has begun to blow. Gently, gently, gently on God’s people. Even now
she feels the lift in her hair and the wind in her skirt. Even now she can feel His
tender caress on her cheek. She will not be able to resist His touch. She will not
be able to resist His tenderness. She will fall in love with her groom and look upon
Him with eyes of longing. Her heart will thirst for His touch. Her eyes will seek out
His gaze. Her belly will ache for His love and her spirit will search for His words.
Jesus is wooing you even now. His hand extended. He is saying, come, come,
come. Come to the secret place, come and rest in my chambers that I may give
you My heart.
Come, come, come. Come let Me breathe upon you now and make you spotless.
That I might put a desire in your heart and a passion in your breast for Me. Come,
my beloved and take my hand that we might become one and that I might rejoice
over you with singing! Come my sweet Bride. How I ache for you! How my heart
longs to hold you. How beautiful you are to Me. I withhold no good thing from you.
There is no jewel I will not bestow upon you. There is no beautiful thing I will not
give you – that you might be satisfied. Come, my beloved, come and enter into my
chambers. Come and rest upon the bed of flowers and perfume, come and enter
into my secret chambers and allow my breeze to blow over you and bring you to
life!
Allow yourself to be swept away by His breeze right now, it is there for you, if you
will only open your heart to receive. Even now He knocks and asks: Will you now
finally let Me in that I might dine with you, that I might fellowship with you? Are you
ready now to let me into every part of your life? Are you ready now to take your
place as my beloved Bride?
Bless you as you enter into the most powerful and magnificent move of God.
As you enter in and feel the Gentle Breeze of Jesus!
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Death an Act of Love?
By Mark Stalnaker
have been reading a lot about everyone going through a death and dying
to self. I know how much it hurts at times, been there too. But I must say
going through a death was very hard on me until the Lord gave me an
understanding of it. That's what I like to share here.
First I like to cover the definition of death. A lot of people think that death means to
not exist, to stop being. When God told Adam he would surely die the day he ate
from the tree of knowledge. He meant it. The Devil said, "Did God say you would
die?" (Paraphrase) Well Adam ate the apple, but he didn't die did he? Or did he?
He was still there, as was Eve. But I tell you he did die. Death does not mean to
stop being. Death means to separate from. When you die you do not stop to exist,
you are separated from your body. Adam died because he was separated from
God. If you are dead to something, you are separated from it.
Jesus died on the cross; He was separated from God. He took our separation; he
took our death. Whatever is joined to you is alive in you; it functions in you. What
does Paul say, "alive to Christ, but dead to sin". Joined to Christ, separated from
sin. That is what the Spirit of God is doing; he is separating you from things that
are joined to you, things that are alive. These alive things are functioning, but they
need to be dead, to be separate, to be nonfunctioning.
So what is going through a "death"? It's going through a separation. A separation

from things that will kill, things that will separate you from God's best and perfect
will. So who is doing the separation? The Lord is, we just need to accept it. It is
God who sanctifies (sets apart, separates us from everything that is not of Him.)
not us, we are to choose whether to accept it. God separated the Israelites from
Egypt, but we see later that not all of them accepted this separation. They wanted
their Egypt back, so they missed out on the promise land. So we must accept it
when the Lord separates us from something to see his promise.
When I finally understood what Jesus was doing, I wanted to die already. I looked
forward to it; I wanted those things I did, that I did not want to do, GONE. I wanted
to be separated from them. When I accepted the separation, the death was over, I
entered the promise, I resurrected. He made me alive again; he joined me to his
promise.
So when you go through a death, remember it is just a separation from something

you don't want. Accept it and move on. If you are having trouble accepting,
remember separation only hurts if it is separation from something you love. So go
to the Lord and bask in His love and it will overshadow that thing that was so
important to you. Always remember a "death" is not condemnation, it is separation.
It is a Loving God completing his promise, the renewing of our minds, the
redemption of our souls.
So may the Lord separate you and keep you to himself, and fill you with His joy.
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Death of a Vision
he call to become a believer in Christ is a call to eternal life. But it is

also a call to death. We have to die to the Old Life. And then we are to
walk in newness of life. This is what our water baptism signifies. It is a
death, burial and resurrection. The old man has died and is buried
symbolically through the act of baptism by immersion. And then we arise to walk
in newness of life.
But this process of death, burial and resurrection needs to be applied to all areas
of our lives. And it also needs to be applied to the area of ministry. Unless a call
to the ministry is subjected to death, burial and resurrection it seldom becomes all
that God intends in a person. But most people do not understand the mechanics
of this and become confused when they are put through the experience. This
study is an attempt to explain exactly what it is and why it is has to take place.
We will start with some clear passages of Scripture.
John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, Unless a corn of wheat falls
into the ground and dies, it remains alone: but if it dies, it produces
much fruit.
Romans 6: 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into

Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
1 Corinthians 4: 9 For I think that God has displayed us the apostles

last, like we were sentenced to death: for we are made a spectacle to
the world, and to angels, and to men.
2 Corinthians 1: 8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of
our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of
measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2 Corinthians 4: 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death

for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our mortal flesh.
Galatians 2: 20 I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;

yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
for me.
Philippians 3: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his

resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death;
All of these passages speak about us being identified with Jesus in death. They
speak about death to self, death to the flesh etc. But there is more to the spiritual
life than death. There is also resurrection. We are to be identified with Jesus in His
resurrection as well as in His death. This applies not only to our spiritual lives, but
also to our calling and ministry. And there is a very good reason for it, as I will
explain shortly.
Jesus gave us a perfect illustration in the example of the corn of wheat. If you take
one corn of wheat it has limited power. But when you sow it in the ground, it grows
into a tree that bears forth many grains of wheat. The trouble is that the process
involves death to the original grain. It has to die before the new can come. It has to
die before it can be increased.
When Jesus walked the earth, He came to show us what man was meant to be.
What Jesus did in His life was what Adam was capable of before the Fall.
Remember that He had put aside his divinity and came in the form of a man.
Jesus was the last Adam. But after He died and arose again, He was lifted up to a
far higher plane. His Name became the highest name in the universe. He was
lifted up far above all principality and power. He is far higher than Adam ever was.
Now in Christ the same thing applies to us. We can rise up higher than what Adam
was. If you compare Genesis to Revelation you will see that the Garden of Eden
and the New Jerusalem are very similar. But the second is greater. In the
prophecies given by Haggai in
Haggai 2: 9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the
former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace,
saith the LORD of hosts.
God told the Israelites that the latter house would be greater than the former. The
first was destroyed, but the resurrection of it would produce something far greater.
You will see this pattern all the way through Scriptures. The early outpouring of the
Spirit at Pentecost was known as the former rain. The end times outpouring is
called the Latter Rain. The latter rain was always the greater. But between the two
is a time of no rain.
I could go on and on, there are so many examples in Scripture. But the key issue
here is that God always wants us to go on to greater things. Now when this
principle is applied to your ministry, it happens like this. You receive a vision for
ministry from the Lord. It is an exciting call and you go for it with great enthusiasm.
You pour all your time into your vision and you know that this is what the Lord
wants you to do. This is the birth of the vision phase.
But then suddenly, out of the blue, you get a clear indication from the Lord that
says, "Cancel!" "Cut!" "Abort!" "Stop what you're doing!" This is totally confusing to
you. You know that you were doing the right thing, but now suddenly it starts to die
on you. You might think that Satan has got in and is destroying the work of God.
You might think that there is something wrong in your life that needs to be dealt
with. But it is a lot more than that. It is God preparing you for an increase. But
before He can do that, you have to go through the Death of a Vision phase.
During this period you might lose all enthusiasm for ministry. You stop trying to do
anything, because it all collapses around you. You are 'confined to the grave' for a
period, as Jesus' body was left in the tomb for three days, pending His
resurrection. It is a very difficult period, during which you might go through a lot of
soul searching and come under a lot of attack. But you cannot touch it, just as
Jesus' body had to be left alone. There is something deeper taking place that is
none of your business. The Lord is bringing about a death in order that He might
bring forth a resurrection.
Your experience during this phase can be like going through bereavement. Your
ministry was your baby, and now it has died. You can be overwhelmed with grief
and become quite depressed if you are not careful. The most difficult thing to do is
to let it go. You struggle to keep it alive and fight the death just like you would fight
a natural death. But until you let it die, the process goes on.
Then finally, when the Lord has done what needs to be done within you, there
comes the glorious resurrection. But the vision that is resurrected is not at all like
the original one. It is far greater and more powerful. It has new dimensions that the
first did not have. And yet it still follows in a similar direction. It is the grain of wheat
highly magnified.
Every great man or woman of God has gone through this process. I have
experienced it many times in my life and ministry. Moses faced it when he started
out with a great vision to deliver his people from the domination of Egypt. But he
had to go through 40 years on the backside of the desert in death of a vision
before the vision came to life. When God approached him to return, the vision was
so dead that he was not even keen to do it.
David faced it when he was anointed to be king by Samuel. He went through a

season of being in the enemy's camp before he ever came close to being the king
of Israel. Gideon faced it when the Lord removed from him all possible hope of
deliverance, before he was sent out with just a small band of men. Abraham faced
it when he lost all hope of seeing his wife give birth to the promised seed. He tried
to keep the vision of Ishmael going, but it had to die before Isaac could be born.
Then he even had to die to that, by being prepared to offer up Isaac, the promised
seed.
In the New Testament the Apostle Peter faced it when all his hopes of being the
great disciple of Jesus vanished into thin air with Jesus death and his denial of his
master. He decided to go back to fishing again. Then Jesus resurrected his vision
and gave him an even greater calling. Paul faced it after he met Jesus on the
Damascus road. He sat in obscurity for years before he was permitted to get
active in ministry. Then he became the great apostle to the Gentiles.
Jesus Himself faced it when His attempt to minister to his own people, the Jews
failed due to their rejection of Him. He stood and wept over Jerusalem. He died of
a broken heart. But then He became the Savior of the whole world and not just the
Jews.
So you see this concept is well entrenched in the Scriptures. And if you have
received a call of God to be used in His work, you can be sure that you will have to
go through it before you can enter into all that He has for you. It is painful and
frustrating. But when the resurrection comes you will be glad that you went
through it.
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My Death of a Vision
By Cassandra Kaur
My Personal Experience
Jeremiah 29:11-14
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, " plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. Then you will call upon me and pray to me, and I will listen to
you. You will seek me and will find me when you seek me with all
your heart. I will be found by you", declares the Lord "and will bring
you back from captivity".
John 12:24 - "I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it
produces many seeds."
here is an insightful article in the Archive at this fellowship site that

simply but powerfully crystallizes what the "Death of a Vision" is in the
life of a Christian, why one might experience it and what the subsequent
consequences and fruits of such an experience is. You may do well to
read it and study in detail the scripture references that follow there before reading
this. It will give you much insight as well as background information concerning
what I am about to share.
When a committed Christian, who has a call upon his life, is led by the Lord
through a "Death Of A Vision" experience, but does not recognize it or understand
it, he may be inclined to grow progressively depressed and disillusioned with the
Lord and with his Christian life, and may allow bitterness and anger to take root in
his heart hindering the great work that the Lord seeks to do in him through such an
experience. There is nothing that the Lord allows you to experience in this life that
is in vain. If you have given your life over to Him and find that your every vision
and passion is being brought to death rather then to life, and that you are finding it
hard to press on because the pain of this loss and the seeming lack of fruitfulness
in your walk with Him is leaving you baffled and troubled and causing your heart to
grow cold towards Him, then my sharing here is specially for you.
I pray that you will be encouraged and will be strengthened as you come to
understand and realize that the Lord has been and always will be for you and not
against you and that your faithfulness to Him, despite having had it difficult in life,
has not gone unnoticed, neither will it remain un-rewarded. He has always been
with you, has not forsaken you and desires for you to return to Him. He knows the
plans He has for you and He so very much longs for you to enter into an intimate
relationship with Him-to trust Him once again with your life and dreams.
I would like to share here with you some of my own experiences.
Anyone who knew me especially when I was a pre-teen would remember

immediately that I was a dreamer. I used to constantly look around at the state of
affairs of my own life, and the life of those around me, and would constantly dream
and hope for better things. I would paint pictures in my mind and would visualize a
better, safer, more loving and accommodating world. I guess in some ways I was
an idealist – believing always that the best was yet to come and that if you'd only
just put your mind to doing something- anything was possible.
I was convinced that only lazy people would never get anywhere in this life- the
rest of us, including me - we were going to change this world! Yes! We were going
to leave a mark...leave with a loud bang...leave behind a blazing trail....leave
something...leave anything!:-)We will feed all the poor people, love all the lonely
people, hug all the loveless people and accept all the rejected people. At least that
was what I had planned for myself . After all, I had first hand experience in being
all of the above and would be sharing with heart knowledge not head knowledge. I
would mean what I say and would do what I do from the heart. I felt no one could
possibly fault that kind of sincerity. I guess you can say that this was MY vision
and my passion as an unbeliever. I personalized it, embraced it, thought a lot
about it, dreamt dreams about it - it gave my life meaning and purpose at a time
when I craved both.
I was intent on making a difference in this world; of making a positive impact,

making a lasting impact -making sure that my life counted for something. But I was
only a young teenager at that point. So my dream remained precisely that for that
moment - a dream. I told myself that for the next period of time, I was going to
concentrate on my studies and do very well at that -why how else am I gonna be
famous enough and rich enough one day to make a difference? To stand out? Yes-
I had it all planned and figured out :-)
I soon found out growing up though, that I did not have the caliber to do anything
important enough to become famous. In fact I was lucky to just be accepted as
even being normal :-) My intentions were good and my heart was in the right
place, but I did not have the talents in the natural or the charisma and consistency
required of a leader to succeed or rise up in any capacity in this world.
Sure I was leader in school and functioned in it successfully to some extent. I was
a natural at it and enjoyed it but unfortunately I was not always accepted by those
who were in leadership positions above me. I was doing what I was doing in a way
that had not been done before and I had a mind of my own. Come to think of it
even when I did what I was told to do...I was still disliked :-)
I was rejected and put down again and again and even when I did all the right
things and said all that was expected of me I still could not get it right. Those were
very interesting days indeed. On the one hand I was a success among my peers -
a champion for their causes; on the other hand the adults who were around me
hated me with a vengeance for not being a conventional champion!! I was very
confused.
I needed the affirmation and the love of adults at that point to rise up and have my
leadership skills molded then released. I needed to hear that I could make a
difference - that my life was special and that I had proven that I could do
something great if I'd only put my mind to it. I heard the exact opposite- that I was
a failure bent on making life difficult for others and should just shut up and leave
the world alone. I wanted to save the world but realized instead that the world
needed being saved from me!!!
For a 15 year old such realizations were very painful to bear. I had to forget about
the world because I felt that the world had rejected me and did not want my help. I
decided to forget about my personal vision and had little trouble doing so as I soon
noticed that I had trouble running my own life and could not possibly make a
positive impact in the lives of others. The world, I felt, would indeed be safer
without me meddling in its affairs. So I withdrew from it and went about
my own business in a quieter, more conventional way.
Later in life, when I found and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ , I knew that I had
found, amongst many other things, the answer to life's many great questions and
perplexities. And I felt that I had found the reason and the motivation to once again
remember the vision I once had and to make it come back to life again. Only this
time I was not going to walk down this road alone; Jesus would be there to help
me and I would have the mandate and power from on high to make a difference in
this world. Who could possibly stop me now?
Ever since I could remember I had a soft spot for children and I believed if anyone
in this world deserved to receive and experience unconditional love and
acceptance it should be them. I had an intense desire to start orphanages around
the world starting with the poorer nations and I was particularly drawn to Africa and
started reading about that large continent and the work that had already been
done there. I got in touch with World Vision International and some other
organizations, began sponsoring children in Africa, and started reading up as
much as I could on the subject to prepare myself to get involved in such a venture
after graduating from the University.
I got involved in children's ministry at church and attended a course. I was thrilled
when the Lord spoke to me in a prophecy and revealed to me that I was indeed
called to minister to children and I went forward with great enthusiasm to prepare
myself to "raise up His little ones for Him". I even began to prepare short sermons
about how we needed to reach out to children and how important it is that this age
group was also reached .
Finally! I began to see a little of my initial vision that I had as an unbeliever, and
now as a young believer, come together, unfold and gain momentum right before
my eyes. My life was indeed beginning to make more sense. I had a purpose and
a passion to start something I could call my own. I got myself into position to
minister and looked to the Lord to launch me whenever He felt it was time. But the
Lord continually reminded me that there were other things He wanted me to do
and that I was in the midst of a preparation phase for something far greater then I
could possibly understand at that time. To put it simply the Lord did not allow me
to be launched into fulfilling such a vision and ultimately I had to lay the vision to
rest and walk away from it. I was disappointed to say the least but tried not to
make too much of it.
Not fully understanding what the Lord had in mind for me to do in the long run I
decided to just go with the flow and see where the Lord leads me. The next few
years saw me getting more actively involved in church and slowly found myself
drawn to the idea of working with and ministering to youths. I found that the nature
of my job in the secular required me to spend much time with difficult and
particularly delinquent youths and that I was able to communicate well with them
and was making some difference in their lives.
Eventually I prayerfully sought the Lord about this and as I attempted to move into
ministering full-time in my church I was not surprised when the youth pastor, who
hardly knew me at that point, was happy to have me on board and pushed for me
to come on staff. It seemed that this door was opened by the Lord but I wanted to
be sure. So I made a special effort to attend a prophetic seminar conducted by a
team of Prophets sent by Bill Hamon and asked the Lord to speak to me through
these anointed men of God. And there I received a detailed prophecy where, to
put it simply, my desire to minister to the youths was confirmed and affirmed.
I moved forward once again with great enthusiasm and then it happened again but
his time it happened more abruptly. It (the vision and the call) suddenly started to
die on me. I thought that Satan had got in and was attempting to rob me of what
was rightfully mine and this time I tried hard to keep the vision alive. I thought that
I had sinned and tried hard to make amends to show the Lord that I was indeed
serious and committed to the vision He had given me but ALL doors to any youth
ministry closed on every side. The Lord asked me to stop striving and abort the
vision.
I was thoroughly disillusioned and very upset. So upset that for a few months
thereafter I could not eat properly and literally walked around like a zombie not
being to do or say much- I was alive on the outside but had died on the inside. I
had just left a very well paying and established career to join the ministry and so
many people were observing me as they looked up to me as an example to follow.
I was so humiliated and I was very, very angry with myself. I did not even dare to
talk to Him neither did I have the heart to do so since I felt that I had just messed
up big time or so I thought.
When I finally recovered from the initial numbness and sadness I told the Lord that
I could not follow Him anymore. I obviously did not have what it takes to be His
follower and could not do anything of any worth for Him even though I sincerely
sought after His will and His heart. I was absolutely tapped out emotionally and
had given up on life. So great a failure am I, I thought to myself, that even the God
of this universe cannot rescue me from myself. I was angry with myself for being a
failure, with the Lord for not using me, and angry at the world for always being so
quick to judge me. I was getting nowhere and seemed to be running around in
circles. I had failed as a youth and now as an adult. I prepared myself to move
away from Christianity and to forget (once again) about making an impact in this
world. Basically I felt that -"I was finished"!!
The Lord allowed me time to recuperate emotionally and to catch up on lost sleep
and lost strength. During those weeks He was silent and I went about my life and
my usual routine and began to take interest in those things that I had long
forgotten about. Took up some new hobbies, caught up with old friends, did some
reading of novels that had sat on my shelf collecting dust ;-) But I was still very sad
and was crying quietly within.
It was about four months later that the Lord led be to a prophetic intercessor. She
had invited me over to just chat with her for fun and have some tea. But instead,
the Lord moved through her and told me that this was a divinely ordained
appointment' with Him and He spoke to me right there oh so lovingly and wooed
me back into His arms again. I heard no condemnation, just loving tenderness and
the Lord reminding me that all He ever wanted was my heart. Realizing that I
possibly could not walk down this road without some measure of understanding
anymore, He led me to this ministry and to the fellowship here and He has healed
my wounded spirit and has slowly imparted understanding into me of what it was
exactly that I had experienced these past few years.
As I turned back to Him and gave Him my heart and trusted Him to receive and
restore me, He not only brought me back to life again but brought back to life and
birthed within me a new vision; far more powerful then the previous ones I had
been given and with new dimensions added to it. I slowly began to understand
through some of the teachings here on the prophetic, what and why the Lord had
allowed me to go through some of these experiences, and why I had felt so
intensely the sting of it the last time because at the same time that I was under
going the "death of a vision" phase I was also being dealt with in some areas that
was required as part of my preparation for the prophetic. (Yes -it was a particularly
grueling year that one :-) My call and ministry had to go through the death burial
and resurrection process. If great men of God in Scripture like Moses and the
Apostle Peter had to go through it- I have come to understand that I am not
exempt.
Well to be honest I am still resurrecting very slowly and I know that some of you
(for whom this is written) who have just gone through the death phase, can relate
with me on this one. It is very unlikely that once the Lord woos you back that you
are gonna jump out of your 'tomb' immediately and run the race set before you
once again with great tenacity :-) I can say with genuine sincerity that I know
exactly how you feel. If you are anything like me then you would have moved
forward to fulfill the initial vision/s with great gusto and intensity!;-) And when your
vision died you died along with it.
You gave it all you had and you wonder now "Why oh why is everything lying in
ruins before me and not bearing any fruit?. I am sincere, I have a good heart. I
mean well. I do my best. I do it all within the will and counsel of the Lord. I have a
call upon my life! This vision if from Him. Why is nothing progressing and
everything around me always falling apart?" And if you have an analytic mind like
mine, you have probably stayed up nights trying to figure it all out wondering what
you could possibly have missed:-) Some of you have given up figuring it out and
have moved away from the Lord. The fire you initially had for Him has dwindled
and you are reluctant to go back to the Lord again. Your heart has grown cold and
you sit quietly in the background now in brokenness.
Well to you the Lord says :
Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, " plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.
"... call upon me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
.
"I will be found by you", declares the Lord "and will bring you back
from captivity".
You may feel that you are not in captivity. But so long as your heart
has
turned cold towards Him, you remain open and vulnerable to the
spiritual
onslaughts
of the evil one who might use the anger and bitterness you feel within
to draw you further and further away from Him.
Turn back to the Lord right now. Give Him your pain and tell Him what you feel. He
will not condemn you, He will not despise you or turn you away, He will not belittle
you or tell you that what you have gone through is of your own imagination. He will
listen and will be found by you, He will restore you and will powerfully move on
your behalf to set you free once again to become all He has ordained for you to
be. He will give you a far more powerful vision and will impart understanding into
you as to what he has sought to do in and through you these past years. And if a
powerful vision is no longer important to you (and I know this one too) then you
owe it to yourself to begin to enter into fellowship with Him again-remember all He
ever wants is your heart too.
You have come to know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. And now it is
time for you to know Christ and the power of His resurrection! So be encouraged
and rise up- for greater things await!
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Dealing With Demons
want to look now at demons and spiritual forces of darkness, who are
opposed to all that is of God. The Scriptures indicate that there are three
different groups of demon forces that occur in the earth. Paul describes it
in Ephesians 6:12 when he says, Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against authorities, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
(GMR)
Four groups of demonic powers are described there. The first three refer to
powers of darkness that are functioning and operating in the earth. The fourth
operates in the spirit realm Satan functions and lives in. It is his counterfeit to the
realm of God.
Principality and Power Demons

Principalities are small insignificant irritating little demons. They are the kind of
demons that put thoughts of temptation in the minds of man and cause irritations.
They do not have much power and there are millions of them. They are the
peasants of Satan’s kingdom if you please. They are the Privates in his army and
the ones that do all his grunt work. In the Spirit I normally see them pictured as
little monkeys.
Power demons are somewhat stronger. These are demons that latch themselves
on and attack, causing sickness and disease and such things as drug addiction,
bad habits, and bondage in the lives of people. I usually see those in the Spirit as
baboons or chimpanzees, slightly larger and more powerful.
Rulers of Darkness
The next level are the rulers of the darkness of this world, indicating that they are
the highest level of demonic power in this world. Ruler demons are those that
control the principality and power demons. The ruler demon is the kind of demon
that enters into a person and takes possession of them. When Jesus spoke to the
demon in the man that was possessed by the legion, He spoke to the man and the
demon answered through the man’s voice.
He said to the demon, "What is your name?"
The demon answered, "My name is legion for we are many."
This was one demon that was speaking to Jesus, taking control of the man’s lips
and speaking through his vocal cords. It was one demon power possessing that
man. He was a ruler demon, and he had under him millions of power demons and
principality demons, a whole legion full.
Jesus began to come against that demon force, that ruler demon with all his little
demons, and all the demons began to speak to Jesus. They did not speak to Him
through the lips of the man, because only the ruler demon speaks through the lips
of a man when a person is possessed by a demon and that demon takes
manifestation. But Jesus, in the Spirit, saw and spoke to those demon powers. It
says, "They all began to beg Him and say, ‘Please can we go into the swine.’ "
As Jesus cast out that demon, the ruler came out with all his principality and power
demons, and they all went into the pigs. The pigs then went mad and ran over the
hill and fell into the sea and drowned.
These are the demon forces that are at work in the world. If you come into
confrontation with evil powers, they are the evil powers that you will be dealing
with.
Deliverance Ministry
Many have become majored on deliverance ministry, casting out demons of lies
and lust and every other form of sin. They will sometimes spend hours, days and
weeks casting out demons one after the other. They identify each little demon,
casting them out one at a time. After each session the person is exhausted, tired
and sore, and the person who has been casting out the demons is exhausted.
They are probably hoarse from shouting at the demons and all they succeeded in
doing was getting rid of a few principality and power demons. The ruler demon is
still sitting pretty.
I am not going to go into a lot of detail on deliverance here, because that is
another subject that we will teach elsewhere. I just want to point out that you have
to deal with the ruler demon before you can get rid of the principality and power
demons. You need to go to the top. You need to deal with the 'guy in charge' and
then you can deal with the other demon powers.
Watch Your Words
These forces are at work in the earth and will oppose everything that you try to do
for God. They will try to counteract the Word that you have spoken forth by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit; the decree that you have sent forth into the earth.
They will try and stop it; they will try and block it. Do you know how they will try to
do this? They will do it firstly by attacking you and getting you to shut your mouth
and change your words, and then by getting you to start licensing them instead of
the angels of God.
They try to get you confessing negative things like, "This is not going to come
right. I don’t know what we are going to do. We are in trouble. I just can’t see us
getting out of this."
Change your words. Your angel was working feverishly there getting things done
and suddenly the words stopped, and he has to start coming home again. Now the
demon power is going to start to work. What do you suppose he is going to work
on? He is going to work on destroying what the angel was setting up.
Be very careful to keep your words in line with the Word of God. Keep your words
in line with the decree that has been sent forth. Keep your words in line so that the
angels of God continue to work on your behalf, and arrange and create in the
earth what you have decreed and spoken. Because the moment you stop, they
stop.
The moment you authorize Satan he breaks down what has been built up so far.
You need to come against the forces of darkness on a daily basis. You need to
daily commission the angels of God to go forth and to do what has been decreed
in the earth.
Daily Stand To
When I did my National Service a long time ago I found out something that was
very interesting concerning warfare. They had found out that there were two times
of day when it was most likely that the enemy would attack. These were first thing
in the morning just as the sun was coming up, and last thing in the evening just as
the sun was going down. They explained that if the enemy was going to attack the
camp, then those were the times he would do it.
They had a procedure that we used to follow when we were out in the bush
camps. It was carried out every day, first thing in the morning at dawn, and last
thing at night at dusk. The procedure was called 'Stand-To' and every soldier in
the camp had a place where he would go, forming a circle around the camp. Each
one would have a little place that was dug out where he could go and lie looking
outwards, so that the whole camp was covered all around.
When you heard the call and the whistle blowing saying, "Stand To," you ran
immediately to your allocated spot. You climbed in there with your rifle and you
loaded and cocked your weapon so that it was ready to be fired. From your hiding
place you then looked ahead carefully as the sun came up, and the light began to
show. You kept your eyes peeled for any movement whatsoever that would
indicate that the enemy was about to attack.
You stayed that way until the sun came up, and until the whistle blew again and
said, "Okay, stand down. The enemy is not attacking today." The same procedure
was repeated in the evening just before the sun went down. Everybody would be
there, rifle loaded, ready and watching in case the enemy attacked.
The Lord spoke to me a while back and said, "My children need to learn to have a
spiritual stand to. They need to stand against the enemy on a daily basis. They
need to stand ready, with their 'rifle' cocked, with the Word in their hearts, with
their mouths poised to speak forth My Word; ready for any movement from the
spirit of darkness; ready for any attack from Satan."
First thing in the morning, before your day begins, and last thing in the evening,
before your day ends, stand ready. He will attack during your sleep if you are not
careful. Stand ready. Hit him before he hits you. Stand ready, stand against him.
Paul said we must, ‘put on the whole armor of God … and having done all, to
stand. Stand therefore,’ he says. Stand against the wiles of the enemy.
Jesus said, "The Devil goes around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may
devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith." James 4:7 says, James 4:7 Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (GMR)
This is a spiritual stand to and you should do it on a daily basis. If you do not do it,
the enemy starts to get into the camp without you knowing he is there. You begin
to wonder why your spiritual life is dying. You wonder why your provision is not
coming. You wonder why your health is growing worse instead of better. You did
not stand against him!
You say, "Well I prayed. Somebody laid hands on me and spoke forth healing.
God promised me. I saw the manifestation of my provision. My prayer was
answered." Then you sit back and say, "Okay, it’s done. I can take it easy now.
We can party tonight. I don’t need to pray." Be very careful. Don't ever let down
your guard where the enemy is concerned.
Spiritual Wickedness
There is also a group of forces that operate largely in the heavenly realm, which
Paul referred to as spiritual wickedness in high places. In Daniel 10:12 we read
that Daniel had been praying and fasting and waiting on God, and he had waited
21 days.
After that an angel appeared to him and said, Daniel 10:12 Fear not, Daniel: for
from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to chasten yourself
before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words.
13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty one days: but,
look, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with
the kings of Persia. (GMR)
The prince of the kingdom of Persia was a demonic prince that was in charge of
the whole kingdom that Daniel was in. Before that angel could come and get
through to him, he was opposed by this high level demonic power in the
heavenlies, a demonic prince of darkness.
Satan has set up his system over this world, and he has princes of darkness over
every single area. There are princes of darkness in charge of your country. There
are princes of darkness in charge of your city. There are princes of darkness in
charge of your community. They have all been allocated responsibility to oversee
the principalities, powers and rulers of darkness that are in that area.
The Council of Wickedness

It goes up like a pyramid until it gets right to the top. When it reaches the top we
have Satan, but not just Satan alone. Satan tries to counterfeit the trinity. He
always wanted to be like God. He wanted to take God’s place. He tried to rise up
and take the throne of heaven until he was cast out. So he has set up a system
that copies the system that God has set up.
He has tried to counterfeit the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Scripture
speaks of God as being Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one. Satan has put
together three as a governing council to control the realm of darkness, his
kingdom.
This is something that is not immediately obvious in Scripture unless you look for
it. The evidence is there, but what I will share with you now is something that God
first showed me in the Spirit, and as I saw it in the Spirit, I had to get back into the
Word to see if I could find evidence. If I am to see something in the Spirit, I have to
have proof in the Word that it is true, otherwise it is difficult for me to receive it.
Much of what I have shared here, are things that God has showed me in the Spirit,
and I cannot always give you a clear chapter and verse that says distinctly exactly
what I have told you. But I want you to pray about it and look into the Word, and
you will find that the Word does not contradict what I have shared. It is there, but
sometimes you have to read between the lines to understand exactly what is
taking place.
Personal Confrontation With The Council
The first time I ever had confrontation with the three members of what I like to call
the Council of Wickedness was at a time when I had been going through intense
intercession in the Spirit. I had been waiting on God on a daily basis to pray and to
intercede in the Spirit. I would spend hours on end praying in tongues, doing
warfare in the Spirit, coming into confrontation in the Spirit with the powers of
darkness.
I remember the day that I had been praying earnestly, praying in the Spirit and
fighting and doing warfare, when I suddenly saw myself appearing in a room that
seemed to be an official council room of some kind. It was like a round table where
people were sitting in council, in discussion, like a room where plans were made
and issued. As I rose up and stood in that room in my vision I saw three people
sitting at the table.
I said, "Lord, what am I seeing now?"
Then my flesh went cold, because I realized that I had come into the very council
room, the very throne room of the Prince of Darkness, and I was standing in the
midst of his council. I had appeared in the middle of their discussions. They looked
at me in anger. They were mad. How dare I come up and appear in their council,
their secret council that nobody else was supposed to know about? But the Spirit
of God took me into their council, and He showed me that there are three demons,
three princes of darkness in the Council of Wickedness.
The leader of the Council is of course Lucifer. The second one reminded me of a
character I once saw on TV in a horror movie. He was big, strong, bald and ugly.
I looked at him and said, "Lord, who is this?"
The Lord said, "It’s Pharaoh."
"Pharaoh? But Pharaoh was the king of Egypt."
The Lord said, "Yes, but there is a spiritual Pharaoh."
He is the one who poses as the god of this world, because Egypt in the Scriptures
is a picture of the world. Pharaoh is usually typified as Satan, the leader and the
god of this world, but the Lord showed me in the Spirit, that Satan has set up one
who poses as the god of this world and is in charge of the World System. He has
put him in charge of the economies and monetary systems of the world. All
administrative and political functions of the world are controlled by this prince of
darkness, who is a spiritual Pharaoh.
Confrontation With Lucifer
I had seen Lucifer before so I knew what he looked like. He appeared to me

shortly after God had led me through my prophetic training and He began to take
me into the spiritual realm. God had led us to move to a coastal city to wait on Him
and we were staying in a trailer park just near the sea, waiting on God and looking
to Him concerning direction for our ministry.
One day as I was praying and interceding in the Spirit, a man appeared before
me. He was a typical picture of what you would call tall, dark and handsome, a
charming good looking guy. I had seen angels in the Spirit before, but I looked at
him and thought, "Well he doesn’t look like an angel. Angels are normally dressed
in white." This guy was dressed more in a kind of khaki looking clothing and he
had dark hair. I said, "Lord, who is this?" and then suddenly I realized who it was.
It was the Prince of Darkness himself, Lucifer.
He smiled at me. He was charming. He was handsome and friendly. He smiled as

he said to me, "What is all this nonsense about ministry and all these big ideas
that you have? Don’t you see that you don’t have the capability of doing these?
But listen, what is it that you want? Do you want money? Do you want women? Do
you want fame and popularity? What is it that you want? I’ll give it to you by all
means. Just drop this silly idea of yours. Stop all this praying. Just let it go. Forget
it, you’re wasting your time."
I tell you, it was not a pleasant experience. My flesh went cold and I began to
cringe. I had dealt with demon forces before. I had cast demons out of people
before and been in confrontation in intercession with evil powers. But now I stood
before the Prince of Darkness himself and who was I to stand against the one that
has the greatest power in the Kingdom of Darkness.
I was filled with fear. I did not know what to do. I thought, "Lord, I don’t know how
to handle this. I had better not upset this guy. He has power. He could destroy me.
What must I do?"
Then the Word of God rose up within me. "At the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow." Every knee shall bow! That was the key!
I turned to him and I said, "Satan, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and
that includes you. Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth. That includes you, Satan, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. Satan, that includes you. You will bow! You will confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. You will do it now. In the Name of Jesus I stand against you."
The power of God rose up in me. The Spirit of God came on me and I felt His
authority rising up in me. His face began to change as his smile turned to a scowl
and he became angry. He was seething mad. I did not know what he was going to
do, but I just laid it on him, and kept laying it on him. I kept giving it to him.
"Bow! Bow in the name of Jesus!"
He stood there squirming like a snake and then he went down and began to bow.
Then he turned around and vanished, and he left me.
I know what Lucifer looks like and I have seen him in the Spirit many times. I have
seen someone that looks a lot like him, but I cannot mention names here. But I
want to tell you that the name of Jesus is greater than the name of Satan. Satan
was conquered and defeated on the cross of Calvary. If you are a child of God,
and you have the Spirit of God living in you, you have authority and power in the
name of Jesus.
In Satan’s Camp
You might say, "Well, what made you so special that Lucifer would appear to you?
Why were you such a big threat?" I have pondered that question many times
myself. I said, "Lord why me? Why would he appear to me?" Then I read one day
in a Christian magazine that the particular city that I was in at that time was
actually the Satanic headquarters of the country. I was in the Devil’s domain.
I dare say the chances are that the trailer park where we were staying was
probably right in the vicinity of where the main Satanists were operating. I was
right in his camp. I was right there in the middle of his grounds. I can imagine the
demons got together and the Satanists gathered together to do their devilish
things, and they heard this big noise. They probably heard my big mouth coming
forth in the Spirit in prayer.
I can imagine they were just doing their thing and they heard somebody say, "In
the name of Jesus…" They probably said, "What’s that? Where’s that coming
from? Who is that? Somebody go sort it out. We can’t stand the noise!" Lucifer
must have gotten really upset and the demons figured that if anybody could sort it
out he certainly could. But he could not because God had taught me my authority
and my position in Christ, and I knew the power and authority that there was in the
name of Jesus.
Satan's Chief of Staff
That day as I stood in the middle of the Council of Wickedness, I saw another
character that did not look so human. He was a scaly looking creature.
I said, "Lord, who is this?"
He said, "Go look in Revelation, and you will find him described. His name is
Apollyon and he is the leader of Satan’s armies. He is the Devil’s Chief of Staff. He
is the General in charge of all the demon forces that attack in the earth.
The Lord had shown me in vision that there are these three creatures in control of
this world. There is Pharaoh in charge of the World System, of the economies of
the world, and the administrative and political functions. There is Lucifer, who is in
charge of the religious systems of this world and the master of deception. And
there is Apollyon who is in charge of the demon forces that attack the people that
live in this world. He attacks them with fear and doubts and evil thoughts, makes
them commit suicide, attacks them with sickness and disease and makes their
lives a misery. This council is Satan’s counterfeit of the trinity.
Attack From Apollyon
If you start trusting God for healing, you will be challenged by the forces that are
under Apollyon, because those demon forces will attack your body. They will
cause pain and suffering and symptoms in your body and will question every stand
that you have taken to trust God for divine health, and for entering into the promise
that, "By His stripes we were healed." We will look at that in the next chapter
shortly when we deal the subject of healing.
Attack From Pharaoh
If you start trusting God for financial provision, you will be challenged by Pharaoh,
and the World System is going to squeeze you. The economic system is going to
squeeze you, and he is going to try to steal everything you have. He is going to
put financial pressure on you. He is going to cause temporal things to go wrong.
He is going to cause everything in the natural world to go against you, to block and
to stop any possibility of God providing for you financially. He will try to prevent
God meeting your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
When you start to transmute from the heavenly realm as we saw previously, it has
to be authorized by Pharaoh because he is in control of the finances of the world.
Remember that Satan was given authority in this earth by Adam. That authority
was regained in Christ and we now have greater authority as believers. But as far
as the world and unbelievers are concerned, they are still under the control of
Satan and his demon forces.
The Council of Wickedness is in control of this World System. If you are looking to
the Lord for financial provision it is going to come through the World System. The
finance that you receive will not come flying out of heaven. The Lord is not going
to counterfeit the bank notes and make them rain down. They will come to you
from this world.
If you examine the finances of this world, where will you find them? Where is most
of the money in this world? It is locked up in the underworld. It is locked up in the
big crime syndicates. It is locked up in evil men who own and control, and use their
money to manipulate this world. Let anybody dare to go against their system, rise
up and get rich and become a challenge and a threat to them, and you will see
them begin to apply pressure.
Let any politician dare to stand up and go against the conspiracy. Let him dare
stand up and go against the system. Let him dare to disobey the financial leaders
at the top that are pulling the strings and he is in trouble. They will crunch him.
They will squash him. They will remove him. They will put their foot on him and
squeeze him into the ground until he disappears.
You cannot fight the system unless you are a believer! If you are child of God you
have greater authority. God sent Moses of old to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt with
the word, "Let My people go, that they may go and serve me. Let them go into the
wilderness to sacrifice. Let them take their wives, their children and their animals
and herds, and everything that they own, and all their riches and possessions. Let
them go and worship Me." But Pharaoh said, "No. Not under any circumstances."
Dealing With Pharaoh
Again and again Moses had to come against him with plague after plague, attack
after attack by the power of God, to crumble and break down that resistance from
Pharaoh. Eventually God had to take drastic action before that power was broken,
and Pharaoh finally gave in. But even after he had given in he changed his mind
and came back, and God had to work again to destroy and remove his power.
Do not think for one moment that if you attempt to exercise the authority and
power of God to bring financial provision into the earth, that you will obtain it
easily? You will not be fighting only simple little principalities and powers or even
rulers of the darkness of this world. You will be coming against the god of this
world himself, the Pharaoh of this world, who will resist you. He does not want you
to get your hands on money that you would use to extend the Kingdom of God in
the earth. He will not let you get a cent if he can help it.
You will have to lay it on him. You will have to release the angels of God to do
warfare with him on your behalf. You will have to come against him in the Spirit
and by the Name that is above every other Name. You will have to use the
authority and power that is given to you as a child of God.
There are a lot of things that you can do in this world that Satan will become upset
about and he will not hit you too hard. But you dare to exercise faith for financial
prosperity, and you have declared war on the Council of Wickedness. Let anyone
dare to preach that believers can be wealthy. Let anyone dare to believe that
Christians can be prospered financially and have the audacity to exercise their
faith for financial provision and they will be found fighting much higher forces than
the average believer fights.
You have likely heard preachers proclaim the word of faith. They teach and
encourage people to take the Word of God and the power of God, and by faith to
reach out and receive from the Lord the financial provision that they need. Why
should we be doing this? So that we can extend the Kingdom of God in the earth.
So that God’s people can rise up in power and authority and have their needs met.
So that they can be enabled to go forth and spread the gospel.
But usually what happens is very different. If someone has a genuine ministry they
often have to beg and plead. They have to coerce the money out of people. They
have to work hard to scrape together a few dollars to be able to do the work that
God has called them to do. They desire to rescue people from darkness and bring
their souls into the light, but there is no money available.
Most ministries have to continually make financial appeals. This is because it is

easier to do this than it is to exercise faith and authority. Doing battle with the
Princes of Darkness is hard work, but without it no success is possible. Until the
spiritual Pharaoh is forced to give in as it happened with the Pharaoh of old, God's
people will continue in slavery to the World System.
Prophetic Intercessors
God is raising up those who are prepared to take the load of intercession. The
prophets of God are rising up. They are not to be seen in the visible church
making a name for themselves. Mostly they are in the background, very often
unseen, and they rise up and speak the Word of God in the earth. They send forth
the decree of God into the earth.
They do battle in the heavenly realm with the demons of darkness. They
commission the angels of God to go forth and to release the finances that are
needed. They release what is needed for the Kingdom of God to be extended.
They release ministries to go forth and do what God has called them to do. It is
time that the prophets of God rise up and use the key of authority that God has
given them. They are able to unlock the door of God’s blessing and also lock the
doors that Satan is using to come in.
It is time that the prophets of God rise up and do what God called them to do,
instead of preaching hell-fire and damnation to believers. They often try to be Old
Testament prophets speaking judgement on God's people. Instead they should be
speaking the Word of God and the authority of God into the earth, which is what
He has called them to do.
Oh, that God would raise up intercessors and watchmen on the walls, that would
see the enemy coming and remain on stand-to 24 hours a day, so that Satan
cannot attack at any time. It is time that God raises up ministries that would set up
intercession 24 hours a day around the clock, to seek the face of God, to speak
forth His Word into the earth, and to break the bonds of wickedness.
It burns in me. There is such a crying need for God’s people to rise up. Unless the
warfare and the battle are carried out continuously, we will go under. We will fall
and end up resorting to the worldly way of obtaining money. We will end up with
the pittance that the world is going to dish up. Yet the Lord speaks about the
unjust that shall lay up treasures, that the just may inherit them. It is time that the
just start inheriting what the unjust have laid up. It is the time that the Body of
Christ gets their hands on the wealth that has been stashed up by the Princes of
Darkness of this world.
Go to the Top
This will only going take place as we do battle in the heavenlies. We must speak
forth the Word of God into the earth. We must come against, not the little demon
powers down on this earth, but the princes of wickedness in the high places.
You should be coming against the prince of darkness that is over your city. You
should be coming against the prince of darkness that is over your country. You
should be going right to the top and doing warfare with the Council of Wickedness.
You should be coming against the councils on high and frustrating those councils,
by the power of the Spirit, by the authority of the Word of God, by the power and
authority that there is in the name of Jesus.
It is time God’s people rise up and go to the top. I do warfare with them all the
time, and when I have a problem with finance I do not battle with the prince of my
city. I have occasionally done battle with the prince of the country, but he is too
small. I go to his superiors. I go to the top.
I come against Pharaoh and I say, "Pharaoh, in the name of Jesus you will
authorize what is mine. Sign the document! Release it now, in Jesus’ name.
Apollyon, sign the document. Lucifer sign the document. God has given this to me.
It is mine. I put my foot on it. Now get off my land and let it go. You take your
hands off my provision. It is mine! God has given it to me, and you cannot stop it.
You have no right to stop it. You have no authority because Jesus has taken your
power away, and I stand in Him and in His Name.
"I come to you in the name of Jesus and you must bow, because the authority I
have in Him is greater than the authority that you have in the world. He has given
me the name to use that is above every other name. You will bow to that name!"
It is a heavy warfare. It is a heavy battle, and if you wish to enter into this kind of
ministry, let me tell you, you are not going to be able to play church anymore. You
are not going to be able to play being a Christian anymore.
You are not going to be able to say, "Well, I go to the meetings, I go to the Bible
study. I go to church on Sunday, and we serve the Lord there. I’ll be a Christian
during the week and witness to a couple of people. But Friday night is our night to
go out and have fun." The Lord does not have place in that. "Once a year we have
to go on vacation somewhere, and while we are on holiday enjoying ourselves, the
Lord can take a break."
Listen, you are in war. When you became a child of God you declared war. You
went across to the other side. Do you think that your original master is going to
take it lightly? Do you think that he is going to allow you to become a threat to
him? No, he is going to throw against you everything that he has.
The State of Satan's Kingdom

I want to tell you one more thing about the Kingdom of Darkness that will
encourage you. If you go into the World System you just need to go into a
business that has a lot of employees to see it. You need only to go into an open
office where a lot of people work together in close communication, and listen to
how they talk about each other.
Listen to how they speak about somebody that is rising up in authority and is
probably next in command to become boss if the boss should leave. Let that
person take one day’s leave and you will find out what everybody thinks about
him.
"Huh, he thinks he’s something special. Yeah, all he does is visit the boss all the
time and say the right things and do the right things. He’s the boss’s pet. No
wonder he’s next in line to be promoted over us."
Have you seen it? Have you seen the bickering and fighting that goes on? The
selfishness, the strife and vainglory that goes on in the world? Where do you
suppose that comes from? I'll tell you where it comes from. It comes from Satan’s
kingdom. Satan may sound like he has an organized kingdom. It looks like it is
pretty well organized there with the Privates and Sergeants and the Officers going
on up the ranks like an army.
But every single one hates the other. They detest each other. There is no harmony
there. It is an enforced harmony. They dominate with fear and terror and control
one another. That is how they work. That is how Satan works, and you will see it in
the World System.
Satan cannot keep it together without working at it all the time. That is why he has
to set so many levels of authority to make to sure that each level of authority is
controlling the other, because they are vying with each other all the time. Why?
They got it from their master didn’t they? He was in heaven, one of the
archangels, and he said, "I’m not satisfied with this. I want to be better. I want to
be the boss here."
His spirit and attitude have been communicated to the whole of his kingdom. They
bicker and fight amongst each other all the time. When Satan launches a special
attack against you, it costs him dearly. He has to mobilize a special group of
demons and organize them together with special instructions to, "Go get him!"
They only have a limited time. They only have certain resources available to them,
and if they do not come right in that time they are in trouble.
His Resources Are Limited
Satan has limited resources. He is not unlimited and does not have the power of
the Spirit of God. He has to work through the demon forces, and the demon forces
can only work through men that will give them permission and authority to work. All
we need to do is release the angels of God against them, to keep scattering them.
All we need to do is bind or restrict them.
The Scripture says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven." If we
bind the forces of evil, we interfere with them. "Whatever you loose on earth will be
loosed in heaven." As we loose the angels of God to go forth on our behalf, they
are liberated to work. Satan can only maintain his attack for a limited time.
You might be able to do nothing more than grit your teeth, and hang on, not giving
up hope, but biting like the bulldog. If you refuse to be shaken and moved from
your commitment, or to change the words of your mouth, it is just a matter of time
before he has to give up. He cannot keep it up. He does not have the resources.
We tend to credit the Devil with more power than he really has. I have learned in
dealing from the top to the bottom, that Jesus has given us power and authority
over all of them. We have within us, the very Spirit of God, the One who created
the universe. We have with us the One that has the name above every other
name. Oh if we would just realize what we are in Christ. If we would take our stand
against these things, then all we would need to do is to keep speaking forth the
blessing.
Loosing the Provision

Very often after you have spoken forth your word into the earth and God begins to
move you see it come forth like Lazarus when he came out of the tomb. When
Jesus said, "Lazarus come forth," he came out alive, but he was still bound in the
grave clothes. It is so important that you stand firm after you have sent out God’s
Word into the earth. You have spoken forth the rhema word of creation, and now
as the creation manifests you must command your Lazarus to be loosed until he
comes free into your possession.
Do not assume that because you saw the manifestation of what you asked for,
that it has arrived. Do not assume that because hands were laid on you and you
felt the power of God go through you, and you felt the pain leave your body that it
is over. Even if you could see that you were healed do not assume that it will
never attempt to come back. You must keep standing on it, because you will be
challenged.
Do not assume that because you have trusted God for finance and somebody
writes and says, "I’m sending you a check," that you can sit back now. Do not let
up until you get that check in your hands and you have cashed it and have the
money in your hands. Satan will try to block it and steal it. If they had not loosed
Lazarus he would have stood there and suffocated to death. He would have died
again.
Do not ever assume anything. We are in warfare. Do not sit back and say, "Well I
won the battle." Maybe you did win the battle, but the war continues. The war
continues until the end when Jesus finally conquers and locks him up in the
bottomless pit until the consummation of all things, spoken about in Revelation.
The war continues. We continue to wrestle against these forces. Do not assume
that because you got him down this time that he is not going to get up again. He is
going to get up and come at you again and again. You have to stay on it. Yes,
there will be times of intense warfare, but there will be times of peace and times of
rest. There will be times of celebration.
God does not want us to walk around miserable all the time. God wants us to have
fun. He wants us to have holidays. He wants us to enjoy ourselves. But always in
His presence, always walking with Him. Always maintaining our walk, and always
keeping our mouth speaking His Words.
God said to Joshua, "This word shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate on it day and night." As you continue to do that you are like an army that
has conquered a city and all they need to do is to keep it. They do not need to
keep re-capturing it. All they need to do is prevent the enemy from stealing it from
them and taking it back.
That is why Paul says, "Having put on all the armor, stand." Stand on the ground
that has been won for you. Stand on it. All you need to do is stand, and when the
enemy attacks, you ward him off immediately. Stand to on a daily basis,
continually standing against the evil, and the angels of God will continue to go
forth and work on your behalf, causing your provision to come.
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The Cause of Depression
epression is a very serious problem. It can lead to a person so

despairing of life, that they begin to contemplate suicide. So it is very
important that we understand the mechanics of this weapon that the
enemy of our souls uses so often against us. I want to say right from the
start that depression is a spiritual problem, not a physical problem, and it has a
spiritual solution.
If you are looking for help with it by turning to man, or to the medical profession,
then you are going to fail to overcome it. You might be able to lessen some of its
effects, but unless you deal with what caused it, you cannot get rid of it. It is a bit
like taking pain-killing medication to lessen the effects of a thorn in your flesh. It
might remove the pain, but the problem is still there.
I am going to look at this problem from a Scriptural point of view, taking also into
account a general knowledge of the soul of man, and see if we can find some
principles that can be used to overcome depression. Let’s see if we can find out
what causes depression, how it can be avoided, and how it can be dealt with and
removed once it appears.
It is likely that we will not cover every possible area involved, because this is a
general study of the principles involved. Every problem that a person faces is a
complex mixture of the situation that makes up their experiences, their
temperament and the conditions they live in. Often we do not even understand our
own hearts. But there is One who does understand us. And the key to overcoming
all problems lies in getting to know Him better, and learning to hear His voice.
So I want to say at the outset, that the principles we are going to cover are simply
a foundation for you to start with. As you take them, and use them to overcome,
you must also look deep within to the Spirit of God and let Him lead you into all
truth. If Jesus is not Lord of your life, then this will not be possible. What we are
going to share can only be of use to those who are prepared to open their hearts
to the Lord and let Him come in and set them free.
With that as our basis then let’s consider
The Symptoms of Depression

The Causes of Depression
The Solution to Depression
The Symptoms of Depression

I don’t need to go into a lot of detail to identify the existence of depression,
because we have all been there. But negative feelings do not always mean
depression, so it might help to see when you are in the throes of this power that
brings your life to a halt. Depression affects every part of us, so I am going to look
at some of the effects it has in each part of our being – spirit, soul and body.
The first and most obvious sign of depression is that everything comes to a
grinding halt. Your life comes to a standstill, and you are unable to accomplish
anything. The first sign of depression in the life of a person is their failure to carry
out what would be normal daily tasks or duties. For the housewife, it means the
housework is not done and begins to pile up. For the executive it means failing to
stick to his schedule of work. For the student it means failure to finish homework
and projects.
So it is very easy to see when depression is taking its toll in the life of another
person. They begin to slacken on their responsibilities.
Effects in the Spirit
When you are depressed, you feel like your spirit is completely blocked. Since
your spirit is the part that communicates with the Lord through the Holy Spirit, the
first thing you feel is that God is not there any more. It feels like He has forsaken
you. You can’t sense His presence when you pray, and it seems as though your
prayers are bouncing off the ceiling.
If anything, it seems as though your conscience has flared up and you have a
sense of guilt or accusation. You feel weighed down with care about your failures.
You think that God will not hear you because you have sinned, or fallen short of
what He required of you. And when you try to hear the Lord’s voice, it seems that
He is not talking to you. Even opening the Bible and reading it yields nothing that
makes sense.
Effects in the Soul
The most obvious effect in the soul is that your emotions are completely out of
control. You want to be happy, but feel this negative weight bearing down on your
emotions, making you sad and unhappy. You feel like weeping instead of
laughing. What makes this extremely difficult to handle is that you can find no
explanation for your feelings. In other words, your mind cannot reason out what is
happening. There is no logical explanation for the way you feel. It is as though a
huge cloud has descended on you like a blanket, and you cannot lift it.
This is of course one of the other effects on the soul, since the mind lies in your
soul. You are perplexed and confused about what is happening. You cannot seem
to figure out how this thing started or why it is that you feel this way. And any
attempt to rationalize it away only leads you deeper into your negative state. You
start to feel quite helpless and hopeless. This is when despair starts to set in.
The third part of the soul is the will. And although this might seem to be the
strongest part of you, and one that you can use to solve the problem, you soon
find that it has become paralyzed. It seems that no matter what you do, nothing
helps. You have tried to figure things out and couldn’t come to a solution. And you
have tried to DO everything you could think of, and nothing you do helps.
In fact the bottom line is that you don’t feel like doing anything. Your emotions
have taken such a control of you, that you want to just sit in a corner and mope.
The last thing you want to do is get into some activity. The last thing you want to
do is work. So your soul, like your spirit comes to a grinding halt.
Effects in the Body
Since depression takes its toll on the spirit and the soul and brings them to a
grinding halt, it is not at all surprising to find very similar effects taking place in
your body. In fact what happens is that all of the normal functions of the body
begin to slow down. Your pulse rate will slow, your breathing will be affected, and
even your digestive processes start to slow down.
This has the effect of making you feel very sluggish and weary. You might be
overcome by an extreme sense of fatigue and weariness. Even lifting your hand
becomes an effort, so that you tend to just sit there doing nothing. Your appetite
becomes suppressed, so you don’t feel like eating. The passions are stilled, so
that the sexual relationship in marriage is affected. And any effects from the self-
defense mechanism that normally cause you to react quickly to defend yourself
become dulled. You don’t respond to things that normally affect you.
These and many more similar things are the effects that you can see in a life that
is affected by depression. It doesn’t take a medical degree to diagnose it. A
depressed person has simply come to a grinding halt and has ceased to function
normally. The effects might be different in different people, and they might be
worse in some than others. But they are basically the same in everyone.
The Causes of Depression

We come then to the big question that is on everyone’s lips. Sure you know what
depression is, and you are able to recognize when it is there. But how did you
come to experience it in the first place? What caused it? Was it some vague
unknown thing that came upon you when you were not looking? Is it a form of
"Mental Illness" that just does not have a cure and you are going to have to learn
to live with it? Or is it possible to know what caused it?
We live today in a society that has been brainwashed by the ideas put out by men
such as Sigmund Freud and those who have followed him in the field of study
known as Psychology and the branch of medicine known as Psychiatry. Because
of this many believers fail to enter into the victory that is theirs in Christ, and
accept the medical model that ungodly men have imposed on them.
We assume that problems such as depression fall under the category of illness
and treat it like a disease. Since a person becomes ill when they fall prey to a
germ or virus, we assume that the same applies to psychological problems. The
person has become victim to some influence that has made them ‘mentally ill’ and
must be treated like a patient. The only problem is that the germ or virus does not
exist, and there is therefore no way of stopping it or treating it.
I am not going to deal with this subject in detail here, because I am covering it
under the subject of counseling in general. But I want to say here that depression,
like many other psychological problems we face, is not a disease, but a spiritual
problem. It has a cause and it has a solution. And both of these can be found in
the Scriptures, which are God’s handbook for His creation. You do not need a
medical expert to deal with something that God has given us the means to
overcome.
This being said then, let’s see if we can identify some basic causes of depression,
and find out from the Scriptures how we can deal with them. As I said at the
beginning, man is a complex creation and there are many factors that may
combine together to create the situation you find yourself in. But if you are
depressed, the chances are that you will find one or more of the following things in
your life that has predisposed you to it.
Failure to Obtain Recognition or Acceptance.

Failure to Attain a Goal or No Clear Future Goals.
Reacting Incorrectly to Situations.
Triggering to Past Events.
Let’s look at these in more detail, and see if the Scriptures can shed some light on
them for us.
Failure to Obtain Recognition or Acceptance
The need to be recognized and accepted lies at the base of all human existence. It
is what drives us in life, and motivates most of the things we do. It lies at the base
of and is the basic cause of all depression. I remember years ago when I was in a
job that involved sales of Life Assurance, we were given a questionnaire to
complete that was designed to find out what motivated salesmen. Amongst them
was the obvious thing for someone doing that kind of job – the desire to make a lot
of money.
It was amazing to see the answers that came out of that questionnaire. One would
have thought that making money would be a strong factor in the lives of these
people who were on the cutting edge of the investment industry. It was a job that
offered the greatest financial returns for the effort. But money was low down on
the list of every single person there – especially those who held the top positions
in sales performance.
What came to the top always, was the desire to be recognized. Each one wanted
to achieve something in life. And money was just another means that they were
using to reach their goal. If making more money meant getting greater recognition
and acceptance, then making money was the activity they were going to use to
obtain it.
It is this inner need that pushes a person to study hard and obtain qualifications in
life. For many, having a title to go with their name or initials to put after their name
is a great achievement and brings the recognition they seek. Others use their
physical strengths rather than their intelligence. They set out to develop their
bodies to compete in sporting events or to break records in athletic events. The
Olympic athlete dreams of the day he or she will be decorated with a gold medal.
Others use their natural talents and good looks to obtain this recognition and
acceptance. The beauty competitions and body building championships of the
world are a clear sign of this. We all seek to do something that is either different to
or better than what others do. Something that will cause us to stand out and be
seen by the world. Something that will make people say, "Isn’t he great? Isn’t she
clever? Don’t you envy them?"
Take away this inner motivation from a person, and you remove from them all
reason for living. Take away from them the ability to succeed in their efforts to
accomplish this and you produce that horrible thing called depression that we are
discussing here. Let’s see if we can find the first case of depression mentioned in
the Bible, and see what caused it. You will find it in Genesis 4:3-5
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground an offering to the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat
of it. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering:
5 But to Cain and to his offering he had no respect. And Cain was
very angry, and his face fell.
I don’t want to go into the details of what happened here, and why God accepted
Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. But what is important here is that both of these men
wanted God to accept them. So they brought an offering from their efforts to see if
they could get this acceptance from God. This is a clear picture of how we all live.
Each one had put all his effort into his work. And then he had brought God some
evidence of what he had done.
God accepted Abel’s offering, so Abel was happy. But Cain was rejected. He did
not get the recognition and acceptance that he was hoping to get. And he became
angry and depressed. How do I know he was depressed? Because he showed
one of the signs of depression - his face dropped. You will see this in every person
that is depressed. They tend to stare at the ground and their condition is written all
over their face. No smile, no joy, only sadness and misery.
I am not going to look at what God said to Cain for now, because we are going to
consider it when we come to our final section on the solutions to depression. I just
wanted you to see the first recorded case of depression, and what caused it.
Failure to Attain a Goal or No Clear Future Goals
Life is a long journey that leads from the cradle to the grave. We spend 24 hours
every day, seven days a week, traveling that journey that leads eventually to the
end of our lives. At times the journey is fun, and at times the going gets tough.
There are uphills and downhills and times of change. There are stresses and times
of pleasure. But one thing keeps us moving throughout the journey. It is the goals
we are aiming for.
Imagine a journey where you do not know how far you will travel, when you will
arrive, or what you will find when you arrive. It is like traveling through a desert
where all you see is sand and there seems to be no end in sight. No one would
willingly walk a path like that unless they knew for certain that it would end
eventually. You would not cross a desert without hope of an oasis somewhere.
You would just sit down and die.
That is the condition of someone who has lost their life’s goals and cannot see the
future clearly. Life has become like a journey in the desert. You see no hope for
the future, nothing to aim for any more. You are like the traveler who can only see
himself dying of thirst in the heat. He has no reason to go on. He sees a mirage of
water flowing over the sand, and runs towards it gleefully, hoping to find what he is
looking for. But when he arrives he finds it was a delusion. It was not real.
Perhaps that is what life has become to you. You thought you saw a goal that was
exciting, and you ran towards it with great gusto and enthusiasm. But it suddenly
vanished into thin air. And now all you have is ‘sand.’ You are too afraid to hope
again or try again in case it is just another mirage in the desert. So you sit there in
despair, not knowing what you should do next, or whether you should even bother.
Let’s look at some people who faced that problem in the Scriptures. One of the
earliest mentioned was Moses. He was convinced that he was to deliver his
people the Israelites from the Egyptians. And he tried hard to do this by defending
his people. But when he killed the Egyptian taskmaster and the thing backfired on
him, he gave up all hope of this. Then he ran away and hid in a foreign country,
looking after sheep in the desert.
When God approached him to go and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he was still
suffering from the effects of depression. He just did not feel like doing it any more.
And God had to argue with him and virtually push him into it before he finally went.
Another very clear case mentioned in Scripture is that of the prophet Elijah. He
was a man with a big vision to do things for the Lord. He wanted to see God’s
people turn their backs on the worship of the false god Baal and return to serving
God. This goal within him kept him going even when he was forced to live a
restricted life. He knew that he would one day face the enemies of God and bring
about a victory.
You can read all about his moment of glory when he finally accomplished this, in 1
Kings 18 as he faced the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I’m sure you know
the story of how he told them to make an altar and lay a sacrifice on it, and then
pray for their god to bring fire down from heaven. Then in a magnificent victory, he
called fire down from heaven to burn up his sacrifice and wiped out every single
prophet of Baal.
This was the moment he had lived for. It was the goal that had driven him for
years and kept him motivated. But suddenly it was all over. He had accomplished
what he set out to do. And he had dreamed that when this finally took place, God’s
people would once again turn to God and serve Him. He believed that he would
cause everyone to turn to God and turn their back on Baal. But it did not happen.
Instead of seeing a great revival take place as he had imagined, Elijah simply
incurred the wrath of the woman who was behind the worship of Baal in the first
place – Queen Jezebel. King Ahab, who was the leader of Israel did not turn his
back on the evil and return to the Lord. He went and told his mother what had
happened, and she sent a message to Elijah telling him she was going to kill him.
You can read about what happened to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:2-8
2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods

do [to me], and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one
of them by to morrow about this time.
3 And when he saw [that], he arose, and ran for his life, and came to
Beersheba, which [belongs] to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came
and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that
he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life;
5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel
touched him, and said to him, Arise [and] eat.
6 And he looked, and, behold, [there was] a cake baked on the coals,
and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid
himself down again.7 And the angel of the LORD came again the
second time, and touched him, and said, Arise [and] eat; because the
journey [is] too great for you.
8 And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that
food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
Elijah showed all the signs of depression. He lost all of his enthusiasm and didn’t
feel like doing anything. He dumped his servant and went into the desert to be
alone. Then he sat down under a tree and did nothing. He didn’t want to live any
more. But he knew that it would be wrong to take his own life, so he asked the
Lord to take him. What a pitiful state this was for someone who had believed that
he could single handedly conquer all the enemies of God. Now he felt condemned
because he had failed.
You can see some of the other effects of depression in Elijah also. He was
overcome by extreme weariness, and wanted to just lie down and sleep all the
time. He had lost his appetite and was not eating anything. But God still had a job
for him to do, and He sent an angel to help him break out of his depression. We
will look at this more shortly, but you can see that the angel had to wake him and
make him eat something.
What had happened to Elijah? He had lost all of his goals because things did not
go the way he had expected them to. He had hoped that his efforts would lead to
recognition and acceptance by the people. But they seemed to have rejected what
he was saying and did not turn to God. And now he had no further goal to look
forward to. He had no reason to go on. He was afraid to try again in case he failed
again. So depression took control of him, and he wanted to sit down and die.
Two of Jesus’ disciples faced a similar temptation. Simon Peter who was one of
Jesus’ closest disciples had such high hopes of what he was going to do for the
Lord. He had visions of being a great leader and the one who would defend Jesus
to the end. But it all collapsed at his feet when he denied his Lord three times, and
saw his master being led to the cross to die. Now it was all over. All the hopes of
being one of Jesus’ right hand men when He became King were gone.
In the end he gave up all hope of being a great spiritual leader, and went back to
the fishing trade he was in when Jesus first called him. At least that was one thing
he was good at, and it gave him a sense of achievement. We will see later how
Jesus brought him out of his depression, and how we too can break free with the
Lord’s help.
Judas also must have had dreams about what it was going to be like as one of
Jesus’ disciples. But he messed things up badly. We are not sure if it was just his
greed for money that motivated him to betray Jesus, or whether it was an attempt
to force Jesus’ hand and make him become the king he had hoped Jesus would
be. But in the end his goals collapsed around him too, and he realized that he
would never see the things he had dreamed of. Depression took hold of him and
he went and hanged himself.
Reacting Incorrectly to Situations
We have actually seen this in all of the examples we have considered on

depression from the Scriptures. That is because the problem of depression is like
all other problems that we face in life. You can say it something like this.
It is not what happens that is the problem. It is the way we react

to what happens that is the problem.
OR
It is not the problem that is the problem, but it is the way we

handle the problem that is our problem.
Cain responded incorrectly to the problem of his gift not being accepted by God
and became depressed. God told him that it was not necessary for this to happen.
If he did right, he would be accepted. It was not only Jezebel’s threat to Elijah that
was the problem. It was when he ran away in fear and rejection, and gave up
trying to fight, that depression took over.
So you see it is not what happens to us that causes our depression, but it is the
way we respond to it that causes it to take hold of us. How should we respond to
problems? Well put simply – we should respond Scripturally. When we fail to
respond in a Scriptural way we open the door to depression and allow it to take
control of us.
Or to put it plainly, when you respond to the problems of life sinfully, you open the
door to depression. Sin brings a guilty conscience and this brings condemnation.
Condemnation in turns brings a sense of rejection. You do not feel accepted or
recognized. You feel like you have failed and that no one – not even God will
accept you. So you’re back to the first and basic cause of depression that we
mentioned above.
Triggering to Past Events
This is a study in itself, and if you want to understand the mechanics of how it
works, I would like to point you to my book The Way of Blessing found at GMR
Publishing. There I have covered the concept of sinful templates and emotional
triggers. But I will just mention here briefly how it works.
First let me describe the situation. You might find sometimes that you face a
particular set of circumstances in your life that cause negative emotions to
suddenly arise in you with no explanation for why you feel the way you do. You
suddenly become overwhelmed with feelings that you cannot control, and you do
not know where they are coming from.
A close examination of the situation you are in will often show that something has
happened, or a set of circumstances have come about that are very similar to
something that you faced before in the past. And as you examine your feelings,
you find that you are now feeling exactly the same way you felt when you were in
this situation before. Often you are not even aware of this and you cannot
remember the past event.
It is as though the past has suddenly surfaced again, and you are again living in
the same situation. This is something I call an emotional trigger, because it causes
certain emotions to be triggered off in you without you realizing where they are
coming from. Often just identifying what is happening will set you free. You realize
that what you are facing now is actually different to what you faced in the past.
And now you are more able to handle it, whereas back there you were ignorant in
some areas and made some mistakes.
I will deal with this in more detail when we look at the solutions for depression. For
now I can only offer the following guideline. If an emotion suddenly arises
unexpectedly that you cannot explain. If the feelings that are troubling you are very
strong and you cannot explain them or shake them. If no amount of praying seems
to remove them. Then suspect that you are experiencing a trigger. Have a close
look at your current circumstances and events, and see if something similar did
not happen to you in the past.
You will be amazed at how often you will find what you are looking for. And with
the Lord’s help you will more easily find it. And then the way to victory will be very
easy. Where this happens frequently and you keep finding negative emotions
arising, then you need to look deeper to identify certain ‘templates’ that exist within
you. These must be identified and dealt with before you can come to a place of
victory.
If you are a person who often suffers from depression, or tend to go through
phases of manic/depression, then there is a good chance that there is a template
from the past that needs to be identified and dealt with. The important thing is that
there is a solution. You do not need to be condemned to a life of negativity. You
can walk in the victory that the Lord has for you.
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The Solution to Depression
e saw in the first study what depression is. We looked at some of the
basic causes of depression and how it shows itself in our lives. Now the
most important part is overcoming it. Psychologists are known to suffer
from the problem of knowing what causes problems, but not offering any
clear solutions.
Before I look at the Scriptural solutions to Depression, I want to look at some of

the false ideas that people have about treating depression, and how this leads to
treatment methods that do not bring results.
False Assumptions
Many go astray where depression is concerned, or for that matter where any
spiritual/psychological problem is concerned, by assuming certain things that just
are not true. For the believer the standard must be clear. If it is not in the Word, or
does not line up with the Word, then you cannot accept it. So when the medical
profession makes an assumption and issues statements that are contrary to the
Word of God, we should not readily accept what they say.
We looked at some of the false ideas in our last study. I am going mention them
again here briefly, and show how they cannot help in bringing about a solution to
the problem.
Mental Illness
The idea of mental illness is acceptable only if a person has suffered an injury or
infection that has caused their brain to function incorrectly. In other words, a
person’s thinking capabilities are being affected by a physical problem. But this is
not what is meant by the term ‘mental illness.’ It is simply a term used to explain
away the fact that the medical profession does not know what the true cause of
the problem is.
But the Bible gives us a clear indication of where all problems lie. I have covered
this in my introductory studies to counseling, entitled The Cause of Problems and
God’s Solutions to Problems, which you are encouraged to read before attempting
to deal with this problem. But in a nutshell, God created man to function efficiently
provided he follows certain principles which God has clearly laid out in His Word.
When we violate those principles, we fail to be what we were designed to be, and
things start to go wrong.
Put simply, the basic cause of all problems in man is sin. Now if you would rather
have mental illness, I must warn you that there is no cure for mental illness. So
you will have to accept this problem and live with it the rest of your life. But if your
problem is caused by sin, then you have great hope. God has provided a solution
to the problem of sin. So you know there is a clear way out of your problem.
Physical Treatment
All of the physical treatments that are offered by the medical profession are
directed at the body. But the problem does not originate with the body. It comes
from much deeper than that. So when you treat the body, you do not deal with the
true cause of the problem. You are only dealing with the symptoms.
This is like driving along in your car and a warning light comes on to show you that
something is wrong in the engine. This is supposed to show you that you need to
check your engine. But some people seem to think that if you disconnect the light
so that it does not come on any more, this will solve the problem.
Medication
If I were to push a needle into your flesh it would cause a lot of pain. You could
deal with it by taking painkillers and drugs that stop your suffering. But the correct
solution would be to remove the needle from your flesh. Treating symptoms just
does not solve any problems. And any medication that is given to a person for the
treatment of depression is nothing more than an attempt to deal with the
symptoms.
Electroshock Therapy
One of the more severe treatments that is used in Psychiatry is the passing of a
high voltage through the brain. This causes seizure of many of the brain cells and
makes a person’s memory function less efficiently. That way they start to forget all
the things that are causing them trouble and enter into a make believe world
without pain and problems. Again the true problem has not been dealt with.
The Scriptural Solution

Before I look at some actual methods that we can use to deal with depression, I
just want to compare the Scriptural approach to the problem. The way that a
Christian should be dealing with any problem is not trying to hide or mask it by
dealing with the symptoms, but finding the true cause and overcoming it in a
Scriptural way.
Using the illustration above, it means finding the needle in your flesh and taking it
out. And then it involves developing an awareness of how these things enter and
keeping on guard to make sure that it doesn’t enter again. It is not enough to
overcome one attack of depression. You need to find out why you are always
getting depressed and learn to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Of course, since sin lies at the base of all problems, you need to realize that this is
going to be a lifelong fight. We are sinful creatures, and until Jesus comes and we
receive our glorified bodies, we are going to have to daily deal with sin in our lives.
But you do not have to let it rule over you. And when you fall, you can quickly learn
to pick yourself up again and get back into the fight.
Methods for Overcoming Depression
Let’s look then finally, at some methods that we can use to overcome depression.
We are going to approach it from a Biblical point of view and use the Bible and the
Holy Spirit to deal with the problem. This is all the believer ever needs to deal with
anything in life. – the Spirit and the Word.
Identifying the Problem Patterns

Finding the Scriptural Alternatives
Finding a person to help.
Identifying the Problem Patterns
You have to find the true cause of your depression before you can even begin to
overcome it. Let’s go back to the basic causes we discussed in the first study and
see where we should be looking.
Failure to Obtain Recognition or Acceptance
A good place to start would be to look back on the events that led up to the start of
the depression that you are suffering with at the moment. Were you trying to
accomplish anything or help someone? Did you perhaps fail in your attempts, or
make a fool of yourself? Did people start to turn against you because of something
you said or did? Were you rejected by someone?
This is usually the starting point of depression. We all go through life doing things
that will get people to accept or recognize us. Sometimes it is just a sense of
satisfaction that you look for, a sense of personal accomplishment. If you look
carefully at what has happened, you will probably find an area where you failed to
do this.
Failure to Attain a Goal or No Clear Future Goals
This is just another variation of the first, but it might look different. Did you perhaps
try to shoot for the stars and fail to take off? Maybe you had big visions and plans
of things you were going to do. And now they have all collapsed at your feet.
Maybe there isn’t enough money to do what you were planning to do. Or maybe
someone interfered with it and now you cannot go on.
Perhaps you had a vision for the work of the Lord – something you believe the
Lord wanted you to do. But it did not work out. And now you are not sure where
you should go from here. Maybe you wanted to do something to impress your
spouse, but you blew it and your hopes have been dashed. Whatever the case,
you are now sitting moping around wondering where to go from here.
Triggering to Past Events
This one is a bit more subtle, and should be looked for only if you cannot find
anything in the first two. If there is no logical explanation for the way you feel and
you cannot break free, then suspect that it is a trigger. Sit down and let your mind
go back to the events of the past. Have you ever been in a similar situation to this
before?
Perhaps something new took place in your life, or someone new entered the
picture. The chances are this new thing reminds you of something that happened
a long time ago, that you might even have forgotten. Look to the Lord for help on
this and then let your mind flow back over the past. Don’t try to strain your mind,
but just let the past float gently to the surface.
It will usually come to you as a clear revelation, and when it does, you will be set
free. You will suddenly realize that this thing is reminding you of a time back there
when you also felt the way you are feeling right now. And as you look at your
current events or circumstances, you will be amazed at how many similarities
there are between them.
But now things are different. You have learned a bit since the last time this
happened. You are in a better position to handle it now. So the past does not have
to be the present. You can change it. You don’t have to suffer with the same pain
as before.
Finding the Scriptural Alternatives

The Scriptures give us alternatives to all wrong behavior patterns in our lives. Paul
gives us a list for example in Ephesians 4, of various things we need to put off and
put on. Since we are looking at depression specifically here, I am going to deal
with some Scriptural solutions and alternatives. Perhaps a good place to start
would be the examples we looked at in our last study of people who were
depressed.
Cain
We saw that Cain became depressed because God rejected his sacrifice. When
he complained to God, he was given a solution. God said to him in Genesis 4:6-7
6 And the LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry? and why has your
face fallen?
7 If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not do well,
sin lies at the door. And to you [shall be] his desire, and you shall rule
over him.
The bottom line was that Cain had been rejected because he did not do things the
right way. There was a standard he needed to stick to. God promised that if he did
it right, he would be accepted. But the other alternative is that he would give in to
sin, and come under its control.
If you are responding to rejection or failure in depression, then you need to

examine your motives and see if they line up with the Word of God. Were you
trying to accomplish something that acknowledges and brings glory to the Lord? If
you were, then you have done right and you will be honored for it. Perhaps this
honor will not come from man, but it will certainly come from the Lord. And He will
make sure that you are vindicated in the sight of man.
But if your motive was selfish and left the Lord out of the picture, then you must
watch out. Sin is ready to control you. And if you open the door to your feelings
and continue to wallow in self-pity, you are inviting the enemy of your soul to
destroy you. You will end up doing something that you regret afterwards, like Cain.
Elijah
Elijah had stood firm for the Lord, and he had done a great job. The problem here
was not that he had failed, but that he thought that he had failed. Also he expected
things to turn out differently to the way they did. But God had some clear ways of
bringing him out of his depression. Let’s look at a few of them.
He let him rest
Sleep is one of the best relievers of stress. It is the method that God has built into
us to let us get all the energy of stress out of us. The chances are that Elijah had
not had much sleep when he was preparing to face the prophets of Baal. Now he
was exhausted and suffering ‘burn out.’ He needed to sleep. And the sleep that is
of the greatest benefit is the sleep in which we dream.
This is the sleep that has become known as Rapid Eye Movement (R.E.M.) sleep.
It occurs mostly towards the end of our sleep cycle before we wake up, so it is
good to have lengthy periods of sleep to get the most out of it. If you are suffering
from depression, then sleep is one of the best things you can do.
He made him eat
Your body needs strength, and when you are depressed, you tend to lose your
appetite. Elijah was woken up twice by an angel and told to eat. We are not sure
what he ate, but it was clearly something that God provided to give him extra
strength. If you are depressed then it is good to strengthen your body with healthy
food and vitamins that are necessary to perk you up.
You see, God wants us to be efficient in spirit and soul and body. So if you are
going to be all He wants you to be, then you must deal with all three, not just the
one. And the body is important in your recovery from depression. A healthy body
enables you to function in a way that gives you new hope, because then you can
do the things you are wanting to do, and that God wants you to do.
He made him exercise
God told Elijah to go up to the mountain of God and wait before the Lord. This was
not just a little hill, it was a mountain. I’m not sure what was involved in climbing a
mountain those days, but you can be sure that it would have taken a bit of effort. I
imagine that Elijah was quite well exercised by the time he got to the top.
Exercise has an amazing way of dealing with our emotional state. Some people
major on this and exercise just for the effect that it creates. I don’t know the
medical or scientific implications, but from what I can gather, the body gives out a
certain chemical during exercise that gives a boost and a sense of well being, a bit
like a drug. Exercise junkies push themselves until they get this high because it is
such a wonderful feeling.
God certainly knows that we need to feel good, and our physical condition plays a
large part on our victory over depression. Exercise is one of the methods we can
use to get there.
He spoke to him
A depressed person needs someone to talk to who can see things from a clear
perspective. You need to talk to someone who will not only listen and sympathize
with you, but will sympathetically disagree with the wrong way you have
approached things. Let’s see how God did it with Elijah. You can read about it in 1
Kings 19
9 And he came there to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the
word of the LORD [came] to him, and he said to him, What are you
doing here, Elijah?
Notice that God did not condemn him or put him down. He simply asked him a
question. What are you doing here?
10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts:
for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down
your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, [even] I
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Elijah gave his answer to God’s question, which showed quite clearly that he did
not have all the facts. He thought that he had failed. His motives had been pure.
He wanted to glorify God not himself. But he thought that he was all alone in this,
and that no one else supported him. He needed some words of encouragement
and also a new direction.
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the
LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong
wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the
LORD; [but] the LORD [was] not in the wind: and after the wind an
earthquake; [but] the LORD [was] not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; [but] the LORD [was] not in the
fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
Elijah was looking for God in the wrong places. He was expecting this great
manifestation of the power of God. This is what he saw when he faced the
prophets of Baal on Carmel. He had called fire down from heaven, and then he
prayed for the rain. After that he outran the chariot. Now he was probably
expecting a great move of God’s power on the people and some spectacular
results.
This is one of the big mistakes we make that lead to depression. We try to assume
how things will go. We want to tell the Lord how our lives should come together.
And when it doesn’t come the way we expected, we think that God did not hear, or
does not care. But we don’t see what is taking place behind the scenes.
God came to Elijah in a still small voice. He did not need to look out there for God,
because God was inside of him. The same thing applies to you. Perhaps you are
wanting a prophet of God to come with a great word of revelation for you. Or you
are wanting some miraculous sign from heaven. But you need only look into your
own heart. That is where He lives by His Spirit.
15 And the LORD said to him, Go, return on your way to the
wilderness of Damascus: and when you come, anoint Hazael [to be]
king over Syria:
16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint [to be] king over
Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shall you anoint
[to be] prophet in your place.
17 And it shall come to pass, [that] he that escapes the sword of
Hazael shall Jehu slay: and he that escapes from the sword of Jehu
shall Elisha slay.
Elijah needed a new goal to aim for. He needed a new direction. A depressed
person has no future goals. They don’t know what to do next. So if you want to
break free, you need to set some new goals. You need something new to get
excited about. You need something to aim for. God gave Elijah some very clear
instructions on what he should do.
This is one of the best ways of getting your eyes off yourself and getting involved
in something that will break you free of depression. Depression makes you sit
around and do nothing. You need some activity to get into. And the best kind of
activity is helping someone else. Elijah had a job to do, and each one involved
giving of what he had to someone who wanted it.
He was to go out and give out the anointing that was upon him. He was to take his
eyes off his own needs and start looking at the needs of others. When you do this
you open the doors to the blessing of God in your life. The wonderful thing about
helping others, is that it seldom leads to rejection. People will gladly accept
unselfish love.
So one of the best methods for breaking free of depression, is to see the needs of
people around you, and go out and try to meet those needs in love. You change
your orientation to an outgoing one, where you put others first instead of yourself.
Depression is wallowing in self-pity. Giving out to others takes your mind off
yourself and it brings the joy that is found in giving. It is always more blessed to
give than to receive.
18 Yet I have left [myself] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees
which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed
him.
The final word of encouragement that God gives to Elijah, is that he is not alone.
God has been working, and he finds that there are actually another seven
thousand people who still serve God. He had not failed at all. He had been faithful
to do what the Lord had called him to do.
The Healing Presence of the Lord

Removing depression is not simply a matter of applying a formula and getting
results. Depression is caused by people, and true healing can only be brought
about by another person. We saw how God dealt with Cain and Elijah to bring
about a removal of depression. Elijah broke free immediately and went out boldly
to do what God told him. And after that he went out in a blaze of glory, as he rode
up to heaven in a chariot of fire.
You need the help of someone else to break free of depression. It is something
you cannot easily break out of alone. You need someone who understands and
does not condemn. You need someone who cares enough to get involved in your
life with you. You need someone who can disagree with you in love. You need
someone who can give you clear direction on what to do.
It is important that you find someone who can hear the voice of God and can
speak His word to you. If you are married, then the ideal person is your spouse.
You should be able to share your innermost feelings with the person you married
and ask them to help you. If this is not possible, then you have to find someone
else who can fit the bill.
Ultimately, you need to get into the presence of the Lord and hear His voice. But if
you are depressed, then the chances are you are either not hearing his voice or
you are not paying attention to it. I have published several articles dealing with
how to hear the voice of God. Perhaps you might want to read the chapter in my
book The Way of Blessing, entitled "How to be Led by the Spirit." This gives some
pointers on how to hear the voice of the Lord.
But until you can hear his voice and know that He is speaking to you, it is
necessary that you find someone else who can listen for you and speak His words
to you. Because it is only the healing words of the Lord that can set you free from
your depression. The reason for this is that it is only the Lord who always accepts
us without any conditions. It is only He who never condemns, but always has
something good and positive to say to us.
It is only He who forgives and gives a clear direction for us. He knows the end
from the beginning. He knows you even better than you know yourself. So He can
tell you the things you need to hear. He can tell you where you should go from
here. He can tell you the best set of actions to carry out right now. He will give you
a ministry task that will take your eyes off yourself and get you back on the road.
Peter
I want to end this study with one of the best passages on healing of hurts and
overcoming depression that there is. It shows the Master at work, doing what only
He does best. We saw how God worked with Elijah and helped him to break free
of his depression. Now I want to show you how Jesus did it with his favorite
disciple, the apostle Peter.
You will find a description of it in John 21:15-17
15 So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, [son]
of Jonas, do you love me more than these [others] ? He said to him,
Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs.
16 He said to him again the second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, do
you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He
said to him, Feed my sheep.
17 He said to him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, do you love
me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you
love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things; you know
that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.
Remember that Peter had been the one with great dreams about serving the Lord
and even dying for Him. But he had failed miserably. He had denied his Lord three
times. He felt a total failure, and he was probably sure that the Lord would reject
him now. Perhaps Jesus would forgive him, but there was no way he could ever
still become the great leader and preacher that he had hoped. How could the Lord
trust him again after what he did? He was no different to Judas.
But Jesus took the very failures of Peter and turned them around. Interestingly
Jesus performed the very same miracle that day that He did when He first called
Peter. He caused them to catch a whole net full of fishes. And then, after they had
eaten, Jesus spoke to Peter. And He showed Peter that He had not only forgiven
him, but still trusted him.
Peter had denied the Lord three times. And three times Jesus asked Peter the
question, "Do you love me?" And three times, as Peter answered yes, Jesus gave
him a new job to do. Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep. Peter
was given a new goal to aim for. Jesus made him take his eyes off himself and let
love control him.
You see love is the key to overcoming depression. It is love burning in your heart,
both for the Lord and for others, that will cause you to take your eyes off yourself
and start to reach out. You will be motivated by your love for the Lord, and
knowing that He truly loves you.
The wonderful thing about the Lord Jesus, is that He never condemns. I know,
because I have walked and talked with Him for many years, and I have never
known Him to condemn or reject me, even when I have failed miserably. So if you
want to break free of depression, try running to Him. You will be amazed at how
He accepts you and recognizes you. He trusts you enough to give you a job to do.
He will set your heart on fire to do great things for Him and you will not have time
to mope around.
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Détente
By Bill Jacob
first heard the word détente during the Vietnam war. I never really knew
what it meant until recently when the lord started to bring it to my
attention. Détente means a relaxing from tension. Our country seemed
divided on the issue of Vietnam. Scripture tells us that a house divided
cannot stand. Détente was never an issue in world war 1 or 2, or in the Korean
war. Each war had a high level of tension. And every battlefield has a different
kind of tension for those who are involved in it. Even so, between the kingdom of
god and the kingdom of darkness there is tension. There are battles to be fought,
wars to be won, people to be saved, and bodies to be healed.
The word of god does not contain the word détente. It rather puts a line in the
sand and says; "he who is not with me is against me" (Matthew 2:30a) Or how
about 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion
has light with darkness?" In the Kingdom of God there is no détente!! We don't sit
down at the bargaining table with the devil. There are no deals that can be made
with the father of lies. But if we're going to be real then we will have to admit that,
yes we have sat at the devil's bargaining table and have been entrapped into
some compromises.
Maybe I do live too close to the world. Maybe I do have one foot in and one foot
out. Maybe I do have an occasional drink. Maybe I do watch some movies that are
not good for me and my family. Maybe I don't witness. Maybe I don't read the
word. So I don't pray too often. Maybe I do hold a chip on my shoulder against
others. There's a form of godliness that denies God's power! 2 Timothy 3:5 this is
détente!!!
If you fit in any of these maybe's, you're active in spiritual warfare. You've been
lied to and deceived into believe something contrary to the Word of God. He has
made us more than conqueror’s in Christ Jesus. Whose report will you believe?
You can do all things through Christ Jesus! Though a man falls seven times, yet
he will get up again. Get up!!!!!!!!! Guilt and condemnation are not from God, He is
the God of second chances. Take a chance and trust Him again. What He has
started, He will finish. You have a purpose in life, even if you have failed
miserably, get up! Start again! Don't let the devil keep you down. Get mad at him
and fight. Get someone to pray with. Get out of the dungeon you've allowed
yourself to get in. Receive a fresh anointing. That means, let God be your
strength. Surrender to Jesus.
The Lord is building an army of people who will forsake every excuse. He's putting
his axe to the root of selfishness. "you therefore must endure hardship as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ." No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the
affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. (2
Timothy 2:3,4) That he may please Him, there's that axe to selfishness. There are
too many self-pleasers in the Kingdom. How can God recruit an army of people if
we are still living like we were when we were in the world. Not everyone is called
to the front lines. Not everyone is called to be a warrior. But if you are, you'd better
consider the price. For there is a cross to be carried in the battlefield.
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Indestructible.

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Divorce and Remarriage
arrived home one night to find my children perturbed and concerned.

They had not seen their mother since arriving home from school and
noticed also that the dogs were missing. The electricity bill had not been
paid and the power had been cut off. Since it was now getting dark and
it was the middle of winter, there was an atmosphere of total gloom in the home.
A closer examination of our room showed that a suitcase had been packed and
removed. My greatest fears began to take on reality, but there was no sign of a
note or any indication of where she had gone. Calls to friends and relatives
yielded no clues as to what had happened.
That night my three daughters and I slept together in the same bed, trying to keep
warm and encourage each other. In the middle of the night, by candle light, I
discovered the note. It was scribbled in pencil on a small piece of paper and
revealed nothing except the fact that she felt she needed to get away alone and
get her thoughts together. Five days of confusion and pain followed before I finally
found out what had happened, and by then it was too late. Someone else had
claimed my place in her heart and she no longer wanted to be with us.
Thus began the time of greatest grief I have ever experienced, leading to the most
traumatic event in my life. Divorce! The 'D' Word. The unthinkable in the life of a
believer and a minister of the Gospel to boot. I remembered how years back the
kids would say to us, "Dad what would happen if you and Mom were divorced?"
My reply was quick and confident, "Don't even think about it. It will never happen."
But it did. And I found out that believers, even preachers, are not immune to the
ravages of sin. For the first time I fully understood what people went through
when their marriages broke up. I realized that divorcees needed to be viewed with
compassion and not condemnation. And I learned a few things about both
marriage and divorce that I had never learned before, in spite of my extensive
studies in the realm of counseling.
I am not going to go into the details of my story, since that is the past and it is
gone, but I want to be able to help you work through some of the problems which
are associated with divorce, so I am going to try to identify with you every now and
then by sharing some of my experiences and what the Lord taught me through
them. Having come successfully through the trauma of divorce, the Lord has
often led me and the new wife He has given me to minister to others who have
had to face it.
Although in the past it has commonly been the womenfolk who have faced this
situation more than the men, there is an increasing incidence in today's society of
men having to face the trauma of desertion and single parenthood. Since this was
my experience I will be writing from this perspective. I know that this might not
enable me to fully understand the predicament of a women who is divorced, but I
will be covering principles that apply to both. I have found that divorce leaves a
similar mark on both sexes, and after the experience I could easily relate to both
men and women who had experienced it. The effects are the same. So is the
pain.
Although this will not be a very detailed discussion on the subject (we could write a
whole book on it), I hope to cover all of the main aspects involved, and we will be
looking at the subject under the following headings.
Table of Contents
Emotions of Divorce
The Grief of Divorce
The Bitterness of Divorce
The Loneliness of Divorce
The Guilt of Divorce
Breaking Free
Severing the Bond
Building New Goals
Remarriage
Finding the Right Partner
Templates and Triggers
The Children
Emotions of Divorce
In this section I am going to deal with the most difficult part of divorce - the
feelings that are generated in a divorcee. Feelings are always the most difficult
things to deal with. Even though you might be able to understand what has
happened and try to explain it all, the feelings are still there. And feelings are
beyond the control of our wills. So I am going to try to help you to deal with your
feelings in this section.
The Grief of Divorce
Divorce is very similar to losing a person through death - only worse. In death
the person never returns, and time heals. But with divorce the person remains
and is continually there. Instead of the pain healing with time, it can be like a
festering sore that is stirred up every time you see or interact with the person. But
it does not need to continue. This section will help you deal with the grief process
that accompanies divorce.
You probably did not think that this could happen to you, especially if you are a
committed Christian. And certainly the chances are it took you by surprise. You
have suddenly lost someone who has been part of your life over a long period of
time. The effects are very similar to loss by death. Your whole life is shaken up
and could be coming apart at the seams. You are confused, angry, disappointed,
afraid and all churned up inside. The divorce decree has made it final. There is
no going back now. It is over, and it still seems like a bad dream that you wish
would stop.
You will go through various stages similar to bereavement, but the most difficult
thing is going to be letting go. You may find yourself reviewing times together, but
the greatest pain is likely to come where your partner was unfaithful to you. You
keep thinking about him or her with someone else, and it tears you apart.
Dealing with these feelings of grief is something that you cannot handle alone.
You need the Holy Spirit to intervene in your life. You need to Lord to give you a
fresh vision for the future. But the most important thing is that you must make a
choice to put the past behind you. There will be things that remind you of your ex
and your past marriage and bring back the pain. So you have to break all links
with the past. That means you have to get rid of everything that reminds you of
the past. This is a different to a person who is bereaved. They want to retain the
happy memories they had with the departed loved one. But the divorcee cannot
afford this luxury. The past memories must be erased for the pain to stop.
Here is where wisdom is needed. It is possible that the divorce may not be final, in
that your ex has not remarried and could return to you. There is a possibility that
reconciliation may be accomplished. It that be the case, then you have to change
the image of your mind. You must not grieve as though you have lost a loved one,
but you must see the marriage restored. It is important here to know God's
purpose in the matter. You need to know if God is telling you to believe for
restoration or not.
In my own experience the Lord indicated that my wife had become a withered
branch and needed to be removed. He promised that He would graft a new
branch in its place that would be fruitful. God is concerned about His Kingdom,
and this carries greater priority than a faulty marriage relationship. Where
restoration of the relationship would stand in the way of God's purpose and calling
in a person's life it cannot be God's purpose to restore. Where one partner
interferes with God's calling and refuses to be part of it, God will woo and do many
things to bring that partner into order. But where such a person rejects God's
purpose to the point of breaking the marriage bond, it would be foolish to seek
God for restoration on the relationship.
It is true that God can change such a person, and where this happens, a
restoration can take place. In my experience God had placed a joint call on both
partners and one had refused to comply with that call. So when my ex wife left,
and refused to be reconciled, the Lord told me to let her go, and cut off the
withered branch. He promised that He would graft in a new branch that would
bear fruit. And this He did, supplying a wife that would fully accept and move into
the joint call that He had placed.
However I did not follow this procedure until I had made every possible effort to
bring about reconciliation. I followed every Scriptural principle to restore the
marriage. Then I took a stand that I wanted a new wife, who would comply with the
call of God. I gave my ex wife the opportunity to become that new wife if she
chose to. Then when every effort had failed, and she refused to comply, I gave
her the release that she desired. She remarried a week after the divorce decree,
leaving me free to look to the Lord for the wife He had promised me. And within
three months the Lord answered my prayer and faith.
If you find yourself now in the position of being divorced, you need to seek the
Lord for His purpose in this matter and follow His will for your life. If there is no
possibility for reconciliation, then put your previous marriage behind you. Get rid
of every sentimental object that reminds you of your ex. Get rid especially of any
letters that were written by him or her. These carry the spirit of the person you
were married to and will continue to maintain a spiritual link with that person. If
you have children they might want pictures of your previous marriage and your ex
spouse. Otherwise get rid of them. They are links with the past.
table of contents
The Bitterness of Divorce
No divorce can take place without some form of bitterness being generated.
Whether it be bitterness against the ex marriage partner, or against a third party
that contributed to the breakdown on the marriage, it is always there. I will show
you here what the Scriptures teach concerning dealing with bitterness, and how
this may be removed from your life.
One of the most difficult things to deal with in divorce is the unfaithfulness of your
ex spouse. The thought of him or her being with someone else can be almost
unbearable. You might find yourself wallowing and moping thinking about it. This
will continue until you have let go of the bitterness. And the only way you can do
this is to forgive both the ex spouse and the other person. You might find it
possible to forgive your ex, but forgiving the person who destroyed your marriage
is going to be a little more difficult. Notice I said difficult, not impossible. Because
with God all things are possible.
I want to give you a few guidelines here on forgiveness that are absolutely
essential if you are going to break free of the bitterness and stop the pain. I have
a full study on forgiveness that will be available separately under the counseling
section, but I just want to give you a few of the basic principles here.
Forgiveness is not a feeling it is a choice. Most people have a problem with
forgiveness because they think that it means changing the way they feel. You
cannot change your emotions by an act of your will. You are just not made that
way. There are ways of dealing with the emotions that I have covered
elsewhere, but the bottom line here is that forgiveness is something you
choose to do, not something you feel. It is an act of the will. You choose to let
go of the bitterness and forgive the person. Usually you will have to oppose
your feelings to do this.
Forgiveness must be expressed verbally. You have to speak forgiveness
before it becomes effective. The best way to do this is to speak to the person
who offended you and tell them that you forgive them. It is going to be easier
for you to do this if the person has asked your forgiveness, but this does not
always happen. You need to tell your ex spouse that you forgive him or her for
what they did. If you cannot do this, then you must pray and verbally declare
before the Lord, "Father I forgive ..... for what he/she did."
Forgiveness means not bringing the matter up again. Once you have
made a choice to forgive and you have expressed that forgiveness, you need
to make an effort to bury the past and not bring it up again. I hesitate to even
speak of some of my own experiences here, because they make it appear that
I still have anger or bitterness. They also tend to make me person look like I
am totally innocent in everything. Remember that there are always two sides
to every problem in a relationship and it is easy to find failure on both sides if
you look for it.
I found that when I forgave my ex spouse and the person who it appeared had
broken up our marriage, the pain stopped. I was finally able to let go of what had
happened, and they even became my friends instead of enemies. So much so
that later when I remarried, my new wife and ex wife got along together so well
that they even ran a business together in partnership for a while. God is able to
do wonderful things when you are prepared to do things His way. Jesus prayed
on the cross for the very ones who were crucifying Him. And by His grace we can
do the same if we want to. It is simply a matter of choice.
You have to make that choice. And if you refuse to do it the pain will go on, and
you will never be able to break free. Neither will you be able to enter into a future
marriage successfully. I will speak more about this in the section on remarriage.
table of contents
The Loneliness of Divorce

We tend to take our marriage partner for granted until that person is no longer
there. Having someone with you is something you have been used to, even if the
marriage was in trouble. Now suddenly you are alone, and the loneliness can
become overwhelming. I want to look here at some ways of dealing with the
loneliness.
When God made man, He made him a single unit originally - a complete person,
having both masculine and feminine qualities. Then later God put Adam to sleep
and removed half of him and made it into the perfect partner. He created two
different people, one having mostly masculine qualities and one having mostly
feminine qualities. Now as the two came together as one, they pooled their
resources and became a complete person. This is the way the Lord has made
us. We are incomplete without a partner who compliments us in every way. The
strengths and weaknesses of each combine together to make a complete person.
Every married couple learns to flow together in way that each one's qualities offset
the other person's. You learn to use the strengths in your partner that make up for
your weaknesses. This is why it is usually opposite temperaments that attract.
This is a fascinating subject in itself, but I will leave that for another place. When
you have lived with someone for a long period of time, you have learned to adapt
to each other too pool your resources. But when divorce occurs you are suddenly
left with half of you missing. The strengths that you relied on in the other person
are no longer there. Instead all you are left with are your own weaknesses in that
area.
Perhaps your partner had a better capability with finances and managed the
budget every month. Now you have to learn to do it yourself. This is especially
difficult for a woman who had a husband who took care of most of the decision
making and handling of problems. Now she is left alone and has to do things she
never did before. Perhaps the husband has been left with the children and now
he suddenly has to learn how to deal with children, whereas that was always the
responsibility of the mother before. I will speak more about this later in dealing
with single parenting.
Before being alone over weekends was not a big deal. Even if you were just
watching TV, there was always someone there to keep you company in the
background. Now the house is deserted. The bed space next to you is empty at
night. When you go to church you sit alone. If you eat at a restaurant you feel
awkward because you sit alone at a table. And it seems that everywhere you go,
there are couples holding hands and spending time together. You are half a
person, walking around in a daze and wondering what purpose your life has.
Then there are other stresses. The marriage relationship brought release from the
sexual tensions that everyone faces. Now there is no partner to fulfill the physical
needs. There is no one to come home to at night. There is no one at the
breakfast table in the morning. Suddenly all the little things that you took for
granted before are taken away from you. You float around aimlessly dreaming of
what was and what could have been, and what might be in the future. This is the
greatest pain of divorce.
For the believer there is only One who can truly help you to cope with this.
Whether you are male or female, it is only the Lord who can in some way fill the
aching gap that is in your heart. Now is the time to get to know Him in a way you
have never known Him before. Now is the time to learn to hear His voice. It might
be the only voice of comfort that is available to you. He will be able to give you
strength to overcome your weaknesses. He will give you wisdom when you do not
know where to turn.
It could be that you learned to become too dependent on your spouse instead of
the Lord. You needed your partner too much, and that is why the loneliness is so
severe. That might even be part of the problem in your marriage. Perhaps it was
not truly a love relationship, but a need relationship. Perhaps your need for your
partner was greater than your love. Perhaps your ex was weary of catering to your
needs all the time and found someone to cater to his or her needs. These are
things you need to take a long look at now that you are alone. This is especially
important before you think of entering into a new marriage. You might find history
repeating itself.
table of contents
The Guilt of Divorce
Perhaps you were a direct cause for the divorce, perhaps you were not. Either
way, there will always be a sense of "Perhaps there was something I should have
done, or not done." This guilt can eat away at you and lead to severe depression
and discouragement. I want to show you here how to deal with the accusation
that comes from your own conscience and perhaps from others.
Along with the tendency for divorcees to be bitter comes the tendency to either
carry a load of guilt or pass the guilt onto the ex spouse. Often you swing from
one end of the pendulum to the other. You start out by feeling guilty for not saving
your marriage, then you cover it up by passing all the blame to the other partner. I
am going to deal first with your own guilt. And here I want to add more to what I
said before about forgiveness. I dealt earlier with learning to speak forgiveness to
those who have hurt you. But it is also necessary that you obtain forgiveness.
It is important that you go about this the right way before you can put everything to
rest. I want to firstly consider some of the ways you must not seek to obtain
forgiveness. These are strictly a no-no if you want to do it the Scriptural way.
I'm sorry. Usually when a person says this they are not really showing a
repentant attitude at all. In fact they probably still think they did right. But they
are sorry for the consequences of their actions, and are trying to bring peace
and relief from this. It is like a person saying sorry when they get caught, but
otherwise hiding their sin.
I repent. This is basically the same as the first. It is getting closer to admitting
failure, but it misses the most important thing of all - forgiveness from the
person you offended. Usually the person will respond by saying something
like, "Oh that's OK, forget it." They are not fighting with you about it any more,
but you still carry the guilt of what you did.
I was wrong but so were you. This is an attempt to justify your behavior and
make excuses to cover up your failures. All this does is produce further conflict
All of the above methods of seeking forgiveness leave you in an unbalanced

position. It might resolve the conflict you have with the person, but it leaves you
with a sense of guilt. You might have confessed your failures to the Lord and you
know that He has forgiven you, but you cannot forgive yourself for where you
failed. There is only one clear Scriptural way to obtain forgiveness, and that is to
do what Jesus said.
Matthew 7:3 And why do you look at the splinter that is in your
brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye?
You have to look at your beam first. So you approach it by identifying your failure.
Then when you approach the person to ask forgiveness, you do it like this.
I was wrong in ...(say exactly what you did that was wrong).
Please would you forgive me?
This causes two things to fall into place.
Firstly it is clear to the person what you are asking forgiveness for.
And secondly it forces them to make a choice in forgiving you specifically.
If you do it this way you can put to sleep the things that are bothering you and you
can break free of the guilt of your failures that led to the divorce. Of course if you
had done some of this before the divorce took place, you might have been able to
prevent the divorce from taking place. But that is another matter altogether. We
will cover that under marital problems.
table of contents
Breaking Free
Severing the Bond
The marriage bond is more than what was created when you spoke your vows
and were pronounced husband and wife by the marriage officer. It is a spiritual
thing. And since the bond is spiritual, there is no divorce court or Judge that is
able to break it. A divorce decree does not break the bond that was created
between you and your ex. It has to be dealt with separately or you will never be
free of the past and the pain will continue.
There is a Scripture that Jesus spoke that has been greatly misunderstood by
many who refuse to acknowledge that divorce may take place between believers.
Matthew 19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and
mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they two shall be one flesh?
6 Therefore they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore
God has joined together, let not man put apart.
What Jesus was actually saying here is that man cannot put apart what God has
joined. It is only God who can do that. The question then is "Is it the marriage
officer who puts the two together when he performs the ceremony?" No, this was
only a civil ceremony to abide by the laws of the country. It is the unity of two
people as one that takes place when they become one flesh that constitutes the
marriage bond. What happens is not just a physical act. It is a communion of
spirits that takes place. A bond is created spiritually by the Spirit of God. God
joins the two together to make them no longer one person, but two.
Once this takes place, who has the right to cause a division of the marriage bond?
Is it the divorce court, or an ungodly judge that issues a decree of divorce?
Absolutely not. Since it is God that created the spiritual bond that constitutes a
true marriage, it is only God that can destroy that bond. Why is it that people are
quick to go to church to get married, but turn to the world to get divorced?
Let me tell what happened in my case. Perhaps you might think this absurd and
you might wonder if I am into heresy, but at the risk of being misunderstood I am
going to share it with you. Before I proceeded to grant my ex wife the liberty she
desired, I did my best to bring about reconciliation. The Lord had told me to cut off
the withered branch and He would graft in a new one. When I finally realized that
she was not going to return but wanted to be released from the marriage, I came
to a decision to break the marriage bond, in accordance with what the Lord had
told me to do.
I called my children together, and announced to them that I was going to proceed
with a divorce. Then we joined together in prayer and I gave my ex wife to the
Lord. I prayed and asked the Lord to remove her from me. Up until then we were
still so one in the spirit that I could often feel her conflicts and suffered with her. I
could not break free of the pain of having her with someone else. There was still a
bond in the spirit between us. So I asked the Lord to cut the cord and break the
bond. My children were witnesses to my declaration before the Lord. In the name
of Jesus, I cut the cord that tied us together, and immediately I became aware in
the Spirit of the branch dying and withering away.
Immediately I felt a release such as I had never had up until that time. It was as
though I could feel the branch withering away and dying. The memories no longer
hurt me. I felt that I could release her in love to go to someone else. It was at that
point that my divorce occurred, even though it was only about six weeks later that
a judge pronounced the decree that legally ended my marriage. My wife was with
me when the decree was issued. It was not planned that way, but it seemed like
the Lord arranged it that way, because she had to be present to countersign an
alteration to our divorce agreement where the children were concerned.
After the official divorce I had my last opportunity to be alone with her and to clear
up any remaining misunderstandings. I took her to her new home, and together
with her future husband and the children, we stood together and held hands as we
committed ourselves to the Lord and placed our future in His hands. A week later
she was remarried and that signaled the final death knell to a sixteen year
marriage.
Now I was free to look to the Lord for the new branch that He had promised me.
And He showed me the kind of wife He had for me. I gave Him my desires and He
promised me that He would give me not only my desires but far more. He told me
that as I was prepared to give up what I loved the most in life for the sake of His
Kingdom, He would give me the best He had to offer. The rest of the story is in
our article Finding the Perfect Partner. He truly honored His word and did exactly
as He had promised.
Since that time I have learned that there are so many divorced Christians that
have never been properly divorced. They have been through the divorce courts,
but have never severed the spiritual link with the their spouse. You will see these
people entering second, third and even more marriages, and they are unable to
settle down into a successful marriage. The main reason for this is that they are
still bound to their first spouse. God has not yet broken them apart in the Spirit.
table of contents
Building New Goals
Your life goals before included the person who is now your ex. Now suddenly
that person is removed from the picture you had built in your mind. This leaves
you confused and directionless. It is necessary to build new goals before your life
can get back on beam again. If you do not set new goals you wander about
aimlessly not knowing what to do with your life. Men have been known to become
homeless tramps when they have lost their wife. They have nothing to strive for
any more. They have no more goals in life and try to escape into another world.
This is the same problem that a person faces when they lose someone in death. It
can lead to depression and no clear life goals. You have had visions of growing
old together with this person, and now they are no longer in the picture. So you
have to set new goals. Your plans for the home, for the family, for your job, are all
affected by this change. So now you must sit down make new plans for the
immediate future and for the long distant future. Where do you see yourself in the
next few months? Where do you see yourself the next couple of years? Some of
these things are difficult to decide because you are not sure whether you will
marry again.
So this should come first on your list of goals. Many who suffer a divorce are too
afraid to enter into another marriage in case it doesn't work out. Often they end up
only having a physical relationship with someone without the finality of marriage.
For the Christian this is totally unacceptable. The fact that your previous marriage
failed does not mean that you have to go through the same experience again. If
you put the Lord at the centre of your life, then you cannot even entertain that
idea. If God is first in your life and first in your new marriage, then there is no
reason to fear. You can enter into the new marriage without making the same
mistakes as before. That is going to be part of the goals you will set.
If you have custody of children from the divorce then you are going to also have to
take them into account in your future goals. A lot of things in your life are going to
change. You must set your goals to take all of these into account. You need to
examine all the areas that you failed in your last marriage. You need to be honest
with yourself and identify all the things in your life that need to be dealt with. Then
you need to submit your goals to the Lord for His approval. And once you know
that He approves, go all out to put them into action.
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Remarriage
Finding the Right Partner
You have not had to worry about finding a marriage partner for many years. You
did not anticipate this would ever be necessary again. Now suddenly you are
faced with the same kind of problems you faced as a young single person. Only
now you are older and the odds have narrowed down a bit. Where do you find a
new partner? How do you go about it? My wife has written an article on this very
subject, in which we have also shared our own story of how the Lord brought us to
together. So I am not going to try and repeat what has been taught there. I
recommend you go and read the article entitled Finding the Perfect Partner.
table of contents
Templates and Triggers
I have dealt with the concept of Templates and Triggers in a chapter of my book
The Way of Blessing. I recommend you go and read up on it first before you read
the rest of this section, so that you can understand more of what I am talking
about. This is a very important area that needs to be understood before you enter
into a new marriage. Second marriages face more pressures than first
marriages. You tend to not only take into the second marriage, the same failures
you made in the first, but you also take into it some preconceived ideas that can
destroy the new marriage before it even has a chance to start.
I am not going to go into a lot of detail here, but I just want to give you a few
examples of the sort of things that can happen in your new marriage. Firstly, you
need to realize that you developed certain habits in your previous marriage. There
were things you expected of your spouse and ways that he or she responded to
things that you said or did. You learned over a period of time to read him or her
life a book. When he came home with flowers you knew for sure that something
was up. He had probably done something wrong and was softening you up for the
crunch. If she was quiet and withdrawn then you must have said something out of
place somewhere. I'm sure you could make your own list.
But now you are married to a different person. This new spouse probably has
different strengths and weaknesses and responds different to things than your
previous spouse. But because you have developed habits and assumptions from
your previous marriage, you read the signs all wrong. He bring home flowers to
show that he was thinking of you and appreciates you. Instead of appreciation he
is get drilled down on what he has been doing. She is worried about something
and draws into herself, and you keep wondering why she is mad at you. Instead
of being there to encourage, you withdraw to avoid the inevitable confrontation.
Can you see how some of these seemingly innocent things can cause stresses on
your new marriage that can tear it apart? Often you are not even aware of the fact
that you are triggering, or that a template from the past has been activated. All
you see is another marriage that is filled with problems and probably won't work
out. But to be forewarned is to be forearmed. When conflict occurs you are able
to stop and look at it objectively, and find out why you are reacting the way you
do. Then with open discussion and communication, you learn to change the
templates and triggers of the past.
Eventually your new spouse has so taken the place of the old that you find
yourself reminiscing about things you did together that you actually did with the
previous spouse. You have become so one that the past has become blurred.
The painful memories have become like a dream you had a long time ago. And
the good memories have become absorbed into the new relationship. This is what
the Lord wants for you, and it is possible. I know, because I have experienced it.
Sure there will be times when you will fail gloriously, and every now and then
something will take place that will trigger you to something you thought you had
forgotten. But then you quickly identify it and put it to rest.
table of contents
The Children
Inevitably divorce and remarriage are complicated by the existence of children in
the family. This adds new complications when remarriage takes place. The
children are often caught in the middle of parents that are divorced, and then when
a new marriage partner enters, they are caught also between the natural parent
and the step parent. I deal here with many of the issues involved and we will look
at some of the mistakes made by parents where children are concerned. This is a
very sensitive issue, and one that can cause destruction of a new marriage before
it has a chance to begin.
I want to deal with this subject under the following headings.
The Custodian Parent

The Non-Custodian Parent
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Do We Need Another John the Baptist?
here has been an upsurge of prophets in recent years who have come
like John the Baptist. They are preaching a fiery message of
condemnation and judgment to the Church and calling it back to God.
Prophets are also speaking out against the nations and the authorities in
government, and calling them back to order, as John the Baptist did to the king of
his day. But is this what God intends for the New Testament church? Should there
be a John the Baptist ministry functioning in this day and age?
The writer to the Hebrews makes a very interesting observation right at the
beginning of this book. He says the following words
Hebrews 1:1 God, who in many parts and in different ways spoke in
time past to the fathers through the prophets,
2 Has in these last days spoken to us through [his] Son, whom he
has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
At first glance this verse seems to be telling us that in times past God spoke
through the Prophets, but now since Jesus has come, He does not need to do that
any more. Many have taught just that and used this passage to show that the
office of Prophet has been done away with and no longer exists in the New
Testament. Yet the Prophetic Movement has not only been clearly manifested but
continues to grow, as God calls more and more of His people to the prophetic
ministry, and raises them up into prophetic office.
So do we simply ignore what this verse teaches, and assume that it was out of
order? Or could it be that we have missed a very important principle in which the
prophets of the Old Covenant are clearly seen to be a completely different entity to
the prophets of the New Testament? Or let me take it a step further and ask you
this question, "Does God treat the New Testament Church differently to what He
treated the nation of Israel, or is the Church simply an extension of God's dealings
with Israel? Your answers to these simple questions can make all the difference in
the world as to how you view the end times prophets of the New Covenant.
I can well remember my very first experiences as a prophet, before I even realized
that such a ministry still existed today. I had found myself saying things to folks
and doing things that seemed totally irregular. And yet I knew that I was somehow
being led by the Holy Spirit. I told my wife one day, "You know sometimes I feel as
though I am one of those prophets of the Old Testament. They would often tell
people what God was saying, and what God wanted them to do, and I sometimes
find myself doing the same thing." When I first saw a 'real' prophet functioning
publicly in ministry I almost jumped up and down in my seat shouting, "That's it - I
must be a prophet!"
Well I have come a way since then and today we are training God's prophets for
their function in the end times church. But I see now that prophets seem to fall into
two different categories, and the way they behave seems to depend on how they
view Israel and the Church. So I am going to give you a few points on how I see
things, and then I am going to leave it to you to decide what you think.
Let's consider a few things about John the Baptist.
He was an Old Testament Prophet

John the Baptist signaled the end of what came to be known as the 400 Silent
years. It had been that long since a prophet of God had last been seen, and folks
had begun to wonder if prophets still existed. That doesn't mean there were no
longer prophecies. John's own father prophesied on the day of his circumcision,
and when Jesus was circumcised both Simeon and Anna the prophetess came
and spoke prophetic words over him. So how could they say that there had been
no prophets?
Obviously the Prophetic Office was very distinct, and when someone rose up into
that office it was clear to everyone that such a person spoke directly from God.
John came preaching the Old Covenant, and he came preaching a fiery message
of judgment. He sounded very much like some of the prophets of old.
He had only one Job to Perform
John had a very specific task to do. He was to prepare the way for the coming of
the Messiah - God's promised one. He referred to himself as the voice crying in
the wilderness, and it was clear that his job was to identify and to point the people
to the Christ. Once John had performed the task he was called to do, he was no
longer needed. He explained this in the following words.
John 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred
before me: for he was before me.
31 And I did not know him: but that he should be made manifest to Israel,
therefore I have come baptizing with water.
Once John had baptized Jesus, and pointed Him out as the Lamb of God that
takes away the sins of the world, his job was done, and he faded away. In a sense
it was necessary for him to be removed, otherwise he could have set up an
opposition party to Jesus later, and would have been found competing with Jesus'
teachings. Because the message that Jesus brought was totally different to
John's.
He Was Not Called to the Church
Jesus was bringing in a new order of people. He was bringing a new dimension of
the Kingdom of Heaven. And John the Baptist was not part of this new order. He
was certainly a very important part of the old order, but he had no place in the
new. Jesus explained it in these words.
Matthew 11:9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? yes, I say
to you, and more than a prophet.
10 For this is [he], of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger
before your face, who shall prepare your way before you.
11 Assuredly I say to you, Amongst those that have been born of
women there has not risen a greater [one] than John the Baptist:
nevertheless he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than
him.
Jesus made it clear that regarding the Old Covenant John the Baptist was the
greatest prophet who had lived. But when it came to the New Covenant that He
was about to introduce, John was nothing. Even the least in this new kingdom was
greater than John. There was about to be a change, and in fact this change was
so drastic that it even caught John by surprise. We find out that later on while he
was in prison, he sent some of his disciples to check Jesus out and make sure
that he had not missed it. Jesus just didn't seem to be what he had expected from
the Messiah.
He Was the Last Old Testament Prophet

Not only was John the Baptist the greatest Old Testament prophet, but he was the
last. He brought the end of a dispensation that had existed since God first entered
into covenant with Israel and gave them the Law. His approach was forceful and
aggressive, not unlike Elijah of old and he stirred people up to press into God. But
his job was not to turn people back to the Law. His job was to get their attention so
that they would be ready for the Christ. Once Christ had come, the Old Covenant
was due to come to an end, and Jesus was to introduce a New Covenant. Jesus
described it like this
Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the
kingdom of heaven is under siege, and the forceful are seizing it.
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied up until John.
14 And if you are prepared to receive [it], this is [the] Elijah, who was
to come.
To sum it up, Jesus declared that all the prophets of the Old Testament, and the
Old Testament Law, ended in John. He was the last of the Old Testament
prophets and the last representative of the Law that was sent by God.
He Was Not Part of the Bride
The New Testament Scriptures teach that the Church is the Bride of Christ. But at
a wedding feast there are many people in addition to the bridal couple. There are
the parents of the bridal couple and the wedding guests. Many of the guests are
important people. They are friends of the family and hold a special place, but they
are not the bride.
Many have tried to explain this by teaching that the Bride of Christ is only a small
part of the Church, and that the rest of the Church are the wedding guests. To do
this they have to teach that only a select remnant of the Church will be raptured
and taken up with Jesus when He returns. Once again it comes from confusing
Israel and the Church.
John himself was fully aware that he was not part of the Bride of Christ. He never
saw himself as being that, but instead he described himself in the following words.
John 3:29 He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of
the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because
of the bridegroom's voice: my joy therefore is completed.
John represented the Old Covenant, and as such he represented those who would
fulfill the role of the friends and wedding guests at the marriage feast. But a new
order was about to come into being. And Jesus was going to introduce a new
group of people that had never existed before. And each one would be far greater
than anyone in the Old Testament, because they would take the unique place of
being the Bride of Christ.
So I once again ask the question that I did at the beginning of this discussion. Do
we need another John the Baptist? Surely Christ has come, and He has through
the blood of his cross brought in a new order and a New Covenant. And this new
order has brought the Old to an end. Jesus Himself ended it on the cross, when he
shouted out the words, "It is finished!" The Old Covenant is over and done with.
And with the dispensing of the Old Covenant came also a dispensing of the Old
Testament prophetic office.
Now we have a new order, a new covenant, and a new breed of prophets, that are
not sent by the Father to an erring covenant people as in the Old Covenant, but
the New Testament prophets are instead gift of the Son of God to His Bride. Paul
expressed it well in the following passage
Ephesians 4:8 Therefore he says, When he ascended up on high, he

led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.
11 And he Himself gave some apostles, and some prophets; and
some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers;
12 For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
building up of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all arrive at unanimous agreement concerning the faith, and
the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the level of
maturity of the complete Christ:
In the Old Covenant God sent His prophets to call the Nation of Israel back to God
and back to the Covenant. But in the New Testament the prophet is a gift of the
ascended Jesus to His Bride, to equip her and to make her into the same image
as the Savior. This job is not only allocated to the prophet, but to all of the gift
ministries that Jesus has given. And the approach that they are meant to take is
not at all that of John the Baptist. Paul gives us a graphic description of how we
are to approach people in ministry in this new covenant era that we live in.
2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as

though God was encouraging [you] through us: we beg [you] on
behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For he has made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.
What a difference between this and John the Baptist's approach. John's words
went something like, "You brood of snakes, sort yourself out or God is going to
punish you!" But the New Testament approach is rather, "We want to encourage
you to move into all that God has for you. You don't have to be judged anymore
because Jesus had paid the price."
This is as far from John the Baptist's calling as you can get.
So in my opinion the answer to my question is an unequivocal...
NO!
The Church does NOT need a John the Baptist ministry. It is part of the old order,
which has been done away with.
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5 Facts Politicians Are Ignorant Of
That they are all subject to the same leader - the god of this world
That the world system is under the control of a network of evil powers
That they are only pawns in a chess game
That the earth belongs to believers in Christ
That we have authority to bring about changes in government

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7 Facts Most Doctors Ignore
That Sickness and Disease are caused by Sin and Satan, not Germs and
Viruses
That medicine cannot heal - it only helps the body heal itself
That Jesus paid the price for our sicknesses as well as our sins on
Calvary
That healing is the bread of the children and is freely offered to all
That Jesus still heals today
That it is never the will of God for us to be sick
That family generation illnesses are not passed down through our genes
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Identifying the False Prophet
nfortunately there are those, which are not sent of the Lord. I aim to give
you some clear guidelines to follow through experience and the Word
on how to identify such individuals and what courses of action you will
need to be taken in removing them from your midst.
Look Not at Externals

The first point you should remember in identifying a false prophet is that they are a
deception. This means that they are not easy to point out:
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's

clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (GMR)
They look like the rest of the sheep. So if you are assessing the call of a student
by outward appearance you will not discern what is in the heart. For all may look
like sheep but there may be those that have within them the heart of a wolf. So
your first guideline is not to ‘categorize’ a person until you have a clear word of
revelation.
It is often a temptation to slot an individual into a certain ‘group’ of doctrine, beliefs

or success. But until you can look deeper than that which is obvious you will not
only miss out on the treasure the Lord has sent you in certain students, but you
might in fact find yourself embracing the false prophet who was not sent of the
Lord.
Talking the Right Talk, but Walking the Wrong Walk
Matthew 7:16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather
grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? (GMR)
The first sign that identifies a false prophet, is one who says the right words and
plays out the correct actions but yet their lives do not produce the fruit of their
words or actions. A very good indication of this would be to look at those whom
they have mentored. This may be an associate or their children. One who
professes the Lord with their lips and acts out the motions but leaves behind them
a trail of destruction be wary of.
We will be known by our fruit, and our fruit are those things that we bear of
ourselves. The prophet who claims super-spiritual experiences but yet have grown
children who are in total rebellion and living a life of sin and iniquity, is an
indication of their true spiritual condition. It is not possible to have the power of
God in your words and have those closest to you walking in association with the
enemy. The two mix like oil and water and this is the first indication that something
is amiss.
A clear indication of the fruits, is to try to identify the blessing or curse in the life of
the student. One who is walking in a continual curse is one who is not walking in
the Spirit, but in the flesh. We will indeed be known by our fruit and our fruit are
those things we leave behind us. Our fruit is seen in the lives of people we
minister to and the results of our actions and ministry. If a trail of theft, destruction
and fear is left behind a student, this may not only be an indication that they are
under a heavy curse, but also that they do not know the love, light and life that the
Lord Jesus offers.
When you spend that kind of time with the Lord, you pick up His blessing and His
light dispels the darkness. One who professes to spend hours in the presence of
the Lord in prayer, yet still is under a curse, be wary of.
Does Not Encounter Rejection, but is Accepted With Open

Arms
Luke 6:22 Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they
shall separate you [from their company], and shall reproach [you],
and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
Luke 6:26 Woe to you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so
did their fathers to the false prophets.
In evaluating a student you will always find that a true prophet has faced much
rejection in their lives from their childhood. The student who professes to have had
the perfect home, always being accepted as the leader and has this ability to
‘draw’ people to themselves, be very wary of.
The true prophet of God faces rejection and trails that have formed them into that
special vessel for His use. The false prophet might have confidence and natural
boldness and leadership skills, but the true prophet knows the look of the cross
and what it means to ‘let it go’.
The true prophet of God does not blame others for their failures, but takes their
flesh to the cross in humility having learned the hard way what it means to submit
and be under the authority of another. Before becoming a leader, the prophet is
first taught how to be a servant. The student who has not learned to be a servant,
but has always been in control, being hailed as the most popular, is false and will
seek to glorify themselves with their great spiritual revelation, above the grace and
mercy of God.
1 John 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world,
and the world hears them.(GMR)
The false prophet will find success in the world and will not know what it means to
live by faith. They may have experienced tough circumstances due to curses
operating in their lives, but yet they will show success in the world and will be
accepted by the status quo and systems of the world.
Do not think that a false prophet is one who is a loner and does not associate
himself with others. He is very much part of a group. If you would read through the
New and Old Testament you will find that the false prophets were within groups. It
has been common practice to suspect the person who remains standing alone and
is not associated with other ministries. Yet I would tell you that the one who is
riding the wave of popularity and welcomed with open arms by every status quo
system is more likely a deception sent of the enemy than the one who stands
alone.
The 'Gift' of Divination
Ezekiel 13:17 Likewise, you son of man, set your face against the
daughters of your people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and
prophesy you against them,
18 And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the [women] that sew
pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every
stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will
you save the souls alive [that come] to you? (GMR)
The student who claims to know things before they occur (particularly negative
events) be very wary of. To dream and receive visions of the death of people
before their actual death is know as the spirit of divination in the Word. As in
Ezekiel, words were being spoken of death and destruction – and the events
actually took place.
False prophecy does not simply mean that the events prophesied will not come to
pass – it means that a word of decree was sent forth by the power of the enemy.
This word releases a curse over the life of another bringing the plans of the enemy
to take place in that person’s life. More dangerous than the words of a prophet
whose revelations do not come to pass, are the words of a false prophet whose
words of divination and destruction DO come to pass!
Be wary of the student who speaks of the ‘gift’ they identified as having been there
even before salvation. The student, who speaks of having revelations with regard
to the future of others even from childhood, not even knowing the Lord, shows a
very clear sign of the spirit of divination. I was once told by a prospective student,
"The world has psychics, God has prophets". When I challenged him on having
this ‘gift’ he spoke of having it before salvation. Now being saved, he continued to
function in this ‘gift’ and now is asking God to bring his other family members to be
saved who also function in this ‘gift’ that they too might become prophets of God!
Unfortunately this is how the world sees a prophet, and if a student has this kind of
mindset, then they are not of God. A prophet has a passion for the hurt and lost.
The emphasis of the prophet is one of hurt for the Body of Christ. The true prophet
travails over the destruction of the church. The false prophet seeks the gifts and
manifestation, concentrating more on the revelation than on the God who gives
the revelation.
Speaking Words of Destruction and Death
Lamentations 2:14 Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things
for you: and they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn away your
captivity; but have seen for you false burdens and causes of
banishment. (GMR)
The false prophet will speak words of destruction and condemnation, not bringing
the life of Christ to heal the sin. This Scripture is a good example of that. The false
prophets condemned the people, telling them they were in slavery because of
reasons they made up in their own minds. Yet they did not point out to the real sin
so that they might repent and be set free.
The Scripture says that Godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation – not to be
repented of, but that the sorrow of the world produces death. The prophet who
speaks and brings God’s people under such condemnation that they are paralyzed
from moving on for God is not sent of Jesus, but from the enemy to place burdens
on the shoulders of the Body of Christ.
The true prophet of God will speak a word and expose the sins of men’s hearts
that will cause them to repent and be changed – these words of sorrow are never
to be repented of for they bring change. Paul spoke to the Corinthians in such a
way and their repentance brought him much joy! However there came those whom
Paul had to rebuke, for they came as false prophets dominating and oppressing
the people.
Builds a Wrong Foundation That Falls
Ezekiel 13:9 And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity,
and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people,
neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel,
neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that
I [am] the Lord GOD.
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying,

Peace; and [there was] no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo,
others daubed it with untempered [morter]:(GMR)
The prophet who is not of God has built a foundation not built on Christ and it will
therefore fall. The Lord says later on in this passage that He would bring
hailstones to destroy these whitewashed walls that were built. All may look perfect
from without, but within the foundation and building is weak, and when the power
of God brings a shaking you are bound to see many structures of man fall to the
ground!
Look for a trail of destruction in the way of destroyed ministries and lives. One who
has built incorrect structures in the lives of others will show by those people being
destroyed or those ministries crumbling. I am not speaking of a ministry that
opposed the work of God and so crumbled, but of ministries who fervently were
working towards fulfilling the will of the Lord and still came under a curse and was
torn apart by the enemy.
Turns People Away From the Truth

The prophet not of God will continually seek to turn people to himself and away
from the Lord. Barjesus that Paul came into confrontation with in Acts is a good
example of this. Barjesus sought to turn his master away from the truth. This is
true of those not sent of God. They continually get the people concentrating on
matters that distract them from the Lord.
They may bring utterances and prophecy that draw people into works and into
building the structure. They will change the direction of the people, away from the
Lord and on to the programs, the externals and on to the revelation – forsaking the
revealer and the foundation of the structure.
Be wary of those who keep instructing people to look at their own strengths and
their own abilities outside of Christ. The gifts are only available to us inside of
Christ, and if any person is getting revelation by simply using the power of their
own spirits, then they are out of order.
Makes Merchandise of God’s People
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the
way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make
merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not,
and their damnation slumbers not. (GMR)
The prophet who is not sent of God, is one who will seek to make for himself
wealth from God’s people. Just as in the days of Ezekiel where the diviners cast
spells and spoke curses for a fee, so too will the prophet once again exalt his own
revelation above the revelation of others, and seek to use that revelation to milk
wealth from the people of God.
Unfortunately this is seen very commonly these days. I remember coming across a
website once where the ‘prophet’ in question promised to get word from the Lord
to tell you when your ‘time and season’ was to sow and reap financial benefits. All
this for only a low price of $49.99! The Word of God is not given for the sake of
financial benefit, but for the edification and equipping of the saints.
Hinders and Prevents the Flow of the Spirit
Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain

damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought
her masters much gain by soothsaying: (GMR)
The false prophet will continually break the flow of the Holy Spirit to spout off their
own revelation, once again drawing away from the work of the Lord. You would
need to have the gift of discerning of spirits to know when the Lord is speaking
and when he is interrupted. The one who consistently disrupts and sways the
attention away from the moment is not sent of the Lord.
The true prophet is one who can sense the move of the Spirit and will flow with
that move. Their revelation will fall in line with the revelation of the others, while
the false prophet will come with a revelation totally contrary and opposing the
others. The revelation of the false prophet might even line up with Scripture, which
is why you need to have the capacity to test the spirits and know when the Spirit of
God is being grieved.
Often a word will be spoken and the false prophet will interpret it incorrectly. The
word may actually be of the Lord, but the false prophet will use the word and twist
it to his own ends. Check every interpretation against the Word of God and once
again discern the spirit on it.
Confronting the False Prophet

If you sense that there is one applying to your School or even enrolled in your
School who shows these signs, there needs to come a confrontation. Apply this
passage to the situation:
Matthew 18:15 Moreover if your brother trespasses against you, go

and tell him his fault between you and him alone: if he listens to you,
you have gained your brother.
16 But if he will not listen to [you, then] take with you one or two
more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every [rhema] word
may be established.
17 And if he fails to listen to them, tell [it] to the church: but if he fails
to listen to the church, let him be to you as a heathen person and a
tax collector. (GMR)
In love you will be required to point out your matters of concern to the person in
question. Back up your conclusion with both the Word of God and what you sense
in your spirit. If the person in question shows a spirit of divination, you need to
bring it up, you need to share that they are in deception and that the revelation
they share is not of the Lord. This kind of confrontation is likely to occur when a
false word is brought or an incorrect interpretation is shared.
In confrontation, I would highly recommend that you do not choose to handle this
situation on your own or make the judgments alone. For in the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word will be established. Either bring this matter before the
entire group for judging or go to your leadership for confirmation. In this way you
are not approaching this matter alone but with support.
If the person in question receives what you have to say, then help them identify
where they allowed the enemy entrance to their lives. If it is generational they will
need to break that bondage and ask for forgiveness of their sin, for listening to the
voice of the deceiver. Make sure that the person in question is genuine in their
commitment and advise them to refrain from ministering or speaking into the life of
any person until they are set free, as they will contaminate those they associate
with.
However if they do not respond in brokenness, but retaliate with arrogance

showing they do not desire to change or accept the word you have spoken, you
are to take the advice of John:
2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you, and does not bring this doctrine,
do not receive him into [your] house, neither greet him:
11 For he that speaks a greeting to him is a partaker of his evil
deeds. (GMR)
You are to withdraw from such a person and not allow them to continue in your
fellowship. The Lord Himself did not mess around with those that led His people
astray and His anger is just as pure today against those who would bring calamity
rather than healing.
Unaware of Deception
It is important to remember that the false prophet may not actually realize that they
are of this category. If you read Jeremiah you will see how the prophets in front of
the king struck Jeremiah because he said they were prophesying falsely. They
retorted, "What makes you think the spirit of revelation would pass over us and on
to you?" As far as they were concerned, they were speaking for the Lord. Such a
person will be both surprised and likely offended by your revelation. Yet if they
truly know how to hear from the Lord, then they will receive the revelation for
themselves and truly submit to the correction. It is possible that this type of person
is so steeped in deception that they cannot see it at all.
If they come to repentance they will be able to break free and get rid of the
deception that is clouding the true word of the Lord. If such a person breaks free of
their bondage, the Lord can truly continue to use them. However I would once
again advise that such a person refrain from directive or group ministry until his
spirit has come into order. They should be placed in a position where they start
from the very beginning and sit under teaching to rebuild what the deception has
torn down. They will have to learn what it is to be a servant and to remain in
submission before the Lord can release them to work on His behalf. This person is
also likely to face a lot of death and pressure to continue to expose all areas that
the deception has spread to.
They will have to come to a place of total doubt and uncertainty in their revelation
before the Lord will release them to speak again. Then when they finally do get to
speak out, they will do so in fear and trembling!
Deliberate Deception
For the one who is aware of their deception and continues in it, to them this
Scripture applies:
Matthew 18:6 But whoever shall offend one of these little ones who
believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
(GMR)
Cast such a one from your presence and refuse to accept their words of
revelation. Remember specifically to break spiritual ties and to send back any
words that may be spoken over you. The enemy can only be given licence in your
life if you allow him in. If you keep your spirit and heart closed to such a person,
they will not have any power over you. However if you keep your heart open to
them and allow them to influence you, you will indeed come under their curse and
find yourself (and your ministry) under a curse.
Conclusion
I would like to end by saying that as a leader it is vital for you to stand accountable
before the Lord. He has entrusted you with those in your fellowship and it is up to
you to provide that protection for them. At times you will be required to love
sacrificially, but at other times you will be required to stand in the fullness of your
authority. Do not be afraid to stand in the authority the Lord has given you. When
you stand in that authority in faith, the Lord will intervene on your behalf every
time.
There are going to be times when you are going to misread people and make
mistakes. However if you will remain covered by the Lord and remain humble, He
will turn even your mistakes to your advantage. So on the one hand be
transparent and available, but on the other do not apologize for your presence or
for what you feel the Lord would have you do. In these end times the Lord is
raising up leaders who are ready to lay down all for the call; who are meek enough
to love His flock, but also strong enough to lead and protect them. The Lord has
laid a tremendous responsibility on your shoulders, but if you would simply walk in
His love and light, there is nothing you will not overcome.
May you be blessed as you continue on this journey set before you. May the Lord
guide your steps and open your eyes to the works of the enemy. May He show
you the correct way to go and may He give you the strength to keep getting up
and moving on.
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Fighting Darkness With Light
ow many Christians do you know that have been hurt, abused and
discouraged by the system? How many have been stabbed and torn
apart by the very church and fold they thought would protect and nurture
them? It is easy to look over and cast aside those who ‘do not fit in’ or
who are simply labeled ‘trouble-makers’
They rock the boat, they say things that upset those in authority. When every one
is going one direction – they are the kind of person that goes the opposite. Often it
is said of them "Why can’t they just fit in like the rest? Why do they always have to
be so different!"
As humans we don’t like ‘different’ do we? Yet if there is someone who is the most
revolutionary or most different, it has to be Jesus! He was born into a religious,
stuck up society and preached grace and freedom for the vilest of sinners. Even
going so far as eating with those ungodly people!
Do you know what Jesus saw when He saw the prostitute, the tax collector and
every other sinner of that day? He saw a broken and torn sheep who needed to be
picked up and gently stroked to life again. The religion of that day had destroyed,
cut down and cast out any that did not ‘fit in.’ Jesus came and He gathered them
all!
He made an entire Kingdom out of outcasts, nobodies and rejects. He chose for
His Bride the ugly – those who were ‘different’. Jesus fought the darkness in the
lives of those sinners with light! Should we not be doing the same? Instead of
beating the sheep with a rod of judgement and sneers of contempt, should we not
be bending down and lifting them from the dirt?
When you pass a brother or sister who has fallen in sin, in discouragement, in
abuse – should you not as the Lord Jesus’ hands and feet extended – bend and
gather them into the safety of the fold? Paul said it very well in 1 Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who
will bring both to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make
manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have
praise from God
God seems to find that good-for-nothing outcast worth dying for. He sees things
hidden in the recesses of their heart that no one else does. In fact He found that
outcast so special He entered into blood covenant with him and promises him the
very best from His Royal table! Should we not also have that same mind of Christ?
Should we not also carry within us the heart of Christ?
It is time ladies and gentlemen to stop passing the buck and to take a look at our
own hearts – to judge our own attitudes and motives by the spirit and word of God.
It is a time for change. The breeze has begun to blow and it is blowing even now
in your heart. Can you feel it? Are you ready for it? Because even now the Lord
will chip away the stone and replace it with His bleeding heart of flesh. The new
apostolic move begins with you. It begins even now in your own heart as you read
this. It begins even in your own home.
Will you embrace it?
Will you accept it?
Are you ready for the gentle breeze of Jesus?
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Indestructible.


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Finding the Perfect Partner
By Daphne Crause
hether you are widowed or divorced and looking for another partner, or
single and wanting the right person to fill a gap in your life, the Lord has
someone special for you. Are you feeling frustrated and thinking it won’t
happen? Maybe you just can’t seem to find the right person. Well, don’t
be despondent. I want to share with you from my own experiences just how to get
a partner who will meet your every need and desire and have you rejoicing at what
the Lord has done and how good He has been to you.
I really believe that the Lord wants a partner for each person, and one who will
complement and fill the gaps where things are lacking in the other person. In the
Garden of Eden after the Lord had created Adam he said, "It is not good that man
should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." The Lord made man
in such a way that he would only be complete with a partner at his side. Unless the
Lord has specifically called you to be on your own so you can minister more
effectively for Him, I believe that each person can find a partner and become one
with him or her.
So let me start without rambling on any more! Just before I begin, I’d like to
mention that I’m going to be writing from the point of view of a woman finding a
husband, so I will continually talk about ‘him’. Nevertheless, the principles are
exactly the same for a man looking for a wife.
If you’ve read my article on Bulldozing through Prayer Problems, I mention there

about being specific in your requests to the Lord. It is important in anything you
want from the Lord, but it is essential when you are looking for a life’s partner. This
should be your starting point. If you’ve been praying, "Lord, I need a partner.
Please give me one," the Lord will say, "Sure," but there will be very little for the
angels to work with to bring your desire to you.
The one thing I’ve learnt about the Lord over the past few years especially, is that
He will NEVER impose His will on you! You have to give Him the authority to work
on your behalf, and the angels need to know exactly what you want so they can
bring it to pass. He could bring you a husband if you pray like that, but He desires
so much to bless you and it gives Him pleasure to give you the very best,
according to your desires. In James chapter 1 it says that God gives every good
gift and every perfect gift. I believe we can stand on this promise for a partner.
Both times that I met my husbands I did what I’m going to share with you now, and
the Lord honored my requests in a wonderful way. The first thing to do is to sit
down with a pen and paper and think about exactly what you’re looking for in a
partner. The spiritual qualities are the most important especially if you are looking
for a Christian and wish to walk closely with the Lord and work for Him. Tell the
Lord what you’d like him to be like. Maybe you’d like someone who’s already in the
ministry so you can minister with him. If you have a burden to work with young
people maybe you could ask for someone who’s already involved in that type of
work so that you can flow with him and complement him.
Mental or emotional aspects come next. What do you want him to be like? Strong
and macho, or loving and gentle? Do you want him to be a strong leader? Then
you can include desires about what he must be like, generally. Maybe you want
someone who likes skiing so you can enjoy the snow together, or if you enjoy
outdoor life you can ask for someone who likes doing the same thing.
Express your desires in the negative sense too. For example, if you absolutely
loathe sports it’s not going to be good if your husband is a sports coach and is
constantly at baseball games. If you do not want something, then make it known
on the list as well. Remember, you’re beginning to form a picture of what you want,
and when you have a clear picture in your mind then your faith can begin to form
in a much better and quicker way.
Physical aspects come last, but they are nevertheless important. Must your
husband be tall or short, blond or dark-haired? What color must his eyes be?
Maybe you want someone who’s pretty slim and trim, or perhaps you want a well-
built, strong, muscular person who likes working out and being fit. Just write it
down as you think of it, and begin to visualize him in your mind. To me the
physical side wasn’t a major factor to me. My present husband, Les is a bit shorter
than what I was used to, but it wasn’t a big problem for me. I knew he was the
right person and a few inches height difference didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to
reject him just for this reason. It depends on you, though. You have to make the
choice as to whether you accept or reject who you meet. The Lord will never force
it on you.
When you’ve written all of these things down, take the paper, hold it up to the Lord
and read out what you’ve written down. Say something like this. "Lord, I’m asking
you for a husband, and these are the things that I desire in him…" then read out
the list. Now stick it up on a wall or place where you will continually see it.
Sometimes the fridge door is a good place or next to your computer.
Review your list out loud daily, preferably morning and night, and thank the Lord
that He’s heard you and given you your heart’s desire. To make it more powerful,
you can add some scripture promises to it, like "Whatsoever things you desire,
when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them." You can
quote that scripture, then read out your list and say, "In the Name of Jesus I thank
you Lord that I have received my husband from you. He is …" and then read off
the list you’ve made up. Remember, too, to visualize him as you speak out your
list. Let’s face it, if the Lord brings someone your way and you haven’t got a
mental picture in your mind of who you want, how will you know if he’s the right
person or not?
As you continue to do this you may not feel anything building up inside of you, and
at times it may seem that you aren’t likely to meet anyone because your
circumstances seem to be pointing that way, but don’t give up. One day, suddenly,
you will know without a shadow of a doubt that you have your desire. It’s kind of
like a cork suddenly popping off a bottle. You just suddenly know you have him.
The angels are working continually, and the Lord is directing things that you
cannot see to bring about this desire. You just have to trust Him because He is
working for you!
When you reach that point of knowing it is no longer necessary to confess your list
unless you want to review it just for yourself. You should have a pretty good
picture of what you want in your partner by now. Now all you have to do is thank
the Lord and await His perfect timing to meet. Sometimes it can take a long time
depending on what you’re asking for and how fussy you are. When my step-
daughter prayed for her husband it took 3 years before she got her desire, and we
had to move overseas for it to happen. I’m not saying this is what will take place
with you, but the Lord could make a way for you to move your location or job in
order to fulfill your desire. Just be open to His leading.
Well, now that I’ve given some pointers, here’s the ‘proof of the pudding’ so to
speak! Here is our story to show you how it happened with us.
DAPHNE’S STORY
n 1989 I felt like my world would fall apart after the death of my first
husband in January of that year. I had tended to rely on him a lot and
he’d always helped me with decision-making and taking charge of
things, so now all of a sudden I was on my own and responsible for
things that would happen.
It was really hard for me to come to grips with things, but it didn’t take long for me
to decide that I wanted another husband. I really believed that the Lord could give
me one and felt I could ask Him for one because I knew He cared about me and
wanted the best for me. However, at that time I didn’t know what I do now about
exercising my faith. The only thing I knew I must do is to be specific.
So, armed with that simple knowledge and doing what I’d done before I met Mike,
I made up a list of my desires of what I wanted in my new husband. I had had
quite a lot of exposure to dealing and sharing with people on a more personal level
while I was married to Mike, so I decided I wanted to carry on with this in my
second marriage because I enjoyed it. I decided marrying a pastor might be quite
a nice idea because I’d always wanted to get involved in full-time ministry.
A short while after all this I visited my ex in-laws in Durban, South Africa, and it
was here that the Lord boosted my faith tremendously and really encouraged me
to continue trusting Him. After a prayer meeting one afternoon the pastor’s wife of
the church I was visiting gave a prophetic word. I knew without a shadow of doubt
that she was referring to me because every fear, every doubt, and every concern
that I had about being on my own was addressed in that word. The Lord gave me
guidance and direction through it, and then at the end she said, "Delight yourself
also in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart." I knew exactly what
she was referring to here – my husband.
That word gave me a tremendous boost of encouragement and I knew I just

needed to trust the Lord. When I returned to Johannesburg where I lived, I had to
leave my job because it became a bit too pressurized and I was battling to cope
with it. I was rather devastated at the time, but the Lord worked it for good
because He led me to work for a wonderful Christian guy who I already knew from
Christian meetings we had once a week during our lunch break.
During this time I joined various Christian singles groups and wondered if the Lord
would lead me to meet my husband at one of these groups. I also attended
various Christian camps where I came into contact with a lot of other young
people, but nothing seemed to materialize. I got a bit despondent at times, but still
kept up my trust in the Lord.
Then after about 4 months of working for Stuart he showed me a magazine, one
day, which contained an article about a Christian couple who ran an introductory
club. He suggested I join them. I must admit the idea set off a spark in me, but I
only got round to doing something about it a month or so later.
The club ran on this basis. You filled in a form of basic details, what you wanted
from your partner, and what your basic desire was in a partner. I put there, ‘To
marry a pastor and go into ministry’. I thought afterwards that maybe it was a little
bit weird and a bit restrictive. However I later discovered it was exactly what I
needed to put.
I was a member of the Club for 2 months and nothing really came up. I met one
person and was phoned a few times, but I didn’t feel totally comfortable with them
and they were not exactly what I desired in a partner. In the meantime I just kept
busy and got involved in my work to try and keep as positive as I could.
Then one day I received a phone call from a guy who seemed to know quite a lot
about me, i.e. the fact that I was widowed, how old I was, etc. He asked if he could
ask me a few questions for a survey that he was doing for a Singles Association or
something. I accepted, but he turned out to be rather disgusting and it turned into
an obscene phone call.
I immediately thought maybe someone who was not a Christian had somehow got
hold of my information, and thought it might be wise to cancel my membership and
forget about it. Satan was just trying his last ditch attempt to prevent Les and I
from meeting, because at the time I got the phone call Les was himself at the Club
and had been given my name as a prospect. The very thing I’d put at the end
about marrying a pastor and going into ministry with him was what immediately
attracted him. Even though I wanted to cancel my membership the Lord prevented
me from getting through to them by the allocated time that night.
I was outside in a flat on my property when I thought I heard the phone ring but
wasn’t sure and decided to move it further down the house in case someone did
call. As I walked inside to move it, it rang again and I ran to answer it. It was Les
on the other end. I immediately felt a flood of excitement that practically
overwhelmed me and I felt totally comfortable with him. Even though we were total
strangers to each other, we talked for quite a while.
We met the following evening and went to a musical presentation at my boss’s

church. It was wonderful. When we returned to my house later on we had a prayer
time because Les wanted to confirm that I was the right person. I didn’t need any
confirmation. I felt totally at peace. The Lord gave him a prophetic word that I was
in the right place at the right time. He also showed Les that He would give me the
ability to look after his 3 daughters well because he had custody of them and I
hadn’t had any children at all. They were 10, 12 and 14 at the time.
We were married 3 months later and the Lord threw me in the deep end to learn
all about being in ministry. It was exciting and traumatic at times and not without
stress as He revealed and discarded things in me that would stand in the way of
me being effective for Him. But one thing I can say, He definitely gave me the very
best. I’ve never had a more fulfilling 8 years than I have up till now. It was worth
the wait to meet him.
LES’ STORY
aph has told you her side of the story, so now here’s the longer version.
Hey, you can’t listen to a preacher without getting preached at. (;-)
My pain and loneliness began when my wife of 16 years left me for

someone else. This was devastating and nearly destroyed my ministry. I will not
go into any detail about this, but I have said more in my article on Divorce, where I
have covered some important principles involved where Christians are divorced.
Suffice it to say that I was left as a single parent, with three young daughters to
care for and a life of extreme loneliness.
The Lord had taught me many things concerning living a life of faith and trusting
Him for answered prayer, but it had been over 16 years since I had ever faced a
situation of having to find a partner. It was difficult enough when I was a single
young person, and since I didn’t have the kind of physical qualities that would
attract most women, I was placed in a rather frightening situation. Coupled with
this was the fact that I had three daughters that my new wife would have to
accept. It made my chances pretty slim.
But I knew that with God all things were possible, and I knew that I could trust the
Lord to bring me another wife. I had faced problems in my previous marriage
through having a partner who did not fully share or understand my commitment to
the Lord and the ministry that he had given me. I was determined that when the
Lord brought me a new wife, she would have to fit into some very specific
qualities.
So I began to formulate a picture in my mind of the kind of wife I would really like
to have. This was something I had been doing for a long while, even during my
previous marriage. Though I had never entertained the idea of ending my
marriage, I had always prayed and hoped that the Lord could change my wife and
give her some of the qualities that would make her a perfect helper for me in the
work of the Lord.
Now that I was freed from the previous marriage, through a series of events that
left me legally and scripturally free to remarry, I was very specific about the kind of
wife I wanted. She would be first and foremost someone who really loved the Lord
and wanted to give her all for His Kingdom. She would be prepared to stand with
me in the ministry and minister at my side as a true helper.
And since I had learned that the Lord always gives good things, and He had
promised me the best, I also laid out some specific qualities as to talents, abilities
and even physical characteristics. Shortly afterwards the Lord gave me a vision, in
which I saw a lanky woman with short blond hair, slightly taller than me and much
younger looking than my previous wife. I figured I would be marrying a much
younger woman, and also realized that she would possibly be young enough to
still want children. I warned my own children that they might have another sibling
once I remarried.
That done, I daily praised the Lord for my new wife. As I prayed I saw the angels
of God surrounding her and me and bringing us together. I began to write poetry
for her in advance, telling her how much she meant to me, and looking forward to
the day we would meet. I began to pray for her daily, wherever she might be, and
asked the Lord to somehow join us together in the Spirit and seal our relationship
so that nothing could prevent us from meeting each other.
And then I stood and waited. I knew that the Lord would choose the right woman
for me and that He would bring her to me. Since I was involved in ministry, I
figured that one day I would probably be standing there preaching and this woman
would walk in the door. We would see each other and both know instantly that we
were meant for each other. But alas time went by and it did not happen. The
loneliness particularly over the weekends was unbearable. And I cried out to the
Lord to do something.
But the Lord first began to deal with my attitudes. He showed me that I needed too
badly, and that I should need no one but Him. I had needed my previous wife too
much, and had depended on her strengths at times instead of being what the Lord
wanted me to be. The Lord reminded me also that I had responsibilities to my
children, and I needed to get my life in order before He could bring me the right
partner.
As I began to see these things and deal with them in my life, I came finally to a
resolve that I was happy to be where the Lord wanted me to be. And I was happy
to wait until the time was right for a new person in my life. I told my children that I
did not expect to find a new wife for a while yet and that I was going to give them
more attention.
Then one night as I was reading the Word, the Lord drew my attention to a
passage of Scripture that just leapt out at me. It was the account of where Saul
had disobeyed the Lord and had been rejected by God. Samuel was praying to the
Lord and weeping for Saul. He was grieved about what had happened. And God
told Samuel that he must stop weeping for Saul, but go out and anoint someone
else to be king. God told him to go the house of Jesse, and that when he arrived
there, he would be told which of Jesse’s sons would be the new king.
Then the Lord spoke to me very clearly. He told me to stop grieving over my ex
wife and go find a new one. He also told me that He was not going to choose my
wife for me. That was my responsibility. However He said that He would show me
where to find someone suitable. I was to go looking like Samuel, and when I got
there He would tell me who the right person was. This was the first time the
thought ever entered my mind that I might have to go and find a wife. But where
do I look?
Not long after this I was riding along in my car, when I saw the headlines for the
local news, and it was concerning a huge earthquake that had shaken California. I
don’t normally buy the newspaper, but the story interested me, so I pulled up to a
newsstand and bought the paper. I took it home, but actually didn’t get around to
reading it. Then my children came to me and started to nag. We had found a
couple of mice in the house, and they insisted that the best way to get rid of them
was to get a cat. The nagging part was because they knew how much I love cats.
NOT!!
Anyway, the paper finally became useful, and I picked it up to check the smalls
section to see if anyone was giving away cats. There didn’t appear to be any, but
as I scanned the pages I came across the personal section, and there I saw
something that stood out at me. It was an advertisement for Christian Singles. I
thought this was unusual for the newspaper and it caught my attention. And sure
enough as I looked, I found two advertisements for single Christians. Something
inside me began to wonder if God was talking to me.
I then picked up another newspaper, which was a free local distribution and out of
interest looked to see if they had any single sections. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
They also had one for Single Christians. I began to seriously wonder whether the
Lord was telling me to join a singles club. But this went against everything I had
expected. I had heard negative stories about singles clubs, and I figured that God
was going to do something a bit more miraculous for me. Besides that meant a bit
of work for me.
During that week I could not get the idea out of my mind. So as the weekend drew
near I picked up the latest edition of our local paper and checked again to see if
there was an advert for Christian singles. There was no sign of anything close to it.
I then started to seriously consider the fact that it was God who had led me to find
the previous ads. I felt strongly drawn to the first advertisement I had read, and I
called the people to find out how they worked.
After a long talk with the husband of the woman who ran it I found that this couple
did this as a ministry and had put many different Christian couples together. I was
convinced I needed to go see them. And when I did they gave me several suitable
young women to contact. I took these home and sat down on my bed reviewing
each one, asking God to direct me. I didn’t just want to find someone to go on a
date with. If this was of God, then one of these women had to be my wife. But
which one?
It was very easy to see which one was the most suitable, and as I prayed the Lord
confirmed to me that she was to be the one. She had written on her resume that
she wanted to marry a pastor and go into ministry. As I looked at some of the
other things she had said about herself, several of the other qualities I had asked
for were already evident.
So I picked up the phone and called. It was a nerve-wracking experience. I had

not done this in years. And to make things worse, there was no answer. Daphne
had been outside in the outbuildings speaking to someone else and did not hear
the call. I wondered if I heard the Lord right. So I tried another number. It was
occupied, so I figured that maybe I shouldn’t be calling that one. Then I tried
another number and it just rang. I went back and tried Daphne’s number and it
was engaged. Now I knew that she was home.
The final call a while later ended everything. Or should I say, it started everything.
We immediately felt comfortable with each other and spoke for a long time. My
children told me afterwards that they were eavesdropping at the door, and they
said it sounded like we had known each other for years. Daph has told you the
rest of the story. It did not take long to know that we were the perfect match for
each other and the closest that could be found to both our desires.
I proposed to her two days after we met, with a carnation, a small gift and a huge
Valentine card, in which I had written my proposal as a poem. It was the most
exciting and romantic time of my life. The Lord honored His promise. He gave me
the best. He gave me everything I asked for in a wife. I just wished I had known
some of these principles at the beginning when I was still young and single. I could
have been spared so many years of pain.
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A Godly Wife
By Daphne Crause
THE NECK THAT TURNS THE HEAD
ave you ever heard this saying? It says, "The man is the head of the
home, but the wife is the neck that turns the head." I’m sure most of you
would have heard it, but whatever the case is, it’s a very good
description of a godly wife. She’s absolutely essential to her husband.
It’s good to be needed and appreciated and I’m going to show you how to make
your husband really appreciate you as you use some very simple biblical principles
in your marriage.
Did you know that being a Christian wife is one of the most rewarding and joyful
things imaginable? Okay, hear me out! I can just hear lots of people saying, "You
don’t know my husband!" Maybe not, but stick around because I want to share
from my own experience as well as scriptural principles just how you can make
any relationship wonderful. So let me get started!
I’ll be honest with you now. Developing and working at the things that are
necessary for a harmonious marriage can take time, but it will work if you stick to it
and ask the Lord to guide you. I believe the beginning of success is a knowledge
of what the Lord wants from us (which hopefully I’ll get across to you okay) (;-),
and allowing the Lord to show you any areas of weakness which are standing in
the way. This is sometimes pretty hard because He knows just how to knock our
egos to make us sit up and take note, but we become so much better afterwards,
and we can see a growth in grace. Remember, you are sometimes two totally
different people being blended into one – spiritually, emotionally and physically.
That’s pretty complex and there are usually areas in both of you that need dealing
with. But now, I’m dealing purely from the woman’s side.
For the first year especially of my marriage to Les, the Lord used him (Les) to
show me that I really wasn’t that gentle, humble, submissive looking person. Sure I
looked that way on the outside, but inside was a steaming pot full of bubble and
froth and pent-up irritation that was looking for an escape route when the right one
came along. Poor Les got quite scalded in that first year as it headed mostly for
him and his daughters,(;-) but he also showed me all the negative attitudes and
emotions that needed to be removed so that we could flow together as one. It was
quite difficult for both of us to adjust and for me to become more feminine, soft and
gentle, but as I continued to let the Lord show me and teach me, things improved
dramatically.
There is a lot of emphasis nowadays on women taking the lead and taking charge
in business, politics, and even in the home, but unfortunately there isn’t room for a
Woman’s Lib attitude in a Christian home run by biblical principles. Sorry to blow
that idea out of the window, but God has set up a structure right from the word go
in Genesis and each partner has a specific role to play. When they get mixed up
and try to change the roles there is great confusion and Satan has an open door to
bring division and confusion. Hey, imagine if your hands tried to change place with
your feet? It just can’t be done.
Now, let’s take a journey way back in time to the beautiful Garden of Eden. God
made Adam and set him in the garden and all he had to do was look after it and
fellowship with God. God even back then knew the need for fellowship because
He made man primarily to share with Him. Then God made the animals and birds
and took them to Adam to name. Adam had the final authority, not God!
God then showed His love and concern for Adam by giving him Eve – "a helper
comparable to him." In other words, they were to complement each other in
everything. But God made her out of Adam. She was part of him, but Adam was
the one who was made first. And God put her as Adam’s partner, but under his
leadership. Remember, he was used to it. That was his role. He was given the
responsibility to care for her and love her and she was to be a helper suitable for
him.
Then came the day when Satan tempted her to eat the fruit they had been told not
to eat. Eve made a fatal mistake (and we’re all reaping the results of it). Instead of
going to Adam and sharing with him what had happened so that he could protect
her and make the right decision, she went over his head and authority. I believe if
she had told Adam what Satan was trying to do he could have used his authority
to stop it. Then maybe we’d all be living in paradise right now. (;-)
That little error opened the door wide for Satan to infiltrate every area of life, and it
caused God to set in motion a law now that we can’t avoid. He decreed that the
woman would be subject to her husband. He said, "Your desire shall be for your
husband and he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16).
This is a hard thing for many women to accept, especially when there’s so much
going on in the media about woman’s rights and other matters. But you know, I
actually don’t mind this arrangement. Am I strange you ask? Do I like being under
my husband? It’s not a case of being inferior or of no self worth or value. The wife
has a vital role to play in keeping the family unit together and well organized, but
as the husband is the decision maker, why not leave it up to him? It will take a
load off your shoulders that the Lord never intended you to have, and besides, you
can actually blame him if he makes the wrong move! That’s his department. (;-)
I think the best way I can describe being in submission to your husband is having
respect for him and for the fact that the Lord has given him to you as your
protector. He is responsible for bringing love into the home, and also for getting
guidance from the Lord in all matters regarding the family. The wife’s role is the
running of the home and caring of the kids so that the husband is free from those
pressures and can concentrate on his career or business and other matters. If
your husband takes his role lightly and messes up he will have to answer to the
Lord, so don’t think he’s got it easy! But as the two of you fulfil your God-given
roles there is always harmony and blessing.
Did you know if you respect your husband and don’t demand things from him, he’ll
probably give you almost anything you desire? Wives, use your feminine charms.
There’s great power in them! Consider this little scene. You’re browsing through a
shopping mall and you see this fabulous evening dress you’d give anything to
have. If you appeal to him in love by saying, "Wow, angel, just look at that! Man I’d
love to get that to wear to your office dinner next month", I’m willing to bet you he’ll
work overtime for a week or two if he has to just to give you your desire because
he wants to give it to you. I’ve seen some really hard men who have just softened
and become so loving simply because their wives have shown them respect and
submitted to their leadership although it may have been very overpowering.
A response like, "Hey, stop. Will you look at that. Wow it’s wonderful. I’ve got to
get it now!" would have made Les (and probably many others) run a mile away
and he would have probably said, "You save up for it yourself." Don’t be a nag bag
and don’t be demanding. Wives, weakness and humility is your strongest weapon.
I bet most of you thought it was the opposite didn’t you? If you want to know what
the Bible thinks of a nagging woman, just take a browse through Proverbs and see
what Solomon had to say. I guess he had quite a lot of experience of nagging
wives seeing as he had so many.
The Lord told me once that just as Les is responsible for bringing love into the
home, I can be responsible for bringing peace. I find if I get up in the morning and I
make up my mind to allow the Lord to use me to bring harmony and not friction,
most of the time there is a wonderful presence of the Lord around the place and
things flow smoothly.
Gentleness is a fruit of the spirit which I believe every wife should strive for with
her husband and family. This is sometimes not very easy when your hormones are
flooding your body at that time of the month, your kids are feeling cranky because
they’ve got a cold, and maybe your monthly bills are stretching your budget to the
limit. But, there is a way to overcome it. The Lord revealed it to me very recently
and I want to share it here.
To live a life of victory over any emotional difficulties you have to allow the Lord to
live His life in you. Remember, you’ve been crucified with Him already, now you
have to let Him live His life through you. If you’ve been crucified you’re dead. That
means that no matter what stress comes your way you don’t have to react to it
because a dead person isn't bothered by anything is she? So, if your kids are
yelling and your husband is not being very loving because he has a splitting
headache, let it pass over you and allow the Lord to love your kids and your
partner through you. He’ll be doing it and you don’t have to strive to make
headway on your own.
A wife and mother is to give unconditionally of her time and energy to the home. I
understand this is especially hard nowadays if she works full time, but still a giving
attitude, firstly to your husband and then your children is so important. If you feel
like you’re getting swamped and getting nothing in return, don’t give up. Give and
it will be given back to you (greatly magnified). Just one thing I’d like to mention,
though. Don’t give so much to your children that you don’t make time to establish
a good relationship with your husband. Apart from the Lord, your husband is your
first priority. Your children are only there temporarily, and I’ve seen a lot of
marriages that break up when the kids leave home because the couple haven’t
established a solid foundation before.
As you continue to give of yourself, your family will sit up and take note and will
start doing things to please you, too, even if it’s just a little gesture of kindness like
bringing you a cup of coffee in the morning. Even when your kids do little things for
you show genuine appreciation. It will keep the flow going and make you feel
appreciated in return. Appreciate what your husband does and tell him so. Tell him
you love him, too. This may sound strange, but some wives never do it. If you’re
not accustomed to doing it because you think it’s something that’s taken for
granted, start doing it and you’ll be surprised how things will change for you
especially if either of you are feeling negative. Just don’t be surprised if he faints
on the spot the first time you say it! (:-]
I was told a story once of a woman whose marriage became sour and got so bad
her husband practically ignored her all the time. They battled to get things settled
and he was very uncooperative. She was determined, though, to continue with the
marriage and love him no matter what, because she’d taken her vows before the
Lord and she didn’t believe in divorce. Even though it was really difficult she
continued to love him, tell him she loved him and gave of herself without expecting
anything back. Her loving, humble attitude brought him back and the last time I
heard they had a solid, immovable marriage. So don’t give up. Continue to show
him love. The Lord will honor your commitment.
To me, children are a wonderful blessing from the Lord. I’ve only had one, my son,
although I have 3 step-daughters. It’s a privilege to me to bring him up to know the
Lord right from an early age, and pour out my love on him, but I’ve never
neglected my duty to Les. It’s important also to build up your husband in your
children’s eyes. Your husband is as vitally important to your children in the later
years as you are in the early ones (before their teens). You have the greatest
influence on a child in it’s early years. After that the husband brings a girl into
womanhood and a boy into manhood. When they reach their teen years
unfortunately you have to let them go (sniff, sob), and allow your husband to take
the dominant role! By building him up in your children’s eyes, though, they will find
it easy to adjust in adolescence and when they leave there will still be a good
relationship with you and them.
Even though your outlook must always be to give of yourself, try also to make time
to rest and relax, too, even if it’s sitting relaxing with a cup of coffee for 20
minutes. I can hear whoops of joy, "Yes, yes, yes!" Well, even the Lord told His
disciples to come aside and rest a while. If you need a rest and are getting too
weary physically, don’t be a martyr. Try and make the time or you’ll burn yourself
out and be no use to anyone. Even a small break is better than nothing! Les and I
are hectically busy all day, but we often make time for a small break in the
afternoon to rest and recoup, then our energy is increased to continue our
schedule.
Proverbs 31 verses 10 to 31 has the best description of a godly wife I’ve come
across, but to actually be able to attain all that is described there is quite
something! She must have been a pretty marvelous woman. I love this passage
and if I’m feeling discouraged I often review it. The one thing that struck me when I
read it is verse 12 : "She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." Ouch!
How many of us can aspire to that? When you are having differences of opinion
and things are a bit bumpy, I think most women’s desire would rather be to do
their husbands some bodily harm like hurling them over the balcony! (;-) If you’re
aware of what the Lord desires from you, though, you can work towards it. If you
fall, fail and mess up, just pick yourself up again and, like a baby learning to walk,
carry on and persevere. Have you ever seen a baby not get it right?
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in a marriage is a little 6 letter word – speech!
How often does your husband REALLY know what is going on inside of you and
what you feel? Do you really talk and share with each other? Lack of
communication I think is as bad as no communication. The bible says we must
"share the truth in love". That means the whole truth in every detail, on both sides,
so that you can truly become one.
Communication was a very big problem for me when Les and I were first married.
I’d been taught through my childhood that the ‘stiff upper lip’ approach was better,
and many of those years I was in such a daydream world that I was continually
escaping. So guess what? When it came to communicating I was pathetic. I never
ever really expressed what was inside of me. However, as I said at the beginning,
if something is boiling on the inside it’s going to come out.
I remember when we first got married I learnt by trial and error that this was a
serious problem in my life. Before we met I was used to going to bed at the
ridiculous hour of 9.00 in the evening, but when Les and I got married it gradually
got later and later as we sat for ages every evening having family time with his
daughters and getting to know them. I was really not used to these late nights and
so I got more and more irritated.
The one night we were sitting sharing for a long time, then I got rather quiet as I
silently practiced what I was going to say to Les (not very gently I might add)! I
was like a dragon, gradually blowing more and more steam out until it got too
much. After a while of this contemplation I suddenly pulled back the covers to
make my irritation known and stormed down the passage to go the bathroom.
Needless to say everyone was quite shocked and wondered, "What’s eating her?"
That was not the right way to approach the matter as I soon learnt. Now a gentle
smile and, "Angel, it’s 12.00 o’clock, hey!" are enough to make him say, "Okay,
everybody out. It’s late and my wife wants to go to bed!" He now fights on my
behalf instead of against me. Isn’t that wonderful?
That whole episode and so many other problems could have been avoided or
minimized if I had learnt how to communicate honestly and without anger. It’s
taken a long time for me to master this art because for 30 years it had been
absent from me. I’ve now learnt something very easy about starting
communication for problem solving and I’d like to share this here, too. If you
approach a problem from YOUR point of view it will ease a lot of tension. Let’s
face it, if someone says to you, "I have a problem," you will be able to say, "Yes
you do." But don’t let the situation change and the opposite occur. If someone
says, "YOU have a problem," you’re likely to get defensive.
So, how do you do this? Say for example your husband is watching a lot of sport
on TV and it’s upsetting you because you feel you’re being ignored as a result. Try
this approach. Don’t say, "I wish the TV would get disconnected because you’re
always sitting in front of it and you never give me any time!" Grr! #$@^%! Try this
approach. "Honey, I have a real problem." He’ll probably ask what it is just out of
surprise that you’re saying you’re in the wrong. Then you tell him gently and
lovingly (remember the Lord lives in you – you’re not capable) what’s bothering
you and why. Make it out that you have the problem because you can’t handle his
actions. This will usually start meaningful dialogue because he’ll want to help you
solve this problem. His built in protective instinct from the Lord will kick in most
times.
I’ve dealt with the attitudes of a godly wife, but the last thing I want to share on is
that aspect of personal appearance. Some people have taken what Paul said
about being beautiful on the inside and not worrying about external appearance to
an extreme. I tend to disagree with this, however. In today’s society there are
many beautiful women that the husband is exposed to in the workplace. It is vitally
important if you do not work, that you make yourself as attractive as possible for
his homecoming. It will firstly make him want to come home, and secondly keep
things stable for you. Consider this scene. Your husband is subjected during the
whole day to really drop dead beautiful secretaries, sales representatives, etc.
Now he gets back home and you meet him at the door with faded, torn jeans, a
baggy tee shirt and little or no make up. Do you think he’s going to get inspired to
come home every day? This is a possible scene ripe for an affair.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is always the case, but it’s something to
watch out for. If you’ve grown slack in your personal appearance because you’ve
been married for a while and you think, "He must accept me the way I am. That’s
how he married me," I think it would be wise for you to change your outlook. If
you’re in this category, why not blow him away the next time he comes home? Put
on make up (especially lipstick), do your hair in the best style, put on something
flattering. You could be surprised at the difference it will make.
Now, if you are having problems in your marriage and you feel like it’s going
nowhere and you can’t see things improving, I want to suggest some simple things
you can do to bring an improvement in your attitude to your husband, and will be
sure to cause him (and you) to change. Here they are (do it daily for at least a
week before assessing the results):
Firstly, make a list of every good quality in your husband and review it daily;
Do one little thing which you think would please and surprise him every day,
even if it’s something as simple as bringing him a cup of tea when he gets
home, if you don’t usually do it;
If there are things in him you want to change use your spiritual weapons which
are powerful and always work – speak blessing on him every morning and
evening, and more often during the day if you can remember. The Bible says,
"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you". By
blessing him, you will be blessed in return;
Tell him you love him. If you haven’t done it for a while it will do wonders for
you and the more you say it the more it will sink into your own spirit and
become a reality. Love is a choice. Your feelings will follow once you’ve made
it and begin to speak it out. Don’t rely on your feelings to change first. They
won’t.
Use the power of visualization. Visualize the change that you want. If you can
see something it becomes far more believable than if you simply speak about it
or think about it intellectually. Visualization helps your faith to grow. It’s a good
idea to do it especially before you go to sleep at night so it can seep into your
spirit overnight.
Quote a scripture promise as often as possible that relates to your desire. A
good one is, "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray believe that you
receive them and you shall have them." As you say it (out loud), visualize your
desire. You will release the angels to work on your behalf to bring it about.
I believe if you seek to do these things and ask the Lord to help both you and your
husband, He will honor your desire and bring about a change. If you have your
side of the bargain right the blessing of the Lord will be on your household in
abundance and you will see things take place for your good. Above all, don’t give
up! The Lord will make a way.
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Hearing the Voice of God
- Introduction -
he Bible is full of examples of people hearing the voice of God. It started

way back in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Then
throughout the rest of the Bible there are many cases of people hearing
the voice of the Lord. The prophets of old received the words of the Lord and
spoke them out boldly. And this did not stop in the New Testament era. God still
spoke and people still heard His voice.
So where do we stand today? Can man still hear the voice of God? Does God still
speak to us in this modern age? And if He does then to whom does He speak, and
how does He speak? Is it only for the very spiritual and those called to a higher
ministry office? Can a person come to the place where they can hear the voice of
God on a regular basis? And how can we come to the place where we can hear
His voice? These are some of the questions that I hope to try and answer in this
series.
Of course there is the unique area of listening that goes with the prophetic
ministry. Not everyone has the ability to hear prophetically, but only those who
have entered this ministry. But I want you to know from the outset that every single
believer can hear from God. This is not the privilege of the prophet only. It is very
much like many of the other spiritual gifts. For example God heals by the gifts of
healing, but we do not need to wait for a gift of healing to receive his touch on our
bodies.
Now before I go into how we can hear the voice of the Lord, we need to establish
a few facts clearly in our minds. The first fact that you need to know before you
even start is that God does still speak today. Many do not believe this to be true,
since they claim that the Scriptures are God’s final word on all matters. To them,
the only way you can hear God speak today is in His Word.
Yes, God does indeed speak to us through His Word, and this is one of the areas
that I am going to be dealing with. But He did not hand us a book to read and then
disappear from the scene, never to be seen or heard of again until we meet him
the other side of the grave. Jesus promised that He was going to send us the
Comforter to take His place on the earth while He is away. Now what use would
the Holy Spirit be if He did not cause us to hear the voice of the Lord?
So I am going to start off by looking at the two main ways God speaks to us – by
His Spirit and by His Word. Then I am going to go on and deal with how God
speaks to us through other means, such as circumstances, other people, and
even His creation. But perhaps before I even start on these many areas I should
lay the groundwork from the Scriptures concerning hearing the voice of God.
Proverbs 20: 27 The spirit of man [is] the candle of the LORD,
searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Hebrews 3: 7 Therefore (as the Holy Ghost says, To day if you want
to hear his voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of
temptation in the wilderness:
Revelation 3: 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man

hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will
fellowship with him, and he with me.
Proverbs 4: 23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it [flow]
the sources of life.
Proverbs 6: 20 My son, keep your father's commandment, and

forsake not the law of your mother:
21 Bind them continually upon your heart, [and] tie them about your
neck.
22 When you go out, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall keep
you; and [when] you awake, it shall talk with you.
Proverbs 8: 34 Blessed [is] the man that hears me, watching daily at
my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
These are just a few passages that deal with God speaking and us hearing Him
speak. We will look at this from many different angles. But before we get into
actual ways of hearing the voice of God, I want to give you a little teaching on the
nature of man and how we were created. Then you will have a better
understanding of how these things work.
I want to start by considering man’s tripartite nature. There has been much
teaching in this area in recent years, so I am not going to go into a lot of detail
here. One of the best teachings was put out by Watchman Nee in his series The
Spiritual Man. I am going to assume that you know a lot of what I am going to
share because I am just giving a pattern for us to work to.
Man is spirit, soul and body. The spirit of man is the true inward person, made
originally in the image of God and marred by The Fall, but restored in Christ. In the
spirit, there are three functions as follows
Intuition – the area of spiritual revelation or true knowing.

Communion – the area of sensitivity to the spiritual realm enabling worship and
communication with other spirits.
Conscience – the built in sin alarm system
The body is what enables the spirit to live and remain in the earth. It is the means
for communicating with the world via the five senses. All information that a person
receives comes in through the body via the five gates that make up the senses.
The body also has three main functions as follows
Self Preservation or Defense

Self Propagation or Reproduction
Self Support or Nourishment
Then, lying between the spirit and the body is a part of man that at first glance
appears to be the real person or control tower. But it is actually a part that brings
the spirit and the body together. Any communication that takes place between the
spirit and the body has to come via the soul. The soul exists only because the
body and spirit need a mediator. When the spirit leaves the body, the soul is no
longer necessary. And the soul of course also has three functions as follows
Mind – Intellect and thinking processes

Emotions – the feelings and desires
Will – the ability to make choices.
So it looks like this
Spirit >> Intuition Communion Conscience

Soul >> Mind Emotions Will
Body >> Defense Reproduction Nourishment
And information can flow in two different directions. It can flow inwards from the
body via the five senses, or it can flow outwards from the spirit. And in both cases
these things are picked up by the soul and affect the mind, emotions and will. Let's
see how they affect each part of the soul.
The Mind
The mind is a place where the influences of the senses are stored. With your mind
you are able to remember all the things that you see, hear, feel, taste and smell. In
fact if you think about it, anything that you remember is based on one or more of
these senses. Try to let your mind go back to what happened to you the past
while. Can you remember the events of yesterday? Can you close your eyes and
‘see’ what happened. Can you remember something that you saw on television?
Of course you can. Just close your eyes and try to remember these things, and
you will be able to ‘see’ it quite clearly in your mind. You will even be able to
describe it to someone who was not there or did not see what you saw on TV. And
what about the other senses? Have you noticed how easy it is to recognize
sounds that you have heard before? Ever heard an old song and found you could
recognize the tune immediately? Ever smelled something and noticed immediately
that it was familiar? Ever tasted something and you were sure you had tasted it
before?
So you see, the mind tends to function according to the influences of the senses
and you are able to see, hear, feel, taste and smell with your mind. So how then
are you going to hear the voice of God? How are you going to see God, or Jesus
rather, since God is invisible? You are going to have to do it in your mind. Some
people speak of hearing an audible voice from God. But this does not mean that
the sound came physically into their eardrums. They simply received a very strong
influence of hearing in their mind.
If you are going to hear from God, then the results of this hearing are going to be
first of all in your mind. But how does God speak and where does he speak from?
Does He address your mind directly? The answer to that can be found in some of
the verses we gave above. Solomon said that the spirit of man is the candle of the
Lord. God is a spirit, Jesus said, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. So
if you are going to receive anything at all from God then there is only one way it
can take place, and that is from your spirit.
Every believer has been born again by the Spirit of God. That means the Holy
Spirit has come to stay in our hearts. He and our spirit are very closely bound
together so that our spirit is able to receive from Him. I want you to think about
what it is like for two people to live together in the same house, sharing the same
room, maybe even the same bed? After a while you get to know this person quite
well. And you get to the place where you know everything that happens with them.
You communicate with them all the time.
This is how your spirit is with the Holy Spirit. Your spirit knows what is going on in
God. When the Spirit of God speaks, your spirit hears it. And since the two are
closely connected it is safe to assume that your spirit is able to hear the voice of
God 24 hours a day. You don’t have to wait for God to boom out of heaven or
burst forth upon your life. All you need to do is find out from your spirit what He is
saying.
So of course the question is "how do I go about receiving what God is saying?"

And of course the answer quite simply is "learn to listen to your spirit." This is what
we are going to be talking about in this series. I am going to be showing you ways
of listening to your spirit. And as you learn to become more sensitive to the inner
voice you will find that it becomes easier to hear exactly what God is saying to
you.
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Hearing the Voice of God
- Part 1 -
1 Samuel 28:6 And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD
answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
e started last time looking at the subject of hearing the voice of God.
And we saw that God speaks in the spirit of the believer, and that in
order to hear God speak, the believer has to simply learn to listen to his
or her own spirit. In future studies I will be giving you ways of developing
an awareness of your own spirit and exercises to do to increase this capacity. This
is a Scriptural thing – developing the senses through practice and exercise.
Hebrews 5: 14 But strong meat belongs to those that are of full age,
[even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.
But today I want to speak about something that started in the Old Testament and
is now probably the simplest way to hear the voice of God. In the passage
concerning Saul enquiring of God, we are told that God did not answer him by
dreams, by Urim or by prophets. We will be considering all of these and some
more as we proceed with this series, but today I want to start with the Urim.
The word Urim is found in a few places in the Old Testament, and it includes also
the term Thummim. You can try looking these up in your Bible concordance if you
have a good one like Strongs. But the passages do not tell us a whole lot about
what exactly these two items were. It seems they were part of the priest’s
equipment, and they had something to do with finding out the will of God.
Now there are several theories concerning what these were and how they were
used, so I will not try to prove anything, but just give you the theories. It does not
matter how they operated, but the principle remains the same. Some say that the
two were stones in the priest’s breastplate. When someone wanted to know the
will of God, they would pray and ask a question that could be answered with a yes
or no answer. And then God would answer by causing one of the stones to glow. If
the Urim glowed then the answer was Yes. If the Thummim glowed, then the
answer was No.
So it would work like this. If you wanted direction from God you would call a priest
who was wearing an ephod. And then you would pray and ask God your question.
"Lord should we have hamburgers for supper, or steak?" (Well haven’t you heard
some dumb prayers before?) And then God would answer by making the correct
stone glow, and you would know which way to go.
But seriously, this is one of the ways that people would find out from the Lord what
they should do. You can find an example of this in 1 Samuel 23
9 And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him;
and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.
10 Then David said, O LORD God of Israel, your servant has
certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city
for my sake.
11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come
down, as your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I ask of
you, tell your servant. And the LORD said, He will come down.
12 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men
into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver [you] up.
Now there is another theory about how the Urim and Thummim worked. And this is
that the ephod contained a pouch at the side, like a pocket. And in this pouch
there were two stones kept – one black and the other white. This is based on
Revelation 2: 17
To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will
give him a white stone
The idea here was that after praying, the priest would reach his hand into the
pouch and remove one of the stones. If the white stone came out the answer was
Yes, but the black stone meant a No answer. This is a bit different in operation,
but the principle is still the same. God would answer with a Yes or No. So you
couldn’t ask "Lord who will I marry?" You would have to take all the suitable
prospects and ask one at a time. "Is it John?" Nope. "Is it Peter?" Nope. If you
don’t get any Yes’s then you haven’t found him yet. ;-)
Well, since under the New Covenant we have far more than they had under the
Old, how come God took away the Urim and Thummim? It was the function of the
priest to operate this, since all priests wore an ephod. But now in the New
Testament we don’t have any priests any more so where do we go? Well the good
news is that God did not take away the Urim and Thummim. We do still have
priests in the New Testament.
1 Peter 2: 5 You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,

a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ.
We as believers are the priests of the New Testament. And we also carry an
ephod that distinguishes from the rest – it is the spirit of God within. And your spirit
also contains a Urim and Thummim, that will tell whether you are going in the right
direction or not. Have you ever wondered how Paul knew that he was not
supposed to go in the directions he planned in Acts 16:6-7 ?
6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of
Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in
Asia,
7 After they were come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia: but the
Spirit did not permit them to.
It was by the spiritual Urim and Thummim that is built into every believer. Some
have called this the Peace of God, based on Colossians 3:15
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are
called in one body; and be thankful.
Others have likened it to a spiritual ‘umpire’ that regulates our behavior and tells
us when we are out of line. But it works exactly the same. It is an inner sense that
you are moving in the right direction or a total block in the spirit, which makes you
realize that you are going in the wrong direction. Have you ever opened your
mouth to pray for something or someone, and it feels like you have cotton wool in
your mouth? It is your Thummim saying, "You are praying wrong."
Have you thought about going in a certain direction, and suddenly your spirit leaps
up inside you with a "yeah, yeah?" That is your spiritual Urim flashing. It is telling
you that this is of God and you are going in the right direction. And you have
probably learned through bitter experience that when you choose to ignore or
directly oppose that inner witness, you get yourself into hot water.
But what is happening here? How does this work? Well quite simply it is your spirit
pouring forth an influence, not upon your mind, but upon your emotions. The
spiritual Urim and Thummim are emotional experiences, and although they are
very strong and clear, there is also a danger that what you are feeling is nothing
more than a trigger caused by an inner template, based on your current
circumstances. So whilst this way of hearing from God is a common and easy one
to receive, it is not always the best means to use for full clarification of what God is
saying to you.
(If you don’t know what I mean by triggers and templates, please read my study on
this subject under our Bible Studies section, in the spiritual group, and under the
topic of Sanctification).
So God speaks by many different means. And each one has its benefits and time
and place. As you learn to use all of these methods, you can come to the place
where you can always find out which way to go. You can always hear the voice of
God, at any time. And by exercising some of the spiritual senses you have, you
can come to the place where these inner influences become as strong as hearing
someone speak to you in an audible voice.
What we have been discussing applies to every believer and not only the Prophet.
In fact all of the ways of hearing the voice of God that I am going to be discussing
are available to anyone. You don’t have to be a prophet to exercise it. The only
difference between an ordinary believer hearing from God and a prophet hearing
from God, is that the average believer will hear from the Lord, things concerning
themselves. The prophet, on the other hand, hears from God on behalf of another.
We will discuss this further in due time as we go deeper into the ministry of the
prophet.
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A Glimpse of Hell
would like to share a dream and visions following it concerning what the
Lord showed me in relation to the lost and what we need to do as
believers to not only set them free, but to minister to the Lord as well. I am
hoping that as you read this article, you will not only be inspired to speak
forth words of prayer and decree, but will also be moved deep in your heart to reach
out around you, being Jesus hands, feet, mouth and ears, to those He would touch
and pull from the gates of hell!
In my dream I was being led through a mansion. Starting at the entrance hall and
looking out through large doors of glass, which stretched across the hallway, I saw
outside a garden. It was bleak and oppressive. The trees/bushes were abnormal
looking. Instead of the leaves flourishing on the outside, they were ‘trapped’ within
the branches! It was as if they were prevented from growing out, but caged in – the
branches choking them.
I was moved on and I stood in a room that had a very Gallo-Roman style
architecture, pillars and statues. The floor was smooth and hard and cold. In my
mind I knew this was Satan’s domain. It was his ground. He owned it. I was very
aware of demons being in everything. In the trees, in the statues and the building.
Although I could not see them with my naked eye – it was as if everything around
me was alive with the evil oozing from it. Although it all looked dead, there pulsated
in everything around me an atmosphere of heaviness with waves of evil.
I was then led through a series of passageways and as I passed through them I saw
many rooms along the way. It was dark and the walls dripped with filth. Worse than
the filth and the rotten decay all around me, was the deep, deep sense of despair. It
was the kind of despair that cut straight through you. It gripped you in the heart. A
sense of not going anywhere and not trying to leave either. Of being controlled and
oppressed and giving up to the extent of not even caring to breathe.
As I passed by and caught a glimpse into each room, I caught sight of people who
appeared to be high on drugs. They lay there paralyzed, in a state of emptiness and
numbness, unable to do anything. They lay in filth, clothes soiled and a mess, their
faces were filthy and their eyes dull and all I saw as I caught the odd glance was
despair and emptiness.
These bodies that were alive but appeared so very dead were all over the place.
They were scattered in the various rooms, they were strewn over the passageway
floors. Lying in decay and filth and paralysis.
Then as we passed each level of hallways, I was aware of being invited to a

gathering. The entire building had many levels. It was cylindrical and at the center of
these many floors was this large open court to where I was being invited. As I was
led into this large room, I approached the center of it, in which there appeared to be
a section of lush comfort. There amongst plush silk cushions, draped velvet and
many different fabrics reflecting wealth and power, sat a being I had never seen
before. He was very large, sitting fat and comfortable. His over fed body oozed over
the cushions and he was clothed in many colors of silk. He had on his fingers and
around his neck, loops and loops of gold. As I looked into his face it was a pasty
white and his head was bald. His eyes were small and beady and I could see guile,
evil and deceit in them. There were dark rings beneath him and his entire face was
so bloated, you could not even see his neck. He was NOT a very good looking
character! He was repulsive and made your skin cringe.
His face smiled, yet his eyes hated. Then he began to speak to those around him.
He asked questions. Questions like, "Where is ‘this’ person?" and as he spoke it the
answer was given him from amongst those gathered to this ‘meeting’. I was very
aware of the conversations, yet I never saw with whom or what he spoke. He had
information on people all over the world – and was keeping track of them, seeing
that they were still bound and under his control. As the conversations continued,
each person’s history and deeds were announced. Some were caught in drugs,
others in promiscuity, some in the deed of committing murder, the list was endless.
Then there were those of whom he inquired about that he was displeased with.
They had not answered when he had called. For those he was displeased with, he
took out sheet made of a paper type material and began writing upon it: the events
they were in right at that moment. I saw one case in particular of a girl in her
twenties, he stated where she was to be found at the present time and then added
after that " To be killed in a motor accident". Once he had completed writing it out,
he ‘sealed’ it so to speak. It was as if the ‘decree’ had been sealed by a force on to
that paper. I had a strong sense as he sealed it that this task was to be carried out.
All the while, as I remained in the presence of these beings I was simply a
spectator. I did not participate at all. I was simply being led through, and watched as
I traveled through this domain of darkness. They did not even seem to notice I was
there. I felt no fear as I watched, neither did I feel to do anything. Simply to take note
and be an onlooker.
I was then drawn away from the meeting and was taken outside the building
altogether. I discovered a fence around the perimeter of the grounds. The fence was
black and solid, you could not see through it to the other side. I bent down to catch a
glimpse of what was beyond this solid fence and I saw a land of dry fire. It was a dry
land that contained bushes and some plant life, but yet they were not consumed by
the fire that seemed to burn continuously. I sensed that this territory was guarded –
that who ever tried to cross this boundary of dry land to the perimeter of grounds
would be destroyed. As the heat from the ground rose up in waves, blurring my
sight, I knew that there was no way out for those within.
They were bound in ways I could only now begin to comprehend. I felt a deep sense
of grief and despair for those inside. I knew that as I woke I would escape this place
of death, leaving behind me, those who were lost inside this chamber of hell.
I woke from my sleep with a stirring of such grief and loss deep within me. I felt
helpless. I felt such a desire to reach in and pick those up who were so dead inside
and to pour upon them the rivers of living water!
I came to the Lord in prayer and asked Him the meaning of this dream and I came
to discover that He had given me but a small glimpse of what we call Hell. The huge
being I saw, I have come to name Pharaoh – as the Pharaoh of old that kept the
Israelites in captivity. He was the ruler and controller of the world’s system. He had
his fingertips on all that went on in the earth and he commanded and organized
events that would use the system to destroy and bind up people.
With this burden still heavy within my heart we went into intercession that night. As
the Lord led we felt to call to salvation, many of those we knew and others we did
not know that did not serve the Lord. One by one we claimed them for Jesus and as
we neared the end, the Lord showed me what we were accomplishing for Him in the
spirit. I saw before me the Archangel Michael and behind him a group of warrior
angels. They had very firm looks on their faces and in unison set off in the same
direction.
With their flaming swords in hand, leather sandals and roman looking military gear,
they barged through everything in their way and as I watched they approached the
very building I had seen in my dream! Only they did not stop at the dry land – they
could not be stopped. I saw then that Michael carried with him authorization! He
carried with him the authorization burned into a document as a decree, that we had
given him through prayer! He barged through the gates and pushed through the
oppression. I saw him fling wide the huge wooden doors that had closed off the
court and in the warrior angels went, in various directions. Pharaoh was spitting
mad, but could not and did not move! They had authorization. As the warriors went
in various directions Michael stood in the middle of the court and barked out orders,
go get this person and go get that person. I saw the angels then go and select those
on the list.
I said to the Lord as I was being shown this – but Father, what about the others?
What about them Lord? Why can’t you take them out of there too? The Lord said to
me in a tone of sadness, I cannot take them out child, no one has prayed for them.
His words cut me to the heart and I dissolved in tears. Oh Father! Father, Jesus,
send me. Give me your words that you might set the others free as well.
Yes, that night there was victory, we could snatch from Satan’s grip those that we
were led to pray for. They were removed out of that despair and that dreaded death,
but the sadness was overwhelming as I saw the angels leave with only the select
few, many many more remaining in their squalid prison.
As the door shut again behind the angels as they left, the sound of it slamming
echoed in my ears and my heart, as I knew that behind it were those still in the
decay, with no way out and no way of escape, with not even knowing that
something better lay beyond. So there they lay and here I cried, knowing the grace
of Jesus and knowing how his blood could wash away the decay and how his river
could bring life to their eyes.
Have you seen through the eyes of a dead man before? Have you seen into such a
deep sense of loss your very breath is taken from you? Do you dare to stand in the
gap today for one of those caught in a web of loss. Does your heart not burn for
those who are being eaten alive in fear and hopelessness?
No matter how hard life can get and no matter how you struggle through sometimes,
I know at the end of it, I have Jesus to walk with and talk with. I know He is there to
comfort me from the dark, to put His hand into my despair and His ever so sweet
love into my heart. Do you want His heart in you? Do you really want to feel it? Do
you know it bleeds? It bleeds for those very people who have empty eyes and dead
hearts.
We are ever so busy coming to prayer for our own needs and even your ministry
can take all your spiritual time and energy. I was reminded as we shared through a
ladies bible study, that the Lord too needed ministry. I was so humbled because I
had been so busy with others, I had not taken much time to pour into Him. As I
came to Him I just ministered to Him. I praised Him and told Him how special He
was to me. He asked me then, do you really want to minister to me? I said yes lord,
of course I do, you are the most wonderful thing in my life! As I sang out in a
prophetic song, the words that came out shook me, as I saw in the spirit what the
Lord was telling me.
I saw His heart bleeding, pouring with blood and with it I saw tears falling from His
face. The tears were streaming down and I felt them, as I sang: "Lord give me your
heart, that I may weep, that I may weep"
"Lord give me your tears, that I may bleed for you"
Those words shook me because for the first time in my life a realized what it meant
to minister to the Lord Jesus. It meant partaking of His sufferings and being joined
with Him in His death. It meant taking on His tears and His bleeding heart for those
caught in Satan’s snare. Those that lay in the pit of emptiness.
He bleeds and He sheds tears for those I saw in my dream and it broke my heart to
see His so broken. I wept at His feet and felt as the woman who wept on Jesus feet
and dried it with her hair. He raised her up and cleansed her; and as I wept He
cleansed me too. He cleansed me and placed in my breast His heart that bled so
freely. He gave to me the most precious treasure – He gave to me the ability to feel
His heart. I will never look upon one who is lost with scorn and I will never look upon
one caught in sin and bondage with distaste, because I know now where they are
and I know now how they live.
They live in death and the Lord has sent each and every one of us to speak forth
words filled and charged with the Holy Spirit to decree into the earth their release.
To counter-decree the works of the enemy in their lives. To speak life and to speak
change and to speak His will into this earth! To not just stand by any longer and wait
for the next guy to do it, but rather to take upon ourselves the sufferings of Christ
and to minister forth His tears of healing into the darkness and His water of life into
the dread and more than anything, to minister forth His bleeding heart of love that
does indeed set the captives free!
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The Inner Streams
John 4 : 10-14
Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who
it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked from
him, and he would have given you living water.
The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep: from where then do you have that living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and
drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall
thirst again:
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a spring of water
gushing up into eternal life.
Proverbs 4 : 23 - Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it [flow]
the sources of life.
here are so many things that we take for granted every day in our
modern world, that we do not realize how important they are to us until
they are taken away from us. For example, every time you open a water
tap you expect water to gush out for you. You never stop to think where
this water comes from and you do not get too excited about having it, because it is
such a cheap and common product. But just see what happens when something
goes wrong with the water supply and you have to go without it for a day.
Suddenly that thing which you took for granted and did not think was very
important begins to take on a new value to you. You will be amazed at how much
you depend on it, and how restricted you are when you do not have it.
Water is the most important fluid in the earth. Every living thing is made up of
matter that contains a large percentage of it. You can go for a long time without
food if you have to - people have fasted for long periods without any ill effects. But
no one can go longer than three days without water before they start to suffer
severe damage to life. Without water life just would not exist. Perhaps this is why
the Scriptures speak so much about water, and why water is one of the most
common symbols used for the Holy Spirit. You see the Holy Spirit is to our
spiritual life just like water is to our natural life. Without the Spirit of God you will
have no spiritual life, and without His presence in your life you would experience
spiritual death.
Let's consider where our water comes from and how we go about obtaining it, and
see if we can draw some spiritual parallels. OK so we're going to have another
Geography lesson. Firstly, we know that most of our rivers that carry the water on
the earth have a source. They have a starting point, usually high up in a
mountainous area. And from there they flow downwards towards the sea. Many of
the early explorers were driven by a desire to find the sources of some of the great
rivers like the Nile and spent their lives seeking out the source. What they
discovered was that most rivers start small. They might begin with a simple trickle
from the dew that falls in a high place.
Actually the starting point is the evaporation that takes place when the sun shines
down upon the earth. As the water evaporates it becomes a mist that rises up into
the sky to form clouds. Then as these clouds are blown against high ground they
rise up into the atmosphere and begin to cool. This causes them to condense to
form droplets of water that are poured down upon the earth. The water from this
causes a trickle to take place in the high areas. And as that trickle begins to flow, it
joins with other such trickles and an accumulation takes place, which results in a
flowing stream. As streams join together and become rivers and as rivers become
tributaries that join a larger river, so a large volume of water begins to make its
way downwards over the earth to the sea.
This is a basic cycle on the earth and takes place every day. We take it for granted
and do not have to do anything to make it happen. It is built into nature. But the
same is not so of the work of the Holy Spirit. For some reason we do not share the
passion for seeking out the source of the flow of God's Spirit in the same way the
early explorers sought to find the sources of the great rivers. If we did we would
find that God also works by fixed principles. When rain does not fall and the rivers
run dry we search to find out what is happening. But when God is not pouring out
His Spirit in blessing on us, we shrug our shoulders and say, "Well it is obviously
not His Will for us at this time."
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost.
Since that event we should expect that such outpourings should continue to take
place. When Paul first came to Ephesus he asked the disciples there if they had
received the Holy Spirit yet. They were surprised and said they did not know the
Holy Spirit existed. Paul did not say, "Well God obviously doesn't want you to have
it yet." He did not encourage them to wait on the Lord and seek for it. He
instructed them in the truth, and then laid his hands on them so that they could get
it. Get what? The outpouring of God's Spirit - the latter rain spoken of by Joel - the
living waters spoken of by Jesus - the power that Jesus promised His disciples
would come to them from the Holy Spirit.
If you are a born again believer then God's Holy Spirit has taken up His home in
your spirit. This means that a source of 'living water' has been placed in you. That
source is like the source of every great river. But it must begin to flow before a
river is created. It must be allowed to trickle out into the earth. Until it does it
remains just a stagnant reservoir. But when it is allowed to flow out it starts to
accumulate and if the flow is maintained, it will eventually start to increase in
power and force and it will grow in size, until it becomes a fast flowing stream.
Eventually it will become a mighty river that cannot be stopped and it will start to
bring life to everything around it.
Jesus told the woman at the well that the water He gave her would become a
water source, gushing out and producing eternal life. We saw yesterday that Jesus
spoke of rivers of living water that would flow from our inward parts. Solomon told
us the same thing in Proverbs. He said that our heart is very important and should
be guarded, because it is the source of life. He was speaking about more than the
physical organ that pumps our blood through our bodies. He was speaking about
the inward man - the spirit. It is from our spirits that life flows. If you don't believe
me just see what happens when a person's spirit leaves his body. The body
cannot carry on living and dies.
God's Holy Spirit pours the life of God into our spirits. And this life can be caused
to flow out and produce a river of life. But it is not automatic. Like the water in your
home, you have to know where the tap is, and you have to know how to open the
tap. And until you do, you might have the potential to draw water, but you will be
dying of thirst. But if you know how to open the tap, you can not only drink, but you
can water the garden and produce growth. You can cause the water to flow out in
all directions. So as you learn to allow God's power to flow out through you from
His Spirit, you can get your own needs met and you can start to meet the needs of
others.
Tomorrow we will have a look at some of the ways we can cause the river of life to
flow out from the Spirit of God through us. Meditate upon the passages of
Scripture that use water as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and see if you can identify
some clear principles.
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Are You An Intercessor?
By Daphne Crause
re you an intercessor? Some people think they are intercessors, but they
are simply praying for many needs. That is not true intercession.
What is Intercession?
Many people think that intercession is bringing a whole long list of things to the
Lord and praying through them one by one. But that is not what intercession is and
a great many people are misdirected in this area. In the words of a great preacher,
"Intercession is not bringing a list to the Lord. Intercession is coming to receive a
list from the Lord." Below is a very brief summary of the basics of intercession.
How Do you Go About Interceding?
An intercessor is basically someone who stands in the gap as the Lord’s

spokesman. You need to simply come to the Lord in prayer and make yourself
available to Him, and allow Him to reveal to you who and what you are to pray for.
Then you follow through with what He gives you. You can bring a need to the Lord
on your own, but then wait for His direction and timing. It may not be right to pray
about it then, but at a later stage the Lord will remind you of that need, and you
can be led to deal with it more fully. To be effective you need to constantly wait on
His direction and get your mind out of the way.
How Does the Lord Speak?
The Lord speaks to you through various means, but by far the easiest and safest
way is for Him to give you visions. If you can pray in tongues, that is all you need
to do, and as you are praying the Lord will bring someone to your mind, or He will
show you a situation He wants you to pray about. It is not common for you to hear
an audible voice, but you will likely have someone come to mind, or you will 'see'
them in your mind.
Keep a Diary of Visions
It is really exciting if you are moving in intercession, to keep a diary of what the
Lord shows you, and what you felt He was telling you to pray about. Then, when
you begin to get answers that line up with what is in your diary, it will motivate you
and help you to move fully into it. If you are first starting out, you may have a very
small success ratio, but keep at it, because sooner or later you will see more and
more answers coming to pass, and you will become confident in this ministry.
Practice Continually
Just a small note of warning: This is something that needs to be practiced

constantly. You need to fine-tune your spirit to the Spirit of the Lord, and start to
know His will more and more clearly. And the only way to do that is to pray in
tongues continually. Hebrews 5:14 says this: But solid food belongs to those who
are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.
It is through use that you are going to grow and discern more easily what the Lord
is wanting you to speak out.
For a more detailed study, Prophetic Intercession is a detailed and excellent

overview of the intercessory ministry.
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An Intercessor? Not an
Intercessor?
By Daphne Crause
My Testimony of How the Lord Trained Me
hen I was a youngster, I committed myself to the Lord and began to

grow in him. I had a really stupid idea that I was an intercessor. You
may wonder why I say that. Do I think that intercession is stupid or is no
longer relevant nowadays? No. Intercession is one of the most powerful
things that the Lord can use you in, but I had no idea then that I did not have a
clue about what intercession really was. I thought that it was just a case of praying
for every Tom, Dick, Sheila or Fred and bringing a long list to the Lord. However, I
was to learn that this is not the case …
In this article, I want to share my personal testimony in answer to this. I had some
serious misconceptions about what true intercession was about until the time that I
met Les. I think many people have the same misconceptions and wrong ideas
about it today. There are others, whom I believe are called of the Lord to move
powerfully in intercession, but do not know how to begin to develop it and all the
ins and outs of moving in this realm.
It has taken me a long time to grow and develop in it, and the Lord has trained me
over many years and taken me through various stages. It is my desire now to
show you what He did and how He trained me in order to bring me to the place of
knowing His authority and the power of his words flowing through me as I release
into other people’s lives.
My Early Years
I grew up with a very limited, basic knowledge of the Lord right from my school
years. Like so many children, I was sent to Sunday School. My parents figured it
was the ‘right thing to do’, so I knew about the Lord but there was no real
commitment there. I also received a bit of knowledge of religion because I
attended a private all-girls school, which was originally run by nuns. It was
Anglican-based and we had to attend communion services a few times each term.
If I think back on those years I realize that even then I developed an awareness of
praying, even though I did not have a clue what I was doing! I guess, because I
attended an Anglican church, and because of the same denominational emphasis
at my ordinary school, I thought that the strange old English language that they
used in the Prayer Book was the way the Lord expected you to pray. I did not have
any other image to relate to, unfortunately.
I can remember at about the age of six or seven, lying in my bed one night and
praying to the Lord – in the same kind of language used in the Prayer Book! The
words were hard to pronounce, never mind understand for a person that age, and
eventually I came to the conclusion that maybe this was not the right sort of thing
to do, and I started talking to the Lord in my own way. On reflection, I realize that
the Lord was busy, even then, building a prayer orientation into me. The first step
was to realize that he was not an unapproachable figment of my imagination, but
someone I could talk to on a personal level.
Much Prayer, Much Fear
During my childhood years, right from school-going age, I was a real worry wart! It
was during this time that I developed a determination and perseverance in prayer.
I can remember so clearly being afraid concerning my and my family members’
protection. I do not know where this fear came from, because we were never
attacked, molested, etc., but nevertheless this was a problem for me.
From as early as I can remember, I can recall scenes where my parents went out
to a party or something and we were left at home with our maid to baby-sit us. Do
you know what I did? I was obedient and went to bed as she instructed us, but I
did not sleep. No. I lay awake, praying continually for the Lord to bring my parents
home safely. To a young child, those three or four hours were an absolute eternity!
I prayed and prayed and asked and asked, and I sometimes wonder if the Lord did
not get mad at me and say, "Okay, please… keep quiet! Here are your parents,
home safely." I tell you what, though, I never had a problem with protection when I
was younger and I got into some pretty close shaves at times. I think my poor
guardian angel was busier than most. But there again, the Lord was teaching me
from that young age about perseverance in prayer.
Upheaval and Spiritual Development
Well, I grew up, and at the age of fourteen I did make a commitment to the Lord
Jesus. I began to know a bit more about Him then, but I did not know Him as a
person in a real way. Then when I was in my early twenties I met and married my
first husband. He was a Christian and we were involved in mostly youth groups,
etc., but I did not really become actively involved in anything related to prayer
during this period.
During this period I began to seek the Lord more to get to know him more
intimately. He became a solid rock that I could run to, because my first husband
was often ill, and the Lord Jesus was my only source of solace that I had during
those times of upheaval.
So many times I remember going to a quiet spot somewhere, in nature if I could,

because I always felt the Lord’s presence better in that environment. I would sit
there and literally pour out my heart to Him, getting all the tension and frustration
that I was feeling off my chest. It was sometimes hard to talk to anyone, because
nobody seemed to understand what was going on. But He did! I could feel His love
more and more and He became the most important person to me. Without Him I
would have crumbled in those stressful days.
Misconceptions
I was widowed after seven years of marriage, and spent ten months on my own
before meeting Les. During this period I fellowshipped with various singles groups
and tried to become as involved as I could, but somehow I never quite fitted in. I
continued to find solace from the Lord, and began to spend time in prayer early in
the morning, prior to going to work. I really thought that I was an intercessor then. I
took myself a notebook and began to write down, very systematically, a list of the
things I wanted the Lord to answer. It had the date of the request, what the
request was, then another place for the date when the Lord answered. To me, this
was intercession. I could not have been more wrong. I was very diligent in prayer,
but oh so misdirected in that diligence!
Then along came Les and he shattered my weird ideas about intercession! I soon
learned that intercession, to quote his words is: "… not coming to the Lord with a
prayer list, but coming to the Lord to get a prayer list." That was a rude
awakening! How did it change, though?
Praying Together
The Lord began to lead me slowly but surely from the time we were married.
Intercession was to Les like breathing is to any normal human being. He had
learned in his own prayer times, direct from the Lord, what to do and how to move
in it. I was green with ignorance, but I had a zeal to learn more from the Lord, and
so He used Les to direct me and develop this gift.
During the first year of our marriage Les imparted much, spiritually, to me. The first
area I began moving in was visions, which I had not really done much in the past. I
realized that I had actually been receiving visions prior to meeting Les but had not
been aware of them, nor did I know what to do when I received them. I actually
thought it was my imagination.
However, Les channeled it and helped me much during that first year. We would
get up early in the morning, before going to work, and have a prayer time together.
We had so many wonderful times in the Spirit and the Lord led on a daily basis
and gave us direction. I found out how to work in conjunction with him. He would
see a vision, I would see a vision, then he or I may see something else, and the
Lord would dovetail the whole thing together and show us where He was leading
us. It was tremendous to have exposure to the spiritual realm, but under Les's
protection and covering. I grew in leaps and bounds during that year.
It was also during this time that I truly desired to have a baby, but I was having
difficulty in falling pregnant. I dislike the idea of going to a gynecologist to find out
what was wrong, so I decided to try Word power instead. I took a promise from His
Word and I stood on it until I knew that I knew that I had received my heart's
desire. Sure enough it wasn't long afterwards that the Lord moved on my behalf
and I fell pregnant with my son. (I deal with this issue fully in my article on
pregnancy).
Change and More Word

We remained in that house until after my son was born, and when he was a few
months old the Lord directed that we must move out of there and make a fresh
start. We did so, and along with the different location came a whole new different
lifestyle and change in many areas.
Les and I no longer prayed that much together. He was busy with much business
activity, and of course, a young baby just rearranges your whole life for you, so I
began to pray more on my own then. I remember one day I was sitting journaling,
asking the Lord questions and writing down what He told me, and He said so
clearly to me, "I want you to be a giant in prayer and in the Word! You will indeed
be this." It was one of the clearest things I had heard the Lord say and it kept
solidly in my spirit from then on.
One of the first things the Lord directed me to do then was to get into the Word. I
developed a hunger and zeal for it that was amazing, and Les encouraged me to
read through the entire Bible. It was the first time I had ever done that. Although it
took me a long time to do, nevertheless whenever you saw me during that time, if I
was not doing housework or feeding or caring for my son, there I was – reading
the Word, reading the Word, and reading the Word some more!
I grew like a giant then, I can assure you. I learned so much of the Word it began
to pour out of me and I gained a basic knowledge of how the Lord works. This is
vitally important in intercession, because you cannot decree and release into other
people’s lives unless you know what the Word says. Anything contrary to the Word
is not acceptable and will lead you into deception. This is why the Lord directed
me to the Word first, before anything else.
As I read through the Bible I began to see many wonderful promises in it, and I
began to put a circle around the number of the verse when I saw a promise that I
liked and wanted to remember. It became a goal, to see how many promises I
could find as I read. Later on I typed them all out and categorized them and
printed them out. I also put them onto small cards, which we used for a long time
when we needed encouragement or upliftment from the Lord.
Tongues
Once I had developed the Word and developed the power of standing on the
promises, Les encouraged me to begin to pray in tongues for long periods of time
as he himself had done. I was very strong in the Word, but not so strong in the
spiritual side of tongues and allowing the Spirit to speak through me. This one I
battled badly with. I never seemed to be able to break through, and to be perfectly
honest, if I could have left it and just got into the Word, I would have been happy.
But it was making my prayer life unbalanced. The Lord gave me a vision once to
illustrate it. He showed a boat that had capsized, because it was weighed down on
the one side compared to the other side. He then showed a similar picture of a
plane flying upside down, i.e. it had flipped upside down because it had too much
emphasis on the one side.
I worked at it to the best of my ability, but it was not something that I found easy.
However, just the little bit that I did during that time increased my capacity to have
visions and to know the mind of the Lord more, but I did not move in true
intercession yet. I was still praying for our own needs and allowing the Lord to
show me what He wanted for us, rather than coming on behalf of other people’s
needs. I was still learning.
Prayer Load
Well, strange as it may seem, we moved house again! This time though, the Lord
gave me experience in carrying the prayer load entirely on my own. Les was
heavily involved in computer programming, and he really did not have time to get
involved in praying because of the pressure of work and other events in our lives
then, so he handed the full load of responsibility over to me. It was hard, but a
necessary training in diligence for me.
The Lord had shown us before that we should be confessing, as done, what we
had seen Him give to us when we prayed. So, ever so dutifully, I wrote down a list
of everything that we wanted the Lord to help us with – from physical, mental,
temporal and spiritual needs. Then every hour, on the hour, I took that list and I
confessed that the Lord had given those things to us and praised Him for it.
It was a difficult time for us, because things went amiss in the business, and it
seemed that no matter how much I prayed there were still not many results. What
the Lord was teaching me, though, was to keep going in spite of no apparent
results. The Lord continued to encouraged me and He showed me that even
though there were no outward results I was denting the heavenly realm and
making progress at the same time.
This has been so valuable when I have wanted to give up hope. If you are to move
in intercession, you will have many times when you do not always see results
quickly, but you need to realize that the Lord is busy all the time working behind
the scenes to bring your request to pass, according to your faith. In due course (I
am talking a few months down the line) we looked back at that list of confessions,
and do you know that almost every single thing had come to pass at that stage.
The Lord will not let you down. You just sometimes need to learn diligence and
perseverance in prayer, regardless of what you see.
Full Move in Intercession

Following this difficult time I did not do terribly much in the way of prayer for a
good few months. I still kept in the Word and still prayed in tongues and sought the
Lord, but I went through a dry patch. It did not last long, though, and at the end of
that period I began to move more fully in intercession. We moved into another
home that had a beautiful, open garden, and I learned to pace up and down the
garden, seeking the Lord and praying in tongues. I began to see things in the
Spirit more, and the Lord began to show me things to pray for in other people that
I knew, but it was not that fully developed yet. It was just the early signs of things
to come, and most of what I prayed for was still related to us.
I started learning more about authority and the power that the Lord had put into
me and I began to use it more and more. Anybody who saw me during those days
would have thought I was rather insane, because I had learned along the way that
you release things through words and actions. The Lord had shown us this clearly,
and I started using this very graphically. I would pace up and down with my eyes
closed (it is amazing I didn't walk into a tree or something), and I would act out to a
large extent what I was seeing and doing in the Spirit.
So for example, suppose I was coming against the enemy for attacking our
finances. If in the Spirit the Lord showed me to snatch the money back that Satan
had stolen from us, I would point my finger at him and move my hand as though I
was grabbing something from the enemy! If I was pushing the enemy back in the
Spirit, I would put out both my hands and ‘do it’ physically. Fortunately we had a
quiet neighborhood, but to be honest I didn't really care about anybody seeing or
not seeing me. I was beginning to develop more of a boldness in Him.
Move to Mexico
A few years later, the Lord made the move to call us unexpectedly to Mexico and
we ended up in Tijuana. It was here that we ended up starting GMRN in the early
days of our stay.
After a while of doing ordinary ministry the Lord led us to begin developing,
initially, the Prophetic School and we began to get our very first students in. This is
when the Lord launched my full intercessory ministry. My job was to pray for the
students, to lift them up to the Lord and see what He wanted to do in their lives. I
also began praying for the School and for its protection. The Lord often showed
me if there was pending attack and I could move to remove the attack.
I began to do this diligently on a daily basis, and I felt the leading of the Lord to
write down what I saw in a book, and what He showed me to pray (in tongues) as I
saw it. It became an exciting adventure. I was now moving fully in intercession. I
only brought our basis needs to the Lord at the end of my prayer session. For the
rest of the time I prayed in tongues for the School and the students, and made a
note of what the Lord showed me.
I prayed through in tongues and made a note of what I released as the Lord
directed me. Even though I was praying in tongues, I knew in my spirit what I was
praying. I then left a gap in the book to see if the answer was confirmed. It was
amazing to watch the development of this ministry. At first it was rather ‘hit and
miss’. I had more misses than I had hits. But as I continued and developed more
sensitivity to listening to the Lord in the spiritual realm, and as I followed his
leading more and more, I began to have greater results.
It came to the stage where Les developed confidence in the ministry the Lord had
given me, and he used to say to people, "If Daphne saw it and spoke it forth, trust
me, it will take place." The point I want to stress here, though, is that it did not take
place instantly! It took me a long time to develop this gift fully, and a long time to
develop the confidence to know that what I was seeing was of the Lord, and not
my mind or an image from the enemy to confuse me or lead me astray.
During this time I really ‘cut my eye teeth’ in intercession, and I became a junky for
it! I prayed every morning before starting anything else, although at that stage I did
not even have a computer so it was really not difficult to do. Then again in the
afternoons, I would often have another time of praying in tongues and standing on
the Word. I continued to make a note of everything and developed a greater
capacity for knowing what was real and what was not.
Yes, I did miss it. I missed it badly at times, but it was in the Lord’s plan. There
were times when I decreed things that were not of the Lord, and opened doors
that were not of Him. I felt shaken and devastated when I realized it, but the Lord
was showing me that I had to rely on Him and Him alone, and develop that
intimate relationship with Him that is so important.
If you miss it yourself in prayer, do not beat yourself up about it! You need to
simply submit yourself to the Lord, confess it and then resist Satan for trying to
deceive you. In terms of James 4:7 he will have to flee from you. Hey, the Lord
can take your mess-ups and turn them into successes. He knows all things ahead
of time, and He is certainly not caught by surprise when you do mess up. So be
encouraged, persevere and continue and do not let Satan destroy the power in
your spirit that the Lord is leading you in.
Ground Layer
After praying so much for the students, the Lord led me for a season to simply
pray in tongues and I did not have much visions or revelations at all, nor did I have
direction to speak into the lives of others. What I found happening was that Les
would suddenly rise up, get a word of direction from the Lord, speak it forth
powerfully and things would happen almost instantly. I began to get confused and
I said, "Lord, what’s going on here? What’s the point of only praying in tongues
and not getting revelation? And now Les just speaks one word and everything falls
into place. Am I missing it?"
He showed me a vision of a farmer’s field, all messy, full of weeds and rocks, and
in no state to sow in. He then showed me that I was going through the field and
pulling out all the weeds and discarding the rocks. Then I dug up the soil a bit and
got it into a good state for sowing in. When all that hard work was over, the farmer
came along and sowed the seed. He had the easy part and received all the
rewards of a good crop!
The Lord said, "This is what you’re doing. You are like that farmhand who is laying
the groundwork for the farmer. Your job may be hard work, but if you don’t do it
effectively the farmer will not do his job efficiently and there will be no harvest!
Don’t give up. Your job is vitally important!"
This has become a key part of my job here in this ministry. I am continually praying
things through in the Spirit and laying the groundwork ahead of time for Les. He
then comes along, and at the leading of the Lord, puts the plan into action as the
Lord shows him. I am often totally unaware of what is happening in the Spirit. I just
know that the Lord is doing something, and I am an integral, if somewhat naïve,
part of the plan!
Warfare
The one area I had not moved in on my own very much up until this point was that
of standing against the enemy in warfare, but now He moved me into this in much
greater measure. I had to learn to stand on my own feet against the very top level,
the infernal trio, and use the authority that the Lord had given me. It is very
important when you move into this area, that you are fully developed in the Word,
because that is where your staying power is.
I always, always use the Word when I am standing against the enemy. The Lord
Jesus did that when he was tempted in the wilderness, and that is how he
overcame Satan. There is no greater way to make Satan’s plans fizzle out than
when you say, "Satan, it is written, ‘No weapon formed against me shall prosper,
and every tongue that rises up in judgement against me, I shall condemn!’ " How
can he stand against that? It is the Word, and it is the ‘sword of the spirit’,
according to the Scriptures. It really is a sword. It is offensive, and you will always
get results when you stand on the Word.
Development of Faith
There were now just two more areas that the Lord developed after this time. The
first was he developed my faith more strongly in Him. I was busy praying about a
fairly urgent situation we were in once, and the Lord reminded me of Hebrews
11:6 which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who
comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him."
The words, ‘… a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,’ stood out to me, and I
suddenly realized that I had often been making a fatal mistake while praying. I had
been looking to the answer, instead of to Jesus to provide the answer. That
revolutionized my prayer life so that I have never ever forgotten it. Jesus is the one
who provides for you and answers your prayers. When you pray, you need to see
Him giving you the answer, no matter how hard it seems to be in the natural.
There is a Scripture that says, "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray,
believe that you receive them and you will have them." This is one of my favorite
verses, and when you see it in conjunction with what I have just shared, it makes
so much sense. When you ask Jesus for anything, He will give it to you, right there
and then in the heavenly realm. The answer will not come floating out of the sky
from nowhere. You need to ‘see’ the Lord, in vision, giving you your desire. It then
makes it so much easier to believe for the answer, because it is easy to believe
that a person will give you what you need. You receive the answer by calling it
done and by standing on the Word as I shared earlier.
I put that principle into action immediately when he showed it to me and I had the
most amazing results in prayer – easily. The Lord was showing me that it is
actually easy to have faith and that it is not something that is ethereal or
unattainable. I had battled for so many years prior to this and really did not know
how to trust the Lord at all. I had been doing it all wrong before, yet the Lord still
gave me results, because I did still trust Him, even though I did it in a round-about,
long-winded way!
Authority
Then, the final thing that the Lord emphasized was exercising authority. The Lord
Jesus has given each of us His children, delegated authority. He received the
ultimate authority from the Father, and has delegated it down to us, and each
believer has the right to exercise that authority, under Jesus. For quite a long while
I went through a time of battling, spiritually. I somehow felt insecure, even though
the Lord had used me much in prayer and praying for others. He was dealing with
inner turmoils and conflicts that still remained.
During this time He kept saying to me day after day, "You are a queen. Now rule
and reign in authority!" It took me a while to realize what He was referring to. He
was not only dealing with remaining insecurities in me personally, but the
revelation flowed over into my prayer life and I suddenly ‘realized’ who I was in the
Lord and that I indeed had His authority flowing through me. I had His God-given
permission to be as He was when He walked the earth, and I was not to take no
for an answer because, as the Scripture says, ‘We rule and reign, and
righteousness is our scepter.’
When you ‘know’ your authority in the Lord you can rule and speak with
confidence, because you know that you know that the Lord is backing your words
and you will obtain the results that He is leading you in. It is like the parable of the
talents. When the go-ahead was given to use those talents and they did so, there
were good results and much fruit.
Putting it All Together

When the Lord had taken me through that final stage, I began to pray with more
results than I had ever had before, simply because the Lord put everything
together then. He showed me that I was to use all the principles that He had
shown me over that long period of time. When you do this, under the leading of
the Lord, you will always get results, because you are not unbalanced in your
approach, but are using all areas of praying – the Word, tongues, simple trust in
the Lord to answer, yet speaking with power and authority. The Lord finally gave
me the go-ahead recently to pray more publicly, and to use what He had shown
me in private and in my times of training behind the scenes.
Encouragement For You

Now, I want to encourage you if you are desiring to move into intercession for the
first time, or if you have been wanting to move more fully into it. You do not need
to go through those long years of training as I did when the Lord took me through
a stage at a time. You can take the principles that I have shared and you can
begin to put them into practise even now. You can start moving right now and
becoming more powerful in your prayer life, and in speaking forth results in the
lives of others.
The point that I want to stress here though, is that it takes diligence and
commitment to persevere, even when you go through dry patches when it seems
like the Lord has shut the door on you. Those are the times when perhaps the
Lord has given prayer burdens to other people to carry, or when He simply wants
you to sit in His presence and break new ground, unbeknown to you, in the Spirit.
You need to follow the leading of the Lord, and practise flowing as He tells you,
because the more you do it, the more sensitive you will become to what He wants
you to do.
You know the old saying, "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?" This is the
hallmark of moving into intercession. Do not give up! Persevere, because you will
become a powerful force to be reckoned with, and you will cause mountains to be
removed in people’s lives as a result.
A Few Practical Pointers
If you are looking for an adventure in prayer and intercession, take your notebook,
and on a daily basis, preferably at the same time if you can do it, go and spend
time in the Lord’s presence and make a note of what you see and what you spoke
forth. I would suggest that at the beginning you only pray in tongues, because then
your spirit will be praying correctly under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. You will
then become aware of what the Lord wants you to do in other circumstances.
Begin by simply holding up your family or your church members, or anyone for that
matter, and pray in tongues. Then as the pictures begin to flow up out of your spirit
and you perhaps see people in vision, continue praying in tongues as you watch
with your spiritual eyes to know what the Lord is saying concerning that person.
You may see a person on a road that is blocked with stones, thorns and thistles.
What do you think the Lord is saying to you? This is not of Him, because He is not
the author of destruction and problems. What you need to do in the Spirit, is to
command that those stones and obstacles be removed and the way be opened up
before him. You can do it in English, but did you know that you can do it in
tongues, too? Just speak with authority in tongues. You know what you are
wanting to say in English. Tongues is more effective, though, because your spirit
is praying in accordance with the Holy Spirit’s prompting.
As you do that, you may see the path clearing. Perhaps you will see angels
assisting and removing the stones, or the Lord driving a bulldozer to remove the
blockages, I do not know. The point is, though, that you will see it clearing. You
will then likely see a wide open road, unrestricted and free, and you will know that
whatever was blocking that person’s path is now removed.
If I were seeing this, I would put a note in my book of the date that I saw the vision,
who it was for, and what I saw, i.e. the person’s road being blocked, and then what
I ‘spoke’ forth to correct the situation. I would say something like, "Saw Fred on a
road and it was restricted and littered with rocks. A picture of him experiencing
difficulties in his walk. Commanded it to be cleared, and saw the blockages being
removed. Then I saw his path free and unrestricted."
Now, you do not even have to contact Fred (or whoever it was) and tell him about
the vision and what you saw. This is what intercession is about. It is between you
and the Lord and you are speaking change and blessing into people’s lives behind
the scenes. The Lord will often give you confirmation of what you saw, though. So
often, you will receive a letter from someone saying that they had been through a
hard time and suddenly things broke free, and you can then share that it is
confirmation of what you saw and spoke forth for them.
I trust that this has been an encouragement to you and helped you to sort through
the fact and fiction of intercession and what it is really about. If you thought, as I
did, that you were an intercessor, but now have found out that you were incorrect,
it is great because you can now decide if the Lord really was leading you in this
direction or not. And if you did not have a clue about what intercession was, but
have now been inspired to move in that direction, I praise the Lord too, because
you are about to embark on a wonderful, exciting journey. It is a journey in which
you can pour encouragement and blessing into the lives of others through this
powerful tool that the Lord has given to the Body of Christ.
Lord bless.
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Interpret Dreams by the Spirit
Apostle Colette
Toach
n context to the Prophetic Listening lectures in ‘The Way of the Prophet’

I want to take you through some basic guidelines in simple, Spirit-led
dream interpretation. It is vital as a prophet to both know and understand
what the Lord is saying to us in dreams and visions. He speaks to us in
dark sayings to keep His will secret and hidden from the enemy.
Not every symbol will have the same interpretation for every person. What a
spouse or a father may mean in one person’s dream, may represent something
totally different in another. So as a prophet in addition to using these guidelines,
ask the Lord for revelation to add to the dream. While you go through the dream,
write out the interpretation as a journal and allow the Holy Spirit to place additional
pictures and revelations into your heart to enhance it. Dreams can tell you all
about a person. It can let you know what is in their heart and what the Lord is
doing in their lives.
Use the opportunity, not to just give an interpretation but also use it for ministry.
This is after all what the Lord gives revelation for – for the use of ministry and
encouragement. Take the interpretation the Lord gives you and then add
encouragement and counseling to give the person you are interpreting for faith,
hope and love. As you use the gifts within you, you will be a sharpened, valuable
tool in the hand of the master and a treasure in His eyes.
The Prophetic Dream

As a prophet, any prophetic dreams you receive are tantamount to receiving a
revelation through visions, prophecy, sounds, taste or touch. They are simply the
medium the Lord has chosen to speak to you at that time. There are different
kinds of dreams, but speaking here of prophetic dreams they are to be treated like
any other revelation. The Lord may give you a word and tell you to keep it hidden,
just as John was told in Revelation, so you to should keep that secret in your
heart.
There will be a time when the Lord will tell you to speak it forth: Jeremiah 23:8 The
prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that has my word, let him
speak my word faithfully. What [is] the chaff to the wheat? Says the LORD. These
dreams are prophetic and are to be spoken as a decree, just as Daniel in
declaring to Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of his dream in which he dreamt of
the statue with its head of gold, breast of silver, thighs of bronze and feet of clay
and iron mixed. As Daniel both received this revelation and spoke it forth, he was
speaking into existence those things that would take place in the world and the
coming of the Messiah whose Kingdom would take over the earth.
Often a dream will be giving you direction of what step to take next. The Lord often
spoke to people in the scriptures to tell them what to do. Joseph and Mary are
another example of the Lord sending an angel in a dream to tell them when to
leave Egypt and then again when Paul dreamt of the Macedonian beckoning him
to come to them.
What of the warning dream? Right through the scriptures you read of where the
Lord spoke warning. Genesis 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by
night, and said to him, Behold, you [are] a dead man, [because] of the woman
which you have taken; for she [is] a man's wife.
A warning dream is always directional. It will tell you what to look out for and what
to do about it. When the Lord gives you a warning of what the enemy would like to
do in your life, this is not for the reason of causing fear, but rather to use the
authority and means He has given you to overcome that plan.
Background Information
Before being able to interpret the dream of another, you will need to know a bit
about that person. While some symbols are common amongst many people, to
give an accurate interpretation you will need to know the relationship of the person
with the characters in their dream. You will need to know what the places, objects
and scenes meant to them personally and most importantly you need to know if
they are born again by the Spirit of God if you are to interpret by the Spirit and the
Word.
Keep in mind that interpretation of symbols in dreams also depends on your

culture and upbringing. The Lord used a tablecloth of unclean animals to get His
point across to Peter at the tanner’s house. Peter was Jewish and so the symbols
in his dream were very clear to him, they yelled " UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!" So the
Lord will use symbols that are common to you and your culture to speak to your
spirit. Being a Christian, most symbols for Prophetic dreams will come from the
Word of God, because that is one ‘culture’ that we all belong to as the Body of
Christ Universal.
Deception
The enemy can plant dreams in your mind that are either, a direct attack or a
deception. When the enemy attacks you in your sleep, find out what open doors
you may have given him that day. Apply the Warfare 4 lecture. Another teaching
that will help you identify curses is the "Identifying Curses" in the Way of Blessing
series.
Satan has no right to attack you with no license, so if you are coming under
demonic attack in your sleep stop right there and ask for revelation to reveal the
open door you may have given him. Often this happens when you bring a
contaminated object into your bedroom. I remember a time when someone gave
my children what seemed like an innocent gift, but every night after receiving it,
they kept having nightmares. After praying over the toy and dedicating it to the
Lord, the nightmares stopped.
In identifying deception apply the Prophetic Purpose lecture to all revelation - even
revelation given in a dream. I had a situation where my advice was asked
regarding certain revelation shared in a dream. The person shared that both their
spouse and a friend both dreamed a certain individual was going to have a heart
attack and die. They were pushing to tell this person in question to warn them.
Now if you apply the principles in the Prophetic Purpose lecture, you need to ask
yourself: Does this revelation give faith, hope or love? If you had to walk up to a
person and tell them: I dreamed you are going to die. How do you think they will
react? If they are like any one normal person, their first reaction will be fear! And
as you have learned – fear is one of the most powerful tools the enemy uses to
bring curses into our lives. Fear doesn’t only kill faith, but causes the person to
open their hearts and give the enemy license to bring about that exact plan he had
in mind!
Check your revelation out with other prophets! Discern the spirit on it! Any dream
that is filled with fear, guilt, condemnation or self-exaltation is a deception! When
the Lord speaks, He gives you the means to facilitate that revelation. If the Lord
should give you a warning through your dreams as He did with Joseph and Mary
when Jesus was a baby, He will do so at the right time and give you what you
need to speak and avoid the enemy’s plan.
It is very common for members of the G.M.R.N Team to have warning dreams. Yet
every time the Lord has given a dream of warning, there has not been fear
associated with it, but rather a sense of direction and assurance. So be very
discerning when sharing a revelation you received in a dream, checking out the
spirit on it and its motivation.
5 Steps to Dream Interpretation

- STEP 1 -
Internal/Prophetic, Healing or Rubbish?
Next you need to identify if the dream is a healing dream, internal/prophetic or just
rubbish. Once you have identified that the dream is internal or prophetic, write it
down and move on to step 2.
Here are some hints on how to identify which category the dream falls into.
a. Prophetic
A prophetic dream is very clear. It is a short, clear precise dream with a

single message. Often you will have a few short dreams one after the other,
each having a similar message.
b. Healing
In a healing dream you will most likely relive past events. You may find
yourself saying things in your dream you had wished you had said in that
particular circumstance. Perhaps you will go back to past houses, events or
time frames in your life and re experience an event, but this time with a
happy ending. A dream where you always seem to be running or hiding and
then finally stopping and confronting that which is chasing you is very
characteristic of a healing dream.
c. Rubbish
A dream that is over complicated with many changes of scenery and events
are very likely to just be your inner man ‘throwing out’ the junk it had
accumulated for that day. You will most likely have many garbage dreams if
you get more into the Word and spend time with the Lord, because your
mind will be making space for the Word and will ‘throw out’ the garbage you
have stored in there for years.
A dream where you display emotions and characteristics that are not natural
to you are simply your sub-conscious ‘living out’ those feelings and hidden
temptations that you experienced during the day. These dreams are simply
purging and do not have an interpretation.
- STEP 2 -
Internal, Internal Prophetic and External
Dreams.
It makes it much easier to write down the interpretation as the Lord gives you
revelation. Begin by identifying firstly if the dream is Internal, Internal Prophetic or
External. Write down which it is and then move on to point 3.
Here are some hints on how to make this identification. Once you have read the
dream through you need to identify if it was an internal, internal prophetic or
external dream. Were you the main star? If that is the case the dream is internal
and the characters symbolic of something within yourself. Did you perhaps receive
words of direction in your dream directed at you? Then it is likely an internal
prophetic dream.
However if you were standing on the outside, looking on, the dream is likely
external. The characters may still be symbolic though, so do not take the dream
literally until you have identified each character and object.
A: Internal
An internal dream will often give you direction in your spiritual life. It functions the
same way as a Word of knowledge, in that it relates to you those things of the past
and present. An internal dream always speaks of your spiritual life. It will let you
know of you have gotten off the path, or if you need to be placing more emphasis
on something. It will give you an idea of what state your spirit is in and if there is
something lacking in your life. It may also tell you when you have birthed
something new or have come to a place of rest or promotion.
Prophetic dreams are directional and can also give warning and revelation from
the Lord directly. In scripture the Lord often sent angels in dreams to give a
message. (See Jacob - Genesis 31:11 And the angel of God spoke to me in a
dream, [saying], Jacob: And I said, Here [am] I. and Joseph - Matthew 2:19 But
when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to
Joseph in Egypt,)
B: Internal Prophetic
A Prophetic Internal dream has a different emphasis. Joseph is a good example of

this when the Lord gave him the dreams of his brother’s sheaves bowing to his
sheaf, indicating that his family would one day, bow before him. These dreams
were internal because they concerned him personally, but yet they were also
prophetic in that they were giving him a word for the future. Another good example
would be of the baker and butler whose dreams Joseph interpreted in prison.
(Genesis 40:5) Both concerned them personally, but also gave a prophetic word of
what was going to happen. Prophetic Internal dreams function the same as a
Word of Wisdom, only the word pertains to you personally.
C: External
An external dream always concerns future events and is always prophetic. It

functions like the Word of Wisdom and needs to be used discerningly. Daniel is a
prime example of the external prophetic dreams he received with regards to Israel
and the empires of his time. His dreams always had a future orientation. Joseph
also interpreted the external dream of the King of Egypt, which allowed him to
save many lives, even the lives of his nation. Note how even external dreams were
given in symbolism. Even in an external dream the characters may not be who
they are in real life.
D: Double Interpretations
It is entirely possible for a dream to have an internal and external interpretation. In

looking at Nebuchadnezzar once again and his dream of the large statue, we hear
only the external interpretation that Daniel gave the King. Daniel told the King how
an empire was going to come that would live forever (speaking of the Kingdom of
God). What Daniel was too afraid to tell the King is that Nebuchadnezzar himself
was going to be toppled and destroyed as the Lord revealed again later in his
dream of the tree that was felled and made to be a stump in the dew for 7 years.
So while the Lord may give you an internal dream pertaining to your spiritual
condition, He may also be giving you a prophetic dream relating to the future. I
have often seen many people err in classing all the dreams they have as external,
overlooking the internal interpretation. Perhaps this is because people do not like
to have such a close look at within themselves and would rather relate the
atrocities and obvious mistakes revealed in their dreams as pertaining to the
church, or perhaps it is simply a sign of naiveté.
As a minister be quick to see the revelation as internal firstly, seeing if the Lord is
revealing something within yourself that needs changing, before trying to apply
what is so obviously a message to you – to your church to use it as a whip to get
them in order. You might think this sounds harsh, but it is more common than you
think for those in the prophetic ministry to use the revelation given them by God as
a whip instead of a balm of healing to the flock.
As we receive revelation, whether it is through dreams, visions or prophecy, let us

always bear on our tongue the words of Christ, dripping with His healing balm and
light. His words and His light will indeed destroy the darkness and bring the
change He desires to bring, as ministers of the Word of God we are to deliver the
word in humility and power – we leave the discipline and judgement to Him alone.
- STEP 3 -
Sensing the Spirit
Next sense the spirit on the dream. Was there a negative or a positive spirit? Was
there a spirit of peace, joy, fear, death, life, change or insecurity? Once you have
identified the spirit and emphasis of the dream, this will give you a foundation on
which to build the interpretation on. Write down the impressions you have received
from the Spirit and then move on to step 4.
- STEP 4 -
Identifying Places, Scenes, Characters,
Objects, Creatures and Colors.
This is where you are going to break the dream down and ‘dissect’ it. Once you
become more accustomed to dream interpretation you will not need to break the
dream down as much as you will see the interpretation without having to ‘dig
through’ all the details. But for those who are still ‘trying their hand’ at dream
interpretation this is a good way to go until you learn how to flow better in the
Spirit.
Make a list on your page from A - F then under each letter list the corresponding
Place, Scene, Character, Object, Creature and Color as they appear in the dream.
Reading through the helps that I list below, systematically identify the symbol for
each of these points one by one.
A: Places
Make a list of the various places encountered in the dream. Often you may dream
of places that are familiar to you. It could be that a time of healing is being brought
to that period of your life or that the Lord is exposing something that happened
during that time. Churches can speak of a place of worship. If it is an old style
church, it could be speaking of the religious status quo system. A house could
speak of your life, your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Places such as
monuments or historical buildings may speak of things relating to the past – things
gone by.
You might find yourself running through alleyways or dark streets. This often
speaks of running blind and not having direction. If the feeling that comes with the
place is negative and fearful, it could be that the Lord is revealing to you that the
enemy is wreaking havoc in your life and sending you running all directions – none
of which are of the Lord.
Of course if you find yourself in a meadow where the sun is shining and you feel
peace, the Lord could be revealing to you that you have entered into a time of rest
and peace with Him. This could speak of a time of freedom and escape from the
pressure around you.
Each of these would have a specific meaning pertaining to you as an individual.

Look to the Lord for revelation concerning what the places you dream about mean
to you.
B: Scenes
Write down the scenes in the dream. Once again you might find yourself in a
scene that is familiar to you. Restaurants can speak of ‘feeding’; bathrooms can
speak of ‘exposure’ or a place of ‘washing’. Then again bedrooms may speak of
intimacy and privacy. You would need to identify what the scene mean to you and
if you sensed a positive or negative feeling towards that scene in your dream.
C: Identifying the Characters

Take each character in the dream and identify what part of you they represent if the
dream is internal. Some hints:
If they were people you know, then write down your relationship with them or
what they mean to you.
If they were people you did not know, note what your impressions were of them
in your dream.
If they are relatives, note how close you are to them. If a spouse, then your
relationship with your spouse will determine the symbol. It could be positive or
negative. Learn to identify this one because it will recur.
Often a spouse can speak of your recreated spirit in Christ. If you had a really
good relationship with your earthly father, he could speak of the Lord in your
dreams. If you have a bad relationship with a certain person, it is possible that
they represent your ‘flesh’ or ‘sinful nature’ in your dreams.
If you often find yourself dreaming of a man or woman that you do not know, but
yet seem familiar to you, they could represent your masculine and feminine nature.
The masculine often represents left-brained, intellectual thinking, while the
feminine representing prophetic, right-brained emphasis.
If there is a person in your life that is strong and you look up to, they could speak
of the Holy Spirit and His protection. Your relationship with the person in your
dream, in real life is vital in identifying what the represent. Your sub-conscious
mind will use those emotions and thoughts you have to convey the appropriate
message to you clearly.
Often your sub-conscious will use people that represent something in your life.
Perhaps the music leader in your church could represent your musical gifts. If you
as a prophet are at constant logger-heads with your pastor, he could speak of the
church, status quo system in your dreams. Often your children speak of your
ministry or those things you have ‘birthed’ in the spirit.
I know that when I dream of my eldest daughter the Lord is trying to reveal
something with regards to my faith. Deborah is very strong willed and has a strong
faith and so it is natural that my sub-conscious chose her for this symbol. Now my
youngest daughter is very soft and so in my dreams she represents my love.
So it is vital to take a look at how you feel about the person in your dream before
identifying the symbol. Once you have identified those characters you will find they
are used repeatedly in your dreams as the same symbol.
D: Objects
Note if the object means anything special to you?

Does the object convey a negative or positive impression to you.
Often if you keep dreaming of coffins it could mean the Lord is letting you know
that something in your flesh needs to die or perhaps has already died and you
need to let it go. This dream is very common amongst those in the ministry offices
that are called to die to the flesh so that the Spirit can dominate. Dreaming of dead
bodies is not always an attack from the enemy but a message from the Lord to just
let die, that which is corrupt and rotten!
A wedding ring can speak of a covenant and a wedding dress of your union with
the Lord or those things you are ‘married’ or ‘tied’ to.
It is also common to see vehicles in your dreams as your ministry – those things
that ‘drive’ your ministry. Often you may dream that you are driving and you are
encountering difficulty. The Lord could be saying that you need to give over the
wheel to Him and to stop taking your ministry out of His hands.
Perhaps you will dream that a person who symbolizes the Lord is driving in which
case it is a good interpretation, indicating that the Lord is in control and that you
can sit back and relax for a while. Dreaming that your vehicle has broken down
can speak of some kind of damage you have faced in your ministry.
There are even those dreams where you dream you get new keys and are given a
new car! This speaks of promotion and the Lord could be confirming that He has
given you a greater anointing to carry out the ministry he has given you.
Then there are those objects from the Word that are often displayed in our
dreams. Gold objects speak of the Lord and His deity, while a clay pot may speak
of us as His vessels ready for service. Wine often speaks of the anointing, as does
water and oil. Arrows or weapons piercing you can speak of the work of the enemy
who is known for his darts of destruction. Then again wielding a sword speaks of
carrying the authority of the Lord and using it as a weapon against the enemy.
If you are not sure on the interpretation of an object take a look through the Word.
It is rich with revelation and symbols. The Lord has been speaking in dark sayings
and symbols to His prophets since the beginning of the world and you are certain
to find the answer to your revelation right in the scriptures!
E: Creatures
Animals and insects - can refer to demonic powers but it depends also on how
you view them.
Plants and trees - can refer to growth, or barrenness if they are in bad
condition.
Babies or children - things that have been birthed or are still immature.
Snakes, spiders and black creatures very often speak of the work of the enemy
and his attacks. Dreaming about giving birth or being pregnant can speak of
something you are about to birth in the spirit or have given birth to. If you dream of
babies dying it could be a warning dream that the thing the Lord has given you is
dying.
A lion can speak of the strength of the Lord. A lamb, of innocence and salvation. If
you dream of your pet, you would need to identify what that pet means to you.
Often pets are substitutes for children in which case they would represent a
positive aspect of yourself.
F: Colors and senses
Things that were said or that you heard.

Things you felt, tasted, smelled.
Often the color red can speak of the blood of the Lord. Blue is a heavenly color,
while black does not have a good connotation, being likened to the nature of the
enemy. Gold often speaks of the Lord and His majesty, while silver speaks of
humanity and redemption in the scriptures. White can speak of purity and green of
fertility. Once again you would need to identify what they mean to you as an
individual and what they represent in the Word.
- STEP 5 -
Get Revelation!
Once you have made your list and identified what each symbol represents. Put the
dream aside and summarize now what you have received from the Holy Spirit.
Write this final summary as a journal and so let it flow not from your intellectual
thinking, but by using the internal anointing the Lord has given us for revelation.
Do not use the same formula on every dream you interpret. Allow the Holy Spirit to
speak to you and give you additional visions and revelations to back up what you
feel the dream means. Here is where you are going to give the subject (or
yourself) the direction and answers you are looking for. It is not good enough to
just give an interpretation without following it up with the Word of God to
encourage, exhort and to promote faith, hope and love.
If a warning is being indicated then give the warning and with it scripture and
direction on how to be victorious in that particular situation. If the dream is internal
then guide the subject through a better understanding of what is going on inside
themselves and how to move on from where they are. If the dream is Internally
prophetic, then prepare the subject for what lies ahead and how to prepare for the
work the Lord is about to do in their lives.
If the dream is external receive revelation from the Spirit and Word on what to do
with the revelation. In other words if it needs to be spoken forth as a decree, kept
for a later time, to be travailed over in intercession, or to be shared with a group
that you might intercede in unity.
In Conclusion
James 5 verse 1 says that if any man lacks wisdom all he needs to do is ask of the
Lord and it will be given to him. So ask and pray for wisdom. Daniel was known for
the wisdom the Lord gave him with dreams and so with the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit we have that wisdom within us for every revelation and dream.
Receive that wisdom by faith and see the Lord open your eyes to a whole new
realm of interpretation. As you allow yourself to be His vessel, He will open the
way for you to use that gift and to bless the Body of Christ with it.
SUMMARY
Here is a summary that you can use as a guideline to
interpret your dreams:
1. Internal/Prophetic, Healing or Rubbish?

2. Internal, Internal Prophetic and External Dreams.
3. Sense the Spirit
4. Identifying Places, Scenes, Characters, Objects, Creatures and Colors.
a) Places
b) Scenes
c) Characters
d) Objects
e) Creatures
f) Colors
5. Your summary
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Intimacy With Jesus
o you yearn for an intimate relationship with Jesus? Does it burn in you?
Do you want to see His face and sense His touch? There are so many
children of God who have sought the touch of the Lord, yet always seem
to fall short of the tenderness they so desperately seek.
Perhaps today you have given up on trying to reach out for a touch. You look at
yourself and see the mess and the confusion in your life and are coming to the
place where you think that the love and compassion of the Lord is only given to
those who are ‘selected’ by divine choice.
It is not the Lord who is withholding His touch from you – it is the walls that you
have built around yourself that prevent Him from reaching in. As you have gone
through life you have faced the pain of rejection and the hurts of being let down,
time and time again. You have formed a safety mechanism around your heart that
prevents any one from hurting you again. You will no longer be the ‘sucker’ and
allow yourself to fall into that trap again!
You have become your own strength – yet in the silent of night, when you are
alone you feel the emptiness and cry to reach out and have it filled. There is one
who wants to protect you. He was there each time you were torn down and
insulted. He was there with every tear that was shed. He was there wanting to
hold your hand, but you were too afraid to take it.
Jesus wants you to know that He loves you. He wants you to know that when you
wept - He wept and that when others hurt you - He hurt with you, feeling the nails
of the cross afresh. He is there with you right now, He is there wanting to take you
into His arms. Rest in Him. He is wooing you as a groom would His bride. He is
saying: " Come into My chambers where no harm can touch you, where My touch
is tender, where My words bring healing"
Will you surrender your walls of security and protection to the Lord right now?
Would you drop your arms that are held ready to defend yourself and just allow
Him to cover you?
Lord Jesus heal your people. Heal their hearts. Refresh their spirits Lord with your
tenderness and compassion. Lord, gather each one of your sheep that have gone
astray and that have been hurt. How your heart aches for them Lord! How you
weep over their broken bones. Bring healing Holy Spirit; bring your gentle wind
that would breath life and restoration.
Come sweet wind of God, come. Reach out right now and let the Holy Spirit bring
healing into your heart. Now look up with a new confidence and assurance that
you are very favored of the Lord.
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It's OK! You Don't Have to Be Perfect!
ow many times have you faced rejection and trials in life? If you had to
H say, "not once" then you have not been born yet! Rejection and striving
is part of every day living. Trying to make it in the 'big world' is part of our
living. Trying to get a job, trying to get good grades, trying, striving,
pushing! Trying to sell yourself, trying to convince others that you are worth it. It is
an endless struggle of walking in circles. But if you do not put on that image and if
you do not prove to others that you are worth it, you lose the job, position, grades
and everything else that comes with it.
Yet now you come to the Lord and are brought to the work of the cross. Does the
striving stop? I am afraid to say that for many it does not - it only changes
emphasis. For as you tried to convince the world of your merits, you now try to do
the same in the church. If people do not think highly of you, you will be overlooked.
If you do not flow in the gifts, speak as a teacher, appear a good leader, then you
will not be given the position of 'apostle' that you desire from God.
Just by reading this, can you see how it negates the gift of the cross? I want to let
you in on a little secret today, "The Lord did not call you for that good resume you
presented Him, He called you for your weaknesses, so that His name would be
glorified!" Has the Lord called you to be an apostle? Wonderful! Because that
means that you are scum and the most weak individual He could find! How
glorious is our Father! That He takes the foolish things to confound the wise.
Today I present a profound truth to you, "The Lord does not expect perfection,
He expects commitment of heart!" Your perfection will be found in your desires
and in your zeal, not in your accomplishments. It is actually ok to admit that you
are not there yet. It is ok to admit that you are still at the bottom of the ladder. It is
ok to admit that you do not look like an apostle yet. It is ok to still look like a
shepherd! It does not mean that because David was still looking after sheep that
He was not anointed King.
You do not need to prove anything to man or to God! Just be the shepherd you
are for now and the Lord will begin to transform you into that Davidic warrior that
you are called to be!
So when someone asks you, "So what are you called to?" it is ok to reply, "The
Lord has called me to an apostolic ministry"
If they say, "So what have you done to prove this ministry? How many churches
are under you?" It is ok to say, "I am still in training, I have not done anything yet
other than look after a few sheep and sit in the meadows all day!"
It is ok! You do not have to be perfect, only willing. If you are prepared to be
honest with yourself and with those around you, the Lord will raise you up in their
sight and in your own. But if you desire to strut around looking like a king and you
are only a servant, then you will be brought to the cross in humility.
Who cares what man has to say! Because you and I both know something they do
not, "This small shepherd boy is destined for great things and today he might look
unassuming, but give him just a few years and the nations will tremble at his feet!
MORE...



Indestructible.

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The Kingdom of Darkness
efore we can consider how Satan works in the lives of people, and
particularly believers, we need to take a look at his kingdom and how it is
set up. I am not going to do a detailed study at this point, as that will be
reserved for a proper study on its own. But I want to give you a
breakdown here of the basic principles involved, so that you will understand what I
am talking about later.
I will be giving just the main principles here and I will not go into a lot of detail or
provide a lot of Scriptural proofs, although what I teach will be fully backed by
Scripture. Having operated in the spiritual realm over a long period of time, I have
come to understand many of these things better by personal experience and
personal confrontation with demonic forces. I will share some of these, although
they cannot be the basis for an authoritative teaching on the subject.
Levels of Wickedness
In Ephesians 6:12 Paul tells us a bit about how Satan’s kingdom is set up.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
I want you to notice here that he speaks of four different categories of evil powers.
He calls these principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness
in high places. What he is actually giving us here is the divisions or different
classes of demons.
High Level Wickedness

The last class refers to demonic forces that are in high places, or what is
elsewhere referred to as the powers of the air. These are the highest level of
Satan’s realm and do not operate directly in the earth. They are the princes of
Satan, who hold high positions and control from the realm of darkness what takes
place on the earth. These are demonic princes of darkness who have been
allocated different realms of operation.
Daniel came into confrontation with these forces when he was praying and
interceding.
Daniel 10: 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me

twenty one days: but, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help
me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
An angel appeared to Daniel and told him that he had to do battle with a spiritual
power that he called the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia. Since Persia was the
kingdom Daniel was in, it meant that this demonic prince had been made
responsible for that kingdom. He was in charge of whatever took place in the
kingdom.
The whole world system is being controlled this way, with demonic princes having
control over entire countries and cities. And they control from the realm of
darkness what takes place in the air. At the head of these is a group of key
leaders that control the entire kingdom of darkness, Lucifer being the head of all.
The Council of Wickedness
Satan has set up his leadership in an attempt to copy the way God works, and he
has created a governing council that is an attempt to mimic the Trinity. He sits at
the head as a copy to God the Father, and he has under him two leading generals
who mimic the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. His chief of staff that leads the
demonic forces is a character that is named in Revelation as the leader of the
bottomless pit. His name is Apollyon.
This is the one who tries to copy the Holy Spirit. Just as God does everything by
the agency his Spirit, so Lucifer carries out his attack and influences in the world,
through this one who leads his demons and gives the orders for them to carry out
their work in the earth. Lucifer himself is the master of deception and takes the
role of leading the religious system of the world. He is seeking worship and
therefore is directly involved in the Satanic churches that worship him.
Apollyon is involved in producing every evil thing from physical illness, to mental
and spiritual problems in the lives of people. And the third character that
represents the Son of God is a kind of spiritual Pharaoh. Just as Pharaoh was the
leader of Egypt, which is a type of the world in the Scriptures, so this prince of
darkness controls the world system, including all political and economic resources
in the world. He is what the Bible calls the god of this world, or the spirit of
Antichrist.
These three then make up a demonic Council of Wickedness that controls the
entire world. Under them the entire world is controlled by Satan by a rigid system
of domination and force. Satan’s kingdom is not one of harmony. It is one of
conflict and strife. They hate each other and vie with each other for positions of
power. They have to be kept in control like an army with strict discipline. You can
see why the world has become the same under their control.
Wickedness on the Earth
The other three levels of evil mentioned by Paul in Ephesians refer to the demonic
powers that operate on the earth and in the lives of the people of the world. These
again are three levels of authority. The highest of these levels is what he calls
Rulers of the darkness of this world. Then under them come the power demons
and finally at the lowest level are the principalities.
Ruler Demons
These could be likened to the commissioned officers in the kingdom of darkness.

They are in control of the activities that take place in the earth. These are the
demons that take possession of people and they are involved in every occult
activity. This is the kind of demon that will take control of a person and force them
to do things that are out of control. They will sometimes even take control of a
person’s vocal chords and speak directly out of the person’s lips, using the
person’s body as a vehicle.
This is the class of demon that Jesus cast out of people when He walked the
earth. It is the kind of demon that spoke to Jesus and told him that its name was
Legion. Only one of these demons takes possession of a person at a time, but
when it does, it brings with it many other demons from the two lower levels, so that
there are actually many demons inhabiting the person at the same time. Thus the
legion demon told Jesus that ‘we are many.’
Let’s look at the passage in question and see how this works. You will find it in
Mark chapter 5
6 But when he saw Jesus at a distance, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with you,
Jesus, [you] Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, that you
do not torment me.
8 For he said to him, Come out of the man, [you] unclean spirit.
Now notice that it is speaking here of only one demon spirit. And this demon has
taken control of the man and is speaking to Jesus using the man’s vocal chords.
9 And he asked him, What [is] your name? And he answered, saying,
My name [is] Legion: for we are many.
10 And he begged him much that he would not send them away out
of the country.
Notice that Jesus is still speaking to one demon. This demon is the spokesman,
but indicates that there are more with him.
11 Now there was there near to the mountains a great herd of swine
feeding.
12 And all the devils begged him, saying, Send us into the swine, that
we may enter into them.
Here it is no longer one demon speaking to Jesus, but all of them. Now if there
were a lot of demons here, like a whole army of them, how could they possibly all
have spoken to Jesus using the vocal chords of the man. Clearly Jesus spoke to
these and heard them speaking to him, directly in the Spirit. This is what takes
place when the gift of discerning of spirits is in operation. You recognize and can
actually communicate with these spiritual forces directly in the Spirit.
13 And immediately Jesus gave them permission. And the unclean

spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently
down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and
were choked in the sea.
Well judging by the number if pigs they had, we can safely assume that there were
at least two thousand demons in this person. And you will notice that Jesus did not
have to cast them out one at a time. All He had to cast out was the ruler demon
that He spoke to at the beginning. And when the ruler left, the others went with it.
Power Demons
These are bit like the sergeants and non-commissioned officers in the army. They
have a bit of power and authority and command the lowest level of demon, but
they do not possess people like the ruler demon. They are the demons that are at
work in bringing severe problems such as sickness and disease to people and any
particularly strong attack other than possession.
Principality Demons
These could be likened to the privates in the army. They do all the dirty work, but
don’t call the shots. They just do what they are told. And together with the powers
they are actively involved in attacking people physically, spiritually, mentally and in
every way possible. They influence people against each other in strife. They
motivate sin and conflict and every evil thing that is in the world.
There are many things that can be considered in studying the kingdom of
darkness, but I am not going to go into any more detail here now. It is good to
know how the enemy operates, but it is even more important to know how to
overcome. I will mention more aspects to how Satan works as we continue, but
first I want to get to some of the methods he uses to affect the lives of people. And
then I want to deal with the position of the believer in Christ and how we can
overcome in Jesus.
There is an increase in demonic activity in the times we live in, and we are seeing
a lot of demonic activity appearing in the Church that was not obvious before.
Because of this many deliverance ministries have arisen to deal with these things,
and people are becoming more aware of the need to know how to handle it. But
like everything else in the church, there have come many with different ideas on
how to approach this and the bookshops have become flooded with books on
demons and deliverance.
People are at times become more conscious of demons and what Satan is doing
than what God is doing. More time is being given to dealing with demons than
ministering the truth to people. The Scriptures are clear that it is the truth that sets
people free.
John 8: 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you
continue in my word, [then] you are really My disciples;
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
But the truth has often become obscured by false teaching.
Many have formulated their teachings and approach to dealing with demons
based on their personal experience and a limited knowledge of both the Scriptures
and the gifts of the Spirit. Some have even ‘learned’ from the demons themselves
and people that have been demon possessed. As a result a ‘standard’ deliverance
teaching has arisen that does not do full justice to the Finished Work of Calvary
and fails to set people truly free to serve the Lord in victory.
Demons and Unbelievers

I want to look at this subject first so that it can become clear that demon
possession in an unbeliever is not the same as in a believer. Most deliverance
teachings have missed this vital fact and have prescribed the same method of
deliverance for believers and unbelievers. This is where things start to go wrong.
If you read the Gospels and the accounts of Jesus casting out demons, you can
learn a lot about how demons work and how they are dealt with. But you have to
keep one important fact in mind. Until Jesus died, rose again and sent the Holy
Spirit, there was no such thing as a born again believer in the earth. In other words
every case that Jesus dealt with was in unbelievers. They may have been people
who believed in God and even worshipped God in the Jewish synagogue, but they
were not born again.
So if you want to understand how to deal with demons in believers, you are going
to have to look beyond the teachings of the Gospels. The way Jesus dealt with
demons is the way we can deal with demons in unbelievers. They need to be
identified and cast out. And when the believer recognizes his or her authority in
Christ, it is easy to do just as Jesus did. And when you command the evil power to
come out, it will have to obey.
But you have to be very careful about how you follow things through when you
decide to cast demons out of an unbeliever. You need to realize that the person
may have been set free of demons, but they are still under Satan’s control. Paul
speaking to Timothy says
2 Timothy 2: 26 And [that] they may recover themselves out of the

snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
He is referring here to unbelievers and he says that they are taken captive by the
devil at his will. Jesus in another place accused the Pharisees of being of their
father the devil. Until a person is born again and becomes a child of God, they are
powerless against the devil. So casting demons out of them is really a waste of
time unless this is followed immediately by them accepting the Lord as their savior
and being born again.
Jesus spoke about people like this in Luke 11 and indicated that it could lead to
the person ending up in a worse condition.
24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through

dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return to my
house from where I came out.
25 And when he comes, he finds [it] swept and garnished.
26 Then he goes, and takes [to himself] seven other spirits more
wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last
[state] of that man is worse than the first.
What Jesus was saying here, is that when an evil spirit is caused to leave an
unbeliever, it is imperative that the Holy Spirit comes in and takes the place of the
demonic spirit that was there before. This happens when a person accepts Jesus
and is born again. If they do not accept Christ the chances are that a worse
demonic power is going to come and control them, and then their situation is going
to be far worse than before.
So the warning here to those who deal in deliverance, is that when demons are
expelled from an unbeliever, you must immediately lead that person to the Lord.
By the same token, it should go without saying that when you lead a person to the
Lord and there are demonic powers present in their life, you should first remove
these things before leading them to the Lord. And this is where we come to our
next situation, which is where demons are in a believer.
Demons and Believers

As I said above, the cases of demon possession we read of in the Gospels all
were in unbelievers. But as we come to the Acts of the Apostles, which was a
continuation of Church history after the Church came into being at the day of
Pentecost, we find a different picture. You will find very little in the Acts or in the
rest of the New Testament concerning demonic possession in believers. And you
will not find one case anywhere of demons being cast out of a believer.
In fact there is only one clearly recorded case (perhaps two) of where a believer
may have been possessed by demons. The second possible case, which I am not
going to deal with here was that of Ananias and Sapphira where Peter asked them
why Satan had ‘filled their hearts.’ But I question whether this was a demon
possession so much as a person being totally deceived. But of course the one
clearly recorded case is that of Simon the Sorcerer. Let’s look at it in Acts 8.
9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which previously in the
same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving
out that he was some great one:
10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest,
saying, This man is the great power of God.
11 And to him they had regard, because for a long time he had
bewitched them with sorceries.
This man had been practicing witchcraft and the power of the occult. I am not
going to go into this in detail, because this is not a study on the occult. But all the
signs were there in this man’s life.
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women.
13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he
continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and
signs which were done.
Many people believe that Simon did not really become a Christian, but that he only
pretended to do so. But this passage was written long after these events, and I am
sure that Luke who wrote this book would have been careful to point this out to us,
by telling us that he only pretended to believe. One would also think that Philip
would have recognised his false profession and stopped him from accompanying
him afterwards.
17 Then laid they [their] hands on them, and they received the Holy
Ghost.
18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles'
hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands,
he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Simon had not let go of his occult ideas. The reason he had got into the occult in
the first place was so that he could have power over people and control them.
When he became a believer he held onto this idea. He had not let go of the
demonic powers that had influenced him before.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because
thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not
right in the sight of God.
22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps
the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Notice that Peter did not tell Simon that he needed to be born again. He told him
that his heart was not right before God. He had the wrong motivation.
23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and [in] the
bond of iniquity.
Peter discerned that Simon was in demonic bondage to a spirit of bitterness. He

was quite clearly bound by a demon. But what is even more important to notice
here is that Peter did not try to cast the demon out. He told Simon to repent of his
sin.
24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that
none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
Simon’s response was the typical cop out that people are still using when they are
bound by demons. He tries to make out that he is a victim and asks for prayer. He
does not repent of his sin and get rid of this bondage in his life.
So what is the bottom line here then? It is that a believer is never considered to be
a victim of a demon. When a person is born again they receive the indwelling Spirit
of God, who gives them the power to live the way they are supposed to. They are
free from their sin and can now start to walk in the Spirit, as we saw in our study
on the Solution to Problems. But they can hold onto their sin, and so give a
demonic force the right to still control their lives.
This applies particularly to occult sins, which are the key area of entry of demons
that take possession. When a believer has been involved in the occult in any way
prior to becoming a Christian, they often do not let go of or deal with the demonic
power that was in their lives. As a result they enter into the spiritual life with a
conflict of forces within. The demon that was there all along remains, but now with
the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the person’s life, there comes a conflict.
The Role of the Flesh
Going back to our picture of the Tree of the Flesh that we saw in the study on the
Cause of Problems, we have a situation where a tree exists that the birds of the air
can come and land on and make nests in. In the Scriptures the birds of the air are
a picture of the powers of the air, or demonic powers. Thus the existence of the
flesh and its various branches provide entry points for demonic powers to operate
in a person’s life.
Usually these birds simply come to land on the branches. They come to motivate
and encourage tendencies that are already there. So if you have a weakness of
the flesh to sin in a particular area, that is the area the demons will try to work on
you, to make you sin more. They will encourage and try to magnify every
weakness in the flesh. You can try to drive the birds away, but while the branches
are there, they will come back again.
Thus the basic approach of deliverance ministry, that seeks to drive demons out of
a believer, is a hopeless waste of time. They will simply return at the first
opportunity. You cannot solve problems by driving out demons. You have to deal
with the flesh that is giving the demons an opportunity. Jesus did not walk in the
flesh. As a result Satan had no place in him to attack. You can see this in Jesus’
statement in John 14:30
After this I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world is
coming, and has nothing in me.
The Purpose for Temptation
Satan could only attack Jesus from the outside, by bringing temptations to Him.
And you will always have to face that attack. But you need to realize that the
purpose of all temptations is to expose and discover which areas of the flesh are
available. The word that is translated ‘temptation’ in the New Testament can
actually be translated as ‘test.’ Satan brings a test to you when he tempts you.
The powers of darkness are not all knowing like God. They do not know what your
strengths and weaknesses are. They can implant influences and thoughts into
your mind, but they cannot read your mind to find out what you thought as a result
of their influence. They can only watch you to see how you respond. They check
to see whether you pass the test or not. If you respond favorably to their
temptation, then they have found your weak point and will zero in on it.
One of the biggest deceptions that you can face is to think that if you submit to
temptation just this once, you will be able to handle it better next time. The truth of
the matter is that the moment you yield to a temptation, you show the enemy that
you are weak in that area. Now he knows exactly where to attack you and the
temptation will grow even stronger than before. It will be far more difficult to
overcome the temptation next time.
James also tells us a bit about how temptation links with the flesh in James 1:14-
15
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own

desires, and enticed.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it bears sin: and sin, when it is
finished, bears death.
It is your own desires and sin that give the enemy an open door in your life. You
cannot blame the demon for making you sin. If you do not yield to temptation in
the flesh, then you can overcome sin in the flesh. All the demon does is encourage
what was already there. If you already have a root of bitterness, then it is easy for
a demon to stir up hatred and anger in you. If you already have a problem with
lust, then it is easy for a demon to motivate you to sexual sin. If you already are
filled with a desire for things and pleasure, then it is easy for a demon to lead you
into worldliness and greed.
The Bottom Line

The bottom line where demons and believers are concerned, is that no demon has
power over any believer until it is given license to do so. Usually this license is
given by the people themselves when they submit to temptation in sin. Sometimes
this license is given by others, in which case the power of attack is increased.
Demons are given permission to attack a person physically and mentally. But they
cannot touch the spirit of a born again believer.
We will be considering in more detail in our next study how you should deal with
demons, both in your own life and in the lives of others that you minister to. This
study was purely to lay the groundwork so that you could understand some of the
principles that we will deal with in our study on Removing Demons.
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Labor, Die and Be Diligent
You Can’t Just Add Milk!
will never forget the things I really noticed when the Lord led us to leave
South Africa and move to this end of the world. I soon learned that in
America, there was always an easier way of doing things! I discovered
that instead of mixing pancake batter from scratch, I could just get the
instant product add a bit of milk and…viola! Most of my baking took the same
route! Where before I would spend hours putting all the ingredients together in
their order, now I just added water and mixed.
Well what exactly does my voyage of discovery in the kitchen have to do with the
call to ministry? Well, I believe that because things have become easier for us in
time, we expect the spiritual realm to be the same. Salvation was free, the gifts of
the spirit were free, so why now should we spend the effort to wear the titles and
the leadership positions in the Church?
Why can’t it be as easy as ‘just add milk, mix and serve?’ Why do we have to face
this long drawn out process? It becomes even more difficult when you see others
rising up ahead of you. You get this urge within to want to ‘catch up’. You get this
terrible feeling that you are being left behind and you want to be on the cutting
edge. So instead of taking the time you should and putting the effort into putting
the ingredients together one by one – you throw the whole lot together and hope it
comes out ok!
Well I have news for you today. The call to any of the Fivefold Ministry Offices
does not come by ‘just adding milk!’ It comes through commitment, paying the
price and following through to the end. So before we even continue here, I have
one simple question for you to ask yourself: What price are you willing to pay for
the call?
To Labor
In a previous article I wrote ‘Anointed and Appointed’ I stated that it takes more to
rising up and standing in a ministry office than receiving a few revelations and
being prophesied over. That personal revelation was simply a seed that was
planted in your heart. It takes more than just planting a seed for it to grow.
How many have received the word and said to themselves, “well, there you go, I
am an apostle now, the Lord said so. Yep, any day now people will see that I am
an apostle and they will feel sorry for all the times they rejected me!” And so you
wait. And wait and wait. And nothing happens! So was the seed dead? Was the
Word false?
No, you simply forgot one important thing – it takes more to grow a seed than just
planting it! You have to water and nurture it as well. The scriptures call this kind of
growing and nurturing “labor.” Not a very pleasant word is it? Before the Lord can
do anything with you, it takes a commitment from you to follow through! A farmer
does not plant his crops and then just hope that one day he will wake up to see
them all ready to be harvested! Oh, if only it was that easy! Yet how many desire
to wear the titles and even try to function in some of the ministry gifts and then
hope that they will be recognized by others as being in that office?
When that does not work, you figure you must get ordination from an organization,
so that you can prove your office to men. Anything except paying the price.
Anything except yielding that flesh up to the cross. Your first step is to commit to
the call, your second is to labor in it. That means allowing the Lord to lead you. It
means reading and consuming those things He gives you to feed your soul and
your spirit.
Just like a seed cannot grow without sun and water, so can your calling not grow
without the Spirit and the Word. You need both the anointing and the instruction of
the Word to take you through on this one! We have seen this all too often in
training the fivefold ministry. Many have purchased the materials, signed up for the
courses and expect that, that alone will take them into office. Yet they do not go
one step further and actually READ what is presented to them! It takes more than
stepping out and committing to this thing – it takes laboring in it also!
You can plant a seed near a water source, but until the water is actually poured
into its roots – it is going nowhere! You can buy all the books, do the entire course,
you can even read some of the materials, but if you do not practically apply to your
life those principles the Lord is sharing with you. You are going no where!
Paying the Price for The Promise

The promise from the Lord stands. Have you ever asked God, “Lord why is it that
everyone else has a vision and is moving on and I seem to be stuck in the same
place? Lord why am I going around in circles?” Your answer lies a little closer to
home than you realize! The Lord is waiting for YOU. He has given the promise, He
has set the road before you, but until you take the effort to step on to that road,
you are going nowhere.
Then come those who have zeal, yet are misdirected. Those who are so much like
Saul of Tarsus. They are full of sin, they have many false ideas – but they are
zealous! They labor, they strive and they leap ahead as the Lord places them in
office ahead of you. Now did that make them favored of the Lord? Did that make
them more spiritual than the rest? No! Simply put – they were willing to pay the
price for the promise.
The Lord took them even in their sin and failure, simply because they were willing
to pay the price, simply because they had the zeal. He will take all those ‘Saul of
Tarsus’s out there and make them into a powerful tool in His hand, while the rest
who have been waiting for the Lord to do something, will be left to wait until the
end of time!”
You see, Paul was not waiting for something to happen to him. He was going out
and making it happen – even if he was misdirected! The Lord can steer a moving
ship, but if you are forever stuck in harbor, He can do nothing with you.
Leaping from One Death to the Next

Those who succeed are those who have learned to ‘die already’ and move on with
anticipation towards the next death! They know that in death they find the promise!
That as the flesh is crucified, the power and authority come from Jesus. How often
have you sat like Elijah of old and got depressed because things are not going as
you planned? Because you are going through a hard time? You sit and wallow and
complain, when this very situation has been set there by the Lord to be a stepping
stone in your spiritual life!
These very deaths are set to promote you! They are set there of the Lord to lift you
up in the eyes of man. By humbling yourself as Christ did to die in the sight of
man, the Lord can then raise you up.
Diligence is the Key

No matter how much you fail, no matter how much you face, if you are diligent to
the end, nothing will withhold the promise from you! The Lord is not asking you to
be perfect today. He is asking you to be diligent. Being diligent means following it
through to the end. I think that what Strongs had to say concerning this
interpretation of diligence is perfect:
4710
spoude {spoo-day'}
2a) earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or striving after anything

2b) to give all diligence, interest one's self most earnestly
Labor, Die and be Diligent!

These three words sum it up in a nutshell. If you want to come to the place of
walking in the fullness of the ministry office the Lord has given you, it is going to
require that you put some effort into it, yield the flesh up to the cross and to follow
through no matter the cost!
Does it burn enough in you? Does the fire that the Lord has placed within you,
burn hot enough to take you through this journey? It does not even matter what
your intentions are right now, how much need for acceptance and recognition are
bundled up in your desire for ministry – all that matters is: Are you willing to pay
the price?
I leave you with the following passage:
Hebrews 6:10 For God [is] not unjust to forget your work and labor of
[agape] love, which you have shown toward His Name, in that you
have ministered to the saints, and are [still] ministering.
To labor in the call, means to make the effort to change

and be changed. To wear yourself out for the call!
11 And we desire that every one of you show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope to the end:
To follow it through to the end. To strive with a Godly

striving to reach your goal.
12 That you are not lazy, but followers of those who through faith
and patience inherit the promises.
If you are willing to pay the price, you will receive the
promise of His blessing!
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could

swear by no greater, he swore by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing
I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. 15 And so, after he
had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (GMR)
As you give the Lord all you have and follow through,
you will be blessed beyond what you imagined and it is
then that promotion will come.
Where are you today? Are you willing to commit to the call on your life? What do
you have to do? Have you been waiting for the Lord to do something for you, or to
you?
Today it all changes! Commit to:
Labor... Die... and be Diligent and...
You will indeed reap the fruits of your labors!
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Life With Jesus
By Cassandra Kaur
used to think of God as my Judge. Someone who would observe me

closely everyday and decide if I am to be rewarded or punished for my
deeds in my afterlife. He appeared to be distant. He was Someone who
cared for me but could not or would not come close. He was One whose
primary responsibility was to keep the world in order; make sure that whatever is
ordained to happen will happen as planned.
I didn't really know Him but was told that I could trust what I had heard about Him
so far and need not question what had already been tested and tried and proven
to be true for many generations before. God exists, I was told, but who He is or
what He is like, is not something I was to concern myself with.
How things changed after I met the Lord Jesus Christ! God was no longer distant
or disinterested. He was not Someone looking down at me from a distance to
judge my every deed to see if I merited heaven or hell. He came to dwell in me; He
sympathized with my weaknesses and desired to be closely involved in my life to
ensure that I would live a life of victory, a life that would be interesting,
adventurous and fruitful.
Life became something of an exciting adventure where the Lord and I would go on
interesting rides together. And for sometime, I still tended to take charge of the
destinations of these journeys. But at some point along the way, the Lord
suggested letting Him take over for a while and so I excitedly handed over the
reins to Him. I could immediately tell that He was an Expert.
Not only did He know of exciting new destinations He knew delightful new routes
and together we cut across rivers, went up mountains and did so at exhilarating
speeds. I held on and was amazed at how patient He was with me even though I
was sometimes nervous or fell off. He would reach out with His Hand and lift me
up and tell me not to worry and led me through quiet
waters and lovely sunsets until I was once again raring to go.
Once in a while I took over the reins but it was not long after that I grew bored and
life became predictable. So I quickly asked the Lord to take over again and He
was always there, always willing, always happy to take me to the places I wanted
to go and to get me there in the most
exciting way possible.
I have learnt to trust Him and have begun to relax and enjoy the cool breeze on
my face. Life has not been the same since. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
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The Line is Drawn
want to share with you from my heart as the Lord leads. I pray that He
gives me His words and that as you read, that those words will reach the
deep recesses of your heart and cause a light to burn in you that
perhaps has not been lit in a long time. This article began churning
within me when I went with my family to a local restaurant to get burgers for lunch.
As we sat, we had hardly received our food, when I noticed my children glued to a
television just out of my view. I took a look to see what could have grabbed the
attention of my 3 and 4 year old.
I was shocked to see Freddy Kruger ripping apart a victim, blood everywhere,
horror in the victim’s eyes. My stomach went into a tight knot and an anger began
to rise from deep inside of me. While my husband was seeing to it that the
television channel was changed, I began to look around me, and my eyes caught
witches on broomsticks and witch dolls hanging from the ceiling. I saw a pumpkin
here, a skeleton there, and the heat from within my spirit began to rise even more.
The feeling in my stomach became so intense I couldn’t eat. I was drawn into
myself and I felt a groaning and an anger so deep, that I could not comprehend it.
I heard the words very clearly in my spirit, "The bloodline has been drawn,
choose this day whom you will serve!"
I saw images in my mind of the Israelites worshiping the golden calf and how the
Lord’s anger was kindled towards them. I felt the Lord’s words as He said to
Moses, "Step aside, so I can destroy them." I felt His burning anger as He looked
upon His people who prostrated themselves before other gods.
I felt His passion of jealousy as He looked upon this world and saw His bride open
herself to adultery. I saw how it broke His heart, to see His chosen people
celebrating and worshipping openly the God of the dead, but yet how they kept His
name secret, for fear of being ridiculed. I felt His heartbeat in both anger and pain
as He looked down at this people who worship Him with their mouths, but whose
hearts are so far from Him.
Today is the day you are called to choose. Today is the day you will need to
choose which side of the bloodline you will stand upon. Will you stand within the
Ark of His safety, or will you continue to scoff, rebel and be complacent, all the
while drowning in His anger as the waters rise to wipe away the world’s order?
Today you must choose. What will you choose?
Today will you choose to be looked upon by men with favor, but all the while
turning a blind eye to the will and heart of your Father? Today will you choose to
stand as His servant Stephen, prepared to take every stone for His name? Or will
you be complacent in your heart and be like the Pharisees, who looked so
dignified, but yet made as doctrines the precepts of men? Will you choose this
day? Who will you serve?
Today I feel the heart of my Father, my precious Jesus, and His heart is grieved.
His heart is kindled with fire against those who spread their legs for the satisfaction
of entertainment and worldly acceptance. Do you not see what you are doing? Do
you not see how you are breaking His heart? This Halloween falls on a Sunday.
Will you go and worship your Savior in the morning, declaring your love for Him,
and then this evening run under the guise of fun and celebration, to sleep with a
stranger? Will you tell Him how beautiful He is in the morning, and then in the
evening slap Him in the face? Will you worship Him in the morning, and in the
evening celebrate Satan and evil, and all he has brought into this world to destroy
the Kingdom of Heaven?
Oh how blind you are! Oh how I wish you could see, how the enemy has crept in
and blinded your eyes. How I wish the fire was kindled, that it would burn away the
deception. Oh, how I wish you could feel His heart and feel how it aches and
burns for His people. How I wish you could see that He requires your heart in full.
The day you made Him Lord and Savior, you married Him. You committed your
spirit, soul and body to Him. Will you this day give him your spirit, but take back
your soul to give to another, just for a day? Is it worth it to hurt and pierce the Lord
Jesus all over again for just a day? As Jesus hung upon the cross, He saw you
and willingly gave Himself up to the pain and torture.
He was torn and cut, and pierced and ripped open for you, to save you, because
He loved you. Yet to add to His pain you pierce Him again by turning your back
upon Him. You are driving the nails afresh into His hands and pushing afresh the
crown of thorns into His head. And you know what? He will endure it for you. He
will continue to have His heart broken for you, because He loves you. That is
sacrificial love. That is the love of the Savior we serve.
Today I do not come to you with arguments or logistics. Today I come to you with
the heart of my Jesus. I come to you with His blood and I come to you with His
pain. I come to you and as I stand before you I hold out His broken body before
you. Can you see how He was tortured for you? Can you not see His love for you?
Why do you hurt Him? Why do you hurt my Jesus? Why? What did He do to you
other than give His life? If He could die for you, could you not take this day on
October 31 and live for Him?
Our God is a jealous God and He will see no man replace Him. He destroyed
every nation who thought themselves to be gods! He destroyed the king of Egypt
because he surmised that he created the Nile! He destroyed Tyre, because they
saw themselves as gods, thinking they were all powerful. He destroyed Herod who
took His praise, and He destroyed the nation of Israel because they ran after other
gods.
Yet today you do the same! And you bring it into His church, into His body! You
bring the defilement of Satan freely and joyously into His Holy place. You smear
that excrement on the very ground you proclaim to worship His name on. Rightly
did Jesus say to the ‘righteous’ Pharisees, "If you were the children of God, then
you would do the works of God, but you do not. You follow after your true father
who is the Devil and you do His deeds. You show the external appearance of
righteousness, but yet inside are as rotten as a tomb!"
The Lord is not bringing judgment on America for the sins of the flesh. God is
bringing judgment upon this nation for the sins of the heart. For they proclaim with
their lips, but inside every evil work of bitterness and pride and strife is abounding.
The Lord is going to take your idol from you, Church of God! He is going to take
from you that which has replaced Him in your lives. He is going to take every spot
and blemish from His bride, and that spot will be the system you worship - your
American heritage and your pride in those things which are not of God.
For you honor and worship the system of this world and the heritage of your birth,
more that you worship Jesus. You would sacrifice your Savior over and over again
for the sake of your pride! But yet you will point a finger at the one fallen in sin and
look down upon him! How Jesus would have wept over America as He wept over
Jerusalem in His day.
"America, the country that stoned the prophets, how I sought to gather her as
chicks under My wing, yet she did not want to know anything of it!"
Oh how His heart bleeds! Make your choice this day, as to which side of the
bloodline you will stand on. For the Lord is indeed going to send His fire to
consume, and it shall consume your gods - the gods of your heritage and the gods
of your culture which are ruling you. He is going to take your golden calf and crush
it in the waters and make you drink its bitterness. Choose this day whom you will
serve in your heart.
There is no more time for pretence, there is no more time for pretty words. We are
talking reality, we are talking getting down to the roots. Today as you stand, are
you hot? Are you cold? Or are you lukewarm? If you are hot, He will gather you
under those wings of love and protection, calling you His Bride. If you are cold in
your sin, He will continue to woo you in love, drawing you with His tenderness,
never relenting until He has saved you. But alas! If you are lukewarm, cover your
head and lament in sackcloth, because then there is nothing that will save you
from the fire to come. There will be no place for you to hide, for He will spit you
from His mouth.
Today you must choose. On which side of the bloodline will you stand?
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Love in the Heart of the Prophet
efore you even learn the Lord’s prayer, the very first phrase you will ever
learn about being is a Christian is the phrase "God is Love". In fact it is
said so often and used so often, I wonder if anyone really knows the real
meaning of it. Think about it – what does it mean to you? Is it just
another phrase, or does it tug a few heart strings in you?
Maybe you are the point in your life right now where the Lord is asking you to draw
closer to Him. Maybe the Lord keeps leading you to the place where He asks of
you to open your heart to others. Sounds scary doesn’t it? ;-) Perfect love casts
out all fear, and God is Love. Fear cannot co-exist with love. Fear does not co-
exist with God. So the very first step you are going to take on this road will be the
road to letting go. You have worked through your life in such a way that you react
to things in a certain way, and in that life long plan, a very integral part of that is
ensuring that others don’t hurt you. You have gone through a life of so much pain
and torment that you have learned well to shut off that pain, to shut off the pain
inflicted by others.
Problem is, by building up those walls you have cut the Lord off as well. So before
the Lord can even get deep into your tender heart, He is going to have to chip at
that wall a bit, so that He can get in there and start to make a change.
I want to look at the most famous chapter on the Love of God. By the time I am
through I hope to give you a clear picture of how to get to that place of tenderness
and encourage you to move into that special place the Lord has for you in ministry.
1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of

angels, and do not have divine love, I have become [like] a noisy
brass [instrument], or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have prophetic [insight], and understand all the hidden
things, and all the known things; and though I have absolute faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and do not have divine love, I am
nothing.
I am sure that by now you are familiar with all the teaching of Faith and Hope.
Faith gives you the power to release and hope keeps your eye fixed on the end
result. But, Love is greater than both of these. Why? Why is God seen as a God of
love? Do you know that it was His love that first created man? He breathed His life
into him. Gave man part of His own spirit. He gave man a very special part of
Himself. The Lord has given to each of us a part of His great spirit of Love. It has
always been His plan for us to use that power within us. But yet, few do. Most are
afraid.
Well I can imagine how you are going to tell me the great love you have for the
Lord. Sure, I don’t doubt it for a minute. God is easy to love. He says nice things.
He encourages you when you are down. He is always there for you. But that is not
the Love He was talking about here. The Love Jesus speaks of here is our love for
others. I can tell you right now, that if you do not have an earnest love in your
heart for the flock, you will not be effective in ministry. You will be a tinkling
cymbal, clanging brass. You will be nothing but empty noise with no power in the
words of prophecy you bring.
That is why in the walk of any believer who is called to ministry, they will face the
call to love and the call to let go of self. Especially in the Prophetic Office is this
applicable. You can bring prophetic words until you are blue in the face, but if
those words are not backed with the agape Love of God, your words will dry up in
that desert and whither away.
If you have been moving in the gifts and revelation. If you have been flowing well
in the spirit and suddenly dried up – chances are you need to water your soul with
the Love of God. You see without love functioning with faith and hope you will
progress so far and no further in your upward climb. You may have faith to move
mountains, as the passage says, but when you get to the place of knowing you
are nothing without love – you are at the starting line. Do you want to get to the
top? Do you want to go beyond the norm, to do things in the Kingdom of God that
others are afraid to do? Get back to love. Get to the very root of all power, of all
strength – the Heart of Jesus.
Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for
nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be the
children of the Highest: for he is kind to the ungrateful and [to] the
evil.
I think that there are many times you just overlook this passage. I mean, you know
God told us to do it, you know it is the right thing to do. Hey, sometimes you even
grit your teeth and force yourself, sometimes you pretend so well to love that
horrible person, that you may even convince yourself you ‘love’ them. Why did the
Lord ask this of us? Did He maybe ask this painful thing of us to keep us humble?
Maybe He said it to test our commitment. But, He said it so we had better obey…-
is that the way you see it?
God always has a reason for instructing us to do things. God is Love. God does all
things through love, be it in blessing or be it in judgment to those that stand
against His people. Always with a heart of love. Jesus also told us to love those
detestable people because He loves us so much. Huh? Come again? Well, how
else do you think you are going to overcome the hate and darkness in the lives of
those that persecute you? Through judgment? Through condemnation? No, they
have enough of their own to go round. You need to fight darkness with light and
hate with love.
Any man can react against hate, any enemy can react against harsh words and
strict instruction, but there is no man alive who can react against love. Love has a
unique power, in that it can get into places no other force can. It can get into
places the devil cannot, it can creep into such a private part of a person’s heart
that they won’t even know it. By loving and loving and loving, those who hate you,
you plant in their hearts a seed that as you water it, will grow and they will not be
able to help themselves but to be effected by it!
But, that is just the start! As you love the way Jesus loves, your life will change.
There is no bond Satan can bind you with, that love does not overcome. As you
pour out in love to others, it will set your spirit free in a way you never imagined.
You will be set free to take a step up in the Kingdom to be more effective in your
ministry and more powerful in prophecy, tongues and revelation.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Divine love endures patiently, [and] is kind; divine

love does not envy; divine love does not brag, is not arrogant,
5 Does not behave improperly, does not try to have its own way, is
not easily provoked, does not take evil into account;
6 Does not rejoice in sinfulness, but rejoices in the truth;
7 Always covers up, always has faith, always has a positive
expectation, always perseveres.
This sure looks like a long list of do’s and don’ts that no man is capable of
achieving! Lord, I know you told us to do this – but man! It sure is impossible, don’t
you know how horrible those people are? Stop right there. I have a news flash.
You are never going to do it. Try all your life if you like – you are not going to get
there, you will fail on every count. Encouraging isn’t it? ;-) In this passage are the
fruits of love. In other words, if you are walking in the agape love of God, these
fruits will be showing in your life.
Forget about manifesting the fruits in your human strength, your starting point is
on your knees at the feet of Jesus, He will plant in your heart that sapling that will
in time bear these fruits. You need to spend time in the presence of one who
knows how to love. A child learns by watching his parent, and so we need to
watch the Lord. You need to be spending time with Him learning how He does
things, asking Him to show you how He sees others. Asking Him questions,
reading His thoughts in the Word. Soon, you will be building pictures in your heart.
Positive pictures, you will not be able to help yourself, but to start feeling the love,
you surround yourself in.
You see, there is no effort involved in loving. You do not need to ‘try’. You just
need to follow the steps of the Master. Before you know it, you will be copying
Him, as a child you will learn to do things the way his Father does them. You will
be so soaked and watered by His love that it will start to show in your life. It will no
longer be something you ‘hope to attain one day’ but something you are walking in
all the time. The world will see what was planted in your heart and is now bearing
ripe, rich fruit.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not make ashamed; because the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to
us.
I am sure that by now all of this seems so overwhelming. You have an idea now of
what you need to do and what your responsibilities are, but you are wondering in
your heart if you will ever be able to rise to this call. I heard a really good
description of hope. It went something like this: Hope comes from endurance
through trial. In other words, as you go through times of testing, hope is built in
your heart. Each time the Lord calls you to a death to self, so do you grow and so
does hope grow in you, next time you face trial.
The Lord will never call you to do anything without preparing you first. He has
probably already been preparing your heart for this time. Every time you have
faced trial, so has He prepared you. So now He is calling you to another death –
He is calling you to a death in shame. To be prepared to uncover all shame for His
sake. To expose your innermost parts for His use.
Once you are at that place of commitment, so will the Lord be able to cover your
shame with His love. The endurance through trial you have achieved to be
transparent, will not cause you shame, because the love of God clothes you, His
grace adorns you. You will be made a beauty for the world to behold.
1 Corinthians 13:9 For our knowledge is limited, and our prophecy is

limited.
10 But when maturity has come, then the limitations will be removed.
The Lord is right now chipping away at that wall you have built so neatly around
you. And, I am sure that right now you are very scared. Maybe you would rather
just hide from all this and carry on the way you were? But can’t you see that you
have but a part of what He wants to give you? There is so much more!
As a prophet of God, you will never be able to have hiding places, you will never
be allowed a place to conceal yourself. God will be your fortress, He alone will be
your secret hiding place. Jesus revealed to each of us His shame, that he might
cover ours. The Lord requires of you that Faith that pleases Him. Faith that says
"Father, I give you my most hidden place for you to show the world,
knowing that you will cover me."
Everything you do as a prophet is in faith, but all words you speak as a prophet
must always be in love. If you do not have love in your heart when you speak
forth, then the words you speak will lack power. Test all you speak by that
guideline. Even words of Judgment or correction should be in love – there is no
getting away from it.
Can you see now why the Lord has to bring you to that point of transparency?
Why it is so vital to being effective in the calling the Lord has on your life?
Just have a look at King David. He was a child when the Lord first called him. I can
imagine his training started that very day. He spent time at the Lord’s feet and
learned to love. While he was a little nobody watching the sheep, the Lord could
break down walls and build new walls of love and tenderness. When he first
spotted Goliath, his first impression was not "well what are my brothers going to
think of me, I hope they don’t say nasty things" It was "How dare He speak against
the God of Israel," the God he loved. Are you prepared to face Goliath today for
the sake of your love for Jesus? Are you prepared to knock down that stone
around your heart that the Lord may use you to a greater degree?
If you choose to, you can take from the hand of God right now not just a part of
what He has for you, but the whole. If you are prepared to sacrifice yourself just
like Jesus sacrificed Himself for you, will you be able to move into a unity with God
you have never known. For now, you prophesy in part and you get revelation in
part, but if you will submit to the gentle hand of the Lord you will know His
thoughts at all times. For He is indeed a God of love and if you are walking in that
love, so will you know His heart at all times, His will at all times and His power at
all times.
You will have in full, what you have only a taste of now. But, it is going to cost you.
It will cost you the price it cost Jesus. It means being prepared to open yourself to
shame, to be persecuted without saying a word in your defense, to give and open
your heart to others and face rejection. Do you have what it takes to become the
prophet of God you are called to be?
I encourage you now to take that step into the presence of God. To let Him teach
you, and to let Him make you into a diamond of magnificent beauty.
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What? Love Thy Neighbor ?!!
ometimes I just wish that some of the things that Jesus instructed us to
do just weren’t there! I mean, he was perfect right? It is so easy to see
Jesus as a super human being. It is so easy to think that the daily pains
we go through he just didn’t have to hassle with. Boy, I could never have
been more wrong. Jesus led by example. When he was teased, scorned and
humiliated, he showed us a living example of what it meant to love thy neighbor.
Jesus has never asked of any of us, something he couldn’t accomplish himself.
Like a true father, he gave each and every one of us an example to follow. I
thought I had it really tough. I wailed and bemoaned my terrible fate and sobbed
before the Lord telling him how mean all these people were being to me. I told him
how they hurt me, how they broke my heart, how they insulted and humiliated me.
Being the patient father he is, he listened patiently. I could almost visualize him
nodding his head in sympathy as I poured out all my grievances and bitterness’.
When I finally gave him the chance to speak. He uttered into my spirit a single
word: "Love." When I looked into his face, his sweet love just poured out. He
whispered to me, that if I could only for a moment, see these enemies of mine
through his eyes, I would be set free.
I tried to argue: "But Father they are the ones that are wrong here. They don’t
even know you, surely I am the one justified!" No matter how I fought it, I came to
a place one night where I had just reached my limit. Everything was just going
wrong. Everyone had taken a turn to tell me what a failure I was, the washing got
drenched with rain, my one daughter decided to bring the garden into the living
room, and the other one thought it right and proper to unpack a good portion of all
the kitchen cabinets, whilst eating the kitty cubes!! You know – one of THOSE
days!!
I fell into a pitiful heap on my bed and cried with all my frustration to the Lord. Like
always I felt his peace on my heart, and I could feel his presence. And as I always
remember him, he came with a gentle strength. He quickened to my heart once
again that forever annoying Scripture: "Love they neighbor….."
It was a tough place to come to, let me tell you. We are talking the – oh, too
common conflict with in-laws here!! Tough stuff!! Forgiveness was first and by far
the most difficult.
"Father," I choked.
"I forgive my Mother-in-law, I forgive my Father-in-law, I forgive all the

grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins..." (The list was quite
lengthy )
As I battled these words out of my mouth, I slowly felt the knot ease in my
stomach. I moved to
"Father, I choose to love these people, but Father I know that I just
cannot force myself, so please could you somehow love them
through me?"
It was a good start, it helped me get onto the right track. But it didn’t stop here, in
fact things got worse!! (Encouraging isn’t it? J ) Every time I felt that anger rise up
in me, and I got this uncontrollable urge to not so sanctimoniously tell them what
they could do with themselves. I caught myself in mid-stress, and ran to the
Father. Once again: "Father, I forgive these people, love them through me"
I then added each of them to my daily prayers, I spoke blessing on them, and told
each of them in the spirit I loved them. I would say:
"Mom, in the name of Jesus I speak blessing on you. Mom, I love

you, I love you in the name of Jesus"
Some days were easier than others, but before I knew it, I didn’t have to pray to
love them anymore. I just woke one morning, and it struck me: "I really, really love
these people!" Instead of cursing them, I claimed them for the kingdom of heaven,
holding fast in my mind and heart a picture of them praising the Lord alongside my
husband and I.
Needless to say the Lord worked a miracle in all our lives. Not only did he change
my heart, but also he started working in their lives as well, bringing an incredible
change in their attitudes. I have left them behind now to follow the call of the Lord
on my life. At our last church service together I sobbed at the feet of the Lord for
bringing to pass what seemed like the impossible. I have in my precious mother in-
law, a strong ally now, and one of the best friends I ever had. When the time came
to leave, the Lord had forged such a deep love between us all that I felt like a part
of my heart was being left behind.
You see the Lord just needed someone who was willing to help bring change into
our circumstances. Without our words and prayers there is no way that he could
bring a work into their lives. It is so easy to accuse, but to choose to "Bless and do
not curse" can not only bring a dramatic change in your life, but can also pour from
you and touch the lives of those around you. My Parent in-laws are a living
example of the grace of God and our relationship is living proof that we do indeed
serve a God of love.
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The Marathons of Life
By Craig Toach
1 Corinthians 9: 24,25
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only]
one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.
25 And every person that competes for a prize has self control in all
things. Now they [do it] to obtain a crown that decays; but we [do it for
one] that does not decay.
Hebrews 12: 1,2

1 There since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily
besets [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us,
2 Looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith; who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
re you running a marathon in your life right now? Are you sure of your
techniques? At this point you may be thinking; 'what are you talking
about?' Well now that I have you guessing, let me start making things
clear.
Being the son of a keen marathon runner - I not only got a close look at marathon
races, but the techniques needed to get through the race. And it is strange how it
is so similar to the trails and tribulations we go through as Christians.
Let me show you what I mean. In a race there is only one goal; to run on a preset
course and to reach the end of the race before the time is up.
Is this not like our spiritual walk? We are running on a marathon already run and
won by our Lord and Savior. The best thing is, no matter what, we are all winners
because Jesus won the race for you and me.
One of the first things any runner learns is his pace. This is the speed he needs to
run at to be comfortable so as to conserve his energy. If he runs to fast he will use
all his energy up too soon and he will burn himself out. The less experienced
runners normally do this, but like all things - in time you learn.
Do we as spiritual runners need pace and if so have you found your pace? The
answer is yes, we do need pace. Have you found your pace? This is something I
must admit I still battle with at times. You see the problem and you just want to
sink your teeth right into it and sort it out. The only problem is you haven't found
out what the Lord wants you to do and Oh dear, you find yourself deeper in it than
you ever hoped to get into. This is when you stop and say, "Okay Lord what must I
do?" and as usual the Lord is there in a flash to help you out of the mess you have
made - no matter the size. The best thing is, the next race you run, you are that
much the wiser and know how you should handle it - with the Lord's help of
course.
The next aspect about the marathon is that is not just a straight run. It has up hills
and down hills and surprisingly both are difficult. You see on the up hills you have
to lean forward a bit and take bigger steps to counter act the angle you are
running at which uses extra power. This process causes a stretching of the calf
muscles, which can cause a burning sensation in these muscles. You finally reach
the top of the hill you are climbing, only to find a downhill. You think it is all plane
sailing from here, or is it? In order to stay in control when running downhill you
have to take a smaller step than normal and also lean back a bit, this helps you
not to speed up and mess up your pace. This is also where a lot of athletes hurt
themselves. You have been stretching these calf muscles on the up hill and now
on the downhill you bunch them up. This is where cramping sets in.
Is this not how some of your problems go? There are times when it feels like you
are running up this hill that does not want to end. You are confessing scriptures
and you have this positive picture of the end result. It is tough going all the way
"up this hill" and just when things seem to be straightening out and getting better,
our spiritual downhill. Something happens, Spiritual cramping and you wonder if
you did it all in vain. Well, all you can and must do, is keep on going and you will
see things get better.
An interesting thing about marathon running; When you start the race you feel
fresh and energetic, but later on in the race you start to get tired and sore. And just
when you think you can't go on, you get what experts call your second wind. This
is something a runner experiences when his body slips into a sort of "comfort
zone" where it becomes easier to concentrate and his muscles don't hurt as bad.
Our second wind is the Holy Spirit who gives us the comfort and strength to carry
on, no matter the difficulty.
A very important thing that a runner must do is replace liquid, lost through
sweating, or dehydration will set in. For this reason there are watering points all
along the way, so that runners can receive water and energy drinks. It is also a
place where runners can have their cramping and aching muscles rubbed and
eased.
How do we do this? By taking in as much of the Word as is possible. You see not
only does it give you a charge, but it also replaces what has been given out. And if
you need help to ease your aching muscles there is always some one there, all
you need to do is look and ask.
It is always great to watch a winner cross the finish line, but I found that the true
nature of the sport was not often found in the runners at the front, but it was found
in the ordinary guys at the back. Here is where you would find complete strangers
helping each other. This is where you saw runners carrying runners- even though
they to were weary and sore themselves, they could not stand to see a fellow
runner suffer or not finish he race. One incident that comes to mind was a group of
guys that carried this guy to the finish. What was strange was they did not cross
the line with this guy in hands, but instead they set him down just in front and let
him cross the line on his own steam. At the time I thought they were just being
mean, but my dad told me later that the guy had to cross it on his own or he would
have been disqualified and lost the medal he so rightfully deserved.
Are you the ordinary guy at the back? It sure does feels like it to me sometimes, I
don't know about you. One thing I know that there is always a fellow runner around
to help. What really helps, is to find the runner worse of than you and to give him
the support all the way to the end. Why? Well when you take your eyes off your
problem and help someone else in need, before long you are at the finish without
even realizing it. The funny thing is that more often than not other runners join you
to help you in what is going on and in so doing lighten the load for all that help.
You are all so busy looking after the other guy you forgot about the hardship you
were all going through and you all reach your goal together.
The Finish, Powerful words that bring many positive thoughts to mind. Close your
eyes and picture what it must be like for a runner that has been running for 8 to 10
hours nonstop, to finally see the stadium where the race ends. It must be very
close to a person with no water finding an oasis in the desert. That stadium gives
you that final boost to get you to the finish. You keep your eyes on the stadium as
if it is your lifeline and run till you get there and enter a place packed with people
that clap and cheer you on all the way to the line that says Finish. And as you
cross that line everyone cheers even harder because they realize you have just
achieved your goal and they were there to see it happen. You cross the line and
you receive the medal you have worked so hard for and as you look at it all the
pain and suffering you went through comes back to you and you just know that it
was all worth it.
We all have marathons in our lives that must be run. But with a steady pace,
plenty of water and a positive picture, you will be able to achieve your goal and
finish the race that has already been run and won for us by Jesus our Lord.
Happy Running.
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My Lover, My Groom
he approached Jesus with trembling. This man, she knew could see right
through her. What if He pushed her away? What if He looked at her with
distaste? What if He knew? Knew my past? Knew my sin?
But she knew deep in her heart that there was no other way she could find peace.
Her whole life she had been looking for the answers. She had sought the comfort
of being held, of just being loved, but found only abuse and so much pain. Would
this man too reject her? Would this man too take her need and use it against her?
She fell at His feet and all the pain from the years poured out in kisses as she
caressed Him. She did not see who was watching, she did not care who spoke
rudely of her. She was at the feet of the Master and she knew that if only He would
extend His hand to her, the pain inside would stop. As the perfume filled the room,
she heard the murmurs of disgust, but she was used to those.
As she finished pouring out her heart she looked up at Him, not quite knowing
what she would see. Instead of rebuke she saw such tenderness it washed right
over her. The love she saw in those eyes she would never forget and the words
He spoke would forever burn in her heart!
Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, you gave me no
water for my feet: but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped
[them] with the hairs of her head.
You gave me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in has
not ceased to kiss my feet.
You did not anoint my head with oil: but this woman has anointed my
feet with ointment.
She could hardly believe the praise in her ears. She knew she had found her
Savior. Then as she stood to leave, Jesus looked at her in love and said in
tenderness:
"Your sins are forgiven."
In a moment the pain, the guilt, the accusation and that heavy weight she had
carried around all the years fell away and she left rejoicing!
My Lover My Groom
Today as you look into your life you see along with yourself so many women who
have been hurt by others. Hurt by men, hurt by family, hurt by life. It is so easy to
just withdraw and run away from the pain. To try and forget it happened, to try and
pretend it is all over. But as you go through life carrying a weight around that
makes you so very wary, you have within your reach even now a Savior who is
ready to take away your pain.
Cry Upon His Feet
No one wants to hear your story. You find yourself carrying around within you so
many events, so many circumstance and abuse, you don’t want to tell a soul and
so the wounds remain within you, weeping and spewing out their poison. But I
want to tell you something today – there is someone who wants to hear your story!
He wants to hear every detail in tears. He wants to hear how you felt, what you
did, what they did. He wants to hear it all and He cares to hear it all.
Weep at His feet now and bare your heart to Jesus. He is always there to listen
and as you reveal those hurts in tears, you will find healing beginning to take place
– a purging a restoration!
Wipe His feet With Your Hair
Jesus wants you to share with Him. He also wants to give you His hand to hold
tight. Give Him your glory and be prepared to let Him be your covering! Let Him
come and be your protector. Open your heart now and allow Him to embrace you,
that from this day on He can be your knight in shining armor. The lover of your
soul!
Give Him all those things you use you ‘cover’ yourself with. All the walls, all the
excuses, fears and accusations. Lay them upon His feet and replace every fear
with His love and tenderness. Say: "Jesus I can’t live like this anymore! I can’t
keep hiding anymore. I want to be free of this pain and guilt, I want to run wild in
the meadows and laugh in the sunshine! Oh Jesus take me and cover me! Protect
me Jesus and lift me out of my hiding!"
Pour Upon Him Your Perfume
There is no greater perfume to pour upon the Saviors feet than your love. People
will reject your love, they will hurt, but Jesus never rejects love. He created each of
us for fellowship! So pour on Him now your love and adoration. You have feared to
trust again, to love again. Now use this opportunity to open your heart and allow
yourself to love a man who will never hurt you. A man who will call you His
beautiful bride, a man who will shower you with kisses, a man who will take you in
His arms and call you His beloved!
Pour all that love you have inside to Jesus now and for the first time, trust. Trust
Him to return that love trust Him to look into your eyes with tenderness.
Then look up to hear Him say, you washed my feet with tears, you anointed my
head with perfume, you dried my feet with your hair, rise my beloved – Your sins
are forgiven you, now go in peace! Your peace can be found in Jesus even now.
Allow Him to wash His tender mercies over you.
Jesus I bring the reader of this article to you right now. Oh Jesus you see her pain,
sweet Lord you see her heart. You see the need and the rejection and the hurting
so deep inside. I speak your breath of love into those crevices now in Jesus name.
Blow Holy Spirit, blow your healing into the bitterness and anger, pour out your
sweet oil of gladness. I speak healing to the wounds, I speak joy to the grief, I
speak restoration to the rejection, I speak love to the fear and boldness to the
insecurity! In the name of Jesus raise this mighty woman of God to take her place
in the Kingdom!
Rise up! Rise up and be crowned in His glory! Be clothed in His righteousness and
behold the chivalry of your Savior! Who from far and wide will come to take you in
His arms. Who will ride the heavens to help you and who will rejoice over you with
singing. Rise up now great woman of God and take in your hands the scepter of
authority and be seated upon the throne! Rise up and stand tall for you will
become a beacon to many and a light in the darkness, stand tall and shine forth
brightly the Glory He has placed within you!
Bless you!
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The Nature of Man
The Outward and Inward Man
n our study on counseling problems we looked at some of the nature of

man. Man is basically a spirit living in a physical body. We saw some of
the functions of the body, soul and spirit. Now I want to show how all of
these three parts of man’s nature work together to make up a whole
person. I want to repeat some of the functions of the spirit here in a bit more detail.
The first of these is the ability to "know" apart from the physical senses and
intellect. We call this inner knowledge "intuition" or "revelation." The spirit can get
knowledge from the spirit realm using this ability. The second function of the spirit
is the ability to detect the presence of good and evil. We call this function
"conscience" and it accuses or excuses our actions (Rom 2:15). The conscience
tells us if guilt is present or not. Then the final function of the spirit is to make
contact with or detect the presence of another spirit. This function, called
"communion" allows us to make contact with God who is Spirit.
Man was given the ability to receive from God's spiritual realm all he would need
to live successfully on earth. All he needed to do was to listen to his spirit and let it
rule his soul and body. There was nothing complicated about this, and all would
have gone well if Adam and Eve had stayed away from the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. They just needed to fellowship with God in the cool of the day and
listen to receive His Words of instruction and encouragement. But of course Eve
let the serpent tempt her and she made Adam open the door for Satan. Sin
entered man through the body via the forbidden fruit. And it caused a condition
that stopped them from living the way God had planned them to live.
I don't want to look at sin in a lot of detail here, but I want to look at how man’s
spirit, soul and body work together to produce our lifestyle. Modern science tells us
that the brain lies at the control center of the body. Through the nervous system it
is able to control the whole body. Some of these happen automatically. For
example, your heartbeat and breathing take place without you thinking about it.
The same applies to the way the body protects itself from harm and disease.
But the brain is also clearly linked to the mind of the soul. It allows us to think
consciously and remember things. So body and soul join together in the brain to
form the conscious mind. When your body is sleeping you are no longer
"conscious," which means that your conscious mind is not working. Science has
made the mistake of thinking that the brain is the organ of memory, and that the
different in intelligence between people depends on their brain power.
This would mean that when a person dies, and his spirit leaves his body, he would
no longer have any knowledge or remember what happened during his life. Yet
Scripture clearly shows us that the spirits of the dead still know what happened in
their life. I will not take up space proving this here, but you can look up all
references to this in the Word. Read the incident Jesus told of the rich man and
Lazarus who died. Read also of how Jesus after His death descended into the
realms of darkness and preached to the spirits in prison.
Psychologists in trying find out how the soul of man works have discovered that
there is a deeper "mind" in man, which they call the "sub-conscious mind." This is
because it lies below the surface of the conscious mind and is beyond the reach of
our will. They found through research that what is held in the conscious mind
starts to sink down into the sub-conscious mind. They also found that the sub-
conscious mind has a stronger control over the person than the conscious mind. In
fact what is in the conscious mind often comes from the sub-conscious. The basic
difference between the two though, is that we can control our conscious mind by
an act of will.
What they have discovered is actually nothing new. The Scriptures have taught
from the beginning that man is a spirit and that all control actually comes from the
spirit of man. It is similar in an animal, except that an animal does not have a
spirit. The controlling life force, or instinct in an animal cannot be changed and
does not depend upon its conscious thoughts. You cannot teach a dog how to
make nests, because this is built into the birds who make nests. But man is
different. He does nothing by instinct, except what has been built into him through
upbringing and the experiences of life.
But there is an influence in man that comes from the sin of Adam. It is a sinful
principle that causes everyone to be trained in the ways of sin. A child starts out
in a condition of innocence, but he soon gets trained in the ways of sin. It comes
from this principle in him, and also from experiences in a world that is tainted by
sin. The whole world system, now being controlled by Satan, is designed to train
man to sin. It feeds his sub-conscious with patterns that predispose him to sin.
Let's see what the Bible teaches about the sub-conscious. Scripture does not use
this term, which was coined by man, by it does refer to the "heart of man." This is
not the physical organ called the heart, but the center of man’s being, from which
everything comes that controls his life. A close look at this term "heart" shows that
it is used to describe functions that come from both spirit and soul, but never from
the body. It is the "inner man" or the "spirit of the mind."
Ephesians 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of

his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of
power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Since the mind is contained in the soul I would like to suggest that the so called
sub-conscious mind is actually the joining of the spirit and soul. So the conscious
mind can receive information from two sources - the soul or the body, and the sub-
conscious also from two sources - the soul or the spirit. In both cases, the soul is a
common ground, because it links the body and spirit together. I want to take a look
at the chart above and show you how a flow can take place between these two
parts of our being.
Instead of using the terms "conscious mind" and "sub-conscious mind" that man
has chosen, I am rather going to use the terms "outward man" and "inward man",
which agrees with Scripture
2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our
outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day.
The Inward Flow of Data
Let us consider firstly how data is passed down from the outward man into the
inward man. Data is gathered by the body from the world around it, using the five
senses. This is then passed down through the brain to the soul. The more
powerful senses are the senses of sight and hearing. Data from the sense of sight
is sent as pictures. This is the easiest way to receive information. The old saying
that a picture is worth a thousand words is very true. It is also very easy for the
mind to receive and remember pictures.
The sense of hearing is another important source. Usually we receive information

we hear as words, although any sound you hear is data. This way of receiving
information is not as clear as the sense of sight, but our main way of sending out
information is by means of speech. So we have grown up learning most of what
we know through the sense of hearing. Children spend hours in schools every day
learning by verbal instruction, and this continues into adulthood. Yet for all the
years we spend getting educated, it is amazing how little we remember of what we
learn. The reason? The mind cannot receive words unless they are converted into
pictures.
The three remaining senses of touch, taste and smell are more to help the body
operate more efficiently. For most of us they play only a small part in our
knowledge and we remember little of the information they send.. Just try thinking
about a taste or smell. It is not easy to re-smell a rose, or re-taste a peach through
thought. You might sometimes find yourself craving something you haven’t eaten
in a while, but this tends to be more physical than mental. But when someone
loses the use of their sense of sight and hearing, or they are affected, then the
other senses come into play and are increased to take its place. The blind person
uses the senses of touch and smell to "see" as well as having a more acute sense
of hearing.
So the outward man gathers data and passes it to the soul. And from there it is
passed down to the inward man, where it becomes a permanent memory. But the
inward man is fussy about the kind of the information it receives. It can only
receive data as 'pictures' received from the impulses of the nervous system from
the five senses. The spirit will remember sights, sounds, physical sensations,
smells and tastes. But data received in the form of words must be converted to
pictures in the mind. If students were taught to do this in schools they would be
able to learn and remember what they learn without having to use heavy study
methods.
The Outward Flow of Data

Let us go on now and have a look at the reverse process, i.e. communicating
information outwards. The spirit of man can also obtain information from the
spiritual realm. The spirit has its own senses, which enable it to gather information
from the world of the spirit. This information, plus that which has been stored in the
inward man can then be sent out to the soul. And it is then expressed in the
outward man through conscious thoughts. This influence is not as strong as that
which comes from the world through the senses. So many people find it difficult to
recognize what is coming from their inward man.
However there is a big difference between the way data is passed inwards and the
way it comes out. Data is sent inwards when the mind is filled with pictures.. But
when the inward man starts to send out information it is seen more in the emotions
and the will. We tend to respond more quickly to the things we feel than we do to
the things we think. Haven't you ever disobeyed all sense of logic to do what you
strongly desire or feel like doing? Although the will seems to be the part that
controls us, it tends to bow very quickly to the feelings and desires. It is easy to
say "I can do anything I choose to do." But the trouble is you choose to do only
the things you feel like doing.
The reason your emotions are more easily affected by what comes out of your
inward man, is that there is nothing blocking it. There is no data flowing inwards
from the emotions as there is from the mind. And your will cannot stop what comes
out of your emotions. You cannot control your feelings and desires by an act of
will. You can only stop yourself from responding to them. But any data sent to the
mind is smothered by all the information that is going in from the senses. If you
want to listen to your inward man in your mind, you have to stop this flow from the
senses. We will be looking at this later, where we will show how you can come to a
place where you are able to clearly receive from your inward man.
The inward man is also able to send data outwards through your will. When this
happens it comes out as speech or words. Words are a tangible form of spiritual
essence. When words are uttered, a person causes what is in his spirit to flow out
into the earth. It is not necessary for the words to first come into the mind before
they are spoken. No person thinks words in his mind before speaking them. They
rise up directly out of the spirit. Jesus said in John 6:63 "..the words that I speak to
you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life." Also concerning the Scriptures, we are
told in 2 Tim 3:16 that all Scripture is "God-breathed." When God as Spirit sent
forth His Word into the earth, He sent out some of His Spirit to us. The Scriptures
are an expression of the very Spirit of God.
This gives us a very powerful tool, because not only can information be passed
down to the inner man through pictures, but it is also possible by the use of words,
to cause the process to be repeated. When a person takes in their mouth, the
Words which God spoke, and utters them again, by an act of the will, the Spirit
contained in those words is caused to be fed down into their spirit. So, by taking a
powerful promise of God and confessing it over and over, there comes an inflow of
God’s power into the spirit. We will be considering this in a lot more detail later in
the study.
We can now begin to see in the way outward and inward man work, a way for us
to change the way we behave. That which fills the mind will be fed down into the
inward man. This will in turn bring an influence to bear upon the emotions. And
then your emotions will flow out in feelings and desires which will affect the things
you do. So what you are thinking about all the time will produce the feelings and
desires that decide how you will live. If you consider the way the world system is
set up, it is no wonder that man has become so corrupt. We are bombarded daily
by the media and our minds are filled with pictures which promote fear and sin. We
can’t understand why we are continually filled with fear, and find ourselves unable
to live the kind of lives which we know God wants us to live.
As far as speech is concerned, the world system under Satan has been set up to
program us into speaking words which instead of causing the power of God’s Spirit
to flow inwards, causes the spirit of the world and of antichrist to flow inwards. The
language of the world is tinged with death, fear and corruption. The utterance of
profanity which easily takes its hold on our speech, causes us to feed a
destructive force into the inner man. We need to be aware of this and change our
language. This is a major task, but it will make a drastic change to your spiritual
life. We will be looking at it in a lot more detail as we proceed with this study.
If you did not fully understand everything in this study, then try printing out the
chart and then re-read it with the chart in front of you. See if you can figure out
what I was talking about, because it is very important. If you do not understand
what has been taught here, then you will not understand what is to follow.
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What Will the Next Move of God
Look Like?
have seen many different moves of the Spirit of God in my lifetime.

During my childhood the Pentecostal revival was still ongoing and the
healing movement was the big thing that God was doing. I remember
seeing movies of men of God like Oral Roberts, TL Osborn and AA Allen
who were used greatly by God. Then came the Jesus People Revolution and the
Charismatic Renewal, where folks in all denominations were moving in the Gifts of
the Spirit. In recent years we have seen the rise of the Toronto Blessing and
Brownesville Revival, and the gold dust phenomenon. But what comes next? Does
God have something else 'up his sleeve.' I believe He does, and I want to share it
with you.
My Own Revelation of Jesus' Love

Many years ago, when the Lord first called me to prepare for the work He had for
me, I had a vision of the Lord Jesus, in which He gave me a revelation of His love.
I thought I understood His love until He showed me that it was something really
quite foreign to me. As He stood before me I told Him that I wanted to minister to
those who had once known Him and had fallen away. His words to me were, "Les,
do you think that I love them any less than I love you?"
Then He explained to me that His love was not conditional. It did not depend on
what we do. What followed was a time of preparation in His presence, where He
taught me His unconditional love, and showed me how to allow Him to love others
through me. I found a new anointing arise in me that I had never known before. I
did not understand it at first, because I had never heard of it before. But often as I
would pray for folks there would come a deep flow of love from within that seemed
to flow out of me towards that person.
I began to minister this to folks at times in a group, and there would come a flow of
anointing that would result in an outbreak of love, where each one in the group
would be going to each other and embracing one another while ministering the
anointing. This was entirely a spiritual thing, and I would often have to take stock
to make sure that it was not misinterpreted as being something purely emotional or
physical, particularly when it came to members of the opposite sex. I found that
this kind of anointing flowed particularly where there were deep hurts in the person
that the Lord was healing. It was as though the Lord was pouring His healing love
into that person through me.
A New Anointing is Coming

In the past year as I have waited on the Lord and obeyed His instructions to train
His servants the prophets and now also the apostles for the coming move, the
Lord began to remind me of this anointing, and He told me that He was about to
release such an anointing on the Body of Christ in a measure greater than has
been seen in the past. As I have meditated on it, my mind went back to the early
days of the Jesus Revolution, which saw many coming in from the hippie culture to
accepting the Lord and moving in the Spirit.
The key saying amongst the hippies in those days was, "Make love not war!" And
of course they put this into practice in the only way they knew how - through illicit
sex and drugs. But it showed that there was a vacuum in the hearts of people,
especially the young people of that era, that was crying out for some real love. But
they were looking for it in the all the wrong places. And when they began to find it
in Jesus, they realized that they had found what they were looking for. It led to a
revolution, in which not only ordinary folks were coming to the Lord, but also the
pop idols of that day were coming to Christ in large numbers, and Gospel music
first came into its own.
Those of us who have lived a while on this earth have seen the fashions of this
world, and the consecutive generations as they come and go. And it becomes
obvious that each new generation brings a new awareness and new needs.
Though times change, in the end the need in the heart of man remains the same.
The world needs love, true love to survive, and it is not to be found out there. It is
to be found only in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Wrong Ways of Finding Love
When the Lord first showed me His love, He also showed me people in different
walks of life and how they were seeking to find that love. He showed me women
prostituting themselves to find love. Today even men are prostituting themselves
to find love. He showed me athletes striving for mastery in their sport to obtain the
recognition and acceptance that would make them feel loved. He showed me
scholars studying and pushing themselves to their mental limit, in order to obtain
the recognition and acceptance that might somehow bring love. But they were
grasping at straws. It was false love.
And the Lord told me, "Go and tell them that I love them, and accept them, and
recognize them. Tell them that in me they will find all they ever need. But the
church is not doing that are they? Instead the message that goes out is, "God is
mad at you, so you had better repent and come right, or He is going to spew you
out of His mouth." There is no understanding in the Body of Christ of the
unconditional love of the Lord Jesus. And once again the world are trying to find
their own solution, and looking for love in the wrong places.
Time Hasn't Really Changed Things
I was amazed a few years back as I saw a rerun of an old Billy Graham movie
concerning the life of a young person who was struggling with the world and the
pull of his peers. It was set in an era that matched my own youth, and yet as we
watched it, I realized that apart from the obvious primitive acting and filming, and
dress of that era, the actors could easily have been acting out a modern scenario.
Things hadn't really changed all that much. Today's young folks face different
problems to those of yesteryear, but in the end the needs are still the same.
The Next Jesus Revolution
So here it is then - the next move of God. Watch out for it, because you are going
to see it arise. It is going to be an outpouring of the love anointing. There is going
to come another kind of Jesus Revolution of greater proportions than the last one.
But this time it is going to transcend the boundaries of the church system. The
early Jesus Revolution was destroyed by the very system that was meant to foster
it and nurture it - the organized church. When hippies began flocking to church
services with their long hair and funny clothes, they were despised, so they ended
up getting together in their own groups.
But without a direction it was inevitable that it could not go on. What started out as
a wonderful move of God, ended up dying out like most moves of God in the past.
But this time it is going to be different, because this time the church is going to
change also. God is about to destroy the man made structures and traditions that
have long prevented the Body of Christ from becoming what it should be. And as
the Spirit of God begins to move afresh we are going to see a revival such as the
world has never seen. It will transcend all denominations, races, genders,
countries, age groups or any other man made division.
The Two Winds of God
Now let me show it to you from the Word, so that you can judge this not only by
prophetic revelation, but by the Word of God. There has been so much talk these
days of the River of God, and of the Mighty Wind of the Spirit. And we have seen
the Lord working in signs and wonders in many parts of the world. But there is
coming a different kind of stream, and a different kind of wind. It is going to be a
gentle breeze rather than a mighty hurricane. It is going to be the Gentle Breeze of
Jesus, as He blows upon His bride, waking her from her slumber to prepare
herself for the coming of her bridegroom.
If you turn with me to the book of Acts, where the first coming of the Spirit was
recorded, you will find something interesting in a couple of passages there. I will
give them to you here first and then comment on them.
The Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they
were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared to them separated tongues like [flames] of fire,
and it rested on each of them.
Here we have a description of the first anointing power of the Holy Spirit. It came
with a loud noise and a rushing, mighty wind. It came with heat and fire, causing
hearts to be aflame with God's power. It caused the early believers to be on fire for
God and to do great exploits in the Name of Jesus. But as the disciples went forth
to preach under that power, the apostle Peter stood up to preach and he said
something very interesting.
The Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins
may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing will come from the
presence of the Lord;
20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached to you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began.
The Gentle Breeze of Jesus

Peter spoke of another kind of wind. He called it times of refreshing from the
presence of the Lord, and He said that when this happened, God would send
Jesus Christ. What was he saying here? If you check the Greek word translated as
'refreshing' and compare it with the word used for wind in the previous passage,
you will see that both refer to a blowing of a wind. The one in Acts 2 refers to a
strong blowing, whereas the refreshing referred to in Acts 3 speaks of a gentle
blowing, as in when you blow on food to cool it down. The first is the Mighty Wind
of God, the second is the Gentle Breeze of Jesus.
The first brings power and causes one to become lit and on fire for the Lord. The
second brings a cooling down, or refreshing. But more importantly, the first brings
a mighty manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, but the second brings the
manifest presence of the Lord Jesus. I have experienced both of these in the Spirit
and I am sure so have many of you.
Experiencing the Godhead in the Spirit
I would describe my experiences with God in the Spirit like this. When I come into
the presence of the Father I am overwhelmed with my own worthlessness and I
fall to his feet in repentance, feeling unworthy to even look up higher than his feet.
When I come into the presence of the Holy Spirit I am overwhelmed with an
awesome power that makes me feel like I can face the entire kingdom of
darkness, the world and any other enemy single handed. But when I come into the
presence of the Lord Jesus, I am overwhelmed with a love that transcends all
human understanding, and I find myself able to love the vilest of men without any
effort.
The Church has proclaimed the righteousness of the Father and his hatred for sin.
They have proclaimed the awesome power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, with
signs and wonders. But it is time that the precious Lamb of God that takes away
the sins of the world takes His place as the lover and future husband of the Bride
of Christ. It is time for the gentle breeze of His love to sweep across the world,
wooing and winning the lost and bringing the slumbering giant that is the Church
to a place of full unity, as God intended and as Jesus so fervently prayed in John
17 before He faced the work of Calvary.
That is the next move of God folks!

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A Network Indestructible
rophet of God, will you rise up and take the position allotted to you? Will
you stand in the face of adversity and proclaim "Thus Saith the Lord
Now is the time for change?" Will you dare to be what you are called to
be? That is, being a leader in the Body of Christ. Stop blaming the
Pastors and get down to business.
The winds are blowing and the storm has come - unite your heart in the Network
Indestructible!
The New Move

There has been a lot of talk of the new move. As we have come into the year
2000, go to any prophetic site you will, and you are going to find some teaching or
some something on ‘The New Move’. Everybody is speaking about the church of
the future, the mega church, what the church in the year 2000 is going to look like.
They are building these pictures. They are building up their expectations. And you
sit back and you think, "Wow, it’s going to be something incredible. It’s going to be
something out of this world. "Then you sit and think, "What does that mean to
me?"
What does it mean to you? You stand today in the office or ministry of prophet,
and I want you to ask yourself right now, "What does all that mean to me?
The little Joe, little prophet sitting at home getting his little revelations. Maybe if
you are really lucky you get to stand up in church and give a word or two. There is
a big step for you. What does the new move mean to you – the great church, the
mega church, the church of the future? What does it mean to you, as a prophet of
God, standing in the call and the position that the most high God has placed you
in.
Well today, I am going to show and encourage you to be part of a network
indestructible. I am going to change your mindset. I am going to change the way
you see yourself as a leader in the Body of Christ. I am going to shock you, I am
going to shake you, I am going to change your mind so upside down, your past
thinking is not going to make sense anymore. Because now is the time for change.
You have been walked over, you have been down-trodden, and you have been
told to keep your place; to not stand in rebellion. I want to tell you that now is the
time to stop being quiet. Now has come the time for the prophets of God to rise up
and say what needs to be said. Now if the dawning of a new era.
As I looked to the Lord for this passion that He has burned into me for the
prophets of God, He gave me the most awesome revelation of Nehemiah and how
he came and gathered all the people to build the walls. And I saw this as the
perfect illustration of what is happening in the church of God today.
Prophets Birthed It
The prophets were set to birth the new move. You have been sitting in your
lounge, in your little church hall, in your intercessory group as a little prayer warrior
and a little nobody sitting in the background, birthing and speaking forth, praying
and crying out to the Lord for the new move.
You have been saying, "Lord, make Your bride as You have wanted her to be.
Lord, change the foundation, change the church. Bring renewal, bring revival.
Lord, raise up men and women of God who are going to bring about the change
that You want in the earth."
You have sought Him and you have spoken this force. And so you, prophet of
God, in your little self, birthed this new move. You were the forerunner of this great
new move that suddenly everybody has woken up to. What you have been looking
to the Lord for years now, that suddenly everybody has the great revelation about,
you have been birthing up until now.
Now everywhere you look apostles are rising up here, there, everywhere. A year
ago you did not even know what an apostle was. Now, there are apostles
everywhere. Every Tim, Sheila and Harry has been called an apostle. You birthed
that, prophet of God. You birthed that. But your job is not over.
Now is the time to step in the forefront yet again and to protect the new move. As
a prophet you have birthed it and you were the forerunner, seeing ahead what
God was going to do in the Body. Now, as you see this plan coming to fruition, as
you see the birth pains and you see the little child of this plan starting to grow, it is
your responsibility as a prophet to protect this new move.
Illustration from Nehemiah
So I would like to look at Nehemiah as an illustration of building the walls of

protection around the new move that is about to take place in the Body of Christ.
Nehemiah 7:3:
I said to them, "Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the
sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors and bar
them; and appoint watchers of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone
on his watch and everyone be over and against his house." Now the
city was large and great, but the people were few therein, and the
houses were not yet built.
Before the apostles can begin to build and bring to fruition the work that the Lord
has set in motion, we as prophets need to build walls of protection around it. You
cannot bring the sheep into the fold until the fold is secure. They need to come
into a place where they will be safe, where they will be free from harm, where the
enemy cannot get in and attack. We need to be more than watchmen now. We
need to be more than foreseeing what is happening. We need to raise up arms
and be warriors, and we need to pick up our tools and be workers. Instead of
sitting in the background, it is time for the prophets of God to now be forerunners
and be ahead of this move, to protect and activate it.
So what happened? Nehemiah had the vision. He had the vision, it burned in him.
He came to the people and he said, "Guys, have you seen what these walls look
like? They’re a mess, they’re burnt down, they’re rubble. There’s no protection for
the Temple. We need to get together and make something happen here.
"So he gathered all the people. He gathered them all around. And as he did this,
the Scripture says that, ‘their hearts were set to work.’ They meant business, these
people. They were not coming to have a party. They were not coming to have a
Glory Hallelujah. They meant business. They saw the vision, they caught the
vision, and they wanted to act on the vision. But they had to come together first.
One man cannot build a wall on his own. Nehemiah could have tried. It may have
taken him 52 years instead of 52 days. It needed to a unity effort; a group of
people coming in the same mind, in the same spirit, in the same purpose. And as
they united their hearts, as they united their passion and their vision, something
started to happen. Miracles started to take place. That wall was built in 52 days.
Even with the modern technology that we have, I doubt that they could have
matched that. They built an entire wall around Jerusalem in 52 days. That is less
than 2 months.
You know, I live in Mexico here and they cannot build a wall in front of a house in
less than a month. You should see it. It takes forever to get that wall up in this
place. In 52 days they built that wall. Why? Because they had singleness of
purpose. They were a network indestructible. Nothing could get through because
they stood in unity and as a team.
Take Responsibility
So what is our responsibility as we look now into the church 2000? As a prophet,
what is your responsibility? In Nehemiah 2:17 it says:
Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how
Jerusalem lies waste, and the gates of it are burned with fire. And let
us build the wall of Jerusalem, that there may be no more reproach.
You need to take a good look around you. You need to take a good look at the
system. You need to take a good look at the people who are getting hurt and
trampled on. You need to take a good look at the faults and the errors and the
stubble that people are having to live in.
And if you will do that, take all your list of complaints about the church that you
have on your little list, and look at it and say, "I am responsible for this. I, as a
prophet, am responsible for this mess."
"What? I didn’t make this mess. It’s the pastors. It’s the leaders of the church.
They are the ones that missed it. They’re the ones that built up the mess. They are
the ones that have put the system over the people. "No, as a prophet of God you
are placed as a leader in the Body of Christ. Prophet of God, you are a leader in
the Body of Christ.
So next time you open your mouth and you say, "It’s the fault of the leaders that
this church is in a mess," realize that you are a leader. So when you say those
words, realize that you are looking at your own beam. If the Body of Christ is a
mess, it is your fault. It is your responsibility. God holds you responsible. Given to
the church were apostles, prophets and teachers. When He looks at His bride and
sees that she is not ready, do you honestly think that He is going to go to the bride
and say, "Why aren’t you ready?
"No, He is going to look at the leaders and He is going to say, "Why is My bride
not ready? Why have you not prepared her? Why is her dress with spot and
wrinkle? Why is she not perfected?"
It is not up to the bride to perfect herself. It is up to the leaders of Christ to mature

and perfect the bride. If the bride is all wrinkled, it is your fault. It is your
responsibility. What are you doing about it? Are you sitting and complaining about
the state of the church, or are you doing something about it?
It is time, prophet of God, that we stop wallowing and wining and complaining
about the mess, and getting in there and fixing it up. It is time to stop being
complacent, to being satisfied with the rubble and stumbling over the burnt bricks,
and to pick up a trowel and a sword, and to rebuild it. It is time for action, now. Not
sitting behind with your little prophetic words accomplishing very little in the
background. It is time to stand and be heard as a leader in the Body of Christ.
Be an Example
You need to stand as an example. I love using the illustration of a father and
parent of a child. How does a child learn, especially when they are really young
like 2 and 3 years old? How does a child understand principles, morals, code of
living? Do you pump it into their heads with knowledge? No you do not. A child
learns by example. A child will see how you talk, and he will talk with the same
accent. He will even walk like you. He will use your expressions. A child looks up
to the parents and will walk in their footsteps. And as he matures he will take on
the characteristics of the parent.
Now I need to ask you. If you, as a prophet, cannot stand in unity with the other
prophets of God around the world, how do you expect the Body of Christ to
suddenly unite with one another and have peace reign, and let everything be
hunky dory? If you as yourself cannot stand as an example to the bride, how do
you expect her to respond and behave the way that you think she should?
Before the Body of Christ can start uniting, and before all those great dreams can
happen of you have of breaking down the walls, and breaking down the barriers,
and bringing everybody together under one big roof, you need to stand as an
example, because the Body will follow after the example of its leaders, will it not?
Will the congregation not follow after the example of the pastor?
You, being a prophet, stand in a higher office than that. Until you stand and put
yourself as an example, nobody will follow you. They will not go after your
example. And they certainly will not listen to a word you have to say.
Paul had no qualms about standing up and saying, "Look at me. Now listen
Timothy, if you will just do what I did, and if you will just behave like I behaved, you
will do well."
When he wrote to the Corinthians he said, "Guys, look at me. Follow my example.
Do as I did, say as I said. Was I not a prime example for you to follow in all things?
Was I not above reproach? Was I not an example for you to follow?"
Are you, prophet of God, above reproach? Are you an example for others to
follow? Are you standing in unity with the other prophets of God, standing as one,
building and protecting this new move? Or are you standing backbiting and
accusing and breaking down your neighbor’s wall? Is that what you are doing?
Remove Personal Barriers
I do not care what the denomination of so-and-so next to is. I do not care! Do you
want to know the best thing about this illustration? If you read through everybody
who helped build the walls, you had perfumers building next to goldsmiths, who
were building next to merchants, who were building next to Levites. What a
merchant and a Levite have in common, the Lord alone knows. They were building
next to officials, building next to nobles, building next to the lowest form of life right
up. They even had women building with them, and whole families building.
I do not care who the guy next to you is, what his denomination is, what his stand
is. If he is standing with a pure heart before God, and if he is indeed a prophet of
God standing and wanting to see the church move forward, you should be pulling
him up and building with him. We have to put aside our preconceived ideas, our
walls, our insecurities, our fears and accusations, and we have to stand as one.
We have to unite our hearts before we can protect what God is doing.
It is time to put away the slander. It is time to put away the backbiting words that
destroy and break down ministries. Can you not see, that we have the same
purpose, that we have the same vision? I do not care if you are a Baptist, if you
are a Methodist, if you are a Seventh-Day Adventist. I do not care who you are. Do
you love Jesus, are you a prophet and do you have a vision to see the Kingdom of
God restored? You do? Let’s join hands. That is all that matters. The Kingdom of
God is all that matters. What you think does not matter. Your hobby horse does
not matter. The Kingdom of God matters, and it is the Kingdom of God at stake.
Now put aside your prejudice, put aside your hatred.
Do you think hatred is a strong word? Visit some prophetic sites and listen to some
prophets, what they have to say about other people. You will talk hatred and
bitterness. Put it aside. There is no place for it. We have to have a singleness of
purpose – the same vision, the same spirit – because it is the same God, and He
has raised us up for one reason and one reason alone, and that is to be the
forerunners of what He is releasing in the Body of Christ right now.
Prepare for War
You need to be prepared for war as you stand with your brothers to build this
protection. You need to be prepared, because you know what? Some people are
not going to take it too lightly. I am sure you have already experienced some of
that. Some people are not going to like it. They do not like this idea of prophets
shouting their mouths off for starters, and least of all, the Devil. He is going to
throw every single thing that he can at you.
The minute you stand up and declare, "Thus saith the Lord … we need to change,
we need to move on, we need the power of God in this place," the first thing he is
going to do is throw the system at you and try and squash you like a bug. That is
why you need the unity of the prophets. You need other prophets of God to stand
with you and encourage you, and to be your backing when you face that
onslaught.
If Nehemiah had to face all the opposition that he did of everybody coming against
him, he would have been defeated instantly, but he did not. He had everybody
standing armed while they worked. They stood with their spears and their swords,
and they stood armed, ready for battle. And as they stood armed, the enemy took
one look at this and said, "Nehemiah, it’s all right, bro., just chill out. I didn’t want
to make any trouble here. We were just checking out the walls.
"If Nehemiah had stood there by himself they would have flattened him. But he
had a bit of backing there. He had everybody who was building the walls behind
him. You need to get in with the prophets. You need to get in the circle, so that
when you stand up you have a whole bunch of prophets standing behind you; that
when you stand up to say, "Thus saith the Lord," people better listen, because it is
not just one little guy standing up speaking. He has a whole group standing behind
him supporting him and saying, "Thus saith the Lord. You’d better listen!
"That is what the Lord is calling us to do. He is calling us to unite, because you
cannot fight this one on your own. You are not strong enough to cope with the
forces on your own. "Where two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of
them," Jesus said. Two or three are gathered. You cannot stand on your own.
You will be defeated, you will be crushed by the system, and you will leave and
think, "Why am I wasting my time on this prophet nonsense? All it does is get me
into trouble."
This is because you do not have the backing. You do not have the support. You
need to stand armed, and you need to stand firm, and you need to be prepared for
the threats that are going to come against you, because they are going to come.
You are going to get the opposition. You are going to get those that are going to
stand against you, that are not going to see your vision quite as well as you see it.
Opposition
And you know, even amongst those that were to build the walls, there was a
section that did not join. In Nehemiah 3:5 it says:
But their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.
Do you want to know why the nobles did not put their necks to the work of the
Lord? It is because all the surrounding nobles in the area were threatening them.
They were afraid they would lose their money, their land, their position, and their
clout in the area. They knew if they sided with these wacko’s building the wall, that
they were going to get thrown out, and they feared their lives and their
possessions.
So they said, "Forget it. It’s just not worth the cost to us."
Not Just Words
There will be those who will not want to unite. There will be those that will be too
afraid to stand up and be counted. So now, I need to ask you. Which are you?
Look at your life right now where you are in your call. Do you have the guts that
you are always mouthing off about? Do you have the action behind your words?
Do you have the unction behind your words? Or are they just words? Come on,
are they just words?
You are a prophet. You have lots to say. Prophets, trust me on this one, have lots
to say. Are you prepared to put a bit of guts behind those words, prophet? Well
now is your time to show it. Now is your time to mean business. You can spout off
behind everybody’s back what you think.
"Well, I think the system should look like this."
"Well, I believe that this is wrong in the church, and that is right in the church."
Make the Choice
Well, have you got the guts to stand up for those words now? Do you have the
conviction to stand up for those words now? Because up until now you have been
told to keep quiet. No more! Now is the time to say what needs to be said, and do
what needs to be done. Have you the guts to stand up and do what needs to be
done? Because now is that time.
Choose your line. Are you going to go the whole hog? Are you going to go all the
way? Are you going to sit in your lounge and be a little nobody for the rest of your
life? This is the line, this is the now. This is your call, prophet of God. This is your
call now. And you can take that as prophecy!
This is your call to action. Which side are you going to stand on? Choose now,
because time is running out. You do not have time to play-play prophet anymore.
No more play-play prophets. Let’s be prophets. Let’s not act like prophets. Let’s
not speak like prophets. Let’s be prophets. Let’s do prophets. Let’s stand in the
office, instead of talking about the office. Let’s carry out the authority in the office
instead of speaking about the authority of the office. Let’s be the office.
Be part of the network indestructible that God is raising up right now. Join your
hands with your brothers and sisters, your fellow prophets in God, and stand and
say, "Now I am counted. Yes, I am counted, Lord. I stand accountable before the
most high God. And nothing is going to stop me now. Nothing! I still stand. I will
build this wall if it kills me; if it costs me my family, if it costs me my home, if it
costs me my reputation. I don’t care what it costs me. I will stand and see this wall
built!"
Will you? Do you not care for the cost? Because now is the time to make that
choice.
You need to stand firm, and you need to set your face as a flint and say, "Okay,
Devil. You’ve been messing with the Kingdom of God for long enough now. I just
want you to know that I’ve made a decision that is going to make your life a living
hell, just so you know, bro!"
Troublemakers
You have to stand firm and set your face as a flint, and you are going to say what
needs to be said, because it needs to be said. The Body of Christ needs to hear
what you have to say. They need to see where the flaws are in the foundation.
They need to open their eyes to the hundreds of hurt and bleeding sheep who
have been kicked and left on the side of the road to bleed.
They need to see them. But you see, it is hidden from them. It is all prettied over
with programs and nice praise and worship, and everything that is so well
structured. They do not say the hurt and pain the lives of others. It is your
responsibility to open their eyes to that.
And I do not care if you are called a troublemaker. Nehemiah was called a
troublemaker. Ezra was called a troublemaker. All of the greats were called
troublemakers. Half of them were nearly killed for it. Hey, Paul was the
troublemaker of the troublemakers. He is our hero. He was an absolute
troublemaker. I just pray to the Lord that I can be half the troublemaker that Paul
was. Man, he knew how to stir the pot. I liked his guts. He did not care.
"You whitewashed walls, who do you think you are?"
Hey, he said this to the High Priest. He did not mince his words. I liked this man.
He should be our hero. Let’s follow in his footsteps. Yes, be a troublemaker. Stir
the pot.
Wake the church up. Wake her up. She is sleeping. She does not see the danger
that is ahead. She does not see, because her eyes have been blinded and her
ears have been blocked. You need to wake her up. It is your responsibility as a
leader in the Kingdom of God, to wake her up.
Now is the time for the Body of Christ to rise up out of slumber and be the
magnificent bride that she is ordained to be. And before she can be that
magnificent bride, you are going to have to take your stand to make her that
magnificent bride.
Prophets Judge Prophecy
I know a lot of you are thinking, "Well, what if you have these prophets standing
up, and prophesying the biggest load of garbage? Who’s going to judge the
prophecy?"
Who judges what the prophets are going to stand up and say? Who is going to
judge what you have to say? Well, what does the Word say? Who judges the
prophets?
Who draws the line and says, "Okay, prophets, you’re in order. You’re out of
order."Well, if I take a good look through the Acts and a couple of the Gospels, I
found a good one in 1 Corinthians 14:32. It said:
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
If you read a little higher up, you will see how Paul says, "Let him bring two or
three words, and let the other prophets judge them." So then, who judges the
prophets? The prophets judge the prophets. Why do the prophets judge the
prophets? Because the prophets have the gift of discerning of spirits that will be
able to tell whether he is in Spirit, or out of Spirit. Prophets should have knowledge
of the Word to be able to judge that Word by the Word of God.
Just in case you did not know, the pastor, according to the Word, is not the one to
judge prophecy.
"Oh my goodness, heresy!"
No, it is the Word of God. The prophets judge the prophets. If you will stand as
one with the other prophets of God, if you bring your words to them, they will judge
it.
And once they have judged it and said, "This, we believe, is the Word of the Lord,"
you can stand up and declare that from the rooftops, and heaven help any person
who does not obey the voice of that word. Because it says in Isaiah that the
watchman stands on the walls and he declares and tells the people, "Hey, the
enemy’s coming." But if they do not listen to him, the blood is not on his hands, but
their own.
Once you have a word that has been confirmed by the prophets, you stand up and
shout that word from the rooftops. And if they will not listen, their blood is upon
their own head, but you have fulfilled the will of the Lord.
But for too long the words and the prophecy have been squelched and stood on,
just in case one of them misses it. No! We cannot allow the Word of God to be
squashed any longer. It needs to be heard. The Body needs to hear what the Lord
is saying. It is enough, not more silence.
Be Heard
Stand up and be heard. Proclaim His Word from the rooftops that every man can
hear it. Because it is the Word of the most high God, and He wants His people to
hear it, so it can open their eyes and open their ears and incite a rebellion! Yes, a
rebellion. A rebellion against the system, the system of this world, the bondages
that the enemy has on the Body of Christ – sickness, poverty, guilt, condemnation.
We want a rebellion against these things. We have been complacent for too long.
We have sat and watched the Body of Christ be destroyed and ruined,
downtrodden, and hurt and broken. It is time to do something about it; to stand up
and be heard, to be a leader and part of a network indestructible that Satan cannot
stand against.
Because as we stand as one and in the unity of love, he can try what he likes. He
is not going to get through. He is not going to be able to touch what the Lord is
doing inside of those walls. Hey, he can try as much as he likes, and shoot as high
as he can. But once those walls are built, he cannot touch or even get near what
the Lord is doing inside those walls.
We need to unite our hearts with a singleness of purpose in love; with the love of
Jesus; with a love for His bleeding heart for His people as He weeps over them.
This should motivate us to stand as one, and to build those walls that will protect
what He is doing.
Protect One Another
We need stand as protection for one another, and this is so important. Everybody
is busy and off on their own tangent and their own problems. It is time we stand
back to back and be a protection for one another. But you see, we are standing on
the wall so far apart that the Devil is just taking pot shots there.
Bang! "There goes a prophet. Woops."
Bang! "Ooh, there goes another one."
That is what the Devil is doing. He is popping them off left, right and center. He is
destroying them with rejection, with accusation, with words that are condemning
them; that are pushing them off the wall; that are pushing them into the ground so
that the prophet does not even want to get up and try again.
We need to stand together and protect one another. We need to hold our hands
out to the person building next to us and hold their hands tight and protect one
another. It says in Nehemiah that he had a trumpeter next to him at all times, and
if at any time there was an attack while they were working, the trumpeter would
blow. And they had a defined place that everybody would gather to this one area
armed, ready to fight.
Now that is the kind of unity we need to stand together, that when the enemy
comes as a roaring lion, not an angel of light, we are there to unite our hearts and
say, "Let’s go get ‘em. Oh boy, Devil, you’re in for a surprise. You’re not picking on
one little prophet. You’re picking on the whole network. And man are you going to
get your butt kicked bad!"He thought he was just going to come in and pick on this
puny little prophet here, but he did not know that this puny little prophet here had a
whole bunch of giants behind him, did he? He is about to get some news.
That is what we need to be. We need to be a family that stands together to fight
for one another; to give our lives for one another; to love, as Christ loved the
church. How did He love the church? He died for her. He gave her everything.
That should be our commitment to one another into the Body of Christ.
Are you prepared to put aside your own needs, your own fears and your desires,
to reach out your hand to your brother and help him with his? To fight his battle
and put yours aside for a while. Because that is what it is going to take for every
one of us to put aside our own battles for now, and to fight with one another and
unite our hearts. I want to tell you, there is such power in unity. Even the Scripture
says one can put a thousand to flight, but with two it like triples.
Imagine getting a couple of thousand prophets together in one spirit? You talk
about unity, authority, a thousand prophetic keys all turning at the same time.
Power! We will shake the gates of hell and we will raise the Body of Christ up so
quickly it will be spinning. But we need to unite our hearts, and we need to unite
them in love.
We need to stand, making a choice to set our face as a flint and say, "I will be
counted. I’m not going to stand anymore and take this nonsense."
Revival
We need to join hands. We need to bring revival. There is enough talk about it. We
have seen revival here, we have seen a little revival there. There is a little patch
going on over there, a nice big river splashing here and a fire blazing over there.
But it is too scattered. I want to see, and God wants to see, revival in every single
believer. He wants to see it in every church, not just the select few. He wants it
across the nations.
How do you bring revival? We have covered this in the Way of the Anointing how
you bring revival, with a singleness of purpose, and you make it happen. You get
together and you decree it. The prophets have the authority to decree God’s Word
into the earth. If we would unite our hearts and unite that authority, we have got a
powder keg that is going to blow this whole earth sky high. This whole earth is
going to rattle.
Stop thinking so small. You thought I was just talking about your local
congregation didn’t you? Forget it! Let’s go global. What the hey, think big. If you
have a couple of prophets uniting their hearts together and you are going to see
an atom bomb go off. And you are going to see the repercussions of it going
through the entire universe, speaking forth with power and declaring forth the
power and the will of the Lord; in singleness of purpose, in unity and in the
indestructible force of love.
This world does not know what is about to hit it. It does not know. And when that
anointing enables you, as you make your choice and say, "Okay, Lord, I will be
counted," His power is going to enable you, and meek little you is going to stand
up with a boldness and authority you have never had before. You are going to
stand up with an anointing you have never had before. You are going to stand up
with a tiger in your belly, and you are not going to know what has hit you. But it is
going to take a choice and a step of faith.
Kick Satan Out
It is there for you. And now is the time to join arms and take up your weapons, and
have a good Devil-bashing. I am really keen on this idea. I am really excited. I am
going ahead, and if you would like to join me, please do, but I am going straight
into that enemy’s camp, and I am going to take back every child of God that has
been oppressed by him. I am going to kick him for every sheep that he has stolen.
I am going to kick him again for every sheep that he has hurt and kicked and
injured, and bound by his lies and by his fear. I am going to kick him for everyone.
If you want to join me, then come along. And if you don’t, then you can sit by and
see the meek pass you. You can sit by and miss the time of your visitation. You
can miss it, and you can sit for the rest of your life wondering what you ever did
with your life.
You can look back and think, "What did I do with my life?" Or you can stand up
now and make your life what it was meant to be, and that is a shining example for
the Body of Christ. Will you join me? Will you join me now, as we unite our forces
and come against the enemy of this world; unite our forces, and stand and be a
shining beacon for the Body of Christ, that their eyes may be opened; that their
ears may be opened; that they may see the truth; that they may know the truth.
And that they may rise up in power themselves and say, "We have had enough.
We are going to do something about this."
That is your aim, prophet of God, to rise up the Body of Christ, that is right now a
sleeping giant. Will you take your stand now? Will you? Do you have it in you?
Do you feel that passion burning in your belly now that says, "Oh Jesus, if I do not
will, this fire will consume me. Jesus, if I am not Your mouth, and if I am not Your
hand extended, this fire will burn me inside. Jesus, if I cannot be the warrior that
You have made me to be, then I would rather die. Because Jesus, this is my life.
This day is what I have lived for. This day is what I have aimed for. This day is
what I have paid for with every rejection, with every bit of separation and training.
This day is what makes it happen."
The day you choose to be part of the network indestructible.
"Father, I pray that Your Word even now, enters as a sword into the hearts of Your
people. Oh Father, that fire that is in their bellies, may it burn. May it burn, may it
consume them with a passion that they have never known. May Your Word burn in
them as gold. May it come forth out of their mouths now. May the anointing of
Your Spirit enable them now in Jesus’ Name.
Raise them up now in Jesus’ Name. Prophets of God come forth from north, from
south, from east, from west. Rise up and come forth in Jesus’ Name. Come forth
in Jesus’ Name now.
Let the fire burn them. Let it burn them now. Let the fire consume them with a
passion that they have never known in their whole lives. May the Lord Jesus be so
real to you that you can reach out and touch Him right now. May His Words be so
clear in your hearts that you can hear them in your ears. Oh Father, move on Your
people. Move on Your prophets. Put swords in their hands now.
Satan, you listen to me. You pick up your ears and listen to me. I come against
you in the Name of the living God. I come against you in the Name of Jesus. You
will let God’s people go. Now, in the Name of Jesus let them go! I call forth every
prophet that has been bound. You are released right now in Jesus’ Name.
You that have been bogged down with fear, I come against you, you spirit of fear. I
come against you now and you will loose the prophets! You be removed now in
Jesus’ Name. You spirit of accusation that has been speaking lies, telling them
they are not worthy, telling them they are failures and incapable, I come against
you in Jesus’ Name.
I come against that spirit of pride that is causing deception to come in. I speak to
you, spirit of pride, that is blinding the eyes of the prophets. I come against you
and tell you to be removed, that the light and the love of the heavenly Father may
burst forth, and dispel every shred of darkness.
Oh Father I speak now, Your gentle breeze. Oh Jesus, Your gentle breeze of love
on Your people. Blow Holy Spirit. Blow on Your people now. Jesus, blow over their
hearts, blow over their minds. Let me feel Your Spirit in them. Jesus, blow away
the pain, blow away the bitterness, the hurts, the malice. Jesus, blow away the
hardness, and leave soft, tender, loving hearts for you. Blow on Your people,
Jesus.
Even now, there is a work taking place in your hearts now. Let the Spirit of God
move. He is working on your hearts. Surrender yourself to Him. Do not fight it. He
is changing you inside. He is preparing you and He is loving you.
I praise you Jesus for the loving Savior You are, that You give us this opportunity
to stand in Your shoes and to do the work that You have called us to. Oh Lord, be
praised, for You are the King of Kings and You stand at the right hand of the
Father.
Thank You Jesus."

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The New Church: The Blueprint Unveiled
he entire Body of Christ is standing poised, waiting for the manifestation

of the New move of God that will be ushered in by the manifestation of
the end times apostles. The signs are all there that this has already
begun to take place, and each one seems to have a different idea
concerning the changes that need to be made. But before we even begin to look
at changing the visible church, there is something vital that needs to be
considered.
I would like to share this with you now before it comes to pass.
We are going to be covering this subject in detail at our upcoming Apostolic and
Prophetic International Conference next month, so I will not give away all the
truths that God has given us on this subject, but I would like to share with you a
preview of the basis of the revelation that God has given us concerning the Body
of Christ and the changes that need to be made.
The best starting point as always is the Scripture, so let's consider some vital
passages of Scripture on this subject.
Hebrews 8:5 Who minister as a model and outline of the heavenly

realm, as Moses was instructed by God when he was about to make
the tabernacle: because He said, See that you make everything
according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.
Hebrews 9:11 But Christ, having come as a high priest of good things
to come, through a greater and more complete tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is not from this creation;
Revelation 15:5 And after that I looked, and the temple of the
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
The Scriptures show us that God is very particular about doing things according to
pattern. When He gave Moses the pattern for the Tabernacle He insisted that it be
made exactly according to plan. The writer to the Hebrews gives us a hint as to
why this was so important. He shows that what God considers important is not
necessarily what man considers important. And then he pulls back the curtain for
us so that we can see what God based His pattern on.
We are told that the tabernacle that Moses set up on earth was simply a copy of
what God had already set up in heaven. This was no new idea that God had
suddenly come up with. It was not the whim of a person who wanted to make a
few changes, and of someone who did not have a clear picture of what he wanted.
God based the pattern that He gave to Moses on a tabernacle that was already
set up and functioning in the Heavenly realm. In other words, the tabernacle in the
wilderness was, for God, just another home away from home.
Those of you who love to fantasize about what Heaven looks like are probably
now trying to picture the Tabernacle in heaven. Perhaps you are considering some
of the visions given to John in the book of Revelation, and you are trying to identify
some of this. What exactly did John see concerning the heavenly realm and how
is this reflected in the church on earth? For many this kind of thinking leads not
only to confusion, but to fear and misinterpretation.
As we consider now, the Church of Jesus Christ, and what it should look like, we
need to realize that the same principles apply. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And the church actually was a well guarded secret. Paul
tells us that this mystery was so well hidden that it caught the devil by surprise.
1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a secret, the

hidden [wisdom], which God foreordained before this age for our
glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known
[it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
This is always the way God works. He keeps veiled and hidden away from man,
what He is planning to do, and for a very good reason. If He were to reveal all of
His plans ahead of time, the enemy would find out about them and set about
blocking them. Does that mean that Satan is stronger than God? Not by any
means, but God has confined His works in the earth to the sons of men, and since
Satan has more men following him, it is better that man knows as little as possible
until the time is right.
God makes His plans in secret, and then before He brings them to pass, He
reveals them to a select group of people. Who are they? The ones who are more
spiritual? Perhaps. But rather it is those who are able to hear His voice clearly and
keep His secrets, and then work with Him to bring His plans to pass. Who are
these special people that God chooses to reveal His secrets to? Amos tells us
who they are.
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his
secret to his servants the prophets.
The Psalmist David also gives us a hint as to how God works in one of his psalms.
And in this passage he gives us as he often does, a bit of prophetic insight
concerning how God puts together the Body of Christ.
Psalms 139:14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully

made: marvelous [are] your works; and my soul knows it very well.
15 My body was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret,
[and] embroided in the lower parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed embryo; and in your book the days
predetermined for me were recorded, before one of them existed.
David is not speaking here about himself, but about a body that is put together in
the bowels of the earth. The body of man is formed in the womb of his mother, but
here we have a picture of a body that was formed when Jesus descended into the
bowels of the earth to finish the work of redemption.
The forming of a baby in the womb is a very good picture of this. We can all see
that it is there, and there is no doubt that it is growing. But what will it look like?
Will it be a boy or will it be a girl? Will it have blue eyes or brown? Blonde hair or
brunette? These are things that will only become known when the birth takes
place. So we prepare for the coming birth, knowing that a child will be born, but
not knowing fully what it will be until the actual time of birth.
Until the moment of final revelation the baby is invisible to the human eye, though
its movements and existance are very clear. But inside the womb there is being
formed the most perfect creation. Each member has been put into place and is
growing and coming to maturity. Each is already functioning, but not visible to
man. And so also is the Body of Christ. So also is the New Church that will come
forth in God's timing.
And what will the child look like? We are not sure, but one thing is sure. It is bound
to have some characteristics of both mother and father. It is going to carry a family
resemblance. It will be of the same racial group as the parents. And once it comes
forth everyone is going to look to see who it takes after.
Are you getting the picture? The bottom line here is that God bases the visible
Body of Christ on the invisible Body that is formed, not on the earth, but in the
Heavenly realm. The visible church is made according to pattern, but the pattern is
not to be found on the earth. It is not to be found in an organization, or in the ideas
of man. It is not to be found in the ever changing cultures and archetypes of men.
But it is to be found in the Spirit of God.
And so Paul continues in the passage we looked at earlier in 1 Corinthians, with

the following words.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has it arisen in the heart of man, the things that God has
prepared for those that love him.
10 But God revealed [them] to us through His spirit: for the Spirit
investigates everything, even the deep things of God.
And so to end this discussion on the New Church, I would like to encourage you to
look beyond the ideas of man. Look beyond the ideas of the visible, Status Quo
Church. But look to the Invisible Church that God has formed in the heavenly
realm. Because the visible Church of Jesus Christ is but a picture of the heavenly
church, just as the tabernacle of Moses was a picture of the heavenly tabernacle.
And in the words of the Apostle Paul, I would encourage you to keep your eyes on
that invisible realm of God, from which the New Church will arise.
2 Corinthians 4:18 While we do not look at the things that are visible,
but at the things which are not visible: for the things which are visible
[are] temporary; but the things which are not visible [are] eternal.
MORE...



Indestructible.


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New Testament Tithing
e have been speaking about the Church of today as being very much
like the Israelites in Egypt, in that it has become bound and controlled
by the world system, with the god of this world ruling and controlling
things as Pharaoh did in Egypt. One of the areas that this is very
obvious is in the concept of tithing. The Church has become no different to a
worldly system, where members are required to pay their dues, and where
taxation has become the order of the day. And just as we have grown up
accepting that taxation is normal, so we have grown up believing that tithing is
God’s form of taxation and therefore also a normal part of our spiritual existence.
I grew up in a Christian home and in church, and as far back as I can remember, I
heard preaching from the book of Malachi on our responsibilities to pay our tithes.
And although every now and then someone mentioned the fact that tithing was
supposed to bring blessing, there was no mistaking that negative emphasis. Not
paying your tithes was always presented as a sin and failure, and one that would
bring the judgment of God. I grew up being afraid that if I did not pay my tithes,
then things would definitely go wrong in my life.
I remember listening to a preacher expound on the old favorite passage once, and
he blatantly made a statement to the effect that he would not like to live next door
to someone who did not pay their tithes. His argument was that anyone who did
not tithe was a thief. And if they were bold enough to steal from God, then the
chances are he would not be safe leaving any of his valuables lying around in his
backyard, because such a person might also start to steal some of his property.
And I heard of another preacher who stood up and began to pronounce a curse
upon the members of his congregation that did not tithe.
Now I grew up believing in these things because I heard them preached so often,
and I just accepted them as being truth, because after all, the man of God was
preaching them. And then as I left home to become the bread winner of my own
household, I discovered that the pressures and demands of life and providing for a
family left me in a situation where I could not keep up my obligation. And sure
enough, the words that I had heard came true. I was under a curse and things
went wrong. I was always short, and it seemed almost as though when I didn’t pay
my tithes, something happened that caused me to end up spending what I would
spend on tithes on some unexpected emergency. But when I paid my tithes, it
seemed that we made it through.
So here I was again, back in the bondage of having to pay my tithes every month.
And of course, I was obligated to pay my tithes to my local church. After all, did not
the commandment say "bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there can be
food in my house?" And since the church was the house of God, it was my duty to
bring my tithe to my local church. Was not the tithe given to the priests for the
service of the house of God? So my tithe was meant to be given to the pastor for
the support of the ministry in the ‘house of God.’ It all seemed pretty logical and
made sense. How could I argue this kind of logic?
And as I grew up and came to take my place on the church board as a deacon,
the principle continued. And I began to see what the money was used for, and
realized that it takes a lot of finance to pay for all the expenses involved in running
a ministry. But I also began to see that those in the church who earned the larger
salaries and therefore paid the larger amounts in tithes, were always viewed with
greater favor than those that earned small salaries, and often could not afford to
pay their tithes. It soon became obvious who in the church needed to be treated
with kid gloves, in case they should stop paying their tithes.
Then when the Lord called me to the ministry and I found myself at the top of the
pile, things took on an even greater meaning. It meant now that my very livelihood
and existence were determined by the members of the congregation who were
faithful in paying their tithes. Now it became extremely difficult for me to remain
objective about my ministry. It was no longer a case of being faithful to say and do
what God had called me to do, but I had to gauge my ministry to suit those who
carried the purse. I was being paid a salary to do the work of the ministry, and if I
failed to conform and say and do the right things, then my benefactors held in their
hands the power to cut my throat.
Now standing up to preach every Sunday was no longer a joy, where I was
bursting to pour out what was burning in my heart. I could no longer boldly declare
the full counsel of God, even if it meant speaking a word of rebuke. I could no
longer approach people without prejudice in ministry. When someone approached
me for ministry, and I knew they were not tithe payers, it was very difficult to avoid
thinking something like, "Yeah, you want me to run around and sort out your
problems for you, but you can’t have the decency to pay something so that my
problems can be sorted out."
Clearly this whole tithing thing was affecting every part of the Body of Christ, and
the very fabric of the church was being destroyed by something that appeared to
be of God. But yet if it was of God, then why should this be the case? I began to
search the Scriptures and look to God for some answers. And in time as God led
me to leave the church system to wait on Him alone, I was able to take a look from
the outside with a fresh perspective. And then I began to see a few things that I
had never seen before. And the light began to dawn on me.
I will never forget the day I saw the truths I am going to share now with you. They
set me free, and I stopped tithing forever. Since then I have never again paid a
cent of tithes. And since that day my financial situation began to change, and I
began to enter into a new realm of victory and blessing that I had never known
before. I began to learn what living by faith and love was about. Did this mean I no
longer gave anything to the work of God? Did it mean that I could use all my
income for myself alone now? Not at all! It actually led me to give out more than I
had ever given before. But now I could afford to do it and it was a joy.
Let’s go then to that awful passage in the Bible, that many preachers have ear
marked and have probably worn out, and that most members of the congregation
have wanted to tear out of their Bibles.
Malachi 3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of
Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my
ordinances, and have not kept [them]. Return to me, and I will return
to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, In what should we
return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, In what
have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.
9 You [are] cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, [even] this
whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in
my house, and prove me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, if I will
not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not
destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field, says the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful
land, says the LORD of hosts.
Doesn’t this passage just make you cringe? Are you starting to feel guilty yet
because you didn’t pay your tithes this month? Can you hear the Lord rebuking
you now for your unfaithfulness? Is the fear starting to rise up in your heart? Well
this will be the last time that will happen when you read this passage. I will show
you quite simply why it should not have this effect on you. The answer lies in two
of the verses above.
For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not
consumed.
You [are] cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, [even] this whole
nation.
Firstly I want you to see whom the prophet is addressing in the Name of the Lord.
He is addressing the ‘Sons of Jacob.’ Notice that he does not say ‘Children or
sons of Israel.’ He calls them descendants of Jacob. This should give you the very
first hint of the fact that this passage has nothing whatsoever to do with the Body
of Christ. You might be one of those who would like to see the church as being
spiritual Israel. I personally believe the Church and Israel are distinct and separate
entities. But be that as it may, this word from God is not sent to the people of
Israel as such, but to the natural descendants of Jacob.
The Church of the New Testament is never referred to as the sons of Jacob, but
we are called the sons of Abraham.
Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted

to him for righteousness.
7 Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are the
descendants of Abraham.
This passage does not apply to those who by faith have become heirs of the same
righteousness as Abraham, through Jesus Christ, who was the seed of Abraham.
It applies to the descendants of Jacob. And I am going to show you shortly why it
applied only to the descendants of Jacob and why God commanded the payment
of tithes, and also why the Levites were the ones who were instructed to collect
and use the tithes.
The second thing that makes it quite clear to me that this passage does not apply
to the New Testament church is the part that declares that those who do not abide
by this commandment are under a curse. Notice that Malachi addresses this to the
whole nation – every one of whom is a physical descendant of Jacob. The Church
is never declared to be under a curse. On the contrary, the very opposite is taught
to be the case.
Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that
hangs on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith.
Paul tells us that Christ has redeemed us, once for all from the curse of the law.
We are no longer under its bondage. We are set free from it. When we sin, we
have an advocate at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. Instead of God
making demands on us, He now offers us freely all things.
Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? [Is it] God
that justifies?
34 Who [is] he that condemns? [Is it] Christ that died, yes rather, that
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us?
Why is this? Because Jesus has already fulfilled on our behalf every condition of
God’s laws, and as we remain in Him, He continues to do so at the right hand of
the Father. We enter into this thing the same way the descendants of Jacob
entered into the obligation of tithing – by birth. Except our birth is a spiritual one.
But let’s go and see now how tithing came about and why God insisted that the
descendants of Jacob were obligated to pay them. In Genesis 28 you can read the
account of how Jacob fled from his brother Esau, after he had cheated him out of
his blessing. And as he slept the one night, using a stone as his pillar, he had a
dream of a ladder reaching up into heaven. And God spoke to him and made a
promise to him. This promise was based on a covenant which Abraham had first
entered into with God, and which Isaac afterwards had renewed with God. And
now God came to Jacob and further renewed the covenant.
The next morning when Jacob arose, he realized that he was standing in the
presence of God. He declared, "God is in this place." And he did something that
might seem strange to those who do not understand it. Let’s look at the passage.
Genesis 28:18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the
stone that he had put [for] his pillows, and set it up [for] a pillar, and
poured oil upon the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that
city [was called] Luz at the first.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and
clothing to put on,
21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the
LORD be my God:
22 And this stone, which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be God's house:
and of all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth to you.
In those days it was customary for people to enter into blood covenants with each
other, whereby they would make a contract that was binding on both parties to the
covenant. I have covered this elsewhere, so I am not going to explain all the
details of the covenant here. However, when a person entered into a covenant,
one of the acts of the covenant was the setting up of a sign of the covenant.
Something that would remind each party to the covenant that they had entered
into a contract. This was often a mark on the body, but sometimes it was a
landmark or object that would be a reminder.
Part of the covenant ritual was also a public declaration of the terms and vows of
the covenant. This is what happens in a marriage, where a man and woman take
their vows before witnesses, and declare their commitment to each other. When
two people entered into a covenant they would read out and declare their vows of
the covenant, and these would then be binding in the future for the rest of their
lives. But it went much further than that. A person’s descendants were considered
to be present in the person at the time that they made the vows. So it meant that
the descendants of each party remained under obligation to keep the terms of the
covenant.
The writer to the Hebrews mentions this very thing when dealing with the subject
of tithing in Hebrews.
Hebrews 7:9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receives tithes,
paid tithes in Abraham.
10 For he was still in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met
him.
I will get back to this passage later, but want to bring it up now to show you the
principle of being in a person’s loins before birth. What happened then is that
Jacob entered into a fresh covenant with God, following on from the covenants
made with his forefathers, that he was already obligated to keep. And he added a
further vow to the covenant that was not contained in the covenants with Abraham
and Isaac. Perhaps it was Abraham’s example in giving a tenth of the spoils to
Melchisedec that inspired Jacob to vow what he did. It really does not matter. The
point is that Jacob made a covenant vow to God that if God would provide his
basic needs, he would give a tenth of all to God.
And Jacob set up the stone as a pillar and poured oil over it, setting it up as a
landmark and reminder of the covenant vow that he had made to God. And from
that day forward Jacob was under covenant obligation to give God one tenth of
everything that God gave him. And it is not only Jacob that was bound by this vow,
but every one of his natural descendants. For they were considered as having
made that vow in the loins of their father. It no longer became a case of giving out
of love, by choice, as Abraham did when he gave to Melchisidec, but it became a
covenant obligation.
That is why God spoke the way He did in the passage in Malachi when He
addressed the issue of tithing. He referred to the Descendants of Jacob, because
it was they alone who were under obligation to pay the tithe. And when they failed
to do this, they were violating the terms of the covenant that Jacob had made with
God. They were withholding what was due to God, not as a gift, but as an
obligation. And they were therefore considered as having robbed God.
Are we descendants of Jacob? No, in Christ we are descendants of Abraham. And

like Abraham, we are free to give of the spoils that become ours as a result of
God’s blessings in our lives. And maybe a tenth is a good guideline and figure to
use, but there is never any obligation involved. Abraham was already wealthy, and
when he gave to Melchisidec, he simply gave out of the abundance, a portion to
the priest of God. But he never promised God that he was going to give a tenth,
and was never under any such obligation to do so. And as his descendants in
Christ, we are also free from this bondage.
But where did the idea come from that we were to give our money to the
preachers and the work of God? This is so engrained in the hearts of most
believers, that they feel if they gave of their money to an ordinary person that was
not doing the work of the ministry, they are sinning in the sight of God. Why did
God command the tithe to be given to the Levites – the priests in the house of
God? And does this principle not still apply today? To understand this you need
simply go back to God's instructions to Moses concerning the Levites, and the
book of Joshua, where Joshua conquered the land and began to distribute it to the
people.
Numbers 18:21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the
tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve,
[even] the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Joshua 13:14 Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance;
the sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire [are] their
inheritance, as he said unto them.
Joshua 13:33 But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not [any]
inheritance: the LORD God of Israel [was] their inheritance, as he
said unto them.
When Joshua divided the land amongst the twelve tribes of Israel, each tribe
received a portion of the land. Each one that is, except the tribe of Levi. They were
the tribe that were dedicated to the work of God. And God told the Levites that
they would not receive an inheritance in the land because HE WAS THEIR
INHERITANCE. This meant that whatever belonged to God, belonged to the
Levites. And since the tithes that the nation were required to pay belonged to God,
it was up to God to give them to whomsoever He wished. And who did He give
them to? Of course, He gave them to the Levites.
But God was not only concerned about those doing the work of the ministry. He
was concerned also about the poor and destitute. Solomon tells us in Proverbs
Proverbs 19:17 He that has pity on the poor lends to the LORD; and
that which he has given He will pay him again.
And contrary to popular belief, the Lord also wants us to have the things that we
desire. Many believers are too afraid to ask God for things that they desire,
because they do not need them. Yet the Lord wants us to also enjoy the things He
has made for us.
Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he will give you
the desires of your heart.
But most of the time we are too afraid to spend money on ourselves, or to have
fun in the presence of the Lord. And if you really want to get under condemnation,
then just try taking some of your tithe money and spend it having a good time. Yet
even under the Law, the Lord allowed them that privilege. I remember hearing
someone speaking once of how he had lost some money, and someone tried to
console him by saying, "Well maybe some poor person that needed it picked it
up." His response was "Hey I was the poor person that needed it!"
In Deuteronomy 14 God told the Israelites to also use of their tithe to enjoy
themselves in the presence of the Lord. Hey, the Lord can do whatever He wishes
with His money. And if He tells you to take it and have a good time, then you
would be denying Him a blessing by refusing to do it. So even under the law of the
tithe, where they were obligated to give tithes to the Lord, He still gave them some
back, and told them to enjoy it on Him. And then He did not only include the
Levites amongst those who should benefit from it. He included everyone who
might have a financial need.
Deuteronomy 14:29 And the Levite, (because he has no part nor

inheritance with you,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the
widow, which [are] within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be
satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of
your hand which you do.
But what about the New Testament Church then? I have shown that the law of
tithing has nothing to do with us. But there is something far greater involved now.
Under the old covenant of law, the commandment was 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.' This meant that if I had a loaf of bread and my neighbor had none, I
should share it with him. If I loved him as myself I would surely have to give him
the same amount that I gave myself. So I would break it in half and share it with
him. But under the New Covenant Jesus changed it somewhat. He gave us a new
commandment.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, That you love one
another; as I have loved you, so you also love one another.
35 By this shall all [men] know that you are my disciples, if you have
love one for another.
This means that we actually now have a far greater responsibility than under the
law. Because the way Jesus loved us was to give his all for us. That means the
story is now different. If I have a loaf of bread, and my brother or sister in Christ
has nothing, then I should be prepared to give them the whole loaf, and not just
half. Why did Jesus change this commandment? Surely now that we are under
Grace and not under Law this should all have fallen away? I would like to make a
suggestion as to why things have changed.
The new commandment that Jesus gave was not to all men. He did not tell us that
we were to give to unbelievers in this way, although obviously the love
commandments mean we should love everyone, including our neighbor and even
our enemy. But this specific commandment that Jesus was giving had to do with
the Body of Christ taking care of itself. He said that if we loved in this way, then all
men would know that we were His disciples. But there was more involved than
that. It has to do with the fact that we are all in covenant with each other in Christ.
And we are all members one of another, and family in Christ.
Paul, using the human body as an allegory in dealing with the subject of gifts and
ministries in 1 Corinthians 12, indicates that there should a close caring for each
other.
1 Corinthians 12:25 That there should be no division in the body; but

[that] the members should have the same care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or [if]
one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
And then he also shows that we only have one obligation in the Lord and that is to
love one another.
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he
that loves another has fulfilled the law.
There are only two laws that the New Testament church is subject to, and they are
the laws of faith and love.
1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, [then] have
we confidence towards God.
22 And whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us
commandment.
Now that I have dispensed with the obligations of the law of the Old Testament, I
want to look in conclusion at how the New Testament church understood and
applied all of this. What did the early believers understand concerning tithing, and
how did they approach the subject. This is very important, because the church in
the time of the Apostles was the true church. They adhered to the correct pattern
for the Church, which is what we are trying to get back to in these studies. If you
want to find out how the Church is supposed to be, then that is the correct place to
look.
Now you will notice that the early church was not at all like Israel. It was made up
of people from both Jewish descent and the Gentile nations. Amongst the Jews
were those who in addition to being Christians, were still loyal to the Old
Testament ordinances and they still went to the temple or synagogue as they had
been doing before they became Christians. These people found it very hard to let
go of some of their Jewish traditions, and they tried at times to even impose some
of the traditions on the new Gentile Christians that were coming in.
Before long there were a multitude of people in the church that had come from
outside the Jewish fold. They were Gentiles who knew nothing about the Jewish
laws and ordinances. In fact this group was so large, that God sent along a man
who was especially chosen to become the Apostle to the Gentiles. And his name
was Paul. And since today the church is made up mostly of people from the
amongst non-Jewish descent, it is not at all amazing that most of the New
Testament was written by this apostle to the gentiles.
That being the case, one would think that the great apostle who was chosen
especially to minister to the Gentiles, having come from a Jewish background
himself, would have given some teaching somewhere amongst his numerous
writings, concerning one of the most important Jewish obligations which was still
applicable to the new Gentile Christians – the Law of the Tithe. If tithing was
important enough to God and applied to Gentile Christians then surely Paul would
have written at least a little paragraph somewhere on the subject.
After all the Gentiles did not know about this important doctrine. Surely he would
not leave them ignorant? Surely he would have included it in some prominent
place to make sure they understood that they needed to do it? But it is
conspicuous by its absence from all of his writings. Sure he taught a lot about
giving, and we will look at that shortly, but he never once spoke about tithing. Why
not? Because it does not apply to Gentiles that’s why. Gentiles are not the
physical descendants of Jacob and are not under the obligation to tithe.
But if you want to argue about this, there is one more passage that puts the matter
to death once and for all. Suppose Paul did teach tithing but just didn’t mention it
in his letters for some reason or other. There is one event in the early church that
puts the matter to rest once and for all. The whole issue came up concerning
whether Gentiles were subject to Jewish laws or not. You can read all about it in
Acts.
The Acts 15:1 And certain men who came down from Judea taught
the brethren, [and said], Unless you are circumcised in the way of
Moses, you cannot be saved.
2 When Paul and Barnabas therefore had no small disagreement and
arguments with them, they decided that Paul and Barnabas, and
certain others of them, should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and
elders about this question.
It didn’t take long for some of the Jewish Christians to get on the case of the
Gentile Christians and tell them that they had to obey the terms of the Mosaic
covenant. They highlighted the act of circumcision, which was the sign of the
covenant. But it would of course have included everything contained in the Law of
Moses, and tithing was an integral part of that law. So off they went to Jerusalem
to discuss and dispute about the matter with all the big names in the early church.
And they had a great big convention to decide whether the Gentiles were subject
to the Jewish laws or not. And in the end they issued a statement that not only
was presented as their own opinion, but which they claimed was inspired by the
Holy Spirit.
And here is the final word that they issued.
Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay
upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29 That you abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and
from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if you keep
yourselves, you shall do well. May it go well with you.
What about tithing? Why did they leave out tithing? Did they forget how important
it was to God? Actually they were concerned about what really counted, and Paul
who was at that convention mentioned it afterwards in his letter to the Galatian
church.
Galatians 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to
be pillars, identified the grace that was given to me, they gave to me
and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we [should go] to the
heathen, and they to the circumcision.
10 Only [they wanted] that we should remember the poor; the same
which I also was keen to do.
So there it is in black and white then. The obligation of tithing does not apply to
Gentiles, nor for that matter to any New Testament believer, who through Christ
has become a descendant of Abraham and not of Jacob. We are set free of the
bondage and curse of the law. We are not bound by Jacob’s vow to God. We are
free to love one another and care for one another as members of the same body.
Does this mean that we can now take all our money and spend it on ourselves and
not give to the Church any more? Can we tell the Pastor to go out and work like
the rest of us and not expect to live off our tithes anymore? Well there is a bit more
involved than that.
I want to see in conclusion how the early church applied all of these principles.
And the best place to see this is right at the birth of the church. Have a look at
Acts 2, where the Church began and you can see already how it was applied.
Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles.
44 And all those that believed were together, and had all things in
common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to
everyone, as every person had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one mind in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with gladness and
oneness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily those who were being saved.
I cannot in there find anything that says, "And they brought their tithes and
offerings to the church so that they could erect a new building to house all the
people and put the apostles into full time work with good salaries." Instead each
person considered everything that they owned as belonging not only to the Lord,
but to each other. That is what happens when people are in covenant with each
other. If you were in covenant relationship with someone then you did not have to
beg, plead or make demands from your covenant partner. It was understood that
what you owned belonged to both of you. And if you had a need, it was
understood that what your partner owned was available to you for your own use.
The early church applied this principle fully, and they pooled together all their
resources, so that those who had an excess could supply the needs of those who
lacked. There was no poverty in the early church. The widows and orphans who
had no income had a right to come to the church to receive what they needed. The
apostles, who were doing the work of the Lord did not have to wonder where their
needs were going to come from. Everyone was able to live in blessing. No one
had to go without. If you had excess, you did not keep it to yourself, but you gave
it out in love to those who had need.
But surely all this giving was meant to be used for the Lord’s work, not to feed the
poor? Well what is the Lord’s work? Jesus made it clear what He had come to do
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he has
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised,
He said He was anointed to preach good news to the poor. Well if you were poor,
what would be the best news you could hear? You need to pay your tithes to be
blessed? No, it should be, "Jesus loves you and I love you. Here is what you need.
Come and get it." Of course poverty is a curse, and the good news is that in Christ
we are delivered from the curse. We are to teach people how to walk in blessing
and to break free of poverty and lack. But today the church is largely teaching that
as believers we are supposed to be poor, so how can we possibly preach the full
gospel to people?
To whom should we be giving as believers? If you wish to give to the Lord, then
where would you look? To the church system? To the preacher? No you should be
looking at fellow believers, who make up the Body of Christ. When Saul of Tarsus
was trying to destroy the Church, Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and
asked him the question, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?" When you
touch a member of the Body of Christ, then you touch Jesus. When you give to a
member of the Body you are giving to the Lord.
And what can you expect when you give to the Lord and to His Kingdom. Jesus
did not say it was your obligation to give. He did not even just promise to rebuke
the devourer for you as was promised under the law of the tithe. He promised us
far more than that.
Mark 10:28 Then Peter began to say to him, Look, we have left all,
and have followed you.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Truly I say to you, There is no man
that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
30 But he shall receive a hundred times now in this [life] time,
houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and
lands, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
And finally, what about the Preachers? Aren’t we supposed to give money to the
preacher? Absolutely. He or she is a member of the Body of Christ also. And the
servant of the Lord has needs that go beyond the needs of the average believer.
Paul makes it quite clear that those who preach the gospel have a right to live off
the gospel. But he goes even further than that.
1 Timothy 5:16 If any man or woman that believes have widows, let
them take care of them, and let not the church be charged; that it may
relieve those that are widows indeed.
17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor,
especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
18 For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out
the corn. And, The laborer [is] worthy of his reward.
He says that we should try to take care of our own family that have needs first.
And then, when we have done that, we should take care of those leaders in the
church that are doing such a splendid work for the Kingdom of God. If they are
ruling well, he says we should give them double honor. In other words – pay them
double. They deserve to be blessed for being so faithful to the Lord and His work.
But it doesn’t happen that way in the church does it? If you paid more into the
offering it is highly unlikely that your devoted Pastor is going to get an increase in
salary, until all the other administrative and secular needs have been met. And
even then if he does get a larger salary, he will have to pay more income tax on it
and not really benefit at all. So how can we apply these things under the current
church system? With difficulty, because the system is linked to the world. It is the
Church in Egypt. The church is registered with government, and books need to be
kept of every cent that comes in.
So what should I do instead of paying my tithes? I would like to suggest that you
do what I have done ever since the Lord has set me free from the bondage of
tithing. Make up your mind that you are going to be one who gives out in love
wherever God shows you to give, and wherever your heart stirs you to give. If you
see someone in need, and you believe God would have you to give to meet their
need, then give it forth in love. As you do this you are making an investment into
the Kingdom of God. I am going to be covering this in great detail in the later
chapters of my book The Way of Blessing, but I want to mention it quickly here.
How can you give to the Kingdom of God something that does not exist in God’s
Kingdom? There is no money in the realm where God lives. It would be like trying
to spend foreign currency without converting it first to the local equivalent. So you
must convert your gift into the currency of heaven. And the currencies of heaven
are faith and love. So if you want to store up your treasures in heaven, for a
hundredfold return on your investment, then you need to convert your giving to
these things first. So when you give out you must do it in love and you must do it
in faith, believing not only that God will take your gift and bless it to the person you
are giving it to, but that He will multiply it back to you in abundance.
So before you give out you should hold your gift up to the Lord and see Him taking
it from your hand and depositing it in your heavenly bank account. See Him
converting it to faith and love, which are the currencies of heaven. And then as
you give out, you release your faith and love towards the person that you are
ministering to in this way. You will not only start getting the greatest blessing of
your life, but you will see God use you as an instrument of blessing in ways you
have never known before.
And if your pastor has been a blessing to you and has ministered the Word
faithfully to you, why not put some money in an envelope and slip it somewhere
where he will find it, perhaps with a note saying that he must spend it on himself or
his family. If your pastor is too ‘spiritual’ to accept this without putting it into the
offering then you might have to use another way of giving that will make sure it is
used personally. It is best to try to remain anonymous if possible, but it is not
always possible, so you might have to say go and pay for something that the
pastor owes on, or buy something rather than giving the money.
Now I am not recommending this so that you can curry favor with the pastor over
the other members of the congregation. You should be doing the same for any
member of the Body of Christ. In the early church they just came and laid their
gifts at the feet of the apostles, and the money was then made available to anyone
who had need. But today’s church is not doing that with the money, so it is better
to give it yourself where you see the need. Of course if your church needs money
to keep going and you are being blessed by being there, then you should be
putting it into the offering. But there is no longer any bondage involved here. You
are giving forth in love. Making an investment in the Kingdom of God.
And now instead of sitting back after giving and thinking, "Well at least I paid my
tithes this month, so I haven’t sinned and won’t come under a curse." You will be
thinking. "Wasn’t it wonderful to give to that person in need? And now I have also
made an investment into the Kingdom of God, and I know that God is going to
bless me abundantly, so that next time I will be able to give out even more."
I think that’s much better than tithing. Don’t you?

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The Power in Being Glorified
s the Lord has called you as a minister of the five-fold ministry, you will
be required to lay aside the desires of the flesh to follow after the Spirit
of God. Anyone who has been there can give a testimony of from
hardship to glory! Yet no matter which way you look at it, there is no
other way to grow in His power and anointing than by submitting that ever
persistent flesh to the power of the cross!
Join me on this journey as I point to the beginning and lead you from the depths of
death through to the power of being glorified!
Who is Called to Death?

I want to begin by clarifying that not every believer is called to the same level of
death. As ministers of the five-fold ministry we tend to expect the same level of
commitment and death from everyone else, that we have been called to face.
Every individual is responsible for their calling and not every believer is able to
take up the call to one of the five fold ministry offices. So it is not necessary for
them to face the same level of death, as do the five fold ministers, because they
will not be required to carry the same authority and responsibility as one in such
an office. So before we continue, let it be clear in your mind, exactly who death to
the flesh is for and to what level it is required.
The Lord Jesus calls all to follow Him in His death and resurrection. As a sinner is
called to salvation, they experience their first death and resurrection as they lay
down their old life to take up their new one. For many this is the first and last time
they experience death to the flesh and if they have no desire to push forward and
move in the fullness of the call the Lord has for them, they will not be required to
face further death and resurrection. However if you have committed your life to the
work of the Lord and asked that He step in and shape you for the call, you can be
sure that death to the flesh will be a frequent occurrence in your life.
If you know the Holy Spirit, you will know He is a gentleman and that He never
imposes His will. He will only work on you if you give Him the license to do so. To
look at a person who you know needs to die to his flesh and say: "The Lord will
show them! He will crunch them and they will see that they need to change!" Is not
valid at all. Why would the Lord bring pressure to bear on them to bring change if
they never asked for it? Everything we receive and function in, in our Christian
walk is done by faith. And so unless you have asked in faith for the Holy Spirit to
shape you, He will not step in and do so.
So in that light – not all Christians are called to the same level of death to the
flesh. And so as ministers we need to be patient and not expect the same
understanding from others who have not received the revelation for themselves.
Realize that each person is responsible for their own calling before the Lord and
that all we can do is prepare their hearts to receive that revelation from their own
spirits. That is indeed what our calling is after all isn’t it? To exhort and equip the
saints for the edification of the body.
Death is by no means an easy process, and yet when you get to that place of
submission you wonder why you waited so long to arrive there! There is a great
victory in laying your life down and not all of it is sacrifice and pain. Paul says that
we are to rejoice in our time of testing, because we know that we will reach a
promotion and a blessing in the end. So when you look at your life and see the
areas you know need to be brought to the cross, look rather through the cross and
on to the glory that follows it.
For death is by no means the end! It is just the beginning and a path to great glory!
Death to the flesh vs Death of a vision

There are two distinct differences between death to the flesh and death of a vision.
It is vital to understand and identify the differences, because in one case you have
a choice – in the other you do not. Death to the flesh is designed to remove the
dross in your life to bring out the gold. Death of a vision occurs when we add our
own ambitions to a vision the Lord has given us. While our minds are transformed
and renewed by the Word - a vision that has been tainted with sin cannot be
restored.
Death of a vision
When the Lord has given you a vision and desire, He gives it in the purity of His
will and design. Yet as you add your own ideas and speculations, you begin to
chip away at that original vision until it becomes nothing like God intended. To
separate God’s vision from your own design would be like trying to take the thorns
out of a rosebush. Sure you could do it – but in the process, the roses would die
also. The best recourse is to destroy the entire vision and to begin again.
Now you cannot expect a vision that has been brought to death to resurrect with
the same likeness. The reason being that the original vision was given for a
specific time and season. As you have moved on, that season has changed and
so the Lord has had to orchestrate a new vision. He is so faithful and will design a
vision that will keep up with your progress and spiritual change also. When you
first received that vision you were no where near where you are now – spiritually
speaking. In fact, what looked so spectacular 10 years ago looks quite insignificant
now next to your growth.
Letting go of the old can be quite painful, but ever so necessary to moving on and
up into a greater anointing and vision. A vision the Lord has brought to death
cannot by choice be resurrected! Why? Because what will be resurrected will look
nothing like the former! You cannot resurrect what you do not have a clear view
on.
Letting God do His job
If we look at an example in the Old Testament, we will see how the Lord took
Joseph through many deaths. First he was sold into slavery and then put into
prison! Yet the Lord also resurrected Joseph and seated him as second command
over all Egypt. I can guarantee that as Joseph sat in prison that the last place he
figured he would land would be on the throne! In fact when he beseeched the
baker and butler to appeal to the King for his freedom, his greatest hope was to
just get out of that hellhole! Had he been responsible for his own resurrection, he
would never have attained to the position the Lord had in mind for him.
As we look at the disciples in the New Testament I never cease to be amused and
amazed, at how the Lord destroyed and resurrected their vision of the Kingdom
that was to come. Jesus came to bring the good news of the coming Kingdom! Yet
the disciples had a very limited view of what was to come and imagined that the
Lord Jesus had come to overthrow the government. Even Peter confronted the
Lord as He spoke of His imminent death. What a preposterous thought it was to
Peter – to imagine this Savior would die at the hands of ungodly men, instead of
leading the rebellion he felt was just around the corner. In fact even after Jesus
revealed Himself to them after His resurrection they asked him in ignorance: Is this
the time you will restore the Kingdom Lord? How limited our human minds can be
at times.
I think many misunderstand the betrayal of Judas also. His was a political move to
force Jesus into using His authority and power to overthrow the government. I bet
he had in mind that if this Savior would not make the first move – then he would
help Him along. Only it was too late when he realized his error and he paid the
ultimate price for adding his own views and designs to Gods original pattern.
I can only imagine the death each disciple faced as Jesus was strung to that
cross! Yet it did not stay that way and the Lord in His mercy and power seated
Jesus in heavenly places giving Him power over every name in earth, under earth
and in the heavens! How magnificent is our God! Not one of the disciples could
have perceived such an imaginable thought: That mere man could contain in
Himself the power and Spirit of God. Yet the Father in His own time brought about
a resurrection to that vision and so the first New Testament church was birthed on
the day of Pentecost!
So do not limit the Lord in your thinking. Allow Him to resurrect your vision in His
own time and in His own way. Then when He does you will be amazed at what He
had in mind for you all along. There are some things that we have to rest and
simply accept in our Christian walk. The rest of faith is one of these. Your works
and efforts will not ‘twist the Lord’s arm’ to resurrect your vision. He foresees your
progress and your maturity and will orchestrate a vision to match. The resurrection
of a vision is best left in the Lord’s hand. And I figure that seeing as though He has
a record of doing a good job in design (just take a look at creation) perhaps He is
able to create and bring into being a vision and ministry that will suite you!
Death to the Flesh
Paul gives us a bit of an explanation of our walk and the various processes of
death we face in the following passage:
2 Corinthians 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that

we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead:
10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver [us]; (GMR)
Through Adam death reigned through one – but through the Lord Jesus we find a
new life! Paul went on to state:
1 Corinthians 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ

Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (GMR)
Paul called himself the scum of the earth and rightfully so. He was daily subjected
to the pressures and opposition from the world and fellow believers. There was no
place in him for the works of the flesh to operate. For the minute he exalted
himself through the mighty revelation he had – he was given by Satan a thorn in
the flesh to buffet him! He did not have a moment to allow his flesh to rise up and
it was quickly brought back into humility.
So daily he gave over any bitterness, jealousy, strife, vainglory and pride to wear
the mantle of humility. This was a daily process of giving up the mantle of
recognition to wear a dowdy mantle of humility. For Paul knew that in His humility
the Lord would raise and vindicate him. How right He was when He said:
2 Corinthians 12:9 … My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is

made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (GMR)
The Dying of the Lord Jesus
However there is a distinction between applying the cross to your life willingly daily
and then the process of death we have come to know in the destruction of the
flesh. When it comes to the works of the flesh (See Romans 8) these are issues
you will be required to die to daily. They are a part of your natural flesh and will not
leave you until as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:10 … in whom we trust that he will
yet deliver [us]; (GMR) Your flesh will always have the tendency to sin and so we
battle it finding we do those things we know we ought not to do!
However in bringing death to sinful templates (habits) Paul calls it ‘the dying of the
Lord Jesus’
2 Corinthians 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
body.
11 For we which live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death works in us, but life in you. (GMR)
This is a process by which your old templates are brought to light so that they
might be transformed into the life giving force of the Holy Spirit. Once a template
has been dealt with in you – it is dealt with for once and for all. You cannot
reshape it and when the Lord does a job, He does it well. So we can be
transformed by the renewing of our minds as the Holy Spirit reveals and so
delivers us continually from our past sinful templates. This is the process that we
are going to address in the rest of this chapter and as you journey through each
point with me, I want you to identify and then apply each principle as I address it.
Death
I will move on now and cover some basic points you need to remember when
facing death to the flesh. We will discuss some principles and some suggestions
on how to pass to resurrection quicker.
Crucifixion is Done TO You!
The first principle you need to keep in mind when facing the cross is that you
cannot crucify yourself! I have often been used of the Lord to bring His chisel on
those who are called to ministry office to expose the flaw and bring out the beauty
hidden within. There have been those who have responded with. "I do not need
you to expose the flaws, I go to the Lord Jesus and He shows me what areas
need dealing with in my life – I certainly do not need to you point them out thank
you very much!"
This is the first misunderstanding when facing death to the flesh. It is not possible
to nail your own hands and feet to the cross. Jesus knew He had to die on the
cross – but it was the soldiers that were used to nail Him there. He knew the work
that needed to be completed, but even the Son of Man had to submit to the hands
of another to bring Him to that place of death.
There have been times in my personal life where the Holy Spirit revealed issues
that needed dealings. I was aware of the sin and I was aware of the need for
change. I even came to the Lord and laid them before Him on the altar. Little did I
know that this was just the beginning of the process! Just knowing that your sin
exists is not enough to bring it to death. You need to come to the place where you
are not only convicted about it, but also where it is brought into submission and
you release it.
Every person who walks this earth is aware of their failures and those things that
need to be addressed in their lives. Yet being aware of your sin is just one step.
Dealing with it is another. Like Jesus, you need to come to the place of pressure
where you can cry out "Into your hands I commit my spirit" and you can truly deal
a deathblow to that area of your flesh.
So how does this come about? If you cannot come to death purely by conviction,
then how will your flesh be brought to death? It is very simple really. That area of
your flesh is going to be put under extreme pressure. If you have a problem with
impatience – that impatience will be tested beyond its limit. If you have a problem
with anger – that anger will be exposed more than it ever was before. If you have
a problem with jealousy, then you are going to face situations that will expose and
stir it up.
It is only when you can come to the place where you are so overwhelmed that you
just want to give it up, that you will find your victory. Only when that sin is ‘put in
your face’ until you are so sick of it and feel so useless to deal with it, that death
can begin and the Lord can step in and pull it out of you. True death is not in
overcoming your sin, but rather in coming to the place where you realize that you
cannot deal with it yourself. That no matter how hard you try – you cannot work a
way in the flesh to bring about that change you require.
Knowing His Grace
For this is indeed a true revelation of the grace of God that says: Even in our sin
He saved us by grace and that not by our works of righteousness!
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but

according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Spirit; (GMR)
Is this not the very death you faced at salvation? A realization that you were a
sinner in need of a Savior. Yet it is so like man to try and bring himself to
perfection through His own works. The Lord will not allow you to bring your flesh
under control. In fact you in your flesh cannot bring your flesh under control and
for this reason such extensive pressure it put on you to bring that area to death.
For as long as you are trying to overcome your sin and your template in your own
mind and effort, you will remain in the bondage of it. This is the true meaning of
grace and yet we keep getting away from it, thinking that in our sinful state and in
our own carnal flesh we can do a work that only the Lord in His mercy can
complete. The sooner you can come to the realization that you cannot deal with
the issues at hand, the sooner the Holy Spirit can step in and bring about the
change that is required within you.
The only way you will come to this realization is by being subjected to the
pressures of life and the pressures others will bring to bear on you. So if your boss
begins giving you a hard time or your spouse begins ‘picking on you’ see the
Lord’s hand in it to bring your flesh to death so He can work.
Through this process the sinful template in question will be brought into
submission. It will be restricted and squashed. You will be forced to submit and so
your area of weakness will face the ultimate stress. Then to add insult to injury,
you will be required to submit to that pressure and give in to those demands. You
will be required to let that feeling, emotion or habit go so that you can move on. If
you have a need to be in control and have a problem with submitting to authority,
you will likely be forced into situations where you are forced to submit. Your victory
will be in submitting and letting that need for dominance go. Only when that
intense pressure comes upon you, will you actually have the ability to let that sinful
template go.
There is no victory in letting go when you are in a restful situation. Anyone can do
what is required of them when they feel like doing it. The real test is letting go of
that issue when you are under duress and are being forced to do it. It is much like
childbirth. It is easy to talk of the birth. It is easy to reconcile yourself to the fact of
the imminent birth. But until you face those labor pains, you will never truly know
what it means to bring a new life into the earth.
So is it with death. Not until you have faced that labor and pain will you truly come
to letting that flesh go and not until then will you also appreciate the new life that
will follow after as you are resurrected and glorified!
Submitting to the Chisel in Others
However there are those who fear the pressure and would rather hide behind the
Lord and their own revelation. Much of the death you will face will lie in the fact
that you did not receive the revelation for yourself. The most difficult part is to
accept that the Lord had to use another to deal with the sin in your life. It is never
easy to submit yourself to the chisel and it is never easy to admit that you require
that chisel from someone who perhaps you do not even like. I very much doubt
Jesus enjoyed being nailed to the cross by common soldiers! Here stood the King
of Kings and the Lord of all creation – at the mercy of commoners!
How humiliating for Him. In Him was found no sin or imperfection. If there was
ever a man who could hear from the Father it was Jesus. If there was ever a man
who could receive for Himself, it was Jesus. Yet even Jesus had to submit to their
chisels and their nails. This is the commitment He calls you to also and as you
have committed your life to Him, you too will be required to submit to that death.
You will not find death in the comfort of your home. You will not find it in the rest of
your comfort zone. You, like Jesus, will find death at Golgotha away from your
comfort and away from your rest. You will find death in unfamiliar territory and you
will find it in the hands of some whom will wield the chisel brutally.
If the Lord has brought a man or woman of God to mentor you, then you should be
grateful for the correction they offer. For it is better to receive the chisel from a
friend than from the world. A friend will continue to love you, but the world is
ruthless. Solomon knew this principle well when he wrote:
Proverbs 27:6 Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy
[are] deceptive.(GMR)
Death at the Hands of Your Enemies
Jesus received death at the hand of His enemies and so you will also find death in
the hand of your enemies. Often the Lord will use those who you have disliked. He
will use those who oppose and restrict you. It has nothing to do with their
righteousness or their condition in Christ – it has only to do with what the Lord
would accomplish within you.
You will note in the Old Testament how the Lord used pagan nations to discipline
and correct Israel. He even went as far as calling gentile kings his ‘sons’ raised tp
to complete His plan against the nation of Israel. Through all the trial and
oppression Israel faced, they received a Savior who would set them free and so as
you submit to the discipline of your circumstance will you find deliverance in your
oppression.
Facing Death Alone
Just as Jesus stood upon the cross – all his disciples having fled, so you will also
face death alone. I believe that the most trying time of death is where you feel that
the Lord Himself has left you! No one understands your struggle and neither do
they care to understand either. Even for the Son of Man, was this time unbearable.
In fact it broke His heart and resulted in His death. Being estranged from those
around you and even from the Lord is the most difficult stage in death, but yet it is
also reassuring to know that you are reaching the end.
When you get to the place where you are left alone to face this struggle, know that
now is the time to give up your spirit and to remain limp upon the cross. This by far
is the most painful deathblow, but yet also the most effective. If there was any
struggle left in you, this time of isolation is sure to take you through to the end.
The Grave:
From Death to Resurrection.
I want to clarify that the Lord does not inflict you with pain and suffering but rather
exposes you to difficult circumstances that you might overcome them! He tests
you expecting you to pass with flying colors. It is the enemy who tests you that you
might fail.
2 Types of testing
The Greek words used in scripture for these two types of testing are: (References
taken from the GMR Five-fold Ministry Bible)
[Dokimazo] (cf Peirazo) - a test which is designed to find out if a

good quality exists. It is like writing an exam to qualify. You usually
expect the test to be successful. Often translated as 'approve.' This is
the way God tests.
[Peirazo] (cf Dokimazo) - a test which is designed to expose flaws

and weaknesses. It is the way the enemy tests us to find out where
we are weak. It is usually translated as 'temptation.' God does not
test this way - He knows our strengths and weaknesses.
When the Lord brings you to a place to expose a sinful template – He expects you
to overcome and have victory over it. It is difficult at times to assess which is of the
Lord and which is of the enemy! Let me explain it for you this way, using an
illustration taken from my mentor Les D. Crause:
There was this kid who kept on being bullied at school by a kid twice his size. No
matter how he tried to escape the ‘punishment’ of this bully, he inevitably ended
coming home bruised and grazed, having been picked on. He used every natural
resource he had to overcome – but yet still failed. To train his son to overcome this
bully, the father took his child under his wings. He pulled him aside and taught him
how to fight back. He tested and instructed his son on the best techniques.
Very soon the child was ready and fit enough to face that bully. As the father and
son were walking down the street one day the bully came into view! The father
knowing his son was ready for this confrontation hid behind the bushes and
allowed his son to face the bully alone. The child was afraid at first, but he faced
that bully head-on. At first he floundered trying to defend himself with what he
knew before. But after a few knocks realized it was time to apply what his dad had
taught him! He used what his father had taught him and overcame that bully in no
uncertain terms.
When the ordeal was over, the father came out of hiding with a huge grin on his
face! The child ran to him and asked: "Daddy why didn’t you protect me when the
bully came? Why did you make me face it alone?"
The answer came: "My child if I never left you to face that bully alone, you would
never have known that you had it in you to overcome him. But now you know and
never again will you be brought low. Instead you will walk the victor – no go and
use what you have gained for the defense of others!"
The Lord is just like this when we face death and testing. He will take you aside
and train you, but there will come a time where you need to apply what you have
learned. The Lord will allow you to face that bully and the [Dokimazo] test is on!
As the bully (Satan) approaches, he has a different thought in mind and will seek
to aim at your every weakness. He will throw every [Peirazo] test he has at you!
But as you apply the principles the Lord has taught you WILL rise up victorious.
So this is the pattern you will follow in approaching the cross. The Lord will lead
you to face the dross in your life. However the enemy will pull out every failure and
weakness he can to cripple you. When you come to the place of realizing you
cannot overcome your natural weaknesses, you let it go in death. Once death to
the flesh has been accomplished, you will use that spiritual strength and training
the Lord has given you. This is the beginning of resurrection for you!
Regrouping
As you keep the above illustration in mind, I want to lead you from the cross
through to resurrection. A vital phase in the process includes a time in the grave.
Many overlook this vital part of the death process and yet had Jesus not faced this
time, He would not have risen with the keys of the Kingdom in hand!
Right about the time you come to defeat in the natural you are likely to come to a
place where you feel totally numb. It is here that you are to remain in the grave for
a season. It is a time of regrouping and consolidation of the events that have just
occurred. As can be expected, you feel like a dead corpse. People can stick
needles into you and you would not budge. Your mother in law could cast the most
horrendous insult at you and for the first time in your life, you might actually catch
the humor in it.
It is here that the ‘old’ you is left behind. Much like a butterfly hiding within the
chrysalis. Totally unaware of the world outside of that self-made grave, it
undergoes a metamorphosis. Allow the process to complete itself and do not try to
venture out into the ‘real world’ until that time of consolidation is complete. It is
here that you come to a total rest in the Lord for the very first time. All striving has
ceased and in fact, you do not even feel like doing anything spiritual. My advice to
you during this phase may sound totally unspiritual, but it certainly helps. That
advice is to go out and watch a movie. Go for a picnic, spend time with your family
or read a book. In fact do anything that will take your mind off ministry and the
pressures of life.
There is no greater rest than the rest of faith in death. For it is here you realize that
despite your efforts and failures the Lord will choose to lift you up.
The Master Surgeon
As your emotions and mind are put on hold it is during this phase that the Holy
Spirit will work on you and bring the change to that template that was challenged.
Only when the mind is out the way can He work on it. For just as a surgeon numbs
the body to heal it through surgery, so the Lord will numb your soul to change and
heal it.
Allow His hand to work and do not try to understand it. For as Paul says:
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the soulish man does not receive the things of
the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know
[them], because they are spiritually discerned.(GMR)
This is not something you can perceive with your natural mind and only after you
have resurrected and your spirit is brought back to life will you perceive and
understand. So allow your soulish man to be ‘put to sleep’ for a season, so that
the Lord might effectively change and work on those areas He has just addressed.
Don’t make a glutton of it!
While Jesus remained in the grave for 3 days and in that time completed his
metamorphosis, some ministers feel they have to make a glutton of the grave!
When you cannot even bare to be around yourself, then this would be a good
indication that it is time to rise up. Because if you are sick of facing yourself in the
mirror, trust me when I say that those around you are pretty sick of the stinking
corpse you are carrying around as well!
While the grave has its time, it is the shortest period of the death process and
once you have had your time of rest and consolidation, it is time to shift into
resurrection mode. Now is the time to the principles the Lord taught you at the
beginning of this process.
Resurrection:
Leaving the Dead body behind
As the Lord has brought you to death and you have had your time in the grave,
there are those who do not seem to move past this point. Have you ever been
through a season where it seems you are brought to the same death over and
over again? Where you cry out to the Lord: "Lord, but I thought I died to this! Why
am I facing it again?"
There is a very simple explanation to this – you never left the dead body behind!
Perhaps the Lord dealt with an issue in your life and you made it through death.
You truly did yield up your spirit and had your time in the grave. You managed to
crawl out of the grave and get moving again – only to face the exact process right
around the corner!
Many overlook the power of resurrection and do not realize that it is at this point
that the old is truly left behind and restored with the new. It takes more than dying
to break the old patterns in your life – it means being raised up in new life!
Resurrection simply means to be returned to your original state. In other words,
the Lord takes you right back to when your templates were still in the making and
rejuvenates that template in His order and according to His word.
By applying the principles He has taught you, to overcome your problems, you
begin forming a new habit pattern in your life, which now replaces the old. It is not
enough to just die to the old – it needs to be replaced with the new! It is not
enough to sacrifice your sinful habits to the altar, it is necessary to replace them
with new habits. So as the Lord trained you by His hand, you are to take that
training and teaching and apply it now to your life.
Pushing Through and Giving Birth!
This by far is the most practical phase of the death process and where you are
encouraged to rise up and choose to claim all that the Lord has for you. Jesus
rose up victorious having overcome the power of death and hell. And so you too
will rise from death in victory! Use the principles the Lord has taught you to
overcome the enemy in your life for once and for all. Wage war on Satan and take
back all he has stolen for you. NOW is the time for you to push forward and as you
do, that butterfly will begin to emerge from its hiding place.
As you ‘push’ this baby into the world through active labor and application, you will
see for the first time a new strength and victory rise up in you. It is at this exact
period that you use your lessons to overcome the enemy! You give him an
uppercut and a lower-cut and one in the belly. Trust me when I say that your
Heavenly Father is standing proudly watching you overcome.
For the first time you will be aware of the authority that has been in you all along.
With the flesh out of the way, your spirit will be stirred to life. The power within you
will now be released in a new purity, without the taint of that aspect of flesh
restricting it.
Promotion Through Death
Have you ever experienced this scenario in your spiritual life: You go to church, a
seminar or conference and you are chosen out of the others to be prophesied
over! The word is incredible. The Lord says that He is going to lift you up and
promote you. He says that he is going to use you for the extension of His
Kingdom. He says that what you have been desiring all along is about to come to
pass. You might even receive an impartation, only to go home and face trial after
trial from that moment on!
In training the students in our Training schools, we are often led to impart to them
various ‘symbols’ that indicate that the Lord is ready to train them for office.
Among other symbols, for the Prophetic School, the Holy Spirit will move upon us
to impart the prophetic key to a student. For the Teaching school, a golden sword.
For the Apostolic, the sword of David for the Davidic Apostle and the Moses staff
for the Mosaic Apostle. These are simply symbols the Lord gives to us to indicate
that this student is ready to move into training for such office.
Now I have seen it time and time again, how we will impart such a promotion to a
student and thus release them into training for that office – only to see them spiral
down into a period of death and trial. Ever been there? Where your promotion
looks more like a demotion? If so, then you are right on track! As you face death to
those areas that would hinder your ministry and the anointing within, the time for
resurrection will come for you to finally rise up into that position of promotion.
This is indeed the work of resurrection in your life. When you rise up into the
newness of life, as a butterfly you leave the chrysalis behind and spread your
wings ready to fly. What was a worm, emerges as a beautiful butterfly. What was
once a gift emerges as a ministry. What was once a ministry rises in promotion to
office.
Have you been facing a tough time of death and trials lately? Perhaps the Lord
has given you some tremendous promises, but right now they seem more a
fantasy than a reality. Have you come to the place where that dream of ministry
has begun to die and fade away? Then it is high time you rise up in resurrection!
The Lord brought to death all that was of you and now He will resurrect you in His
power and release you into the promise and pattern He designed just for you.
Loser to Leader
If you look at Peter in the inner courts as Jesus was being beaten by the soldiers,
you see a man falling apart. You see a man too weak to even stand up for what he
believed. You see a man broken by his failure. He hid himself and wept at failing
his Savior by denying Him. If ever Peter was dealt a deathblow to his natural
strength and firm convictions it was then! He was always so quick to speak out
and say how things should be. He was so quick to compete and lead in his natural
strength. I think all of us can identify with him as he failed at a time when that
strength was needed the most!
Ever been there? Ever been at the place when your natural strengths and abilities
came falling around your ankles? Ever been in the position when your foot is more
often in your mouth, than holding your leg to the floor? Where you mean to say
one thing and say another? Find offense and then to end it off you make a fool out
of yourself. Then comes the rejection and isolation. Oh I could go on and on, but
this chapter is not designed to discourage you. We are talking about resurrection.
Let’s look at another image then. The day of Pentecost. Here stands a man
empowered by the spirit of God. Just hours prior he was hiding from the
authorities, now he is standing boldly proclaiming the truth! Not only is he
proclaiming the gospel he has the audacity to proclaim: This man Jesus whom
YOU crucified! I see a very different Peter standing in front of the crowds than I
saw hiding in shame as the Lord was crucified.
This is such a display of the grace and power of our God. That He could take a
loser and promote him to leader of His New Testament church. To take an
uneducated fisherman and transform him so that it is said of him: " They stood in
awe at the words he spoke, for they saw that they were uneducated fishermen. It
was seen that they had been with Jesus!" To take a coward hiding from the
authorities and put in him the power to make the lame walk. To take a fool and
make him into a leader.
Perhaps for some time you have been feeling more the fool than the leader. Today
as the Holy Spirit moves on you, realize it is time to reach out now and rise up out
of the grave. Put aside the wallowing and put aside the grave clothes. A new
garment awaits you and it is the garment of promotion. Jesus was raised in glory,
as will you. He was raised in a body healed and restored, as will you.
Walking the Road of Promotion
As you find new life in resurrection, realize that this is just the beginning. Next you
will be required to walk on this road of promotion and to practically live out the
authority and responsibility placed on you. Had Jesus not been glorified, His death
would have been in vain. For it was in His presenting His blood on the altar that
stands as a covenant before the Father. It was His being seated at the right hand
of the Father that gave us authority over things in the earth, in the heavens and
under the earth! It was after His being glorified that gave us the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit.
That we might do greater things than He did. That we might be empowered and
fired up to complete the task ahead of us. To be clothed in the mantle is one thing,
to walk it out is another. In the next chapter we will be concluding with the Power
in Being Glorified and indeed the central gospel of salvation that says: Go Ye into
all the world…"
Glorification:
Walking in Revival
We have had a good look at how the death has been crucified and no doubt you
could identify in your own life times of pressure where you were confronted with
issues, that perhaps you did not want to face.
But yet the Holy Spirit ever works to woo and shape us into vessels that are fit for
His use! Perhaps you have been going through a time of death in the last few
months and you are beyond weary. I know that there have been moments in my
own life where the deaths seem to be more frequent than the resurrections and
the grave has become a very intimate friend. Not by choice, but rather by just plain
weariness. You fear rising up into resurrection because you know that just beyond
the next corner is yet another issue that awaits crucifixion.
If you are called to the work of the Lord, then by now you are nodding your head
vigorously with many stories and struggles flooding your memory. Well I have
some good news for you. There is a way to bypass these endless loops of death
and struggle. I am by no means saying that you will never face death to the flesh
again, but I do have a message of hope that says: You may walk in the
resurrection power of Jesus Christ, every day of your life!
Recurring Issues
We discussed earlier those issues that seem to be brought up time and time again
in your life. Have you ever been faced with a fleshly weakness that will just not die!
Perhaps you have a need for acceptance, perhaps you have a fear of man.
Perhaps you have a fear of failure. So you have brought these issues to the cross
time and time again. You have faced the pressure, confronted the templates
involved and even had victory over these issues!
Yet a few months down the line you find yourself facing the exact same fear or
template yet again! You cry out to the Lord asking why you cannot seem to get
over this. You know you died, you know you gave it up. There is a simple answer
to this…you forgot to yield! Paul says it better than I ever could in:
Romans 6:13 Neither yield you your members [as] instruments of

unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those that are
alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of
righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the
law, but under grace. (GMR)
Do you understand the fullness of this awesome promise? This means that as you
have given your flesh to the cross and been revived with new life in resurrection,
that the issue you sacrificed is truly dead! For you are alive from the dead! Your
flesh, those things that caused you hindrance have been taken to the grave!
However it is up to you to leave it there.
Now this is where we all tend to fail. We sacrifice the flesh and allow the Holy
Spirit to rid us of those taints of sin. Yet at the first sign of pressure or temptation
from the enemy, we go and haul that filth right back from the grave and so reverse
the effects of the death. Yet Paul says here that sin SHALL NOT have dominion
over you any longer! How do you ensure that this is the case? It is simple...you
yield to the Spirit instead of those temptations.
The scriptures say that after the Israelites passed through the Jordan river and
into the promised land, they were tested to see if their hearts were right before
God. The Jordan is a lovely illustration of death and the destruction of Jericho –
resurrection. But they were tested! We all know how Achan failed that test and so
he and his family were destroyed for their disobedience (for taking into the camp
of the accursed things) See: Joshua7:1
So will the enemy seek to sift you as wheat after you have resurrected in new life.
He will try to see if you mean business. He will try to find out if that weakness you
claim to have overcome is truly overcome. Why? Because if he can still find in you
that weakness, he will know that this is a strong he can continue to pull time and
time again and so discourage you from the work the Lord has for you.
So even now as you read this, you need to make a decision in your heart. Will you
choose to yield to the Spirit of God that says: Old things have passed away and
behold all things have been made new? Or will you give into the temptation of the
enemy and pull from the grave the rotting corpse of your sin that Jesus died to
remove from your life?
Yielding to the Spirit
The decision all lies in you yielding to the Spirit of God rather than to your flesh.
When you know that an issue has truly been given to the Lord and dealt with,
when the enemy comes with his lies and accusation, it is up to you to choose the
spirit over your own mind and emotions. The soul is our control tower between our
bodies and our spirits. It is here that your will lies and as you are faced with a
pressure and a lies from the enemy. He will say: "The Lord didn’t really heal you of
that hurt, the Lord didn’t really deal with that template" It is up to you to say: "Get
thee behind me satan for the word of God that says: James 1:17 Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variation, nor moving shadow.(GMR)
When the Lord does a work He does it well! Do not let the enemy make you think
that the work has been undone! Do not let him lie to you and say that the Lord
missed a spot! For our Father gives good gifts and when He makes a promise that
says ALL things have passed away, He did not mean "some things" or "the things
I felt like taking away" He said "ALL" things! If the Lord says He has healed the
past, then it is surely healed. If He had told you that He has dealt with an old
template, then He has surely done so, or His word would be a lie.
Death versus Works of the Flesh
Now Paul said something very interesting in:
1 Corinthians 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ

Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (GMR)
He said He died daily. Paul must have been a glutton for punishment! What did he
mean he died daily? "You mean to tell me that he went through this entire process
of death and resurrection EVERY day!" No, that is not what he was saying at all,
thank the Lord! He was speaking here of our choice to yield to the spirit versus the
flesh.
The death we have been speaking of is dealing with sinful templates and habits
formed from childhood. Now these are templates will differ from person to person
and so what may be a death for you will have no effect on your brother or sister.
Yet there is something we are faced with every day, and that is the seed of sin in
our corruptible bodies.
Paul calls it "Works of the Flesh" these are sinful habits that are already in us from
the day we are born. You do not need to teach a child to sin! Just give them the
opportunity for mischief and they will automatically take you up on that offer! They
have within them the seed of sin, the works of the flesh. Such works are
bitterness, lust, anger, pride, jealousy, strife and vainglory. Daily we need to put
these upon the cross, so that we might not fall into temptation. Here again Paul
encourages us in:
Galatians 5:24 And those that are Christ's have crucified the flesh
with the affections and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (GMR)
Yield yourself to the Spirit right now and allow the Lord to remove the struggles
you cannot overcome in yourself. You will always fail and you will always be
bringing to the altar those temptations you fell into, but the key is to choose to walk
in the spirit, leaving the dross behind you and entering into His promise of grace!
Knowing Your Authority
You see the enemy will try his ploys where he can. And if he can get you to give
him license in your life, he will certainly take that opportunity! It is now up to you to
yield yourself to the spirit of God and to stand on the Word that says: "All grace
abounds to me for every good work." As well as "I am strengthened through Jesus
who is greater than any temptation or any sin I could ever commit!"
This is the walk of faith you are required to step out on. "But" you might argue "I
failed! I fell right back into the old habits. The old feelings came back, the old
habits came back, I thought I died to this!" So whom are you going to believe?
Your feelings? Or the word of God that has redeemed you from every curse of
sin?
This is where you need to know your authority in the Lord and in the Word. You
have dealt with the sin in your life. You have been faced with and overcome the
templates that have been exposed. Now is the time to stand firmly in yoru
authority as one who has been seated at the right hand of the Father!
Jesus Ascended!
The most powerful truth of our salvation is not only that Jesus died, but that He
ascended to the Father! It was when He ascended that He was placed at the right
hand of the Father. It was when He showed His blood upon the altar in Heaven
that His name was made above every name in heaven, upon earth and under the
earth! And so is it the same for you. When you have risen up and are seated at the
right hand of the Father, will you truly have victory over your situation. So how do
we do that?
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified
together. (GMR)
Having passed through death as the Lord passed through death, and then having
passed into resurrection as He was resurrected we are Glorified with Him also!
What a glorious promise! We do not need to be bound in the sins of our templates!
We no longer need to be bound by sinful habits and by hurts from the past. This is
a promise given to us by our loving heavenly Father and it is the very promise you
must stand upon against the enemy!
How could I say it any clearer than this:
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive
together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in
heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: (GMR)
From Yielding to Wielding
You are even now seated in heavenly places with Christ. It is time to lift your eyes
above the temptation of the enemy and to see the Lord and all His glory and to
know that His crown has been put upon your head and that His mantle has been
placed on your shoulders!
You have risen into promotion and the greatest power that lies in being glorified in
Christ is to now wield thatb authority He has placed within you! First you yielded
yourself to the Spirit, having overcome the works and temptation of satan, but now
as you look upon the wiles of the enemy a righteous anger begins to rise up in
your belly. Now is the time, servant of God, to WIELD the new authority and
anointing given you to lash out and destroy every work of darkness.
This is the very reason the Lord has raised you up in new life. This is the very
reason He has placed you in ministry: To use the power and authority vested in
you to set free others who are in bondage! Now is the time to take your eyes of
your own need and the time to use your position to the extension of the Kingdom
of God.
Can you remember how you were faced with the bully and overcame Him using
what your daddy taught you? Well now is the time to take those principles, having
been tried by the fire of experience and death, and time to wield them with the
anointing power of the Holy Spirit! This can only be accomplished when you are
seated in heavenly places. A King may only wield his scepter when He sits upon
His throne.
So now as the Lord has resurrected and promoted you, raise the scepter and the
sword He has given you to carry out the task at hand. This is the final stage in the
death process and it truly shakes of the shackles of your past forever.
Walking Out Your Salvation in Fear and Trembling
Is this not the ultimate goal for facing the cross? To be glorified and to carry out
the task given you by Christ, in fear and trembling? How humbling to be called in
our weakness to do a task so great. I thank the Father that He calls us to do those
things He is capable of and not those things we are capable of. For if we had to
stand in our own ability, we would surely fail and all would see the masks we wear.
But we do not stand in our own authority and we do not stand in our own abilities
as servants of God. No, we stand in the ability of Jesus and the finished work of
Calvary.
We stand in what He has wrought in us through many times of death and

resurrection. We stand in the power of His grace and we stand in the unending
strength of His love to complete the task ahead. So if you have been facing a time
of testing and have been forced to look at your weakness, realize that the power
and authority of the Lord is being vested in you, in a very practical way. Learn to
submit that flesh to the cross, learn to let it go and then learn to rise up in
resurrection power. Yet more important than all of these is to stand in that new
authority and to wield that authority for the extension of His Kingdom.
For when that butterfly finally emerges from the chrysalis sporting its new wings,
he does not stand there unmoving! The very concept of going through death and
being given those wings is to use them to fly! It is not enough to just resurrect! It is
not enough to just break from the chrysalis. It is not enough to just give birth to
that spiritual baby. No! You must also be glorified!
Spread those wings and fly, cut that umbilical cord and set that baby on its feet.
Death has its purpose and so does resurrection. But both are useless without the
power of being glorified! That butterfly may be beautiful in its resurrected state, but
until it heads for the sunshine, it remains hidden and is keeping its potential
hidden. Until the umbilical cord is cut from that baby, you will never get to see it
grow.
As you have gone through trial and travail in preparation for the call, you must
realize that being glorified is your goal and in fact the very reason the Lord called
you to this entire process. So stand tall now in who you are in Christ. Realize what
He has put in you and what He has wrought in you. For He has and still is making
you into something beautiful.
Preparing the Gem
As I end off now the Lord shows me a gem. It is a ruby and it is tarnished. I see
Him take that gem to a grinding wheel. As grinds it, it makes a terrible screeching
sound. The gem gets hot and it strains underneath the pressure. Every now and
again I see the Lord take it off the wheel and inspect it closely. Then He applies it
again to the grinding wheel to an area that was overlooked.
Soon enough He inspects it again and it is gleaming. I see a smile of satisfaction

come across His face as He holds it to the light. It gleams in the sun and the
transformation from dirty rock to glorious gem is completed. But the process is not
over yet. I see Him take this gem to a crown. I see many other gems on this
crown. And so as He sets to apply this ruby to this crown, I see a place in the
crown’s molding that has left an exact place for this gem. In fact it fits perfectly! I
see the Lord fitting that ruby to the crown using molten gold to fix it to place. Once
again the gold is hot and the gem is put under pressure as it is made to conform to
the design destined for it.
Soon the process is complete and the Lord raises the crown to the light. It is
breathtaking! I then see the Lord Jesus standing in all His glory! He holds a
scepter in His hand and a mantle of purple on His shoulders. His expression is
unflinching and His eyes are firm. He raises the crown to His head and faces the
world. He shines with brilliance and the entire world beholds His glory!
Child of God, you are that gem. You have been perfected for His use. And as you
are fitted to His crown, He will face the world through you and He will shine! You
may be finding the grinding unbearable and you might find the heat of the
pressure unbearable at times. But as Jesus holds you to the light and you gleam
with His anointing, there comes the pleasure knowing that you clothe Him with the
glory placed within you. You are His face to this world and you are His beauty.
This indeed is the Power in Being Glorified and indeed the magnificent promise
that we have been chosen by His grace and enabled by His blood. I end off with a
powerful promise and indeed the summary of this teaching.
And in very deed for this [cause] have I

raised you up, for to show [in] you my
power; and that my name may be
declared throughout all the earth.
- Exodus 9:16 -
(GMR)
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The Power Of The Tongue
James 3 : 2-12
For we all offend in many things. If any man does not offend in word,
that person [is] a perfect man, [and] able also to bridle the whole
body.
Observe, we put bits in the horses' mouths, [so] that they can obey
us; and we turn around their whole body.
Observe also the ships, which though [they are] so large, and [are]
driven by fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small
rudder, wherever the pilot wants.
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Look,
how great a matter a little fire kindles!
And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among
our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the
course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
For all species of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things
in the sea, are tamed, and have been tamed by mankind:
But the tongue no man can tame; [it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison.
With it we bless God, the Father; and with it we curse men, who are
made in the likeness of God.
Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren,
these things ought not to be.
Does a fountain send out from the same spot sweet and bitter
[water]?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? or a vine, figs? so
no fountain [can] yield both salt water and fresh.
I Corinthians 14 : 4 - He that speaks in an [unknown] tongue builds up

himself.
remember the first time I went to a circus and saw a man take some
fierce lions and make them do an act for the crowd. It was amazing how
someone could take such wild creatures and make them do what he
wanted them to. Even the great big elephants seemed quite happy to
obey their master and carry out their act without arguing about it. These days we
see so much of this. Movies are made with animals in them and sometimes the
animals prove to be bigger stars than the people that act with them. Yet in every
case, the animals were trained through a series of processes that made them do
the same thing all the time.
But have you ever seen a human being trained in this way? Is man just a superior
animal that can be trained like any other animal on the earth? No; man has
something that the animals do not have. He has a spirit that causes him to be like
God. When God made man in His image, he made a creature that had His ability
to choose for himself what he was going to do. You can force a human being to do
something, but you cannot make him want to do it. I'm sure you've heard the
Sunday School illustration of little Johnny, whose mother told him to sit down and
he didn't want to. So his mother shouted at him and eventually Johnny sat down,
but 'inside' Johnny was still standing up.
Man also has one other thing that animals do not have. He has the power of
speech. Yes animals can make noises and each species has its own unique form
of communication, but you cannot teach an animal to speak English (or any other
language for that matter). Birds like parrots do not speak but only mimic the
sounds of the words that we teach them. Only man can send forth words from his
mouth that come from his heart. In fact if you think about it, where do the words
come from that you speak? Next time you think of it, try checking what happens
every time you speak.
Do you choose a series of words in your mind and then speak each word from
your mind as though you were reading it? No, you actually speak a concept or
idea that comes to you, and the words just flow out from deep within you. They
come from a source that is deeper than the mind. In fact they come from your
spirit. You see since man is different from an animal in that he has a spirit, so man
also is different in that he can speak words. The two come from the same source.
It is the spirit of man that gives him the ability to speak words.
Now if you look back to the creation of the earth in Genesis chapter 1 you will see
that two things were involved in creating the world - spirit and words. We are told
that the Spirit of God hovered over the earth, and then God spoke forth words. His
first words were, "Let there be light." And when those words went forth, the Spirit
of God moved upon the earth and caused the creation to take place. Each stage
followed the same pattern. It was a power coming from a spirit (the Spirit of God)
and that power was released in words.
That means that when a person speaks words, they are actually giving out
something from their spirit. No wonder James tells us in our reading for today that
no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. You can train an animal because it
only has a body and soul. But man has something far deeper that cannot be
controlled from the outside. It can only be controlled from the inside. James likens
the tongue to the rudder of a ship. If you want to control a ship, all you need to do
is control its rudder. In the same way, if you wanted to control a person, you would
have to somehow be able to control his tongue.
James tells us that the tongue defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course
of nature. In other words, the things that we say affect our whole being. They
determine the course of our natural life. Brain surgeons have discovered in
medical terms that there is somehow a link between the speech center of the brain
and the entire nervous system of the body. That means that the nervous center of
the body, which is like a cabling network controlling the whole body, is actually
controlled by whatever is going through the speech center. What you say affects
your whole body. And actually it also affects your soul.
So you see what actually happens is that words, which come out of your spirit,
when they are spoken by the mouth, cause something to happen to the body and
soul. In other words, whatever is in your spirit can cause an effect on your body
and soul, and this effect is created by words. Have you ever noticed that when you
are continually speaking negative words, such as "I really don't feel well" you
continue to feel bad and probably start to feel worse? The opposite is also true.
What is actually happening is that you are causing a flow to take place from within
that is affecting you outwardly.
Solomon said in Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it [flow]
the sources of life. Your spirit is the source of all life. Take it out of your body and
you are dead. And words help you to release the power that is in your spirit. For
the believer the situation looks slightly different. We have the Holy Spirit living
inside us, and He is able to impart to us His power. Now we can release the power
that we receive in our spirits from Him and we can cause it to flow out and affect
our bodies and souls.
But you see although there is a power in the spirit, that power may be used
wrongly, depending on which words we use to release its power. James speaks of
the tongue being set on fire by hell and causing that fire to spread. He is speaking
about us being influenced by Satan and the system that he has set up. We
develop the language of the world that Satan has created. It is a language filled
with negatives, curses and destruction. We use phrases all the time without
realizing what we are saying. Here are a few of them.
"I'm afraid I'll just have to stay home today."

"I'm scared to death of going there."
"I nearly died when she told me."
"Boy this heat is a real killer today."
Just check out the language that people speak every day and see if you can
identify how often fear and death are mentioned. We have been trained to speak
words that create fear and death. When these words pass through your speech
center they are communicated to your mind, emotions and will and to your body.
Your nervous system is instructed to prepare for fear and death, and every
negative thing that might happen.
How do we change this? By speaking words that build up and are positive. And
the best place to find these is in the Word of God. We have spoken often of the
power of speaking the Word of God. We have been looking at how we cap tap into
the power of our spirits and release that power through speaking words. James
even uses the same analogy we have been considering. He says that speech is
like a fountain of water. But he also says that a fountain cannot pour out good
water and bad water at the same time. Either it is pouring out good clean water, or
it is pouring out muddy or contaminated water.
The problem with us sinful human beings, living in a world that is governed by the
enemy of our souls, is that we find ourselves most of the time pouring
contaminated water out of our spring. Instead of the pure life giving power of God
flowing forth from out spirits, we pour forth criticism, profanity and statements of
fear and death. If only we could come to a place where the words that we speak
are pure words, uncontaminated by the enemy or the things of this world. If only
we could cause our tongues to come under a control that would prevent them from
speaking such words, and only speak words that bring life.
We have seen how to do it by speaking the Word of God. And if you take the time
to collect some powerful, positive, life-giving passages of Scripture and speak
them out loud, hundreds of times every day, you will begin to see a change taking
place in your life. Not only will your mind, emotions and will start to operate more
efficiently, but you will even find that your bodily health will start to improve. If you
spoke the Word as often as you spoke the negative language of the world, you
would find yourself entering into a dimension in your spiritual life that you did not
know existed.
What makes this even stronger is the fact that the continual repetition of the Word
also causes it to sink down into your inward man, and thus make it easier for you
to speak words that are based on the Scriptures. Remember that a good man
brings forth good from that which has been deposited into his spirit. Matt 12:35
But God has also made available to us a way to make sure that every word we
speak is totally under His control and free from any negative effect or
contamination. It is called 'speaking in other tongues.' For those who have not
experienced this it might seem silly and unnecessary, and for many that have
experienced it there doesn't really seem to be any benefit to it. But our second
reading tells us that he that speaks in other tongues builds himself up. God has
provided a way for us to use our tongues to bring blessing upon ourselves. We will
consider it in detail in our word for tomorrow.
MORE...



Indestructible.


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You Can Be Pregnant!
By Daphne Crause
ne of the most distressing events that can take place in the life of a
married couple, and particularly a woman, is the inability to conceive.
There are thousands of people out there who are being plagued by
gynecological problems and they either fail to fall pregnant in the first
place, or when they do, they miscarry continually.
Medical science has made some amazing advances in the field of research and
finding ways to bring blessing to these unfortunate women, but what a price to pay
for that benefit! I remember once coming across a little book, which covered
reasons for failure to fall pregnant and the tests and investigations that could be
done for both partners to help find out the reasons for this. To me it was like
torture. Admittedly I am a weakling when it comes to medicine being practiced on
me, but I wondered whether it was worth going through that hell just to be able to
have a baby. I am by no means condemning medical science, and if you feel you
want help from them and can follow through, by all means do it.
If you are someone who is in this category of being childless I have good news for
you! Firstly, you do not need to continue without the blessing of your heart's
desire. And you do not need to undergo costly and stressful medical tests,
because the Lord is your healer and is well able to change your body. There is
nothing too hard for the Lord. If He can raise people from the dead, surely He can
rearrange you physically and bring a blessing on your body, which will make it
possible to be blessed with children?
God Wants You To Be Fruitful

One of the first points I would like to clarify in this article is this – God wants you to
have children! I have heard some people, and in fact been told myself by people,
that God maybe didn't want me to have a child; that there was a reason for being
infertile. This is a load of nonsense and a lie from Satan to rob you of a wonderful
blessing in your life. One of the very first commands ever recorded in the Bible is
in Genesis 1:28. It says this:
28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moves upon the earth.
The Lord wants you to be fruitful and multiply. It is interesting to notice that He
blessed Adam and Eve first, then said, "Be fruitful and multiply." Conception,
pregnancy and childbirth are a sign of the blessing of the Lord. In early Bible times
children were a sign of blessing. The more of them you had the better you were
considered to be blessed, because they carried your family heritage and blessing
with them down through the generations. Today I guess things have changed a
little, in that things are much more expensive and our lifestyles are completely
different from then. But the truth is still the same – children are a blessing from the
Lord and He wants you to have them, even if it is only one or two in a family as
opposed to ten or twelve like they had in the old times.
If you have read through the Old Testament, through the first five books and later
on through the history books, you will see time and time again how people cried
out to the Lord for children and He blessed them with their desires. Genesis 25:21
says:
21 And Isaac pleaded with the LORD [Yahweh] for his wife, because
she [was] barren: and the LORD [Yahweh] answered him, and
Rebekah his wife conceived.
You can see from this verse that it was considered a disaster in early Bible times if
you were not able to bear children. This is one of many that you can find if you do
a search. There are so many references to people crying out to the Lord for
children and He honored them with their hearts desire. You are no different to
those early Bible characters. The Lord wants to fulfill your desire as much as He
wanted to fulfill theirs. Banish the lie that the Lord does not want you to have a
child because you may have problems. It is not from Him, it is from Satan.
The Lord gave many wonderful promises to the children of Israel concerning
blessing and children. They encompassed pregnancy as well. Some of these are
in Exodus 23:26 which says:
26 No one shall suffer miscarriage nor be barren, in your land: the

number of your days I will fulfill.
And then Deuteronomy 7:14 says:
14 You shall be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or
female barren among you, or among your cattle.
You have a greater potential for blessing now because you are part of the New
Covenant, and the New Covenant is better than the Old one. You need to stand
on these promises and embrace them as your own if you are desiring children
from the Lord.
Pregnancy and the Abortion Issue

When a woman falls pregnant it is a very special time for her, and one in which
she should be nurtured, because something wonderful is taking place inside of
her. I love David's description in Psalm 139:14 to 16 where he says:
14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made:

marvelous [are] your works; and my soul knows it very well.
15 My body was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret,
[and] embroided in the lower parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed embryo; and in your book the days
predetermined for me were recorded, before one of them existed.
What a beautiful way of describing the wonders of creation. There is a special little
baby being developed in the security of the womb and basically the Lord is the
only one who knows exactly what it will look like. It takes place for the most part in
secret, except nowadays of course there is the wonder of ultrasound scanning
where you can take a little peak at what is going on. This is a part of medicine that
I did not mind being subjected to!
I remember the day when I was two months pregnant and the gynecologist
decided to do a scan to see that everything was okay. I was thirty two when I fell
pregnant for the first time and there were some more risks than the average
pregnancy because of my age. I remember the excitement at seeing the little sac
that contained my son. Then as he scanned a little deeper I saw his heartbeat on
the screen. I will never forget how excited I was to see that. The scene changed
again and I saw him in my womb. He was lying upside down with only his back
visible and all his limbs were unseen in the front. He looked like a tiny little frog,
probably less than an inch in length, but in spite of his minute size he was totally
formed.
I cherished that moment for a long time afterwards and I began to think about how
heartless people are who can take the beauty of the Lord's creation and throw it
away just because they do not want it. Having seen what I did, and having battle
for almost a year to fall pregnant, my heart cried out when I thought of how many
people do not understand or care about the awesomeness of creation. There is
little regard or respect for it from many who sleep around carelessly and then think
they can simply wipe out any life that results in a few easy steps.
I do not approve of abortion because it is murdering a precious potential life that

the Lord has made. However, I do not condemn you if you have had an abortion,
either because you were forced to do it without wanting to, or even if you did it
purposefully. The Lord will not condemn you, but forgives each one freely. I
understand that sometimes it is the best remedy for medical problems. If you have
been in this position in the past, I want you to know the Lord has washed it with
His blood and you do not need to remain childless. If you feel that you have sinned
and this is preventing you from becoming pregnant, you need simply confess it to
the Lord and He will remove it instantly. Then tell Satan to take his lies and
remove them from you, because the Lord still desires you to be blessed with
children.
The Lord sees pregnancy as something beautiful, and in the early days a husband
was legally allowed to do some physical harm to anyone who harmed his wife
while she was pregnant. Consider this verse:
22 If men strive, and hurt a pregnant woman, so that her fruit depart
[from her], and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished,
according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall
pay as the judges [determine].
I found that very interesting. The Lord allowed the husband to punish someone for
hurting his pregnant wife. It was a special time and a time to be nurtured and
'wrapped in cotton wool'. We should realize how precious a new developing life is.
Cause of Problems
Having now shared extensively on the fact that the Lord does want you to be
pregnant and give birth to a healthy child, why is it that some people cannot
conceive, or are plagued with problems if they do conceive? There is only one
thing I can find in Scripture to answer it. It is the word 'curse'. There is a clear
reference in the Scriptures to it being a curse. Look at Hosea 9:13 and 14:
13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, [is] planted in a pleasant place: but

Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying
womb and dry breasts.
The inability to conceive and have children is a curse, whether it be from family
generations who had the same problems, or whether it be from a physical problem
that began with you and is the first in your generation. Either way it is not a
blessing from the Lord. James 1:17 says:
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation, nor moving
shadow.
The Lord wants you to have good gifts and His abundant blessing. Anything less
than that is a curse and should be swiftly removed. I have heard people who say
such absurd things as, "Tanya must be really special to the Lord, because He has
considered her worthy enough to take care of that Downe's Syndrome baby." This
is nonsense and a lie from Satan! You can expect to conceive, expect a healthy
pregnant, and finally expect an uncomplicated birth. Anything less than that is not
the Lord's best for you and you can reject it.
When Abraham traveled through Egypt with Sarah he told her to pose as his sister
because he was afraid that they would kill him because of her. Then Abimelech,
the King, took her as his wife. He thought that she was Abraham's sister, and he
took her and brought her into his palace. He was unaware of the full story, but the
Lord rebuked him in a dream and told him that his actions were sinful because she
was in fact married. Do you know what happened? Every one of Abimelech's
household and his maidservants became infertile. It brought a curse into his home.
In Genesis 20:17 it tells how Abraham had to rectify it:
17 So Abraham prayed to God: and God healed

Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they
bore [children].
Possible Causes of Curse

I want to share here some possible causes of being under a curse that is
preventing a pregnancy, because it is very relevant. As you consider the different
possibilities that I share here, ask the Lord to give you revelation so that you can
remove the causes. Once this has taken place it will be easy to remedy the
problem.
The Occult Link
Involvement in the occult is probably one of the greatest causes of pregnancy

problems, because it opens the door straight away for the enemy to come into
your life. Possible areas of involvement could include playing the ouija board,
going to a fortune teller 'just for fun' or reading horoscopes, also even just for fun.
Any dabbling in these areas is a dangerous move, and could bring about a curse
on your ability to have children. I will share shortly how to deal with the effects.
Family Generational Curses
If you are having problems related to pregnancy, take a look around at your family
generations and see if there is any possible link in this area. The most obvious is
your mother having had problems herself, but a curse can pass through from
aunts and other relatives, too. I prayed for a lady once who had three or four aunts
in her family who were all sterile, but her mother did not have any problems
herself, so keep an eye out for that, too. This one can be subtle because it is not
so obvious.
Negative Words and Associations
Les shares in his Way of Blessing book about the power of words and positive
speech. However, just as words can be powerful in the positive sense, they can be
just as powerful in the negative sense, too. You need to consider firstly if you have
spoken a curse against yourself, even inadvertently. If you have said anything
negative about having children, even while you were younger and in a rash of
anger, your body listens and is very obedient.
I remember hearing of someone once who, when they were in their teens said,
"I'm never going to have children when I'm older!" They may have just been
irritated at the time, but those words would have created a negative effect on their
body and done just that – stopped them from having children. You need to ask the
Lord for revelation in this area, because often it is hidden and is not totally
obvious, but the Lord will bring to your memory the source of any self-imposed
curse so that you can remove it and have the victory. Negative words from others
are just as powerful, and once again you need revelation from the Lord concerning
this.
Look also for associations that were not a blessing. Break links with all people that
you may have been associated with in the past, such as ex boyfriends. You need
to do this continually with everyone you come into contact with, because even if
they seem so wonderful and wouldn't harm a fly, there is often a contamination or
other negative influence in their spirit. They could have been under oppression
and not walking in blessing and it will have passed onto you.
What You Can Do

Having said all that I have, what can you do to avert the curse and bring blessing?
Here are a few things to consider.
Submit and Resist
The first area of attack is to remove any possible curses, because once this has
happened, the blessing will naturally begin to take place. Do what I have shared
above and ask the Lord for any personal involvement in the occult, family
generational curses or negative words that would have produced a contamination.
Then apply James 4:17:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will

flee from you.
This is always a good starting point, because you are putting the Lord first and
resisting the enemy's involvement in your life. According to the Word he has to
flee from you. Ask the Lord to forgive you for any involvement in the occult or any
negative words that you spoke against yourself. Then break family generational
curses and bondages and close the door to Satan. You need to do this out loud so
that your words are heard. Do not do it in your mind for it is useless. Satan cannot
read your mind.
Also, this is very important. If you have identified a family generational curse, you
need to be diligent to break it on a daily basis. Unfortunately the elements of that
curse are there and remain through the family generations. But you can produce
victory by daily standing against it and renouncing it. The Lord showed us that it is
like weeds in a garden. If you attack them daily and remove any that appear on a
daily basis you can remain weed-free continually. However, if you leave them for
just a week you have a big job to sort out on your hands. It is not difficult to
renounce the curse on a daily basis. It just needs to become a habit, so try and
work on it and be aware of it, and you should see things change drastically in your
life.
Be Specific
As I shared above, the Lord wants you to be blessed, but He will never impose His
desires on you. He will give you what you want, according to your faith. This is
very important when you praying for a child and it can be really exciting to put it
into practice.
When Les and I wanted to have John we were driving home from a family outing
one day and we began to talk about the possibility of having a baby. As we spoke,
the whole family began to get involved and we started sharing about what we
wanted him to be like, and we 'ordered' him. We asked the Lord for a son, and
then after sharing with each other we ordered him specifically, including his
physical features and personality. I want you to know that he is just what we asked
the Lord for.
You need to get excited about your new baby. You and your husband should sit
down and share as we did. Do you know what is happening when you do this?
You are exercising your hope, because you are getting excited and seeing what
you want. This is what hope is all about – using all your senses to build up the
positive pictures.
Speak Blessing
Then, very important, speak blessing on your bodies. Lay your hands on each
other and release blessing on your reproductive systems. Whether it is a problem
with you or your husband, nevertheless you should speak blessing on a continual
basis, morning and night. Lay your hands together on your husband and speak
blessing on his sperm production. Lay your hands together on your womb and
ovaries and bless them. Speak blessing on your reproductive hormones and
everything associated with it. As you continue to do so your body will begin to
respond accordingly. It may take a bit of time before the manifestation of healing
and blessing takes place, but I encourage you to continue and persist, because it
will indeed occur.
Stand on the Word
Finally, take some promises and speak them out loud and claim that baby!
Remember that when you speak the Scriptures out loud you are causing the Lord
to move on your behalf, and at the same time you are building up your faith, which
comes from hearing the Word. Continue to speak those promises until nothing will
move you or phase you from receiving that blessing.
My Testimony
I would like to share my testimony here to encourage you that the Lord is a God of
miracles. After this I will pray and release blessing on your behalf, that your heart's
desire may be fulfilled.
The Lord caused Les and I to meet miraculously in October of 1989, and before
he left on the night of our first meeting we had a time of prayer. He was pacing up
and down praying in tongues and he eventually came over to me and said, "Do
you still desire to have a baby?" I looked at him and thought, "How do you know?"
then began to cry when he said, "The Lord showed me you holding a baby in your
arms. You will have one."
I was unsure of how it would take place. I had desired to have a baby for many
years, even since my adolescent years, but it never materialized. However, the
Lord knew that this was my desire and He put a little glimmer of hope back into me
that night. When Les and I were married a few months later we spoke at length
about the possibility of us having a child even though he already had three
daughters. I thought it would take place immediately, but I tried unsuccessfully for
almost a year to fall pregnant.
About a month before our first anniversary it was suggested that I go and visit a
gynecologist to have a checkup and find out if there were any problems. As I
shared at the beginning, I was pretty terrified of the whole idea, so I sought the
Lord earnestly in prayer as an easier solution! We sensed that there was
somehow a blockage that was preventing a pregnancy from taking place, so
armed with this knowledge I found a promise that I could claim and stood fervently
on it. It was the Scripture from Mark 11:23:
23 For assuredly I say to you, that whoever shall say to this

mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt
in his heart, but shall believe that those things that he says shall
come to pass; he shall have whatever he says.
There was a 'mountain' of blockage preventing me from falling pregnant and I was
determined to trust the Lord for healing of my body so that it would become a
possibility. I stood on that promise speaking it one hundred times, and each time I
told the blockage to move away and I 'saw' myself pregnant. There was a
tremendous assurance and peace when I was finished, and I continued with my
life as usual.
A few weeks later we were having a prayer meeting, and funnily enough I was
praying for a lady to fall pregnant. There was some recreation needed, but my
faith was riding high that night, and I really sought the Lord to bless her with this
desire. When I was finished I had a vision of Les laying hands on me and praying,
so when the meeting was over I shared what I had seen and asked him to pray for
me.
I sat at his feet and he laid hands on me and prayed in tongues, and immediately
saw a vision of my ovary. It was as though he was inside it and went for a ride
down my fallopian tube. About half way down he saw a kink in the tube, and it was
closed so that no ovum could pass through to be fertilized. He spoke to that
fallopian tube and commanded that it open up. Two weeks later I began to feel off
color and very hot, and discovered that my little bundle of joy was beginning to
form in me. I was pregnant!
This experience has helped me to develop a greater faith for people to fall
pregnant, and since this time the Lord has allowed me to pray for a number of
people in this regard. All the people I prayed for had had miscarriages or were not
able to fall pregnant. The one lady now has twins, and another one was told that
she would never conceive because she had cervical cancer and they wanted to
remove everything. The Lord healed that cancer and she now has three children.
Prayer for Release
In conclusion I want to encourage you now to trust the Lord to move on your
behalf. He is no respecter of persons. What he did me for me He will gladly do for
you if you reach out in faith and expect Him to bless you with a baby. If you have
put into action what I have shared with you above, I believe that the Lord will begin
to move mightily on your behalf. I am going to pray now and release the blessing
of the Lord on you, and trust that as you stand in faith with me, your heart's desire
will be fulfilled.
"Lord I bring my sister to you now in Jesus' name. Lord, you are
the giver of every good and perfect gift, and children are a
heritage and a blessing from you. I stand in agreement with and
Satan I command you to take your hands off her now! I
command that every family generational curse and bondage be
broken and rendered null and void. I command that every
negative association would be broken and its influence
removed. I speak against every negative word that may have
been spoken against her and which has brought a curse into the
camp. I render it null and void now and counter it with blessing.
"Now Lord, I release your blessing into her body. You

reproductive organs, you are blessed in the name of Jesus. I
speak blessing on both partners now and on every organ
involved in producing children. I speak blessing on the pituitary
gland. I order you to give the right instructions and for your
body to respond accordingly for maximum health. I command
every spirit of theft, strife and destruction to be removed, and a
spirit of blessing, restoration and peace to be upon each person.
"I call you the blessed of the Lord. I call your heart's desire
fulfilled now, and declare that she who was called barren shall
now be called blessed of the Lord and pregnant. I declare that
you shall conceive, and the pregnancy shall be blessed, and
what is brought forth shall be fearfully and wonderfully made –
whole, healthy and strong. Amen!"
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The Preparation of a Prophet
he Prophetic Office is one that carries a very large load of responsibility

and authority. We will see in our next study just how responsible the
prophet is, but in this study I want to show how God prepares His
prophets before they are permitted to take up their office in the Body of
Christ. It is very similar in some ways to a person being promoted to a worldly
office. Before they can be placed into office, they need to be trained to do so, and
then tested to see if they are able to handle the responsibilities. You cannot place
dangerous tools in the hands of a child or one who is unskilled and irresponsible in
their use. So also, God cannot place the tools and authority of the Prophetic Office
into the hands of one who has not been correctly trained in their use and is
responsible enough to use them wisely.
This actually applies to all of the fivefold ministry offices, but since the Prophetic
Office carries a far greater power of authority than the others, except for the
Apostolic Office, the preparation of the Prophet is unlike any of the others. Most
apostles tend to go also through the prophetic preparation on the way to qualifying
for the apostolic office, so what I am going to share here applies very much also to
the preparation of the Apostle.
The prophet is one who hears from God and speaks forth His Word into the earth.
When he (or she, I am speaking as a man so I am using the male gender here)
speaks it forth, it is sent as a creative word as described by Isaiah the prophet
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it

shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I
please, and it shall succeed [in the thing] for which I sent it.
When the prophet of God makes a declaration he does not simply predict or
indicate the will of God, but he literally speaks forth a decree into the earth. And
that word is sent forth in power to make things happen. We will discuss this more
when we consider the ministry of Intercession, which is the hallmark of the
prophetic ministry. It is very important therefore that the prophet hears correctly
before he opens his mouth. And that takes a bit of training and development. He
must distinguish his own burden and prejudices from the pure word of God.
So God puts the prophet through a training that causes him to come to a place
where he cannot rely on his natural abilities. Even his ability to hear the voice of
God must be put in question, that he may never boast in himself. He must learn
not to rely on the flesh in any of its forms, for then he will be subject to being
influenced by the enemy. He cannot rely on his mental, emotional or willpower
capabilities. He cannot rely on his physical prowess or intelligence. He must
become simply a channel through which the Spirit of God can speak.
Since we all at times walk in the flesh and miss God, the prophet will never come
to a place of sinless perfection. And that is not at all the goal of the prophetic
preparation. The way God prepares His prophets is not to make them perfect, but
to show them in no uncertain terms how weak and imperfect they really are. Until
they come to the place where they walk humbly before Him in total dependence
on Him alone. Where they speak with confidence, yet in fear and trembling.
Let’s look then at how God prepares his prophets and apostles. One of the best
passages that describes this is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of
the power may be from God, and not from us.
8 [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are]
perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered over to death for Jesus'
sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal
flesh.
12 So then death works in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I
believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore
speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us
also by Jesus, and shall present [us] with you.
15 For all things [are] for your sakes, that the abundant grace might
through the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we do not faint; but though our outward man is
perishing, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, produces for us
a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but
the things which are not seen [are] eternal.
I am going to look at some of the verses from this passage and discuss each
aspect as it relates to the preparation of the prophet.
For many who are called to the Prophetic Office there is an excitement at the
prospect of becoming one who speaks for God and stands forth as one elevated
to such an office. You expect God to grant great and wonderful revelations, and as
you speak them forth people will stand in awe and wonder and wish they had the
privilege you have been given. Imagine being able to tell people what God’s
purpose is for their lives? Imagine being able to pray for someone and have God
reveal to you things about that person that they did not tell you. Imagine being
able to release the blessing of God into the lives of others. It certainly seems like a
very exciting calling.
But for most who receive this call, there comes a sudden shock when they find
themselves being rejected, despised and ostracized because of their ministry.
Instead of people admiring you and respecting the authority that God has placed
in you, you suddenly find yourself being opposed and put down. No one seems to
understand the burden that burns in you. And when you speak forth the Prophetic
Word, those who know you are quick to put it down and tell you that you are out of
order, or that you have missed it. And then to top it off, it turns out that they are
sometimes correct. You open your mouth to speak what you thought was a Word
from the Lord, and you are way out in left field.
[We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed;
What is happening here? You are starting to enter into the preparation phase for
the office of prophet. And the first sign of this is when everything in your life starts
to go wrong. That’s right, your life looks as though it is coming apart. In Paul’s
words in the passage above, you are troubled on every side. You know what it is
like when you get up in the morning and it is one of those days when you wish you
had stayed in bed. Everything you touch turns sour. Your family members all seem
to be against you. Your spouse starts to fight with you. And when you arrive at
work the boss and your fellow workers seem to pick up on it. You go to church
hoping for some relief and the Pastor and other church members seem to have
caught the vision too, and feel they have been called to put you in your place.
Ever been there? If you are called to be a prophet then I know you have been
there. In fact if you have not been there, then something is wrong somewhere.
Perhaps you weren’t called to be a prophet after all. And I want to tell you what
happens when everything in your life goes wrong like this. The first part of you that
starts to let you down is your emotions. You feel so low that you begin to despair
of life. You lose all desires and motivation to do anything significant. You begin to
wonder even if the call to be a prophet was not just something you made up or
imagined. So the first and most significant part of your soul life is put out of action.
But the Scripture tells you that you do not need to be distressed. When all this
starts to happen you don’t have to throw your hands up in despair and give up.
You realize that the Lord is in a most wonderful way, starting to make you into a
vessel that is fit for His use. He is starting to put the earthen vessel into the fire to
make it into something beautiful. Have you never seen what a clay pot looks like
before they bake it? It lacks all the shine and beautiful colors that it should have.
They have been painted on, but they do not begin to show up until the pot has
been put into the fire. Then the glaze and the colors start to show.
[we are] perplexed, but not in despair
Once your emotions have been put out of action, the next thing that God has to
deal with is your ability to figure your way out of things. One of the things that often
stands in the way of the prophet clearly hearing the voice of God is the voice of his
own mind. Your mind has a habit of subjecting everything you receive from the
spirit to its own close scrutiny and analysis. You try to reason out what God is
saying and why He is saying it, and try to make sense of the Word He has given
you. But this tendency, especially in those who are prone to the analytical
temperamental traits, can become a great hindrance to the pure flow of prophetic
revelation.
So what happens? You are brought into circumstances that defy all logic and
explanation. The Lord leads you into situations that predispose you to things that
bring total confusion in your mind, until you end up so perplexed by your situation
that you cannot figure your way out. There just is no solution to the problem. This
can take many forms. It can be a financial crisis or an interpersonal relationship
crisis, but whatever it is, you can be sure that it will cause you to be backed into a
corner, and there will be no natural way out. You will have to give up trying to find
your own solution.
But once again, you do not have to end up in despair. You do not have to throw up
your hands and wish you had never been born, like Job did when everything went
wrong in his life. All that is happening is that the Lord is trying to get your attention.
He is trying to tell you that you cannot rely on your natural mental capabilities.
That these will let you down, but His Word will never let you down. He wants you
to realize that your ability to be a prophet has nothing to do with your keen mind.
Persecuted, but not forsaken
As if all of that is not bad enough, the next thing you find appearing in your life is
opposition from people who you thought would support you. Of course you
expected opposition from the world. You probably even expected it from those
who are not walking closely with the Lord. You certainly expected it from those
whom you rebuked because of their sin. But that is not where it comes from. It
comes from within the fold. It comes from those who are the closest to you, and
from whom you expected the greatest support and understanding. It will come
from your own family members and those who are close to you. It will come from
your own spiritual leadership and close friends and family of God.
And do you know what happens when people start to persecute you? They force
you to do what they think is right, and they prevent you from doing what you want
to do. Your ability to choose your own way is blocked. In other words, your free will
is put out of action. Now you cannot freely make any choices for yourself. Instead
you are forced to follow the choices of others. Can you see what has happened
now? The first two things we spoke of put your emotions and your mind out of
action. Now this one puts your will out of action. That means that emotions, mind
and will are all put on hold. These are the three functions of the soul, and when
they are all blocked, your soul life is put out of action and brought to a condition of
death.
But once more there is hope even in this situation. Because although it looks like
the whole world is against you and no one is standing with you, the Word says that
you are not forsaken. There is still one who is there for you. And if you will just
reach out your hand to Him, He will take it and lead you on. But now you will be
led like a blind person. You will not be able to rely on your own senses, but only on
His leading. You won’t be able to go by what you feel. You won’t be able to go by
what you think. You won’t be able to go by what you choose. But you will only be
able to follow as He leads. And that is the place He wants to bring you to.
cast down, but not destroyed

Well you might think that all we have looked at so far is about as much as any
person can take, but I have some bad news for you. It is not over yet. Because
you see, the self-life that is in you is still alive and well. And although you might be
forced to walk humbly before the Lord, there still remains that deep inner need for
recognition. It is the one thing that drives us all to achieve in this life. We push
ourselves beyond our limits at times, so that we can somehow succeed and
receive the rewards of our success – recognition from man. As a preacher and
servant of God, you cry out for the time when you can successfully proclaim the
Word of the Lord and have others tell you how well you did.
Is this pride? Not necessarily. It is just the way we are. And if you speak to any
successful person you will find that this is the strongest motivation they have. It is
seldom money that makes a person strive to succeed, whether in work, education
or physical accomplishments. It is the deep cry for recognition from others. And
the acclaim that comes with being praised for your efforts makes it worth all the
time and labor you spent getting there. Without this motivation few would ever
succeed in anything in life. But for the prophet, this motivation must bow to the call
of God and the faithful proclamation of the Word.
Often the faithful discharge on the prophet’s duties will lead to the complete
opposite. The prophets of the Old Covenant knew this only too well. Many of them
were stoned to death and humiliated and treated shamefully because of their
faithfulness to their ministry. And that is exactly what will happen when you are put
through the prophetic preparation. You will be cast down, or humiliated. This can
take place either by others putting you down, or it can take place by you opening
your mouth and declaring something totally false or out of order. You could find
yourself wanting to sneak out the back way without anyone noticing. You feel like
you could crawl under the door while it is still closed. It is not a pleasant
experience.
But whichever form it takes, be sure that it will happen to you. You can count on it.
Why? So that your ministry can never depend on or be influenced by your need for
recognition. If it were, then you cannot speak the unadulterated word of God. You
will temper the prophetic word with your own ideas and fail to speak forth the truth
for fear that people will reject you for it. And once again the promise is there that
though you might go through this painful experience, you will not be destroyed.
The Lord does not want to take away this thing from you. In fact He delights in
giving you all the recognition you deserve. But like all other things, it must first be
brought to the cross.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Well are we there yet? Is it over yet? Am I ready to be a prophet now? Well
almost, but not quite. You see although the soulish life is the greatest hindrance to
hearing clearly from the Spirit of God that dwells in your spirit, it is not simply the
soul that is the problem. It is the tendency of the soul to submit to the body instead
of the spirit. This is what the Bible calls ‘walking in the flesh.’ We will cover it in a
lot of detail in our studies in Anthropology. The body has desires of its own, which
when allowed to dominate our lives result in the root causes to all spiritual
problems. You can see this in our studies on Counseling.
When the natural bodily desires of nourishment, reproduction and self-

preservation come to dominate our lives, they give rise to covetousness, lust and
bitterness. So the body must also be brought into subjection. That does not mean
that God is going to permit sickness and disease to come upon you. We are
redeemed from these things, which are part of the curse of the law. However it is
likely that you will be led into a situation that could cause your body to come under
attack. And you will find yourself facing situations where you cannot eat the food
that you desire. Where you cannot fulfill the passions even in marriage, and where
you are unable to defend yourself. You end up like the Scriptures describe Jesus,
a sheep dumb before its shearers, a lamb being led to the slaughter.
The chances are that you will face the loss of all things that are dear to you. Those
sentimental possessions that you have gathered over the years that mean so
much to you, are things that prevent you from being free to do the will of God. The
house that you built and spent years renovating might be stopping you from
traveling to where God wants you to go. You might even face a choice of rescuing
your marriage or going with the call of God. Because your partner might decide to
reject that call, and force you to do the same. You might have to leave the
community where you grew up. You might have to give up the career that you
worked so hard for.
All the things that make for a comfortable physical existence are likely to put in
question, and you might have to make some difficult choices to continue in the
path of God’s calling in your life. Because you see, the Lord is bringing you to
death of all things. And every part of you that stands in the way of you carrying out
His call effectively will have to bow before the desire to put God’s Kingdom first in
your life.
When Jesus was crucified on the cross of Calvary He faced terrific physical pain,
but He also faced much more than that. He faced rejection by His own people. He
faced the torture and humiliation of the Roman soldiers. He was deserted by those
who loved Him. And then He was publicly humiliated as they stripped Him nearly
naked and took away even the very clothes that He wore. But the height of His
suffering was as He hung there on the cross and turned towards the only One who
really cared for Him and on whom He could rely – His heavenly Father. And that
was when He faced the most painful part of His death. Because even the Father
turned His back and looked the other way.
But our Savior showed us how to die. He cried out with a loud voice. "It is
finished." And then He handed himself over to the Father and gave up His spirit.
People didn’t usually die this way on the cross. They would hang and suffer there
until they became exhausted from struggling to stay alive. They would continually
push themselves up on the cross by their feet so that they could still breathe. Only
when exhaustion set in and they had no more energy left would they stop doing
this, and then they would suffocate to death. That is why the Romans decided to
break the legs of the prisoners when Jesus was crucified, so that they would die
more quickly.
Now I want to show you what the Lord taught me from death by crucifixion. Paul
said in Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ."
He was speaking about us becoming identified with Jesus in His death. And
although our old nature was nailed to the cross with Jesus, and we by faith now
reach out and take that death and apply it to ourselves, it takes an experimental
application of the cross to our lives to cause sin to be dealt with in the flesh.
Positionally we are dead to sin, and alive to God. And legally we are considered
as righteous before God because of what Jesus did on the cross. And since Jesus
paid the price for our sins, we do not come into judgment for our sin, though we
still fail and sin daily. We are delivered once and for all from the guilt and penalty
of our sin, because of the Finished Work of Calvary.
But we find that sin still has a power in our life. Paul describes in Romans 7 the
experience of one who is trying to live righteously but find himself still doing the
very sin that he hates. So sin is still there in our bodies. Its power still seems to
follow us. And the Christian life is one of coming to grips with the power of sin and
overcoming it. It involves a practical application of the cross to our experience, so
that sin no longer has any power or influence in us. Until one day when Jesus
returns, we will be transformed and receive our glorified and sinless bodies. And
finally we will be totally free from sin and live eternally in His presence in a state of
sinless perfection.
These three things are what are known as the three tenses of salvation, and we
will be studying them in detail under the heading of Soteriology – the doctrines of
salvation. It is the past, present and future of salvation, and can be stated like this.
Past Tense - I have been saved eternally from the guilt and consequences of
sin because of Calvary.
Present Tense – I am daily being saved from the power of sin in my life.
Future Tense – I will one day be totally saved from the presence of sin.
We live in the present tense of salvation, and this is a continual process. And for
the prophet of God, this becomes abundantly more obvious than it does in the life
of the ordinary believer. You see there has to come death to all of those things
that prevent the prophet from operating efficiently. And then there can come a
resurrection as God’s power is released to shine forth. But the prophet must make
a choice in the matter. God does not willingly subject us to the pressures needed
to bring about that death.
You see no one can experience the death of the cross alone. You cannot commit
suicide by crucifixion. You can only hold up your hands and invite someone to nail
you to the cross. And if you wish to go through the preparation and the death that
it entails, then you have to commit yourself to the Lord and invite Him to prepare
you. And when you do this, you can expect to feel some nails being driven in. You
can expect to have someone spit in your face, and push a crown of thorns on your
head. And you can expect those who are closest to you to desert you.
But the final death can only come when you make a choice to let go. While you
push up on the cross and struggle to stay alive, the pain will only continue. But
when you can with the Lord Jesus declare, "It is finished," and yield up your spirit
in death, then it will end. And there will come a season in the grave followed by the
victorious resurrection of your ministry in the fullness of power. If you don’t allow
this to happen, then you become a candidate for leg breaking. And the Lord has to
take drastic measures to bring you fully to the end of yourself.
You are reading this study as one who has been called by God to the Prophetic
Office. And if this was a true calling, you know and acknowledge that what I have
said is true. And you have been going through the mill. The pressure has been on,
probably for a long period of time already. The chances are you are totally
confused by all of this and do not understand what has been happening. That is
why I have prepared this study to make it clearer for you. And I want to assure you
now that it is not necessary for the pain to continue. You can end it all very quickly
by recognizing what God is telling you and coming to the end.
You must stop struggling and yield to what has been happening. When you are
falsely accused you must not try to defend yourself and seek justification or
vindication. But you must submit yourself humbly and die. And when you do this,
all the turmoil will cease. The noise will disappear. And there will come a calm
such as you have never known in a long time. And there will come a deep stirring
inside you that you will not be able to understand. Now is the time to let go of all
effort and ministry. In fact you would probably do better to avoid any kind of
spiritual activity at all. Just get involved in something secular. And leave the Lord
to do His work in secret, because the body is now placed in the tomb.
Jesus spent three full days in the tomb, and during that period He accomplished
our redemption from the powers of darkness. They thought they had defeated
Him, but on the third day He arose triumphant, with power and authority, having
the keys of death and Hades. He was given the Name above every other name.
And He took His place in heaven, sending forth the power of the Holy Spirit upon
the church and interceding at the right hand of the Father.
So once you have gone through death, there will come a waiting period, where
you will remain in the grave. And nothing will seem to be happening. Do not let it
concern you, because things are happening that you cannot see. Just wait for the
resurrection, for it will surely come. And when it comes, there will come a new
power and a new authority. And suddenly your ministry will spring forth in power
and authority. And you will rise up to take your place as a fully-fledged Prophet of
God.
Of course that is not the end. There will be further times of training and further
deaths to go through. Each new stage in your development will follow a very
similar trend. But each one will also bring a greater depth of understanding and
involvement in the Body of Christ.
You might ask me, "How do you know this is true? How can you be sure that this
is the way God works in preparing His prophets?" Well I have shown you from the
Scriptures, but you can rest assured that this servant of God has been there many
times. And I have worked with and helped to train many of God’s prophets. And I
have seen the process repeated in each one that has gone on for God and moved
into a place of authority in the Kingdom of God. If you desire to move into that
office my brother or sister, then there is no easy way around. Just as Jesus had to
go the way of the cross, so you and I will have to walk that way with Him if we
aspire to the office of one who would speak forth the Words of Almighty God into
the earth.
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The Cause of Problems
ife never goes the way we want it to. It is always filled with problems of
different kinds. For the Christian, there is the blessed hope that one day
we will spend eternity in the presence of the Lord, in a place where the
problems of life no longer exist. But until that time, our years on this
earth are filled with difficulties. Yet we do not have to accept these things as being
our lot in life. We do not have to live with these problems. Because God has given
us ways of overcoming problems.
In this study I am going to look first at the basic cause of problems in our lives. I
am going identify some general principles to look for as well as some more
detailed things you can examine to see what is causing your own problems. And
as our source we are going to use the most important thing that God has given us
to identify and deal with problems. That is of course His Word, the Scriptures or
the Holy Bible as it is also known.
When we have finished looking at what causes our problems, then I will take
another study to discuss how we can go about overcoming our problems. In these
two studies we are not going to deal with specific problems. Rather I am going to
look at problems in general. Because after all, no matter what your problem, the
root cause is basically the same in every case. And the way to victory also follows
a similar course in every case.
Once you have seen the basic causes and basic solutions to all problems, you will
be in a better position to tackle the specific problems that you are facing right now.
And we will not leave you hanging alone trying to solve them. We will be providing
you with a detailed study on all of the main problems that we face in life. But first
you must build a foundation. And that is what these two studies are about.
Flesh versus Spirit

Before I go into detail with this, I want you to look at a very important passage of
Scripture. It is Galatians 5:16-25
16 [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the
desires of the flesh.
17 For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary one to the other: so that you cannot do
the things that you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these];
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of
which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that
those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And those that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
What did Paul mean when he used the terms "Flesh" and "Spirit?" This is a
subject that Christians often disagree over. But I would like to explain it to you in
very simple terms. To understand this, you will need to take a look at how God
made man a tripartite being, having spirit, soul and body. I have covered some of
this elsewhere, so I am not going to repeat the facts here. What I am going to do
though, is to give you a quick summary of how God made us, and how each part
of our being works together to make up what we become in life.
Man’s Nature
God made man with three basic parts to his being. Each of these in turn has an
additional three functions. As each part works together with the others, the
functions in each part complement each other and work together to make us into
what we are in life. We will look at each part separately and see what the functions
are and how they work. Then we will see how they react together.
The Spirit of Man

The spirit of man was created when God breathed into him the breath of life. Gen
2:7
7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul.
Man’s spirit is the part of him that came from God and has God’s nature. It is the
only part that is capable of communicating with God. It is what makes man God-
conscious. It is also the part that shows man how he should live according to
God’s pattern. To help man do this, the spirit has three functions as follows,
Conscience
Intuition
Communion
Conscience
Man’s conscience is a kind of in built sin alarm system. It warns him when he is
doing wrong by creating bad feelings and makes him feel good when he is doing
right. It is an internal regulator of man’s behavior.
Intuition
Contrary to popular belief, this is not only found in women. It is an ability of the
spirit of man to truly ‘know’ things. It shows itself by an inner confidence that has
been called by various terms such as ‘hunch’ or ‘gut feeling.’ It is an inner voice
that guides us in life.
Communion
Only man’s spirit is capable of communicating with another spirit, and specifically
with God, who is a Spirit. This is the part of man that enables him to worship God
and sense the presence of God. It also enables him to sense other spirits.
The Soul of Man
The soul is the part of man that makes up his personality. It is the part of him that
is self-conscious. It appears to be the control tower in man, because it contains
amongst other things, the will. But there are actually three functions in the soul
also
Mind
The mind is the area where the thoughts are. This is not the brain, but the inner
thoughts of a person’s heart. It is the seat of all intellect and the place where a
person visualizes things.
Emotions
Although some seem to show them more than others, emotions are a part of every
person’s soul. This is simply the area where desires and feelings come from. It is a
very strong influence in most things we do in life.
Will
This is simply man’s ability to choose for himself. It is a very important area, and
one that is involved in everything we do. It is this part that controls our body and
makes it do things.
The Body of Man
Our body is the part of us that communicates with the world around us. It is the
part that makes us world conscious. It receives information via the 5 senses that
gets passed down to the soul and spirit. But the body also has three functions that
are quite distinct.
Self Support or Nourishment
The body supports itself through nourishment and self-support. It is natural for us
to want to eat and drink and keep our bodies healthy. You don’t have to tell your
body to do this. It soon reminds you if you forget.
Self Protection or Defense
The body protects itself from harm by fighting disease and shielding itself from
injury. When you come under physical attack you automatically defend yourself or
protect yourself.
Self Propagation or Reproduction
The body is designed to reproduce itself. This is a natural process that takes
places without any effort. In fact the passions are so strong that it is inevitable that
reproduction takes place.
So you have then in a nutshell, the nature of man. But although we have three
parts to our being, we are still only one person. You cannot touch one part of a
person without affecting the other parts. They all work together. But the way the
work together and respond to each other is going to determine what kind of life
you live.
God’s Order for Man

Since the spirit of man is the part that is closer to God it stands to reason that
God’s perfect design was for the spirit of man to be in control. This is how He
made Adam and Eve. They were to live under the control of their spirits. The spirit
then influences the soul and the soul in turn controls the behavior of the body. In
the end the whole person is somehow coming under the influence of God, through
his spirit.
When Satan came to tempt Eve to take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
he caused her to violate God’s order. This is a complete study in itself that I have
also covered elsewhere so I am just going to mention briefly what happened.
When Eve took the forbidden fruit, she violated her spirit, and caused her body to
take control over her soul instead. She reversed God’s order. And Adam did the
same.
From then on Adam and Eve lived lives that were controlled from the outside
instead of from the inside. Instead of letting their spirit, under God, control them,
they let their body, under the influence of the world around them, control them.
The immediate result of this reversed way of living was that problems began to
appear in their lives that were not there before. The first thing they began to feel
was fear and embarrassment. They hid from each other behind fig leaves, and
they hid from God. In the process of time many other things began to appear.
Every single problem that they faced came directly as a result of this violation of
God’s order in their lives.
There are many other things involved, but I want to start by looking at these two
orders in a person’s life, and how the changing of the order leads to different
effects. The one leads to problems in life. The other leads to victory and the
solution of problems.
Roots and Fruits

To help you understand the two ways of living I want to use the growing of a fruit
tree as a picture. I want you to see several things that are involved in growing a
tree, and I want to look at each part of the tree. We will look at it under these
headings,
The Soil
The Roots
The Branches
The Fruit
In this study I am going to look at what happens when a person lives a life that is
contrary to God’s order. Paul called this ‘Walking in the Flesh.’ We will see how
this affects each part of our being, and leads to all the problems we experience in
life. In the next study we will consider the Scriptural alternative, which is ‘Walking
in the Spirit.’ This is the key to solving all problems in life.
Tree of the Flesh
The Soil
The soil is of course the flesh, or more specifically Walking in the Flesh. Let’s see
what Walking in the Flesh means. This is a subject that is misunderstood by many
Christians and caused them to live lives that are either unstable and insecure, or
totally self-oriented and legalistic. Every person who is born in this world, is born in
the condition that Adam and Eve had after they sinned. This means that we are
born with a tendency to let our bodies control us rather than our spirits.
This situation of living under the control of the body is known as "Living in the
Flesh." It means being in a situation where the bodily desires are always in control.
This is how all who do not know the Lord and have not been born again by the
Spirit live their lives. They are in a condition called by various theological terms
such as Original Sin or Total Depravity. Basically it means they have a sinful
tendency that is built into them.
But when a person is born again a change takes place. I will deal with this in more
detail in the next study on the Solution to Problems, but it means that the believer
is no longer "Living in the Flesh." Paul tells us this in Romans 8:9
Romans 8: 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the
Spirit [is] life because of righteousness.
The believer is in actual fact "Living in the Spirit" but that does not mean that he is
not able to also "Walk in the Flesh." This is why Paul says in the first passage we
looked at in Galatians 5
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The problems of life in a believer come when that person walks in the flesh instead
of in the Spirit. It causes this Tree of the Flesh that we are talking about to grow.
The Roots
The Tree of the Flesh, like any natural tree, needs roots to grow, and these roots
are deeply embedded in the soil of the Flesh. It is very easy to see these roots.
You can identify them without even looking at the Scriptures or the principles I will
show you shortly. You just need to look at what motivates the world, and you will
see them. Just take a look at an evening of television, or pick up a worldly novel
and you will see very clearly that the whole world revolves around three basic
motivations, which are the roots of the flesh.
They are of course Bitterness, Lust and Covetousness. You will find that the most
popular TV programs have all of these in them. You will find murder and hatred
central to most programs. Then comes sex and everything that goes with it. And of
course there is Fortune and Fame. Money lies at the root of this one, although
Fame and recognition are the main motivation.
Now let’s see what causes these things to rise up when a person lives or walks in
the Flesh. Remember that the body has three main functions which are totally
natural and have been built in to keep the body healthy. When these natural
desires are controlled and subject to God they are never a problem. But when they
go out of control and are allowed to dominate a person’s life, then the three roots
are immediately obvious.
The natural desire for self- preservation becomes more than defense. It becomes
hatred and aggression. It becomes the root of bitterness. The natural desire for
reproduction, in the marriage relationship as God intended is something beautiful
and a blessing. But out of control, it leads to all sorts of lustful and sinful behavior.
And of course the natural desire for self-support and nourishment becomes a
greed for possessions and position.
Because these roots are so clear and obvious it now becomes very easy to trace
problems in the spiritual life back to them. Since all problems come from walking in
the flesh, and since the flesh is controlled by three root causes, it stands to reason
that every problem we face in life can be traced back to one or more of these root
causes. That makes diagnosis pretty simple. But of course diagnosis does not
mean the problem is solved. You need to know how to overcome these roots
before you can solve your problem.
The Branches
The problem with roots is that they are usually underground where no one can see
them. But you can see the outgrowth of the roots. You can see the tree and its
branches. And of course you can also see the fruit that is produced. Paul gave us
a list of what to expect when the tree of the Flesh is growing in a person’s life. He
gave us quite a detailed list of some of the branches that grow from the flesh. Let’s
just look at his list again. You will see that each of these can be directly linked to
one or more of the roots.
Adultery – sexual lust
Fornication – sexual lust
Uncleanness – sexual lust
Lasciviousness – sexual lust and pleasure
Idolatry – worship of things
Witchcraft – bitterness or covetousness
Hatred – bitterness
Variance – bitterness or covetousness
Emulations – covetousness
Wrath – bitterness
Strife – bitterness
Seditions – bitterness and covetousness
Heresies – bitterness and covetousness
Envyings – covetousness
Murders – bitterness
Drunkenness – covetousness
Revelings – covetousness
and such like
The list of the works of the flesh shows us some of the behavior that can be found
in people who are walking in the flesh. Many of these might seem to be severe
and the kind of things you would not expect to see in the life of a believer. But
don’t ever underestimate the power of the flesh. The moment you begin to walk in
the flesh, you predispose yourself to some of these behavior patterns.
Having had many years of experience in ministry and counseling people, I have
come to the place where nothing can shock me any more concerning people who
are born again, and yet still walk in the flesh. The flesh manifests its evil in all who
let it control their lives. And although believers do not need to allow this in their
lives, it does still happen when they fail to walk according to God’s pattern.
The Fruits
I would like to compare the fruits of the tree to those things that manifest
themselves in a person walking in the flesh. I am not talking about behavior here
so much as the things that we normally consider counseling problems and needs.
For example, depression is not listed as a work of the flesh, yet it manifests as a
problem in those who walk in the flesh. Things such as inferiority, guilt, fear, worry
etc are some of the things that arise as problems in a person walking in the flesh.
What we are looking at in fact is not so much the outward manifestation of the
flesh in a person’s physical actions, but the effects in their soul. For the believer,
he knows that the works of the flesh are wrong and might refrain from outward
sinful behavior. But he struggles with the effects of the flesh in his soul and spirit. It
is the pressures that come upon the mind, emotions and will that make life difficult
and lead people to come for counsel.
When a person walks in the flesh, they block the beneficial effects of their spirit
and deny their soul what it needs to function efficiently. This causes a conflict to
take place inside the soul. And when that happens, happiness goes out the
window, and life becomes miserable and difficult to bear. These are the true
problems that a person faces.
The World’s Approach

Now that we have seen what really causes problems in a person’s life, we need to
consider what is being taught in the world and why the Christian should be very
careful about accepting help from the world system for problems that are spiritual
in nature. We will be discussing the World’s system of solving problems in detail in
our next study on The Solution to Problems, so I am just going to mention here
how the world views the cause of problems.
The Medical Approach
Man tends to see everything from a physical viewpoint, so the world always sees
problems as being physical in origin. Since sickness and disease attack us from
the outside and we are victims of these things, they see problems in the same
way. So they come to the following conclusions.
Problems come to us uninvited, so we are to be seen as victims

Since the effects cause us to be in a situation that is not ‘normal’ a person with
problems must be seen as ‘ill.’
Because this illness has no physical cause, like germs or viruses, it is classed
as ‘Mental Illness.’
There is no cure for Mental Illness, but sometimes the symptoms can be
removed and sometimes they go away, like a disease that is in remission.
A person need never feel guilty for having problems. You are not responsible
for it.
So you can see that the world does not have clue concerning problems. That is
because they are blind to all spiritual truth. And because they reject the Word of
God, that teaches them that they are sinners, they have also rejected the only
place where they can find the true solutions to life’s problems.
The Psychological Approach
The field of psychology has grown phenomenally in recent years. Now every
behavior pattern is explained in terms of Psychology. But once again the same
basic conclusion is arrived at. Man is considered a victim and cannot be held
responsible for his behavior. It is all an attempt at rejecting the clear teaching of
God's Word, which makes man responsible for his actions. It rejects the only true
cause of all problems that man can face. The dirty 'S-Word.'
SIN
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The Solution to Problems
By Les D. Crause
e saw in the study on the Causes of Problems that the basic cause of all
problems is when a person lives a life that is contrary to God’s Order.
We saw that walking in the Flesh causes a ‘tree’ to grow that we called
the Tree of the Flesh. And we saw that this tree had three roots, which
are the cause of all problems we have in life.
Now in this study I am going to look at the other side of the story. We are going to
see what happens when a person lives a life that is in God’s Order. And when this
happens, a different tree grows. It is the Tree of the Spirit. The picture looks very
similar, only this time the roots and the fruit are completely different.
Tree of the Spirit

The Soil
The soil is of course the Spirit, or more specifically Walking in the Spirit. Let’s see
what Walking in the Spirit means. We saw in our other study that walking in the
Flesh means allowing our bodies to dominate our lives. Obviously then, walking in
the Spirit means allowing our spirits to control our lives. But how does a person
come to this place? Before I can explain that I want to look at what happens when
a person is born again.
Paul describes the condition of a person outside of Christ in Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you [has he made alive], who were dead in trespasses and
sins;
2 In which in time past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now works in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conduct in times past in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
The first thing he says about a person outside of Christ is that they are dead in
trespasses and sins. He then goes on to describe how such a person lives their
life. They are controlled by the world system and are dominated by Satan. They
are also ruled by the desires of their body and their soul. But there is no spiritual
influence at all. Their spirits have become ineffective towards God and have no
control over their soul or body. In other words, such a person is ‘living in the flesh.’
The way Paul describes things here is quite interesting. When he speaks of
people living ‘according to’ the various influences he mentions, he is using an
expression which actually means ‘under’ or ‘dominated by.’ In other words people
are under or dominated by the World, the Devil and the Flesh. They are not in
control of their lives at all, but are subject to these things. It is as though these
influences are pushing down on them from above and forcing them into a mould.
But then he describes what happens when a person is born again.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved
us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with
Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in
heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:
When you are born again you come to life spiritually. In other words, your spirit
starts to function the way it was meant to. And then God takes you and raises you
up above all of the influences that used to push you down and keep you under
before. Now instead of being under these things, you are above them.
I will look at this further in our next study, where we are going to look at the
influence of Satan in the life of a believer. But for now I just want you to see what
actually takes place in a person when they are born again. The change that takes
place happens deep inside a person’s spirit. Their spirit comes to life as far as God
is concerned, and what happens is that God in the form of the Holy Spirit comes to
take up residence inside the human spirit.
This causes the person to enter into a new relationship with God in their spirit.
Now God is no longer someone way up in heaven. He is someone deep inside,
closer than breathing. And He is there to help you become all you can and should
be. He is there to help you live the way He designed you to live. And what
happens now is that a new tree is planted. And as you allow that tree to grow and
bear fruit, you will find the solution to every problem in life.
The Roots
The Tree of the Spirit, like the tree of the Flesh, needs roots to grow, and these
roots are deeply embedded in the soil of the Spirit. Because you don’t see much of
this in the world, however, you might not easily identify these roots. But you will
find them mentioned all over the Bible, especially the New Testament. In fact the
writings of the Apostle Paul are filled with them. He mentioned them with nearly
every letter he wrote and looked for them in the people he was writing to.
They are of course Faith, Hope and Love. You will find that when Paul wrote to the
churches under his control, he praised them when they had these things, and
when they didn’t he prayed that they would experience it. They were always a sign
that God’s people were living the way they should. And if they were not there, then
there were bound to be problems.
Now let’s see what causes these things to rise up when a person lives or walks in
the Spirit. Remember that the spirit also has three main functions as we mentioned
in our last study. When these spiritual functions are permitted to take control in our
lives then these three roots start to show themselves.
The spiritual function of intuition causes faith to arise in our spirit. The function of
conscience gives us hope and the operation of communion or fellowship with God
causes His love to be poured into our hearts. All of these things cause God to take
control of our lives, and we start to live the way He designed us to live.
I am going to deal with each of these roots in a lot more detail and we will cover
each of them in a separate study. Surely if these things are the key to becoming
all we should and will solve all the problems of life, then we should know all about
them? But for now I am only going to look at what happens when they are present
in a person’s life.
The Branches
Like the tree of the flesh, this tree also has branches that help us to see that it is
growing in a person’s life. Paul also gave us a list of what to expect when the tree
of the Spirit is growing in a person’s life. He gave us a list of some of the branches
that grow from the Spirit. Let’s look at them and consider how they appear in our
lives.
Love – giving your all for others. Paul gives us a detailed description of this in 1
Corinthians 13
Joy – not a fluctuating emotion like happiness, but something far deeper.
Peace – a settled heart. No conflicts within. Leads to no conflicts without.
Longsuffering – literally being able to suffer a long time when under attack. It
speaks of endurance when you are opposed.
Gentleness – a complete absence of aggression.
Goodness – generosity and kindness to others
Faithfulness – being consistent and reliable.
Meekness – confidence in yourself so you don’t have to prove anything
Temperance - control of self. Not controlled by your circumstances or people.
The list of the fruit of the Spirit shows us the behavior that should be found in
people who are walking in the Spirit. Many of these might seem to be totally
absent in the life of a believer. But that is because the flesh is still dominant. The
moment you begin to walk in the Spirit, you cause some of these things to arise.
But like the fruit of any tree, it may start small and not be obvious. But if you keep
feeding it, the fruit will grow.
You need to realize that while we are still in our bodies, it is always easier for us to
walk in the Flesh. You will be fighting this battle until you die, or Jesus returns. It is
only when we receive our new glorified bodies that we will be totally free from the
tendency to let our bodies dominate.
The Fruits
The fruit of walking in the Spirit is a life that should parallel what Adam and Eve
had in the Garden of Eden. We try to create this kind of thing when we go away on
holiday. We try to leave the stresses of life behind and go to a place that is far
removed from society and all the problems of life. I’m sure most people dream of
going off on a sea cruise to some paradise island, with everything laid on that
could make you happy.
Believers dream of going to heaven one day, where there will be no more pain and
suffering and stresses in life. Where life is just one happy existence without any
responsibilities. But God wants us to live lives of victory while we are still down
here. And He has given us the means to enable us to do just that. We will look at
what He has given us and how we can walk in victory, but first let’s see how the
world approaches it. Then we will know how not to do it.
The World’s Approach

We saw in our study on the Cause of Problems how the world views these things.
Now I will like to consider what is being taught in the world concerning solving
problems, and why the Christian should be very careful about accepting help from
the world system.
The Medical Approach
Since the whole world revolves around the desires of the body, it is
understandable that the world’s medical system would concentrate only on the
physical aspect to problems. But how can a system that is designed to keep the
body healthy, help a person whose problem goes deeper than the physical. The
best that Medical Science can do is help the body function more efficiently.
To do this, they supply the body with chemicals that help it to operate better. For
example, disease is something that the body fights naturally. We were designed
that way. You come under attack from disease, and your body immediately starts
to fight it. All that medication can do is help the body in its fight against disease by
giving it a few extra weapons to use.
Most of these substances occur naturally in the world, and in the things we eat.
That means God already put them there for us. Medical science has researched it
and made it easier for us to get to them. And certainly a healthy body causes us to
live more productive lives, but most of the failures that affect us spiritually and
psychologically have nothing to do with our bodies being unhealthy.
Unfortunately man has decided to take his limited knowledge of the soul and spirit
and apply what he knows about the body to the soul. This has caused doctors to
think that inner problems must be treated the same way as physical problems. But
because it is obvious that the problems are a bit different, they created a term that
has become accepted and is used freely by everyone. And that term is "Mental
Illness."
If by mental illness they meant a disease that affects the brain or the nervous
system and stops a person from thinking clearly and functioning efficiently, then it
would be acceptable. But actually what they mean is that mental problems are a
kind of illness that is not caused by germs or physical damage. It is a vague
disease that is little understood. Nobody knows what causes it really, and there is
no direct treatment for it.
So they approach it like a person who has a bit of knowledge of an electrical

device. You try changing a part of it and see if the problem goes away. It’s like
trying to fix your computer. You replace a board or electronic chip in it and see if
the problem goes away. If it does, then you learn to do that every time a similar
problem arises. You don’t really know what caused the problem, but you found a
way to make it go away.
This hit and miss approach has resulted in many different medications being used
to treat psychological problems. They also discovered that they could use a
method to bring results that purposefully causes brain seizures. It is called Shock
Treatment, or ECT. In this treatment a high electrical voltage is passed through a
person’s brain, which causes a reaction similar to what takes place in epilepsy.
This has the effect of damaging the person’s memory and it means that they no
longer think of their problem, or forget it. They cannot explain why this takes away
a person’s symptoms. But hey, it works, so let’s do it. This is the kind of thing you
are subjecting yourself to when you seek help from the world for a problem that is
spiritual and not physical. No believer should even be thinking of this approach.
The Psychological Approach
There are many different approaches to counseling in the field of Psychology

today. I am going to mention some of the more common approaches and how far
they fall short of God’s way of doing things.
Psychoanalysis - Sigmund Freud

Considered the founding father of modern Psychology, Freud was preoccupied
with sex and had many problems of his own. He "discovered" what he believed
was the basic cause of all problems in life, and put these forth in his teachings that
have been taken up by others and developed into a large portion of modern
psychology and psychiatry. A lot of what he taught was actually a correct
evaluation of the situation in some ways, but his approach was totally biased and
ungodly.
I am not planning to give you a course on Freudian Psychology here, but let me
just give you in a nutshell what Freud taught. He identified that there is in every
person, a part that has strong basic desires. These basic desires in man, he said,
were sex and aggression. As you can see he correctly identified two of the roots
we mentioned earlier. This part of man he named, the "ID."
He also identified that man has a seat of personality, which makes up the
conscious self. This is of course the soul, where the mind, emotions and will lie.
But he called this part the "Ego," the seat of self or the conscious person. He said
that the ID tries to express itself and its basic desires via the Ego. This of course is
correct. The desires of the body try to express themselves via the soul, which is
where the will lies.
Then he said that there was a third part of man, which contained a deep influence
that interfered with the ID expressing itself via the EGO. He called this the
SUPEREGO. He taught that the SUPEREGO was an inner influence that was
created in a person during their life by the things they had been taught. It was the
moral code that had been built into them by preachers, teachers, parents etc.
Of course he was identifying what we call the Conscience. And he said that the
problems in life were caused when the Conscience tried to interfere with the
expression of the ID via the EGO. So Freud’s basic counseling method was to re-
educate the SUPEREGO. He figured that if the Superego stopped interfering with
the expression of the Id, then people would no longer have any inner conflicts.
So if you submit yourself to treatment by a Freudian Psychiatrist, what you have is

someone trying to destroy your conscience and moral values. He will try to get you
to believe that you do not need to feel guilty any more about wanting to do what
comes naturally. In other words, he will be going directly against the Word of God,
which teaches us to be responsible to God’s laws.
Group Therapy - Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers formulated was has become probably the most popular form of
counseling. He found that people have deep within themselves, the ability to solve
some of their own problems. The key is to get them talking until they stumble onto
the solution by themselves.
So Rogerian counseling never involves giving advice or pointing people to

solutions. It majors on getting the person to talk about their problems. The
Rogerian counselor just asks questions all the time. He will respond to your
questions and statements with another question. Then as you answer his
question, it is possible that something will pop out that you were not expecting.
And suddenly you see the solution yourself.
To enhance this method of getting people to solve their problems, one of the more
popular methods used is what is known as Group Therapy. This involves get a
group of people together to talk about their problems. They are encouraged to
open up to each other and talk about what is bothering them. The emphasis is on
expression of feelings, and there are no holds barred.
That means a person must feel free to share all of their failures, inner motivations
and bitterness. This can often end up in a competition where people try to outdo
each other with personal confessions of their failures or they spew out all the
bitterness that is in their heart. What it does in fact is to encourage a manifestation
of the roots of the Flesh.
It can in some instances be a very valuable and effective method of counseling,

and where a believer is concerned it can be used effectively. But that is only
because the believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in their spirit. And as a person
talks, they begin to pour forth from the Spirit within. But the influences that come
from within cannot be understood unless a person has some knowledge of the
Scriptures.
The Holy Spirit never works apart from the Word. And when a person taps the
inner wisdom of their spirit, it will usually come out ‘flavoured’ by the Word. So
before a person can fully make use of this method of counseling, they need to
have first fed the Word into their inward man. Unfortunately because of the strong
influences from the world, that bombard us from every side with the media and
advertising, most of what has been fed in is not the Word at all.
So what happens is that what comes out of a person’s inward man often is not the
wisdom of God at all. It is the wisdom of this world. And the ‘solution’ that you
finally arrive at might not be God’s solution at all. It might be the solution offered
by the worldly influences that you have been around.
Behaviourism - B.F. Skinner
The third popular counseling system that is used is that put out by B.F. Skinner.
This method, called Behaviorism, has become very popular in recent years. The
basic presupposition of this method, is that we can train a person in the same way
that we can train an animal. This was based on an experiment where a rat was put
into a maze and taught to go through the maze using a system of rewards and
punishments.
The maze is set up so that when the rat goes in the wrong direction, it runs into an
electric shock that causes discomfort. But if it goes the right direction, then it finds
a piece of cheese. It soon learns that going the wrong way brings punishment and
going the right way brings reward. After a few runs like this, you can remove both
the shock and the cheese and when you put the rat into the maze it will
automatically go the right way. It has been ‘trained’ by the rewards and
punishments.
The same method is applied to people and they are taught to punish themselves
when they go the wrong way and reward themselves when they go the right way.
Eventually a new habit pattern is formed and the person changes their behavior.
But who decides what is the right way to go? It is usually the counselor. And since
the counselor is usually a non-believer, he has no standard to base his choices
on. In other words all he does is cause you to sin in a different way.
Once again the method has merits, but it is used wrongly by leaving the Word of
God out of the picture. It also fails to recognize the fact that man is a sinner by
nature and unlike an animal that can be tamed or trained, he needs a lot more
than training to change. He needs a new life principle within that will enable him to
change. Once a person has been born again and received the indwelling Holy
Spirit, then he has something to work with.
God’s Way
The Word
Since the Bible is our standard in all things we should be looking there for ways of
dealing with problems. It is God’s handbook for his creation. But it is a lot more
that an operators manual. It covers everything a person could ever need to solve
every problem that we can ever face. No matter what your problem, there is a
solution to it. And that solution can be found in the Word.
Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim 3:16 that all Scripture is inspired by God and suitable
for every need we might have. It does four things.
Teaching – it tells us how to live

Reproof – it shows us where we go wrong.
Correction – it shows us how to correct the errors we have made.
Training in Righteous – it shows us how to develop the correct lifestyle.
So why do believers turn to the world for help, when all they will ever need is in
God’s Word? Perhaps because they do not understand God’s Word. But actually it
is far more than that. It is because they do not take the time to fill their hearts and
minds with God’s Word. Usually we only start turning to the Word when things go
wrong and we have nowhere else to turn.
We don’t daily learn from the Word and let it teach us how to live, because we do
not have time. There are too many other responsibilities. So we have to rely on the
little bit we get at church on Sunday. We don’t like it when the Word convicts us of
our sin, so we avoid it when we do wrong. And then when we finally reach out to it
in desperation, we can’t find the parts that tell us how to get out of trouble. So we
never get to the final part about learning to live a correct lifestyle.
We saw earlier that the cause of problems is walking in the flesh. This means that
our souls are being controlled by the desires of our body. If we could just teach our
souls to be stronger and to resist the body it might help. If we could teach our
souls to listen more to our spirit, then it would also help. This is what the Word
does when it is fed into the soul. Paul calls this being transformed by the renewing
of the mind.
Romans 12: 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye

transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what
[is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Ephesians 4: 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
When you cause the Word to be fed continually into your heart, it starts changing
the way you think. You start to think God’s thoughts, since that is what the Bible is.
And when you start to think God’s thoughts, your mind is renewed and your life is
transformed. You start recognizing the influence of the Spirit within and find it
easier to listen to and obey God. In other words, you start to Walk in the Spirit.
The Spirit
The Holy Spirit comes to live in every person who is born again. This means that
God is always there in your spirit, talking to you and leading you. It means that
your spirit has been given the power to make you live the way God planned you to
live. It means that you have a power within that can be tapped, that will make you
be like Jesus.
All you need to do is change the order from Body, Soul, Spirit to Spirit, Soul, Body.
In other words, God will cause you to live the right way through His Holy Spirit.
The Spirit will tell your spirit which way to go. Your spirit will in turn communicate
this outwards to your soul. That will affect your mind, emotions and will and it will
cause you to bring your body in subjection.
Now to end this study I am going to give you just a little more explanation on the
three roots of the Spirit, and how they cause us to live the life of victory and
blessing the Lord wants us to have.
Faith
Faith means knowing without a doubt. This can only come about when the spiritual
function of intuition is working properly, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. God
reveals things to your spirit by His Holy Spirit, and as this revelation is
communicated outwards via the intuition of your spirit, you KNOW that God’s word
is true. You are able to believe God’s promises without a shadow of doubt.
Love
Love is the very nature of God. It is the sacrificial giving of oneself totally and
without reserve. This kind of love has nothing to do with the emotions. It is not
based on feelings. It is not based on the physical passions. It is the love that
caused Jesus to die for sinners. It always gives. And it can only arise in your heart
when you spend time in the presence of the God through the Holy Spirit. That
requires the spiritual function of communion or fellowship. When you spend time
with God, He starts to ‘rub off’ on you.
Hope
Hope always looks to the future. This is not the kind of thing we speak of when we
say, "I sure hope things will work out." This hope is a positive expectation. It is a
peace within that knows God is going to deliver what he promised. And the only
way you can feel this assurance is when your conscience is clear. If your heart is
condemning you, then you cannot approach God with confidence and therefore
cannot look forward boldly.
I will be dealing with each of these in detail elsewhere. But a good way to
remember how these three spiritual forces work together in our lives is to think of a
rifle. It has three main parts involved in making it work. The first is the actual bullet
that is loaded and fired. The second is the trigger than causes the bullet to be
ignited. And the third is the gun sight that causes you to hit the target. The three
have to always word together.
Now spiritually, faith is the charge that will fire the bullet. Love is the trigger that
sets it off, and hope is the sight that chooses the target. If you try to use the
weapon without applying all three, then there is little chance of you hitting your
target. So in the same way, faith, love and hope must all be used together to enter
into the abundant life that the Lord has for us.
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Signs of Prophetic Calling
Question:
What are the signs that the Lord has called me to be a prophet?
Answer:
ost of the information needed to answer this has been covered in the
articles on the prophetic ministry. This is an advance coverage until
everything is complete.
I assume that since you are asking this question you have some interest in and
possibly experience with the prophetic ministry. The fact that you are asking for
pointers, and that you are not absolutely sure if you are going in the right direction
or not, is a good sign. Nevertheless the desire must be there for you to have
pondered this question, so the chances are the Lord has already begun to speak
to you about this ministry. If this is true, then one of the first signs is already there -
you are not sure if this is the way the Lord is leading you.
The call of God is gentle and unassuming. The Holy Spirit is pictured as a dove,
which is a gentle bird that is easily frightened away. When the Lord moves upon
you by His Spirit He always does it in the same way. Because of this we often
wonder if we are imagining it or if it is really the Lord speaking. The only question
you need to ask yourself to make sure if it is the Lord, is whether what you are
hearing is for the Glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom.
If your desire to move into the prophetic ministry is one of glamour, recognition
and self-exaltation, then you are off the mark. Not only that, you are sincerely
deceived, because the call to the prophetic ministry is a call to death, not glory.
The preparation and qualifications for becoming a prophet are unlike any other
ministry, except for the apostle. You have to be a failure before you can be of use.
You have to have learned that you cannot trust in yourself.
With all of these things in mind, then, let me try to give you a few possible signs of
the prophetic call on your life. These do not necessarily mean you are called to be
a prophet, and they might not all be there if you are called. But if you are called to
be a prophet, then you are likely to see a fair portion of them in your life and
experience. Some of these signs apply to any major calling to the ministry. Some
are specific to the prophetic ministry.
Sign No 1
A desire has been burning in you for a long time to minister to the Body of Christ.
This is not a passing fancy but something that has burned in you for a while. It is
not so much a desire to bring unbelievers to know the Lord, but more a desire to
help believers in their daily walk. It might be a desire to warn people of certain
dangers. It might be a desire to encourage and lift believers up. Whichever
direction it takes, this thing has taken hold of you and will not let go.
The call of God comes from God and not you. All you can produce in yourself is
sin. Paul says in Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells
no good thing: for I really want to [do good] ; but [how] to practice that which is
good I find impossible.
The desire to do the work of God is planted by God and grows over a period of
time. If you desire to do something for God's glory then it must have come from
Him. If it does not fade over time then it is not an emotional fantasy but something
real.
Sign No 2
Not many people are likely to share your enthusiasm for what you want to do.
They may warn you to be careful, to calm down. They might even accuse you of
being paranoid. They might tell you not to 'rock the boat.' You may have begun to
wonder if this thing is of the Lord.
Your ministry is unique, so do not expect others to share your burden. The fact
that you want to do something different could be proof that this desire is from the
Lord. The Lord tends to hide His prophets away until they are ready. So do not
expect others to quickly recognize your call, unless you have ministered to them
personally. If you have been rejected, ostracized or accused of going against the
general flow, then there is a good chance that the early signs of the prophetic
ministry have started to show.
Sign No 3
Your desire is other-oriented. You are not so much concerned with making a name
for yourself as you are with helping other people. You will gladly give up things
that are important to you so that other people may benefit from your actions. The
prophetic ministry, like the apostolic ministry requires a total commitment to the
work of the Lord.
Ministry is servant hood and is likely to cost you a lot. If your desire is not to help
others then it is not a calling to ministry. Jesus said in Matthew 20:27-28 27 And
whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of
man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom
for many
You must be prepared to pay the price before you can enter it. If your desire is not
for the good of others, you have not yet even entered the door.
Sign No 4
Over a period of time you have found yourself ministering to a particular area of
need more than others. It seems that you always end up ministering to believers
who need encouragement and direction in their lives. And when you do something
happens inside you and you sense a surge taking place. You may find yourself
telling people which way they should go and what God's purpose is for them.
The Lord prepares you for ministry by creating opportunities for you. Often you will
not be aware of this. You only know that you feel content ministering to believers
and helping them, to set their lives and ministries in order. These are all signposts
showing you the way.
Sign No 5
People have told you that you have helped them, even when at times you have
not been aware of it. Sometimes others can see your ministry more clearly than
you can see it yourself. Solomon said in Proverbs 18:16 A man's gift makes room
for him, and brings him before great men
If you have a prophetic calling you will not be able to hide it indefinitely. It will start
to show itself in time and others will begin to notice it.
Sign No 6
You feel unqualified to do the work of the Lord and usually feel unworthy to push
yourself forward to suggest that you be given an opportunity. When appeals are
made for help you wait for everyone else to step forward first before you offer your
services.
Humility is a sure sign of your genuineness. The Spirit of God always leads gently.
He is likened to a dove, that is meek and easily frightened away. Jesus is called
the Lamb of God. A lamb is also a gentle creature that does not push its way.
Since the call comes gently, you may even wonder at times if you heard right.
Sign No 7
The key ministry of a prophet is intercessory prayer. If you find yourself being led
to spend a lot of time interceding for others and you have had times when you
have been very clearly led and have seen definite results, the elements of a
prophetic ministry are certainly there. The prophet is the key to what God does in
the earth. God said in the Old Testament that He does nothing unless He first
reveals His secret to the prophets.
If you have been led to pray things into existence or birth them in the Spirit through
intercessory prayer, then your prophetic ministry is already starting to manifest.
Sign No 8
The prophet is sensitive to the moving of God's Spirit and has the ability to bring
the anointing into a meeting. This is often seen in musical capability or a particular
ability to lead effectively in praise and worship. If you have been effectively
involved in leading the congregation in praise and worship and can cause the
anointing of the Spirit to come upon a group when you lead, this can certainly be
very clear evidence of a prophetic ministry in operation.
Sign No 9
If you are called to be a prophet, then your preparation will span many years and
will be one of the most difficult and troublesome processes. The prophet will be
battered and broken and brought to nothing in himself before he can be of any use
to the Kingdom of God. He will have to learn not to trust in himself or in his own
abilities. His knowledge and natural strengths will be tried in the fire and brought to
naught before God can use him.
If your life has been one of intense problems, failures, oppositions, persecutions
and pressure, then this could be a sign of preparation for the prophetic ministry. I
have yet to meet a prophet who has had life of smooth sailing, easy success and
personal recognition. As I said earlier, the prophetic call is a call to death. Like the
apostle, the prophet must have the sentence of death in himself. He must sacrifice
all for the sake of the ministry. He must die completely to self.
Well these are the main signposts I can offer to help you clarify whether the Lord
has called you to be a prophet or not. Of course the best confirmation will always
come through another prophet. God often calls a prophet to the ministry using a
senior prophet, and even his training might come under the direction of one who
has been in the prophetic office for a while.
If several of these signs have been manifested in your life and you wish to discuss
this further, I would be thrilled if you would write and tell me a bit more about
yourself, your experiences, your aspirations and what you feel the Lord is calling
you to do. In that way I will be able to more effectively help you move into this
ministry. And I will also be empowered to speak a word into your life and ministry,
to bring about what the Lord is calling you to do.
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The Prophetic Child
uch is being said about the Prophetic Ministry today, and as God’s
people are being called to rise into the prophetic office there has come
with it questions concerning the welfare of the children. As a mother and
a prophet, I too have the same concerns, yet being brought up in a
prophetic home, I have a lifetime of experience to relate to as a Prophetic Child.
The biggest mistake prophetic parents make is to think that when the take up the
call of God in their lives, it is they that have made the decision for themselves and
a path they will walk alone. First off I want to make it very clear, when you answer
the call of God on your life, you are answering the call of your children’s lives on
their behalf as well.
Exodus 29:9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his
sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be
theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and
his sons.
The children of the Priest were consecrated as priests themselves when they
reached adulthood. The calling of the parent fell onto the child, and so it carried on
through generation after generation. If you have answered that call to the
Prophetic Ministry, realize that you have submitted your children to that call as
well. They will be the ones who are going to walk through this call with you and
they are the ones who are going to be most effected by it. So to get your mind
straight, realize right away: Your children will never be normal. They will not be
part of the status quo and they will not be average children like their peers. They
have a calling on their lives and just as God has prepared you through the years,
so is He going to prepare them.
I know as mother, it is my natural instinct to protect and guide my children onto the
right path. I never want them to experience the pain and rejection I did as a child
and adult. I want to shield them from the pain of rejection. It has taken me time to
realize that it has been my pain and rejection from the status quo that has qualified
me to rise into the Office of Prophet. So too you need to realize that it is the trials
your child is going through, that is going to prepare them for what God has ahead
of them. It has been due to my parents obeying God and allowing us to go through
what we did, that has prepared me to function fully as a prophet at a very young
age.
It is very important that you don’t quell God’s work in their lives and try to hide
them from God’s fire. There are guidelines and I will share them as I go on. Taken
from the story of John the Baptist this was said:
Luke 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in
the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Do not expect your child to be in the limelight. To be the most popular, to fit in with
the crowd. The prophet of God is hidden to grow, as was John. He was hidden in
the desert and waxed strong in spirit. So will your child grow in the desert, just as
you as an adult have learned to grow. I can hear you arguing, but, they still need
to be children, is it not unfair to load such a burden on them? There is a sacrifice
involved on your part as well as theirs. Hey! It is not a total life of pain and
sacrifice! There are rewards, which far outweigh the trial. Take this prophetic child
for example.
2 Kings 9:1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the
prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil
in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:
2 And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of
Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up
from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;
3 Then take the box of oil, and pour [it] on his head, and say, Thus
saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the
door, and flee, and tarry not.
2 Kings 9:4 So the young man, [even] the young man the prophet,
went to Ramothgilead
5 And when he came, behold, the captains of the host [were] sitting;
and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto
which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.
6 And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his
head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have
anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, [even] over Israel.
This Child of a prophet was called to anoint Jehu King over Israel! A child! What
you need to realize is that God has a plan for your child’s life. He has a purpose
and a path for them that you cannot perceive right now. How do you know that
your child will not be one who is raised up to be a dynamic man or woman of God?
Who will not be instrumental in dynamic change in the Kingdom of God? Dare you
deny them that privilege? Dare you stand in the way of what God plans are to do
through them? Dare you step in the way of a work that could change the lives of
others through the ministry of your child?
2 Timothy 1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is

in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother
Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Due to the calling on your life and the blessing the Lord has poured upon you, so
are your children a partaker of that blessing. Here Paul tells Timothy that the faith
that was in his grandmother and then his mother, now rests upon him as well.
Your children will carry your blessing on. So it is no surprise to see prophetic
children rise out of a prophetic home. My grandparents on my dad’s side were
called to the prophetic ministry and every one of their children have a prophetic
orientation. That blessing and calling has been carried down to myself and my
sisters and brother. So it will be with your children. Your blessing will overflow to
them. So do not expect them to be different from you. They will follow the example
you give them.
I often used to cry out to the Lord and ask "Why me?" why couldn’t I just have
been born into a normal home, and be like all the normal kids? No matter how
hard I tried I just never fitted in. I was different, I did things differently, I had a care
where others didn’t and I was very often hurt. Well, I thought I would go to church.
You see, my parents thinking that I needed good Christian group to socialize with,
sent me to a Christian girls organization (similar to girl scouts). Well to this day
most of my hurts and conflicts came from that time. I just wanted to be like the
other Christian kids, but yet I was ostracized by them and the leaders!
They looked down on me because my parents were not like the other parents who
were all involved in the church and ran after the leaders in the church. I had a
commitment they could never understand. You cannot expect your children to be
part of a system you struggle to be a part of. It will cause them more hurt being
pushed into a mould you believe against, than if you let them follow their own path.
They are with you in this one. Realize it and seek God for the heart and wisdom to
cope with it.
After that I spent most of my growing Christian life not going to an official church
building. I can tell you I learned more in those times of wondering the wilderness
than I did in a ‘church structure’. There were seasons when we were called to
minister to a local church, but when our work was done, the Lord moved us out to
be called to Him and His Kingdom universally. What I have come to realize
through all this rejection and trial, that the mind of a child could not understand,
was that I was in the melting pot with my parents. As they were going through their
preparation, so did the Lord use that time to prepare me as well. It speeded up my
progress and has allowed me to be effective sooner had I only begun intensive
preparation as an adult.
We need to take a look at some guidelines here to ensure that your children grows
up in their calling and follow through with it as they reach adulthood.
Proverbs 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake
not the law of thy mother:
9 For they [shall be] an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains
about thy neck.
It is your responsibility as a parent to instruct your child in the ways of the Lord. To
sit your child on your knee and fill them with the good things of the Lord. You
spend much time making sure they are fed, well educated and have clean clothes,
how much time lately have you sat them around to tell them about what the Lord is
doing in your life? How much are they a part of what the Lord is doing in you?
I was blessed to grow up with knowledge of things in the spirit. From very young
my father encouraged me to move into the gifts of the spirit. I remember seeing
visions from very young. I have interpreted my own dreams since before entering
my teens. My favorite time of day as a child, was just before bed time when we
would all gather on my parents bed and my dad would tell us about the Lord. He
would read a bible story out of a book and then tell us about why the Lord did
things the way He did. After that he used to pray and then encourage each of us to
pray as well. I remember many times of praise and worship of which we were all
encouraged to be a part.
I played the drums (more noise than anything else at that stage;-)) my younger
sister used to sing as we played and Desiree (the youngest) would hit it there on
the tambourine. I remember hours and hours of our father teaching us how to
worship, when to worship and how to enter into the spirit. No amount of schooling
or education or any worldly pleasure could ever come close to that. Are you
teaching your children how exciting it is to see visions, how wonderful it is to flow
in the anointing? Are you teaching them about the Jesus you know and love, or
are you trusting the leaders of a local church to do the responsibility God gave to
you?
Well, you might say "My husband/wife is not so keen on serving the Lord as I am.
he/she doesn’t share my burden and doesn’t care very much what happens with
the children’s spiritual upbringing." We had that very conflict in our home while
growing up. My father was committed to the Lord in every way, while my mother
on the other hand did not share his burden. She would rather sit in front of the t.v.
than to join us in prayer. I remember her sleeping through all the bible stories and
to this day I could probably count on my one hand how many times I have heard
her pray out loud! It is up to you to take your kids to the Lord. Whether your
spouse shares your vision or not. The responsibility lies on you. Especially as a
mother in their childhood. Solomon makes it clear all through Proverbs that the
mother was to teach the child from birth.
Set time aside with your children, to teach them Jesus, to show them Jesus in your
every day life. Just sending them to church on a Sunday is not going to do it. A
youth group alone is not going to do it. It is up to you and you alone. Sure the child
needs instruction from both parents and the child who has both certainly has the
benefit. But it does not mean that hope is lost if you cannot have that. Give the
little you have to offer and allow the Lord to use that to seed His faith and Word in
their hearts.
What you put into your child as a youth will influence what he will become as an
adult.
Proverbs 4:10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the

years of thy life shall be many.
11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right
paths.
12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou
runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
You seed the Word of God into the hearts of your children and they will never
depart from it. It will seed deep in them and grow. Then when trial comes, it will
rise up and speak to them. It will guide them in times of temptation and lead them
back to the path the Lord has set apart for them.
Often the child of a pastor or one called to the ministry goes right off the rails -sick
and tired of all this ministry stuff (ask me I know! ;-)) They want to get out of this
whole environment and test their wings. This is what every parent fears and tries
to prevent from happening. Trust me, the most committed child will need to have
his questions answered and will seek them for themselves. You need to be there
at this time to help them find those answers without restricting their freedom too
much. The time has come for the child now waxed strong in spirit to rise up out of
the wilderness.
I too had my time of total rebellion. I went totally off the ministry. I had never been
part of what the world was doing and I wanted to test my wings. The best thing my
father ever did for all three of us was to let us go. There comes time when you as
a parent have to let go and trust the teaching you have placed in them. My dad
also stressed when I started with all that worldly music and I was lectured often on
how going to clubs and partying around would ruin my spiritual life. He never
stopped me and even though I didn’t know it at the time – he and Daph stood
together for us every time we went out that the Lord would protect us, and that He
would draw us back to Him.
I came to a point in it all when what had been put into me all my life rose out of my
spirit. It was if I suddenly woke after a long sleep and I saw the word practically in
my life for the first time. The Word is indeed a two edged sword, it cut through my
circumstance, my sin. It cut through my blindness to reveal the light and cut
through my deaf ears to reveal the love of Jesus to me.
Hebrews 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any
man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
The Lord is so faithful, He never let me go. He had trained me my whole life to be
His instrument, He was not about to let me be snatched from His hand. This is
what you need to realize as a parent. Your child is called, your child is not your
own. Never forget that. The day you dedicated your child to the Lord, you handed
her/him over to Him. It is the Lord’s responsibility to care and keep them. Once
you can let go and allow the Lord to complete His work in their lives, you will begin
to see progress.
When the Lord rose me out of that time, I rose out of it in a spiritual strength I
never had before. He revealed Himself to me in a personal way and from that time
on I had my own revelation of who He was and what He wanted for my life. It was
no longer a case of following in the shadow of my father but rather a case of rising
out of the wilderness to take on a position set apart for me as an individual.
So my advice from the Word and from the heart. Instruct your children in the word,
teach them in a personal way about Jesus and how wonderful He is. Do not stifle
their freedom when they feel the pull to go. There needs to come a balance. They
need to know their right and position in Christ and they also need to know that
they have power to overcome the world in Christ. Once you have taught them, you
need to let them practically apply what is in their hearts. The word that is in them
needs to be tried in the fire of experience.
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
You can be sure that the Lord will use anything they get into, to bring His word to
life in them. They may run, they might stray, but be encouraged that the Lord will
use all for good. He will not only use their own rebellion and sin to try them, but He
will lift them from it as gold refined by fire. They will rise up with the word
practically burned in their hearts. They will have a testimony that the Lord is God
and that His word endures forever. Amen.
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Prophetic Intercession - True Prayer
Matthew 6:9: In this manner, therefore pray: Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive
us our debts and we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
What is Intercession?
here's a lot of talk today about the ministry of intercession, and
intercessors, and people who intercede. This word is thrown around
quite loosely especially in Charismatic circles today and you often hear
people saying, "Well, I'm an intercessor." Well, what is an intercessor
and what is intercession? Is it just praying? Is it a prayer? Can anyone do it? Is
intercession something that any believer can do? And does it have any special
relationship as regards the ministry of a prophet?
We’re dealing with the prophetic ministry and this message is part of the same
series that relates to the ministry of a prophet so I especially want us to consider
how intercession and the intercessory ministry relates to the prophet. But in order
to understand the subject better I'm going to look at whole subject of intercession
tonight. It's a very big subject. We could probably preach a whole series just on
this subject. Whole books have been written on it, so don't expect me to go into
too much detail here otherwise it's going to take too long.
I want us to look at and understand clearly what the ministry of intercession is and
how it relates specifically to the office of the prophet because there seems to be a
lot of confusion in prophetic circles regarding this ministry of intercession. I hear
people say, "Well, I am an intercessor, but I'm not sure if God's called me to the
prophetic ministry." And I hear people saying, "Well I know God's called me to be
a prophet, but I'm not sure if I should also intercede." These are some of the
issues that I want to address here.
I want to look at the subject of prayer generally, and I'm going to see how prophets
get involved in and approach the subject of prayer generally. The Lord gave us a
pattern for prayer in the passage we just read, and He gave a pattern to His
disciples of how they should pray. Most people in Christendom today who have
been exposed to Christianity in some way have learnt the Lord's prayer by rote
and can say it, but haven't a clue what it means. Ninety percent or more are like
this, and the ten percent who have a clue what it means, still don't know what it
means. You'll understand what I'm talking about when I'm finished this message
because I'm going to explain to you what it means. I'm going to show you what the
Lord was talking about. I'm going to show you what He was getting at when He
gave them that pattern of prayer. And you'll begin to understand how to use that
pattern, and how to get involved in true intercession.
The Four P's of Prayer

I always like to create a little skeleton on which to hang principles when we study a
subject like this, so I'd like to give you a skeleton on the subject of prayer. I like to
call them the 4 P's. I actually used to originally preach this as the 3 P's, but when I
came to look at it from the point of view of the prophetic ministry I discovered that
there was a fourth P. So I'm going to share all the 4 P's with you now.
The 4 P's are easy to remember - P for Prayer, and four different words that begin
with P that are all related to prayer and describe a different type of prayer. I'm
going to give you the 4 P's and then we're going to look at each one of them in
detail.
1. The first P of prayer is praise, and worship associated with it.
2. The second P is petition.
3. The third P is penitence.
4. The fourth P strangely enough is prophetic proclamation.
Praise, petition, penitence and prophetic - you'll see all four of those in the Lord's
prayer, and I'm going to show you that. Let's start with praise and worship. Jesus
said you must pray this way, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name." This
is praise and worship. You start with praise. In Psalm 22:3 David said, "But You
are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel." David knew all about praise.
God inhabits the praises of His people.
Praise
What does praise do? Praise turns our attention from our problem to God.
Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those
who love God and are the called according to His purpose." In recent decades
there's been a resurgence and a revelation of fresh revival and restoration of
praise in the church of the living God. At one time there was a whole release of
books on the subject, and a man by the name of Merlin Corruthers spearheaded a
lot of this with a very famous book. Some of you may have read it if you're old
enough. It is still around, but it was released a long time ago, and it was called
"Prison to Praise" and it sparked off something.
He wrote a whole lot more books on the subject, and the gist of the teaching was
this: To learn to praise God for everything. For everything? Yes, praise God for
everything. Many people thought that Merlin Corruthers was an absolute heretic
because if you came to him and said, "My husband just left me," he would say,
"Praise the Lord for it, sister. Start saying, 'Lord, I praise you that my husband left
me.' " Are you mad?
You know what it did? It took your eyes off the problem and started to see that
God was in control. It got you saying, "Lord I thank You and I praise You that no
matter what has happened, You are in control." It took your attention of yourself. It
took your attention off what the devil was doing. It put your attention on what God
is doing. Today the church is so concerned about what the devil's doing. I get
newsletters and publications in my email box all the time telling me about what the
devil's doing all over the world. And everybody's getting ready for the mark of the
beast and the antichrist and all the things that are going wrong, and all over the
world Satan is moving. It's given to you under the guise of 'pray'.
All the time we're hearing what Satan is doing. We're not seeing what God is
doing, and we become so focused on what Satan is doing, we become so focused
on the evil that's in the world that our hearts become filled with fear and we
wonder if God is there, and we tremble. Praise lifts your eyes off what is going on
about you and in the world and puts your attention on the One who is on the
throne.
Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat knew about praise. When he sent his army out to battle he put the
singers right in the front lines. What a stupid thing to do. Here they were going into
battle against the enemy, and instead of putting the best soldiers that he had at
the front to face the onslaught of the enemy, he puts a bunch of stupid namby-
pamby singers, a bunch of arty types you know. These musical types are usually
effeminate aren't they? There's no masculinity in them. They're all softies. (;-) But
Jehoshaphat knew the power that there was in praise. He knew the power that
was released when the very first people who went out praised the beauty of
holiness. They glorified the Lord and they sang praises to God, and when they did
that, you know the story, the enemy just turned on themselves and killed each
other. By the time the army got there it was all over.
Praise has a greater power than any physical force in this world. King David
praised before the Lord. He knew the power of it. He set up singers and
worshippers and musicians who would praise God and worship Him around the
clock all the time. They were employed full-time to do that. The power in praise
and worship, expressing love to the Lord, coming into His presence in loving
communion and face to face relationship, even as Moses came into the presence
of God and spoke to Him mouth to mouth and face to face. Even as Joshua went
into the tent of meeting and after Moses left he stayed even longer to be in the
presence of God.
Coming Into the Throne Room
If you are going to do anything by prayer, you're going to have to start by coming
into the throne room of Almighty God. You know who has the special ability to do
that? That's right, the prophet. The prophet has a very special ability to come into
the presence of God because his spirit is in tune with God and he can see and he
can hear in the Spirit, and he can sense in the Spirit. You start with praise and
worship, and you begin to get lifted up from this world. And as you praise and as
you worship it's as though you're ascending in the air like a hot air balloon going
up, up, up. And you begin to look down at the ground below you there. And that
problem that seemed so big and you couldn't see over it, you start to lift above it
until you're looking down on top of it; until you begin to realize as the Scripture
says, that when Jesus was raised from the dead and He was lifted up and raised
up to be seated in heavenly places, we have been raised up together with Him
and we're seated in heavenly places. We're seated in heavenly places with Him
right now.
Do you know where you should be praying from? Not from down here. "Oh Lord,
we're in trouble. Please help us!" No, you need to get up there to the throne. And
you need to get onto the throne with the Lord, because you're in Him and He's in
you. And if we're seated with Christ in heavenly places, spiritually we're seated on
the throne. You need to get your eyes off this physical plane and be lifted up so
that you may now look down. That's where you're praying from. That's the first
step of intercession.
Prophetic Intercessors
If you're a prophetic intercessor, prophetic and intercessor are synonymous,

because intercession is the main function of a prophet is not to predict and speak
nice words of personal prophesy over people and tell them what their life purpose
is going to be and who they're going to get married to, and whether they're going
to be rich. People read horoscopes for that. Satan does that. That is not the work
of the prophetic ministry.
The work of the prophetic ministry is to release the will of God into the earth.
That's what we're supposed to be doing as prophets, and if we're going to do that
we're going to have to start by coming into the throne room. You start your
intercession with praise and worship until you become lifted up, and you come into
the presence of Almighty God and you find yourself seated in the throne room in
heavenly places. And from there you do your warfare. And from there you do your
intercession. And from there you do your prayer and you cause change to take
place in the earth. But you're not going to get there except you start in praise and
worship. That's why the Lord gave that as the very first instruction for prayer.
A prophet has the ability to bring the anointing presence of God into a meeting.
You know why? Because a prophet has the ability to move into the throne room
very quickly. And when you move into the throne room you begin to communicate
down where your body is, while your spirit is there, and you begin to communicate
outwards into the very place that you are. You begin to communicate outwards the
very presence of God.
Using Music
Prophets can use music and singing to release the power of God, and I have yet
to meet a prophet who doesn't have some ability in this area. I don't care if you
can't sing well. I don't care if you're not much of a musician. There is just
something about the prophetic ministry that leads you into expressing and
releasing the anointing of God through music and singing and worship. You might
start just by walking around and singing in tongues. You'll be amazed how you can
sing in key just by singing in tongues. It doesn't really matter. You don't even know
what you're singing. You don't understand the words you're singing and you can
go up and down the scales and change the notes as much as you like. It doesn't
matter. You are creating a harmony in spirit, soul and body which releases the
anointing power of God.
That's a subject all on it's own and we're going to cover it some time, but music
has the ability to bring resonance in the soul. Music is the only thing that has the
ability to take your mind and your emotions and your will, and bring them to flow all
together in harmony at the same time, in tune with your spirit. And your whole
spirit, soul and body begin to vibrate with the very power of God. And His glory
begins to come upon you and begins to radiate forth from you as you begin to
move into that. It's a powerful subject.
So the prophet enters into the presence of God through praise and worship, and
having come into the throne room, then begins to wage warfare in the Spirit. I'm
not going to go into detail in warfare now because that is also a subject on it's own
and we're just talking about prayer and intercession and I'm only touching on the
main points.
Petition
The second 'P' is petition. Actually in the Lord's prayer the second 'P' was
prophetic, but I'm leaving that for last seeing as we're speaking about prophetic
intercession. Petition - Give us this day our daily bread. This is about the only
prayer that most people know.
"Well did you pray today?"
"Yes, I got down on my knees and I prayed for auntie and uncle, and mommy and
daddy, and Aunt Suzie and everybody else in church … and pastor and everybody
I know. I asked the Lord to provide my needs. I prayed the prayer of petition."
"So, did God answer your prayer?"
"Well, sometimes He does."
"Are you sure?"
"Well I prayed. Sometimes He answers, I really don't know. We're supposed to

pray aren't we?"
1 John 5:14 says this:
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask

anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He
hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him.
Praying According to God's Will
Petitionary prayer, in order to be effective, has to be made in accordance with the

will of God.
"I’ve been praying for a wife."
"Are you sure that it’s God’s will for you to have a wife?"
"Well, it must be because my current wife is just bad and I need to get rid of her."
Hold it! (;-) How do I know what the will of God is? Well, He’s written a few
chapters about it, and if you’d like to have a read sometime, it’s the first place
you’re going to find out about His will. And if what you’re praying is contrary to
what’s in the word, if I were you I wouldn’t waste my breath because God is not
even going to listen to your prayer. You’re out of order. You’re asking something
that God has specifically forbidden.
There are areas that could be, or could not be. We’re praying something that could
be in agreement with the word, but there’s two alternatives, and both of them
could be in accordance with the word, but which is the right one in our
circumstances? What is the right one? What is God’s will in the situation? I find
that for most people they seem to think that God has planned out your life for you
and decided for you which way you’re going to go exactly. So God has decided
that you are going to be poor, so it’s pointless you praying for finance. God has
decided that you are going to have ill health so it’s pointless praying for divine
health. God has decided that you’re going to marry somebody ugly, so don’t ask
for somebody attractive. God has decided that you’re going to be an evangelist, so
forget about being a prophet.
People have this idea that God is this cruel tyrant who said, "I know that you don‘t
want to do this, but it’s My will, so you’ll have to! Tough!" No, God’s will actually
takes into account the very desires of your heart, and the Lord never imposes
anything on us. God knows what you’re capable of, and He knows the end from
the beginning, and so in terms of His foreknowledge, in terms of what He knows
concerning you and your abilities and the experiences you’ve had in life, according
to those things God makes a plan, according to your prayer. I want you to think
about that. It’s according to your prayer.
I remember before Daphne and I met I was praying and I’d asked the Lord for a
new wife. I told Him what I wanted. I had about fourteen points that I had laid
down, and I was waiting for God now to choose my wife. I didn’t know how He was
going to do it, but I figured I would be standing up there preaching one day, and
she would walk in the room and our eyes would meet and @#! (;-) And God would
say, "This is she!" But nobody ever walked in while I was preaching.
But one day I began to pray and said, "Lord, where is this woman that You
promised me?" The Lord said, "I’m not going to choose your wife for you." He said,
"This is within the limit of your own free will. But tell Me what kind of wife you want
and I’ll show you were you can find one like that." You see, there’s a difference.
And God brought to me somebody who matched the exact specifications that I’d
asked for. Of course, some people give specifications that are not easy to meet
and they have to travel all the way overseas to Mexico before they find their
partner. (;-) Do you understand what I’m saying? God has not decreed, "This is the
person you’re going to marry, so I don’t care if you don’t like it. I don’t care if it
doesn’t match what you want. This is My will and you must submit to it!" So people
go round looking for a prophet to tell them who they’re supposed to marry.
Nonsense. God will never overrule your will.
Recognising God's Plan
When I speak about knowing the will of God I’m not talking about that kind of
thing. I’m talking about knowing, in the circumstances, what it is that God is going
to accomplish in the earth. So when I come to pray and I wait on the Lord, the
Lord has taken what I have given to Him and He’s formulated a plan for me, and
all I need to do is get in line with that plan and let it run it’s course. And if I miss the
plan, I’m going to miss the course that He’s laid for me and He may have to start
all over again.
You know what it’s like on these modern freeways? You go dashing along and
suddenly a sign flashes in front of you and before you know it you’ve ridden past
the sign and you say, "Oh no, that was the turnoff we were meant to take." It’s too
late. And you’ve got to go about 20 kilometers down the road before you find
another place where you can turn around and go all the way back again.
You know sometimes we’re like that in our spiritual lives. We’ve asked the Lord to
do something and He’s arranged the circumstances very nicely for us, and He’s
brought people into place and brought finances into place. He’s arranged certain
situations and it’s all there ready to go. You think He’s going to take a long time to
do it, and suddenly the sign flashes in front of you and you miss it. You ride right
past. I want to tell you, sometimes you can catch it, but sometimes by the time you
get back to the turnoff your chance has gone, the circumstances have changed.
There’s people that were there that aren’t there anymore. There’s situations that
existed that don’t exist anymore. They’re gone.
You see, that is why you need to know the will of God in a situation and you need
to be in tune to hear His voice so say, "Now is the time for this plan to be set in
motion." That is what the prophet does in petitionary prayer. The prophet knows,
now is the time, now is the moment for this request to be fulfilled. You’ve got to be
in tune with the Spirit of God. You’ve got to be able to hear His voice to know, to
walk in step with Him, to get His perfect timing.
Praying in Faith
Mark 11:24 says:
Therefore I say to you, "Whatever things you desire, when you pray
believe that you receive them and you shall have them."
Prayer has to be made in faith. If you do not believe that you are going to receive
you won't get it. But actually this verse goes one step further. It doesn't say,
"Believe that when you pray you're going to receive what you've prayed for." It
says, "Whatever things you desire when you pray believe that you receive them."
When did you receive them? When you prayed. Faith is always a past tense. Faith
does not say, "Well, I believe that God can provide my needs." Faith does not say,
"I believe that God wants to provide my needs." Faith does not say, "I believe God
is going to provide my needs." That one threw you didn't it? Do you know what
faith says? Faith says, "I believe God has provided my needs. It is done. It is mine.
It is finished." And faith then walks out and says, "I have a beautiful new Dodge
Ram. I have whatever my heart desires. I have the petition that I have brought to
Him."
Yonggi Cho was reported to have said that he had asked God for something and
God had shown him that he had conceived that thing in his spirit, and he began to
tell everybody, "The Lord's given it to me." And when they came to see where it
was he said, "I'm pregnant with it. It's inside me." (;-) You'll all know the story if
you've read his books.
"I've got it, it's mine, it just hasn't manifested yet." That's the prayer of faith. Now
how is it going to get manifested? I want to tell you that God answers your prayer
of faith most of the time through somebody else. If you are believing God for a
healing touch in your body, and you've reached out and by faith received your
healing - you can't see it, you can't feel it, your still suffering - but when I prayed I
know God gave me what I asked for." A lot of people get it wrong right at that
point. They say, "Well I've prayed, and therefore God's given it to me and it's going
to come one of these days. I'll wait for it to come."
Do you know what God does? God sends you somebody with a gift of healing.
And they come to you and they say, "I feel led to pray for you for the healing of
your body." You say, "I'm not sick. I believe I'm healed by faith. I don't need you to
pray for me. I have received my healing." You could die. You know why? God
answered your faith by sending you the answer through somebody else, and they
came to you with the gift of healing from Almighty God.
God Works Through People
How does God do things in the earth? He does it through people. Until somebody
prays God does nothing! When God created this world He put His man Adam in
control and He said, "Adam whatever happens in this world is up to you. I’ll come
and visit and give you all the help you want, but I’m not interfering here. You’re in
charge." God does nothing except through human agency. It is whatever you bind
on earth that is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth that is loosed in
heaven.
If God is going to answer your prayer He’s going to do it when a man prays. He’s
going to send forth His word, and we’re going to look at it just now especially as it
relates to the prophet. God answers your prayer through another. I’ve seen people
who pray and say, "Father we have a financial need. Lord please provide." Then
somebody comes to them and says, "I feel led of the Lord to give you $100." And
they say, "No, I can’t accept money from you. God’s going to provide, I’m trusting
God, don’t worry you don’t need to give me any money." He just provided it and
you turned it down.
God provides through human agency. Do you see what I’m saying? I’m leading
onto something and you’ll see it shortly. You see, God provides the ministry of
intercession, the prophetic intercessor especially, the authority to release into the
earth, the word of authority that will bring the answer to your petition which you
prayed by the prayer of faith. When you reached out to God in prayer and by faith
embraced His promises and claimed them as yours, and received at the hand of
God the thing that you asked Him for, God is going to answer your faith through a
person. He might give it to you, but a lot of the time He gives it to somebody else.
So as I’ve stood here in prayer and prayed and asked God to intervene in my
situation, God moves on an intercessor who is somewhere else, and God moves
upon that person and says, "There is somebody I want you to pray for. There is
somebody who is believing Me who has stood on My word in faith to receive at My
hand. Now you speak the word of authority into the earth for that thing to be
released." And all the intercessor does is speak forth the word, the rhema word of
God which has been revealed to release the authority in the earth for that thing to
take place.
Praying on Behalf of Another
And finally, prophets can do a lot more than simply pray for another person in
bringing petitions and requests. A prophet can carry out true intercession which
means not only praying for another person, but praying as another person. You
see, intercession involves praying on behalf of another. Now, how can you fully
pray on behalf of another without fully understanding their situation, without fully
understanding what’s going on in their heart, without fully understanding the
conflict that is going on within them. God at times gives the intercessor, the ability
by the word of knowledge, to actually enter into the experience of a person, and
the prophet actually enters in the spirit and begins to feel and know and
experience the very conflict that that person is going through.
You’ll have an intercessor, having risen up into that heavenly realm to prepare for
intercession, and God will show the intercessor somebody across the world who is
lying sick and suffering. And the intercessor will sometimes begin to experience
the very pain that is in the body of that person. The intercessor will begin to sigh
and to groan, and to wail and to feel travail and despair. Sometimes it can be very
confusing if you don’t understand what’s happening, but what is actually
happening is you as an intercessor have actually become that person in the spirit.
You are not praying for that person anymore, you are praying as that person. You
have literally become that person in the spirit, and now as that person you are
petitioning God on behalf of that person.
In Charismatic circles there is a common expression that is used, and it’s called
standing proxy for someone. And sometimes someone will go forward in a meeting
for prayer and they will say, "I don’t have a need myself, but I’m standing proxy for
someone else. There is someone who is at home lying in bed sick, and so I’m
standing in their place and I want you to pray over me as though you were praying
over that person." It’s the same kind of thing. You actually become that person and
pray as that person in the spirit. Therefore you can pray with full authority on that
person’s behalf.
Perhaps the person you’re praying for has been beaten into unconsciousness and
is dying and therefore cannot pray for themselves, but their spirit has reached out
to God. God will move upon you as an intercessor and you will enter into the
experience of that person who’s lying unconscious, and you will pray for them the
prayer that they cannot pray. And you will release the authority of God to bring
about deliverance, victory and healing or whatever is needed.
Penitence
The third P is the prayer of penitence. Penitence means confession of sin. Jesus
said in the Lord’s prayer that we must pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us." The prayer of repentance clears the
conscience and opens the way for faith. Why is that necessary? 1 John 3:21 says:
Beloved if our heart does not condemn us then we have confidence

towards God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him because we
keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight.
If our heart does not condemn us we have confidence towards God. This means
that the opposite is true. When my heart is condemning me, I cannot have
confidence towards God. If I have sinned and if I have failed, and if I feel guilty
before God, how can I come boldly into His presence and say, "Lord, I need this.
Please provide my need."? I’ve got to have confidence towards God, and I cannot
have that confidence while I’m under condemnation so the prayer of penitence
clears my heart.
A lot of people get this all wrong and they seem to think that if your heart is not
right before God, God is going to judge you, and God is going to refuse to answer
your prayer. NO. The Scripture says that "Without faith it is impossible to please
Him. He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him."
God is moved by faith, but you see when you sin, your heart condemns you not
the Lord. The Lord never condemns you. "There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Your heart condemns you, and
when your heart condemns you, you do not have faith towards God. And if you do
not have faith towards God you’re not going to get an answer to your prayer.
We’ve got it all back to front. It’s you that’s condemning yourself. It’s your own
conscience that’s condemning you. It’s not the Lord, it is your heart.
The prayer of penitence, the prayer of confession of sin is not a bribery to the
Lord. It’s not an attempt to try and curry favor with Him. You say, "Well, if I confess
all my sins I must come with a list and say, ‘What did I do today, and yesterday
and the day before and the last week? Hey, I may as well go through the last week
and the last 10 or 20 years and make a list of all the things that I did that I haven’t
confessed yet because obviously the Lord is not going to bless me until I’ve dealt
with all those sins back there."
Hey if I can’t remember them do you think He does? He forgot them as soon as
you did them because He covered them already on the right hand of the Father.
How? In intercession. Did you know that? Jesus is the greatest intercessor that
there ever was. Do you know what He’s doing? He’s praying as you. Do you know
that? Every time you sin He’s stood before the Father and said, "Father, forgive
me, I have sinned." Think about it. The prayer of penitence is to clear your heart.
Just say it out loud. "Father, forgive me." You’re under condemnation, your heart is
condemning you.
Repenting on Behalf of Others
You know, we can pray also on behalf of others. Some of the early prophets like
Daniel would fast and pray and intercede and confess the sins of the nation.
"Father we have sinned. We have forsaken You." He was praying on behalf of
someone else. An intercessor very often will receive the burden and the guilt of sin
as they’re interceding on behalf of somebody else and they will take that burden to
the Lord in prayer. 1 John 5:16 says:
If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He
shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.
This is a big subject and I'm not going to go into detail here, but John is talking
about sins that affect people that we can pray for. He's saying that we can pray
concerning another person's sin. Do you remember when they brought the sick
man to Jesus and his four friends let him down by making a hole in the roof?
Jesus came to the man who was lying there sick in bed and paralyzed and He
said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And everybody started to think evil
thoughts and say to themselves, "How can He forgive sins, He's a man. Only God
can forgive sins." And Jesus said to them, "Why are you thinking these thoughts?"
He said, "Just to show you that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to
forgive sins, rise up and walk."
The Son of God - is that what He said, that the Son of God has authority on the
earth to forgive sins? No, He said the Son of Man. And I can show you a verse
where Jesus, after He'd risen from the dead came to His disciples at an event
called the insufflation. You'll find it at the end of John's gospel. Jesus came and He
breathed into them and He said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." And He said to them,
"Whosever sins you remit, they are remitted, and whosever sins you retain they
are retained." He said that to the disciples.
Do you know that you have power to speak forgiveness of sins to God's people?
It's one of the most powerful ministries involved in inner healing of past hurts, and
especially past events that have left a scar of guilt on the lives of people, and they
need to confess and share that failure with a fellow human being, with another
believer in Christ who can, on behalf of the Lord say, "You are forgiven in Jesus'
Name. You are cleansed in Jesus' Name. Maybe the Catholics aren't so far off
after all.
Do you know that Agnus Sanford who was one of the early pioneers of inner
healing came to experience it for the first time? She was an Episcopalian who
didn't believe in confessional, and one day somebody said to her, "Why don't you
go and confess your sins to a priest?" She really didn't like that idea at all, but she
did it as an experiment. And she said the power when he spoke those things out
loud and somebody else said to her, "Your sins are forgiven," really set her free.
I don't want to get into all of this now and say it is a load of heresy. Don't
misunderstand me. We have the power to pray concerning other people's sins at
times. There are sins that we cannot. John says there is a sin that is unto death.
There are sins that are deliberately bringing curses on others and speaking words
of destruction, and willfully coming against the kingdom of God.
Breaking Curses Over Others
There are different kinds of sins. But there are the sins that people are caught in.
There are the sins that are affecting people because they are under the curse of
sins from family generations, and under the curse of people they are associated
with, and other people that have spoken words over them. We have the authority,
especially the prophet of God has authority to intercede on behalf of somebody
else and to break the curses over them, and to break the power of sin over them,
and to speak life to them. We can set them free from that bondage that’s binding
them and speak to them in the Spirit and say, "In the Name of Jesus I speak
forgiveness, I speak cleansing, I speak forgiveness to you now and I set you free."
And the power will be broken.
This is a very powerful type of prayer that is often left out, but is part of the
prophet’s ministry. Perhaps you’re burdened for your nation and your country. You
can pray and you can intercede that God will move on behalf of that nation and
that country. Perhaps you’re burdened for your church and for people in your
church that are not living the way they should. Why don’t you speak the power of
God into them and the cleansing of sin and set them free. Take upon yourself the
burden to pray as them to confess on their behalf that God would release His
blessing towards them.
Prophetic Decree
And so we come to the final type of prayer – the prophetic decree. Jesus said,
"Pray this way. Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We miss the true power of that by not
understanding the actual grammatical Greek structure that is given there, but both
of those are in the imperative. The imperative tense means a command. When the
Lord said we are to say, "Thy Kingdom come," He was saying we are to give forth
a command, "Come Thy Kingdom! Come! Be done Thy will on the earth." There’s
a big difference there.
You see, when you’re sitting on the throne and interceding from the throne you are
issuing decrees from the throne. You’re not praying up to the throne, you’re
praying down from the throne. And when you stand in that place as God’s
spokesman in the earth, His prophet, ordained and anointed by Him to speak forth
His word into the earth, He wants you to issue a decree, a commandment.
If you read the book of Esther you find out how the King Ahasuerus had a ring on
his finger, and when the King made a decree and he sealed that decree with his
ring, that decree went forth into the land and could not be broken or disobeyed.
And in terms of the laws of the Medes and the Persians it could not be retracted
either, so much so that when the King gave his ring to Haman, and Haman issued
the decree to destroy the Jews, afterwards they said to him, "Stop the decree." But
the King said, "I can’t stop it. It is the law of the Medes and Persians. Once the
decree is issued it cannot be retracted.
In Isaiah 55:11 the Lord said:
So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not

return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
"It’s going to go out and it’s going to do it’s job. When that word goes out of My
mouth, you’d better believe it, It’s going to hit the target!" Have you ever tried to
get a bullet back into the mouth of a rifle after you’ve pulled the trigger? Too late! (;-
) When a prophet of God opens his mouth to speak forth the word that God places
in his mouth, he is sending forth a decree into the earth that is the very word of
God, and it goes forth like the law of the Medes and the Persians. It cannot be
retracted.
Amos 3:7 says:
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, except He reveals His secrets to
His servants the prophets.
His secrets – what does it mean? It means that God plans to do things in the
earth. And when God plans to do things in the earth, God looks for a man (or a
woman) to be His agent in the earth. You see, if God’s word is going to go into the
earth, it doesn’t come out of the ether, it comes out through a body that is made
from the elements of the earth, because only a spirit living in a human body can
speak forth the words of authority into the earth. It’s the way God has made it.
That is the way God has decreed it, because He put man in control of this earth.
And when God is going to speak forth His words into the earth, he’s going to
speak it through human lips.
When the prophets of old spoke, and they predicted we’re taught, and they made
decrees of what was going to happen in the last days and in the end times, they
were not predicting, they were speaking into existence the very thing that God had
decreed. They were sending into the earth the very decree of Almighty God. They
were uttering and issuing a decree which could not be retracted.
Do you realize the awesome responsibility that there is on a prophetic intercessor,

that when he opens his mouth to utter into the earth the authority and the word of
God, that the words he speaks are the words of God, and that they are sent to the
right place at the right time, in the right way? Do you know what an awesome
responsibility God has placed upon us as His prophets, then you wonder why He
puts us through such a preparation. Then you wonder why He has to bring us to a
place of total dependence on Him; why He has to destroy all self in us; why He
has to bring us low; why He has to teach us to have no confidence in the flesh
whatsoever, because He’s called us to be His intercessors.
He’s called us to speak forth His word into the earth. And as He speaks forth His
rhema words to you of His will and His purpose, you speak it forth. And if
somebody’s looking to God in faith, exercising their faith in prayer and believing
God, God sends the answer by coming to you and He says, "Issue the decree.
Speak it forth now, that My servant’s prayer may be answered."
Waiting on God for Direction
Can you see the difference? So many people think that intercession is taking a
whole list of requests and bringing them to the Lord and bombarding Him, and
bombarding Him, and hammering it, and hopefully one of us will get it right and
we’ll get the answer. No! I’ve found that the kind of prayers that bring instant
results is when the intercessor comes into the presence of God and starts out by
getting into the throne room and then waits. He says, "Okay, Lord, I’m charged,
I’m ready! Just give me the decree and I’ll issue it."
You can bring a request to the Lord, and you can bring a need to the Lord, and
you can bring a person to the Lord and say, "Here is a need, Father, I see it. Lord,
what do I pray?" And God says, "Nothing." Drop it. Drop it right there. Put it down,
God’s not dealing with that one. Maybe that person never exercised faith, I don’t
know. It’s not your problem, so don’t you care pray about it.
As you begin to pray suddenly somebody comes into your mind that you haven’t
thought about for a long time, and it comes strong, and God says, "Speak it forth.
Pray for that person, I’m going to work in their situation. Issue the decree."
Intercessors should be spending their time not coming to God with a prayer list,
but coming to God to get a prayer list. And when God gives you the word, you
speak the word.
Sometimes it helps to write it down. A large part of our Bible are the writings of the
decrees that were issued by the prophets of old. It makes it a legal document in
the earth. It’s sealed there, it’s recorded for all the world to see, that such a decree
was issued at such and such a time on such and such a date in the Name of the
Lord, and it shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that for which it is sent.
You see, we can all pray, but the prophet is called especially to do this. It’s the
main part of the prophetic call. The prophet is given the authority to issue decrees
into the earth, and when you prophesy over an individual you’re not just predicting,
you’re speaking the very will of God over them. And most of the time you’re
actually unlocking a door for them. That’s why the golden key has always been the
symbol. Whenever I’ve prayed with somebody and God instructs me to impart the
prophetic office He shows me the golden key.
The prophet has the authority to bind and loose, to open and to shut. We all have
it as believers in some way, but the prophet especially has been given that
authority to issue a decree to open the way, or to issue a decree to shut the door.
That is what the prophet should be doing, and that is done through the ministry of
intercession. So can you see that prophet ministry and intercession are virtually
synonymous? The one runs into the other. And if you’re an intercessor, God’s
leading you into the prophetic ministry. And if you’re a prophet, you will be an
intercessor, you can count on it.
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Prophetic Listening
n the Old Testament, God spoke to people through various means, the
most common, and the most powerful, being the prophets. In the New
Testament God still fulfils a large role in the prophet. The prophet still
hears the voice of God and speaks it forth. How does a prophet hear from
God? Are there specific ways that God speaks? Can a prophet develop a greater
capacity to hear the voice of God?
In this lesson I want to deal with prophetic listening to the voice of God; how the
prophet hears the voice of God, how God speaks and how it is possible for us to
hear and to take heed and receive from Him, especially as the prophets of God, that
we may speak forth His words into the earth. We first have to hear, and before we
can hear we have to learn how to listen.
Seven Ways of Listening

I am going to look at seven ways that God speaks; seven ways that a person can
hear; seven ways that the prophet can hear the voice of God and know what it is
that God is saying, and receive instructions from the Holy Spirit. Seven is the
number of perfection or completion. I did not plan it that way, but as I waited on the
Lord He gave me seven different ways of hearing from Him. It is so vitally important
that we learn to hear well.
1. The Spiritual Urim and Thummim

The first method that God used to speak in the Old Testament was the method
called the Urim and the Thummim. In that first verse that we looked at it said that,
"God did not answer Saul by Urim..." Urim was one of the ways that Saul tried to
hear from God. The Scripture says that God did not answer him by Urim. So we
need to understand what the Urim is, and we need to go back into the Old
Testament and look at a few Scriptures.
These are very vague items and they are not very well described. The Scriptures do
not tell us in absolute detail what they were, but the general consensus amongst
those who have studied this, is that the Urim and the Thummim were two stones.
These stones were either the stones that were embedded in the breastplate of the
ephod worn by the priest, or they were two stones that were contained in a pouch
that was on the side of the ephod where he could place his hand. Somehow these
two stones would give a person direction from God. It was not the kind of direction
that says, "What must I do? Where must I go?" but the kind of direction that says,
"Should I do this or should I not do that?" And the answer would come either as a
‘yes’ or a ‘no’.
So when they used the Urim and the Thummim to obtain direction from God in those
times, they would know which direction they were planning to go. What they would
do is to present to the Lord a question. "Lord, shall I do this?" And God would
answer back by Urim or Thummim, yes or no. It seems that if you had a Urim the
answer was yes, and if you had a Thummim the answer was no.
How did the answer come? That depends on exactly what the Urim and Thummim
were. One of the thoughts was, the Urim and Thummim being two stones in the
breastplate, and when the person prayed, one of those stones would light up and
glow. If it was the Urim that glowed, God was saying, "Yes," but if it was the
Thummim that glowed, God was saying, "No." If neither of them glowed, God was
saying, "None of your business. I am not talking to you." That is what happened to
Saul. God would not answer him.
I want to show you a Scripture that indicates how David used it. In 1 Samuel 23:9 it
says:
"When David knew Saul had secretly planned evil against him he said
to Abiathar the priest, ‘Bring the ephod here.’ Then David said, ‘O Lord
God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come
to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the man of Keilah
deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has
heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beg of you, tell Your servant.’ And the
Lord said, ‘He will come down.’ "
God answered him with a Urim. And so in the Old Testament there was this means
of hearing from God, a means of receiving a yes or no answer from God.
You say, "Well we do not have that anymore in the New Testament. We do not have
the priesthood, we do not have the priestly garments, we do not have the temple
and all of those old things."
Yes, but all of those things have become spiritual in the New Covenant and we still
have a Urim and a Thummim.
You might ask, "Where is it then?"
It is in your heart, in your soul, in your spirit. It is within you.
God has placed within you a spiritual Urim and Thummim. He has placed within you
a sign, a revelation that will cause you to receive a yes answer or a no answer. You
can come to God in prayer still with that kind of question. "Lord, must I do this?" And
the answer will come up from within your spirit as a, 'yes, yes,' or a 'uh uh, no way.'
You will sense it in your spirit. You will feel it. You will feel it as a surge which says,
"Yes, it is good, do it." Or you will feel a check in your spirit. It is a gut feel, an inner
thing. It is a very deep thing, and what is actually taking place is that God is
speaking to you out of your spirit.
Receiving Out of Your Spirit
In a lot of the teaching that we have presented we have been sharing on the spirit
and soul and body. God has made man so that He imparts things into his spirit, and
God is speaking in your spirit all the time. The Spirit of God and your spirit are in
communication. They are in touch all the time. In order for you to receive what God
is saying to your spirit, that revelation, that word from God, has to be communicated
outwards from your spirit. As it is communicated outwards it comes out via the soul
and the body.
Effects in the Soul
So what comes out of your spirit has to rise up, and the first thing that it is going to
be affected is your soul. We all know that the soul contains the mind, emotions and
will. That means the influence from your spirit has to create an effect, an influence,
on your mind, your emotions and your will. The Urim and the Thummim that I am
speaking about causes this influence from the Spirit within you to affect your
emotions. It is primarily a feeling.
Going by Feelings
You say, "Well, brother, we do not go by our feelings." Yes you do. You do all the
time. Every decision you make in life you make by your feelings. In fact, most of the
time you do what you feel like doing. Of course your feelings are involved. Of course
your emotions are involved. But if you will learn to submit your soul to your spirit,
and submit your emotions to your spirit, then your emotions will come under the
influence and be affected by your spirit within.
When that happens and the influence of the spirit begins to rise up, it causes either
a positive or a negative emotion, and that is your Urim and Thummim. A positive
emotion that creates a surge, an excitement, a yes, is your Urim. An emotion that
comes negative, fearful, check, care, concern, watch out for it, it is a Thummim.
Your spirit is saying, "No, not a good idea, do not go that way." All you need to do is
to submit to the spirit within and hear in your emotions. Some people call it ‘The
Peace of God’. Some have called it ‘The Umpire of God’. It is an effect deep within
you, a deep feeling in your spirit, in your soul. It goes deeper even than your
emotions because it is coming down deep within your spirit and coming out from
your innermost being out of your belly somewhere. It comes with this feeling from
within.
Using the Urim in Prayer
Sometimes you feel the Urim and the Thummim when you are praying as a prophet.
If someone gives you a request, "Please can you pray for so and so, they are sick,
they need healing," and you open your mouth and you begin to pray and you say,
"Father, in the Name of Jesus I ask you to reach out and..." but you feel like there is
something in your mouth. It does not want to come out. You are stumbling over the
words and you feel like you are chewing on cotton wool. Something inside of you
says, "Uh oh, no, you are praying wrong." That is your Thummim. It is saying, "No,
just hold it. You just wait, it is not time yet, you are praying wrong." Stop it right
there!
At other times you think of a person and you begin to pray and you say, "Oh Father,
I am just thinking about so and so. I pray that you will bless them..." and suddenly
something bursts out and it starts to pour out of you. It is your Urim saying, "Go get
‘em! Yes pray, pour it out, send forth the Word into the earth. You are doing it right,
you have it." Do you know what I am talking about? If you are a prophet you know
what I am talking about. Your spiritual Urim and Thummim is the ability to hear from
the spirit within whether you are flowing in the right direction or not.
Receiving in the Mind
We come then to the effects that are created from the spirit within that come to the
mind. The problem with the mind is that it is being filled all the time by what you are
doing, by the circumstances that you are in, by the environment and the
surroundings and activities that you are involved in. All the time while you are
conscious and awake your body is pushing input in. It is sending it inwards into the
soul and into the spirit. Influences are coming from your five senses, your seeing,
hearing, touching, tasting, feeling.
Those senses are picking up impulses in the world around you all the time while you
are awake. Then the impulses are fed inwards from the body into the soul and they
occupy your mind, so that it is filled with what you are see and hear. If you are sitting
at the dinner table it is filled with what you smell and taste and feel. All of these
things affect us all the time. But you will find that your mind is a one-way street. You
cannot feed inwards and outwards at the same time. It just does not happen. It
cannot work. It is a one-way flow. You have to change the direction, and the only
way that you can do that is to stop the flow in one direction before the flow can take
place in the other direction.
2. Dreams and Visions

There are two ways that you can stop that inward flow and encourage the outward
flow from within your spirit, towards your soul and into your mind. You have to be
either unconscious or asleep, so that your senses are no longer active. Failing that
you have to still your senses, or place them into a condition of suspension so that
you are ignoring them. Only then can the influences from deep within your spirit
begin to pour out and come up into your mind.
This is all that dreams and visions are. Dreams are the influences that come up out
of your spirit while you are asleep. While you are asleep your body is out of action
and the senses are inactive. Therefore what is in your spirit can begin to pour out
into your mind. So during dreamtime, your spirit is able to start communicating
things outwardly. As it does this, it communicates information in the same way that it
is fed inwards.
How is information fed inwards into the mind from outside? It can only be fed in from
the body via the five senses - seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, touching. Those are
the only elements that your mind can understand. It cannot think in anything else
because those are the influences that come in. So if influences are going to come
up out of your spirit into your soul and into your mind in order to flow outwards, they
will be communicated in the same way. They have to be communicated in a form
like the five senses.
Receiving Through Dreams
When you dream, what you have received from your spirit in your dreams has to
come via the senses. In your dreams you see things, hear things, taste things, smell
things, and touch things. All of those senses come out in your dreams. There is no
other way that your spirit can communicate outwards through your mind except
through the senses.
So as you dream, you need to identify in your dream what is being communicated to
you via those five senses. What did you see in your dream? What did you hear? Did
you taste something? Did you smell something? Did you feel something? All of
these things come out and they are coming out to communicate a message to you.
Your spirit cannot speak to your mind in words. Your spirit cannot speak outwards in
an audible voice. It has to speak via the senses, and the most common sense is
always the sense of sight. So most of your dreams are going to be taken up with
pictures, things that you are going to see, and what comes up out of your spirit in
dreams is going to take various forms.
Internal and External Dreams
There are two main forms that dreams take. Actually there are three, but only two of
these can be used to identify a message from your spirit. The third one is of a
slightly different kind. The first form is what I call the internal dream. In an internal
dream everything that comes out is symbolic and generally refers to the dreamer
alone. That means that everything that you see in your dream is not really as it
appears to be. When that happens you need to understand what is being pictured.
Dream Symbolism
The Bible is full of symbols and life is full of symbols. We tend to remember and
identify things in life by association. We associate certain objects with certain things
in our life. In the Scriptures we also have objects that are used. For example the
Holy Spirit is often typified by oil or by water. We have the picture of the lamb of
God, speaking of His gentleness and His humility. We have a picture of the lion of
the tribe of Judah, the strength and the power. There are a lot of symbols in the
Scriptures. So when your spirit begins to communicate outwards to you through
dreams, it communicates to you through pictures.
Here is where a lot of people miss it in their dreams. Your dreams will be filled very
often with characters and places that you know in real life. After all these are the
things that you have been feeding in during your life. These are the pictures that
your mind has fed downwards into your soul. And now as your spirit begins to come
out it looks for materials. What your spirit is doing is putting on a little play for you,
so it looks for props, it looks for characters, and it looks for actors and actresses. It
looks for everything that is needed in a play and it builds the stage, and the props,
and it pulls out the stars that it is going to use. It decides who is going to play the
leading role in this little play, and who is just going to play the extras.
Internal Dreams
All that takes place is this beautiful little play is put on for you, and most of the time
you are the star of it. You are right in the middle of it. When you are the star and you
participate in the play and take part in it, then usually it is an internal dream. That
means that the dream is about you. It is not about somebody else, it is about you.
Then the characters that you see in your dream are not actually the people that you
see. They are simply characters that have been picked to symbolize an aspect of
your life.
So your dream is your life. It is your life being portrayed in a play. You did not know
you were a playwright did you? You did not know you could write plays, but your
spirit is very good at it. Your spirit creates a beautiful little play that it puts on for you,
and it brings all these characters out. And so, when you begin to look at your dream,
if you are going to understand what it means as an internal dream, you need to
realize that you need to look at the whole picture. You need to look at the stage.
You need to look at the background. You need to look at the scene that is being
portrayed. You need to sometimes look at the colors that are involved.
You need to look at the characters that are involved. Are they people close to you?
Are they people distant to you? Are they total strangers that you have never seen
before? What objects appear in your dream? Do you have vehicles appearing in
your dream? Do you see the sun or the moon or the stars, or trees, objects that are
a regular part of life? Each of these things is a symbol or picture of you, of your life,
your ministry, your circumstances, and your spirit is trying to give you a message.
Your spirit is trying to paint a picture for you to let you know what is going on in your
life.
Internal dreams usually are not prophetic in nature. Internal dreams are not a
prediction. They are not something that you need to share with the world. Internal
dreams are not something you stand up in church and proclaim to everybody, "God
gave me this dream and this is what the dream means." This is because the dream
is not about the church, or about other people. The dream is about you.
So often people are confused here. They seem to assume that because they had a
dream and it was a very clear one, and it was quite obvious that God was speaking
to them in the dream, that this must be a prophetic dream. They assume that it is for
the church, the body of Christ, or for Israel or somebody else. Then they begin to
pour out an interpretation of that dream that is based on others, when all the time
God is trying to do is gain their attention. He is trying to say something to them
personally. The internal dream is when your spirit is trying to communicate that thing
to you and is trying to give you a direction. It may be trying to give you a warning, a
promise, an upliftment or a hope. Whatever the dream is trying to accomplish, it is
for you, not for somebody else.
If you are going to be able to interpret that dream then you will to have to learn to
interpret the symbols, remembering that the symbols in the dream are going to
relate to you and you alone. There are a lot of symbols that tend to recur. In other
words, many of the symbols in certain people might mean the same thing, but they
do not necessarily mean the same thing to you. You need to assess your
relationship with the character in your dream.
The Father Image
If you are dreaming about your father, then the character in your dream represents a
part of you that typifies your relationship with your father. Do you have a good
relationship with your father? Do you look to him and respect him? Is he your
covering and protection and somebody that you admire? If so then your father could
be a picture of the Lord in your dream or the Spirit of the Lord, but usually it is the
Lord. If you have a bad relationship with your father, he could picture something
very different, so I am not going to give you symbols here and say this is what it
means in your dream. You must examine it yourself
Spouses
If you are dreaming about your spouse, it is going to depend on what kind of
relationship you have with your spouse. If it is a good one, and if your spouse is a
good influence in your life, and if there is a harmony and a closeness, your spouse
could be a picture of your recreated spirit, or of the Holy Spirit. He is there to assist
you, and to guide you and help you, to be with you along the way. If your spouse is
trying to stop you serving the Lord, is blocking you, and is standing in the way of
your spiritual progress all the time, it might be a picture of the flesh, an obstacle,
something that gets in the way. You need to examine the pictures.
Family Members
If the characters in your dream are some of your personal family members like
brothers and sisters, what it is that are going to be pictured, is going to depend on
what kind of relationship you have with them. If you are dreaming of your own
children then they are likely a picture of those things, which you have given birth to.
They may be a picture of spiritual ministry, or they may be a picture of spiritual fruit
in your life.
Whenever I have dreamed of my three daughters, the Lord showed me that they
represented faith, hope and love, the triad of the spiritual forces that we have taught
about. In dream after dream it was confirmed that that is exactly what they were;
faith, hope and love. So if one of them appeared in my dream I knew what God was
speaking about. If the faith one appeared, my dream was telling me about my faith,
and depending on what that daughter did in the dream, it would tell me something
about my faith.
First Love
Whenever I have dreamed about the first person I ever fell in love with, I have
known that God was speaking about my first love, my relationship with Him. There
are so many different characters that can come into your dream. You need to
understand what they mean to you. You do not necessarily need to go and ask
some prophet somewhere to interpret your dream for you, because he does not
know about your life. He is not able, unless God gives him a word of wisdom or
knowledge, to understand or to know what your dream is saying to you. It is an
internal dream. It is a personal little play for you.
Vehicles and Movement
If in your dreams you are running away from monsters, and being chased and
backed into a corner, it is a picture of conflict in your spiritual life. It is a picture of the
condition that you are in right now. And if in your dream you are dreaming of
vehicles, again it depends on what you see in vehicles and what they mean to you.
Usually a vehicle is a picture of movement, of going forward. It is therefore often a
picture of ministry, of involvement, of activity in life. So for me, when I see a vehicle,
it is a picture of my ministry. Maybe it will be different for you. Usually you see the
vehicle you like the most. My wife Daphne loves airplanes, so 99 times out of 100
she sees airplanes. She dreams about planes all the time, and when she dreams
about them she knows that God is speaking to her about ministry. He is speaking
about progress, about activity in the spiritual realm and doing things for the Lord.
Male and Female Characters
Your dreams can indicate to you that there is a negative influence in your life. If in
your dreams a male or a female character appears that you seem to be familiar
with, but cannot recognize or identify, it often speaks about the masculine or the
feminine qualities in you. This is what the psychologists have called the animus and
the anima. So the female character in you may refer to those feminine creative
qualities, and the masculine character may refer to the logical thinking intellectual
qualities. Your dream may be telling you that you are out of balance in one of them
perhaps, or that you are being influenced too strongly by one of them, or maybe that
you are ignoring it. Whatever it may be, your dream is trying to tell you something. It
is trying to get a message across to you personally.
That is an internal dream, and everything is symbolic. Over a period of time if you
would just analyze your dreams and start to interpret them in this way, you will begin
to realize that over and over again certain symbols will occur in your dreams all the
time. Eventually you will find that you can very easily identify what your spirit is
trying to say to you from within, as it comes into your mind during dreamtime.
External Dreams
External dreams are those that are a little bit more prophetic. External dreams are
when the characters in your dreams are the real characters that they represent. But
here is the difficulty. It is sometimes difficult to know when you are having an
internal dream or an external one. This causes problems, because in your dream
you may dream that somebody died. Very often a person will wake up in fear
because they dreamed that their spouse died and they say, "Oh, the Lord must be
warning me that my husband is going to die or my wife is going to die." No, it could
be that your dream is saying to you that the things that you are married to are going
to die. The things that you have committed yourself to that are standing in the way
of your spiritual progress are going to die, and God is going to take them out of your
life. It might actually be a very good dream.
Sometimes you might have one of these nasty dreams where there is a dead body
in a coffin and you keep pulling it out, or you keep digging up the grave. Have you
ever had horrible dreams like that? They are vile. You wake up feeling unclean.
Hey, your spirit is trying to say, "Leave the flesh in the grave. Stop digging it up.
Stop going back to your sinful past." Every single dream has a symbol. But you see,
when it comes to the external dream, the external indicates that you are actually
dreaming about a certain person, but it may still be symbolic. There are still symbols
all the way through.
Dark Sayings and Figurative Speech
There is what the Scripture calls dark sayings, figurative speech. God speaks in
figurative speech all the time, but now the characters in your dream start to become
real characters. Perhaps the places that you see in your dreams are real places.
They are not symbolic any more. Now you have to start understanding and
interpreting.
Differentiating Internal and External Dreams
How do you tell the difference between an internal and an external dream? The first
thing to look at is, whether you are the star of this play or whether you are watching
it from without? Are you watching it as though you are looking at it on TV, as though
you are standing as a bystander, not actually involved in it, but looking at it? Usually
that is an indication that your dream is external, but not always. If you are not
actively involved in the dream or one of the key players, then it could be that your
dream is starting to move more into the external. Then you are likely looking at
something that is a little bit more prophetic. The characters in your dream are
possibly the real characters that they depict.
Perhaps what the characters do in your dream could be God revealing to you things
about that person. Or it could be God revealing to you things that have to do with
your relationship with that person. But you will know as you practise, as you begin to
get experience, you find that the external dream is actually a vision given during
sleep. It is what the Scripture calls a night vision. It is basically the same as a vision,
which we will come to shortly. It is a vision given while you are asleep.
You must remember though, that 90 percent of the dreams of most people are not
external dreams. They are internal dreams. Everybody dreams, but when you start
to move more into the prophetic realm, only then do you start receiving night visions.
Only then do you start to receive external dreams, where your dream has an
external emphasis and meaning. And sometimes, just sometimes, it is possible that
your dream can be both internal and external.
Dreams That are External and Internal
If you look at some of the interpretations that Daniel gave to the king concerning the
dreams that he had, they could have been given two interpretations. The first time
he interpreted the king's dream he interpreted it as external, but actually it had an
internal meaning as well. When the king saw this great big image where a stone
came and shattered it and it broke and went away, it was God already warning King
Nebuchadnezzar that He was going to break him down and humble him and deal
with him. Daniel did not have the courage, perhaps, to tell the king the real meaning,
so he gave him an external meaning. The external meaning was that each part of
the image, the head and the breastplate, etc., were all different kingdoms that would
go down. It had a prophetic orientation pointing towards the future.
Later on the king has another dream where an angel comes down from heaven and
cuts down the tree and puts a band around it to keep the tree. And the voice speaks
about this person with dew over his head for seven years, etc., and Daniel now
gives the interpretation.
"The tree is you, O King. God is going to cut you down. You are going to be driven
from men, and you are going to eat grass like oxen for seven years, but your
kingdom will be held for you. And when you rise up and look to the Lord you will be
brought back and you will be restored to your throne."
You see, it becomes more of a personal internal dream that God is speaking to the
person now. In this case it is an internal prophetic dream. So when you come to
interpreting dreams you need to learn how to distinguish the two, otherwise you
could be led astray.
Healing and Purging Dreams
Finally there is another kind of dream, which is neither internal nor external. It is not
prophetic, it is not a message, it is not a one act play. It is a load of garbage. You
think maybe it was caused by what you had for dinner before you went to bed. You
dream absolute rubbish. You dream things that a Christian should not dream. You
feel unclean in the morning when you wake up. You think, "Satan must have
attacked me during the night." That is possible, it does happen. But I am speaking
about a different kind of dream here.
Sometimes in your dream you feel pain and emotion and joy. Sometimes dream you
are fighting somebody. Perhaps you are not the kind of a person who fights much.
You are a bit of a pacifist. You are not one to hit back and attack people. But in your
dream you are fighting and you are punching this guy’s nose in. You are giving him
a black eye. You are knocking his teeth out!
In your dreams you may be suffering severe temptation and giving in to lust. I want
to tell you what is happening. All that is happening is all the garbage that you have
picked up in your travels and experiences in the world are simply being purged out.
You see, everything that you receive while you are awake that is fed inwards via the
five senses, is fed inwards to a storage area. It is sitting deep within and your heart
is taking that storage of information in order to regulate your life. But when you have
the Spirit of God within you, the Spirit of God begins to purge out.
As you begin to fill yourself with the Word then I can tell you, the more you delve
into the Word, and the more you meditate on it, and the more time you have spent
filling yourself with the Word, the worse your dreams are going to become. You are
going to be confused. You are going to say, "I do not understand this. I have just
been meditating on the Scripture. I have been praying in the Spirit and speaking in
tongues. I have been filling myself with the Lord and spending time in His presence,
and yet I have been having the vilest of dreams you can imagine. It must be Satan
attacking me." No, it is not.
What is actually happening is that the Word is starting to go into your heart, and
when the Word goes into your heart it has to make space. It has to start throwing
the junk out so it has space to get in. It is like the bottom of a lake. If you go and
look at the bottom of a lake that has been standing still for a while you may see that
the water is crystal clear and beautiful. When you look down to the bottom of the
lake, everything looks fine. All the junk and the garbage that have been thrown in
that lake over a period of time have been covered over with a fine layer of sand. As
you look at the bottom of the lake it looks smooth, it looks great, it looks fine.
Now go to the edge of a lake where the water is shallow and take yourself a stick,
and put it in and start to churn around and mix the bottom of the lake, and see what
comes out. The filth that is lying down there is churned up. The sea does this all the
time. We often take a walk down the beach because we live by the sea, and we see
all the flotsam and jetsam and garbage that has been thrown out by the sea
because it is moving all the time.
When you have a healing dream all that is happening is your spirit is churning things
up a bit and saying, "Okay now, make way for the Word. Make way for the new stuff
that has just come in. What are we going to throw out here? We can throw out this
old tin can, throw out this piece of log. We’ll throw out this piece of junk that’s been
rotting there for a while. Let’s throw it out, we do not need it." So where is it going to
throw it out to? It is going to throw it into your mind. And out it comes as garbage,
and horrible dreams. But they are actually healing dreams.
Perhaps you have had dreams of events that took place a long time ago in your life.
You might in your dreams begin to relive experiences, painful hurtful experiences.
All that is happening is your spirit is purging out all those bad events of the past in
order that the Word can come back in its place and it can be filled with something
good.
So you need to learn to discern what is coming from your dreams. Learn to detect
what is being spoken out. Learn to hear the pure voice of God when it comes up. Is
it giving you instruction or warning, or is it giving you a prophetic word that is for
somebody else? According to what your dreams reveal, you are given a course of
action to take.
Visions
What are visions? I used to often ask the Lord for visions. "Oh Lord, I want a vision.
Oh Lord, please give me a vision." I would read in the Bible how Peter went into a
trance and he saw things. Paul had visions and all the great guys had visions. You
hear evangelists and the big preachers standing up and saying, "I had a vision of
the Lord, and in my vision I saw this and that, and this and the other thing."
So I used to say, "Oh, Lord, I wish I could have a vision."
People close to me began to say, "I had this vision from the Lord." My Dad began to
have visions, powerful visions.
"Oh Lord, why can you not give it to me? Why do I not have visions, Lord?"
Then one day the Lord showed me that I had been seeing visions for a long time,
but I did not know that visions do not always take the same form. What is a vision?
A vision is simply, as I said earlier, an influence coming up out of your spirit and
coming into your mind. The difference is it takes place while you are awake. It is
really just a dream while you are awake depending on whether that vision really is a
play like a dream. And if it is a play like a dream, then it will come to you just like a
dream, except while you are awake.
Trance Visions
Now sometimes in order for that to take place, your natural senses have to be put
into a state of suspension. That is what the Scripture refers to as falling into a
trance, or a trance vision. A trance vision is simply an influence that is so strong on
you, that your natural senses are suspended so that you do not see or hear
anything that is going on about you. You are taken up with the vision just like you
would be with a dream.
Most people do not have trance visions. If you are a prophet and you have not had a
trance vision do not worry about it. Do not say, "Well I must be a second-rate
prophet then because everybody else has trance visions and I do not." No, it could
be that you are able to hear from your spirit without having your senses knocked
out.
I have heard folks say, "Well I went forward for prayer and everybody was knocked
out under the power except me."
Have you ever wondered why people fall under the power? I love the description
that was given by the first evangelist that I ever saw manifesting that in his ministry,
and it happened while I was still a youngster years ago. He was an American
evangelist that came traveling around years ago, a healing evangelist, and when he
prayed for people they would fall under the power.
He said, "I do not know why this happens. It just started to happen in my ministry."
This was long before the days when it began to happen everywhere. He said, "I can
only come to one conclusion. When you go to the doctor and he operates on you he
puts you under anesthetic first before he can operate." He said, "I can only conclude
that this is God's anesthetic. God has to put people under anesthetic so that He can
operate on them. So if I pray for you and you go down don’t worry about it, you are
just under anesthetic. When God is finished operating on you, you will come round.
You will be fine."
I loved that explanation. I still do love it. I think it is brilliant. I think if you have to fall
under the power there is something that has to be knocked out. Some people do not
need anesthetic. I remember going to the dentist and he would use psychology on
me. He would say, "You are a big boy, aren't you? You don’t need an injection!" Not
that I could argue with him. Oh, I used to hate the dentist, because he did not give
me an anesthetic and I would feel all the pain.
Well, maybe you do not need an anesthetic. Maybe you are open enough to the
Spirit of God that He can speak to you without having to knock your senses out.
Maybe you are able to hear from within your spirit. Maybe you have the kind of
control where you can close your eyes and shut out your vision, where you can shut
out your ears. Hey, if you have a lot of kids, you should have learned how to do that
by now. It is easy! You just pretend you do not hear them when they make a noise.
But you see, not everybody has to go into a trance vision in order to receive such a
strong influence in their spirits. And not all visions are active little plays. Visions can
be stills as well. They can be slides. They are not always movies. You can receive a
vision that is simply a picture that is printed on your mind, and it may be an active
picture, but it may just be a still picture. It is still a vision. It is still an influence that
has come up from within your spirit.
Every one of us, not just the prophets, has the capability of receiving those pictures.
If you will just close your eyes and calm your thoughts and worship the Lord, and let
your mind go freely, you will be amazed at the stuff that comes up into your mind.
Some people experience that as they are going to sleep at night. It is like they have
started dreaming before they have fallen asleep. Have you ever had that? Have you
ever started dreaming before you fell asleep? Your mind goes mad, it goes wild, and
all these pictures start to roll through it. Where do you suppose that is coming from?
It is coming from the same place your dreams come from. It is coming up from
within you.
A lot of the time what comes up are pictures, symbols, sometimes spiritual symbols,
sometimes even revelation from the Lord, and you may not even realize it. You
probably thought, "I wish I could get a hold of my mind. Man, you should see some
of the things I am seeing. I have never thought of things like this before. Where is
this coming from?" It is coming from inside you. Stop and listen. Say, "Hold it. What
is going on here?" You might have been seeing visions and did not even know it.
You would be amazed at the pictures that come up out of your mind.
Try it sometime. Sit down with a pen and paper, and let your mind just tick over and
let it go. Then write down every picture, every symbol, every vision, every thought,
everything that comes up into your mind. Write it down, and you will be amazed to
find as you look through them how many of them actually have spiritual significance
and could be interpreted just like your dreams. It could be God speaking to you
internally.
As you learn to develop this, recognize it, still your mind and your thoughts, and shut
out what is going on round about you, you will learn to perceive the pictures that
come up from within. Then you will learn to do it while you are praying with people.
You will learn to do it while you are praying for somebody in intercession. You will
learn to develop this capacity to where eventually your inner vision becomes so
clear and distinct that it is as clear as if you were having a dream.
For many folks the visions that they see are so clear and distinct, that it appears that
they have gone into a trance vision, but actually they have not. They are simply able
to shut out the external influences and draw into themselves. And often those who
experience this tend to be people who are more introverted. They are not outwardly
expressive. They tend to be very much loners and draw into themselves. They tend
to live in their thoughts and live in a daydream world a lot. They have developed this
capacity of living in a fantasy world.
People like that very often have a greater capacity to receive vision and to shut out
what is going on round about them. We tend to reprove a person like that by saying,
"Come on down out of the clouds!"
I remember my folks saying to me, "You are too heavenly minded to be of any
earthly good. Just get down and come here! Come and join us." But they did not
know what God was preparing me for. He was teaching me to ‘switch off.’
Sometimes people misunderstand me when I switch off. They say, "You are ignoring
me."
And I say, "No I am not, I am just ignoring you!"
I am shutting out, shutting in, coming to the place where I am listening to what is
going on in my heart, what is going on in my spirit. Sometimes you need to be alone
somewhere to do that. Learn to shut it out, learn to listen, learn to look and see the
visions that come up out of your heart.
Open Visions
There is one other kind of vision and this vision is even more powerful in a sense, in
that it is imprinted over the natural senses. It is what the bible calls open vision.
Open vision is when you can look at your surroundings, and you see something else
superimposed on your surroundings. Many of those who have seen a vision of the
Lord Himself have seen that kind of vision, to the extent that they have actually seen
the Lord sitting in a chair next to them. They have seen the Lord standing in the
corner. They have seen everything round about them and superimposed on top of
that is the character, or whatever it is that your vision is revealing.
That is the open vision. It can happen. It depends on the individual. It depends on
how sensitive you are. It depends on how you can shut out your senses, and
whether God has to knock you out or not. You are able to receive that influence in
your mind in dreams and visions.
3. Prophetic Utterances
The third way of hearing from God is through prophetic utterances and tongues. You
have within you a wellspring of wisdom. You have the Word that has been stored
within you. You have the Spirit of God that is within you. In fact you have everything.
The Scripture speaks about us having within us a spring of life. Jesus spoke about
that well springing up and pouring out of us. He said, "Out of your innermost being
will flow rivers of living water."
We need to tap into that inner wisdom. So what we have to do is create a link, a
channel, for the flow to begin to take place and flow outwards. One of the ways of
doing it is through the faculty of speech. We have seen that the Spirit can
communicate outwards via the soul. As it communicates outwards via the emotions
we have our Urim and Thummim. As it communicates outwards via the mind we
have dreams and visions. How does it communicate outwards via the will? It
communicates through speech. The speech center is linked directly to the spirit, and
when you open your mouth by an act of your will to speak forth, then you speak
forth what comes up out of your spirit.
Have you ever noticed that as you speak and pour forth in speech, sometimes just
talking about anything and everything, something just slips out that you did not
expect. It just pops out, and you say, "I wonder what made me say that?"
Psychologists call it a Freudian slip. Something just popped out while you were not
thinking about it. Now often that happens when you are counseling somebody. I am
going to be dealing with that a little more shortly as we look at some other methods
of hearing from God, but speech is a means of pouring forth what is from within you.
Other Tongues
So God has given us the means of tapping into the wisdom within using speech,
both speech in the natural tongue and speech in other tongues. As you pray in
tongues, what actually happens is you begin to tap the resources that are within
your spirit. So the Scripture says, "He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies (or
builds up) himself." How does that happen?
Have you ever noticed that when you pray in tongues for a while something begins
to take place? When you get down to pray and you open your mouth and start to
speak in tongues, your emotions may be completely dead. Your mind may be
preoccupied with all sorts of things that are not spiritual at all. You are not even
thinking about the Lord. But by an act of your will you open your mouth and you start
to speak. It is a choice. You choose to speak in tongues.
What is happening is you tap the resources of your spirit by an act of your will and
you begin to pour out. The Scripture calls that praying with your spirit. It is not
praying in the spirit, but praying with the spirit. And as you pray with the spirit you
are praying with other tongues. Paul says, "When I pray in other tongues my spirit is
praying." It is your spirit that is now in control. It is your spirit that is pouring forth and
the words that are coming out of your mouth are not coming from your own
understanding. They are not coming through your mind at all, but out of your spirit.
As you continue to speak in tongues and pour forth out of your spirit, after a while it
starts to break through. The flow begins to take place through your soul, and your
emotions start to churn and you begin to feel something happening within. Your
thoughts start to come into focus, you start to think about the Lord, and you begin to
think about spiritual things.
Now most people do not pray in tongues long enough for it to go any further than
that. Very often people will only speak in tongues when their emotions are churned
up, when they feel the anointing on them, when they feel good spiritually and when
they want to worship and praise. Speaking in tongues is for you to tap the resources
within when you do NOT feel like it, when your emotions are down, when your mind
is dull, when you need to hear from God desperately. It is for when you need His
power, when you need to hear His voice right now!
You say, "I wish God would speak to me. I have prayed, but He won’t speak to me. I
can’t hear anything. I do not hear anything in the Urim and Thummim either. He is
just not there. It is dead."
"Well, can you pray in tongues?"
"Yes, …well I don’t feel like it."
"I didn’t ask if you feel like praying in tongues. I said, ‘Can you pray in tongues?’ "
If you have received the gift of tongues then you can pray in tongues. All you need
to do is open your mouth and start, by a choice, and by an act of your will to pray in
tongues
I shared my experience when I gave my testimony on how God led me to spend

long periods praying for an hour in tongues, and how I hit a second wind in the
Spirit. Do you know what happened when I hit that second wind? It started to gush
forth and suddenly pictures started to come into my mind. Suddenly my emotions
became churned up to the point where I was so excited I did not want to stop. It was
just pouring forth.
So very often just praying in tongues will cause to come up out of your spirit
influences, visions even, pictures into your mind. Your spiritual Urim and Thummim
and all of them start to come to life as you spend long periods praying in tongues.
And then you are also in a position now to begin speaking in your native tongue
because you do not understand what you are saying in tongues. You may be seeing
pictures in your mind. You may be feeling a sense of positive and negative in your
emotions, but you still do not have any instruction, because you do not know what
you are saying in tongues. You do not know what your spirit is saying in tongues.
Interpreting Tongues
So Paul says, "If any man pray in an unknown tongue, let him pray that he can also
interpret." Do you realize that as you pour forth in tongues, you are tapping the
wisdom that is within? It is the wisdom that your spirit has, because it is in contact
with the Holy Spirit? Do you want to know the will of God? Do you want to hear His
voice? Do you want Him to speak to you? He is doing it all the time. All you need to
do is learn to hear the voice of your own spirit, because your spirit is going to tell it
to you. If you are going to hear the voice of God, do you know what it is going to
sound like? It is going to sound like you.
I found that as I began to help people move into these things, and to understand the
voice of God and the revelations that were coming to them, that there would be
times when the Spirit of God would move and God would show me and reveal
things to me. And I would say, "Now, God has put something in your mind. Come
on, share it with us. What do you see?"
The person would say, "Well, I kind of thought this, and I thought, ‘Hey, it is just me.
I am making it up.’ "
Of course it was you. It came up out of your spirit because the Holy Spirit is going to
speak to your spirit and it is YOUR spirit that is going to communicate it outwards.
That is the voice that you have learned to hear throughout your life, the real you, the
inner you, the spirit within you. That is the voice that is going to come out. That is
where God is going to speak through. That is where the influence is going to come
from. If you can learn to speak out in tongues, you can then learn to interpret your
tongues. And if you can learn to interpret your tongues, you can know what the
Spirit is saying.
So you can pray, and you can speak in tongues, and you can interpret your
tongues. You can develop to the capacity where God will then begin to speak to
you, where the anointing of the Spirit of God will rise up within you and you will
speak in tongues and interpret your tongues. You will speak in tongues and you will
interpret your own tongues.
When God first began to show me that I could do this, I thought it was heresy at
first. But the anointing of the Spirit of God showed me that it had to be real. It was
God. I could feel it, I could sense it. It was powerful. I began to speak in tongues and
interpret my tongues, and God began to give me direction. He began to give me
prophetic words, words of wisdom and words of knowledge. He began to give me
direction concerning the future. He began to tell me His plan for my life and what He
had in mind for me.
Eventually I kept a tape recorder handy, and I recorded it. Every time I felt the urge
to speak in tongues I put the tape recorder on and I would speak in tongues and
then interpret my tongues. I ran out of tape! It went on for hours. Eventually I began
to transcribe some of the recordings, write them down and keep a log of them. I
began to look at them over a period of time to see whether I had made all these
things up or whether it was God. It began to fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle.
Something would happen in my life and I would go back and read something that
God had said to me, weeks, even months before. And there it was, in writing right
there. The Lord was warning me and telling me that things were going to happen,
that changes were going to take place so that when this happened I was not to be
surprised because it was of Him.
Then as I would pray for people, not knowing what their needs were, I could pray in
tongues, and I could interpret what I prayed in tongues and know what the wisdom
of the Spirit is, and what it is that I should pray. Every single believer who can speak
in tongues has the ability to tap into the wisdom that is in their spirit in this way.
Prophecy
Prophecy is speaking without tongues. I shared in my testimony of how I would

practice over myself and prophesy over myself. You will find as you do this that it
works the same way. You have developed the capacity now where you do not need
to pour out in tongues to get the water flowing. You have prayed in tongues for long
periods. You have set up the channel. The pipe is sunk, the flow is there, and you
can close your eyes and the Lord is there. When you open your mouth to speak, His
Spirit is there. You sense that urge rising up within you, and you begin to speak forth
in prophecy.
Very often, it will happen while you are praying. I found out that as I would pray with
people concerning their needs, it would slip out. I would say something while in
prayer like, "Lord, we pray for this person, and Lord I pray that you would do this..."
And the spirit of prophecy would rise up and say, "Yes, that is it. This is what I am
going to do, and..." out comes a prophecy most unexpectedly. Why? Because I
learned to tap the flow from within my spirit by the faculty of speech.
Now you might be one of those people who do not talk much. You might be
introverted and quiet, and you are wondering why God never uses you in prophecy.
You are like the person who is standing there saying, "Oh, I wish I could speak in
tongues. Oh Lord, I want to speak in tongues. Lord, please make me speak in
tongues." I know, I was one of those when I first received it. I sat waiting for the Lord
to give me tongues. I sat waiting for him to give me tongues and He did not seem to
give them to me. But do you know what? Even if He gave them to me I would not
have known it, because I was not talking. How can you tell if you can speak in
tongues if you are not speaking? You have to open your mouth and say something
before what comes out is tongues. You have to open your mouth and get it going.
It is like a boat on the water. You can place it in the water and you can sit and play
with the rudder all you like. It does nothing to the boat. The boat just sits there. But
get the boat moving, push it out and set it in motion, and the moment you move that
rudder the boat is affected immediately. You have to open your mouth and speak.
And if you want to prophesy, or hear from God in prophecy, then you are going to
have to practice this. If you are afraid to do it in public, then you must do it the way I
learned by doing it in your private prayer closet. You do it by learning to pray in
tongues and interpreting your tongues and by learning to prophesy over yourself.
The more you do that, the better you will become at it, until eventually you will have
the confidence.
As you begin to pray over people that you know, that are near you, you start to hear
for them while you are praying with them, and you start to prophesy over them as
you pray for them. You become an instrument to speak the Word to them. It is the
function of the prophet to speak the Word of God to other people. But if you are
going to do this then you must develop that capacity and exercise it, and make it
available to the Lord so that He can use it. Then when He wants you to speak a
Word to somebody, He does not have to shake you and put you in a trance, or put
you under the power, He just needs to give you that gentle prompting that says,
"Now." It is a gentle prompting that just gives one or two words, one or two thoughts,
a little picture pops into your mind, and God says, "Okay, now. Speak it forth."
"What do I speak?"
"Speak it forth!"
"But what do I speak?"
"Speak it forth!"
You are saying, "Lord, move the rudder."
The Lord is saying, "I want to move it. Get the boat going."
Two Types of Prophecy
You open your mouth and you launch out, and as you do it He steers the rudder.
You speak and He will give you the words to speak. And as it comes out, it is going
to come out in two forms. It is either going to be general prophecy, or it is going to
be personal prophecy. General prophecy normally falls under the standard gift of
prophecy that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 12. It is a prophecy that is given to
the whole group. That word of prophecy could be a word of encouragement or
exhortation, and it could apply to more than one person that is in the group. So
several people could leave the meeting saying, "The Lord spoke to me tonight."
General Prophecy
Thus one prophetic word covered all of them. In order to do that, the prophetic word
needs to be general. It needs to cover principles of Scripture, so very often general
prophecy will involve quoting the Word. What it is actually, is a spontaneous little
sermon, an unprepared little sermonette that the prophet gives. He simply stands up
and God gives him an idea. God gives him the main points of his message, and he
stands up and preaches it by the Spirit. It is just a quick, short, sharp little Word to
the group. It is like the preacher standing up and sharing. Sometimes it is a
confirmation of the sermon that is being preached that night.
Personal Prophecy
Personal prophecy is when you are speaking only to the person that you are praying
with, and you are giving a specific prophecy. You could say, "Thus saith the Lord to
you, my brother/sister..." Personal prophecy becomes a little bit more intensive, a bit
more direct, and it becomes more directive. You cannot give directive prophecy to a
group. You cannot stand up and say, "Thus saith the Lord, You have pondered
changing jobs. This is of Me. Go ahead and do it." A whole lot of guys are going to
go and pack up their jobs and get into trouble because they were mad at their boss.
You have to be careful. You do not give directive prophecy to a group. But when you
are prophesying over an individual you can speak directive prophecy by the word of
knowledge, by the word of wisdom, a specific word for that individual. God will give
the words as you speak them forth. But you have to learn to develop that capacity
before it is going to flow out of you as a prophet.
4. Angels
The fourth way you can hear from God is by the agency of angels. In Acts 27:23
Paul says:
For there stood by me this night the angel of God whose I am and
whom I serve, saying, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought
before Caesar; and look, God has given you all those who are sailing
with you."
Messenger Angels
The angel of God appeared to bring him a message. I shared in our teaching on
angels and demons in the Way of Blessing, how that one third of the angels of
heaven are the messenger angels, the angel Gabriel being the main one. Their
responsibility is to come and bring a message from God.
You say, "Yes, but that was fine in the Old Testament when the Spirit of God was
not within people, when a person could not hear from God for themselves in their
own heart. Yes, God would use angels then."
That is why I picked a verse from the New Testament because I knew you were
going to give me that argument.
The great apostle Paul said, "The angel of the Lord appeared to me tonight and
brought me a message from the Lord."
You find many occurrences of this in the Old and New Testaments. There are
messenger angels. God did not make a third of the angels of heaven to sit around
and do nothing. They have a job to do, and their job is to bring a message.
Angelic Influence
The way they bring a message is often a lot stronger. Do you know why? Because
angels can produce an influence from without. The angels can produce an influence
directly on your mind without coming via your spirit, because very often people do
not hear their spirits. They do not listen well to their spirits, or they are too
preoccupied and too busy to hear from their spirits. So God brings an external
influence, a messenger angel, maybe as a confirmation. God uses angels to bring
messages.
In vision you might see an angel coming with a scroll in his hand, and he is bringing
a message from Almighty God. Perhaps he is bringing a decree that you are meant
to take and speak forth into the earth as a prophet. He is saying, "Here is a decree.
God has issued a decree and He wants this Word to go forth in the earth. Here it is.
I am giving it to you. You are God's prophet. You have the authority. You have the
responsibility to speak this forth, to speak a Word of creation. Now you take the
decree and you speak it forth."
When you see an angel coming to you in the Spirit like that, this is what is
happening. I have seen angels come with a scroll that is sealed. In most cases the
scroll is a picture of a declaration which has been made concerning my own life and
ministry. Then as the angel gives me the scroll, the instruction comes from the
Spirit; "Break the first seal." Usually when I see a scroll like that each seal typifies a
stage in God’s plan.
So if I see a scroll with three seals on it I know that God is giving a three-stage plan.
And He is saying, "The first stage must now begin. Break the first seal." As I break
that first seal something begins to happen in my life and in my ministry, and God
begins to put together something. Then further down the line the word of instruction
comes and God reveals the scroll again and He says, "Break the second seal."
Messenger angels come to bring a Word from the Lord. They come to bring a
decree and a declaration from the Lord, for you to take up and to put in your mouth,
and to declare and decree into the earth as the prophet of God.
Guardian Angels
We all have guardian angels. You may have more than one, depending on what
God’s purpose is for you, what needs to be accomplished, and how dangerous you
are to the kingdom of darkness. I realized once that my guardian angel was bored. I
never gave him much work to do. He was following me all around doing nothing
because I was not using him. I was not speaking forth the Word of God. I was not
acting in faith. I was not giving him the licence and the opportunity to do what God
put him there for.
God put him there to wait on me, to minister to me and to help me. I think the first
time I became aware that my guardian angel had a bigger role to play in my life was
when I was lying under the car struggling, and I could not get a stupid bolt to come
off. I just could not get this dumb car to work, so I cried out, "Lord, I wish there were
somebody here to help me. I have to battle with this car all on my own."
He said, "There is. You just cannot see him."
I saw this vision of my guardian angel taking the wrench out of my hand and
loosening the bolt. Well it did not work exactly that way, but I began to realize, "Hold
it! This guy probably knows more about cars than me. Hey, he is an angel. I am sure
he is pretty intelligent. I know you do not have cars up there, but he’s been around
me for a while. He should have learnt a bit about them by now."
I began to use my guardian angel. I said, "Father I need help. You have given me an
angel. Now angel of God that is with me, help me with this thing." I kind of expected
him to take the wrench from me, but he did not. But suddenly I found that I had more
strength than I used to have. Suddenly I found that after battling to put this stupid
thing in for hours, it just went ‘click’ and dropped into place.
A thought came into my mind to try something that I had not tried before, and it
worked first time. Well, why didn’t I think of that before? Do you know why? Because
somebody put an idea in my mind.
You say, "Did the Lord put the idea in your mind?" Well, yes, but I think He used an
angel to do it. Do you think I am getting carried away with angels? No, the Scripture
says that angels are given to be ministers, servants to wait upon the heirs of
righteousness, which is us. God has given us guardian angels to take care of us. He
has given us guardian angels to go and organize finances for us, and to arrange
circumstances for us in our life. They open doors for us, and assist us, and help us
to be all that God wants us to be, and to succeed in this world.
Now I am not advising you to get into a situation where you want to see your angel
in the Spirit and talk to him. You could end up in deception as I shared once before
in my testimony. What I am saying is that you need to be aware that help is there.
Be aware that you are not alone. Yes, the Lord is there, He is omnipresent, He is
everywhere. He is in you, in your heart, and in your spirit. I like to think of the Lord
Jesus sitting right there next to me and I talk to Him. But I also have somebody who
has been given the job of taking care of me, and I have learned to use him.
Very often God will use the angel, the guardian angel or the messenger angel, to
put thoughts in your mind, to give guidance and direction. You might be riding along
and a thought suddenly pops into your mind out of nowhere. Where did it come
from? It could be an angel of God sent by the Lord to bring you a Word, a message
from the Lord. It gets your attention. He put that thought in your mind. Maybe it is a
warning thought that says, "Hold it. Turn left at the next intersection. Don’t go the
way you normally go." You have to be sensitive to hearing that voice and to
understand where it is coming from.
5. Journaling
This fifth method of hearing from God is a very important one. It leads on from some
of the things that we have already looked at. I want to show you a passage from the
book of Habakkuk Chapter 2:1. The prophet Habakkuk says:
"I will stand upon my watch and set myself upon the tower, and will
watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am
reproved."
Then the Lord answered me and said: "Write the vision and make it
plain on tables, that he that reads it may run."
I spoke earlier about how words release the spirit within; how that while you are
speaking, things pop up out of your spirit without you being aware of it. Sometimes
the things that pop up out of your spirit are a source of wisdom. You might be
speaking to somebody about a problem that they have and suddenly you find
yourself saying something that you had never planned to say, something that you
had never ever thought before. As you speak it you know that you are speaking the
solution to the problem. It occurs to you suddenly and unexpectedly. You just see it,
and it pops out.
There is a branch of psychology called Rogerianism, formulated by a man called

Carl Rogers, who discovered this. Rogers discovered that most people have within
themselves the resources and the ability to solve their own problems. They have
just never thought it through properly. They have never identified it in their spirits. So
he formulated a means of counseling that does not counsel. In fact his method of
counseling is so marvelous that you can program a computer to do it.
I used to have a program on my computer called Doctor Eliza way back in the old
DOS days. And Doctor Eliza would start out on your computer screen by saying,
"What is your problem?"
You would write down, "I am sick of my mother-in-law."
The program would come back and say, "Tell me about your mother-in-law."
And every time you said something the program was designed to pick up certain
words and phrases and throw a question back at you again to make you think some
more, and think some more. That is all the Rogerian counselor does. He asks
questions.
"Well, tell me about your mother-in-law."
"She is always interfering in my business and telling me what to do."
"So what do you do? How do you react to this?"
"Well, I get mad and I slam the door and I stomp out."
"So, what happens then?"
"My wife gets all mad at me because I am getting on her mother’s case, and we
have a big fight."
"I see. And what do you do after that?"
It goes on, and on, and on until somewhere in the middle of the counsel suddenly
the counselee comes up with a solution, "Oh yes, I have it! I know exactly what I’ll
do. I’ll buy a gun and shoot her. That is it." You see you solved the problem yourself.
You did not need counsel. NOT!
Okay, that is extreme. But what actually happens? I used to think that Rogerian
counseling was a load of nonsense. It has become one of the most popular forms of
counseling today because it does not take much training. You do not have to learn
anything about problems and counseling to help people in their problems. All you
need to learn to do is be a mirror to reflect their questions and their statements back
at them again. You never give counsel, you just ask questions. And eventually, in
the process of conversation, when the person has talked, and talked, and answered
questions, talked about their problem and thought about solutions, as they talk, up
out of their spirit pops a solution. They solve their own problem without even being
counseled. They do not feel that anybody has imposed on them and told them what
to do because it was their idea. Hey, my idea is always the best isn’t it? Do not
question my idea. Question everybody else’s.
It means that this capability has been built into man because it works in unbelievers
as well as believers. Unbelievers still have a spirit, but it is dead to the Spirit of God.
So the counsel and the advice and the solutions that will come up out of them are
not going to be godly solutions. They are not going to be based on the Scriptures
and on the Word. But for a believer it is different. The Scripture says that, "Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Through Normal Speech
If as a believer you have been filling yourself with the Word eventually the Word is
going to start to come out. And as you are speaking, suddenly into your mind will
pop a promise, a commandment, an instruction, something from the Word that you
read years ago. You forgot that it was there, but in the process of conversation,
while you were pouring out within your heart, suddenly it pops back into your
memory and you see it, you just grasp it and you know it, and you say, "That is the
answer." The solution is right there.
Now, you can develop this. I spoke earlier about developing this in speaking in
tongues and in speaking in prophecy. If you are a child of God you have the ability
to tap that inner resource. If you are a prophet of God this capability has become
highly magnified. You are more sensitive to the realm of the Spirit. You are more
capable of hearing from the Spirit and therefore you are more capable of tapping the
resource that is in your spirit through speech.
Now if you are going to receive wisdom from the Lord, you cannot go about
muttering to yourself all the time. It is known as the first sign of madness in many
quarters. You might have somebody reporting you. They may arrive with handcuffs.
"The guy needs to be locked up to protect himself." If you are going to do this you
are going to have to be alone. But, it is possible for you to speak without speaking.
And how do you do that? By writing. What does a dumb person do if they cannot
speak? You can still communicate outwards what is in your heart through writing,
where you write on paper, or type on the computer, whichever form of writing you
are going to use. When you are writing you are putting speech down on paper, or
whatever other medium you are using.
Speaking Through Writing
So it is possible for you to speak by writing. And as you do this you can enter into a
conversation with the Lord. As a prophet of God you can come into a place where
you can speak to the Lord, and where He can speak back to you again. This is what
the prophet Habakkuk was doing. He was saying, "I'll stand upon my watch, and set
myself upon the tower, and I will watch to see what He will say to me." He is
speaking about coming into a position of hearing the voice of God.
We have spoken a little bit about this already. It means coming to the place where
you quiet the senses. It means coming to the place where the body senses are
stifled. It means coming to a place where the things that you see are not going to
distract you. It means coming to the place where there is no noise and where there
is quietness, because where there is noise the sound on your ears is going to
distract you. It means keeping away from nice smelling things. It means do not be
near the kitchen when somebody is cooking. You have to put all the senses down
and bring them under control and come to the place where you are just in touch with
the Lord and where your spirit is communing with Him.
As you do that you begin to hear the voice of the Lord coming from deep within.
How do you do it? You concentrate on Him, you speak in tongues and you get the
flow going. Close your eyes and concentrate on Him, get into worship, and if you are
going to visualize anything imagine the Lord standing right there in front of you, and
you are speaking with Him and having a conversation with Him.
Writing Your Dialogue
Then pick up your pen and paper and write down your conversation. You write down
what you are saying to the Lord. You write down, "Father, I need direction at this
time. Lord, what is Your plan and purpose for me today? What would You have me
to do?"
Then you pick up your pen and you write down His answer to you. Well how are you
going to know His answer to you? You are going to hear it from deep within your
spirit. You are going to have impulses and thoughts cross your mind. You are going
to have pictures come into your mind. It is going to come just like prophecy. There
may be a thought, there may be a phrase, there may be an idea. But as you let your
mind free and let your spirit bring that influence up from within, thoughts begin to
flow and you begin to write them down.
You know the amazing thing about writing? It is the same as speaking. I do not
know about you, but if I am speaking on the phone and somebody else interrupts
and tries to talk to me while I am speaking on the phone I get confused. I have great
difficulty listening to the guy I am talking to on the phone, and speaking and listening
to somebody else at the same time. You can only do one thing at a time. It is like a
one-way street, you see. So, while you are speaking there comes a control that pulls
your thoughts and your emotions and everything in tune and in flow with the Spirit.
When you write it becomes more powerful because you are concentrating on what
you are writing, and what you are writing is what is coming up out of your speech
center, out of your heart and it is being poured out in writing. While you are busy
doing that you cannot be easily distracted. You cannot have other thoughts coming
to your mind. What is going to come into your mind is the pictures that are going to
pour up out of your spirit while you are pouring forth that speech. What you are
going to feel is the emotion that is stirred up as you are pouring forth that speech.
So as you begin to write a flow takes place and you find yourself saying things you
did not think you were going to say. Perhaps you asked the Lord for direction
concerning a certain issue in your life, and in your mind you are thinking, "Well, this
is the way I’d like to go. This is what I’d like to do. I really hope that this is what God
wants me to do."
Then you start to write. And as you start to write a flow begins to take place, and
you find yourself writing down a word of instruction and direction that is totally
different to anything that you have thought about. It is totally opposite to the way you
thought it was going to go. You can be sure that it is coming from deeper than your
mind, because your mind is taking the other route. Your spirit is taking a completely
different route. Your spirit is pouring out a direction from the Lord.
As you write and write and pour forth, you find it starts to flow like a fountain, starts
to pour like a stream, and as you write down, you write down the very prophetic
word of the Lord. As you learn to develop this you will find that you can learn to use
this while writing to people, especially if you are writing by email which is so
common these days. As you begin to share and minister with somebody in writing,
suddenly the flow begins to take place, and up it comes out of your spirit.
"And yes, the Lord would say to you... God says this, and God says that..." and you
begin to prophesy even while you are writing. You have developed that capacity to
pour forth from your spirit.
How To Use Journaling Daily
Do you realize that every day you can sit down and use this resource? Hey, it is a
lot easier than speaking in tongues, translating it, recording it and transcribing it. It is
a whole lot easier to write it down straight, and you have a permanent record
immediately. I do this all the time. I have learned to tap the wisdom that is in my
spirit.
There have been times where I have had people come round for counseling, and
the counseling appointment has been arranged, and they are coming to me to give
them counsel and advice. I know the Word and I know the counseling principles, but
I do not know their circumstances exactly. "So what do I say to them, Father? What
exact direction do I give them? Lord, what is happening in their life, You know?
Lord, please give me direction."
So I begin to write down in my journal. I ask the Lord these questions. Then I begin
to write down His words to me. "Les, this is the situation. These are the
circumstances in their life. These are the problems that they face. This is the
situation that you need to address. This is the way you must advise them, and this is
the way you must counsel them, and this is My plan and purpose for their life." I
sometimes receive an entire breakdown of what kind of counsel and direction I need
to give them.
They arrive and I begin to counsel, and I begin to follow it through. And oh yes, the
Spirit was right. It was right and it begins to flow. I begin to question them and they
come out with some of the very things God revealed to me in my journal. Then I
begin to counsel and advise exactly in accordance with what God gave me in my
journal.
When it is all finished and they have been ministered to and are uplifted, and they
have victory, I say to them, "I just want to show you something." And I pull out my
journal and I give it to them to read. I say to them, "I wrote this before you came. I
asked God to give me wisdom and direction today as I counseled you, and this is
what God said to me before you came." Their eyes get big.
"Wow, you must be a real man of God."
"No, just an ordinary prophet. I am just a servant of the Lord. I have just learned to
hear His voice. Hey, this is not my wisdom; these are not my ideas. This is not my
brilliance. I am just an empty vessel that has learned to let His wisdom come up and
flow out of me."
You are able to do it, prophet of God. You are able to tap the inner wisdom. You try
it. Now do NOT sit down and think, "What am I going to say?" Remember the
illustration of the boat and the rudder. As you start to write you get your boat in
motion, and as you write you find yourself writing things you did not plan to write,
because somebody is there steering the rudder, and you are going in a different
direction to what you expected to go. That is the way it must go. I find often as I offer
people dream interpretations I begin to interpret what I think is the interpretation,
and as I write suddenly I find myself saying something different. Pictures pop into
my mind and different thoughts arise, and I am led and directed.
You try it. Sit down with a pen and paper and just write. Do not think what you are
going to write, just write. Write the first thing that comes into your mind. You say,
"What if I am making it up?" That is fine. The first five or ten words you might make
up, then something else is going to kick in. You just get the boat moving and the
motor will start, do not worry. Just get moving. Practice it. Do it again and again. Do
it every day. Eventually you will find that you can come to the place where at any
time all you need is a pen and paper. "Father, what do I do here?" You begin to
write and wisdom pours out from within. Direction pours out from within. You are
hearing the voice of God coming up out of your spirit.
6. The Inner Voice

The sixth method of hearing from God is what I call the inner voice. In 1 Kings 19 we
have the account of how Elijah, after he had run away in fear from Jezebel, sat
down and wanted to die. He went to a place where God spoke to him.
And God said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord."
And the Lord passed by, and a great and mighty wind tore in pieces the
rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the
wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after
the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire
a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his
face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
And behold a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing here,
Elijah?"
The still small voice. This is something that is even deeper. Remember, what is
being communicated from the spirit outwards, as it is communicated into the mind, it
is communicated via the senses. The still small voice is God communicating
outwards, not in pictures, but in the hearing. Not everybody is able to receive and to
hear in the Spirit. But most of us are able to hear the still small voice.
You are going to hear this still small voice when things are still. You are not going to
hear it where there is noise. That is what God was trying to show Elijah. There was
this great big wind and earthquake and fire - the glory, the power, the anointing, the
revival power, the river of God. No! The still small voice, not coming from without,
not external, but a deep internal voice of God. It is speaking, not shouting, but
speaking gently, whispering almost.
You can learn to hear the still small voice if you will quiet your heart before the Lord
and wait in His presence. I think the Lord had a plan when He told Elijah to go and
climb the mountain. It wore out all of his physical resources. He was physically tired
by the time he came to the mountain top. His mind was probably boggled from just
seeing rocks in front of him all the time. Whatever it was he came to place where he
was totally still before the Lord. Then God could speak to him in that still small voice.
You are also able to hear the still small voice of the Lord. The still small voice of the
Lord is a very quiet, deep, inner voice, and it comes out in words. The Lord will
speak to you and you will actually hear His voice speaking deep within you. Now
this is a difficult one. This is one that takes a mature prophet of God to use. I’ll tell
you why. Because the still small voice comes up into your mind. And your mind is
the battleground that Satan can use and attack and Satan can bombard you from
outside.
So this is a way of hearing from God that takes a seasoned prophet. It takes a man
of God who knows the Word. It takes somebody who recognizes deception and will
recognize and can discern if that voice is of God and if it is not of God. But you will
find that you can come to the place where you enter His presence in silence and
God will begin to speak up within you. There will be no journaling, there will be no
prophesying, there will be no speaking in tongues, there will be no noise. It just
bubbles up deep inside of you, the still small voice of the Lord rising up into your
mind, and God begins to speak to you.
Very often God will speak to you this way when He wants to speak to you things that
are secret, when He wants to tell you things that are not meant to be known to
others. They are not meant to be made public. Satan cannot zero in on that one. He
can read your journals; he can hear you prophesying. He can have an idea of what
God is saying to you and what God is doing in you, but when God speaks up into
you in the still small voice you are the only one that can hear it. God will speak to
you, and He will share secrets with you. He will give you direction that is not for
public hearing. There are things that God wants to say to you alone. That is what
God did with Elijah at this time. He gave him instructions on what he was to go and
do, who he was to anoint and the plan that he was to follow through.
The Audible Voice
The audible voice of God is where God’s voice actually sounds the same as
somebody speaking out loud. Not many people hear the audible voice of God.
Those who do hear it hear what to them sounds like an audible voice, but usually
when they hear it, nobody else around them can hear it. It is the same influence that
is coming up from within. It is not an actual tangible sound wave that is coming out
there that is actually striking their ears. It sounds like that to them because the
sense of hearing has been so superceded by the Spirit that it has come up and
come under control. It is almost like a trance vision if you like, where the voice is
being heard, and it is being heard very distinctly and very clearly.
You say, "Why doesn’t God speak to me in an audible voice?"
"Well, are you able to hear the still small voice?"
"Yes."
"Then why must He speak to you in an audible voice?"
Is it necessary? That is up to the Lord. I know He has never spoken to me in an

audible voice so I cannot identify with this one. I know His voice within me has risen
up at times so loud that it almost sounds audible, but I would not say that I actually
heard it with my ears. I heard it with my spirit.
7. Face to Face Relationship
Now we come to the final way of hearing from God, and that is the face-to-face
relationship. In Numbers 12:5 it says:
And the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of
the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came out.
Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I,
the Lord, will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to
him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all My
house. With him I will speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in
dark speeches; and the form of the Lord he will see. Why then were
you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"
It was a face to face relationship. Moses saw the presence of the Lord. He saw that
manifestation of the Lord that is called the Angel of the Lord, a theophany. He saw
God in a physical form and he spoke to God face to face. Is it possible for us to
experience that today? Is it possible for a prophet to enter into that kind of
relationship with the Lord that he can speak to Him face to face? Yes it is. I know
because I have experienced it myself.
You say, "Well who are you going to see in the Spirit?" The Scripture says, "There is
one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Jesus
said, "No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me." We do not have to speak through
the Angel of the Lord any more. We have One who was God manifested in the flesh.
We have One who sits on the throne of heaven. We have One in whom we are and
who is in us, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is possible for us to enter into
a face to face relationship with Him in the Spirit where we can speak to Him as man
to man, as person to person, as friend to friend, face to face and mouth to mouth.
Entering into the Love Relationship
How do I know this is available to us? And how does it become available? It
becomes available when you enter into a love relationship with the Lord, where the
love of God becomes your consuming passion, and where it permeates your very
being. Paul tells us about it in 1 Corinthians 13:9. He says:
For our knowledge is limited and our prophecy is limited. But when that
which is perfect has come (or when maturity has come, or when love
has come) then the limitations will be removed. When I was a child, I
spoke as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put
away childish things.
He is speaking about growing up. The Scripture says 'Love is the bond of
perfection.' The Scripture speaks about being 'perfect or mature in love.' Paul says:
For now we see through a mirror, a puzzling image, but then we will
see face to face. Now I know partially, but then I shall know just as I am
also known.
Spiritual Maturity
When is now and when is then? Now is when you have not been perfected in love.
Then is when you have been perfected in maturity and in love. It means that you
begin to move into a love relationship with the Lord. You begin to move into spiritual
maturity. You begin to move more and more into a face to face relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ to where you can say, "Before I saw through a puzzling image,
but now that I am in maturity and walking in love, I can see Him face to face. Before
I only knew partially. Now I know as I am known."
What does it mean? Paul says:
Where there are prophecies, they will fade away; where there are
tongues, they will cease; but when that which is perfect has come, that
which is in part shall be done away.
What is he saying? He is saying, "Before, I needed to receive a revelation. I needed

to obtain a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge. I needed to receive a prophetic
word from the Lord. But now what has happened is I have come into a relationship
with the Lord Jesus where I do not need to hear from Him. He does not have to
send an angel to me with a message. I can speak to Him and ask Him myself."
This means I come into such a relationship with Him that I speak to Him and I say,
"Lord, tell me about such and such a person." And the Lord says, "What do you
want to know?" I ask Him my questions and He answers me and says, "This is the
problem. This is what I want you to say to him. This is how I want you to advise him.
I want you to tell him this for Me." Then I turn to him and I say, "This is what the Lord
says." I go back to the Lord again and I say, "Lord, what must I do here?"
I am walking down the street with Jesus at my side and there is somebody lying
there sick. I say, "Lord, what do you want me to do? Can I help on this one?"
The Lord says, "I want you to go and lay your hands on him, and I want you to
speak to that sickness and disease and command it to be healed."
"Okay, Lord, let’s do it."
"In the Name of Jesus, be healed!"
It is quite easy really isn’t it?
You say, "But you did not have the gift of healing. You didn’t have the gift of faith."
Hey, I have the Lord Himself. He is all of those. You can enter into a love
relationship, and it only comes by a love relationship, and that is what Paul is
speaking about. It comes when you enter into that close relationship with the Lord
where you can speak to Him face to face. It is where He becomes more real to you
or just as real to you as any other fellow human being. When you can come into that
relationship as the spokesman and the servant of God, then you will find that your
whole approach changes and you speak forth what He tells you to speak. You are
going to find that you do not have to battle to hear His voice any more because He
is speaking to you directly.
Conclusion
All of these means are available. Any believer is able to hear from God in most of
these ways. It is not only restricted to the prophet. But as I said before, prophets
have a very special ability to hear. They have been gifted to hear better, to have a
greater capacity.
If God has given you that opportunity; if He has given you that privilege and taken
you through that horrible preparation that has qualified you to be His spokesman,
you need to be using all of these methods all of the time. So whatever circumstance
you are in, whatever the situation demands, you need to be able to hear from God.
Then you can speak forth His Word into the earth. You can speak forth His Word to
people. You can speak a prophetic word, a word of encouragement and exhortation
to lift up the body of Christ and to build up the church, to help people identify their
ministries. Everything that God has called the prophet to do, all of these you can do,
when you have learned how to hear His voice by listening in these seven ways.
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The Prophetic Ministry
Contents
What is the Prophetic Ministry?
Basic Ministry Types
Spiritual Gifts
To Whom The Prophetic Ministry Is Directed
Responsibilities of Prophetic Ministry
Intercessory Prayer
Praise and Worship
What is the Prophetic Ministry?

n this section we are going to look at what the prophetic ministry actually
is, rather than the place the prophet plays in the church. These two are
closely connected but are not necessarily the same. There are many
believers who have ministries that are prophetic, but they are not
necessarily prophets in the true sense of the word. So we are going to begin by
looking at the qualities that make up prophetic ministry and see how such a
ministry can begin at a lower level and the work up to a higher level.
Before we go into detail, let's lay a little groundwork in ministry ideas. The
Scriptures speak of various different levels of ministry. These can be seen from
different Scripture passages and we are going to consider two of them here. They
are
Basic ministry types

Spiritual gifts
contents
Basic Ministry Types
Paul mentions this first level in writing to the Romans. Let's have a look at what he
said in Romans 12:3-8
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to
think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man
the measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members do
not have the same office:
5 So we, [being] many, are one body in Christ, and every one
members one of another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,
whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of
faith;
7 Or ministry, [let us wait] on [our] ministering: or he that teaches, on
teaching;
8 Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, [let him do it] with
simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with
cheerfulness.
Paul is talking here at the level of the ordinary member of the Body. He is
speaking about things that the average believer can do. And he mentions several
different types of ministry. I am not going to deal with these in detail here, because
we want to discuss the prophetic ministry mainly. However he does mention such
things as prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling and showing
mercy.
Many of these functions can also be seen in the ministry of the prophet, but if a
person is functioning in one of these ministries, it doesn't necessarily mean that
they are destined to be a prophet. For example the ministry of prophecy is
certainly one that involves speaking the word of the Lord out in a prophetic way.
But we cannot label such a person a prophet.
The Greek word prophet that is used here is made up of two words
1. Pro, meaning fore, in front of or prior to
2. Phemi, meaning to show or make known, to speak or say
It therefore has a sense of foreknowledge or foretelling, so that prophecy is often

considered as prediction. It is actually a lot more than that as we will see later, but
the key issue here is that it involves an utterance or communication through
words. In a nutshell, prophecy is speaking ahead of time, what God is planning to
do. It can also involve preparing the ground for what God is planning to do.
Because prophecy is an utterance it actually covers a lot of what goes as normal

preaching. Whenever a person speaks forth under inspiration what God is saying
to others at the present time, they are exercising a prophetic ministry. So prophecy
can also fall under inspired preaching. But it is of course a lot more than that.
The ministry of exhortation is also a prophetic function. Although it is not prophetic

in itself, the prophetic ministry is usually designed to motivate and encourage
believers to go on with God and to find their place in the Body.
So in this list of lower level ministries, we see some of the elements of the
prophetic already appearing. These are the kind of things we begin to see
manifesting in a person's life as soon as they start moving into their ministry in the
Body.
contents
Spiritual Gifts
In 1 Corinthians 12:4-10 Paul deals with the Gifts of the Spirit.
4 Now there are various different gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are various different ministries, but the same Lord.
6 And there are various different [modes of] operation, but it is the
same God that operates all [of them] in all [cases].
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given so that everyone can
benefit.
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; to
another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit;
9 To another faith through the same Spirit; to another the gifts of
healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the performing of miracles; to another prophecy; to
another distinguishing of spirits; to another [different] kinds of
tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
Here Paul is speaking about spiritual gifts that are available to all believers, but he
distinguishes gifts from ministries. He says that there are various gifts and that
there are also various ministries. And then there are different modes of operation
when these two are put together. In other words, you can put gifts and ministries
together in different combinations to produce difference kinds of functions. The
gifts are administered by the Spirit, the ministries are given by the Lord (Jesus)
and the different modes of operation are controlled by God (The Father). Although
we know that God is one, we see here a kind of distinction in the functions of the
Spirit, The Son and the Father as it relates to ministries in the Church.
We are dealing here with the Spiritual Gifts, so let's just look at those for now.
These gifts are available to all believers. They are given under the direction of the
Holy Spirit, but there is something we can do about moving into them. Paul covers
this further in Chapters 12, 13, and 14 of this epistle. This is a study in itself, which
we have covered elsewhere so I will not go into detail now.
What I want to look at is the gifts of the Spirit that are necessary for the operation
of a prophetic ministry. Since the prophet must speak under inspiration, it is clear
that the gifts of utterance must be in operation. Thus the gift of prophecy, which is
a spontaneous utterance under inspiration of the Holy Spirit is a necessary part of
prophetic ministry. In order to speak concerning God's future plans and purposes,
the gift of the Word of Wisdom is also necessary. Thus it would be fair to say that
a prophetic ministry would need to operate at least in the gifts of Tongues,
Interpretation, Prophecy and the Word of Wisdom.
There is one further revelation gift that tends to also operate along with these, and
that is the Word of Knowledge. In order for God to speak to someone concerning
the future, it is often necessary to also deal with the past and present. The Word of
Knowledge is revelation concerning the past and present, and will usually operate
along with the Word of Wisdom.
Thus if you take a basic ministry of prophecy or exhortation, and add to it these
gifts, you will begin to see some degree of prophetic ministry coming into
operation. Bear in mind however, that the gift of prophecy alone does not mean a
prophetic ministry. A person who is used in this gift might speak a word from the
Lord, but they do not necessarily have a prophetic ministry.
You will notice that the average prophetic utterance to the church is one of
exhortation and encouragement. However, once a person starts to speak forth a
Word of Wisdom or Word of Knowledge from God by means of the Gift of
Prophecy, only then do we start to see the elements of a prophetic ministry
appearing. Now the message is not only one of exhortation and encouragement. It
starts to take on elements of correction, instruction and direction. Rather than
speaking in general terms, the prophetic utterance becomes one of "thus says the
Lord to you specifically in your current situation and concerning your future." In
other words, the prophetic utterance starts to become directive.
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To Whom The Prophetic Ministry Is Directed

The prophetic ministry is not for the world or to unbelievers. Although we are all as
believers to preach the Gospel to all of creation, the prophetic ministry is confined
to true believers who have already accepted Jesus as the Saviour and entered the
Body of Christ through the New Birth. Thus anyone who claims to have received a
revelation concerning future events in the World and publishes this to unbelievers,
is not exercising a prophetic ministry.
Let's clarify this so I am not misunderstood. We generally think of a prophet as

someone who predicts future events. This is certainly a function of the prophet, but
when such a revelation is given, it is given for the Body, not the world. In other
words, if a prophet speaks out concerning the future, it is not for the world to
respond, but for the Church to respond.
We must never confuse the prophetic ministry with the fortune telling tactics of
Satan. Nor should we confuse it with such men as Nostradamus who clearly were
not inspired of God and certainly were not exercising a prophetic ministry. God's
prophets are sent to speak His words to the His Body, the church.
We need to also realize that the prophet is not meant to predict disaster in order to
bring people under fear. Generally the prophet will speak a positive word, but
when it is negative, it is given for believers to act on, not to accept in fear. When
Agabus stood up in the early church and predicted that a famine was coming, it
was not to cause the church to respond in fear. It was to warn the believers so that
they could act on it to prevent the disaster that the enemy was trying to bring. You
can read about it in Acts 11:27-30
27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by
the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world:
which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined
to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
30 Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of
Barnabas and Saul.
The believers were warned of an impending problem that was to take place in the
world. And they acted on it immediately, by making a collection to help those who
were going to be affected by it. This is why God warns and gives prophetic
prediction - so that we can be forearmed against what is happening.
There are times however, when we do not need to accept the prediction, but can
stand against it. We will see in due course that the prophetic ministry also involves
intercession. So when God reveals a future disaster through the prophetic
ministry, He might be showing the things that need to be opposed in prayer. And
through intercession the disaster can be averted.
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Responsibilities of Prophetic Ministry

The Prophetic Ministry has many responsibilities, which makes it a very important
and also very stressful and pressured ministry. This is why the preparation for this
ministry is an arduous one. Many who seek to enter into it see only the glamour
and appeal of being in a position of speaking forth God's words to others, or
obtaining revelations concerning the future. But there is a great price to pay for all
of this. We have covered this aspect in the section on Prophetic Preparation.
The prophetic ministry is responsible to God for the condition of the church. It is
via the prophet that God corrects, leads, warns and protects. The Church is a
living organism, which is why it is likened to a body. Although all the ministries are
involved in causing the Body to function efficiently, the prophet is involved more in
the troubleshooting aspect.
In the Old Testament the prophet was compared with the watchman on the walls
of the city. When an enemy attacked, it was the watchman who saw the attack
coming and would warn the people, so that they could prepare to defend
themselves. This function still applies to the New Testament prophet. God will
reveal to the prophetic ministry both what He is doing and what the enemy is
doing. In this way the church can be warned of impending attack.
Since the warfare of the New Testament church is spiritual rather than physical it
is therefore a function of the prophetic ministry to engage in spiritual warfare. This
is a subject on its own, but I would like to mention here some aspects of spiritual
warfare that are usually manifest in the prophetic ministry
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Intercessory Prayer
The prophet is a specialist in Intercessory Prayer. This is a subject we are also

covering on its own, but I mention it here specifically as it applies to this ministry.
An intercessor is one who prays on behalf of another. So the prophetic ministry will
receive revelation concerning the needs of others and is responsible to pray
according to what has been revealed. This was also a function of the early
prophets of the Old Testament and can be seen in the lives of the great prophets
of that era.
God says in the Old Testament that He does nothing without first revealing His
secrets to the prophets.
Amos 3: 7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his
secret to his servants the prophets.
This is because it is the responsibility of the prophets to release into the earth, the
plan of God. Whatever God does, He is going to do through the prayers of His
people. The prophetic ministry is especially geared to handle this responsibility.
Thus God reveals His plan and purpose to the prophets so that they can pray forth
His will into the earth.
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Praise and Worship
Praise and worship are warfare. Many do not realize this and think that they are
only an emotional release caused by singing loud fast songs. This is also a
complete subject that could be covered on its own, but we do not have the space
here. Perhaps it will be dealt with elsewhere on this site. However many good
books have already been written on the subject, so you can research it on your
own.
Prophetic ministries have the ability to bring the presence of God into a gathering.
Since the prophet is in touch spiritually with the mind of God, it is inevitable that as
the prophetic ministry starts to function, the Holy Spirit will be released to work.
This is also brought about as people are led into the place God wants them to be
as the prophetic ministry exhorts, encourages and gives direction.
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The Prophetic Ministry in Marriage
would like to begin this message by making a statement. God wants you
to be a team. There is this fallacy, particularly in prophetic circles, that
when you are called to the prophetic ministry it is you that is called and
you alone. So there are many that struggle, being called to the prophetic
ministry, feeling that there spouse is always lagging behind and tagging along, not
quite being a part of the calling on their lives. Their spouse does not seem to have
the same passion, the same burden, and the same vision. They do not see things
the same way.
So immediately what happens is that you form this preconceived idea in your mind
that the Lord has called you. And you now have this ministry that you need to work
out and walk in, in His Name, and your spouse must either come and join you in
your ministry or must leave. But what you do not realize is that God has made you
to be a team. The day that you were married, your husband left his mother and
father and cleaved to you, and the Scripture says that you have become one flesh.
Two Super-glued Together

Les Crause gives a lovely illustration in The Way of Marriage series. He says that
what that means is for two people, a husband and wife, to be joined at the back
and be super-glued together. I want you to see that picture very clearly in your
mind during this message as I share with you from what the Lord has shown me,
from the Word and from personal experience. I want you to see clearly the whole
way through that you and your husband, the day you were married and cleaved,
were joined back to back like super-glue.
So in other words, if you bend down, he bends or she bends with you. If you take
a step to the right your partner has to step with you. And if he or she steps to the
left, you have to go with them. You are super-glued. You are one flesh. The day
you were married the Lord said, "I want you to be a team, not one, but two as
one."
I want you to hold that image very firmly in your heart and your mind, and as I
share I would like you to be open to receive what the Lord would minister to you.
Because what I am going to share here may touch some areas that are very
sensitive to you. I would like the Spirit of God, as I am sharing, to break down
those walls that have come up between you and your spouse; to create new
bonds; to break away the destruction and the theft that the enemy has come into
and taken away. Because I tell you something, the marriage unison is a holy and a
precious thing. This is what it is meant to be in the eyes of God, something holy,
something precious. It is good. God made it to be a good thing.
You are meant to be a team, you and your spouse as one under God. And as I
share you can see how you can learn to become a team; how you can encourage
your spouse to become a team player with you, but always holding this image and
thought, that God intended for you two to be a team, to be victorious as a team; as
a couple to stand against the enemy. That is His design. That is His purpose.
Samson and the Foxes
I love using the illustration where Samson went and took the two foxes. He took
one fox and another fox, grabbed them and he tied their tails together, lit their tails
and he sent them through the enemy’s fields. There were 40 pairs or something.
They destroyed everything. They destroyed vines and wheat. They destroyed all
the harvest for summer. But you know what? He had to grab the foxes and then
he had to tie them together before he could put the fire in the middle.
A lot of the time that is what the Lord has to do with us. He has to grab the
husband. He has to grab the wife, because they are each running in their own
directions. He has to yank this one from the one direction, yank the other one from
the other direction. Then to make it secure He has to tie them together because
they still keep wanting to go their own way! Then when He has tied them together
and once they are in unity, then and only then can He put the fire in their tail and
send them into the enemy’s camp to destroy and bring victory for the Kingdom of
God.
So if you are feeling a bit of tugging on your tail right now, know that the Lord is at
work and He knows what He is doing and He has a plan for you. So be
encouraged that the Lord knows what He is doing. He has a plan for each of you.
You Were Not Alone

There is this idea that says, "I went through the prophetic preparation. I went
through the prophetic training. I did this. I did that." What you do not realize is the
day you said, "All right Lord, I’m prepared to submit to the ministry you would have
me in," you roped your whole family in with you. Because the preparation that you
have gone through throughout the years, your spouse has gone through with you.
You have not gone through the preparation on your own.
For many of you, who have been married for a good few years now, you have
gone through this preparation with your spouse. What makes you think that you
are so unique that the Lord is only able to bring the gold out of you and not out of
your partner? They went through the fire of affliction. They went through the hell
and the trials and the rejection and pain with you. Okay, sometimes they are a part
of that pain and rejection, but they went through it with you.
Gold Deposit
You need to realize that there is a gold deposit there, just like there was a gold
deposit in you that the Lord brought to light when He took you through the training
and the preparation. There is a gold and a gem deposit in your spouse too. There
is gold in there, and the Lord wants to use that gold. And it is up to you as a
prophet to bring that gold out; to bring out the beauty; to bring out the diamond
that is in the rough. It is up to you.
Stir Up Your Partner’s Gifts

Did we not cover in Prophetic Purpose, what we are supposed to be doing as
prophets? Are we not supposed to be identifying ministries and encouraging
people into their ministries? Well why would your spouse be any different to any
other member of the Kingdom of God? Why would your spouse be any different?
But no, it is so much easier to run off and find somebody else to minister to, isn’t
it?
It is glorious when the Lord uses you to go and minister to somebody else and you
look so good, and you look like such a hot shot, and everybody thinks you are
wonderful. So you pour out all this ministry and you encourage and exhort, and
your spouse is just sitting at home. Who is identifying your partner’s ministry, and
encouraging and exhorting and bringing it out of him? Who is stirring up the gifts in
your partner?
Start in the Home

You may have been called as a prophet to the nations, but are you starting at
home? This goes right back too with Prophetic Child. Are you stirring it up in your
children? Now we come back to this question, are you stirring it up in your
spouse? Are you putting the same effort into them that you put into the Kingdom of
God, because I tell you what, they are part of the Kingdom of God?
You see it is too personal. It is too close. It’s too close to home. You take your
partner for granted. They are always there, and, "Hey, if the Lord’s called me he
must come in line. It’s not my fault that my spouse is so useless and does not
want to come and join me. You know what? God’s called me. I am in the glory
seat now. And if he wants to be part of it then he must sort himself out and he
must stand here where I am."
It is Your Priority
You are going out and you are ministering and prophesying, and that is all fine and
well, but what is happening with your spouse? What is happening with your
partner? Are you sitting with your husband or wife and stirring up the gifts in them
like you are in others? It should be your priority. It is your priority before God. For
husbands, who are the covering to their wives, she is your priority, and you should
be pouring everything into her that is in you. But you see, we are running after the
glory too much. We want the glory. We want everybody to think we are so
wonderful.
How many of you have seen it in churches, where the husband is all great, and
the wife sits in the background, a little nobody? She is a little nobody who knows
nothing and is neglected for the sake of the people. Really, that attention should
be poured into the wife so they can stand up in unity, and as two foxes on fire,
blaze a trail for the Kingdom of God.
Power in Unity
There is power in unity. I keep stressing this through every lecture and I want to
burn it in you. There is power in unity. The Lord gave you that partner. I don’t care
whether or not you made a mistake marrying them. I do not care if the
circumstances in which you were married were not to your liking and not very God-
ordained. You are married now. You are one flesh now which means God wants
you as a team. This is what you need to work at, at becoming that team, to
standing in unity. Because where there is unity there is power.
Where two are gathered in His Name there He is in the midst of them. There is
power, there is revival, there’s outpouring, there is healing, there is every gift and
every manifestation in unity. You are feeling rejected, and there are many who are
not even fellowshipping in church. You are standing saying, "I’m so lonely. What
am I going to do? I feel so left out." Could it not be that the Lord has put you in that
very position so that you can stand in unity with the person He has placed in your
life, for that purpose?
Turn to your Spouse
It is easier to run to everybody else and receive that isn’t it? It is easy to go and
get the glory from others, and have the acceptance and recognition from others.
But the Lord has now put you in a position where you are going to have to receive
all your acceptance and recognition from the Lord alone and from your spouse
alone, because it is the three of you and no one else.
It is time to wake up and realize what a gem is in your partner. It is easy to

criticize. It is easy to say, "Lord I have the passion. I have sacrifice. I have given
up. I have moved out in Your calling, and this spouse of mine is lagging on behind.
He doesn’t care about You. He doesn’t care for You like I do." Do you honestly
think God has favorites? Do you think God loves you any more than He loves your
partner? Do you think the calling on your life is any greater than what you would
like your spouse to rise up into?
The Lord has a vision for you both, but you restrict Him with your thinking. You
restrict Him by how you think your spouse should act, and how you think your
spouse should be progressing in the Spirit. It is time for the walls to come down.
Let down those walls that are ever so pious and are ever so, "This is the way we
do it. This is the right way, therefore they must fall into my pattern," because the
Lord is the only one with the pattern here. And He has you placed in part of that
pattern.
Remove Preconceived Ideas

So let Him do His work and stop forming these preconceived ideas in your mind of
where your spouse should be, how your spouse should arrive there, and how your
spouse should act. That is the Lord’s work. All you need to be is the instrument in
guiding the hand of the Lord to bring them to that place.
Your starting point - Speak Blessing
So what is your starting point? We know that spiritual forces are faith, hope and
love. If you have a spouse that is not walking with you in your calling, and in fact a
spouse that is not even interested in serving the Lord, these are your first steps.
Get on your knees. Are you interceding and are you pouring forth to your spouse?
Are you speaking blessing on him? Are you speaking blessing on him or are you
saying, "This spouse of mine will never come right. I don’t know what I am going to
do. I don’t know what the Lord is going to do with my husband. All he likes to do is
sit in front of the TV all day. He doesn’t care about the work of the Lord. He
doesn’t care about anything. He is just nothing but a couch potato. I don’t know
what I am going to do with him. Lord, just do something, because he is useless."
Are those the words coming out of your mouth? Does the Word not say, "Bless
and do not curse."? Every time one of those negative words come out of your
mouth you are cursing. And I tell you something, you are reaping the words of
your mouth. You are reaping them. You should be speaking blessing.
"Thank you, Father, that Your purpose is complete in my life. Thank you, Jesus
that Your light is shining in him. I call forth that fire that is in him. Father stir up the
gifts in him. I speak on you blessing. I speak on you abundant health. I speak on
you a burning and a passion for the Lord."
Remove Negativity
Are you pouring that into him? We know the power that the prophet has in the
Spirit. Are you using that authority? Are you using your prophetic key to bring
blessing and change to your spouse? Are you using the power of your mouth to
destroy and bring down and cause division? Because with every word of negativity
you speak you are bringing another brick between you and your spouse, and you
are also bringing another brick between you and the Lord.
Every ounce of bitterness and negativity corrodes your spirit and it corrodes every
chance of unity there is for the two of you to stand together in one and as one for
the Kingdom of God. The Lord has a plan for you. He has a big plan for you, for
the two of you, as one in His Kingdom. Let Him break down the walls, because it is
time to come together as one.
Build your faith
Speak the Word
Fill your mouth with the Word, the confession of your faith. "God is able to do
exceedingly, abundantly above all that I may think and ask."
"Lord, I know that the situation looks impossible, but I believe Your Word that says
You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all I may think and ask. I know
that You can do it, Lord. I know that You can do it. You said that You can make a
river in the wilderness and a road in the desert. Lord, if you can do those things,
then surely you can bring a fire inside my spouse. Surely you can bring us
together as one."
Speak the Word continually. Speak it, meditate it, put it in your spirit until it is more
real to you than the reality you are seeing with your eyes. Push it down there.
"Whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven." Loose it continually. Open the
doors of your husband or wife’s heart. Loose them. Loose the bounds that Satan
has over them. Loose the oppression over them. Bind it in Jesus’ Name. Open
their eyes. Speak light to their eyes.
But what are you doing? You are saying, "He’s never going to get it. He’s never
going to move in ministry. He is never going to understand." Well, isn’t it surprising
then that he is not doing it? You have just what you asked for. But you are too
scared to hope you see. You are too scared to hope because you hoped and it
failed. You hoped and you were hurt. And it hurts too much to hope again, just in
case it is the same this time.
Meditate on the word.
But you see, you have risen up in authority now. You have come to a new level of
authority, and you need to know how to use that authority. You need to take your
eyes off your situation and take your eyes off yourself and find it in the Word of
God, because that is the truth, that’s the reality. The reality is, ‘He is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all you may ask or think.’
The truth is He is able to move a mountain on your behalf. The truth is that,
‘greater is He that is in you.’ The truth is you have the authority and you have the
power to bring change in your life. The truth is your spouse is a believer which
means, "Hang on a minute. They have the same Spirit, which raised Christ from
the dead in them. Hang on a minute. They have the same Spirit in them that is in
me."
Speak Life
How is that for a revelation? It is the same Spirit that has given you the authority
and the boldness to stand up and be a prophet of God. They have the same Spirit
in them. So if they have the same Spirit in them, as dead as it looks, then why are
you not calling it to life? Why are you not calling the dead to life? Because that
same Spirit that raised a rotten stinking body from the grave can certainly raise a
rotten stinking spirit from the grave can it not?
You can speak life into the lives of others. Why are you not speaking life into the
life of your partner? Speak life in that spirit. Cause that fire, that tiny little glimmer
there, to start burning again. Cause it to start burning again, because that is God’s
plan for you.
Develop Hope
He does not mean for you to sit and grovel and be under oppression and battle
with this for the rest of your life. It is not His plan for you to stand alone, because
you cannot stand alone. It is too difficult to stand alone. It is not His plan for you to
have to go through this all on your own, battling and struggling and wondering if
you are ever going to make it through. It is not His plan for you.
His plan is for you to be a team, to stand in unity, to each be just as important to
the Kingdom of God; to each wield the same authority. The Lord has a plan and
purpose for each of you. The day you were saved; the day you gave your heart to
Lord Jesus, He gave to you a calling and a gift and a ministry. Your spouse is no
different. It does not mean that because you do not see it in their lives that it is not
there.
See As the Lord Sees
But you see, you go too much on what you see instead of going on what the Lord
sees. That is how you develop your hope, by putting the Word in there. Once the
Word is in there the Lord can start planting the pictures in your mind. You need to
see your spouse serving the Lord. You need to see your husband or wife serving
the Lord. See His vision for them, His plan for them, not your ideas for them.
You need to see them rising up and functioning in ministry. You need to see them
rising up and serving the Lord with passion and fervently. You need to see it in
your mind. You need to meditate it. You need to eat it and dream about it and you
need to drink it. It needs to be so real to you that reality fades away; that that is all
you see; that that is your vision; that you have something to aim towards; that
when you look around at your circumstances and they seem to be becoming
worse, that you have a picture and a hope to hold onto.
Let the Lord put the pictures in your heart. Let Him build them in you, because He
has a plan for you. Let the walls come down. Let the Lord remove the walls
between you, because He wants to bring the two of you together to such an
awesome and blessed union. It is your blessing. It is your right. It is your gift, and
Satan is stealing it from you. And you are allowing Satan to steal it from you.
Don’t Let Satan Steal From You

The Lord is grieved because He sees how much more He has for you that you are
letting be taken away. Would you let any thief come into your home and pick up a
prized possession and walk out with it? No! But yet you let Satan steal the
absolute gem and treasure that is in marriage and the unity of marriage, and the
unison in marriage. You let him steal that from you.
It is not God’s plan for you to walk this alone, Prophet. I know that is what you
think, but it is not God’s plan, particularly if you are a woman. It is not God’s plan
for you to walk alone. He has a better plan and purpose for you and you need to
see it through His eyes. You need to open up your eyes to yourself before you can
start looking into the life of your spouse.
Build Love
You need to build love, and this is the point I am going to major on in this
message. Love, pure, pure love. Love is like water in the desert. You know you
have these flash floods in the desert where beforehand everything is dry, dry, dry.
You have seen the documentaries. You cannot see a single green plant for miles.
Then suddenly there’s a flash flood and before you know it there are animals,
there are plants, there are bushes, there is food, and there’s abundance of fruit
and every good thing.
Call it to Life
Water does that, and so does love do that, because love is a water source. It
feeds the dry land. And you know something, your spouse’s heart is that desert
right now. It is that wilderness that is dry and cracked. And if there is one little dry
bush there then you are lucky. It looks that bad, but love is water. Love will water
that spirit. Love will bring life to it like nothing else in this world will. Call it to life
and use the love of Jesus to do it.
Don’t Judge and Accuse
But what are you doing? Are you standing in accusation and judgment and
condemnation? Are you looking at your spouse’s sin and saying, "Yeah, you’re a
filthy rotten sinner. No wonder the Lord is judging you. No wonder you are such a
mess. Look at you! You don’t want to serve Him. What else do you expect? You
are rotten, you are filthy. Remember last year what you did to me and the kids?"
Is that what you are doing?
"Yes, no wonder you are where you are. No wonder the Lord won’t bless you. You
will never be used in ministry. Look how pathetic you are! Just the other day you
know, I know what you did …"
Is that what you are saying? Is that what you are doing? Are you tearing down with
your mouth? Are you tearing down and sucking out the last little bit of life and
water that is in there? Or are you pouring forth water? Are you pouring forth life
into that spirit?
Break Your Own Walls Down
It is so easy to judge, especially when they seem to be going against everything

that you believe. It is so easy to tear down. Les has really covered this well, how
easy it is to stand up and judge God’s people and condemn and tear down and
break down. It is so easy. You know where the breaking and the tearing and
pulling down needs to come? It needs to come in your own heart. Before the Lord
can work in your spouse, make sure that the walls in your heart are torn down first.
Look at your beam.
Tear down those walls. Tear down the walls of those preconceived ideas of
bitterness, of negativity, of your own pattern of what you think your own spouse
should be falling in line with. That is what you should be tearing down, the walls in
your own heart. What you should be pouring out is life-giving water and love, love,
love, continually.
You might say, "You know what? My spouse is one mean, horrible person. He
abuses me, he rejects me. He is horrible."
I tell you, love has a force like nothing on this earth. It is something that Satan
cannot even begin to comprehend. No person on this earth can reject love, pure
love, love from the Spirit of God. No person can reject that. They can run away
from it. They can run and hide from it, but they cannot reject it because it is the
way that God has built us.
Give Affirmation. Don’t Tear Down

Every human has a desire for affirmation and love and care. Every person deep
down inside is a child just wanting somebody to give them attention. Are you being
the husband or wife that is giving that attention? Are you feeding that child? Are
you feeding it with love and care and hugs and kisses, and all the good things? Or
are you tearing down and causing that gentle sweetness to be withdrawn more
and more, and hidden away more and more, because you keep hammering and
hammering and hammering all the time. The more you hammer the more he
withdraws and you say, "Yes, that convicted him!" So you hammer him again and
he withdraws more and you say, "Yep, I told you I had a useless husband."
No wonder he is sitting and not wanting to spend time with you and running away,
because all you ever do is hammer. He will never bring himself right. Who wants to
sit around the place where you are getting hell fire and damnation all the time?
Who would like to sit for a nice cozy afternoon in the midst of hell fire? Who would
like to do that?
A Sweet Smelling Rose
No! Give them a nice gentle stream to sit beside where the waters are cool and
refreshing and gentle, and bring peace to the soul and they will stick to you like a
fly. Are you a sweet smelling rose? You know when you are sweet smelling, the
bee just cannot help it. It wants to come. It wants to come and pollinate. It cannot
help itself, because the color is so beautiful and so bright, and the smell is so
appealing. It cannot help itself but to keep coming back.
Are you that rose that just oozes love and life in the presence of the Lord? Is that
what oozes from every pore of you so that he thinks, "Ooh, I have to have some
more of you. It just tastes so good. Oh I want some of that?" Or are you a Venous
Fly Trap that is all stinky? What are you? Are you one that destroys with poison or
one that releases a beautiful scent?
Break down the walls of your own heart. Become that flower first and the bee will
naturally be attracted to it. You do not have to hunt down a bee and force it onto a
flower. It will come there by itself. Just stand there and be beautiful, whether you
are a husband or wife. Be appealing in your spirit. Be every good thing. Be all the
fruits of the Spirit. But love is the sweetest, sweetest aroma. It is the sweetest
aroma to the Lord when we offer up our love and sacrifice. It is like a sweet
incense to His nostrils. You know if He is thinking it is such a sweet incense to His
nostrils, do you not think that everybody else around you thinks it is a sweet smell
too?
Be Appealing
Don’t you like to be around people who say nice things to you? Is it not human
nature to be around somebody who is just a nice guy? He just says nice things. I
am not saying, go around and be false and be something you are not. No. I’m
saying, let off a scent that the bee wants to come and be with. Do not let off
something that makes people want to run and be intimidated and scared and
trapped. Be open, blossom, and let the beauty that is within you, that is Jesus
Christ, come forth. And you will not need to be bashing your husband to come and
spend time with the Lord with you. He will be running to get there because he just
cannot stay away from you.
"There’s just something beautiful about this wife of mine. I can’t explain it, but that
face is just radiating something I have not seen before. Man she is looking
beautiful today. What is it?"
"Man, there is something about my husband. He has a new tenderness and

understanding. I cannot explain it. There’s just something about him that makes
me just want to be with him all the time. It makes me want to hold his hand all the
time. It makes me just want to sit next to him while he is watching TV all the time."
Are you being that kind of husband, that your wife looks at you and thinks, "There
is just something about you that makes me want to be with you," or every time she
comes into your presence, up come the walls and there comes the hammer?
Don’t Kill the Life
You need to break down the walls in your own heart. You need to look at yourself
and assess yourself through the Lord’s eyes before you can start working on your
spouse. Draw the bee to the flower. Do not go chasing after it, because it is just
going to run. In fact, you know what is going to happen? It’s going to sting you. If
you try and grab a bee in your hand it gives its life to sting you. You know, that is
so often what happens in a marriage. The husband or the wife is so keen to have
the partner to come and be with them and have their calling and their burden, that
they hammer them and try and catch them. And just to get away the bee stings
itself and kills the very life that is in it. I see that happening. Just to get away, the
spouse will hurt and lash back and run away, and lose the very little bit of flame he
had in him, because you keep on trying to grasp and snatch and catch and push.
Woo in Love
It is not the way the Lord works. The Lord never imposes His will on us. Never. He
is one that woos in gentleness and love. He is like that sweet rose. That is what
He is. He woos us. You should be wooing your husband or wife, and you should
be doing it showing love and letting the Lord Jesus shine through, being
something special.
Wives Submit to Your Husbands

As a wife you should be submitting to your husband. It is not a nice word, hey, that
old ‘submit’ word? It is just as well I am a woman talking about this one, for I can
say it safely. "Submit to your husband," because it is God’s order.
"Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church,"

and, "Wives, submit to your husbands, as unto the
Lord," the Scriptures say.
You might say to me, "Yes, but I am called and my husband is standing against
every calling, and really he is unjustified. Therefore I can rebel and come out from
that authority because I am called and he is rebelling against that calling."
You have it wrong. The Scriptures say, "Wives submit to your husbands." And I
don’t care if your husband opposes your calling. When it comes to the home you
are of one flesh and you are responsible to submit to him. I am not saying go
against the Word of God. But you should be in submission to your husband. If he
does not want you going to Church I am sorry to say it, but that is his choice and
you should be submitting. It sounds pretty harsh doesn’t it?
I never said, "Stop serving the Lord," but if he says, "You can’t go on Wednesday
night," do not get your ruffles up and become all rebellious and stand up and say,
"Well I’m going anyway," and go in complete rebellion against him. That will really
win him over! Rebellion is the Venous Fly Trap. Can you see it?
But submit and let that rose let off its scent, and I tell you what, that will change his
heart. If you submit in love he is going to look at you and say, "You know, I love
her so much. Why am I being so hard on her? You know what, she’s so beautiful
and so special to me."
"You know what, love, if it will make you really happy to go you can go."
Wouldn’t you rather be going under your husband’s blessing, than going in
complete rebellion, causing a wall and division to come against you? You see,
Satan can use your very passion against you. You need to watch this. He will use
your very zeal and passion for the Lord and your calling against you. And that can
destroy your marriage. You need to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove.
Submission Will Change Him
You need to submit. It is God’s order and He has a purpose in it, because when
you submit in love it changes the heart of a man. It changes it, and I speak from
experience. It changes the heart of a man. A man can be as adamant and as
stubborn and determined as he wants, but I tell you something, that heart is very
easily melted by a wife who gently submits in love and respect and adoration for
her husband.
It is a man’s nature to protect and nurture his wife. He is a protector. He is the one
that wants to take care of her. But if she is standing up and trying to compete with
him in that role, he is going to fight her because now it is opposition. He is no
longer the protector, now he has competition. Do not be your husband’s
competition. Submit and allow the Lord to work through that submission, because
He will. And in so doing you are going to change your husband’s heart.
You are going to change his heart, just by submitting in love. I don’t mean, "All
right I will submit to this stupid, horrible man if I have to," (said through clenched
teeth). That is not submission. That is pretending. Submission is doing it in love.
"Lord, I know this is Your Word and I love You, therefore I will do it for You, Lord. I
will do it because I know that this is what You would want of me." And you submit
to your spouse and you say, "You know what? Just because I love you so much,
my love, I won’t go tonight. And in fact, if there’s anything that you would like me to
do, come and sit with you, I’ll do it for you. It’s okay."
You are going to start changing his heart with that attitude instead of bashing back
at him and demanding your rights, and standing up and rebelling. You are not
going to change his heart by hammering at the walls. You are going to change his
heart by wooing him out. Hey, I never said this was going to be easy! It is going to
take effort on your part. But it is God’s order, and He put that order there for a
purpose.
New Blessings Coming
You are going to find a new security and a new freedom in that order that you
never felt, because next time somebody else tries to stand against you, your
husband is going to stand up and defend you. Next time you handle rejection and
you have opposition because of your calling, your husband is going to stand up
and protect you.
Example of Protective Husband
I have seen this. It was a case where the husband was not really serving the Lord
and did not have a real commitment, and his wife was a prophet and she was all
zealous for the Lord. She just submitted to the Lord and she submitted to what he
wanted. She just continued to show love, not pushing her way, not pushing her
views, not pushing anything, just submitting. And there came a time in this
prophet’s life where she had a lot of opposition from the church, where they
actually stood against her and removed her from her office, and were really mean
to her.
You know what happened? The silent, non-assuming husband, that never ever did
anything, suddenly rose up out of the woodworks and said, "Hey, that’s my wife!
You know what love, you do not have to take this. Let me handle this." And he
stood up for her, and he fought for her valiantly. Why? Because she submitted to
him. And when the time came for her to be weak he stood up as her protector.
This is not a great man of God. This is not one that walks in God’s pattern at all.
No, he is just barely a believer, but his wife continually submitted to him and loved
him even though it nearly killed her at times. It was so hard. She had to let go of
so much. But yet, when the crunch came, and when the time came when she most
needed support, he was there to give it to her. And the Lord used him to stand up
for her and be the support that he was meant to be.
Do you see why it is so important? You do not have to fight this alone any more.
You do not have to struggle alone any more, because the Lord has placed
somebody there to stand with you, if only you would give that person a chance.
Husbands Love Your Wives

Husbands are you loving your wives as Christ loved the church? Christ loved the
church so much He let them nail Him to a tree. He loved her so much, He went
through extreme pain and loss and suffering for her. Is that the kind of love you
have for your wife? Are you prepared to give up everything, your life, everything
for your wife? Are you prepared to give up recognition and acceptance and being
a hotshot for the sake of your wife, the flower that the Lord has brought you? Are
you prepared to stand in those shoes, to give up everything, because you love her
so much?
Wives Were Nobodies
You know, it is so common, and I see this a lot in pastor’s homes, being brought
up as a pastor’s kid. We came to know many other pastors and their families, and I
saw it over and over again. I saw these great men of God stand in front and give a
fiery sermon. Everybody thought the sun shone out of these guys. They were
magnificent. But you go into their homes and you see how they really lived. And
you know what? Their wives were little nothings. They were nothings there just to
do the bidding of the husband. They were there to be tag-alongs and when the
husband said, "Okay this is what we’re doing," the wife said, "Yes love."
The children were not poured into. The wife was not poured into. She was just
there. The ministry to the people, and the glory and fame was more important than
the wife was. I saw it tear marriages apart. I saw it separate husbands and wives
until the wife came to the point where she just could not take it any more; where
she could not take being second best; where she couldn’t be cared. It was almost
like an adulterous affair. He was married and having an affair with recognition and
fame and acceptance of the people.
That is how it is. How can a wife compete with that? How can she compete with
that, when she knows she will always be second place to the Kingdom of God?
She will always be second to others, to the recognition they can give. Her
recognition is never good enough. She is taken for granted. Her recognition and
acceptance is there. And suddenly the husband wakes up too late to discover he
was holding the most gorgeous diamond you ever saw right in his hand and he let
it slip through his fingers.
Would You Give it Up?
Are you holding in your hand a diamond that is pure and beautiful? Are you
holding in your hand a diamond, and are you taking it so for granted that you are
leaving it on the shelf? Because as a prophet it is your job to lift that diamond up
and polish it up, and put it on display for the world to see. It should be something
special and something important in the Kingdom of God. Would you give up
everything to let that diamond shine?
That is what the Lord Jesus did. He gave up everything. He gave up His authority
in heaven. He gave up prosperity and walked around as a carpenter. He gave up
recognition. He gave up His life. Do you have that kind of commitment to the call
of God in your life? Because if you do, that is where it starts, to love your wife as
Christ loved the church.
Craig Forsook All
I know from experience that I have a husband like that. I do. He gave up his whole
family because he knew God had a call on my life and we were to come to Mexico.
At the time we left South Africa, Craig was not very sure of his call. But he knew
that God wanted him to give up his home, his family, everything he knew. He gave
up everything he knew. I was coming here to be with my family, so I still had
something to come to. He had nothing. He was leaving everything that was
familiar to him, everything. His possessions, his life, he gave up because he knew
that there was a call on our lives. The Lord has blessed him abundantly for it and
given him a great call on his life and allowed him to grow in that call.
Through it, Craig and I both have learned on each end of the spectrum. For me, I
have learned to submit and he has learned to give up his life for me. He gave it up
for me, and the Lord has blessed us both and caused such a bond of unity. So
when I tell you these things do not think that I am rattling them off from my head. I
have lived through this. I have learned through this step by step. We have learned
through this. The Lord has taught us each of these principles practically. And they
work.
Because Craig was prepared to give up everything for the call of God in my life, I
am prepared to do anything for him. I am and I have. I have been prepared to wait
for him to catch up. I have given up, and I will continue to give up whatever is
necessary, because he gave up for me.
You Are Not the Same

You see it is love. You cannot get away from it. It brings life. It brings change. It
brings change in your heart, and the Lord has so much for you, you as a team,
you as a couple. Do not expect your husband to be the same as you. Do not
assume that because you are a prophet and you are moving in the gifts and
prophesying and having dreams, that your husband is going to be the same.
Craig and I both made this mistake. We assumed that because I was a prophet
that he would naturally just flow immediately in everything that I flowed in. And
yes, he does function in the prophetic ministry, but because he was continually
striving to be what I was he never found his niche. He never found his calling,
because he was always running in the shadow of mine.
I see this mistake a lot. I see prophets expecting their husband or wife to have the
same calling as them; to function the same ways as they do; to flow the same way
as they do.
"Well obviously if God has given me this calling, then my husband needs to catch
up. He needs to be the same as me."
No. You guys are like this beautiful picture and each of you are a piece of the
puzzle. You are not identical, but fit you together and you are going to make a
gorgeous masterpiece. You cannot have two pieces of puzzle that are identical,
because when you have two pieces of puzzle that are identical they are not going
to fit. So do not expect your partner to be the same as you, not at all.
You Are Different and Unique
Each of you are different and unique, and you need to start learning how to
identify that difference. This is where the exciting part comes in. This is where you
are going to discover that, "Hey, my spouse does have something." When you are
not expecting him to be like you any more and you are not expecting him to be a
prophet any more, you are suddenly going to discover gifts and hidden talents that
have been there all along.
How You Do It
Give Some Pressure
This is where the fun starts. This is how you do it. Desiree and I have both applied
this principle to our lives and to our marriages. A diamond is formed under
pressure, extreme pressure. We know that. So, you are wanting your spouse to
catch up? Start applying a bit of pressure.
You are saying to me, "Well hang on a minute, you just told me, ‘Don’t hammer
your spouse,’ and now you are saying, ‘Apply pressure.’ "
No, I am talking about a different kind of pressure. Wives, do you have a husband
that does not seem to be catching up with you and seems to be dragging his feet
there a bit and not getting into the Word, and you would really like to see him
catch up? We have already discussed how it is a man’s nature to want to protect
and be there for his wife. You have to play on that. These are the rules. You have
to do it.
Ask Your Spouse

When you have a spiritual need, whatever it is, go to your spouse first, even if they
do not know what they are doing. I can almost hear you cringing from here. You
are thinking, "Arggh, my spouse doesn’t understand, does not know a thing, and
really I would rather just keep it to myself." Wrong!
It is so easy to run to the pastor or to the prophet that is above you, or to the
apostle or whoever it is that the Lord has placed covering over you. It is very easy.
But it is not so easy to run to your spouse when they do not know what they are
talking about, hey? This is where some sacrifice is going to come on your part.
When you have a spiritual need and have a problem go to your spouse with it.
Why? Because when you do that you force them to go and find the answers for
you. When you address them a question that you truly cannot answer, you force
them to go and find the answer for you. And in them going to find the answer for
you, they are going to come up with a bit of revelation of their own. Suddenly
things are going to start coming out of them that they did not know was there, and
they are going to stop and think, "Hang on a minute. I never knew I could function
this way. Hang on a minute. I didn’t know I could actually be any help."
You see, your spouse looks at you and thinks, "Well, she knows everything." Have
you heard that?
"Don’t ask me. You know all the answers."
Humble Yourself
Have you heard that one often enough? Well, it is time to stop having all the
answers. It is time to stop having all the revelations. It is time to stop being a big
glory prophet. It’s time to be a little nothing and go humbly to your spouse and say,
"You know what, I don’t know what this means," or "Can you help me with this?"
or, "You know what, I am really battling. I have had a really bad day. I really need
you to stand with me. I really am not coping so well. I need you to come and
protect me and pray for me. Please, will you pray for me."
Your spouse may not even know how to pray, and in fact there may be no
anointing on it, but it does not matter. The point is you are putting pressure on
them to change, and you are bringing it out of them in love, you see. They will do it
because they love you. Because you submitted, and because you have been that
beautiful rose, they will want to protect you and nurture you. Be that gentle little
rose. Be open and lovely.
Just go to him and say, "Hey, I’m having a problem with this. I need your help."
A Change of Role
Mean it. Be sincere, and he will run to your aid. I did this with Craig. You see, it
was so easy for me to always go to Les. He is my superior, he is my senior. He
does have all the answers. Even when he is wrong he has the answers. He is one
of those people who, even when he is wrong he is right. He is one of those. It was
so easy for me to go straight to him, get my answer, and be set free. It was easy.
But the Lord said, "No."
So you know what He did? He shipped Les off to Mexico and left me alone with
my husband.
"What was the Lord thinking, leaving me alone with this husband who does not
know a thing? He’s only been saved for a couple of years. He has no knowledge
of the Word. How is he going to help me now?"
But the Lord forced me to receive from my husband, and in doing that it forced
Craig to delve into the Word and find the answers to help this helpless wife of his.
It forced him to go to the Lord and say, "Lord, what’s wrong? I need you to give me
something. I need you to give me a tool so I can help her."
Then he cried out to the Lord and said, "I need to help her. Give me what I need,"
and the Lord granted his desire, and he started functioning in fuller authority and
started getting more revelation. The Lord started bringing that blossom and that
beautiful gem out of him, just by applying that gentle, loving pressure, using what
is so natural to us. That is love. The Lord has done something so special.
Husbands, Rest on Your Wives
Husbands this applies to you too. You look everywhere else for your answers, but
are you going to your wife and saying, "You know something, I really need your
covering. I need your help here."? Or are you going to her and saying, "Hey, you
have been such a support to me. I couldn’t do what I am doing without you
supporting me."? Are you saying that or are you cutting her down or are you
ignoring her and just hoping she will catch on? Are you going to her and saying,
"You know, I could not have stood up and preached this morning if I didn’t have
you there backing me in the Spirit."?
Whether she was backing you or not, I promise you next week she is going to be
backing you, praying all the way in the Spirit because she made such a different
last week. Boy, she is going to make a difference this week! Are you telling her
that?
Make Her Feel Special
Are you saying, "You know what? I couldn’t go on during the day if I did not know
you were standing behind me and being my strength. I could not do this if I didn’t
know you were pouring into me."? And whether she is or isn’t I want to tell you
something, she is going to go there and make sure she is pouring into you.
Be sincere. Say, "You know what? Even though sometimes I don’t tell you things, I
really would not have the freedom I have if it wasn’t for you being there."
Lift her up and she will say, "Hey, hang on a minute. I’m not just a tag along. I am
somebody important."
So you nurture them and you bring out the beautiful treasure that is within. You
see, love is always the key. And pressure done in love definitely works.
Gifts Will Manifest
As you go through this, you are going to start learning where your spouse fits in.
And you know, you are going to be surprised to discover that, "Hey, my spouse
isn’t a prophet, but man what an awesome teacher."
You know, there have been times when I have gone to Craig and the Lord has
said, "Go to Craig and get your answer." And I am thinking, "Lord, he won’t have
an answer for me. He doesn’t have the knowledge of the Word that I am looking
for. In fact he probably won’t even understand my problem."
But the Lord says, "Go," so I go and I submit. I say, "Love, I am really battling with
this." And he comes out with some awesome revelations from the Word, and
allegories and pictures that tell me right where I am at, where I need to go, and
how I need to move there. I just stand there in awe and think, "I can’t do that. I
could not possibly have picked that out of the Word. I couldn’t have possibly seen
that."
You just suddenly discover, "Hey, there is an awesome teaching ministry in there
that I don’t have. Man that is great. With my prophetic ministry and his teaching
ministry, we make a team. We make a beautiful picture."
Egg Them On and Nurture Them
Do not try and make them into your puzzle piece, because they are their own. And
as you bring it out of them you are going to discover gifts and talents in them that
are going to excite you and thrill you. And as you bring them out in love and say,
"Wow that was an awesome revelation. How did you do that?" immediately the
person starts feeling like he is something important. He doesn’t feel like he is a tag
along and a little nobody and somebody who is going to go to hell because he is
not catching up with you. In fact, he has a goal to aim towards. He is something
special.
"Hey, do you know that that was really good. Why don’t you write that down? I
would like to share that with someone."
You will boost him immediately. Instead of cutting him down you will build him up.
You need to say, "Wow you know what? I just can’t wait to tell somebody about
this. That was so good. I think I am going to share that with my friend because I
think she should hear that too."
You know what? He is going to carry on bugging you and bugging you with his
revelations the next week. He is going to say, "Oh yes, and you know what else I
saw?"
Suddenly that little flame that was nothing but a tiny little coal, is going to burst into
a fully fledged inferno that you are not going to be able to stop. And the Holy Spirit
is going to blow on it, and it is going to be beautiful. Those two little foxes are
going to burn for the Kingdom of God.
Time For Sacrifice
Now comes the time when your spouse is ready. He is ready to move forward. He
has the passion and the, "Okay, let’s do this. I want to be in ministry. I am at that
place." Now is your time to really sacrifice. Oh boy, if you haven’t really sacrificed
enough already, hey? Now is your time to sacrifice. This is the time in your walk
when you are going to stop. You see, you have been walking along in your path
and you are way down there in the future somewhere, and your poor spouse is
like a couple of miles behind you. You are going to have to stop where you are for
him to catch up to you before you can go on as a team.
This has to be the most difficult and painful part of the process. The Lord did this
to me not so long ago when He said, "Stop!" The revelations stopped, the
prophecy stopped, everything stopped. I thought I was going to die.
I said, "Lord, where are You? What is going on? Why have You just deserted me
like this?"
He said, "I’ve stopped you so that Craig can catch up to you. Now, instead of
becoming upset about it, turn around and pour into him and extend your hand to
him, and bring him to catch up with you."
Pour Into Your Spouse
So I did. I pulled him with me into prayer and intercession and I poured into him.
Everything that you were pouring into everybody else, you now direct towards him.
You pour your prophetic words into him. You pour the Word into him. You pour
everything you are and have into him. All the ministry you pour into him, so that he
can now catch up to where you are. That is the time for you to stop looking at
yourself and stop looking around you for ministry opportunities, because that is
your only ministry opportunity.
I know there are some of you right now that are in that position where the Lord has
stopped everything. He has cut you off from everything, from ministry
opportunities, from everything. You seem to just be stuck, you and your spouse.
It’s perfect! This is the perfect time to pour everything you are into your spouse so
that he can catch up and benefit from what the Lord has put in you.
What a perfect opportunity. But you sit and moan and say, "Oh Lord, why did you
stick me in this position?"
The Lord is saying, "Are you kidding? This is the best place to be. Are you nuts?
This is the perfect opportunity. Grab it."
Pour everything you have into him and watch him grow before your eyes because
it is going to happen. You are going to see it. The Lord has a special plan for both
of you. And as you pour into him, the unity is going to start to grow. You are going
to see a special oneness come between the two of you that you have never had.
But be patient. Be very patient, loving and understanding, almost like a child; not
being childish and lording your authority, but being patient, knowing that they are
learning how afresh, and remembering where you were when you were at that
place. So be understanding.
Learn to Flow Together
How do you learn to flow together? What are the ways in which you and your
spouse, who up until now have been very uncomfortable with one another, going
to learn to flow together?
Pray Together, Praise together
The first way to learn to flow together is to pray together. Get used to the sound of
each other’s voices. Pray together, you know like you do at church. Sing songs. If
you play instruments, play them. Invite your spouse along to sing with you. Praise
together to the Lord, because as we have looked in other places, as you sing
praise to the Lord you unite your spirits before Him. And that unity and that bond
will start to grow. And everything that Satan has put in the way to cause walls and
divisions will be cut down through the praise and destroyed. Praise together. Sing
together all the time as much as you can. Invite your spouse with you. Do not use
it against him, but instead invite him in to stand with you as one in one spirit.
Pray in Tongues Together
Another way is to pray in tongues together, because as you are praying in tongues
you are uniting your spirits and you are becoming used to the sound of each
other’s voices. You are getting used to the sound of his voice and he is getting
used to the sound of your voice. If he doesn’t know how to speak in tongues
impart it to him. Stir up the gifts in him. Give him what he needs. Allow the Lord to
use you to give him what you should. Then use this together.
Speak in tongues together constantly. Pray in tongues. Just encourage every little
baby step. Get used to the sound of each other’s voices so that you know. And as
your hearts unite, you two will flow together in a dance. You are going to come to
the place that we have come to now where I know when he has received a
revelation and I need to shut up, and he knows when I have something that he
needs to shut up for. So we have learned to dance in the Spirit.
You need to sense each other’s spirits. And as you do that you are going to start
uniting, praising together and speaking in tongues together. You need to start
becoming comfortable in the Lord, always loving, always giving space and always
being patient. You are almost there. Do not ruin it by pushing and insisting that he
runs to catch up. Let him go at his own pace. The Lord was patient enough with
you to let you go at your pace. Let him go at his.
Allow Him to Minister

Then comes a time when you are given the opportunity to minister. Now you know
that as you minister forth the Lord pours more in. That is how you grow. It is really
how you grow, in those times of ministry. Your spouse needs that opportunity. You
have been the great big prophet that is so great you just walk in there and take
over, because you have always been the spiritual head so to speak. So it is just
natural to walk in there and take over and to do it all.
No. There needs to come a time where you need to step back and allow your
partner to get his feet wet in ministry. There comes a time where you need to keep
quiet and allow him to say his piece, and take the limelight that should be yours.
As he does that he will grow. He is going to grow, and when he comes to the place
where he stands with you as a team, you two are going to stand like a giant in the
Kingdom of Heaven. You are going to stand as a giant against the enemy.
Allow him to grow and nurture him, just like you would a plant in the garden by
feeding it and fertilizing it. You keep it away from the hot sun and you keep it away
from the cold wind, and before you know it, you have a gorgeous flower. So you
must do with your spouse, because he is beautiful in the sight of the Lord. He is
beautiful, and should be beautiful to you as well. Let him flourish.
Have it All
You can have it all. The only thing that limits you is your own mind and the work of
the enemy. It is not the Lord’s intention for you to battle by yourself. And it is not
the Lord’s intention for you to stand unprotected and unsupported. But we go
about it the wrong way. We try and demand our rights, instead of giving up our
rights as Jesus gave up His rights, when He said, "Not My will but Thine be done."
You see, it is that death to flesh. It is letting the Lord come in and break down the
walls that are in your heart. Let Him break down those walls so that He can do
something fresh. Let Him grab this fox and grab that fox, and tie you together and
put a fire in you. Because both of you have that capacity. It is the Lord’s plan for
both of you, not just you as a prophet, but you as a prophet and your spouse as an
evangelist, or a teacher or an apostle, it does not matter. He has his own special
ministry. But as a team you will be anything and everything you need to be. "All
things to all men," as that team.
You yourself cannot be everything and play all the parts in the band. But you as a
couple can do a lot more. You can set ten thousand to flight instead of just two
thousand. You can do this. It is what the Lord wants for you. Let Him speak to your
heart even now. Let Him start breaking down those walls. Weep before Him, burn
for it. See the pictures. Let Him do His work. He has something special for you and
your spouse.
For you and your husband, He wants to build a protector. For you and your wife,
He wants to build for you somebody to support you and stand with you and be as
powerful as you in ministry. He has a plan for you both. I want you to reach out
right now wherever you are, and I want you to claim it. I want you to claim the will
of the Lord for your life right now in the Name of Jesus, because He has a will and
purpose for you, and that is to stand as one; that is to be those two foxes burning
all the fields of the enemy, not just you trying to fight the whole enemy by yourself
and stand up by yourself against all the opposition. No! Stand right now where you
are and just claim what the Lord has for you, right now in Jesus’ Name.
"Father I speak Your blessing on Your people. I speak Your fire on them right now,
Father, to melt down those walls in their hearts; to knock down every preconceived
idea. Father melt down those hearts even now. Shine them with Your love and
give them a revelation of the precious Savior you are.
Satan I stand against you right now in Jesus’ Name. All those bonds that are
binding God’s people and that are tearing them apart I just loose them right now in
Jesus’ Name. You take your hands off God’s people. You take your lies away from
them. I block their ears to your accusations. I block their ears to your lies, for you
are the father of lies and I stand on your head right now in the Name of Jesus and
you will bow! You will bow!
I come against every fortress that has been built against these couples that the
Lord has brought to us. I come against every fortress and every separation and
every dark bond that has been brought against these people, and I snap every
single rope right now in Jesus’ Name. I snap every division. And Father, I speak
Your light and I speak Your love, and I speak Your life in this place right now. Let
the light come forth now in Jesus’ Name. Let the fire burn.
I speak to those spouses now that have been called of God and are lying dormant.
‘Arise, arise in Jesus’ Name. Come forth.’ I speak a fire in your belly now, each
and every one of you, a burning passion for the Lord that you have never felt
before. Let it wake you in your sleep. Let it burn in you during the day. Let it
consume you in Jesus’ Name. I stir it up right now.
Father, I speak Your will on Your people. I speak Your will on Your people as
couples and I speak Your authority on them.
‘Rise up you warriors of God for the Lord indeed has a plan for
you. He indeed has a war for you to go into. He indeed has a
battle field for you to face as one. And if you would only unite
your hearts and set aside the lies and the accusation of the
enemy, so shall you rise up in power. And so shall you rise up in
authority. And so shall you accomplish more for My Kingdom
than you have ever in your whole lifetime,’ says the Lord.
‘For it is My will and My purpose for you to be victorious. It is My

will and My purpose for you to rule and reign in Christ. It is not
My will for you to struggle. It is not My will for you to weep at My
feet and say, "Father, no more." It is not My will. It is not My will
for you to be crushed as worms under the feet of the enemy. It is
not My will for you to be used as puppets in his hands, and to
make a laughing stock out of you and to destroy the passion
that I have in you,’ says the Lord.
No. No, child. No, My precious one. It is My will for you to have
every blessing that I have for you. It is My will for you to stand
up as a King and Queen in My Kingdom. It is for you to have
everything that is in My hand. Child, reach out and take it now.
Reach out and take now what I have for you, for I have for each
of you a special gift and I have for each of you a special plan.
And if you would only take it from My hand, there is nothing in
this world that can stand against it. If you would just take it from
My hand, there is nothing that the enemy can do to stop it.
Oh child, there is so much. There is so much more than what

you have, so much more. Reach forth now and take it from My
hand,’ says the Lord.
Thank You, Jesus, for Your special heart and Your love for Your
people. I speak Your love upon them as a mantle right now as
they read this. Oh Father, just overshadow them with Your heart
and Your presence, and give them the boldness and the strength
they need to rise up now and to be all You have called them to
be."
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The Prophetic Office
What Is The Prophetic Office?

here is a difference between the Prophetic Ministry and the Prophetic
Office. The first is a function, whereas the second is a position. Let's look a
few verses that speak of office to make this clear.
1. Romans 11:13 - For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of

the Gentiles, I magnify my office.
2. 1 Timothy 3:1 - This [is] a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he
desires a good work.
3. 1 Timothy 3:10 - And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office
of a deacon, being [found] blameless.
4. Hebrews 7:5 - And truly they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office
of the priesthood...
In each case you will see that the term office is used to refer to someone who has
been permanently appointed to a position.
This is true also of the Prophetic Office. The ministry of a prophet may at times be
displayed by those that are not called to be Prophets as a permanent position. Paul
clarifies this also when he discusses the functioning of ministries in a local church in 1
Corinthians 14:27-31
27 If any person speaks in an [unknown] tongue, [let it be] through two,

or at the most [through] three [utterances], and in turn; and let one
[person] interpret.
28 But if there is no interpreter, let him remain silent in the church; and
let him speak to himself, and to God.
29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other [prophets]
judge.
30 If [any thing] is revealed to another [prophet] that is sitting out, let the
first [prophet] be quiet.
31 For you may all prophesy one by one, [so] that everyone may learn,
and everyone may be comforted.
Here Paul refers to two kinds of prophetic ministry. The first is what is communicated
by the vocal gifts. Anyone that brings a message from the Lord via tongues,
interpretation or prophecy is prophesying. However there are those who hold the
office of a prophet, and they are a separate group altogether. You may all prophesy
in the sense of bringing a word from the Lord, but not all the members of the church
have the Prophetic Office.
Another passage that clearly shows the distinction is Acts 21:9
9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, who prophesied.
10 And as we tarried [there] many days, there came down from Judaea a
certain prophet, named Agabus.
Philip had four daughters that exercised a prophetic ministry, but they were not
classed as prophets. Agabus however, held the prophetic office and was referred to
as a prophet.
The term is not only used for prophets but also for teachers. We see both mentioned
in Acts 13:1
1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of
Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch, and Saul.
Someone may be able to teach or prophesy, but only when they have been
permanently appointed to the office of prophet or teacher can they be called by such
a title. The same applies to the apostolic ministry. The early apostles, as well as
those who followed later and including the apostles of today, have been permanently
appointed to that office by the Lord.
Who Appoints A Person To Office?

It has become the common practice amongst today's church organizations to ordain
people to ministry. This usually involves a ceremony, but the important aspect of it is
the fact that the person is given credentials by the organization to practice as a
minister with that organization. To qualify for this there is usually a level or knowledge
or education that is required, and perhaps a certain amount of experience.
Legislations by governments in various countries also condition this, so that a person
is required to have certain qualifications before they can receive ordination or practice
the work of a minister.
However all of these appointments are purely administrative and often have nothing
to do with a person's spiritual gifts or calling. Because of this, it has become common
practice to refer to those who have been ordained in this way as 'Pastors.' Such
ordination is then subject to the person continuing to hold papers with the
organization. Should they leave the organization or fail to comply with the rules and
regulations of the organization they can be struck from the ordination list and have
their credentials removed. In other words, such ordination is not a permanent
possession.
But all of these things are foreign to the calling of God. The New Testament clearly
teaches that the leadership ministries of the church are given and appointed by the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that these gifts and callings are permanent and irrevocable.
They remain in force until death. We will look at this a bit more shortly, but let's first
consider a passage that shows the difference between ordination by man and
ordination by God.
When Moses first led the Israelites out of Egypt, he had to do all the work of
counseling them and judging their disputes. When his father-in-law Jethro saw this,
he advised Moses to appoint others to do all the lower level work and to deal
personally only with difficult cases. Moses followed this advice and appointed leaders
at different levels
Exodus 18:24 So Moses listened to the advice of his father in law, and
did all that he had said.
25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads
over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties,
and rulers of tens.
26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the difficult cases they
brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
Now these appointments were made by Moses, not God. And they were subject to
being changed. They depended on Moses' decision rather than God's. It is true that
Moses may have made his choices based on spiritual wisdom, but it was he and not
God that appointed the people.
Later on God spoke to Moses and told him to gather together seventy men from the
chief leaders in Israel. Good said that He would then Himself, take of the anointing
that was upon Moses and place it on these seventy men also. In other words, there
was going to be a spiritual transfer and these men would receive the same spiritual
anointing as Moses. This was not an administrative appointment, and it was not
Moses who was going to do this, but God Himself. And these were going to be
permanent appointments.
Numbers 11:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me
seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of
the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tabernacle of
the congregation, that they may stand there with you.
17 And I will come down and talk with you there: and I will take of the
spirit which [is] upon you, and will put [it] upon them; and they shall bear
the burden of the people with you, that you bear [it] not yourself alone.
The effects of this transfer were quite clear, every person received the anointing and
began to prophesy on a permanent basis. It was not a once only anointing This was
God at work, not man.
Numbers 11:25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spoke to him,
and took of the spirit that [was] on him, and gave [it] to the seventy
elders: and it occurred, [that], when the spirit rested on them, they
prophesied, and did not stop.
26 But two [of the] men remained in the camp, the name of the one [was]
Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon
them; and they [were] of those that were listed, but did not go out to the
tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
Notice that even the two men who did not go out to the ceremony still received the
anointing. This was a work of God and not of man.
The procedure has not changed since then. God still works exactly the same.
Though men and organisations might lay out their qualifications and appoint and
remove people from positions of authority, it is God who calls a person to a ministry
office. This is a sovereign act of God and it is a permanent act. When God appoints
someone to the office of a prophet, then that is what they will be. Whether they
submit to that anointing and exercise their prophetic responsibility is still under their
own control, because the Lord never overrides our free will. But the calling and
appointment remain.
Impartation of Ministry
God works through human channels. And when He ministers His power or anointing
He always does it through human vessels. That is why no one can get saved without
a preacher. It takes the ministry of a member of the Body of Christ to bring about the
salvation of a soul. In the same way, it takes the ministry of someone appointed to
office by the Lord to cause the release of a ministry in the life of another. Let's look at
a few examples from Scripture.
Moses and Joshua
We saw how God took the anointing on Moses and gave it also to the seventy elders.
But we see something a little different with Moses and Joshua. Joshua was Moses'
servant and spent a lot of time with him, even when they worshiped together in the
tent of meeting. But there came a time when Moses imparted the ministry and
authority that he had to his servant Joshua. And he did this by the act of laying on of
hands.
Deut 34:9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for
Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel listened to
him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.
As Moses laid his hands on Joshua, the anointing that was within him was imparted,
and Joshua began to walk in the same anointing.
Elijah and Elisha
1 Kings 19:19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of
Shaphat, who [was] plowing [with] twelve yoke [of oxen] before him, and
he was with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle
upon him.
Elijah and Elisha held a very similar relationship to Moses and Joshua. Elisha began
his ministry as the servant of Elijah. We will look at this more when we consider the
preparation of a prophet. But the important thing I want you to see here is that there
came an impartation of the anointing that was upon Elijah to Elisha. In his case the
anointing was doubled, which made the procedure a little different. But there was an
impartation nevertheless. It all began the day Elijah cast his mantle over Elisha. It
ended when that same mantle came down upon Elisha as his master was taken to
heaven.
Paul and Timothy
Paul taught the principle of impartation in the New Testament.
Romans 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some
spiritual gift, with the result that you may be established;
We see the same principle of impartation in the life of young Timothy and the others
that Paul took with him. In the case of Timothy the actual impartation is clearly
described by Paul in 2 Timothy 1:6 and 1 Timothy 4:14
2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I want to remind you to stir up the gift of God,
which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
1Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in you, which was given you by
prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
We see here that there were two procedures that were involved in causing an
impartation of spiritual power. The one was the laying on of hands. The other was
the ministry of prophecy. Obviously hands were laid on Timothy and a prophetic word
was spoken over him. These resulted in him receiving the ministry he had.
The Fivefold Ministry Offices

There are 5 Ministry Offices mentioned in the New Testament. These are commonly
called the FiveFold Ministry. However they are far more than just ministry functions.
They are all ministry offices.
Ephesians 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up

far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
There are some important facts that you need to understand about the ministry offices
before you can grasp the importance of the prophetic office. To help make things
clearer, we need to consider one other passage of Scripture
1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has placed some in the church, firstly
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then
gifts of healings, supports, directors, various different tongues.
29 [Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all
workers of miracles?
30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all
interpret?
Here are the important facts that you need to keep in mind where ministry offices are
concerned.
They are given by God, not man. So a person does not receive them
from human ordination and they are not subject to human authority.
They are subject only to the authority of the Lord.
They are not local church ministries, but are gifts to the Body
Universal. In other words when a person is given a ministry office,
they can exercise it anywhere in the world. It is a permanent ministry
given by God.
It is not so much that a person has been given the office, but that the
office has been given in the person as a gift to the church.
There is an order of establishment and authority amongst the
ministries. This order is shown in the second passage above.
Only three of the five ministries are mentioned specifically in this
passage, although the others are implied from their functions.
Apostles come first.

Prophets come second.
Teachers come third.
Evangelists and Pastors come afterwards.
Paul ends his discussion in 1 Corinthians 12 by asking rhetorical questions. Are all
apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? etc. This means that not everyone can
enter into a ministry office by choice. It is God that calls a person to such a ministry
and imparts the office. However these questions do not mean that a person cannot
hold more than one office at a time.
There is no doubt that Paul was a teacher from the early part of his ministry. And
Barnabas was clearly a prophet. Consider the following passage, which showed how
Barnabas and Paul worked together as Prophet and Teacher at Antioch.
Acts 11:22 Then tidings of these things came to the ears of the church
which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go
as far as Antioch.
23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and
exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the
Lord.
24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and
many people were added to the Lord.
25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, to find Saul:
26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came
to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church,
and taught many people. And the disciples were called Christians first in
Antioch.
The Church at Antioch started as result of the evangelistic work of some ordinary
Christians. When this happened, the apostles immediately sent them a Prophet in the
form of Barnabas, to set the Church in order spiritually. In this passage we have a
good description of the main function of the Prophet in a local assembly. However
after a while Barnabas realized that he was lacking in the teaching ministry and the
people needed to be grounded in the Word. So he went to Tarsus to find Saul, who
was clearly a teacher.
Later on in Acts 13:1 we read of the existence at Antioch, of prophets and teachers.
Paul and Barnabas were listed amongst them. And now God instructs that Paul and
Barnabas be set aside for the ministry of apostle. It is interesting that Barnabas was
more prophetic, Paul was more of a teacher. Yet together they could carry out the
ministry of an apostle. This is because the Apostolic function requires both of these
ministries.
An Apostle is able to be both a prophet and a teacher. But while He was still only a
teacher, Paul needed to have a Prophet with him to complete the ministry. Later on
when Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement and split up, Paul went and found
another prophet to accompany him on his journeys. Paul chose Silas as his new
partner. We are told in Acts 15:32 that Silas was a prophet.
32 And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the
brethren with many words, and confirmed [them].
Later on in his ministry, Paul writes to Timothy and declares that he was ordained as
a Preacher and an Apostle and a Teacher. He had entered into the fullness of his
ministry and developed fully into the apostolic office, which must have included
prophetic ministry.
1 Timothy 2:7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I

speak the truth in Christ, [and] lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith
and truth.
Both Paul and Barnabas were called apostles. And yet they each had an additional
ministry office that they did not lose. So it is possible for a person to hold more than
one ministry office at the same time.
The important thing to notice here, is that you do not have to remain in one ministry
office, but you can progress to a higher level of office. Thus the Lord can raise up an
evangelist, pastor or teacher to the prophetic office. When this happens the prophetic
office is added to the person, without them losing the previous ministry they had.
Such a person can now minister effectively in both areas.
If you have functioned in one of the other ministry offices you do not need to assume
that this is where your calling will remain. If you are faithful to your ministry it is very
possible that the Lord might move you on higher. The same thing applies to both
ministry offices and gifts of the Spirit. Paul encourages us to earnestly desire the
better gifts and to follow after love. As you do this, the way is open for the Lord to
lead you further.
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The Prophetic Preparation
he preparation that the prophet goes through is one of the most difficult
that any of the ministry offices has to face, bar the apostle. It is an
extremely arduous one.
But why does the prophet have to go through this kind of preparation? Why is
it necessary?
When does it begin? When does it all start to happen for a prophet? When
does God start to prepare him or her for the work that He has called them to
do?
And then, how long does it take? Do we go and study for three years, write a
few exams, get a qualification and say, "I am now qualified to be a prophet?"
How long does it take to prepare for the prophetic ministry?
And finally, what is involved in the actual training of a prophet? How does
God train them? How does He prepare them and how does He equip them?
These are many of the questions that people ask today concerning the prophetic
ministry. I am going to answer some of them here, but I am only going to deal
specifically with the prophetic preparation. We are going to look later at the training
of the prophet, but for now I want to look purely at the preparation of a prophet and
what God does to prepare a person and his life for the ministry and the office of the
prophet.
We are going to try to understand why it is that you, who have been called to be
prophets, have been through some of the things that you have been through. We
are going to try to understand some answers to questions like why, and how, and
when, and how long. We will try and give some kind of explanation so that we can
begin to understand what it is that God is doing in our lives and how He is bringing
us to a place where He can use us.
Why the Preparation?
Why does God have to put the prophet through such a difficult time of preparation?
Why is it necessary? It is necessary because the prophet is God's spokesman. He is
the person who is to speak forth God's word into the earth. Not only to the church,
not only to individuals, but to speak and to send forth God's very word into the earth.
For God says in the Old Testament that He does nothing except He reveal His
secrets to His servants the prophets.
And if God is going to entrust somebody with His secrets and with knowing some of
what He is planning to do; if He is going to entrust a human being with the
responsibility and the privilege of being a partner with Him in accomplishing what He
is going to do in the earth, then that person is going to have to come to a place of
being fit for the master’s use. Because a word spoken out of season, spoken
incorrectly or spoken badly and in the wrong direction, could change God's
purposes in the earth in the entire destiny of lives in the Body of Christ.
It is kind of like those movies that you see about time travel where people travel
back in time, and they change an event from the past. And that one little change in
the event makes the whole future change. Then when they travel back into the
future again, it looks different to what it was before. Why? Because a change was
made back there. It is so absolutely vital that what God does in the earth is done
with split-second timing, that it is done exactly correctly. Because God moves in
situations and in the lives of people in accordance with the plan that He has.
The Scripture says that when Jesus was born, He came in the fullness of time. It
says, "God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the law." Jesus came at
exactly the right time and the right place. God works to a split-second timetable. He
has set a plan in motion, in fact many plans in motion. And the operation and the
function and setting in motion of those plans rests in the hands and in the mouths of
His spokesmen in the earth, the prophets. It is an absolutely vital ministry, and for a
person to operate in such a vital ministry they are going to have to come to a place
where they are trustworthy. God must be able to trust them with His words, so that
they can speak them faithfully into the earth.
To Remove the Taint of the flesh
So God has to deal with the areas of the flesh and the things that stand in the way
of each one of us becoming a pure vessel that He can simply flow through, that will
obey Him, and will simply say, "Yes, Lord. Where do I start, Lord?" He must walk in
tune with Him and in step with Him, in total harmony with Him, so that he can hear
His voice, sense a change in the Spirit, and so be sensitive to whatever God is
doing in the earth. Such a person is the prophet. And in order to come to that place
there are things in the natural that are going to have to get dealt with in the person's
life or they will stand in the way of God's purpose, and will hinder Him from
accomplishing what He wants to do in the earth.
Fleshly strength and independence
So the prophet has to come to the place where he or she cannot rely on their natural
abilities. Fleshly strength and independence have to be removed, have to be dealt
with, and have to be brought under control. All the natural intellectual abilities that a
person has, have to be dealt with and have to be brought to a place where they do
not stand in the way of God's purpose.
We have a tendency to look at a person who is naturally gifted. We look at a person

who is brilliant, who has great intelligence and natural capabilities, who can absorb
knowledge in a tremendous way and we say, "Wow, that person would sure be a
good catch for the Lord if we could get him saved. Man, what God could do with a
man or woman like that!"
You know what God is going to do with a man or woman like that? He is going to
deal with their strength and bring it under control. He is going to come against that
strength and He is going to break it. That is what God is going to do with such a
person.
No reliance on natural abilities
Natural intellect
The apostle Paul said, "You see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise. Not
many great people are chosen by the Lord, but God has ordained to choose the
weak and the foolish, and the despised and the base things of this world in order to
confound the wise." God does not need your intellect. He does not need your
wisdom. Nor does He need your great brain capacity. He can do without it. And if
you have got such a great brain capacity, that is the first thing God is going to have
to bring to the cross, to bring it under subjection.
Natural personality skills
A person may have great natural personality skills. They can just walk into a crowd
and get on with anybody. They can make friends very easily. They can meet
somebody over the phone and start a friendship. They can persuade people. They
have people coming to them all the time because they are so approachable.
"Oh, what a person, what a personality, what charisma this man has! Oh man, God
could use a person like that."
No He cannot. He cannot use a person like that, because a person like that has so
much natural ability that he does not need God's ability. God is going to have to
bring that natural ability into subjection to His divine will and purpose. It is going to
have to be brought to the cross.
Natural strength of will
We see people that are strong-willed and great leaders. They take the bull by the
horns. A problem arises and they just rise up, grab it and take charge. "Come on,
boys, follow me."
"Wow, what strength of character. What a strong man. He has such great leadership
capability. Oh, what a catch for the Lord! What a quality that God could really use."
No, God does not need that. He does not need that natural ability because there are
going to be times when God is going to want that person to show a very different
kind of character. He is sometimes going to require him to be meek and submissive,
and his natural character is going to fight against the purpose of God in his lives.
That character trait is going to have to come to the cross. It is going to have to be
brought under subjection and under control before the Lord can do anything with it.
No reliance on natural strengths
The prophet cannot rely on his or her natural physical strengths. Some people are
born with good looks. I do not know who they are because most people do not like
their looks. But occasionally you get somebody born with good looks. They have got
the physical appearance that makes people look up to them and revere them. Movie
stars are great on this one. Everybody oohs and aahs over the physical
characteristics of a person and they begin to rely on those characteristics. Who is it
that becomes famous in the singing and entertainment world? The ugly guy with a
good voice? Yes, if you are fortunate enough to only hear his voice. But if he is
going to appear in public, going to be seen in the public eye, or going to appear on
television, there are physical qualities that the world looks to.
Good looks
Sometimes people have an idea of what the prophet of God should look like. He
should be a good-looking guy that everybody admires. He has to have that look
about him. After all, such a person is going to be God's spokesman. If he is going to
represent the Lord surely he must be presentable? I guess most of the Old
Testament prophets failed that one didn’t they?
Family heritage
How about family heritage? After all if you come from the slums, from the ghettos,
how can God use a person like that? How is a person like that going to stand out
and speak for God? Who is going to listen to him with that kind of family
background?
"How can he stand up and preach to me with the kind of status where I come from?
I am not going to listen to a person like that."
I feel sorry for people who have all of these natural qualities and God calls them to
the prophetic ministry.
Popularity
What about popularity? After all if you are going to speak the Word of God surely
you must be fairly popular with people? You have to accumulate a circle of friends.
You have to get the crowds around you. People must respect you and think a lot of
you, otherwise they are not going to accept the words that you speak are they?
Well, Jesus had a problem there. He obviously was not very good looking, He was
not very popular, did not have a good family heritage, and came from the poorest
home you could imagine. He did not cut it at all. Oh dear. He did not stand a chance
did He?
However, today the date that we write down on our calendars is based on His birth.
God does not need natural gifts. He does not need your physical strengths or your
good looks. He does not need your popularity, social status and your family
heritage. God needs none of these things. If anything, they are going to stand in the
way of God's purpose for your life if you are going to become His spokesman in the
earth.
Fleshly weakness and reticence
You say, "Well, I am fortunate. I do not have that problem. I am just a weak, useless
little nobody. Nobody thinks much of me. I will just hide away. I do not even like
being in public, do not like meeting people, and do not like being around people. I
actually feel quite inferior in a way. I am quite shy. At least I do not have a problem
with pride and popularity and all of those things. So God will not have to deal with
that in me."
Insecurity
Well, I have some news for you. There is going to have to come a time when God is
going to want you, his prophet, to stand up and to boldly proclaim His Word. And
there are going to be times when God will require you, as His prophet, to go boldly
into public and make a fool of yourself to speak His Word. And your insecurity, your
inferiority, and your fear of people are going to stand in the way of God's purpose in
your life as much as strength and pride and popularity.
Fear of man
So you see, you cannot escape! If you are insecure, if you are weak, if you are
bound by the fear of man, God is going to have to deal with that. I know what I am
talking about. I have been there. I did not grow up with all the benefits. I was one of
those unlucky guys that got the raw end of the deal. I was the smallest in the class
and came last in every race. Nobody wanted to be associated with me. I did not
come from the right part of town, nor did I have the right family status. My parents
did not have enough money to give to the school and things I was involved in to
show how wealthy and well-to-do and what high social status they were. I did not cut
it. I did not have it.
As a result I grew up with a fear of man, with insecurity and worrying about what
people thought about me. I thought I was so humble. I thought I could just move into
the work of the Lord and do what God had called me to do. I could see myself going
into ministry and standing behind the pulpit and preaching, and everybody would
look at me and say, "Wow, isn’t he wonderful? Man he can preach. He is so
anointed!" That would make me feel a little bit better and I would not feel so insecure
anymore.
I figured, "Lord, the way I have to do this is build up." But God did not train me that
way. You know how God started dealing with my inferiority? He forced me to go into
a job selling life assurance. Now there are different ways to sell life assurance. The
primitive way of doing it is you go and ask people to buy by knocking on their doors.
Guess which method God chose for me to be trained with? I ended up with a life
assurance company where their method was, you go out with a senior consultant,
you park your car on the corner of the street, walk down the street and knock on
every door. And you ask people to buy something they do not want. You have 99
out of 100 people saying, "No. No. No thanks. Get lost! I am watching TV. You are
wasting my time!"
It is wonderful when you have a problem with inferiority and being rejected. It is
wonderful to be exposed to that kind of thing. But God has to deal with it, and we
are going to see shortly how He does it. He has to deal with your weakness. You
may say that God has to break a strong-willed person. God has to break your
weaknesses as well, because you have to be available to Him to speak when He
says speak, to move when He says move, to stop when He says stop, to march and
move exactly in step with Him. You have to do exactly what He tells you to do. And
if your character trait is going to stand in the way of that, God is going to have to
bring it to the cross and deal with it.
Need for acceptance
You must not need acceptance from people all the time. If you need affirmation all
the time and need people to say nice things about you to build you up and lift you up
all the time, then you are not qualified to be God's spokesman, and He is going to
have to deal with that thing in your life.
Physical inferiority
Bad looks
You say, "Well at least I do not have all those good physical qualities. I do not have
a problem. Hey, I do not have all the good luck. You see I am so ugly that I am
afraid to stand up and speak what God tells me to speak because people are going
to look at me and say, 'Oh man, how can God use somebody who is that ugly? I
mean, a guy with a wart on his nose. How can he be a prophet?’ "
You see, it does not make any difference whether you have good or bad looks. If
your physical qualities are standing in the way of you being free to be God's
spokesman, then those are areas that are going to be a problem and are going to
stand in the way. And God is going to have to deal with them.
Bad heritage
How about your family heritage? You say, "Well I do not have a great big heritage. I
come from the poor end of town." Yes, but then you are afraid to go and speak to
people who are on the rich side of town.
You say, "I come from a racial group that has been suppressed." Then you tend to
have a problem relating to the social group that is suppressing you and you cannot
be God's spokesman because your words and your attitudes are colored by the
inferiority that you have picked up from your race. You are afraid to be bold because
of your racial group. You are afraid to speak out. And if you are not afraid to speak
out, you swing to the other end of the extreme and you become bitter and twisted
about what has been done to you by another racial group. How then can you be
God's spokesman to speak His word boldly, without it coming out colored by your
prejudice?
Unpopular
There are so many things that stand in the way of us being used effectively by the
Lord. If you are an unpopular person the chances are you have developed a
persecution complex where you just expect people to pick on you all the time. You
expect people to be horrible to you all the time. Where are you going to have the
boldness to go forward in love, in faith, and in hope, to speak forth with boldness the
prophetic word of God, when you are afraid of what people are going to say or do to
you? These things are going to have to be removed from your life before you can be
God's spokesman; before you can be His prophet.
When the Preparation?

When does the preparation begin? When does it all start? If God has called you to
be a prophet, when does He start dealing with these things in your life? When does
He start preparing you? Is it after you have felt the call of God? Is it from the time
you got saved? Does it take years of being in ministry first? Do you have to perhaps
qualify by studying and filling your head with knowledge? Do you have to know the
Word better? When does God start to prepare you?
From the womb
The answer depends on the person. It depends on the call and on many factors.
But, one thing I can tell you is it can start from the womb. Luke 1:15 speaks about
John the Baptist, about the word that was spoken concerning him:
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither
wine nor strong drink. And he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, right
from his mother's womb.
John was called to be a prophet from before he was born. Paul said, "God who
separated me from my mother's womb, and ordained me and appointed me to be
His servant." Paul was set apart from before he was born. There are many who
have been called, and God in His foreknowledge knew you, and He knew your life.
And although you may have been born and grown up in an unsaved situation and
only come to find the Lord later in life, God in His foreknowledge knew you and
called you. He appointed you and set the path for you to become His spokesman,
His prophet.
So when does the preparation of the prophet begin? Probably from the time the
sperm meets the egg. While you are still there in your mother's womb, already the
prophetic preparation has begun. Then, during childhood already God can begin to
mould and prepare the life of the child for the call to the prophetic ministry. And one
of the first things that the prophetic child often experiences is rejection and
loneliness. There is a lot of cruelty in this world. There are a lot of vicious people.
There are a lot of people that inflict harm on others. Sometimes the cruelest of all of
God's creatures are other children.
During Childhood
Rejection and loneliness
Oh, the pain that children can inflict on their peers and on one another. The pain of
rejection that causes a child to feel left out, to be all alone, and not to be accepted
by the others; to be considered 'different', and 'not part of the group'. When the child
goes to school and gets involved in the school environment and in the play area and
in interaction with others, there comes additional pressure. I daresay if God has
called you to be a prophet and you look back on your life, you are going to see that
way back there in your childhood already, things started to happen that brought you
to a place where you could not rely on yourself. You could not be what you wanted
to be. You were restricted and prevented from rising up in yourself.
Make believe world
In situations like that the child often begins to move into a make believe world to
escape the pressures of life. He moves into a world of fantasy and day-dreaming.
He starts visualizing a life that is better, happier and is free from stress. It is a place
where he is accepted and loved. He is beautiful, intelligent and has what it takes to
fit in, whatever that may be. And right there the child begins to build pictures in his
mind. He begins to build fantasies. He starts to think about things that are not real,
and begins to look at things symbolically and in pictures.
It is bad, but it is also good, because that is what the prophet is going to do one day.
He is going to have to think pictorially. The prophet is going to have to think in
symbols because God speaks in the Spirit in symbols and in pictures. The language
of the Spirit is the language of pictures. And even back there as that child goes
through that loneliness and rejection, and he begins to draw into himself, fantasize
and build up pictures in the mind, right there already God is preparing such a one for
the prophetic ministry.
Look at your life, prophet, and think back. Is it there? I guarantee it is there. Way
back there you had times of loneliness, times of drawing into yourself and times of
starting to become aware of God already. You began to wonder about God and
think about spiritual things, and you began to build up things in your spirit and in
your mind.
Childhood traumas
Then the childhood traumas come. And oh there are always childhood traumas and
things that go wrong. They are things that seek to destroy, pressures, pains, so
many bad experiences in life, but they all bring him to a greater awareness of the
Lord. They cause a greater awareness of care for others, a greater awareness of
needs that are all around about him.
They cause him to think, "Hey, when I grow up one day I would like to stop other
people from going through what I did. I am going to learn from this experience. I am
going to gain from it. I am going to begin to understand God's purpose in these
things so that I can speak it forth. I want to speak forth God's Word into the earth to
prevent things like this from happening."
It is all part of God's training right from childhood already, for the person who will
one day rise up and become His spokesman and prophet in the earth.
During Adolescence
Then there is adolescence, that very painful period, where the child is moving out of
childhood and into adulthood. He is no longer a child, and therefore not accepted by
the children, but not yet an adult and not accepted by the adults either. He is still
partly child, already partly adult, and yet part of neither. I would say it is probably the
most traumatic period in the life of any person. It is a very, very difficult period, and a
lot of stress and a lot of pressures begin to come, as well as misunderstandings in
this period of life. He has an inability to fit in, insecurity, rejection, the need for
acceptance, and he is becoming aware of himself to name just a few. There is such
a mixture of things that begin to take place in the life of a person right there.
There already in the melting pot, in the crucible of affliction, God begins to prepare
His prophet. God spoke to Jeremiah, and Jeremiah felt so insecure. He said, "But
Lord, I am just a child. How can I go and speak Your Word? How can I go and do
what You want me to do?" Jeremiah had no reliance on self whatsoever.
Think of Moses when God came to him in the burning bush in the backside of the
desert where he said, "Lord, I cannot speak. How can you send me to go and be
your spokesman?"
These are some of the things that God wants to accomplish to bring a person to that
place where they are like clay, like putty in His hands, and can be molded and made
into a vessel that is fit for the Master. But it costs. It is painful.
Let me tell you, if God has called you to be a prophet, you have known a life of pain.
You have known a life of suffering. Your life has been one of difficulty, of lack, of
conflict, and of so many things that have gone wrong. It is so that you may come to
a place where you know that you cannot rely on yourself; where you know that your
natural capabilities cannot be depended on in any way.
During Adulthood
Failure in relationships
Then even as you come into adulthood the preparation continues. You begin to
realize that you cannot succeed even in relationships with others in your own
strength. Very often those called to the prophetic ministry have gone through bad
relationships. They have had bad marriages, they have known conflict and been
divorced, and they have known all sorts of things that have gone wrong that they
may not stand up one day and say, "Well, I cannot understand why you are having a
problem in your marriage? We are doing fine!"
You are going to know all about it, let me tell you. You are going to know that there
is nothing in yourself that you can boast of, so that you cannot say, "I have made a
success!" The prophet cannot sing Frank Sinatra's song, "I Did it My Way". You will
be out of tune. Sorry, it is not allowed. It is just as well. I never did like that song.
Failure in work, social and church
You are going to fail in the work situation too. You are going to have to learn that
your natural capabilities do not count. You are going to fail in social status. You are
going to find that you are not going to be in with the 'in' crowd. You are going to try,
but it is not going to work.
You are going to fail in the church situation. You are not going to rise up and be the
blue-eyed boy that everybody thinks is so wonderful, that gets elected to all the
counsels, that gets a chance to preach all the time, and that everyone thinks is such
a wonderful man or woman of God. You are not going to be there if God has called
you to be a prophet. I am sorry, but you are not going to be there, because God is
never going to permit you to come to a place of self-reliance. He is going to have to
deal with every single area in your life where you can rely on yourself or your natural
abilities and on your natural strengths.
Length of the Preparation

You say, "Well how long does this preparation take?" It varies. It could be between
10 and 30 years. It depends when God started. It depends how strong you are. It
varies from person to person. But one thing I can tell you, is it does not happen
overnight. It takes time. I will tell you what the problems are that are involved. You
see, God sometimes has to deal in two different ways. If you face early rejection it
may deal with the self and the strength in you, but it causes some people to swing to
the opposite extent and they become insecure and weak.
Insecurity must be dealt with
The first part of your life may have been a time of being dealt with where your
natural strengths have been brought to nothing. And after you have been through
that you have to go through another training phase where your weaknesses now
have to get broken. It is tough being a prophet let me tell you. It does not matter if
you are strong, it does not matter if you are weak, you are going to have to learn to
be what He wants you to be. And you are going to have to learn to come to the
place where there is no reliance or restriction from the flesh.
Then follows pride
It is difficult, where a person is weak and insecure and wanting to be used by God.
He rises up in the power of God as He gives him the strength and confidence. He
becomes popular and gets lifted up in pride, and then God has to deal with him all
over again to deal with the pride and bring him low again. Sometimes it goes like a
pendulum, and you swing from one side to the other, but both ends of the pendulum
are bad! You are going to have to learn to stabilize.
If you are one of those people that likes to swing from one end of the pendulum to
the other, I have some news for you! You may swing to the one side and you think
your preparation is over and you say, "That is wonderful. It is over, here I go!" I have
news for you. There is another one starting there, because you are at the other end
of the pendulum now, and God is going to deal with you in a completely different
way on that end of the pendulum because it is the opposite of what you have been.
Both ends mean you are out of control. God cannot use you because your own
natural abilities, desires and feelings are standing in the way of you being that
spokesman to speak forth His pure word. You are going to have to be a pure vessel,
a transparent glass bottle that everybody can see through. Everybody is going to
have to be able to look right through you and see what is inside.
If you are used to covering up and not letting people see what is inside, there is
going to come a bit of a grinding against that bottle. If you want to put a piece of
label over the bottle so people cannot see inside, there is going to come a bit of
scraping! The label is going to start getting scraped off because God wants people
to see inside. He wants you to shine forth what is in, and not to cover it up and hide
it. Oh, it is tough being a prophet let me tell you. God is going to deal with every
area of your life.
How the Preparation?

I want to show now from the Word exactly the phases that He takes you through in
your preparation. I am going to use 2 Corinthians 4. This is one of the best
passages that I have found that actually describes this. This is a large subject, but I
am going to cover it in detail, because if there is nothing else that you get in this
whole series on the prophetic, it is this subject. It is vitally important.
2 Corinthians 4:5
For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who
commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the
power may be of God and not of us.
Okay here we go!
We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not
destroyed - always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For
we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life
of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is
working in us, but life in you.
Verse 16 says:
Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is

perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
The Spirit is the Source
What is it that stands in the way of a person being effective as a prophet of God,
and as God's spokesman to speak forth His Word into the earth? When God speaks
in and through His prophet, He is going to impart by His Holy Spirit His Word, His
decree, His declaration or His revelation into that person's spirit. Whatever God is
going to do He is going to impart into the spirit of the person. God works that way in
all of us.
Whatever God does in and through us is done through the Spirit. We have looked at
it in a lot of detail in our Way of Blessing series. It is imparted in the spirit. What
comes out has to come out of the spirit. In order for it to come out of the spirit, it has
to come out via the soul, and from the soul it comes out via the body and into the
earth.
Releasing Through Actions and Words
There are only two ways that information can come out of a person's spirit and pass
into this world. That is through physical bodily action and spoken words. If a person
stands still and does not speak you cannot tell by looking at them or the natural
senses, what is going on in their spirits. You can only tell by the gift of discerning of
spirits and gifts of revelation. But until a person speaks forth and acts out what is in
their spirits, it cannot be communicated outwards.
If you go back into the Old Testament and see how God began to work and to move
in the Old Testament prophets they always did two things - they acted and they
spoke. Are not you glad that the New Testament prophets do not seem to act as
much? Some of the prophets in the Acts of the Apostles still did the same. We read
of Agabus, how he came and he took Paul's girdle off and tied himself up with it and
said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, this is what is going to happen to the guy who owns
this."
The Old Testament prophets very often had to act things out. They had to put a
yoke on their back and walk around and around until people said, "What are you
doing?" And they would say, "Okay, this is a picture of what God wants to say." God
told someone to go and lie on his side with a brick in front of him. They had to do
some silly things at times, but they had to communicate what was in their spirits.
They had to communicate that outwardly. That is done by action and by words. The
prophet of God is going to have to be open to do both. He is going to have to be
open to go where God tells him to go, to do what God tells him to do, and to speak
what God tells him to speak. If anything stands in the way of that then he cannot be
effective as God's prophet, because all of those things have to be involved in
effectively discharging the duties of a prophet.
Dealings With the Soul
God has to deal with the things that stand in the way. So what stands in the way?
Firstly, the natural faculties of the soul. Unless the soul is fully submitted to the spirit,
the spirit cannot flow out through the body. And unless the body is fully submitted
and under the control of the soul, which is under the control of the spirit, there
cannot be an outward communication from the spirit, into the soul, and into the
body, and into the earth, in order that God's word may go forth. Until God's Word
goes forth into the earth through human lips, and action through the human body, it
cannot accomplish anything.
In Isaiah 55:11 God said:
So shall be My Word which goes forth into the earth; it shall not return
to Me void, but will accomplish that for which I send it.
God has to send His Word into the earth, but in order for Him to do it, He has to
have a human channel to send it through, because God sends His Word into the
earth through human agency. When the prophets spoke the Word of God, they were
sending His very Word into the earth. It was not their words nor was it God giving
them a little idea and them giving their opinion. It was God imparting something into
their spirit, and that which was placed into their spirit flowed out into their soul, and
into their body, and passed out into the earth. It was God’s very voice, words and
influence, the very essence of God going forth in those words into the earth.
God's Order of Spirit, Soul, Body
The soul has three main functions - as everybody knows by now, it has been taught
for so long - and that is the mind, the emotions and the will. That means that all
three areas are going to have to learn to be subject to the spirit within, because
God's order is always spirit, soul and body. Paul writing in Thessalonians says, "I
pray God that your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto
the coming of the Lord." We usually get it back to front and you hear people praying,
"Lord bless him, body, soul and spirit."
I have heard that so many times. We are so taken up with our bodies that we always
put that first. You find people most frequently when they refer to the three parts of
man, give it in that order of body, soul and spirit. God's order is always spirit, soul
and body, because the spirit is the most important. That is the part that is united with
God. That is the part that came from Him. The soul is the next most important
because it is your control tower. And the body is the least important so that must
always come last.
So if God is going to deal with you in order to prepare you to be an effective

prophet, He is going to deal with it in that order. He is going to start with your spirit,
then work with your soul, and He is going to deal with your body. He is going to
restore His order of spirit, and soul, and body. And when that order is restored then
the spirit, which is under God's control, is going to be the highest part of your being.
It is going to be the part of you that is in control, that is dominating and influencing.
The soul then will be in subjection to the spirit, and therefore the soul will do what
the spirit says. When that happens, the body is also then brought into subjection.
And it will be like the pecking order in the army where the General barks, and in the
end the Private jumps, because it goes right down the line.
Getting the Spirit to Dominate
God will speak into your spirit, and your spirit will say, "Attention, soul!" And your
soul will say, "Sir! Pass the order down." The soul passes the order down and says,
"Body!" And the body says, "Sergeant, do this!" Poor Private. But that is the order. It
is going to have to be established. It is going to have to be that way. That is what
the preparation of a prophet is about. And that is what God is trying to accomplish in
your life. He is trying to bring you to a place where you learn to walk in the Spirit.
That is all that walking in the Spirit is. It is learning to let your spirit dominate your life
and control it so that it flows outwards in an even flow. So here in 2 Corinthians 4,
Paul says:
We are troubled (we are hard-pressed) on every side.
Crunch No 1 – The Emotions
Have you ever been hard-pressed on every side? I shared in my testimony on the
prophetic ministry how when God first led us to move into another country south of
us, everything went wrong in our lives. I sat down the one day and made a list of
everything that went wrong and everything that went right. I made two columns on a
page: Things That Have Gone Wrong Since We Got Here, and Things That Have
Gone Right Since We Got Here. And the one column was empty. There was nothing
in it! Absolutely nothing had gone right. I could not find one thing that had gone right
for us since we had arrived. It had all gone wrong.
Do you know what it is like when everything goes wrong, when everybody is against
you and your family is against you? You get up in the morning and your spouse is
against you, and your kids are against you. You go to work and the traffic cops are
against you. And at work your boss is against you. It does not matter where you go,
everybody is against you! You go to church finally on the weekend and the church
people are against you.
You are troubled on every side! Things start to go wrong. Finances start to go
wrong. Anything that can go wrong goes wrong. You know that feeling? There is
trouble on every side and you are hard-pressed on every side. I will tell you what
happens to you when you get hard-pressed on every side. You start to feel very low.
You start to feel discouraged. You become depressed. Your emotions go totally out
of control. You cannot rely on your feelings anymore. Your desires are thwarted.
Everything about your emotions comes to a grinding halt. You feel so low and so
heavy that you just do not feel like doing anything anymore, and God puts your
emotions out of action. It is an awful situation to be in, isn’t it?
Crunch No 2 - The Mind
Paul says: We are perplexed.
What happens when you are perplexed? Perplexed means, "I cannot figure it out. I
do not know the solution to this problem." If you are one of those analytical people
that always likes to know the answers and has to have the whole picture; that wants
to gather all the facts first before making a move and making a decision, then
perplexed is going to be hell on earth. For all of us perplexed is not a nice situation
to be in, because we like to have a solution. When problems come your way you try
to figure it out. If there is less money at the end of the month, you take out your
calculator and work out your budget, saying, "Who is going into the hat this month?"
When there is a situation that arrives that you have to make a decision on, you have
to use your mind and your thinking capability to figure it out. You try and solve the
problem and try and organize how you are going to get out of the situation. But God
is going to bring you to a place where nothing works, where the solutions that
worked before do not work anymore. The thing that you are trying to figure out does
not work and does not make sense. No matter how you try, you are caught in a
maze, and whichever route you take through the maze, it does not matter, you end
up at Dead End Street. There is no way out of this maze. You are caught, you are
perplexed. Your mind has become absolutely no use at all.
Crunch No 3 - The Will
Now your emotions are out of action and God has also put your mind out of action,
and you cannot figure your way out of this one. What a situation to be in! But you
know what happens to some people when they are in a situation like that? They grit
their teeth and they say, "I am just going to push my way through. I will bash my way
through this thing. I am going to put my head down like a bull and run, and I will hit it
and hit it until I break through. I do not care if I cannot solve it, I will just keep hitting
until … I break through." You see, your will is still active. In fact it becomes very
active when your mind and emotions are out of action.
So, Paul says: We are persecuted
Do you know what happens when you are persecuted? It means other people stop
you from doing what you want to do. Persecuted means other people make you do
what they want you to do. You are not able to do what you want. It means that you
do not have the liberty to exercise your own will the way you choose to exercise it.
You do not have the liberty to do as you please.
So there you have it. First the emotions, then the mind, and then the will. All three of
them come to a grinding halt. They are out of action. You cannot rely on the natural
qualities of your soul, your soul that so likes to be in control of all things.
We love to live by our plans, and our ideas, and our concepts. We love to live by the
strength of our own willpower. But if you are going to be a prophet of God, I assure
you, you cannot rely on your emotions because your emotions are unstable. You
cannot rely on your thinking processes, because the Word of God comes from a
deeper source than your mind. And if you are relying on your mind you are going to
be open to deception. Satan will put thoughts in your mind, and what you speak
forth is not going to be the pure Word of God. It is either going to be other thoughts,
your own thoughts, or the thoughts of the evil one, and you are going to miss it. God
is going to have to deal with it and bring it to a halt.
The Pride
With your mind, emotions and will all brought to a halt you say, "Wow, now my soul
is out of action." No, not yet. The soul contains something else. It contains 'self'. It
contains the big I. You know, the great I am. I am the greatest! I this, and I will do
that, and I will do the other thing? And me? And what does everybody think about
me? It is the pride, and God has to deal with it.
Paul says: We are cast down
Do you know what that means? It means humiliation. It means opening your big
mouth and putting both feet in it at the same time. It means saying something out of
turn. It means making a fool of yourself and doing something that you regret
afterwards. It means coming to a place where you are so low that, as I said before,
you can crawl out under the door without opening it. That is how low you are going
to have to be. The pride in you is going to have to be dealt a deathblow. And you
are going to come to the place where your soul is now totally out of action. Now God
can start to do something with you.
The Soul Not Destroyed

You say, "Wow, that is what is been happening to me. That is why so many things
have been going wrong. To bring me to that place?" Yes, to bring your soul to a
place where God can do something with it. But I want to tell you something. God
does not want your soul to be in that condition of helplessness and hopelessness,
because your soul has to be actively involved in communicating forth what is in your
spirit. He does not want to destroy you. He does not want to crunch you, make you
into nothing and leave you there. He simply wants to get your attention. He wants to
bring you that place where He can then build you up.
You will see that every one of those statements that Paul made he made a positive
statement with it. He said:
We are troubled on every side (He gave a positive statement). We are

perplexed, but not in despair; we are cast down, but not destroyed.
God does not want to destroy you. Do not ever think that He just wants to break you
and destroy you all the time. Do not think that the dealings of God in your life and
the preparation for prophetic ministry is to nail you at every count and for you to be a
total nothing all the time. Do not ever think that God wants to continually crunch you,
that the whole of the rest of your life is going to be like this. That is not what it is
about. You are not going to reach sinless perfection this side of the grave and
before Jesus comes. God simply wants to get your attention and He wants to mould
you and make you into something that is a bit more efficient.
So when God deals with your soul He is not destroying it. He is going to break it
down, and then He is going to build it up. He is going to break it down, and then He
is going to rebuild it up, so that the situation that you are going to come into that
Paul is speaking about here, is not a permanent situation. And when it occurs it is
going to go through phases or stages. God is going to deal with it, and then He is
going to build it up. Then a little later He is going to deal with it some more, and then
He is going to build it up once more.
Refining Like Gold

There is going to be a process like the refining of gold. Because every time gold
goes through the fire it comes out a bit purer. It is not there yet. It has to go through
the fire again and again. And as you begin to progress in your prophetic ministry
and God begins to use you, He will deal with you and bring you to a position where
He can begin to use you.
As He begins to use you, and you begin to excel and move more effectively into the
prophetic ministry, sooner or later those stumbling blocks, those selfish sinful things
that are in you begin to manifest themselves, and come up and stand in the way of
what God has called you to do. Then you will go through another phase just like this,
where God is going to deal with you again and He is going to crunch you. He is
going to bring you to a point of despair and to a point of humiliation. He will deal with
you all over again, then He will build you up again. And you will rise to a higher level
than what you were before.
When Does It End?

So the process goes on. It is a continual process. It does not end. It depends on
how effective you want to be for the Lord. It depends on what kind of prophet you
want to be and on your commitment to Him. Are you happy just to be an ordinary
little person who speaks a Word of the Lord a little bit every now and then, or do you
want to go on for God and excel in the call? Do you want to be effective for Him?
You ought to be able to speak His Word with such purity that you know that most of
what you speak is the Lord, and very little of that is you.
You see, it is not going to start out that way. It is probably going to start out 50/50,
maybe not even that much. And as God deals with that area of you, then you are
going to go to 60/40, and 70/30, and 80/20. It is a process that God is going to
continually work in you, and it is up to you! Every time you come to the Lord in
submission and commitment to Him and say, "Lord, I want to be more effective.
Lord, I want to be a greater prophet for You. I want to speak better. I want to speak
purer. I want You to give me greater revelation. Lord, I want to speak deeper, I want
to speak stronger into the lives of people. Take me into that place where I am more
effective, where I am more powerful in the Spirit." Do you know what is coming? 2
Corinthians 4 is what is coming!
New Level, New Devil

You say, "But Lord, I have just committed myself to You, now everything goes
wrong. I know what it is. It is the devil. Satan is coming in here and trying to destroy
my commitment." Yes, it is the devil, sure he is there. Yes, it is the devil. He is the
one who destroys. God does not destroy. But do you know what happened? God
just sent you out against the new devil, some stronger powers.
God just sent you out into a situation where you became predisposed to a higher
level of demonic attack than what you had before, that is all. Why? Because you are
growing now in your ministry. You are growing in your spirituality, and you are
growing into a higher status in the Lord, and a greater level of ministry. And you are
going to be dealing with higher levels of demonic power. You are going to be
dealing with deeper levels of ministry. And it is going to take a greater preparation
for you to get there.
Aspiring to Greater Things

You say, "But, I went through these 30 years of training already. I thought I was
qualified to be a prophet now." Yes, you are qualified to be a prophet if you just want
to be that kind of prophet. Do you want to stay the way you are, or do you want to
go on for God? Do you want to progress? Do you want to have a greater capacity?
Do you want to have a greater anointing, a greater power? Do you want to come to
the place in intercession where you know that all of the prayers that you pray, every
single word, every declaration that you speak forth into the earth is answered every
time?
Do you want to come to the place where you can call somebody up and say, "Do
you know what? God got me to pray for you last night. Get ready, it is coming! God
told me to speak blessing on your finances last night. It is coming. I am telling you it
is coming. I know it is coming because my prayer is always answered! When God
tells me to pray my prayer is answered, so you can take it from me, it is coming!"
Do you want to get to that place? Or do you want to come and say, "Well, I was led
to pray for you last night. We are standing with you in prayer, brother." I do not know
about you. I want to be the first one. But it is going to cost you. There are going to
come more dealings. There is going to come a greater level of submission to the
Spirit of God that is within. And that is not all. Paul goes on and he says: ...always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
The Body
What does that Scripture mean, that you are going to be sick? No, sickness and
disease is the curse. God does not want us to be under a curse. But I will tell you
what, if you are going to start moving into a ministry that is going to come against
dealing with sicknesses and diseases, you had better get ready to fight sickness
and disease because Satan is going to try and put it on you. If you are going to be
effective for the Lord you had better start getting ready to face an attack on your
body. If you are going to be that effective for the Lord, your body had better be a
willing vessel at all times.
When God says at 4.00 o'clock in the morning, "I want you to get up and pray and
speak a word of intercession and a decree into the earth," your body must not say,
"But we got to bed late last night. I am tired." No, your body is going to have to come
into subjection. It is going to have to learn to obey. It is going to have to learn to be a
willing servant, to say, "Yes, sir! What next? Okay boss." It is tough. It is going to
take some dealings in your body.
Bodily Exercise
Maybe your body needs some physical exercise. I personally hate exercise. I know
some people who love it. But if your body is going to be physically fit perhaps
exercise is needed. If it is going to be physically well, maybe you are going to have
to change your diet and cut out certain foods. That may be required of you. If you
are going to be effective for the Lord, it may require a bit of discipline. You see, if
you are going to be all that God wants you to be, you have a spirit, a soul and a
body, and all three of them are designed to work together at peak efficiency and in
harmony, the way God intended it.
Becoming Efficient
Now from the little bit that I learned about Science I have learned that machinery
and equipment are often given an efficiency rating. You see, if you have got a motor
that is turning there is a certain amount of friction that takes place in the moving
parts as they move. And although there may be power that is causing the
movement, this friction is a resistance against that power. So you can work it out
and say, "I am passing electricity through this electric motor, and therefore
theoretically, according to the amount of power that is going through it, this is the
amount of power and energy that that motor should put out."
But when you come to actually testing the thing and benchmarking it, you find that
the power is actually less than what you worked out it should be. Do you know why?
Because there are resistances. There are things in the mechanics, in the parts, that
are preventing it from going that way.
It is like driving your car with the brakes on. Have you ever driven a car with the
handbrake on? You try driving your car with the handbrake on and you cannot
understand what is wrong with this stupid car today! It does not want to go. It has
lost efficiency and is not working the way it should. Maybe the bearings have not
been greased for a while too. Whatever it is, every moving part needs to be
functioning to the peak of its capability before you can reach the point of maximum
efficiency of that engine.
You know the way God has made us, we are His creation and are a machine. We
are designed to function efficiently. And unless our spirit, soul and body are all
functioning to the greatest of their capacity, we are not going to be as effective for
the Lord as we had liked to be.
Learning to Excel
So if you are a prophet and you want to be a greater prophet; if you want to excel,
this is what Paul speaks about when he speaks about not only having gifts and
ministries, but excelling in them. "It is not enough to be a prophet, but I want to be
an excellent prophet."
You say, "But is that my choice? What about these great prophets that God is
using? These men who hit the public eye who give their prophecies, and they give it
on national television, "Thus says the Lord, 'In 1999, God is going to bless, God is
going to do this, and this is the word for the church in 1999…' "?
"Wow, I wish I could prophecy like that."
You can. Do you suppose that guy got there overnight? Do you suppose it fell in his
lap? Some people have just got it, hey, they are just lucky. They are God's favorites.
Do you think He just dropped it on them?
A Price to Pay
You look at some of the great healing evangelists that are used so mightily by God
in healing, and you say, "Oh, I wish God could use me like that." And you find that
most of them were on their deathbed before God began to use them. There is a
price to pay. There is always a price to pay, but if you are prepared to pay that price
then you can go on and enter into all that the Lord has for you.
So the process continues and continues. I am never satisfied to be in one place. I

was not even satisfied to stay as a prophet. It is up to you. You can be a mediocre
prophet. You can be like the sons of the prophets in the time of Elijah who were
ordinary little guys. They got the revelation, they got the Word, yes, they were
prophets. But they did not get the mantle of Elijah. It took a man with greater
commitment than that to get the mantle of Elijah. If you want that, then you are
going to pay the price, and the price is going to be God's preparation in your life.
You say, "But everybody has rejected me and I have had such a tough time." I have
seen so many prophets with persecution complexes. You are going to have to get
beyond that. You are going to have to move beyond that, because if you are going
to move deeper with God you are going to get some more persecution, so you had
better get ready for it. You are going to go through the process again.
Developing the Spirit
God is going to deal with your spirit, your soul and your body, and is going to cause
each of them to become efficient. And you are going to have to work on each one
yourself, to cause them to become efficient. You are going to have to develop your
spiritual capacity. The easiest way to do that is to pray in tongues all the time as
much as you can, because when you pray in tongues you exercise your spirit. Paul
says that if you pray with your spirit you build yourself up. Praying in tongues builds
you up and edifies you.
How does it work? I do not know or care. I just pray in tongues and pray in tongues,
and keep on praying in tongues.
You say, "And what do you feel?"
I do not care! I keep on praying in tongues and praying more in tongues. What is
going to happen is your spirit is going to start getting built up, and it is going to get
stronger.
Developing the Soul
Then if you are going to deal with your soul, take the Word of God. Paul speaks
about the renewing of the mind. How do you renew your mind? You start to fill your
mind with the Word of God. We spoke in the Way of Blessing series about building
spiritual templates. Do you want to be effective and want the Spirit of God to flow
out of you in prophetic power and anointing? Start exercising your soul. Start
exercising your mind on the Word of God. Start exercising your desires and your
feelings in accordance with the Word of God. Start speaking and using your will to
speak the Word of God. Exercise your soul.
Developing the Body
You need to also teach your body to submit. If you have to modify your diet and do
exercise to make your body more effective, then do that too. It is not a major thing.
A lot of people major on it, though.
"Well, healthy body, healthy mind."
Have you heard that one? I have not found it in the bible yet, but it is supposed to
work. I know the Bible says, "Bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is
profitable for all things." So let us not major on the bodily exercise. Just teach your
body to be in subjection and to submit.
As you do these things and move into it, what is going to happen is more and more
you are going to come to the place where the prophetic word that God places in
your spirit will have a clear channel to flow out and to pour forth. Then God begins to
apply to you the cross.
Death by Crucifixion
Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me."
I want to end on this now, applying the cross.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him."
Paul said, "Reckon yourselves to be dead." Apply it to yourselves. Let the Holy Spirit
take it and apply it to you. Be identified with Jesus in His death, and His burial and
resurrection. This is something that you as a prophet are going to face again and
again and again, the concept that is known as death of a vision. It is where you are
going to have to take your very desire, and your very call, and everything that God
has placed within you, and sacrifice it to Him, and put it on the cross. Dying is one of
the most difficult things to do. And yet it is such an easy thing to do too.
No Suicide by Crucifixion
Do you know that death by crucifixion is something that you cannot do? I have not
yet heard of anybody who has ever committed suicide by crucifixion. It just cannot
be done. You could probably crucify half of yourself. You could take a hammer in
one hand and put a nail in the other hand, and maybe even in your foot, if you have
got the courage to do that.
But if you are going to get fully crucified, somebody else is going to have to do the
job. And the only one who can do that is the Lord. All you can do is to lift your hands
and stand against the cross and say, "Okay, Father, do it to me. I am ready for it.
You deal with these things in my life, and you bring to death in me everything that
stands in the way of me being used by You."
So He starts to hit the nail. At that point, what are you going to do?
"Oh, but Lord that hurt!"
"Well, what did you think? Crucifixion is supposed to hurt!"
"But I did not think it was going to be like that. Lord, I thought you were just going to
breathe on me in revival power, the anointing was going to come on me, I was going
to fall under the power, and I was going to get up and it was going to be over and
done."
No, that is the resurrection part. You have got to die first, and death is always
painful. When God begins to bring you into some of these situations, He brings you
to the end of yourself and you keep fighting it, and you keep fighting it. You keep
rebuking the devil. You keep saying, "I am not going to accept this!" Be careful. It
may be God bringing you to that death on the cross.
Death by Suffocation
You know the other thing about death on the cross? Death on the cross occurs by
suffocation. It actually occurs when the person eventually tires themselves out to the
point where they collapse. And when they collapse their bodies pull down and cause
their lungs to close up and they actually asphyxiate to death. That is how people
died on the cross in those days. It was a painful horrible death. And the person that
was on the cross would push down with their feet and push up against the stake so
that they could breathe.
They would push up, lift themselves up and breathe and then they would collapse
again. And eventually they would have to push themselves up again to breathe.
That is the only way they could stay alive. If you were strong and you could push up,
you could hold out a long time. You could have hung on that cross a couple of days
before you died from thirst or hunger or just plain tiredness, weariness and
suffocation.
The Necessity for Leg-Breaking
Jesus did not take that long to die. He hung on the cross and He said, "Father, into
your hands I commit My spirit." And the Scripture says that He yielded up His spirit
and He died. The thieves that were crucified on the cross with Him did not do that.
They struggled and they battled, and because the sun was going down and they did
not want to leave the bodies on the cross on the Sabbath, the Scripture says that
the guards came to break their legs.
Why did they break their legs? I always used to wonder about this. That is really
mean of them. I mean, as if the guys have not suffered enough, they still want to
come and smash their legs? It was so they could not push up on the cross, so they
could not push up and keep breathing because as soon as their legs were broken
they would just have to hang there and suffocate to death and they would die.
Learning to Die Like Jesus

Jesus did not have to do it. When they came to Him they saw that He was already
dead, so they did not break His legs. They just put a spear in His side to make sure
that He was already dead. When God begins to move upon you and bring to death
in you all of these things of the flesh that stand in the way of you being used as a
prophet, you have a choice. You can struggle, you can fight, you can kick. You can
push up against it and moan and groan and bewail your situation. Or you can say,
"Hold it! I think I am being crucified here. I think the reason for this is so I can die."
How to Respond to Dealings
I know what it is like to struggle and I know what it is like to go for weeks and
months. The situation just seemed to get worse instead of better. Until one day the
penny dropped and I said, "Hold it! Why am I being so stupid?" Now I have learned.
When I see it and I see what God is doing and I know what is happening, I do not
get all discouraged and depressed and say, "Oh, Lord, I do not know why you are
doing this to me again." I say, "Hey, promotion is coming. Let me go die quickly!"
And it takes minutes just to let it go and stop fighting.
When people start picking on you and start putting you down, start saying ugly
things about you, start accusing you of things you did not do, do not rise up on your
high horse filling your mouth with arguments. Do not lie awake at night thinking, "I
know what I am going to say to them the next time I see them. I am going to write
them a letter and I am going to say this and I am going to say that because they are
wrong, and it is not fair!" Let it go. Just die.
You say, "But they are wrong. What they are saying is not true."
Let it die! You see, you have to get to the place where what they say about you
does not matter anymore. It is what God says about you that matters. And
sometimes God will bring you through test after test like that to see whether you are
prepared to say, "Okay, Lord, they are saying ugly things about me, but what do you
want me to do, Lord? Where is it at?" Do you know what a victory it is? Do you know
what a wonderful victory it is when you can just die and let go of that thing.
You see, all that is happening is you are moving through a preparation which is not
only bringing you into a greater capacity for ministry, but is bringing you to become
more and more like Jesus. It is an application of salvation in your life as God is
dealing with the power of sin in you and making you more and more into the image
of Jesus.
We saw that the preparation can begin right from before birth. How will you know
when the preparation is complete? Well, in one sense it is never finished. But yes,
there comes an initial time of preparation, an initial period of your life where God is
building you up and preparing you for the time when He is actually going to call you
and move you into the prophetic ministry. Once you have gone through that
preparation, which is the longest part and can take years and years, there will come
a point in time where God will now give the prophetic call and lead you into your
training phase.
Training At the End of Preparation

When your training phase starts, that is the end of your initial preparation. So that is
when it ends, when God calls you to the prophetic ministry and begins to train you
and prepare you practically to move into the prophetic ministry. It means God
considers you to have been dealt with enough to have come to a sufficient level of
trustworthiness. He can now begin to trust you enough to place His anointing on
you, to put His words in you, and to cause you to become His spokesman in the
earth.
Then all He needs to do is to train you, but training is another kind of preparation,
and we have reserved separate teaching for that. So I am going to end now on the
preparation of a prophet, and then we will look at the training of a prophet and all the
other things that are involved in a prophetic ministry.
So now as you look at your life, look right back to the beginning and just look over
the whole span of your life. If you are a prophet of God I will guarantee that as I
have shared I have touched on things here and there along the way where you can
say, "Yes that is me. I have been there. Yeah, I know all about that. Been there,
done that."
All of these are a good sign that God has already taken you through most of the
preparation that is needed to prepare and mould you and to bring you to that place
where you can become His prophet, His spokesman.
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Psalmody: Origins of Music
an you imagine what life would be like without music? Have you ever
thought about that? You see, life without music would be like life without
color, because music is to listening and sound, as color is to sight.
Music Brings Things to Life

I remember the days when they first brought out TV and it was only in black and
white. Man, we were so excited to go and watch things on TV, and we didn’t even
notice that it was just black and white until that first day I saw it in color. I just could
not believe it was the same picture. I could not believe it was the same movies I had
been watching before in black and white. There was a whole new dimension to it.
The thing came to life. It was no longer just a picture on a screen, it was like I was
really there, like I could really see the person.
Music is like that. We have sounds, we have speech, we have talk, we have noises
all around us. But when you add music to that noise it adds a new depth and a new
dimension to the world around about you. Music is a very, very powerful force, and
in these modern days we can see how powerful music is, because the music
industry is one of the biggest industries that is going at the moment.
Can you imagine what would happen to the youth if right now we were to take away
all of their stereo cassette players and sound systems, and ban the recording of
music and singing groups? Can you imagine life amongst young people without
music? Can you imagine life amongst us older people without music? It would be a
horrible, horrible existence.
Music is at the very fiber of our being. And in this message I am going to try and
show you from the Word and from general observations that I have made, and you
will understand just why music is so important to us. So I am just going to start an
introduction to this subject here so we can get into how important music is in the
prophetic ministry. We will not get into looking at praise and worship and psalmody.
It is such a big subject I originally allowed just one message for it, but I can see it is
going to be at least two.
So here I am just going to look at music. We are not going to be going much further
than music and singing, let alone getting into actual praise and worship and
psalmody. So, let’s just see how it goes.
Music Adds Power

Music has a power. Have you noticed that music is used in advertising to make you
buy the product? Have you ever tried to watch a movie that does not have a musical
background sound track? Have you ever tried that? I know in South Africa where we
came from they used to often buy movies from all over the world, particularly when
things became tight and you could not get a lot of stuff, because the country was
being sanctioned politically. So they would buy all the junk that they could get from
all over the world. And you would sometimes get these horrible movies. The acting
was okay. The people spoke clearly, but there was no musical background.
You know what it is like when the guy crawls up with that intense moment of
suspense and there is no music that goes (tada, tada, tada!)? It just takes the power
all away from it. You do not realize how important music is. You don’t even notice
the music when you watch a movie. We will look at that more just now.
Music Has Power Over Creation
Music has power over the creation. Have you ever seen the picture of the snake
charmer sitting with his flute and the snake is swaying around? There is this great
big deadly cobra and he is dancing to the music. Well they say it is not the music,
because the snake is deaf and it really just watches the piper as he waves his pipe.
I don’t know. I think there is a power there that they do not realize. There is a power
there that makes a deaf snake respond to music.
How does that work? I don’t know. But music has power over creation. People have
always known that. That is why you have the old story of the Pied Piper, hey? The
guy with the flute who charmed all the rats out of town. When they would not pay
him his money he went and took all the kids away. You know the story, a legend.
There is power in music. There is a very great, and terrific power in music. It is there
and we cannot deny its existence, because experience proves to us that it is there.
But why?
Music and Happiness Synonymous

Music and happiness go together. When you are feeling happy; when you are
feeling unwound; when you are feeling free of care, you start to sing. And when a
guy has had a few drinks and the alcohol starts to take effect and he starts to lose
his inhibitions, he starts to sing. You have heard of the old singing drunk. Why?
Because singing and music tend to go together with that feeling of contentment, of
joy, and of peace.
Have you ever sung in the bath? Come on, of course you have. You see, you are
relaxed there in the beautiful warm water and you are feeling like just letting go of
the cares of the day, and are feeling wonderful and relaxed. You feel like you could
just lie there all night, and you just burst out in song. And that small bathroom
makes you sound like one of these great opera singers. So you let rip. It is amazing
how good you sound, until you get out of the bath and come into a normal room,
and your voice sounds all flat again. Man, I just wish I could live in a bathroom all
the time so I could sing that way, don’t you?
You see, singing is an expression of the heart. It has a terrific power to lift your
spirit, to lift your soul, and to stir your emotions. Music also holds the key to
releasing God’s power into the earth. That is what I want us to deal with here.
The Start of Music

Where did music come from? When did it start? Was it invented by the Beatles or
one of the early guys like Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby? When did it start? How far
back do we have to go in history to find out when the musical instrument was made,
when music first began, and when songs were first created? Well, the Bible gives us
a little bit of a hint.
If you turn to the book of Job in Chapter 38, God begins to speak to Job out of the
whirlwind after he has gone through all his troubles and he has moaned and
groaned and spouted his ideas, and his friends have spouted off their ideas.
Eventually God says, "Okay now that you’ve all given your ideas, let Me give you My
opinion."
He calls to Job and says, "Who do you think you are? Were you there at the
beginning, Job, when I started the whole thing?" And God said to Job in Job 38:4:
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if
you have understanding. Who has laid the measures of it if you know?
Or who has stretched the line upon it? On what are the foundations of it
fastened? And who laid the cornerstone of it, when the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
Music the Foundation of the Earth
God laid the foundation of the earth. And He says to Job, "When I did that; when I
put it all in place; when I put the cornerstone there and the foundation and I laid the
earth in place, the morning stars sang together."
Who are the morning stars? What is the Morning Star? The Morning Star is that star
that comes up before daybreak. It is a beautiful bright light in the sky. It is the light
that comes to let you know that day is coming. It was what came forth before God
created His very first thing when He said, "Let there be light."
When God spoke and said, "Let there be light," the morning stars had appeared and
there was singing. There was music. God created in the presence of music.
Satan Was the Morning Star
Who are the morning stars? Isaiah 14:12 speaks about Lucifer who is now known as
Satan or the Devil. It says:
How you have fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning! You
are cut down to the ground, who weakened the nations! For you have
said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation on the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
Who was this one called Lucifer, the light-bringer, the son of the morning? He was
the Morning Star, that’s who he was. He was one of the leaders of that group of
angels whose full time job is to sing, "Hallelujah, praise you Lord." Their full time job
is to worship and sing in the presence of God. God cannot go one second without
music. It is part of His nature. God does nothing without music, because music and
the Spirit of God are integrally one. They are joined together.
Worship Angels
Are you beginning to see why music is so important, and what a power there is in it?
The worship angels make up, I believe, a third of the angels of heaven. We read
about it in Isaiah 6 where Isaiah had a vision of the Lord and he said, "I saw the
Lord high and lifted up and His train filled the temple." And he saw the seraphim
flying with three pairs of wings. They were singing and they were crying out and
worshipping in the presence of a holy God.
If you read the book of Revelation, you will see the songs that are being sung
continuously at the Throne of God and in His presence. There are angels
worshipping and singing all the time in the presence of God in the heavenly realm.
That is why God inhabits the praises of His people. God lives in music. And when
God made man and imparted of His own Spirit into man, He did it in the presence of
music. When God took the power of Spirit and caused Spirit to make matter, He did
it in the presence of music.
Sounds of Creation
I want to tell you something. God built music into nature. Do you want to hear the
music of nature? Just be quiet a moment and listen. We live not far from the sea
here. We are just four houses down. And every night if we lie with the windows open
we can hear music. We can hear the waves crashing on the beach. They are
making rhythmic noises and sounds. It is the music of the creation.
We also live in a place where the wind blows most of the year. There is a sea
breeze. And as the sun comes up and as it begins to rise in the sky and the earth
begins to heat up, there comes a draft that takes place off the sea that comes over
the earth, and the wind begins to blow. And if you listen carefully you will hear it
blowing through the trees. You will hear it whistling through anything that stands in
its path.
You will hear the music of creation. You will hear the sound of movement. You will
hear the sound of the trees brushing in the wind. You will hear the sound of the
trees brushing against the roof and against the wall. You will hear the sound of the
gate swinging open. You will hear the sound of things moving, and where they move
rhythmically you will hear music. You will hear a motor car going down the road
(brrrrr). It is pretty primitive, but it is music.
Then if you have as many dogs and cats and things as we have, you will hear
another kind of music. I do not really like that music. You know, there are certain
kinds of music that I just cannot stand. One of them is (woof, woof, woof). I just don’t
like that tune, but hey, it is music. It is rhythmic. And each of them sings their own
tune. You will have the one sitting down the road there, at 12:00 at night or 1:00 in
the morning and he will be sitting there going (1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4-5, 1, 1-2, 1-2-3-
4). And you want to get up and take a stone and tell him to stop singing! But it is
music. God made them that way. It is the music of creation.
Instruments Based on Creation
As we look at the different kinds of musical instruments that are made, you will find
they are all based on the creation. There are wind instruments that are designed to
take the movement of air, of wind, and to cause it to make a sound and convert it
into music.
There are stringed instruments, like the guitars that we play all the time, where you
pluck a string and the string begins to vibrate and it begins to make music.
There are reed instruments, where little pieces vibrate together against each other
to make a sound. Some of the insects have that naturally, like that noisy little cricket
that beeps and beeps in the middle of the night also to keep you awake. He is just
playing a little tune on his drums there, having a good time of worship to the Lord! I
wish he wouldn’t do it at such awkward times, but he does. He is causing vibration
to take place.
We have percussion instruments like the drums and cymbals. And do you know that
just about everything that is made has music? You can take anything you like, and
whatever you do, hit it, smack it, blow on it, do something with it – it is going to end
up making music. Music is built into the creation. There is not a thing that is made
that does not have music built into it.
Music in Everything
Of course God has given music to us in our vocal cords, to be able to create
sounds; beautiful sounds for some people, but for some of us that do not have such
good vocal cords, not such beautiful sounds! But we can make a joyful noise to the
Lord. It is music. Thank goodness the Lord is tone deaf. He would have a real
problem with my singing I think.
We have the ability to make music. It is built into the creation. And you know, I
believe that a coloratura soprano, who reaches extremely high notes, can actually
make a glass break just from her singing. Why? Because she sings a note that is
high enough to actually reach the frequency that is built into glass. That glass has
music built into it! Every object has potential music.
You say, "But I can’t sing."
You have music in you; everyone, everything that is built and made. Why? Because
when God said, "Let there be …" the morning stars were singing. There was music.
There was music in the air. Whenever God moves there is music in the air. And if
you want to see God move in greater power than ever, put some music in the air.
God operates in and through music.
Resonance
Let’s look at a couple of scientific things here shall we? What is music exactly and
how does it work? We have something that, in science is called resonance. What is
resonance? Resonance is the ability to get the maximum capability out of
something. So if you take a bottle, for example, and you blow on it, it begins to
vibrate and it begins to whistle. It whistles at a frequency that is known as the
resonant frequency. And at that frequency is makes a lot of noise.
Now, if you were to take something like a tuning fork that you can hit and make a
noise with, you can get it to vibrate at the exact same frequency as that bottle. I
know this. This was my science practical at School. I will never forget this one. I
ended up with the worst one. I arrived there late and everybody had taken the best
ones. My job was to take a couple of tuning forks and a bottle of water and work out
the formula that says that when there is a certain volume in the bottle, the tuning
fork is going to reach its loudest pitch. So you had to hit this tuning fork and hold it
over the bottle and pour water in until the tuning fork grew the loudest and hit its
resonant frequency.
Singers use resonance all the time. What they do is they change the shape of their
throat to make sure that the sound that is being created by their vocal cords vibrates
in the cavity that is in their throat. It vibrates at the resonant frequency, creating
maximum volume and maximum power.
Spiritual Resonance Needed
So why am I speaking about resonance here? The reason is because we need to

find out how to get ourselves in tune to the point where we can release the
maximum power from our spirits through music. We need to learn how to obtain
spiritual resonance. And we need to do that by coming to the place where our spirit
and soul and body are all vibrating at the same frequency.
Now you are not going to do that by walking in the flesh. You are not going to do
that when your body is vibrating at a different frequency. Just put a bunch of people
together who cannot sing, and get them all to sing in harmony. Oh man, it is a
cacophony. It is a noise. But take two voices that blend together in harmony and you
start to get a beautiful sound, which begins to come out.
You see, God has built us with music in us. We have music in our bodies. We have
music in our souls, and we have music in our spirits. And if we can get those to flow
in the same key, at the same resonant frequency, in perfect harmony with each
other, what is going to happen is we are going to get a perfect vibration, a perfect
flow. So just as you take that tuning fork and stick it on top of the bottle, what
happens is the air in the bottle begins to vibrate with the tuning fork at the same
frequency. And when it does that the power is highly amplified.
Singing Lesson
That is how a singer does it. And if you want to find out if you are getting resonance
when you sing (I will just add this for your interest. I know all about this, it does not
come naturally), take yourself a candle and hold it in front of your mouth while you
sing. If you blow the candle out, you do not have resonance. You are blowing air.
When you have resonance all you need is a light application of the vocal cords and
the air coming through your vocal cords, to cause maximum resonance in your
throat. When you do that all the air is taken up with making the music and there is
none left over. Your candle will not blow out. You can hold the candle right in front of
your mouth and it will not go out if you are singing right. If you blow the candle out
you are not singing right. There is a singing lesson thrown in the middle for you as
well!
Now how much spiritual power are you wasting?
You say, "I wish God would use me. I wish I could really release the anointing. I
wish I could flow in the Spirit."
You have the power. You have the music in your spirits. But you do not know how to
release it in resonance. You do not know how to release it to flow together with your
spirit, your soul and your body all going together. You can learn to do that, and Lord
willing, as we continue with this I am going to show you how to do that. So this
message is just a buildup, a carrot if you like, to make you want to read the next
one. It is a good preaching trick.
Musical Frequencies
Music has frequencies. What is a frequency? It is the speed of vibration. The low
frequencies are the lower sounds; the high frequencies are the higher sounds. The
human ear can only hear a certain range of frequencies. The human voice can only
sing a certain range of frequencies. And depending on what kind of singer you are,
your range of frequencies is limited. Mine are limited to mostly the lower notes. They
are the only ones that have reasonable quality. When I get to the higher ones I
sound like I am screeching like an owl!
Some people do not have a problem. They can just open their mouths and they can
go from low to high without a problem, with perfect sound, perfect quality. I am not
one of them unfortunately. Actually a lot of singers are not either. But nevertheless,
in spite of the range of the human vocal cords, there is a limit to the range of our
hearing. We can only hear down to a certain frequency and only up to a certain
frequency. There is a frequency range that we can hear.
Animals Have Higher Frequency
Animals do not have the same frequency range. Animals can hear sounds that are
far higher than what the human ear can hear. I am sure you have heard of the dog
whistle. What is a dog whistle? It is a whistle where when you blow on it, nothing
comes out. Well, so you think. But when you blow on the whistle, the dog can hear.
The dog can hear the whistle blowing, but you cannot hear it. It is a very useful thing
if you do not want to make a noise and call your dogs, and you do not want to wake
the neighbors. Why is that? Because dog’s ears can detect a greater frequency
range. They can hear higher sounding notes.
Spiritual Dog Frequency
Can you imagine what would happen if you could become a dog? Now I am not
speaking about getting a sudden fancy for the fire hydrant. I am talking about getting
a greater range of frequency to hear. What is going to happen is you are going to
hear things that you do not normally hear. Have you not noticed that you will be
sitting and you do not hear a thing, and suddenly the dog’s ears will prick up, and it
will suddenly bark? It will start to look. Something is up. And off it goes to go and
bark at something. And you think, "What is this dog barking at? I didn’t hear a thing."
He heard something that you did not hear. He has a greater frequency range in his
hearing.
So why am I talking about frequencies? I tell you why, because music is a spiritual
thing. There is music in your spirit. Your spirit can put out a frequency that cannot be
heard by the human ear. Your spirit can put out a frequency that requires dog ears;
well not dog ears, but spiritual dog ears. In other words, you need to be able to hear
in the Spirit, to be able to hear the frequency that is coming out.
Releasing Anointing in Music

So what happens when a person begins to release the anointing through music?
They may be melodious. They may be not so melodious. They may sing like a great
famous public singer, or they may sing like me. But what is going to make the
difference when it comes to the anointing of God is not going to be the frequencies
that you hear with your human ear. It is going to be that extra frequency that goes
outside of the hearing range of the human ear. It is going to be the frequency that I
call the anointing.
You need to be able to hear that new frequency. You need to develop your spiritual
hearing to be able to hear the frequency of the music of anointing. If you are able to
develop that, you will be able to hear things when people sing that other people do
not hear.
Tune to the Frequency
I remember hearing once, I don’t remember the exact details, but it went something
like this. This guy said that he was in a meeting and a couple of people stood up to
give a duet. They stood up with a box guitar and began to sing the duet. There were
two of them trying to sing in harmony. They were out of key and the guitar was out
of tune. They could not harmonize. The one kept going off. It was awful. It was
horrible. He wanted to put his fingers in his ears and say, "Get them out of there.
Take them away. They’re breaking the meeting."
God spoke to Him and said, "You be quiet. Just you be quiet! They are making
beautiful music for Me, not for you."
He did not have his ear tuned to hear that other frequency. And if you are going to
benefit from the power that is released from the anointing of God, that is released
through this agency of music and singing, you are going to have to learn, prophet of
God, to develop an ear for the anointing of God. You are going to have to develop
an ear that when somebody opens their mouth to sing, you don’t say, "I don’t like
that style of music. I’m not into reggae."
"I hate rap."
"Oh, metal music just stirs me up and makes me angry!"

"Country music makes me want to get ill."
"Mariachi music? Oh no, not again."
You are going to be hearing a lot more than that. You are going to be hearing that
extra note that is coming way above the rest. You are going to have your ear tuned,
and will hear a beautiful, beautiful sound coming out there. You are going to say,
"Wow, what singing. Wow, what music. It is beautiful. It’s bringing me into the
presence of the Lord."
Most People Do Not Have It
Most people do not have an ear for that, let me tell you. Most people have never
learned; they have never been taught. I am going to show you shortly why most
people have never learned to pick it up.
You say, "That’s not true. When I listen to certain music and certain singers I feel
stirred up in my spirit. I get close to the Lord."
Maybe you do. But it does not mean that you are hearing the anointing or sensing it.
I am not going to jump the gun. We will be getting to that shortly.
Speech Versus Music

What is the difference between speech and music? When a person speaks they are
just talking. Now I speak for sometimes periods of an hour, or if I really push it 90
minutes. I don’t know how some folks bear it. But speech is not music, unless you
really like the preacher and you say, "His preaching is like music to my ears."
Music Flows
But how about if I sing my message? You would think I am nuts. Maybe. I might be
anointed, I do not know. You see, music and speech are not the same. And yet they
can be the same. They come from the same source. But what is it that makes music
different from normal sounds and speech? It is harmony; a beautiful sound rather
than discord. When a person speaks; when several people are speaking together in
a group, there is noise. It is not music, it is noise. For something to be music it
needs to flow in harmony, and usually it needs to flow at one level of volume, not
getting loud and soft like me. When I get excited I start to shout, and when I feel the
anointing I quieten down and get very spiritual.
Music is Orderly
But you see, music flows. It flows like a river. Music has scales. Who made those
up? Where did that come from? Who said that music notes are A B C D E F G A B
C? Those things were created by man. But yet, what they did is they discovered
something that God built in there, that music works to specific rules and to specific
patterns. Music is a pattern. It is not just a sound, but it is a particular flow of sound
that follows patterns. It follows an order, just as God made the creation to be a
creation of order. The planets fly around each other in order. They gather together in
galaxies in order. The whole creation is one of order.
And when a person begins to hear music they begin to become part of that order.
We are getting back again to the idea of spirit and soul and body flowing together in
order. In which order? In the order that God created us to flow in; in the order that
our spirit is to be in control. Our spirit is to pour forth an influence to the soul, and
the soul is to pour the influence through to the body. And so a flow begins to take
place. If you want that flow to take place you can do it with music.
Music Changes Emotions
Music has a power to change the way we feel. It has the power to motivate us to
different kinds of action. Now I am not even talking about spiritual music. Nor am I
talking about worship or singing under the anointing. I am talking about any old
musician out there that can do this. Hollywood are doing this all the time. You can
change the mood of a person and you can make them do something, by exposing
them to the right kind of music.
Happy Music
Happy music; music that is filled with celebration, creates a feeling of euphoria and
joy. Oh yeah, good old lively music! I feel good. If you put that kind of music on you
cannot stay sad. If you want to be sad you have to switch it off, because you want to
wallow a bit.
"Just switch that music off man, I don’t feel like being happy now!"
Have you ever tried singing while you are sad? Have you ever tried singing while
you are depressed? You cannot do it. They do not agree with each other. They work
against each other. But you can take music and play it to somebody and make them
happy. If you are feeling down all you need to do is to put on some lively music. It
doesn’t even have to be Christian music. It just has to be the right kind of tempo of
music, and what is going to happen is it is going to change your feelings.
The Blues
Not everybody wants to be happy all the time so people have created other kinds of
music. We have mournful music. We have ‘singing the blues’. Oh, you want to moan
and groan, you want to wallow, you want to cry. You want to say what a horrible
world it is and you want to sing the blues. Good old mournful music, full of minors.
Country Music
Then you have country music. Oh dear, country music. I think they want country
music to be happy, but it is always singing hard luck stories about the love that you
lost, and how somebody else took her away, and she does not want to come back
anymore. At least, most of the country music that I have heard does that. Sorry you
country music fans, it is just not one of my favorite kinds of music. It makes me feel
miserable. Some people like feeling miserable. They like wallowing. Maybe that is
your thing. You see, the music is going to put you in the kind of mood that you want
to be in.
Romantic Music
Then you get romantic music; music that stirs the emotions; music that stirs the
passions. You know you have this typical scene that they try and portray in
Hollywood, where the guy softens the lights and it dims, and he begins to put on this
beautiful soothing music in the background so that he can create the right kind of
romantic environment and atmosphere.
You know something? It works. Come on you married couples that are not getting
on so well, when is the last time you sat down by candlelight and put on some
beautiful soft, soothing music? It works. Candlelight has that power to bring you
closer to the person. I tried to figure out once why it does that, and I came to the
conclusion that in candlelight you do not see the person very clearly and you can
imagine they are somebody else. Well, this is just my theory. It has that power
though doesn’t it? It softens.
Hollywood do that. If they want to create a romantic scene they soften the picture.
They put a filter in to make it all fuzzy and blurry, and they put the right kind of music
in, and you start falling in love with the person on the movie. You cannot help it. It
has a power. The power is there. Listen, they did not create it. They just discovered
what God created.
Satan a Master Musician
God made music to have that kind of power. God created music, not the Devil. But I
want to tell you something, he was the son of the morning. He was the Archangel in
charge of the worship angels. His job was to lead worship in heaven. I want to tell
you, Lucifer is a master musician. Lucifer, Satan, knows the power of music better
than most Christians. He has taken that power and has put it in the world, and he is
preaching his gospel to the young people of our society. And he is using music to do
it.
You say, "But it’s horrible, this heavy metal music. This vile stuff that my kids are
getting into."
The Spirit Behind the Music

Listen, it is not the music. It is the spirit behind the music. Some people have used
the soft romantic music to seduce women.
"What horrible music, it’s used for seduction. It is devilish."
That is the way they felt about the early popular music. No, it is not the music. And
in spite of the fact that there are certain kinds of music that I do not like, God can
use any kind of music. Let’s get that right. It is not the music. It is not a case of the
fact that the young person is listening to a certain kind of music that they are being
influenced the wrong way. It is the spirit behind the music. It is the power that is
being released through that music by the people that are singing it.
And if God’s people will rise up they can take that same music and put the power of
God into it and add that extra frequency, and they can send forth the anointing
power of God using the exact same tool that Satan has used to destroy. They can
use the exact same tool to build up and to heal. There is power in it.
Anointed Drummer
I know of a person who had a tremendous ministry as a drummer. He used to play

drum solos and the anointing of God would come down. I heard him play once. He
just sat down there and he said, "Okay, just close your eyes and concentrate on the
Lord," and he began to worship. He began to play his drums. And man, as he began
to play his drums the anointing of God began to fall, the power of God came down,
and people started to experience God’s Spirit on them. People began to get healed.
I believe at one time somebody came to him who was deaf, and he opened the front
of his drum and he said, "Stick your ear in there." And he hit his bass drum as hard
as he could! The ear popped open instantly. I guess it had no choice.
Battle Music
It is not the instrument. It is the anointing that goes with it. But you see, we can take
that power of music. We have battle music; battle music that stirs one’s anger and
stirs to action, that stirs you to want to go out and conquer. It is that rhythmic military
music that makes you want to start marching. It makes you want to take up a gun
and start shooting. It is music.
"It’s evil music, it’s awful."
No, it is music. It is something God created. That music can be used to stir you up to
come against the powers of darkness. We need to know how to use what God has
created, instead of just throwing it away because the world and Satan have used it
wrongly.
Music in Our Bodies

Why does music affect us so strongly? Because music is built into creation, and
because we are part of creation. You will notice that music is based on the very
functions that God has built into our bodies. Our bodies are making music. They are
making rhythm all the time. Just be quiet and listen to yourself and you will hear
yourself breathing. That is music. Get yourself a stethoscope and listen to your heart
(boom boom boom). You have built in drums. You are making music. If you have a
digestive system like mine you hear a sound in your stomach and you have
something worse than heavy metal!
Now you know where heavy metal comes from. They just took a whole pile of body
sounds and mixed it together. Well, is that so far fetched? No it is not. I will tell you
why. Because when a baby is in the womb it hears the sound of its mother’s
heartbeat. It hears the sound of its own heartbeat. It hears the sound of its mother’s
breathing. It hears the sounds of digestion. It hears the noises around. Can you
imagine how noisy it must be in the womb? But you know what, the womb is a
picture of the best part of your life. That was when you were protected, when you
were sheltered, when you were secure, when you were happy, when you didn’t
have to worry about whether you have money tomorrow, because mom was just
supplying it on tap. You did not have a care in the world. There was nothing to fear.
Recreating the Womb Environment
If we can get back into the womb; if we could recreate in this life the same
environment that we had in the womb, we would begin to feel the same sense of
security and comfort that we had when we were in the womb. Now think about it. If
you can create a musical environment that duplicates the sounds of the human
body, you begin to find yourself triggering. Remember that term? We will deal with it
more shortly. But if you can recreate that sound, you can recreate the feeling that
you had when you were in the womb.
Certain kinds of music do that. Rhythmic music can create the sound of a baby’s
heartbeat. Slower music can indicate the sound of the mother’s heartbeat, the
sound of the breathing, and the rhythmic sounds that take place in her body. And I
tell you what, you get into music that duplicates that, and your body wants to start
resonating. You put on some good fast music where the drums are going (bang,
bang, bang, bang) and what happens? Your foot starts going (boom, boom, boom).
I think if you listen to your heart, your heart starts to speeden up and go with it. Your
whole body wants to start going with it. Why? Music has that power. Because music
was there when God created, and when music comes forth it begins to affect the
creation again and again and again. Music has power over the creation, because
music is a spiritual force.
Music Creates Atmosphere
Music creates atmosphere; not only bad and selfish atmosphere like Hollywood
would do, or like advertisements would do, creating an environment where when
you hear that tune play you think, "Oh, I must go and buy such and such a product,"
because you have that little jingle in your mind. It is a very clever form of advertising.
But how about the music we use to bring people to the Lord? How about the songs
that we use as we are about to give the appeal at the altar call, and the organ
begins to play certain soft, gentle music. The choir begins to sing a song of appeal
in the background.
You say, "We’re releasing the anointing."
No, not necessarily. You are just creating an atmosphere. You are creating an
environment that will stir the emotions of the person and bring them to a place
where they are ready to hear from God. Is that wrong? No it is not. But you are
going to have to add an extra dimension to that. It is not enough to have that music.
The preacher is going to have to be sending forth the anointing of God. The music,
the musicians and the singers are going to have to be sending off that higher
frequency towards that person, so that they can sense the power of God calling
them to salvation and bringing them forward. And it is not the music that is going to
bring them forward, but the power that is released through that music.
But what happens when we hear music? As I grew up, the biggest preacher of the
time was Billy Graham. He is still around, the famous preacher who has won
countless souls to the Lord. I have seen Billy Graham movies through the years.
And as far as I can remember, every Billy Graham movie ends; every single meeting
of his ends after he has preached, and when he gives his gospel appeal the choir
begin to sing:
Just as I am without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
Oh Lamb of God I come, I come.
Musical Templates
Let me tell you something, when I hear that song sung I want to get up and go and
get saved again. I cannot help it. If I hear this song I think, "Lord, can’t I just go
forward and get saved again, please?" Why? Because I am a sinner? Because I am
under conviction? Because the Holy Ghost is telling me my life is not right and I
must go forward?
No. What has happened is in those early times when I was experiencing that
conviction; when I was under that move of God and I heard that song, the Spirit of
God tugged at my heart as it was sung. And I wanted to go forward and give my life
to the Lord. What happened is a template was formed. And every time I hear that
music now I get a trigger in my spirit that says, "Oh, it felt so good. It felt so good to
go forward and give my life to the Lord. I feel like doing it again."
Why do you suppose that in a lot of churches the same people go forward every
week to go and get saved again? Well, a lot of the time it is just to go and get
blessed again. Why? Because they are sitting in the meeting feeling dry and empty,
and that same song that the choir always sings at the end, they begin to sing. They
sense a stirring and a feeling taking place within them. They begin to sense a tug
and they say, "Oh, I remember how good it felt." They want to go forward and get
that feeling again.
Usually that is all they get; the same feeling again. It is just a feeling. It is not the
true anointing. God does not touch them; their lives are not changed. That is why
they are back next week again, and the week after again. They never change. It is
purely an emotional thing.
It Reminds of the Past
When are our templates formed? Our templates are formed in the birth, pre-birth, in
childhood and in adolescence, as we covered before. And when is it that a person
really gets an interest in music? In adolescence.
Have you ever noticed, they are playing old songs on the radio and they put a
certain song on that came out way back there in 19 whatever? You have not heard
the song in years. And they put this old song on the radio and they begin to play it.
The music begins to come forth and suddenly you get all choked up. Why? It takes
you back to that era in your life. It takes you back to that exact period that you were
in. It begins to trigger in you the exact same emotions you had at that time.
And if that song happened to be associated with a certain romance that was going
on in your life at that time, you begin to get all stirred up and all mushy again in love.
You think about that guy you were going out with or that woman you were going out
with at that time. And you get all melancholic about it, just because one little song
came on the radio. Why? Because music has that power. And music, because it is
spiritual, gets linked into that template and it has the power to pull that thing out and
to trigger those same feelings in you again.
A Reminder of My Youth
Fairly recently, as we began to spend a lot of time in worship and we ran out of
songs to sing, I began to sing a lot of songs which nobody here had heard before,
because they came from way back. I grew up in the old Pentecostal days when we
still used the Elim Chorus Book. Have you ever heard of it? Most of you probably
haven’t. It was the old, old choruses that they used to sing in the early Pentecostal
churches.
But you know what? During that period, the Spirit of God was moving. And even
though I was young and I did not understand it, I grew up in the presence of God.
And I can remember meetings and times and moments when they began to sing a
chorus and the power of God began to fall, the anointing began to come down, and I
began to sense the presence of God. You know the amazing thing is as I began to
sing that song from way back, I began to feel the same feeling that I had back there.
You say, "Man, those must have really been anointed songs."
Actually, a lot of them were absolute garbage. I am not being facetious. A lot of
them were given in total ignorance. They were building doctrines that I consider
heresy. But I have seen people being filled with the Spirit while singing those songs.
You say, "Well, how can a song that is false, bring the anointing of God?"
Duplicate Musical Styles
It is because that extra frequency was added by the people that were singing it at
the time. And if you as a young person listen to the kind of music that you heard
during your adolescent period when those templates were being formed, I will
guarantee that that is the kind of music you will always like to hear. And when you
want to grab yourself some gospel music or Christian music, I will tell you what style
of music you are going to go and look for. You are going to look for somebody that
sings just like Elvis, if Elvis was your thing. If you were into the Bee Gees you are
going to be listening for somebody that sings like them. If you liked Abba, then you
just have to find that Christian group that sings like them. And if you were into
Metallica, guess what you are looking for? You are looking for a Christian metal
band.
"How can you have Christian metal? Metal is vile, horrible music. It’s devilish."
Yes, but when people take that music and put it in their lips and add the anointing of
God, people get saved. People get healed. The power of God comes forth.
You say, "But that’s conforming to the world."
Then you had better not sing. Then you had better not use any music. Then you had
better not use the stuff that Hollywood is using, because that is of the world. You
see, it gets back to the same thing again. The world is using something that God
created. And all we need to do is to take that power and begin to use it the right
way.
One Special Sound

There are many different sounds out there; many different noises that are made. But
there has to be that special sound. Paul in 1 Corinthians 14, where he is speaking
about speaking in tongues says, ‘And even lifeless things making sounds like a pipe
or harp, unless they give distinct notes, how shall it be known what is being piped or
harped? For if the trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for
battle?’
Music has to be used the right way; the right kind of sound for the right kind of
anointing has to go forth. Music is an integral part of the spiritual life, and because
we as prophets are meant to be releasing the anointing of God and bringing the
presence of God into meetings, we need to know how to use it.
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Psalmody: The Power of Praise
his study is going to be on the power of praise. And really, it is not going
to be so much of a teaching as it is going to be my personal experience
and my personal testimony. So bear with me as I go through the various
stages. And if you are a prophet, and most likely musical, I think you are
going to identify and perhaps pick up a few pointers, and have a testimony of your
own to share once we are done. So just walk with me along this road and let’s see
how the Lord leads, and what He reveals. It is entirely possible that He may reveal
something new to me even as I share. I am hoping so, because the subject of
music, psalmody and dance has got to be my passion and my most favorite. So,
just to prepare you, this could be long!
How it Began
I am going to start off the introduction now on how it all began. This whole story
began when I was a little girl of eleven years old. I did not know what the Lord had
in store for me, but obviously He had quite a plan, because already right back then
He started preparing the path that I have walked on for these many years now.
When I was eleven years old my Dad was very much into his music. If anybody
knows Les they will know that he plays practically every conceivable instrument
you can, writes things and does everything. He is just one of those people who
can just pick up an instrument and learn it.
Dream of White Drums
One night he had a dream, the strangest dream. He dreamed about this white set
of drums. He woke up rather puzzled. He thought maybe it was prophetic, maybe
symbolic. Anyway he put it to the back of his mind, even though it was so clear.
And that week, when he went to the local music store, of which he was quite a
frequently visitor (he used to live there), he walked in and there newly in stock
were these white set of drums. He had never seen white drums before. But as he
laid eyes on them he realized that this was the exact set he had seen in his
dream. He knew, "The Lord wants me to get those drums. This must mean the
Lord wants me to play."
So he went ahead and got the financing and brought the drums home. I looked at
all this with a bit of interest, but I did not ever think of myself as being gifted or able
to have a skill in music. So I just kind of watched in my quiet little way, and there
he went, teaching himself how to play drums. He bought books, got the tapes, and
he sat down and taught himself to play.
All the while I sat and watched, and an interest started growing, until one
afternoon when nobody was looking, I just kind of slipped onto the seat, picked up
the drumsticks, and just started tap-tapping away to myself, copying what I had
seen him do.
He came to me and he said, "Hey, that’s not half bad. Let me show you a beat
there."
Well, the rest is history from there. I learned my very first drum beat, and that is
the only lesson I have ever had in my life, praise the Lord. And that is just how the
Lord directed it, even right then in those baby steps. Here Les thought he was
doing this all because the Lord wanted him to learn. Who would have known that
quiet little shy, unassuming nerdy little me that sat at the back of the classroom all
the time would be a loud-mouthed drummer? I would never have suspected it of
myself, but the Lord had bigger plans and He directed my life.
The Spirit Taught Me

That is how it began. I just used to sit and play. Les would pick up the guitar and
he would strum a few songs and I would play my pitiful little beat that I knew, my
only one little beat. And as the Spirit of God started to flow there came an extra
beat here, and an extra beat there and a fill-in there that I had not quite known
before. I suppose because of my youth I flowed easier. Maybe because of naivete
and ignorance I figured I could just pick up the sticks and play. But largely, the
Holy Spirit that flowed through me, taught me.
Here is a perfect Scripture that described me as that little child. It is the second
part of Matthew 21:16:
And Jesus said unto them, "Yea, have you never read,
‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast
perfected praise?’ "
An Early Start
That was me. I was a little babe and a little suckling. And out of me, He took the
pathetic little wormy me that I was, and He perfected His praise in me. I was only
eleven years old when I started playing drums, and by the time I was about twelve
or thirteen Les started pastoring a church, to which I was the drummer.
So began my learning experience on how to allow the Holy Spirit to teach me how
to praise Him. You see, it is not a simple matter of just picking up your instrument
and playing. The world can do that. But the skill in prophetic psalmody is how to
allow the Holy Spirit to teach you.
I praise the Lord that He started in my youth, because I did not know any better.
You see, I did not know you had to be skillful to play. I did not know you had to be
really talented to allow the Holy Spirit to move through you. As stupid as I was, the
Lord used me, and I praise Him for that.
We played in a couple of churches. The band grew, and my sister used to sing. So
we formed a community amongst us. And I learned to flow. I learned to flow with
various people, mostly Les, and I learned how to allow the Spirit to move in me. I
learned when to play quietly, when to play really loudly, and I learned when not to
play at all.
Learning in the Meetings
All this learning was done in the meeting. It was all done in praise and worship.
None of this learning took place in band practise. All that happened in band
practise is I learned songs. When my real learning came; when the real teaching
came, was in the meeting. This is something you need to realize.
If you are a musician, I want you to know right now that your skill is not going to
come in the hours and hours of playing by yourself. Your skill is going to come
from the hours and hours of playing under the power of the Holy Spirit. That is how
I learned to play. I have never ever had anybody teach me how to play. Les taught
me the only beat he knew, and it is still the only beat he knows, praise the Lord!
And every now and again he comes and tries to get on and show me he can still
play, and I humor him and say, "That’s nice Dad," but I’ve outshone him years
ago.
No Dependence on Yourself
But that is the joy of the Lord, and that is how we use the river that is within us.
And if there is one thing I really want to get across to you in this message, it is that
it does not depend on your skill. It does not depend on who or what you are. In
fact it does not even depend on the instrument that you are using to praise the
Lord with. It depends entirely on allowing the Spirit of the Lord to move through
you as you learn.
I have seen people, and in fact I came across a drummer like this, that had had
magnificent lessons. This man played brilliantly, but he always played the same
thing. He practised for hours and hours and hours, but when it came to the
meeting he always played the same song the same way with no variation.
God is a God of Variety
Our God is a God of variation. The Spirit is one of variation. And I have come to
know that you move with the Spirit. You go with the flow. That is the way it works.
It is very, very seldom that I will play the same song the same way twice. Because
what works for tonight’s meeting will not necessarily work for tomorrow night’s
meeting, because the Spirit of God will have a different emphasis. So the whole
emphasis and the whole foundation of psalmody and music is to be entirely led by
the Holy Spirit.
I want to just touch on why music is so powerful. We know it is powerful. We see

how powerful it is. Even in the world it is powerful. But it can be so much more
powerful in the Spirit.
Vision of Rivers of Praise

The Lord gave me a lovely illustration. We were really just worshipping Him one
evening. We do this a lot, we worship a lot. We are worshippers here. As we were
worshipping Him I saw rivers coming out of us, each and every one of us. They
were just pouring up to Heaven, pouring to the Throne Room, and it was like He
was gathering them up. They got there, and they mingled in there. And then they
doubled and tripled and tripled again. Then He poured it back down on us.
Why music is so powerful

Ministering to the Lord
The reason why music and praise and worship is so powerful is because we are
ministering to the Lord. The first step ever in ministry, whether it be to minister
healing, whether it be to minister the gospel, whatever it is, before you start and
get up on that stage you should be ministering to the Lord. You should be pouring
forth to Him. Because when you pour forth to Him and you give your sacrifice of
praise to Him; when you give Him your spirit, He can take that and multiply it, and
then give you what you need to pour out to the people.
Do you see how vital it is that praise and worship ministers to the Lord Jesus? And
when you minister to the Lord Jesus He ministers right back to you. And that
ministry that you get from Him, you get to pour out to people, and that is when you
are going to see the change.
The biggest power (you will see it) in a praise group when they stand up at the
front of a church, is when they close their eyes and say, "Praise you Lord, praise
you Jesus." And the next thing you know people in the congregation start getting
hit. They are not even ministering to the congregation. They are not even
ministering to the people. They are ministering to the Lord Jesus. But as they
minister to the Lord He pours His power down. And if you are standing by you are
going to get wet. If you are standing next to somebody who is pouring out to the
Lord and the Lord pours back on them, you are going to get wet. That is how it
works. That is the key to the power of music.
Music Causes Unity
The second key to the power of music is that music causes unity. It brings hearts
in unison. The Lord said that, ‘where two or three are gathered together, there I
am in the midst of them.’ Have you ever seen a guy stand up, play the guitar, sing,
play the piano and do everything by himself? Not unless he is really gifted!
You have to play with someone. You have to sing with someone, which means
you have to force yourself to fit in with someone else. And when you have to force
yourself to fit in with someone else, then immediately what happens is your hearts
come into unison. They come as one. You start to think the same. You start to talk
the same. You start to sing the same songs. You start to flow in the same spirit.
And the minute you start to flow in the same spirit, that is when the power comes.
Praise Brings Revival Anointing

We covered this in the anointing. How does the anointing come? How does revival
power come? Does it not come when spirits come in unison looking to the Lord,
pouring unto Him? That is when revival power comes. If you want revival power; if
you want revival anointing, get together with somebody and start praising the Lord.
Get together.
If you want to speed it up, unite your hearts in praise and worship. Unite it over
and over and over again, until that stream starts trickling and until the stream
starts gushing. Then you are going to start to see revival. That is how it starts.
That is why music and praise and worship are so powerful in the Kingdom of God.
It has been used so powerfully in the kingdom of darkness. It is used powerfully by
Satan. Music controls lives out there, and if you cannot see it then you are blind!
You have seen it. You have seen your children go off the path when suddenly they
get involved in this weird, strange music.
Turn Music Against Satan
If Satan can use music to control people, then why can we not use the music and
the power of the Lord to change people? Why can we not use that same power?
We should be using it. We should be encouraging it. We should be uniting our
hearts in praise and worship to the Lord, and using that unity and giving it out. We
should be blessing others with it. We need to take back from the hands of the
Devil the power that he has stolen in music. We need to take it back and turn it on
him. Whip him with it. Whip him with the same weapon that he is whipping others
out there with.
Praise and Worship is For Everyone
That really burns in me. That is my passion. And you know what? It is not used
enough. People think, "Well, praise and worship is for the praise and worship
team. They are the ones that praise and worship on Sunday. You know, they have
their practises on Wednesdays, they praise and worship on Sundays."
No. Praise and worship and music should be something in the day of every single
believer. This is not just for a musician. This is not just for people that can play an
instrument or sing a song. This is for every single believer. This is for you. This is
what the Lord wants of you. You do not have to have a gift or talent to be used of
the Lord, neither do you have to have a gift or a talent to flow in the anointing. You
just have to have a heart towards God.
Release Through Words and Actions
How does the Spirit of God flow? We have learned also in many other lectures
that there are two ways in which the power of God is released into the earth. That
is through words and through action. And what is so powerful about music is that it
unites both. As a prophet you will know, when you stand and speak forth a decree,
a powerful decree, how it comes out of your spirit and you think, "Yeah, yeah." But
I tell you what, combine those words with the action of dance, of playing an
instrument, of singing, and you get a double portion. You get it doubly, because
not only are you just speaking the words, but you are acting them out as well. You
are reinforcing what the Lord is trying to say.
We also know how the Spirit of God ministers to us through the five senses. I
would like to go through each of these senses and show how the Lord will use it to
direct you in praise. I want to emphasize again, the key is to allow the Holy Spirit
to move through you. You need to be sensitive to the Spirit to know which step
you are going to take next.
Vision of a Dance with the Lord
It is like a dance with the Lord Jesus. He showed me a lovely picture once. He had
me in a waltz, a lovely waltz, and He had my gaze. He said, "Look at My eyes.
Don’t take your gaze off My eyes." And He started dancing. As He moved here I
moved here. And as He stepped to the right, I stepped to the right. And before I
knew it we were in this glorious dance.
He said, "That is how you flow in the Spirit. When I take a step, you take a step,
and when I turn, you turn. But always look in My eyes. Never take your eyes off
Me, but move with Me. Feel My emotion. Feel My flow. Feel the change in pace.
Feel the stop in pace, and feel the increase in pace."
Using the Senses in Ministry

These are all things we need to be sensitive to. Here are ways that you can
determine and know how the Spirit is moving.
Taste
The first sense is the sense of taste. It is entirely possible to taste the anointing. I
know people who actually get the taste of sweet presence, of a sweet, gentle
presence. They taste it in their mouths. Then they know this is the sweet, gentle
presence of the Lord. That is the way He is flowing now. He is flowing in a sweet,
gentle presence.
Then there are times you will get bitterness and you will know there is a demonic
presence. It is time to war. It is time to rise up.
Use of Emotions
You need to be sensitive to the sense of feeling. You need to use your emotions.
There are times when joy just grabs you right in your stomach and you want to just
go, "Yeah." And you jump up and down, and want to dance and you want to go
crazy. But yet, there are times when the emotion will subside and you know now it
is a time to worship. It is a time to calm down. It is a time to gently just swing in His
presence.
You need to be very sensitive to the move of the Spirit in whichever way He will
use it. Some people move very strongly in their taste. They taste a lot. I am
personally not one that moves strongly in this area, but yet there are some people
that do. There are others that feel things. They feel things on their bodies. They
feel a warmth, they feel a glow, and they know the presence of the Lord is there.
Or they will feel that sense of rising up and power to stand by the Throne Room
and sing forth a decree. You have to be sensitive.
As a musician you should be naturally sensitive to music. You should naturally be

sensitive to these things. So hone into them. Be aware of them. You may actually
be experiencing these things as you worship without realizing it. So next time you
come to praise and worship be aware of it. What does your emotion do? What is
happening inside your spirit? Is it gushing? Is it still? Is it angry? Is it rising up? Is it
settling down?
Be very conscious of what is going on in the Spirit and around you in the spiritual
realm. Be able to shut off from those around and commune with the Lord. Look at
His eyes. Keep your gaze on Him at all times.
Smell
There are those who experience smell. I have had this. I have had this at times in
praise and worship where I have smelt incense, and the Lord has said to me,
"Your praise and worship is as incense to Me. When you dance and you sing
before Me it is like the times of old when they used to burn incense. And when I
smell it, it is so, so sweet to Me." I know then that He is pouring out His heart of
love. It is incense, it is gentle. It is so sweet.
There are times when I have smelt rain and I know, "Thunder is coming. The rain’s
about to fall. The glory is about to come. It is the smell of rain. Prepare yourself!
Come let’s get ready. The rain is coming down, the water is coming!"
You see, be sensitive. Be sensitive to the Spirit. Know what He is saying. Know if
it is time to go forth and speak forth His power. Is it time to stop and reflect with
your spirit and pray to the Lord, and worship Him gently?
Be very sensitive to the Spirit, because as you practice this, and as you move
more in this, you are going to start to see that these things will happen often to
you. You will start using more and more senses. And you will say, "Oh yes, that’s
what the Lord is saying to me. He is saying, ‘Back off for a bit,’ or He is saying,
‘Run to the forefront and shout My name!’ " Be sensitive.
Vision
Vision is a very powerful one if you are a prophet. If you are like me I live in vision.
I love vision. The Lord will be able to tell you things in vision. You know, there are
often times that we have seen angels, and I know, "This is the time to praise and
worship. There are angels around and they are singing and clapping and dancing."
And I know, "Hey, this is the time to dance. This is the time to praise. This is the
time to say, ‘Glory, Hallelujah,’ and make a big noise unto the Lord and go wild,"
and my drums go crazy. You can hear nobody else because I am making such a
noise. But I do not really care because I am worshipping the Lord and it is
glorious.
Then there are times you are in the Throne Room. You are playing for the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords. You know then, be majestic, powerful, strong. If you
are sensitive to vision you will be able to see what is going on in the Spirit. And as
you go through how you can use praise and worship in the following points, you
will be able to see how you can apply these senses to how you use music.
Hearing
My most favorite sense which I have learned to function in, and we have all
learned to function in, is the sense of hearing; to listen to the music in the music.
This is vital. And if you want to step from the place of being a mediocre musician
playing with a mediocre anointing, and moving into that full power anointing; a full-
fledged musician and allowing the Holy Spirit to function through you at a higher
capacity, these are the stages that you need to take.
The Psalms say, ‘Let the Heaven and the earth praise Him, the seas and
everything that moves therein.’
Have you ever heard the seas praise Him? Have you not ever heard the seas
praise Him? I know I have. There are times in praise and worship when I can hear
the rumble of the ocean. And I take my drumstick and I make the rumbling of the
ocean on my cymbal, and imitate what I am hearing in the Spirit.
Listen to the Music in the Music

There are times when I have heard bells. There are bells ringing in the heavenlies,
and I imitate that as best as I can on my cymbals because I hear them. There are
times where I hear cymbals, where I hear tambourines, or where I hear rain. Often
I hear raindrops (tip, tip, tip), gentle little raindrops dropping down, and I will play it
on my cymbals. I will play what I hear. I will play to the music in the music. This is
vital.
If there are any of you who know what I am talking about, who have been there,
you have heard the angels sing. You would have heard the angels sing the most
melodious and beautiful sounds you will ever hear. They blend in with your voice
in a high pitched harmony. And if you are singing in the Spirit with them you blend
right in with them, and it is the most awesome experience you can ever have.
You are not going to hear that if you do not listen to the music in the music. You
have to hear the music of the Holy Spirit. As Les shared, music is going all the
time. Music is on all the time. The angels never stop singing. There is music in
everything. If you will tune into the Spirit and if you will hear the music in the music
you are playing, you will be amazed. This is the best way to follow.
There are times where I have heard the beat before I have played it. I hear it as I
play it. It is almost like there is an angel in Heaven up there playing the beat and I
am copying him. It is the best way I can describe it. He plays the beat for me, and I
copy him, the exact beat. This is often how I have learned new things. I have
heard them in the Spirit before I have played them on my drums.
Use Any Instrument

You can apply this to any instrument. You can apply this to any song, to any
dance, to see first and then to imitate; to hear first and then to imitate. This is
powerful stuff. Hear the ocean roar, hear the thunder, hear the thunder groaning.
Hear the earth churning, and play it as best you can. Get as many instruments as
you can. Get variety, get as much as possible. You know I say sometimes, "Oh, I
am so restricted in my drums! I’m hearing sounds in my head that I can’t play. I
need more. I need bells, I need timbrels, I need more, I need harps …"
I can hear it in my heart, and when the angels sing I can hear it in the Spirit and I
just want to play it. And when I imitate what I am hearing, the anointing starts to
flow and things start to happen. Because you know what is happening? The Lord
is taking one step and I am following Him. He is taking another step and I am
following Him. He is stepping back and I am following Him.
He is saying, "Okay, let’s ring the bells, let’s blow the trumpet. Okay, let’s do that."
And as we copy Him and as we do it, things start happening in the Spirit and His
power comes down. We see change and people start to dance and laugh, and
they thank the Lord and praise Him. Then your situation and all the horrible things
that go on in this world do not matter anymore because you are somewhere else.
You are dancing with the Lord. You are dancing with the angels. You are praising
Jesus.
When you can get into that realm, not only are you going to be taken to another
place, but just the change that will come over you will influence those next to you.
The water that comes on you is going to splash on them. It starts with you. Do not
think that you will be directing your music to others. Don’t ever think that that is
why you are standing up to play.
Play for Jesus Only

I need to stress this point. You are not playing for an audience. You are playing for
one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you cannot play with Him,
and if you cannot dance with Him, then you should not be playing at all. Because
that is the only reason why the Lord Jesus has given you the ability to worship and
praise and sing. Do not ever think that that gift was given to you to get the praise
of man. That gift was given to you to praise the living God!
Remember that, and keep that in your heart because it is the most powerful,
powerful weapon to use against the enemy and to use on behalf of others. And if
you are too wrapped up in your own ambition and in your own striving and how
good you look, you are going to miss it. You are going to miss a vital opportunity to
minister. You are not going to minister to people with your skill. You are going to
minister to people with the power of the living God. And you are not going to get
the power of the living God unless you are praising Him, and not man.
This is vital. You need to ingrain this in your mind. You need to realize it. You are
worshipping Jesus. You are not standing up there as a spectacle. When you close
your eyes it should be you and Jesus alone. There are times when I have sat and
played my drums and that is all I have seen. I do not really care what everybody
else is doing, because I have a one-man audience, and I want to tell you He loves
it. He chuckles, He claps, He dances. He jumps up and down and says, "I love
you. I love this. Man, this is the best drumming I have ever heard!"
You know what? I do not care if I do not compare to the rest of the world. I do not
care if I do not compare in skill, because I tell you what, when I pick up those
sticks and I hit those drums, the anointing belts out of there, the Devil runs and
people’s hearts get changed. And that is all that matters to me, the name of Jesus
Christ. And that is all that should matter to you. You can have it. It is within your
grasp. It is halfway there. The Lord Jesus has already given it to you.
Use What You Have
You may say to me, "Well, I don’t have an instrument. I don’t know how to play."
Do you have a voice? Do you know how to clap? Because that is about all you
need. Just praise the Lord Jesus Christ. If it means jumping up and down and
looking like a fool for Him, then do it. If it means praising and pouring forth your
heart to Him in whichever way you can, you do it, because that is all that matters.
It is for Him and for Him alone. It is not for man. It is not to impress the pastor. It is
not to impress the congregation. It is for Jesus Christ. And I can tell you right now
when you do it from your heart you can make the biggest mess and He will think
that you are the biggest hero, because it is from your heart. That is all the Lord
expects from you, to worship and praise from your heart.
King David’s Foolishness
King David did it. He made a fool out of himself in front of the whole house of
Israel. He danced so wild he danced all of his clothes off. Kings are not supposed
to throw their clothes off in public. It is not the done thing! David did not really
seem to care, did he? He did not seem to be one that cared. And you know what
the Lord said about David? He said, "He is a man after My own heart."
Do you really think the Lord cared that David was naked? I do not even think the
Lord saw that. I think He looked right down and He saw David’s heart, and that is
all that mattered to Him. He saw that there was absolute total abandon in that
heart. He saw that there was love and praise and worship in that heart. And that is
all that mattered. In fact, even when David fell and sinned, the Lord continued to
bless him. Why? Because he had the right heart and he praised the Lord
continuously.
He says in his Psalms that we are to continually praise the Lord, never to stop,
never to cease. That is what he did. And that is what took him over the hard times.
That is what got him over having to run around and hide in caves, and run away
from his son that was trying to kill him. He had it bad! But I tell you what, the praise
got him through.
Praise Lifts You Up

It works. Praise does not just bring God’s power and anointing to people. It does
not just put power in your bones, but it takes you out of your circumstance. It lifts
you above it and lets you see reality from a spiritual point of view. Because, let’s
face it, reality in this world is horrid. It is horrible. It is ugly. It is an unpleasant world
out there, it really is. But when you come into praise and worship, and if you can
get swept up into His presence, you see an entirely different world when you are
sitting on the throne.
A Terrible Down Time
I remember we hit the biggest down we have ever had. We lost our entire source
of income. Everything went wrong. We lost the telephone line, we could not pay
the rent, and to top things off the water pipes broke and we could not get them
fixed so we had no water. In fact, the water heater also broke, so even if we had
water we couldn’t even have hot water.
You talk about being low? We are in a strange country, we have no income, we
cannot work, we do not know the language, have no food and no water, and we
actually do not have money for rent either! That sounds like a pretty sad story. In
fact, the temptation was almost there to get depressed, but we got over it.
We went for a walk on the beach and Les said, "You know what I’m going to do? I
am going to preach. If the Devil wants to attack, I’ll tell you what, we are taking out
our big guns."
Praise Took Us Through

We did it. We had two to three meetings a day. We praised, we praised and we
praised, and in the evening he spoke. We praised again and in the evening he
spoke. And so the Way of Blessing was born. And I want to tell you, when you do
not have food to eat and the kids are saying, "Mommy, is there some breakfast for
me?" and I have to say, "Sorry, love, all you can have is toast this morning and for
lunch and dinner,"; and the adults are fasting so that the children can have the
little bit of bread that there is; and you have to boil the water because you cannot
even drink the water in the tap and we could not afford to buy, that is a pretty lousy
outcome. That is a pretty lousy circumstance to most.
But we got into praise and more praise and more praise. I can tell you right now it
was the praise that fed us. It was the praise that gave us water. I want to tell you,
when we came into the presence of God we saw through His eyes. We saw the
victory. We saw the power and the miracle that He was going to perform and the
miracle that He did perform, because He did perform it. He did bring us out of it!
I want to tell you, it was praise that did it. We praised Him with our lips. Every time
we could not eat we said, "Thank you, Jesus that these cupboards are full. Thank
you, Lord that we have clothes. Thank you, Jesus that our children are taken care
of. Thank you, Father that these phone bills are paid. We love You. We thank You
that You have provided."
We praised Him, and we picked up the guitars and we picked up the drumsticks,
and because we had nothing else to do all day we praised Him. We praised Him,
and I want to tell you, I had the greatest liberty. I went through such tremendous
growth during that time. My spirit was soaring because I was praising Him
continually.
Look From His Eyes
Every time we were tempted to look at our situation and get depressed we drew
right into the presence of the Lord and He said, "Don’t worry about it." He gave us
a picture. He gave us a vision. He gave us a Word that showed us what the real
circumstance was. The real circumstance was, actually the cupboards were full,
and actually the rent was paid, and actually we were on line again, and everything
was going well.
When we started to see things through the eyes of the Lord standing in the Throne
Room, our lives changed down here, ‘for what is loosed on earth is loosed in
Heaven.’ So get up into the heavenlies. If you are going through a tough time; if
you see people around you going through a tough time, get into praise.
"Thank you, Lord that we don’t have any money. Thank you, Lord that my
husband has lost his job. Thank you, Jesus, because now it means we can praise
You. Ha, Devil, you want to attack us? Praise you, Jesus, I’ve lost my job. Now
that means I can spend twelve hours a day praising You and speaking forth Your
Word. Ha! Try that."
Praise Overcomes Satan

If Satan wants to attack you, hit him back with the biggest weapon you have, and
that is the weapon of your lips, and the weapon of your action in praise and
worship and dance to the Lord Jesus. He will reward you, and He will pour His
power down. And He will change your life, and you will never be the same again.
Use praise as a weapon against the enemy. Use praise and worship to overcome
your circumstance, because there is no circumstance too big that the Lord Jesus
cannot deliver you from. If you would only use what is in you; if you would only use
the power that is in you instead of wallowing and giving up, you can overcome
through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we do not like to do that. We like to sit and wallow and feel sorry and say,
"Well, nobody ever had it as bad as me."
That does not get you anything except an empty plate and an empty house. That
is all saying those words will get for you. You are on a losing streak anyway. What
have you got to lose by standing up and praising the Lord? What have you got to
lose, except your inhibitions? What have you got to lose, except your bitterness
and your depression?
Choose the Sacrifice of Praise

It is a choice, once again a choice to stand up and praise the Lord. But will you
give that ‘sacrifice of praise’ (sound familiar?) because sometimes I want to tell
you, it is a sacrifice. But if you will be willing to give that sacrifice of praise, just as
Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar, the Lord will give it
back to you.
When the Lord gave Abraham back Isaac he gave him back a whole nation. He
did not give him back one kid. He gave him back a whole nation in Isaac. That is
what the Lord Jesus gave to him. Now if you would just take your little Isaac, your
little problem, this little thing that you are holding onto, and would put it on the altar
with the sacrifice of praise, the Lord will give you back much, much more than you
would have put on that tiny little altar, I want to promise you that.
Using Music in Warfare

The next most powerful point is using music in warfare. I could go on for a long
time on warfare, but I will not. I will try not to. I cannot think of any other way to
kick the Devil’s butt than with my drumsticks. I want to tell you, if we go into war I
run for my drums, because I say, "I’m sorry, I cannot war without my sticks. It just
doesn’t work that way." It is the way I have learned to flow. It is the way I have
learned to pour out in power. And I want to tell you, it has been the most effective
way for sure.
Be Spiritually Sensitive
Apply, once again, the five sense. What are you hearing? What are you smelling?
What are you sensing in the Spirit? Are you feeling a rising up? Are you feeling a
demonic presence? Are you seeing a demon in front of you? Be very sensitive to
the Spirit.
Call to War is Immediate
We have often found that we have come to praise the Lord, and slap bang in the
middle of it, there is a demon. It is an immediate call to war. A call to war happens
instantly, suddenly, because you do not know when the enemy is going to strike.
And when he strikes, you need to be sensitive to hear it, see it, smell it, taste it,
feel it. You need to be sensitive and rise up, and come against him immediately,
not wait.
When the watchman sets off the trumpet on the walls the people do not go, "Hang
on, hang on, I just have to finish dinner. Then I’m going to wash up the dishes.
Listen, lovie, just put the kids down to bed and then we will go and war against the
enemy; see?" It does not work that way. When you are called to war, put on your
armor, pick up your guitar, pick up your singing voice, pick up whatever the Lord
has given to you and go to war.
Timing is very relevant in the Spirit of the Lord, because it could mean life and
death in the life of somebody. If the Lord is calling you to war on behalf of another,
timing is very, very important. If there is an attack coming against somebody that
the Lord would like you to intercede for, get up and go to war, because you do not
know what is happening in their life. You do not know that they might need
deliverance right now; that they are under attack right now in threat of life. Right
now, when you hear the sound and the call for war; when you hear the trumpet
blast going, pick up and run and go to war.
Discern the Demon
How do you war? Firstly, be very sensitive to the Spirit. If you can see the demon,
good. If you can feel him, good. If you are a prophet you should by now have
developed a knowledge of how to sense the presence of demons and angels. So
as you sense that presence, as you see that presence and as you hear it, however
the Lord brings to you that revelation, this is what you do. Concentrate on that.
The Inner Anointing

Les spoke of the inner anointing, the anointing that is in your belly. It is most
powerful when used against the enemy. You need to use that churning that you
get in your stomach. I get it when I go into warfare. I get this churning in the pit of
my gut. Sometimes it is an emotion of anger and it just belts out at the enemy.
Take that churning that is in your stomach and release it through your mouth.
If you can see it, it is like a well. It is like a spring right in your belly, and as you
speak you are drawing it, drawing it right up, and you are belting it out! That is how
you do it. If you will do that, you will use that anointing that is within you and belt
out. Use the Word against him. Use your actions against him in music, in playing
your instrument, using the words of prophecy that the Lord gives you against him.
When you come against the enemy you will be using the internal anointing. You
will be using the power that is within. You will be using the rivers of living water
that are within you to come against the power of the enemy. You need to learn
how to develop it, because I tell you now that that same water that you are using
to attack the enemy, is the same river that you pour up to Jesus to praise. You
see, it is that inward anointing. It is the anointing power within your spirit. It is the
power of Jesus Christ in you, and you must learn how to use that.
How to Release the Anointing

It is not just a simple matter of seeing a demon and saying, "Go away, demon,
you’re being a bad boy!" No. It is a little bit more than that. You have to have faith,
you have to know your authority, and you have to know how to release your
authority against him. You have to know how to release it.
All of us know that words are nothing but words unless they have the power of the
Spirit in them. If you are led, and I want to stress, led into warfare, release that
power in your words. Do not just say words. Do not just mumble under your
breath. Shouting does it for me. When I feel that well coming up and I see that
demonic force, I want to tell you, I let rip! As I do that, I feel the power of God
coming and joining those words, and they belt him a good shot in the gut, I want to
tell you.
David’s Powerful Words
You have to learn to release that power. Do not just say words. Do not say
pathetic little words. Wait. Wait for the words to come. Wait for the rising to come
in your stomach. Do not just belt out any old words. You are wasting your time.
You are like Goliath saying to David, "Hah, you are nothing but a little boy with a
stick and a stone." What did his words do him? They did him nothing! He ended up
without his head.
But what did David say to him? He said, "Hey you, you come against me with a
sword and a spear, but I come against you in the Name of the living God. I come
against you in the Name of the Lord, and you will bow to that. How dare you insult
God’s people? You are going down, boy!"
I tell you what, those were not just words. Those were just not words that David
belted out at the enemy. That was a decree. That was a declaration. And I tell you,
it was those words that got that stone head on. I firmly believe that David could
have thrown that stone in the air and it would have gone straight up above him,
and it would have hit Goliath straight on the head. Those words released power.
They released the Spirit of God.
Release in Words and Actions
That is what you need to be doing through your music, through your action and
through your words. Sometimes I do both. I use my drumming and I use my words
in singing at the same time. You have to find what you are most comfortable with;
what you work best with. And you are going to start to find a victory that you have
never ever experienced before in warfare. Because not only are you using the
power of words against the enemy, but you are doubling it up and using the power
of action against him too.
Fight in Unity
If you are going to war using your instruments and music, it is vital that you do it in
a group. The power in unity is awesome. We have seen how the power in unity
can bring the anointing and the revival power of God. But you know the same
applies to warfare. Yes, I know that I have the authority to stand against every
demon of darkness. And I have. I have in personal times of intercession and
warfare stood against the highest level of demon power, and they have had to
bow. Yes, I have done it, but it has been a fight sometimes. It has had to be a
constant hitting and hitting. But when you bring the unity and you bring the team
together like the Lord has formed here, you are going to find a greater power.
You see, when I come against the enemy I apply my laser beam to him, and
eventually the laser is going to buckle him. But you add a couple more people, and
they are adding their laser beams as well into one big fat laser beam, one shot
and he is gone. I have seen this. I have seen at times when I have come against
the kingdom of darkness by myself and it has been difficult. They have been very
arrogant, refusing to bow.
Team Action
Then I have seen times where the team has got together in praise and worship.
When I have gone to my drums that is how I release the anointing and how I
release the power. I get my sticks and I give them a good shot. Les just belts it out
on the guitar in song. Desiree dances. She dances a dream with the tambourine.
Craig dances and sings. Daphne sings. Wesley claps louder than you have ever
heard in your whole life. You have never heard somebody clap as loud as Wesley.
He claps louder than I can hit my bass drum! He drowns me out, but I want to tell
you, he claps for Jesus.
But you get us together and we unite our hearts. We are singing and clapping and
hitting drums, and oh man the neighbors must hate us because we make a noise!
But I want to tell you what. We buckle them! We buckle them, one after the other.
There is no demon, not even Lucifer himself, that can stand against that. Why?
‘Because when two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst of
them.’
He is in the midst of us, because I want to tell you, when we come together to war
He joins us. And He takes the head and says, "Come on guys, stick behind me.
I’m on the white horse in front. I’m getting in the first swipe. You can get the rest."
He is there.
Giant in Armor
The Lord gave me a beautiful illustration of this once as we were coming up to
warfare. I saw Him in the Spirit giving each of us as a team, a different piece of
armor. And as we took the pieces of armor we joined up in the Spirit as this big
giant, full-armored. As we united as one and we stood as that giant in the Spirit
and came against the demons of hell, I want to tell you they took one look and ran.
They knew, "This isn’t just any old giant. This giant has the power of the living God
in it. We’d better scat before we get stood upon!"
Power of a United Team
There is power in unity, and we have seen it time and time again. We get a lot of
opposition in this ministry. We have a lot of words spoken against us. If any of you
have ever been on our boards or been involved at all in ministry, you will know
what we are talking about. We get a lot of opposition from people and a lot of
opposition from Satan. He would do anything to crumble this ministry. He would do
anything to stop the words coming from our mouths.
We have to stand on our toes continually because we are the oversight for so
many others. We get the brunt of the attack, so we have to stand in unity. It is the
way the Lord has made us. In fact we are at the place now where we cannot take
another step forward until we stand as one. The Lord will not allow us to do it,
because when we stand as one there is power. There is power in unity. There is
power in praise and worship.
Now you have dynamite! You have words, you have actions and you have unity.
There is nothing in this world that can stand against that, absolutely nothing. So
get together. Get together with your husband, get together with your wife, with
your children, whoever you can drag in there with you. Get together with them,
and unite your hearts, particularly in warfare.
Get Your Backs Covered in Warfare
Particularly in warfare, you need your back covered. Do not think you can run off
screaming into the enemy’s camp going, "Yoohoo, guys, here I am. Come and get
me." It is stupid. Get somebody to stand with you in agreement, and you go, and
you will get them every time. Stand in unity, using the power of music, even using
the power of dance. Use it in action, releasing God’s power in any which way into
the earth.
Music in Intercession
You can use music in intercession. We have done this often as a team. In fact it is
the only way I find that we can intercede as a team. Usually intercession is more a
private thing where you, as a prophet of God, are pulled into a secret place where
you can intercede. I have found that the only way we can intercede successfully
as a group in one heart and in one spirit without any interruptions is through
music, and through praise and worship. It is the only way. Do you want to know
why? It is because it takes you to the Throne Room of God.
When you come together and start pouring forth and pouring forth, you are lifted
up from this earthly realm into the heavenly realm. Les has shared this already
elsewhere. If you are a prophet and move in the power of the Lord, you know what
I am talking about. You are probably reading this and saying, "Oh yeah that’s good
stuff." You just feel like you can conquer and beat the whole world when you are in
the Throne Room. You will do anything when you are there.
Praise Takes You to the Throne Room
Praise and worship takes you there. And praise and worship is the quickest way to
get to the Throne Room of God. It is the quickest way to get into His presence.
Why? Because you are communing from your spirit. You are singing, you are
praising, you are pouring out to Him. And the minute you start pouring out to Him
you make a connection, and immediately it takes you into the Throne Room. Then
when you are taken into the Throne Room and you are standing up there instead
of struggling down here, there comes a power and a confidence in you that you
have never had before. Suddenly when the Lord starts bringing people to your
mind you do not say, "Lord Jesus, please won’t you heal so-and-so."
No! When you are in the Throne Room of God in praise and worship you say, "Be
healed! Be done! You door, open now! In Jesus’ Name open now. I use my key."
"The doors that those people are opening against us, in the Name of Jesus we
shut. Satan, we lock you behind every door right now in the Name of Jesus and
we bind you!"
Once you are in the Throne Room of God you can start issuing forth decrees. You
can start interceding for the Body of Christ.
Sorrowful Singing
There have been plenty of times, when in the Spirit we have actually gone through
a stage of lamentation, of sorrowful singing, of weeping in the Spirit. And Les has
often led in the Spirit, songs of such wailing and weeping and the Lord says, "Oh
My sheep, My babies, My sheep that are lost, that are getting ruined and crushed
and destroyed and hurt…" and He pours out His heart and we weep for the lost.
As we weep and as we intercede for them and for those He brings to our minds
through our music and through our singing, we woo them into the fold. Because as
we, in intercession, weep for them, and as we travail for them and lament over
them, using the instruments and voices He has given us, I have found that the
intercession has been so much more powerful, because music has a way of
affecting your emotions.
Singing Affects Your Emotions
You can say words as much as you like to try and make somebody feel sad, but
play a mournful song and what will happen? Immediately your emotions will
become mournful. Play a lively song and you start going crazy, tapping your feet
and dancing. You see, music has a way of bringing an influence on you, and it is
powerful in intercession, because as you allow the Holy Spirit to move through
you, so you will start to feel the heart of the Father. You will start to feel His heart
in lamentation for His sheep, for people that are hurt, for people that are bleeding,
for those that are lost. You will feel His heart through the song. It will affect you. It
will affect your emotions. It will affect your thinking.
Intercessory Warfare
You can use warfare in the same context. There are times when an anger will rise
up and you will start to go into warfare on somebody’s behalf. And if you are
singing it, the song brings emotion. Why? Because, when you are singing it is
coming out of your spirit. It is not just words anymore, it is filled with the Holy Spirit
and fire. That is power. And when we use that power in intercession on behalf of
others I have been results every single time.
Every time this team has come as one to intercede in praise and worship on
behalf of some students and the members that the Lord has brought to us, we
have seen results instantly. Because we are combining the force of words, the
force of action and the power that is in our spirits, and we are putting it all together
in one big laser beam. And there is nothing in this world that can stand against
that!
Music has power! It is powerful. Use it. Every Christian should be using it. This is
not even just for prophets. If you want victory in your life; if you have come to a
plateau right now in your life and you are saying, "Lord, where to from here? I’ve
done everything right. I read Your Word, I pray, I worship You, I go to church, I pay
my tithes. I do everything, but I’m at this flat point and I do not know how to get
from this flat point to the high point."
Praise Brings Change in You

Open your mouth and praise. Release praise, release worship to the living God,
and I tell you what, you are going to see a change in yourself. You are going to
see a change in your heart, you are going to see a change in your action, and you
are going to see a change in the pictures in your mind. Because as you worship,
the Holy Spirit will start showing you what He sees. You will see the blessing, you
will see the prosperity and you will see the plan He has for you. And immediately
you will have hope and you will not be stuck on this flat plateau anymore.
Leave the Plateau Through Praise
Do you know why you will not be stuck on this flat plateau anymore? Because you
will not see it anymore. You will be way up there in the Throne Room. You will be
in the Throne Room. You will be taken up in His presence. But you are too
preoccupied with the plateau. You are too preoccupied with the dry land. You are
too preoccupied with the thorns and thistles you keep stepping on. Well stop
moaning and groaning about the thorns and thistles and get into the Throne Room
of God.
The only way you are going to have it is to get in praise and worship to Him; to
glorify His Name; to pour every last little drop of everything that is in you onto
Jesus. And I tell you what, even if you have one tiny little drop in there, give Him
that tiny little drop, because He will multiply it and pour it back on you. And you will
pour it back to Him, and He will double it and pour it back onto you. You carry on
and on, and you are going to start seeing victory in your life.
If you have been saying, "Where to from now? What now? What more do I need to
do to rise up? I’ve come to a place in my ministry where I’m not getting greater
authority; where I am not moving in a greater anointing."
It could be that you are leaving out the most powerful weapon that the Lord has
given us, and that is the weapon of praise and worship. Praise and worship is not
for the Sunday night team leaders up on the stage. Praise and worship is for you
as a child of God. It is His gift to you, and you need to use it, and you need to
apply it.
David’s Dedicated Singers
You know, David is such an example to us all. In Chronicles you will see how he
got a whole group of people together, dedicated entirely to music. 1 Chronicles
25:1 says:
…to the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who

should prophesy with harps, and with psaltries, and
cymbals.
He set aside an entire group to prophesy forth in praise and worship using their
voices, using their instruments and using their bodies, to dance unto the Lord. I do
not think that it is a coincidence that his son was the richest king who ever lived
after that. Do you think it is a coincidence?
You say, "Yes, the Lord blessed Solomon."
A Kingdom Built on Praise
The Lord blessed Solomon because David had set it up all nice and pretty for him.
David set up the foundation on which Solomon stood. And I want to tell you, he set
up a pretty sturdy foundation. That whole foundation was based on praise and
worship. David is known as the greatest king of Israel. In fact the Jews still speak
of him, "The Son of David." Everything is David. You know what he built his whole
kingdom upon? It was built on praise and worship to the Lord.
Do you think it is a coincidence that he was the greatest man of war and crushed
every enemy that came across his path? Think about it. He was the greatest man
of war who ever lived. There is not an enemy that survived at his hand, not one.
Why? Because he built his foundation on praise and worship to the Lord all the
time. Twenty four hours a day he had praise and worship going on, did you know
that?
There were priests who were dedicated entirely to the making of instruments, to
the playing of the instruments and to prophesying through psaltry and harps and
singing. It was constant, all the time. And he had success wherever he went. He
had total success. He overthrew kingdoms, which before nobody would even have
thought to have overcome. They would not have even tried. But David, a pathetic
little shepherd boy, a little nobody, a little nothing, rose up to be the mightiest
warrior. It is no coincidence that he wiped out an entire land around him.
Make Music Your Foundation
Singing to the Lord should be the foundation of your life. It should not be
something you do when you feel like it. It should not be something you only do
when others are watching. Praise and worship should be going on continually,
never stopping, all the time.
You may be asking me how it is that you can function in a greater degree in praise
and worship. You may say to me, "You know I’m battling with being able to sense
the Spirit. How do I know when to war? How do I know when to praise? How do I
know when to worship?"
I want to give you a key Scripture here. Ephesians 5:18 says:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be

filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord.
Spiritual Songs
The one point I am going to pull out of this is spiritual songs. What are spiritual
songs? They are songs that you sing from your spirit. How’s that for a revelation?
They are songs you sing from your spirit, songs you sing in tongues, songs you
sing with the words of angels. That is what worshipping with spiritual songs is.
If you want to start developing your capability to pick up and tune in on what the
Lord wants you to do in praise and worship, sing in tongues. Sing in tongues, sing
in tongues, and then when you are really tired of it, sing in tongues some more,
because it is going to break through. We have seen this.
Singing in Tongues
The Lord has taken us through a lot of phases. There came a time when the Lord
took us through a phase where we were singing a lot of worship songs. Then He
took us through a phase where we were singing a lot of praise, a lot of warfare, a
lot about the blood. Then came the largest phase of all, where every time we
came to praise all we could sing was in the Spirit in tongues. In fact, when we tried
to sing in English the anointing left.
We said, "Okay Lord, we get the point," so we sang in tongues.
We sang in tongues, and sang in tongues, and sang in tongues some more. But it
caused unity, because as Les sang in tongues and he got in the Spirit, and as I
was singing in tongues and playing with my drums, and Craig was singing in
tongues and getting in the Spirit on his own, you know what happened? The most
melodious harmony came out, because when you are all singing in tongues and
singing in the Spirit, you will harmonize. You will automatically harmonize. If you
are truly in the Spirit, you will harmonize with those that are truly in the Spirit,
because that is God’s order. He is a God of order, not of disorder.
Perfect Harmony and Unity
We have found, over and over again, that as we tune in and get our spirits right, it
has come to the stage now where we can sing full songs in the Spirit, in fact direct
songs, actual songs, not just singing any old thing. All six of us will sing a different
harmony in complete and perfect unison, and it will sound perfect. And none of us
are professional! None of us actually have very good singing voices.
As I release from my spirit and commune with the Spirit of the Lord and sing what I
hear Him wanting me to sing, I often do not even hear the others. I do not hear
them. In fact, it is quite impossible behind those drums. I can get pretty carried
away. I am sure you have heard about that by now. I go pretty wild, so I cannot
even hear them. But we have made recordings, and I want to tell you, even though
I cannot hear the others, when I play it back I cannot believe that we sang with
such harmony. It was out of this world. I could not believe what the Spirit of God
was doing. And as we did it more, each of us became more sensitive to the Spirit.
Each of us knew when to stop, when to start, when to speed up, when to slow
down. But you see, it comes with practice. It comes with singing in the Spirit
continually, out of your spirit.
Tapping the Inner Stream
I am going to apply a practical application to this shortly. But as you sing in the
Spirit something starts to happen, as Les has shown. You tap that inner stream
and you start flowing out, and you start walking in the Spirit. You start hearing the
wind blow, and you move and sway with it. You start hearing the raindrops and
you start getting drenched in it. But it takes time in singing in the Spirit continually,
to tune your spirit in with the Lord, to become more sensitive.
Then suddenly it stopped. Just as quickly as the Lord had taken us into that phase
it stopped. And I thought, "But Lord, it was so good. I was enjoying that." We
literally sang for hours at a time without having to stop, because you know what?
The Lord never runs out of songs. We could sing in tongues for hours and hours at
a time, because fresh stuff just kept coming out all the time.
Learning to Harmonize
Then when it stopped I thought, "Well Lord, that’s not fair. I was harmonizing so
perfectly. You know how I’ve always wanted to harmonize."
So we got back to normal singing and I used to join in. And I said, "Oh Lord, I wish
I could harmonize to this English song like I harmonize with You in the Spirit."
He said to me, "Sing in the Spirit."
So while Les was singing the English of a well-known song, I sang in tongues. As I
did that the tune I was singing in tongues harmonized with the tune he was singing
in English, because I was singing out of my spirit. You see, that is the great thing
about the Lord. He knows how to harmonize. Even though you do not have the
natural skill for music and singing and playing an instrument, He does, because it
came from Him. He is the author of music. So if there is anything you need, you
need to realize it is going to come from Him.
This really got me going. I thought, "I can harmonize at any time without it having
to go through my head, not even having to learn the song, by singing in tongues. I
wonder if I couldn’t apply the same principle, but singing in English."
It worked! Les would sing a well-known song that I always wished I could
harmonize to, but every time I did it before I sounded like a flat duck, and
everybody kind of looked at me skew so I just shut up and rather did not try again.
This time something new happened in my spirit. You see, what had happened is I
had tapped down into my spirit. I was so used to singing in the Spirit and from my
spirit instead of my head all the time. It had become such a habit as the Lord had
taken us through that phase of singing in the Spirit, that when I opened my mouth
to sing, even though it was a song I knew, instead of singing from my head I
immediately started singing from my spirit.
Step Out in Faith
It is like speaking in tongues. Do you think what you are going to say in tongues? I
cannot think beforehand what I will say. Why? Because it comes from my spirit.
Now singing is the same thing. If you are wanting to harmonize; if you are wanting
to sing; if you are wanting to learn principles, you are going to learn them by
releasing them from your spirit, because the Lord has the answers. The Holy Spirit
is in you and He is the author of music. This works, and it is powerful. Just open
your mouth in faith.
I said, "Lord, what if I start singing this song and I sound like that flat duck again,
and everybody says, ‘Wow man, stop squawking.’ What if that happens?"
He said, "You are going to have to trust Me."
It was just like when I said, "Lord, what if I try and speak in tongues and it comes
out like a bit of gibberish?"
He said to me, "You are going to have to open your mouth and trust Me," so I
opened my mouth, spoke a bit, and next thing I knew He had control of my tongue.
He said, "This is the same principle. If you want to harmonize, open your mouth in
faith and trust Me."
Let the Holy Spirit Teach You
So I did, and the first two notes, maybe were off, but every single note from then
on hit perfectly every time. Now Les can pick a song I do not even know and have
never heard in my life in English; you can give me the words and I will open my
mouth and sing the harmony first time. Me, am I such a great singer? No, I am a
pretty pathetic singer, actually. But the Holy Spirit is the author of music and it is a
gift from Him. It is an ability that each one of us can have. Why? Because the Holy
Spirit is our teacher. He teaches us. He is the author of music.
You Can Have it All
If there is anything that you have been looking to the Lord for and you have been
saying, "Well you know what, the Lord didn’t really give me that skill so it would
really be selfish for me to ask for it from Him. But oh Lord Jesus I am dying to
worship You. But hey, I didn’t get that skill so I guess I just won’t have it and I will
just envy others for the rest of my life."
No! You actually do not have to settle for second best. You can have everything
that the Spirit of God has to offer. You can have it all, if you want it; if you want it
badly enough; if you desire it badly enough. You need to move in faith and allow
the Holy Spirit to move in you. Commune with Him and step with Him and dance
with Him, keeping your eyes constantly on Jesus. Never take your eyes off the
Lord, and you will start finding yourself doing things that you thought were clearly
impossible.
Give Him Everything
Everything is possible with the Lord. In fact, if you want the Lord to do a miracle,
just say, "Oh, it’s impossible," because I tell you what, you will be proved wrong.
There is nothing in this world; there is no impossibility too big that the Lord cannot
meet you at and fulfill.
Once again, how big can you think? How big? Because the Lord Jesus will meet
you where you are at. He will grant you your desire. Give Him what you have and
He will work with it. But you do not give Him what you have, and you are going to
stay where you are. Give Him what you have and He will make something big out
of you. Give Him a little shepherd boy, and He might just make you into a king, a
big king, a great king, a man of war. But give Him what you have so that He can
use it.
In conclusion, I want to encourage you to use the weapons that the Lord has given
you. I want to encourage you to use what is in your spirit and to release it in music;
to release it in psalmody; to use the power that is hidden within you. It is there and
you have it. There is nobody on this earth that cannot praise the Lord. There is
nobody in this world who cannot praise the Lord. And if you are not tapping into
this vital weapon that the Lord has put in you, you are missing out on an aspect of
your ministry and of pouring out to people. You are missing such a large degree of
it.
Use what the Lord has given you. Use everything at your disposal. Do not just say,
"Well, I guess I’ll use this and this, but leave that out." It is like a gardener coming
and saying, "Well you know what, I don’t think I need the rake or the fork. I’ll just
use a spade to do everything. That’s right. I’m going to rake up leaves with the
spade."
That is what you are doing if you are not using all that the Lord has given you. If all
you know to do is prophesy and see visions, you may as well take a spade and go
and rake up some leaves, because that is all you are doing. You are not using the
full capacity. Sure, it might get the job done. You will rake up those leaves, but I
tell you what, I think you are going to be pretty exhausted by the time you are
done. You are going to be pretty finished.
Use what the Lord has given you. Use what is at your disposal. Use every weapon
of your warfare. Do not get one little sword and say, "Well I’m happy with a sword,"
but the Lord has given you an arrow and a spear, a shield and helmet. Do not say,
"Well that’s okay, I’ll just face the enemy with my one little sword."
Use everything that the Lord has given you, to your full capacity with the Holy
Spirit, and rise up. More than anything, rise up in praise to the living God, because
I want to tell you something right now. He is worthy of it. He is worthy of our praise
and the glory that belongs to Him and Him alone. He is worthy of it, and He
deserves every bit of praise and worship you can give Him, because He is
precious, and He loves you, and He has given you His life. The least you can give
Him is your song.
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How Revival Comes
John 5:26 - For as the Father has life in himself; so he has given to
the Son to have life in himself;
John 6:63 - It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh has no benefit: the
words that I speak to you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
John 10:10 - The thief does not come, except to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy: I have come that they might have life, and that they might
have [it] more abundantly.
ave you ever seen a resurrection plant? It is not found very commonly
except in certain parts of the world. I remember seeing it first as a child
when we visited what was known as the Matopas area in Rhodesia. It
was the burial place of the legendary Cecil Rhodes who founded that
country and his remains were enclosed on part of the rocky outcrop that make up
the Matopas. I remember, as we climbed up some of the rocky hills in the area,
seeing what appeared to be a lot of plants that had once lived but had now died as
a result of not having had any water. They were dried and shriveled up and brown,
trying to grow in the little patches of soil that existed between the rocks.
But these plants had an amazing power. If you took a sample and placed them to
soak in a container of water, they would come back to life again. Within minutes of
placing a stalk of the plant in water you would see the brown dried up leaves start
to turn green and come back to life. If you left it long enough, the whole plant
would 'return' to life. It was a fascinating sight and one that really made me
curious. How could something that was quite clearly dead, come back to life again
just because it was given water?
As I look back on this now I realize what a clear picture it is of how God can take a
person that has dried up spiritually and bring them back to life. The amazing thing
is that you did not have to place the plant in soil or feed it fertilizer. You didn't have
to create a greenhouse condition for it to come back to life. All you needed was
water. And the very same thing applies to our spiritual lives. It does not take a lot
of complicated procedures to bring a person back to life spiritually. It only takes
the water of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them and in a very short space
of time the life starts to return.
Perhaps you are like that resurrection plant. You once knew what life was. You
can remember a time when the presence of God was very real in your life. You
were excited about serving the Lord and couldn't wait to get together with other
believers for worship and praise. You couldn't help speaking to others about the
Lord. You sensed the presence of the Lord with you every day, and you knew
what it was to be led by His Spirit. But now those things are only a memory. You
are like the Israelites who settled in their Canaan land, and heard from their
parents about all the wonderful things that God had done to their ancestors, but
they saw very little of it themselves.
There is much talk these days about revival and many are either seeking it or
experiencing it in the Body of Christ. But what is revival and how can it be
accomplished? Are there specific principles involved that cause it? Do we need to
fast and pray for it? Is it given only when God sovereignly chooses to give it? Does
it only come when people begin to turn from sin and make their lives right with
God? Does it require a special man of God to make it happen?
Many of the passages quoted on revival are taken from the Old Testament. That is
because revival is not a New Testament term. The apostles and the early church
did not teach it. In fact there are two terms that preachers seem to have taken
from the Old Testament and love to major on, and these are Revival and
Backsliding. The New Testament does not find these things important enough to
make them a central teaching. They are not part of God's economy for the New
Testament church. So why do preachers always major on that which God does not
consider significant?
Actually it takes very little to cause the life to return. There are many that think that
revival is a long complicated process. They think that we have to go through a
series of changes before we can come to a place of returning to the blessing of
God in our lives. They teach that we have to examine our lives and get rid of all
the sin and bad habits before we can return to the blessing of the Lord. They imply
that we have to spend weeks and months in prayer and fasting, crying out to the
Lord for a fresh touch from Him.
Those who do these things eventually stumble onto the one thing that it takes to
bring back spiritual life - the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It is the water
of life that causes us to be revived and nothing else. Those who think that we have
to first deal with the sin in our lives are people who could not approach God
because they thought they were unworthy. They did not tap the power that was in
them all along, because they thought that they had no right to it. But that is never
the case with a child of God. We always have access to His Spirit, not because of
anything that we can do, but because of what Jesus has done and is continually
doing for us at the right hand of the Father.
We have been seeing in the past few days how to draw from the underground
stream of God's power that is within us. Those who think that it takes long periods
of fasting and prayer have just never learnt how to keep 'pumping' until the water
comes. They are waiting for the Lord to come and crank the pump for them. They
feel unworthy to enter the holy of holies on their own. They see the blessing of the
Lord as being something way out of their reach. They see God as being way up in
heaven somewhere. They don't realize that He is 'closer than breathing.'
How foolish it would be for me to bow in front of a water pump and cry out for
water when all I need to do is put my hand to the handle and start to pump the
water. But many are staying there, drying up with thirst and waiting for someone
else to come and pump the water for them. Others are going about trying to find
someone who has learned how to draw water from their underground stream so
that they can share in their water. But they have to keep coming back for more.
They become dependent upon a particular ministry to keep them going. If the
other ministry becomes unavailable then they begin to stagnate and cannot
survive.
Others look for a place where the water is gushing out, like a fountain and they
flock there to get water. God has moved and often moves in the midst of a group
of people and a flow begins that causes a spontaneous burst of revival to take
place. It is exciting and wonderful and God's power is manifested in a powerful
way, just like a gushing natural fountain. And just as in a natural wonder, the
crowds are drawn to it. Some come to get water, others come just to take a look
and watch it gush.
And as they do this, some come back to life like the resurrection plant and leave
only to find that they start to dry up again. Others come back to life and then learn
how to draw from the power within them. Often what happens is that people who
attend revival meetings go back and begin to pour forth in ministry to others. And
as they do this they start to draw from the resources in their own spirits and a flow
begins. Sometimes all it takes is for someone's pump to receive priming at a
revival meeting and they begin to pour forth water themselves. So revival meetings
have a powerful effect on those that attend them with the purpose of receiving in
order to give out more.
So if you have dried up like that resurrection plant then I would suggest that the
first thing you do is get access to some water. You need to be exposed to the
Spirit of God if you want to come to life. The best place to start is to draw from the
underground stream that God has given you. But if you are finding this difficult and
you would like to start off by getting a good soak in a bucket of water, then go
where the Spirit of God is moving. Find a place that is experiencing the move of
God and where the blessing of God is flowing in the meetings. Or find a person
that you know has learned to flow in the blessing of God and ask them for some of
their 'water.' It does not take much to make the resurrection plant come back to
life. It doesn't take much to cause you to experience a fresh touch from the Lord.
But once you have experienced that fresh touch, you must learn how to draw for
yourself. And especially you must learn how to give out to others. For the whole
purpose of receiving the water of life is not only that you might drink and live, but
that you might cause the streams of living water that the Lord has placed within
you to flow out to meet the needs of others. There are a lot of thirsty people out
there. There are a lot of dried up resurrection plants out there. You too could
become a water source for others to draw from. You can help them to come to life
and then show them how they too can continue to draw on the power of God and
pour it forth to others.
How does revival come?
It might come as a result of the rain falling. There are times when God
sovereignty causes an outpouring of His Spirit in a place or a group of people.
And when He does it is like the rain falling on an area where the plants have
dried up. It causes everything to come to life, but only while the rain continues
to fall.
It might come as a result of someone taking a water hose and watering a
garden area. Often when a visiting ministry comes to a church, who has learnt
how to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit, he or she causes that group of
people to come to life spiritually. The meetings might be charged with the
presence of the Lord and all the people receive a touch and are blessed. But
when the ministry leaves, the plants start to dry up again.
It might come as a result of someone accidentally spilling water on a dead
plant. A lot of the things we learn in life come as a result of accidents rather
than by design. When this happens we call that person 'lucky' or 'blessed' and
we envy them because they have experienced the blessing of God. We hope
and pray that what happened to them might also happen to us 'if it be the will of
the Lord.'
When a plant grows near a water source, it is always alive and well. Have you
ever seen plants growing around a water tap in the garden? When water is
drawn some of it tends to spill on the ground and it waters everything near the
tap. So some people are blessed simply by being associated or involved with
someone who is flowing out in ministry to others. But they only receive the
overflow.
But why should revival even become necessary, if the plants are continually
watered and kept full of life? Surely it is in the very nature of plants to grow and
reproduce? Why should this be considered a very special situation that only
occurs at specific seasons and then only because God suddenly has chosen to do
it? Surely the Church, of which Jesus is the head, is a living organism that should
be alive and full of growth and fruitfulness? Yet we have never learned how to go
to the fountain of living waters and drink continually.
The key lies in keeping your pipe sunk into the ground leading down to the
underground streams. You must keep the Word of God in your heart, for it gives
you access to the power of the Holy Spirit that is within. You must keep your pipe
full of water, so that it may be easily drawn out with very little effort. And you must
draw water out and pour it forth. To put it in practical terms you should do the
following if you want to walk continually in revival: -
1. Meditate daily on the Word of God
2. Pray in the Spirit daily
3. Flow out in love by ministering to someone every day
These three simple steps will lead to you walking in the Spirit. You will avoid sin in
your life, because the Word of God will direct your paths. You will be led by the
Spirit of God and make the right decisions, because the Holy Spirit will be very real
to you and you will learn how to sense His leading. You will be filled with the fruit
of the Spirit and you will know the power of God, because both of these come from
the same Spirit. And you will experience abundant blessing, because it is always
more blessed to give than it is to receive. And as you minister to others, the Lord
will pour back into you in abundance.
Apply these keys and revival will be a word that is absent from your vocabulary.
You will forget what the resurrection plant looks like when it dries up - except as
you see it in the lives of others. And you will know that you have what it takes to
help them come back to life.
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Indestructible.


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The Price of Revival
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a

rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting.
he past year has seen natural disasters that have been more numerous
than we have seen in a long while, as a result of the phenomenon
known as El Niño. Strange that they would name this destructive force
after the Christ Child. We have seen destruction caused by weather
disturbances in various parts of the world. Perhaps one of the most destructive of
these forces has been the force of high-speed winds in the form of hurricanes and
tornadoes.
Isn’t it strange again, how the very air we breathe and need to live, when it is
caused to move speedily over the earth, can bring destruction instead of blessing.
Perhaps it is also significant that in Scripture the work of the Holy Spirit is often
likened to wind. Perhaps it is because like wind, the Spirit of God can bring
blessing or destruction.
How pleasant it is when on a very hot day you feel a cool gentle breeze blowing
across the earth. It brings relief from the heat of the sun and causes you to relax. It
is wonderful when the Spirit of God moves upon us in this way too. He moves
gently upon us, bringing a sense of His presence that produces a gentle comfort
and assurance. He ministers to us the presence of the Savior, who speaks to us
gently and lovingly.
But there comes a time when the Holy Spirit, like the wind, begins to move in a
forceful way. And when He does, the results are very similar to what happens
when a strong wind blows over the earth. Sooner or later it comes into contact with
various objects on the earth. And if it is blowing very strongly it is likely to move out
of its place everything is that is fixed and immovable. The things that are in the
greatest danger from the hurricanes are the fixed roofs and structures that try to
resist the wind.
But when the wind blows over the plants of the field, the situation is different.
Instead of trying to resist the wind, the pliable trees and plants bend with the wind.
They stoop low to let the wind pass over them. And when the wind has gone, they
return to their original position unharmed. But the rigid immovable structures that
stood so proud against the wind are either destroyed or cast away by the wind.
Isn’t this also a good picture of what happens when the Spirit of God begins to
move mightily in the church? So many Christians are praying for revival and for a
move of the Spirit of God. Perhaps you want to see God move in mighty power
and in signs and wonders. You want more than the gentle breeze of the Spirit. You
want to see the miracles and mighty power of God.
But when God begins to move in this way, you will find that it is not quite what you
expected. You expected blessing, but you find that suddenly pressures begin to
come upon you that you were not prepared for. Suddenly you begin to realize that
there are things in your heart that are stubborn and unyielding. You are like a rigid
roof that is comfortable with the way it is and doesn’t want to change. But when
God moves by His Spirit, it is going to bring change. It is going to bring destruction
of some of the structures that you have built up in your life.
So before you pray for revival or for a mighty move of the Spirit of God, you had
better be prepared to be like the reeds in the wind. You had better be prepared to
bow low under the wind. You had better be prepared to humble yourself in the
sight of God and man. Because there is a price to pay for the power of the Spirit.
And if you are prepared to bend low and let the wind have its course without
resistance, then you will survive the onslaught.
And when the wind has blown its course, you will be able to rise up once more to
blow in the breeze. And as you look around you will see that all the man made
structures that stood so proud will be no longer visible. They would all have been
destroyed and blown away in the wind. Then you will know what it is to flow in the
blessing of the Lord, because the wind will blow freely through the fields, without
anything standing in its way.
This folks is what you can expect if you pray for revival. Are you prepared to pay
the price?
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The Way to Revival
John 4: 10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of
God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have
asked from him, and he would have given you living water.
sn’t water a wonderful substance? It is so cheap and we take it for

granted, yet we cannot live without it. When you are thirsty it is still the
best thing you can use to quench your thirst. Most of your body consists
of water. In fact every living thing contains water. Life cannot exist
without it.
This account of Jesus and the woman at the well has been the subject of many
sermons and bible studies. We can learn so much from it. We can learn about how
to witness, how people respond to ministry, how the Holy Spirit works, and how
Jesus works. Today I want to look at another emphasis from this famous passage.
I want to consider some of the keys to blessing and receiving the anointing power
of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus had been traveling and was weary from the journey. It was midday and the
sun was probably hot. He was tired and thirsty. He needed the strength and
refreshment that water brought. So when He saw a woman coming to draw water
from the well, He asked her for some. But He had a purpose in doing this. He
realized that a person without the Spirit was like someone who was weary and
thirsty. And this woman was no exception.
So Jesus used the water as the starting point for a teaching here. He offered the
woman something that would satisfy her weary soul and bring spiritual
refreshment. He was offering the anointing power of the Spirit. But there were a
few principles that needed to be applied before she could get this water. I want
you to see and understand each one, because they are the keys to entering into
the revival power and anointing of the Spirit.
Firstly Jesus told her that He had something to offer her that was better than what
she had. He told her that it was the Gift of God and that it was living water. The
anointing of the Spirit is not something that we have to work for or deserve. It is a
gift of His grace. It is not dull religion or works. It is a living thing. It bubbles and
brings life.
Then He told her that she would need to ask for the living water that He had to
offer. The Lord never ever imposes Himself on us. He does not force His blessings
or His purpose on us. He is pictured standing at the door knocking, and waiting for
us to open up and invite Him in. Until we do He continues to woo us in love. But
He will never break down the door.
The woman was a bit confused about what He was offering, but once Jesus
explained it to her, she immediately wanted this water. She asked Him for it. Of
course she didn’t fully understand what she was asking for. All she could think of
was having this wonderful water and not having to come and draw all the time.
She was looking only at the blessings that would come with it. She did not realize
that it would bring some changes in her life.
Jesus’ next statement took her totally by surprise. He told her to go and get her
husband and bring him back. Of course Jesus knew exactly where she stood
where husbands were concerned. This was a major problem in her life. It was her
area of greatest failure. But Jesus wanted her to realize that the coming of the
blessing was going to bring changes to her life. This part of her life was going to
change.
Many miss the point here. Jesus was not telling her to sort her life out before He
gave her the water she had requested. He wanted her to see that the blessing
would affect every area of her life, and especially her failures. But it would also
cause things in her life to be exposed and removed. This is a common area of
confusion on the subject of revival. People think that in order to bring revival, they
have to start dealing with sin in their life. The fact is that revival brings a removal of
sin, not the other way around.
The woman tried to avoid the issue that Jesus had raised. She acknowledged that
He had been correct, but now she tried to get ‘spiritual.’ She got into a theological
discussion. Isn’t it amazing how when people are confronted with their failures,
they will try to cover it up by getting super spiritual? And of course they will try to
justify their actions.
Then she got into an argument about doctrine. In modern terms she might have
said something like, "Well the Pentecostals and Charismatics say we should
speak in tongues and the Holiness people tell us we should be sanctified and the
Baptists tell us we should be baptized, but who is right?" Jesus directed her back
to what counted – the Spirit of God. He told her that God is worshipped in the
Spirit, not in church organizations.
Her last ditch attempt to escape was when she brought up the Messiah. In effect
she was trying to tell Jesus that she was not prepared to listen to a mere man, but
would only listen to God. When you confront a person with their failures they are
quick to say that they listen only to God and not man. Never mind the fact they do
not know how to hear the voice of God. God often uses human vessels to speak
forth His words. Jesus was speaking the words that the Father had given Him to
speak. But people saw Him as just a man.
The end came when Jesus took away her final argument, by presenting Himself as
the Messiah. And when she arrived at that point, she got to the end of herself.
Now she was finally ready to receive the gift of the living water that Jesus was
offering. This is exactly what is going to happen when you start to seek the Lord
for the living water that He offers in the Spirit. You are going to go through a time
of testing that will expose in you everything that will be affected by the coming of
this anointing.
Perhaps like the Samaritan woman you will look for excuses to escape the things
in your life that you know are going to have to change. Perhaps you will use
theological arguments and get into doctrinal discussions. Maybe you’ll try to
pretend that things are fine with you. But you will have to come to the end of
yourself before you are going to see what you are desiring of the Lord.
You are going to have to realize that you do not deserve His blessing. You are
going to have to admit that you are failure without His help. You are going to have
to admit that your life falls hopelessly short of what you should be. You are going
to have to acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers. And you are going to
have to come face to face with the King of Kings and acknowledge that He is your
Lord.
When you reach that point He will pour on you, in abundance, the gift of His grace.
The living water will spring up within and flow out of you to bless and meet the
needs of others. Your ministry will spring forth in power. Revival will come.
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The River Of Life
John 7 : 37-39 - On the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried out, saying, If any one is thirsty, let him come to me,
and drink.
He that believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inward
parts shall flow rivers of living water.
(But he was referring to the Spirit, which those that believe in him
would receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus
was not yet glorified.)
Acts 2 : 43 - And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and
signs were done by the apostles.
remember when as a child, in what was then known as Rhodesia, I

would travel with my family to visit the Victoria Falls, one of the largest
waterfalls in the world. The sight was awesome and breathtaking. Great
walls of water thundering down into the gorge below that sounded like
thunder and a great mist coming up to water the ground from the splashing of the
water on the rocks below. No wonder the local population called it in their
language, "the cloud that thunders." There was an area nearby called the rain
forest, which was a tropical forest that continually received water from the mists
that rose from the waterfall. It was certainly a sight that drew people from long
distances and you could understand why.
But in spite of this beautiful natural wonder, there was very little in the way of
human settlement in the area. About the only buildings and businesses were the
hotels and chalets that catered for the large tourist trade in the area. Of course
there was also an abundance of curio sellers from the local population. Even the
nearby city was only a small town. People loved to visit there and would come
back again many times to see the wonderful sight, but no one could live
permanently at the riverside. The river was too powerful to be used by the average
person for their daily needs. I can remember well, going near to the edge to look
down into the deep gorge below where the water was falling. It was a fearful sight
and I was afraid too go too close, in case I might slip and fall onto the rocks.
The Scripture speaks a lot about rivers and water, as a symbol, is often used to
represent the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself used this metaphor. In our first reading for
today we see an event that took place during Jesus' ministry. He was attending a
Jewish feast that ended in a ceremony which was the highlight of the feast and
was carried out on the last day of the feast period. On that day a priest would go
down to the pool of Siloam and fill a golden pitcher with water. Then he would walk
back to where a silver goblet was placed, and he would pour water from the
golden pitcher into the goblet while a Scripture passage was read out loud: -
Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of
salvation.
The Jews did not realize that most of their Old Testament rituals and feasts were
actually pictures of what was to take place later in the New Testament era. They
did not realize that the very fulfillment of their ceremony was standing right there.
You see gold in the Old Testament was a picture of Divinity and Silver was a
picture of redemption. The golden pitcher that they filled with water was actually a
picture of Jesus, the Son of God, pouring out the water of the Spirit into a
redeemed vessel - the believer. Jesus knew exactly what it meant and He could
see Himself, after having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father,
pouring this out into the lives of those who would believe in Him.
The revelation of it and the wonder of it must have so overwhelmed Him that He
could not keep quiet. He cried out to everyone at the feast to come to him, using
the symbol of water as a picture of the Holy Spirit. He said that those who were
thirsty should come to him to drink. Then He said that those who believed in Him
would receive, in their inward parts, a new source of that spiritual power. It would
be like a water source, flowing out of them like a river, and carrying with it a power
that would bring life. John the apostle, in writing in retrospect tells us what Jesus
was referring to when He said that. He tells us that Jesus was speaking about the
Holy Spirit that would be given to those who would believe in Him.
The first fulfillment of this took place when the disciples gathered together in the
Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost. On that day the promise of the Father was
poured out on them. It started with a sound like a mighty rushing wind. I imagine
that it must have sounded a bit like the noise that you would hear if you visited the
Victoria Falls. And with it came another symbol that is often used for the Holy Spirit
- fire. The effect on those gathered in the Upper Room was devastating. We do
not have a very detailed explanation in the Book of Acts except to tell us that they
were speaking in other tongues.
But it is clear that it was not only their speech that caused a crowd to be drawn to
the place. It was not only their speech that caused some people to begin to mock
and accuse them of being drunk at just 9 o'clock in the morning. There was a
power there that made these people behave in a way that made them look like
they had been drinking. But it was a power that had an effect on those that came
near. It was a power that caused a man who was totally without courage and
afraid to admit that he was even associated with Jesus, to stand up and boldly
preach to the crowds. It was a power that caused 3000 people to make a decision
to follow Christ that day. It was a power that caused Peter to be so filled with God
that his very shadow passing over sick people would cause them to be healed.
You see, like the rain forest at the Falls, there came an overflow that poured out
upon everyone that was nearby. It caused people to come from near and far to
see and hear what was going on. It brought an awesome sense of God's presence
and those who walked in that power continued to perform miracles in the Name of
Jesus. Acts 2:43 tells us
And fear came upon every person: and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles.
This power drew people and caused them to come under the influence of God's
Spirit. It caused people to change. Barriers were broken down, and love began to
flow. People began to share their possessions with each other. They began to get
together in their homes for times of feasting and fellowship together. They began
tell everyone they knew about Jesus, so that every day new people would come to
know the Lord and join them.
But not everyone was happy with what was going on. It was not long before the
apostles, who were spreading this 'heresy' were seized and brought before the
religious council of that day. You see, when God's Spirit begins to move, He
breaks through the barriers of cold religion and it begins to shake and upset the
religious status quo. When someone begins to achieve in a very small space of
time and without great knowledge, more than the educated establishment has
done in years, it is always going to lead to opposition and criticism.
Things have not changed much in modern times. Because God is still pouring out
His Spirit on all flesh and it is still causing a change in lives, and the religious
establishment is still nervous about it and questioning what is happening. But
those who are open to it are hearing what God is doing in many different places
and are being drawn, just as the crowds are drawn to the wonder of the Falls. And
those that come are soaking up the effects like a rain forest and experiencing
growth. Some fear the noise of the water and are afraid of falling over into the
gorge below, from which they can never return. They stand at a safe distance and
refuse to come too close.
We will be looking at the subject of the Holy Spirit during the next few days to see
if we can learn some principles. If you have never experienced the power of God's
Spirit and have never seen the awesome work of His power, then you are perhaps
like many that have never seen a natural wonder like the Victoria Falls. Perhaps
you are too afraid to take a look because you have been warned against it.
Perhaps you have been given a distorted picture concerning it. On the other hand
you might be a believer that has known and experienced God's power in the past.
But now you seem to have run dry. It is as though the river has dried up. You are
like the Israelites who were told about the wonderful things that God did when He
led their ancestors out of Egypt, but you haven't seen much of it yourself.
The good news is that the Holy Spirit is still here. He still works in and through us
with the same power that He did in the early apostles. And Lord willing we would
like to see how we might come to the place where we can once more experience
that power in our lives.
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The Scriptural Pattern for Discipleship
s we are about to take a look at the principle of discipleship and

mentoring in the Prophetic School, I want to take the opportunity now to
expand on what has been presented in our study on Prophetic Training.
The reason I am doing this is because there appears to be a lot of
confusion amongst believers concerning what exactly is meant by mentorship.
Mentorship Not a Scriptural Word

Mentorship is a word that is not found in the Bible. It is a term that has been
developed in the world and because of this, many people have tended to base
their understanding of the subject on some of the principles that the world teaches.
A lot of these principles are basic ideas that certainly do apply and can be used,
but the Scriptural pattern and methods are not always the same. And so I think
that it is good that I expand a little on the subject and make it clearer.
To come to a better understanding of what is involved, I want to look at some

general ideas first. So I want to begin with the subject of teaching. Teaching is the
imparting of knowledge from one person to another. And since we all have had our
time of going through school education, we all have some
idea of what it means to be taught. Then also most of us have been to Sunday
school, and have been taught there. And at church there is usually a Bible Study
meeting, where the doctrines of Scripture are taught. In fact the whole of life
seems to be a learning experience, and everywhere you turn, you are being taught
something by someone.
Principles of Teaching
So let's look at what is involved in teaching. Having been involved in a teaching

ministry for a number of years before moving into the other ministry offices, I
learned a lot about what makes a person an effective teacher. Unfortunately a lot
of people who think they have a teaching ministry fail to see some of these
important principles, and become just like all the other teachers that we have had
to suffer through in life. I am sure that each one of you is able to cast your mind
back to those awful days
of sitting in the classroom for hours on end, while some boring school teacher
rambles on and on about nothing. Well I hope the same thing isn't happening here
now with me trying to give you some teaching.
Learning from the Senses
Ok let's go on then and see what teaching involves. If you think about what
happens when we first come into the world, it is interesting to see how we
accumulated knowledge over the years. You started out at birth with no knowledge
whatsoever except what you had already learned in the womb, and from the
influences you sensed in the spirit of your mother before you were born. The
newborn baby starts with a clean slate. And the first influences that come are the
influences from the senses.
From the very moment of birth, you started to accumulate information from the
world around you via the five senses. What you have learned and can clearly
remember are the things that you have seen, heard, felt, smelled and tasted.
Anything else that you have learned had to be rammed down your
throat with repetition and force to make it stay. And unfortunately this tends to be
the way that a lot of education is presented today. Students are forced to learn
information that does not relate to their senses and the only part that is involved in
the learning process is the physical part of the memory that is in the brain.
The reason that most of us cannot remember even a fraction of what we learned
in school, is that we never involved our five senses in the learning process. But
you can remember a movie that you watched years ago, even though you may
have only seen it once. You can recognize a smell or taste the moment it comes to
your senses. And you can recognize someone's voice long before you can
remember who they are. You recognize a person's face, even though you have
long forgotten their name. So the first and most valuable lesson in teaching and
learning, is the use of the senses. And any teacher who makes good use of the
senses is going to have a lasting effect on the student. The part of a preacher’s
message that
you will always remember long after you have forgotten the sermon, is the pictures
that he painted during his message.
Teaching Through Modeling

And so we come to the next most important aspect of teaching, and here is where
we start to see some of the principles of mentorship starting to show. I am talking
about a very important thing called 'modeling.' What is modeling? It is when the
teacher not only imparts the knowledge verbally, but acts it out in real life. And the
first place we are all exposed to this is in the home. I am sure you have all heard
that old saying, "Do as I say, don't do as I do." We all tend to be guilty of it at times
as parents. We
want to instruct our children in the right ways, but our actions don't line up with our
words. We do not "practise what we preach."
It is a known fact that generally Pastor's kids are the most rebellious and
disorderly kids around. One would think that having a father who knows the Word
so well, they would grow up perfectly. But this is not always the case. We will look
at this in a lot more detail later when we consider prophetic families, but for now I
just want to emphasize one little aspect of this. The bottom line is that as a parent,
you are teaching your children in more ways than one. And in the end, they will not
become what you try to teach them. They will become WHAT YOU ARE.
Learning through Imitation
That is because the teaching process involved in modeling is a lot more powerful
than that involved in verbal instruction. The best teaching method is the one that
not only tells the student what to do, but shows the student also how to do it. He is
given an example to follow, a pattern to apply, a method to act out. And the best
place for this to happen is in the home, where the child starts to imitate the parent.
Each little child grows up wanting to be like Mom or Dad. Paul mentions this in the
following verse
Ephesians 5:1, ‘Be therefore imitators of God, as dear children.’
It is in the nature of children to not only accept what their parents teach them, but
also to try and copy their parents. And so you see the little girls stealing mommy's
makeup and trying to make themselves pretty. And oh what a chaos and waste it
is when they get their hands on it. And the little boy tries to use his dad's tools to
fix things. And once again the whole family travails in pain. But nobody can stay
angry at that kind of behavior. It is the highest form of praise when your children
show that they want to be just like you.
Excelling Beyond the Teacher
This also demonstrates the most effective form of teaching and training. And that
is when the student is so taken up with the teacher, that he or she wants to
become just like their teacher. And of course the next step then is to not only be
like the parent, but to be even better. The child wants to make the parent proud,
by not only becoming like him, but by far exceeding the parent. And what parent
does not have a heart full of pride to see their child not only equal their
accomplishments but far exceed them?
So we have seen then three different levels of teaching that take place. In the first,
the teacher imparts knowledge to the student. In the second, the teacher shows
the student by modeling, how to apply that knowledge. And in the third and final
method, the teacher is reproduced in the student. Now here is where confusion
begins to exist and where different levels of training are often confused. And the
difference in every case usually lies more in the student than in the teacher.
What is a Mentor?
When the term 'mentor' is thrown about these days, people tend to have a different
idea in their mind as to what is meant by it. For some it means a personal tutor or
trainer, one who devotes time and effort to teaching one student alone rather than
in a class setting. This means the student gets more personal attention, and is
able to ask questions and get immediate answers, just to their own questions,
without having to wait their turn along with the rest of the class members. To get
this kind of training it tends to cost a lot of money, because the teacher is hired to
give exclusive time to the one student.
Level One Mentoring
So here we are starting to see a picture develop of what a lot of people think about
when they hear the word mentor. A mentor is seen as one who devotes exclusive
time to one student. But I want you to realize that all of this is still only at the first
and lowest level of training. It is still only an impartation of knowledge from one
person to another. The only difference is that the knowledge is more concentrated
and is given more directly and in greater measure.
Level Two Mentoring
For some a mentor means a bit more. And so it has become very much the ‘in
thing’ these days to get yourself a personal trainer. If you want to do physical
training and you have the money, you hire yourself a personal body building
instructor, who will put together a set of exercises and routines
especially for you alone. And that instructor will spend time with you, showing you
how to do them and correcting you when you go wrong. This means the instructor
is not now only imparting knowledge to you, but actually getting involved more
intimately in the training process. The instructor is not only telling you what to do,
but is actually showing you how to do it. In other words, your teacher is now
starting to add some modeling activities to the training mechanism. You are being
given both theoretical and practical training.
But you are still remaining only a student here. The teacher is imparting to you a
small piece of their knowledge and experience to help you attain a goal that you
yourself have set. You have told your trainer that you want to attain a certain level
of fitness; that you want certain dimensions; that you want to reduce to a certain
weight, or attain a certain weight. And your trainer has put together a training
course especially for you, to help you reach your goals.
Now for many people this is what they would call a mentorship relationship. The
trainer is not there so much to teach you everything from scratch, but to help you
go from where you are right now, to a goal that you want to obtain. But I want you
to realize that this too is only the second level of teaching that we have spoken of.
Level Three Mentoring
There remains yet another level of teaching and training that not many people
reach. And it is this last method of training that I would like to emphasize and
expand on in this study. The Apostle Paul spoke of this quite clearly in the
following passage:
1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you have ten thousand instructors in

Christ, yet [you do] not [have] many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have
begotten you through the gospel.
16 Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me.
17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved
son, and faithful in the Lord, who will remind you about my ways
which are in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.
Paul did not consider himself a mentor, and never offered such a service to those
whom he worked with closely. Rather he applied a more sound principle that the
Bible calls Discipleship. This is a word that we do not use much these days,
because it is too intense for most people to accept, and is often considered old
fashioned or obsolete. But in Bible times the term was used freely and understood
freely. I think the part that most of us do not like about this word is the fact that it is
based on and contains the 'D' word, the word ‘discipline’. That is a word most of us
like to avoid, because it has too many negative connotations.
Discipleship - the Scriptural Pattern
But the Scriptural pattern is always the way of discipleship. We are happy to
accept Jesus' words as recorded in Mark 16:15.16 to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to all of creation. But Matthew's version of this tends to be
overlooked for some reason. In fact even the Old King James
version missed some of the basic principles there by translating it as follows
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of
the world. Amen.
But if you take a closer look at the Greek text of the New Testament you find that a
very expressive word was used in this passage. The word translated as 'teach' in
the first verse is the Greek word matheteuo, which has a very distinctive meaning.
I am going to quote from The Complete Word
Study New Testament by Spiros Zodhiates concerning this word, and he says,
"Matheteuo means not only to learn but to become attached to one's teacher and
to become his follower in conduct and doctrine."
The correct translation of this verse should be "go and make disciples of all the
nations." And a disciple according to the meaning of this word is one who not only
accepts the teaching of the teacher, but also goes on to become everything that
the teacher is. There is a lot more involved here than a transmitting of knowledge.
There is a very impartation from the spirit of the teacher, which results in the
student becoming exactly like him. And once again Paul tells us how this is shown
in the lives of others.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel came not to you in word only, but
also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as you
know what kind of person we were among you for your benefit.
6 And you became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:
Discipleship Involves Impartation
Paul took young Timothy and imparted to him all that he had himself both in the
way of knowledge, experience and character. He imparted to him the spiritual gifts
that he had. How do we know this? Consider the following passage
2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I want to remind you to stir up the gift of
God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Paul had not only taught Timothy everything that he knew, but he had also
imparted to him the very spiritual gifts that he had. Timothy had become a mini
Paul, so that Paul could confidently send him to churches in his place. I am sure
that if you could have got some cassette recordings of Paul and
Timothy's preaching those days, you would have been amazed to discover that
Tmothy preached just like Paul. He probably held his mouth the same way when
he spoke, and used some of the same expressions.
Levels of Discipling
But we see also that in writing to the church at Philippi, Paul said the following
Philippians 4:9 Those things, which you have both learned, and
received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall
be with you.
Here you can see the different levels of discipleship that Paul had carried out.
Where the Philippian church were concerned, he had not only taught them
verbally but he had also given them a model to follow. And he held up his own
lifestyle and pattern for living for them to follow. But when it came to Timothy,
whom he called his own son in the faith, there was a more intensive training.
There was an impartation of his very soul. Where the Philippian church were
concerned, Paul had given them everything he had received in salvation. But with
Timothy, Paul had given everything he had received in the way of ministry gifts.
Jesus' Use of Mentorship
So when we get down to basics, you will see that discipleship too has various
levels of involvement. And in conclusion I want to look at the life and ministry of
Jesus and the disciples that he made when He walked the earth. You can clearly
identify in Jesus' ministry the three levels of mentorship or discipleship that we
spoke about earlier. The lowest level was that found amongst the crowds who
followed after Jesus and pledged their faith in Him. They were known as disciples,
but they never did get to know Jesus in any kind of intimate way.
Then there were the seventy whom Jesus sent out to preach the gospel and to
perform miracles. These were given more personal attention and were given
greater power and authority than the crowds. But they still were not part of that
small group that Jesus poured the most into.
And there were of course the twelve, whom Jesus gave the most personal
attention to. They not only heard Him preach, but actually lived with Him and went
everywhere that He went. These were a unique group who indeed were the most
qualified to take upon themselves the term 'disciple.' And because they were so
close to Him they went one step further, to become Apostles. Jesus gave
everything that He had to the 12. He imparted to them everything that the Father
had given to Him. And then they were in a position to go on and become even
more. So He encouraged them to not only become like He was,
but to progress even further. He told them the following before He left
John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, He that believes in me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall
he do; because I go to my Father.
The Ultimate Goal of Discipleship
This is the ultimate goal of all discipleship or mentorship. To impart all you have to
others, and then to encourage them to go on from there and to become even more
than you are. Anybody who would be a trainer or master of others must have the
same mind that was in Christ. And if you are not prepared to impart to others all
that you have, and are not prepared to encourage your disciples to go on and
exceed you, then you are not qualified to take the position of mentor or master or
trainer. By the same token, if you are desiring someone to mentor you, then you
had better be prepared to go a lot further than just being a student and one who
learns from your mentor. You had better be prepared to follow it through all the
way to the end. You had better be prepared to pay the price and take the risk of
losing your own identity to become all that your trainer is. For only then will you be
able to rise up not only to the level of the one who has trained you, but even
higher, so that you can repeat the process and train others in the same way.
How to Obtain a Mentor
The major problem that most people face these days is finding a suitable mentor,
or one who is prepared to disciple them and make them into what they desire to
be. It seems to be the common experience of so many in the Body of Christ, that
leaders tend to jealously guard what God has given to them. It is as though when
God raises someone up and gives them a greater level of authority and power,
they try to keep it to themselves, lest someone steal it from them. And often
preachers will only give a small portion of their knowledge to those under them in
the Lord, so that nobody amongst the subordinates can rise up into a position that
might threaten their leadership.
Failure in the Leadership
This is a sad state of affairs, but unfortunately is prevalent in the Body of Christ.
People are often seen as simply dumb sheep and they are kept that way so that
the shepherds can continue to maintain their position of prominence and power.
And when a person desires to aspire to the level of the man of God they admire,
they are often pushed back instead of being encouraged to go forward. As a result
the student might give up hope and not make any progress forward. Or, in an
attempt to grow, the student tries to outdo the leader, and so produces a situation
of conflict that breaks all hope of fellowship and training.
Failure in the Would be Disciple
Then there is another area of failure, and this is more on the part of the would be
disciple. We tend to all grow up in an environment that encourages us to be
winners, or to promote ourselves. So you get all zealous for the Lord, and in order
to gain acceptance you try to be what you are not. You try to act in ways that are
unbecoming and do not line up with your spiritual experience and authority. And
you think that by doing this you will gain the approval of the authority that you are
looking up to. But instead you are seen as an arrogant know it all who is totally
unteachable. I can assure you that no leader is going to be inspired to draw you
under his wing for further training and mentorship.
Become a Follower First
A disciple is one who will follow and soak up everything that the mentor has to
give. So if you desire to be mentored by someone, the first thing you need to learn
is to become a follower. You must have a teachable spirit and be eager to learn.
You must be prepared to receive teaching and training, without any preconceived
notions or standards that you want to impose. You are coming as a clean slate,
ready to be written on.
Letting go of Preconceived Ideas
Of course this is not very often the case. Usually every disciple comes to be
trained with a lot of things already written on their slate. They have accumulated a
lot of spiritual knowledge along the way and already formed a lot of conclusions
and standards of their own. And now they come to be mentored by someone who
might see things very differently. So you need to choose you mentor very
carefully. He might have a completely different outlook to you on spiritual matters
and on doctrine. And you could find that the price you will have to pay to receive
mentoring is too great. There might be too much to give up.
Being Prepared to Learn
It is no good coming to be mentored without being prepared to be taught. You do

not come as a disciple to teach your master. You assume that the master has
greater knowledge than you, and you come prepared to be taught. If this is not
your attitude then the master is not going to be prepared to pour
anything into you. It is true that no one person has all the answers, and there will
be times you might not fully agree with all that your mentor has to say. But unless
you are prepared to prayerfully consider what is taught, you will not be able to
benefit from the relationship.
Being Prepared to Change
This is the most difficult thing of all. We all have in us some degree of Resistance
to Change. And it is very hard to let go of things that you have stood for, and even
fought for in the past. It is humiliating and brings insecurity, because those things
have been your foundation. And now your mentor begins to systematically tear
apart the foundation that you have stood on for so long. This is not an easy thing
to accept, but it is sure to happen.
The only way that you are going to become like your mentor, is to start thinking
like him or her in some way. And this could involve a very deep re-examining of
the things you have believed in the past. If you are not prepared to face this
possibility, then do not even consider entering into a mentorship relationship.
Giving Honor to Another
The disciple is to give special honor to the master. As far as believers are
concerned, this involves a lot more than that, because ultimately our honor goes to
the Lord alone. Yet we must give recognition to those whom the Lord uses to bring
us into that place of closer fellowship and involvement. Paul puts it this way:
1 Thessalonians 5:12 And we encourage you, brothers, to recognize

those which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and
admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. [And]
be at peace among yourselves.
Have you ever seen a child who is not proud to be the son of the father whom he
loves. Hey kids even begin to argue amongst themselves, "My Dad's bigger than
your dad." And there is a loyalty amongst children to parents when there is that
relationship of love and respect. Children should feel responsible to take care of
their parents, and to make sure that they are given the honor that is due to them.
And the greatest honor that a child can give is to display to the world, what the
parent has built into them.
Notice what they said about the early disciples:
The Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with
Jesus.
You see it showed. And Jesus even gave His disciples a new commandment so
that people could tell that they were His disciples.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, That you love one
another; as I have loved you, so you also love one another.
35 By this shall all [men] know that you are my disciples, if you have
love one for another.
If you want to become a disciple and have someone mentor you in the Lord, then
you must be prepared to give honor to that one in the Lord, and you will do this by
not only receiving what you are taught, but also by putting it into practice. And then
you would demonstrate this respect further by doing your best to promote your
spiritual father or mentor in every way possible.
Of course a true mentor would never require this nor expect it, so that is why I am
mentioning it here. But the Scriptures are clear on honoring your natural father and
mother, and it should be obvious that a degree of honor should also be given to a
spiritual father or mother. This can even extend to temporal care, and Paul deals
with this in detail
1 Corinthians 9:14 Even so the Lord has ordained that those who
preach the gospel should live off the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these
things, that it should be so done to me: for [it were] better for me to
die, than that any man should make my boast empty.
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth
out the corn. And, The labourer [is] worthy of his reward.
Responding to the Call

The disciple does not call the master, but the master calls the disciple. So as you
have made yourself available for mentorship and clearly demonstrated both your
desire and your willingness to be trained, there will come the time when your
mentor chooses you and invites you into that mentoring relationship. And when
this happens, all you need to do is to respond. If you do not respond positively,
then you will find yourself out in the cold, and the opportunity that was offered you
might be withdrawn and never
offered again.
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The Purpose of Speaking in Tongues
Numbers 11 : 25 - And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spoke

to him, and took of the spirit that [was] on him, and gave [it] to the
seventy elders: and it occurred, [that], when the spirit rested on them,
they prophesied, and did not stop.
1 Samuel 10 : 9-10 - And it was [so], that when he had turned his
back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those
signs came to pass that day.
And when they came there to the hill, a company of prophets met
him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among
them.
Acts 2 : 4 - And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
ave you ever tried to learn a language other than your native tongue? I
suppose many of us have had an extra language as a subject to study at
school, but it is one thing to learn a language as an academic subject
and another thing altogether to try and converse intelligibly with a
foreigner. Having come from an English speaking background to live in a country
that has another language as its native tongue, I have come to realize how difficult
it is to try and learn to speak in a different tongue.
Part of the problem arises from the fact that you tend to learn all the new
vocabulary and verb tenses and declensions and when you want to say something
in the foreign language you carry out a quick translation in your mind. You have to
take what you wanted to say and pass it through the computer of your brain, and
then speak out the words that your brain sends back to you, hopefully with the
correct accents and pronunciation. But it is not an easy thing to do and most of the
time you look to see if you can find someone who can speak your language so
that you can hold some kind of conversation or express what it is that you want.
Yet what is really amazing is that you see little children, who have barely learned
to talk, and they can speak perfectly without struggling with the words or the
accent. It is their native tongue and it comes naturally to them. Why is this? It is
because they don't think in terms of words and grammar, they think in terms of
expressing what they want or feel, in the language they have learned. We
considered in our last study that speech comes from a deeper source than the
mind. Your language has been formed in the inner recesses of your heart and
comes out freely when you speak.
But this is not a discussion on how to learn a new language, it is a look at how the
Holy Spirit grants to us an ability to bypass our thinking process and speak a
language under the control of a deeper force than the human spirit. And in case
you may think that this was a unique experience for the early Christians or that it
no longer exists, we have included a few scriptures in our daily reading that show
us that the speech center has always been affected when God moved on man by
His Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament we do not read about anyone speaking in other tongues, but
we see many cases where people who came under the influence of the Holy Spirit
began to speak out. In our first reading we are told that God spoke to Moses and
instructed him to gather 70 men together from the tribal leaders in Israel. God said
that he would take of the Spirit that was on Moses and also give it to them. In
Numbers 11 we read of what happened when God did this. We are told that all of
the men began to prophesy. In other words they began to speak out loud under
the direction of the Holy Spirit. We are not told what they said, but since prophecy
is a speaking out under the control of the Holy Spirit, one wonders whether they
were not actually doing the same thing that the disciples did on the day of
Pentecost.
The same thing happened when Saul met a group of prophets. Samuel had told
him that something was going to happen to him when he met them. And we read
that God did two things to him. Firstly he gave him a new heart, and secondly the
Spirit came upon him and he began to prophesy. What happened when he
received a new heart? We are not sure, but quite obviously it must have made
some kind of change in him that was obvious to everyone. But the most significant
thing that happened was that he began to speak out under the control of the Holy
Spirit.
We saw in our last study that our natural speech is contaminated by the sayings
we pick up from the World. And then there are also the thoughts that go through
our minds, which cause us to add extra things to our speech. When we become
angry our speech is affected, and very often we find words coming out that are not
always up building or helpful. We also saw that if we could control a person's
tongue, then we could control the whole person, like a ship's rudder controls the
ship.
It is not at all unusual then for God to take control of a person's tongue when His
Holy Spirit is allowed to influence them. In the Old Testament the sign of God's
Spirit coming on someone and influencing them was the act of prophesying - a
control of their speech. In the New Testament a similar experience took place, but
it was different. Not only was their speech affected, but they also began to speak,
not in their native tongue, but in tongues other than their native tongue.
Why the difference? Maybe God was trying to show that the way the Holy Spirit
comes to New Testament believers is different to the way He came to Old
Testament believers. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit moved upon people at
different times but did not necessarily take up a permanent residence in a person.
In the case of Saul the Holy Spirit left him when he turned his back on God. But
Jesus told His disciples that when the Holy Spirit would come as the promise of
the Father, He would not only come upon them like in the Old Testament, but He
would also come to live in them permanently.
Now as New Testament believers we have the Holy Spirit living inside us from the
moment we are born again. And what happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon
us, is that His power rises up from within and pours out through our lips in a
language that is not our native tongue. It is a sign that God has taken complete
control by His Spirit, and it permits us now to speak out words that are totally
under His control and are free from the contamination of the world and the
thoughts that come from our minds.
In fact, when we speak in other tongues, we have a direct link to our spirits that
bypasses our mind, emotions and will completely, so that they cannot interfere
with it. When a person speaks in tongues, it is their spirit within speaking, with the
Holy Spirit providing the words that are spoken. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
14:14
For if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit is praying, but my mind

is unfruitful.
But the most important part about speaking in tongues is what he says in verse 4
of that chapter
He that speaks in an [unknown] tongue builds up himself
You see, speaking in other tongues is a built in water pump. We have seen how
we can tap into the power that is in our spirits and cause the water of God's power
to flow forth from us. We also saw that we can use words to draw out and release
that power. But we need a water pump to cause that water to rise up the column of
the pipe and pour out from us. When you speak in tongues this is exactly what
happens.
Now if you have received the Holy Spirit in this way and can speak in other
tongues, you have an ability that allows you to 'prime' your pump and cause the
water to gush out. But as we saw before, it is possible for the pipe to drain and be
empty. So it takes a while of pumping to get the water up to the surface before it
starts to come out. Have you ever tried praying in tongues, and everything
seemed dead? You just do not sense the presence of the Lord at all. It feels like
you are cranking the pump handle and no water is coming out? Well that is exactly
what is happening. Nothing will come out until you have raised the 'water' level.
Most people give up at that point. They are too lazy to carry on pumping. They
would rather go to a meeting where the Spirit of God is moving or where someone
else can lay hands on them and prime their pump for them, so that they can pump
without any effort. And it usually works. While they are in the meeting there is a
flow and they feel the joy of the Lord rising up and they sense his power pouring
forth, and it is so easy to speak in tongues that you feel you can do it for ages. But
when they go home it is all over and before long it has all drained away again and
so they have to go back to the meeting where they can get it again. They have in
actual fact become nothing more than Holy Spirit 'junkies.'
You don’t have to be in this situation. If you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you
and you have experienced the breakthrough in the Spirit that has enabled you to
pray in other tongues, then you can draw water from your own cistern and keep
pumping until it flows out to others. But it will take a bit of effort on your part at first.
It will mean that you must spend a certain amount of time every day praying in the
Spirit - in other tongues. When you first try this it will be hard going. You are trying
to raise the water level from the underground stream within to the surface. You
might have to pray in tongues for an hour or more to accomplish this.
Usually by the time you have prayed for 15 minutes you feel like you have been
running a marathon. But you will find that your experience is very similar to a
marathon runner. The runner starts out with great gusto but after a while the
energy level is drained and he starts to become weary. Any successful runner
knows that this is not the time to give up. If he continues to push himself beyond
the point of total exhaustion, suddenly something miraculous takes places. He
experiences what has become known as 'Second Wind.' He suddenly experiences
a new burst of energy and feels that he can carry on running forever without
growing weary.
The same thing will happen when your pipe finally fills and the water of the Spirit
starts to pour out. Suddenly praying in tongues is no longer an effort. You feel a
surge of power take place and the words begin to pour forth and a wonderful
sensation of the presence of the Lord takes place. Now you feel you could carry
on praying for hours and in fact you don't want to stop. You find that new things
begin to arise up from your spirit and you might begin to see visions from the Lord
or experience gifts of revelation or power. Whatever gifts of the Spirit have been
made available to you come to life and you find that the Lord is very real to you.
Now if you make an effort to continue this process on a daily basis, you will find an
amazing thing. Tomorrow when you start praying, instead of going through the
difficult process all over again, you start praying and suddenly there is an almost
immediate flow. You don't have to go through the long process of praying it
through and getting the second wind. You see you have filled your pipe, and it has
not drained yet. So all you need to do is start pumping and the water comes out
immediately. Now instead of pouring all your efforts into coming to a place where
the anointing of God's Spirit is flowing forth from you, you can start to pour that
anointing out in prayer to meet the needs of others.
As you maintain this on a daily basis you find that instead of needing to receive a
'priming' from others and receiving prayer from others, you will be the one pouring
out to others. When you go to a meeting you will be one of those ministering to
other people and instead of going to get you will be going to give. This should
surely be the pattern and the norm for all of us. But it cannot be unless we are
prepared to take the time daily in the presence of the Lord.
If you are a believer and have not yet received the ability to pray in tongues then
you are a believer lacking what is probably the most important gift available for you
personally. The other gifts of the Spirit are for you to minister to others, but the gift
of tongues is the one gift that is given exclusively for you to help you in your
spiritual life. Paul said that speaking in tongues builds up the one who is doing it.
He also said, "I want you all to speak with tongues." In verse 5 of 1 Cor 14 and in
verse 18 he said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than all of you." This
gift is for you and God wants you to accept it by faith and start using it to draw the
water of the Spirit from the underground streams within you, so that you can not
only meet you own needs, but flow out to meet the needs of others.
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7 Things You Should Know About
Spirit Gifts
Gifts of the Spirit and ministries are not the same thing.
Gifts do not always operate the same in every person
Gifts of the Spirit do not belong to us but to the Holy Spirit
Gifts are not based on our own holiness or goodness
Gifts operate by faith and love
There are only nine gifts, in three groups or three each
We are encouraged to earnestly desire gifts

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Starting the New Year Right!
By Craig Toach
The Christmas season is coming to an end and things are only now
starting to calm down to a panic. You no doubt can’t wait for things to
get back to normal so that you can regain you composure and get
into your routine again.
You have also most likely over-indulged in all the good things the
festive season has to offer and now face the long and lengthy
process of losing the Christmas flab that has stopped you from fitting
into those tight jeans that you fitted into just before Christmas began.
Well today I want to ask you, what about you spiritual state? Where
are you at? Have you let it slide due to all the hive of activity? Have
you just not had the time to keep it on track?
If so why not pick up from where you left off and get back on track?
First however, I would like to encourage you to go through this simple
check list that I believe will help you lose a lot of extra spiritual
pounds.
Checklist to Starting the New Year

Right
1. Gain back you control
Even though the festive season is supposed to be one of rest and
relaxation, I for one find it rather a busy time. There are people to
see and things to do and you never seem to get a minute’s break
do you?
This is one of Satan’s favorite tactics. He loves to make you lose

control and have you running around like a headless chicken. If he
has you doing this you are too busy to be any threat to him and
you are certainly too busy to do anything for the Lord.
The solution is simple – STOP! That’s right! Take a break and get
into a quiet spot and rest, and let the Lord’s peace come over you.
Rest in the Lord and you will find that you will start to see things in
their right perspective, and you will find yourself able to handle
everything better and still be effective for the Lord.
2. Break spiritual links

Starting with Thanksgiving and heading to the New Year, this season
is all about being together with family and friends. It is about sharing
the joy of Christmas with the ones you love, but with it comes a price!
Apostle Les D. Crause covers this very well in his book ‘The Way of
Blessing’, under the subject of curses. You have, by interacting with
everyone, picked up curses that could affect you in the near future.
Now this is not to say you need to get paranoid about it and lock
yourself up like a hermit. No! It just means that you need to get rid of
them before they take effect!
So what should you be looking for? Here are a few things to look out
for and break over yourself and you family:
2.1. Family Generational Curses

Even though you are a Christian your spirit is still able to be
contaminated. It is still able to be influenced in a positive or negative
way. Television, newspapers and radio are doing it all the time, but
the strongest influences come from the people who are the closest to
you, and those are your family members.
Your mother, father, sister or brother, uncle or auntie, if not free for
curses in their own lives, will pass it on to you just like a virus is
passed round. It might well be very subtle, but you will find things
going wrong in you life just like Uncle Bob. You will find yourself
falling ill at the drop of a hat like granny does, or find yourself
accident prone just like your mom or dad are! Get the picture? Has
that happened to you?
That is because you have picked up the curse that is operating in
their lives. Just by you talking to them and opening your heart to
them, you have opened a door for the curse on them to take effect in
your life.
Does this mean we are not to talk to or see these people? Not at all.
It just means that every time you are with them be sure to break
spiritual links with them afterwards and keep you spirit free of curses.
So how do with deal with it? It is very simple. Just like you do for all
curses, you apply James 4:7! 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
2.1.1 Submit yourself to the Lord and break all

curses over you and your family. If any come to mind
deal with them by name.
2.1.2 Then you address the enemy and take away

any license that was given to him. You see, by opening
the door you gave him license to enter into your life
and do what he wants. Now by closing the door you
have stopped him or any other demonic force from
coming in. He can no longer use that door.
2.1.3 Now that you have closed the door and you
have dealt with the curse there is just one more simple
thing to do! You need to tell the enemy to leave! That’s
right! This is one step many people forget to do and
then wonder why everything is still going wrong!
You see it is like this. You have opened the door to

your home and a thief entered and started to steal and
take as he pleased. You then realized that the door
was open and closed it. There is only one problem.
The thief is still inside the house! He did not leave
because you closed the door. He is still in the house
going about his business.
What you need to do is tell him to leave! You invited

him in, in the first place by opening the door. Now you
need to tell him to leave, because you are the only one
who can! It is simple and it does not have to be a fight.
It is as simple as “I have closed the door to you and
the curse, now I am telling you to leave too!”
2.2 Curses Through Association

Another type of curse that comes into our lives is through
association. Yup - your friends and workmates can bring
a curse into your life.
Not everyone you know is walking in right standing with

the Lord and in so doing they are opening a door to the
enemy and bringing a curse into their lives. Now by you
associating with them you are also allowing the curses to
be a part of your life. That is why the Lord told the
Children of Israel to never get involved with or take
anything from the cities they conquered. And when they
did, it led to their fall!
So to deal with this sort of curse all you need do is apply

James 4:7 as we did above, and you will stop any curse
dead in its tracks!
2.3 Curses Through Objects

One of the most subtle and most dangerous is curses
through objects. The major contributions to this are:
2.3.1 Family Heirlooms
That object that has been in the family for years and years and
is now sitting in your house could be bringing a curse into your
home. It could be keeping a family generational curse in you
household and preventing the Lord from bringing complete
blessing into your home.
What makes family heirlooms so dangerous is that they have

sentimental value and that is what brings in the curse. When
you look at the object it links you with all the people involved in
its past and you open your heart to them and their curses.
Now comes the crunch! What do you do with them? I for one
would say get rid of them. It is not worth the curse in your life! If
you cannot do so due to family issues, seal in the demonic
force and keep it in a place as far away as you can from you.
You will be amazed how a simple thing like that can cause
such trouble in your life.
2.3.2 Written Objects
If you are like most people you have most likely received
Christmas cards and letters. They are very precious to you, but
they could bring a curse into your life.
How can this be? Well it is very simple. When you write you
are flowing out of your spirit and you are putting it onto paper.
In those words are a piece of your spirit and it is captured for
time and eternity. However it also captures the curse that you
are going through too.
We have found that the greatest contamination comes from

hand- written letters. On many occasions we have ministered
to people who are battling with a curse in their lives only to find
out that they have a box full of old love letters from their
courting days or some other event. Once these where removed
so was the curse and the person instantly found freedom.
What should you do? I have found that the only way to deal
with the curse is to throw away the letter, due to the fact that it
has the writing on it. This might seem a little harsh, but it is the
only way!
2.3.3 Hand-made Objects
What makes hand-made objects different from any

manufactured object, is that like hand-written letters they
capture the spirit of the person who created it. The object is a
creation that came out of their spirit and therefore holds what
was in their spirit.
Now there is good news to this story. From experience we

have found that by offering it up to the Lord as the priests did
the different object for the Tabernacle, so you can give the item
to the Lord and let him come and cleanse the item for all
contamination.
There are also other hand-made items that fall into this type of
category and I am going to call them Native handwork.
These are items that are made by the Native people of a

country or area and can be found in many Curio Shops. In
Africa where I come from the big thing that visiting tourists
purchase would be carved wooden images made by the Native
people.
Now that in itself is not such a bad thing and can be dealt with
as we mentioned above, but where it becomes a problem is
many of these images are fashioned after the Native people’s
gods and are used it demon worship! Just as you would not put
a Buddha or a pentagram in your house, be careful that you
are not doing it in ignorance with one of these items.
Should you have one of these items, I would suggest you

destroy it and get it out of your home.
2.4. Backlashes
As you have spent time with everyone you have no doubt had
times of sharing and ministering to them about the Lord.
Whether it be counseling and praying or just telling them about
Jesus, you could have opened yourself to a backlash in the
Spirit.
A backlash is simply when the person you prayed for or

ministered to does not accept what you had to say or does not
break free completely from what you dealt with. This causes
the very thing you dealt with to come back at you and attack
you. For more information on it you can read an article called
‘Dealing with Backlashes’ in our article archives.
A simple solution to stop a backlash it to apply James 4:7 as

we spoke about earlier.
3. Find Your Track and Purpose

Every Christian in the Body of Christ has been called to do
something. Not everyone is called to be the head, but you have been
given a very important job!
Why not find out what part you have to play and do it to the best of
you ability! Do not believe the lies of the enemy that you are a
nothing, Do not believe the lies that say your past sins and failures
are disqualifying you. You are a King’s kid and you are washed by the
Blood of the lamb that was shed on Calvary. You have the name that
is above every name and you have the authority over every demon
force known to man, from the smallest demon to Satan himself. It is
time you know this and act on it and see that the Lord has an
important work for you to do, and you are the one that can do it!
Get in His presence and ask and He will show you and confirm it to
you. It could be that the very desire you have in you to do something
for the Lord could be the very thing He is asking you do! It is not just
you making it up and it is not just a silly idea. It is the Lord meeting
you where you are at and starting you on the path He wants you to
walk in!
4. Follow It With All Your Might

Now that you have dealt with all these curses and excess
baggage, have found your place and know the route you must
take, I want you to run with it!
As you walk this path you are on you will go through many
stages and changes. You will find it change every now and
again to be more effective to your growth
and your calling, but as you follow the path with your eyes set
on the goal, you will see the Lord’s hand moving in your life!
You are now ready to face this New Year and so I speak to each
and every one of you and say:
May the Lord’s blessing rest on each and every one reading this! May
you find this year breaking every obstacles that has stopped you from
being effective for the Lord and His work in your life in the past. May
you rise up not only in authority and power but in every area of your
life! For we serve a wondrous Lord that has all blessing. We are to
not only be rich in Spirit and in His Word but to have our every need
met.
Rise up now and take your inheritance and take back what the enemy
has said was not yours. For he has lied to you and he has stolen
what the Lord Jesus gave you! He has taken your inheritance and
said in was your greed and your flesh, but it was an answer to you
prayers. It was an answer to your faith and it is the answer you were
waiting for!
Now take back what the enemy has stolen and let this world know
that our God is the only god and that He is the only way!
Amen!
Blessings to each and every one of you this year!
Now is the time to get prepared! Start your ministry

training this year at the GMR Fivefold Ministry Training Center:
http://www.fivefold-training.com/fivefold-courses.htm
If you would like to receive publications from one of the Global

Ministry Resource Network mailing lists, you may subscribe or
unsubscribe at any time by going to the following address:
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Taking His Hand
hen you look up only to see a dead end on your path, the phrase ‘Living
by Faith’ sounds like such a cliché and does nothing to help you face
your circumstance. Walking by faith does not mean you have to be
super spiritual, it simply means taking the hand of Jesus.
One of the most difficult things to face when you are in a trying circumstance is
that very often you are facing it alone. Did you know that when everyone else has
left and deserted you, Jesus is still there to take you through?
I want you to stop where you are and take your eyes off your circumstance for a
moment. I want you to see that the Lord has His hand extended to you and that
He has in His hand the solution to your problem. His hand will take you over your
pain and conflict as a bridge over troubled waters. Only in His eyes will you find
the compassion and help in your time of need.
Calm your spirit and hear His soothing voice that is reassuring you to keep going.
He is saying: " It will be ok, you will be fine. You will make it through. Tomorrow
holds much blessing. Look up my little one and see the wonders I have for you.
Look over the ocean and see that I made it for you. Look into the heavens and see
my glory – it is all for you. Know that My hand covers you. Know that you will rise
up and that today will fade away"
Now take that reassurance from His hand and pour it out to those around you.
Stand up in the face of adversity and pour out as much as you can. If each of us
could put aside our own pain and circumstance for just a moment, the Body of
Christ would be functioning at peek efficiency. Each member pouring into the
other, rejuvenating and bringing strength. So today don’t only draw from His
strength but find a person to encourage and uplift and pour out again.
Begin today by being a living member of the Body of Christ. Instead of waiting for
the ministry to come to you, pour it out from within you. Give it out in
encouragement, in care, in love and in understanding. After all, is this not what
you desired for another to do for you? Jesus has given you everything you need to
keep going and more. Pour out and be refilled and discover the joy and fire of
being His hand or foot extended, to bring light into a dark and uncaring world.
They (this world) will know us by our love! Begin today by being that example and
shine brightly so that no man could debate that you carry within your simple vessel
His Glory and His treasure burned as gold. It is time to stand up and it is time to
move on. Shrug off now the death shroud and discouragement and become active
for Jesus! Take it in your own hands to see change and take it in your own hands
to see the Body of Christ become what it should be: A living, breathing, loving
organism that will shake this earth!
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Tapping The Supply Within
Proverbs 5 : 15-16 - Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running
waters out of your own well.
Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the
streets.
Jeremiah 2 : 13 - For my people have committed two evils; they have

forsaken me the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
remember reading once about a man that was traveling through the
desert and ran out of water. (We saw yesterday that water is essential to
life, and when you are going through a desert and run out of it, you don't
have much chance of surviving.) However as he pressed on he saw an
object looming in the distance. It looked like a pole jutting out of the ground, and
as he approached, he discovered that it was a water pump.
Obviously someone had dug a hole at some stage and sunk a pipe down into an
underground stream. With eager anticipation he took hold of the handle of the
pump and began to move it up and down. It just moved freely and nothing
happened. No water came out of the tap. After trying feverishly for some time he
realized that the water must have run dry and that nothing was going to come out.
But then he noticed a compartment at the bottom of the pump that seemed to
have something in it. He reached in and found with great joy a bottle of water.
Lifting it out he reached to open it and take a life-giving drink, when he noticed that
it contained a label with some words written on it. The label was a set of
instructions. It instructed the person finding the bottle to pour all of the water into
an opening in the pump. This would cause the pump to become 'primed' which
would cause it to function correctly. The person was instructed to make sure that
after they had used all the water they needed, they should refill the bottle and
replace it in its storage compartment for the next thirsty traveler to use.
Now a decision had to be made. Should he drink the water and quench his thirst,
or take a chance and pour all of it out into a pump that might not work? After an
agonizing period of indecision he decided to trust the person that wrote the
instructions on the bottle. He poured the water into the pump and then reached out
to take the handle of the pump. Sure enough it only took a few lever actions and
water started to pour out of the pump. There was more than enough to not only
quench his thirst, but also the thirst of anyone else that might have been with him.
Enough to fill up his own water bottles and enough to refill the special bottle that
was left behind for the next person in need.
We have seen in the Scriptures that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to those that
would believe in Him. He said that this would be like rivers of living water flowing
outwards from within a person's inward parts. We considered the fact that when a
person is born again the Holy Spirit comes to live inside a person's spirit. And that
which flows forth comes from within the spirit of man, but with the Holy Spirit as its
source. You see the Bible teaches that when we are born again by the Spirit of
God, we receive from God our own underground stream. It is a powerful gushing
river of living water that can pour out with life to others.
But like all underground streams it is not visible to the naked eye and we cannot
even begin to draw from that water either for ourselves or for others, until we have
sunk a pipe down into it. Those who have their own water source on their property
know what a tremendous advantage it is to be able to draw from their own water
supply. You can draw for yourselves and your animals and anyone else that needs
water, without having to rely on a municipal or other external water source. And
there is no limit to how much water you can draw, other than what your
underground stream can supply.
Solomon tells us in our first reading that we should drink water from out own
cistern, or water supply. Then he says, let this water also flow out to meet the
needs of others. He seems to be saying something similar to what Jesus said to
the woman at the well. He told her that the water he gave would meet her own
needs, so that she would never thirst again, and that it would result in water supply
that could flow out in continual supply. This means that every believer has within
their own spirit, because of the presence of God's Holy Spirit, a source that can
meet not only their own needs but also the needs of others. The problem is how
do we tap that water and get it to come out?
Drink from your own cistern, says Solomon, but we always look somewhere else
for God's blessing. Yet Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that God has blessed us,
once for all, with every spiritual blessing that is available in the heavenly realm, in
Christ. And He has done this by giving us the Holy Spirit, who is the source of all
blessing. You have an underground stream in you that will not only meet every
need you could ever have, but also impart to you every blessing that God is
capable of giving. You have in the Holy Spirit, everything that Heaven has to offer.
In fact Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the down payment or first installment of
our inheritance Ephesians 1:14. He is like a deposit that has been made in the
bank for you to draw on.
But sadly, most believers do not know how to tap their underground stream. They
don't know how to sign the check that will allow them to draw money from their
heavenly bank account. So they go around begging and pleading for God to bless
them. They go from place to place seeking someone that has the blessing of God
flowing in their life that they can get some of the overflow. Instead of being a water
source, they are continually drinking from the cisterns of others. They are a bit like
the man in our story who if he had drank the water instead of pouring it into the
pump would have quenched his thirst for a while but later grown thirsty again, and
he would have denied others the opportunity to also draw from the underground
stream.
So how do we draw from our underground stream then? I do not have space to
cover the subject in detail here, but I will give you some of the basic principles to
meditate on and then I will explain them in more detail later. The first stage to
tapping into your underground stream is to sink a 'pipe' down into the water. If you
do not have a pipe you have no way of drawing it out. The problem with sinking a
pipe into an underground stream is that it takes hard work. You have to drill down
into the ground until you hit the water source. This might start off easy, but the
actual water is usually found in the rocky layers below the surface of the soil. That
means you might have to drill through solid rock before you hit the water.
We have been giving you hints for some time now in the Daily Word as to how you
can sink a pipe down into your underground stream. You see the pipe that carries
the water is the Word of God. The Spirit always works according to the Word, and
without the Word there can be no action from the Spirit. Think about the creation
of the earth in Genesis 1. We read that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters
ready to perform the creation, but nothing happened until God's Word went forth
into the earth. With the Word came the acts of creation. So if you want to tap the
resources in your spirit that are available in the Holy Spirit, you are going to have
to start drilling down into your spirit to make place for the Word.
It is here that so many people go wrong. God said through Jeremiah that His
people were making two mistakes. Firstly they had turned their backs on the only
true source of blessing and secondly they had turned to inferior sources. When
believers fail to cause the Word to sink down and penetrate their inward man, they
make the same mistake. The Word has to go deeper than the mind. The mind, as
it links with the body, allows us only to understand with our brains and we have to
rely on the memory cells in our brain to hold the information. We try to work things
out ourselves intellectually or resort to doctrines that seem to make sense to our
minds. This is like drilling down only below the soft sand of the surface of the
ground. You will not hit the underground stream until the Word has penetrated the
rocky layers of your heart.
It takes a process of drilling until the inward man is pierced. We get a hint of this
from Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God [is] living, and powerful, and sharper than any
two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
There has to come a piercing at the point where the soul and spirit meet. This is
where the rocky surface lies. This is where you will find what the Psychologists
have called the 'sub-conscious mind.' And until the Word passes beyond this point
you have not created an opening to the power that lies within.
And then when you have created a path for the water to flow and you have
inserted your pipes, you need to have some way of pumping that water out. A well
or borehole without a water pump are of little use. We will look at this final aspect
in our next study. You will find out how to set up your water pump and how to
make sure that it works correctly. And we will bring together everything we have
shared so far to explain how you can enter into all that the Lord has for you.
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Templates & Triggers
n our study on the Nature of Man, we looked at how spirit, soul and
body link together and communicate with each other. In this study I want
to show you more of what happens when information comes out from the
inward man. This is what causes the effects that we have called
Templates and Triggers.
I want to start by having a look at how your outward and inward man act and react
in normal life situations. Psychologists have discovered through research that the
"sub-conscious" mind has a very strong control over the things we do. They
discovered that when you are faced with an emergency or a situation where you
have to make a quick decision - like if you are in a motor accident, there is a short
delay before you react. During this time, you look inwards or "send a message" to
the sub-conscious to find out what to do. The answer comes back from deep
inside, and you then do what your sub-conscious tells you to do.
I am not going to try to prove this here, and since this doesn't come from the
Scriptures I want you to take my word for it for now. I will show you from the Word
later how it all ties together OK? But I would like to consider how the sub-
conscious makes its decision, and how this is sent to your conscious mind. You
saw in our chart in the last study how data is passed down from the conscious
mind and also how it is passed outwards from the inner mind.
These cannot both take place at the same time - it's a bit like talking on a two-way
radio. One side has to keep quiet for the other to take place. And since our senses
are putting out information all the time, it is usually the flow from the outside to the
inward man that is happening most of the time. But if you stop this flow from the
senses, then the outward flow starts right away, and data starts coming out from
the inward man.
It is quite simple to encourage this to happen. All you have to do is shut off the
output from your senses. This means closing your eyes to stop the sense of sight,
getting alone in a quiet place to stop sounds from reaching your ears and relaxing
your body to stop any sensations of touch. You can stop the senses of taste and
smell by keeping away from anything that will stimulate them. The only other way
you can make this happen is to allow your body to go into a state of relaxed
suspension, where you ignore your senses and you have an experience like "day
dreaming." Then you will find that influences from your inward man start to float
upwards into your mind.
Be careful of not getting into some of the way out ideas of Yoga and
Transcendental Meditation here. That is not what I am talking about. You are not
emptying your mind here, you are just allowing it to fill with things from your spirit
instead of from your body. You have actually done this many times without being
fully aware of it. You allow pictures to come into your mind from deep inside.
Sometimes you picture things that you did not expect, and you wonder where they
came from. Have you ever thought when you were day dreaming, "Now what
made me think of that?" It is likely that something came up out of your spirit.
Have you heard about how when someone faces death, they seem to see their
whole life pass before their eyes? All that happens is the outward man goes into
suspension and all the memories that are stored in the inward man start to pour
out quickly. The same thing happens when you dream, and you find characters
and images from the past coming together into your mind to put on a little "play"
for you. I have covered this in another place in discussing interpretation of our
dreams.
But to return to our subject; what makes your inward man come to a decision,
apart from the obvious reflex action of self preservation that we have in our
bodies? The answer of course is EXPERIENCE. The decisions you make are
always made based on your experience. You learn from the experiences of life
how to handle different situations, and as you learn these things, there comes a
"TEMPLATE" in your inward man, which is created specifically for such situations.
The next time you face a similar situation, you do not have to re-analyze the
situation and come to a decision again. Your inward man assesses the situation
and looks through your memory to see if something like this happened before. It
quickly finds a matching template. Then it passes back a decision based on that
template. This happens so quickly that you haven’t even realized that you gave it
conscious thought. You react instinctively, before you realize what you have
done. This is the essential operation of what I have called a Template. In the
natural a template is something that you use over and over again to produce
similar results. Your inward man does the same thing.
Let's go back to our chart on the nature of man and see what happens. Remember
we saw that data from the inward man may be passed outwards via mind,
emotions or will. If it is going to be passed via the mind, then the outward man
must be quiet. If it is going to be passed via the will, the person must be speaking.
But with the emotions it is different. The emotions cannot pass information
inwards; they can only flow outwards. Your emotions cannot be controlled by your
will, so you can't push anything into them on purpose like you can do with your
mind.
So data from your inward man can be passed outwards to your emotions at any
time without anything stopping it. And in fact this is what is happening all the time.
What happens then is that when a situation arises in your life, you respond to it
according to how you feel. An inner feeling or desire motivates you to act. You
don’t really know where it came from, but a strong urge in your emotions
overwhelms your will, making you act quickly.
Your emotions are thus "triggered" by a set of circumstances that match an inner
template. And no amount of logic can explain fully why you feel the way you do.
Your feelings might not make any sense at all, but you cannot do anything about
it. They just come up and control you. We face these things all the time in our
lives, and most of the time we don't understand what is happening. One of the
surest signs of a trigger in action is when you find a negative emotion coming up in
you and you cannot explain why you feel the way you do. And you also cannot
seem to be able to shake it.
Some things are obvious. If you face a situation, such as a danger that is similar
to what you faced in the past, you immediately find the same emotions of fear
rising up in you. If you face a situation that made you angry, depressed or guilty in
the past, you find the same emotions rising up unexpectedly in you. You might be
able to identify it immediately, but most of the time you will find that you are
confused by the sudden emotion and cannot explain what is happening inside you.
When this happens, then you can be almost certain that your current
circumstances are similar to a situation that occurred in the past. And the
emotions that you are feeling now are the same emotions that you felt back then.
To identify the trigger, try to remember when last you felt this way, and see if you
can identify what is happening. Then when you identify the past event or time
period that it comes from, you can start to find the template of the flesh that is
causing you to react the way you are. And you can give it to the Lord and allow
His Spirit to work in you to deal with it.
So a trigger then is a sudden strong unexplainable surge of emotion. Your

emotions place a very strong influence on your will, but the reverse is not true. It is
possible for your will to affect the emotions indirectly though. We will look at this
more in our next study, but basically, it means filling your mind with thoughts that
cause your feelings to change. This was how the trigger happened in the first
place. Now all you need to do is reverse its effects. What you have to do is
create new templates that will produce good triggers - triggers of faith, hope and
love.
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Templates & Triggers
The Way to Victory
ere we are going to look finally at some solutions to the problems

associated with templates and triggers. Since triggers are caused by
templates, it is not enough to just deal with the triggers themselves. You
can do this and get immediate relief from the negative emotions caused
by the trigger. But the better way would be to deal with the underlying templates
that are causing the triggers. This stops it from happening again in the future.
Change Your Circumstances
Your circumstances made your mind feed downwards a set of data that caused
the trigger. To change it you have several courses of action open to you. The first
would be to change your external circumstances. This does not really solve the
problem though. It just takes away the thing that was triggering the template. The
next time your circumstances turn out this way, you will have the problem again. In
any case the template might be based on a set of events rather than your physical
surroundings and you cannot change what has happened.
Changing Your Thoughts
The second approach would be to cause your mind to be filled with data that is
different to what you are thinking at present. In other words, you must get your
mind on other things. The creator of the children’s fantasy character Peter Pan
encouraged his readers to "think a happy thought." This was supposed to create
your desires and also make you fly. Peter Pan wasn’t actually so far off after all,
because thoughts can indeed produce a feeling of joy. Positive pictures in your
mind produce positive emotions. Imagine how positive our lives would be if we
made it a habit to allow only positive thoughts to fill our minds? This is the way
children think instinctively, until they are taught to think negatively. We call this
being naïve and tell others to "grow up" and stop thinking like children.
But Jesus said,
Mark 10:15 Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom
of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it.
Perhaps we have here a powerful way to experience the world of the spirit, from
which the Kingdom of God originates. We speak of "childlike faith" that enables a
child to more easily accept things without questioning. Perhaps the key to this
childlike faith is to think as a child, not in the sense of being foolish enough to
accept what is clearly wrong, but in ignoring all negative influences and keeping in
our minds only what is positive.
Paul writing to the Philippians says in chapter 4:8,
Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things [are]

honest, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure,
whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report; if
[there is] any virtue, and if [there is] any praise, think on these things.
But we have been trained to think the negative. We continually speak words of
negativism to our children. "Be careful," we warn, "you’ll hurt yourself." Experience
has taught us to expect bad things to happen. The world is full of evil, and we
must teach our children to avoid the evil. So we program their minds with the
knowledge of evil.
Doesn’t this somehow link with what happened in the Garden of Eden? Adam and
Eve had no knowledge of evil, and they walked in perfect fellowship with God and
each other. But when they partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, both
of these relationships were affected. They had the knowledge of good before -
everything that God had made was good. But the knowledge of evil changed them
and filled their hearts with fear.
No wonder Satan has set up the world system to promote fear on every side. In
the world of entertainment it is clear that the more evil presentations have become
the most popular. Horror stories are the order of the day, and are prime time
entertainment. The news media thrive on stories of evil, reporting more on bad
news than good news. The minds of men are being programmed to think like
Satan - full of evil and negativism.
No wonder our language is filled with fear and death, and we live our lives under a
cloud of expectancy that bad things will happen to us. When a preacher makes the
positive statement, "Something good is going to happen to you," he is considered
foolish and accused of leading people astray. "Of course it isn’t true" we say, "we
all know that the chances are that something bad is going to happen to you!"
Then we have the "adult" audacity to suggest that even this bad originates from
God and we must accept it as His Will. Clearly the enemy has blinded the minds of
men and women to prevent them from experiencing the joy that God has for us.
Let us go on then to the third and the most important way of dealing with triggers.
Modifying the Templates
We saw that our emotions are triggered when a set of circumstances matches an
existing template in our inward man. This template was created by the
experiences of life. When you first faced this set of circumstances, you assessed
the situation and came to a decision, based on what little knowledge you had.
Since this probably took place in your early years, you probably came to a wrong
conclusion because of our ignorance or lack of experience at that time.
So the event was stored away in the memory, along with all the emotions that it
produced in you. Because of the influence of the Law of Sin and Death and the
World System in which we live, this emotion is often negative. So you might have
locked into the memory, feelings of fear, guilt, anger, frustration, grief and anything
that might possibly be related to bad feelings.
Since these events generally take place during the formative years of childhood or
adolescence, where the person has no previous knowledge or experience of their
current circumstances, it is in those areas of the memory that most of these
templates are found.
Now years later, as you face similar circumstances, these cause this template in
your memory to surface, along with all the emotion that was locked into them. The
only way you can prevent this memory from affecting you is to either modify it or
replace it with another similar memory that has different emotional content. This
can be done is various ways.
Inner Healing
The first way to accomplish this is by means of a ministry that has come to be
known in recent years as "inner healing." This is a work of the Spirit of God, by
which a memory is modified to remove the negative emotional content. Modern
Psychology has identified that the way to remove the effects of a bad event in
one’s life would be to somehow cause the person to relive the event, only this time
with a happy ending.
Outside of the science fiction idea of time travel, this cannot be done in the
natural. But it can be done by the Spirit of God. You need to allow God to enter the
picture of the memory in the form of Jesus Christ. Since He was there all along, it
is often possible to "see" the Lord Jesus in your memory. His presence,
particularly to a child, is able to quell many of the feelings of fear, guilt and
rejection that are locked into childhood memories.
This, combined with a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit through another
believer who is operating under the anointing can bring about a change in the
inner template. Once this has taken place, then the inner template no longer
produces negative emotions, and the person may go through life facing similar
circumstances again, but without these emotions being triggered.
Psychiatry has tried to produce this effect naturally by a process called "shock
treatment." In this, they cause a high voltage to be applied to a person’s brain,
making the memory functions of the brain less efficient. The idea behind this is
that if the memories are prevented from surfacing, they cannot cause any damage
or produce the triggers that are locked into them.
But this does not change the inward man. True memory as we saw earlier is not
contained in the brain cells, but in the inward man. The original memory is still
there locked away in the inward man. By causing damage to the brain, the
outward man is unable to communicate effectively with the inward man, and so the
trigger does not take place as easily. But it is still there in the inward man.
Replacing Templates
The second way of bringing about a change in the inner template is by replacing it
with another similar template. Here we are dealing not so much with the emotional
content of a memory, but with behavior or decision making patterns that have
become built into the inward man. We all know that ignorance often causes us to
make incorrect decisions. A half-truth can lead you to believe a lie.
Since most of your templates were formed at times when you were still ignorant in
many areas of life, the chances are that the decisions you make and the things
you believe are mostly based on half-truths. You believe things according to your
experience and education. So anything you learn in the future is based on what
you learned in the past. This is a problem if what you learned in the past was
wrong.
Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden to see how this works. Adam and Eve were
placed in the garden, having no knowledge of evil, and having only the command
of God to go by. God had said that if they ate of the forbidden fruit they would die.
Then on a daily basis, God came and spoke with them, instructing them in His
ways. Bear in mind that they had no previous experience to go by. They were very
much like children, learning things for the first time. All they needed to do was to
obey their father’s instructions.
When the serpent came to deceive Eve, he did so by placing into her mind, a half-
truth. He told her that the knowledge of good and evil would make her like God,
but he did not tell her about the evil it would produce. Once she had been enticed
to eat of the fruit, she found that she did not immediately die, as God has said she
would. This "new" knowledge made her re-examine what she believed, and
brought her to the conclusion that the serpent was right. In fact she was so
convinced of this, that she boldly approached Adam and persuaded him to also
eat of the fruit.
In many people there exists what is often called the "RC Factor" or Resistance to
Change. This is because they have established what they believe and the way
they want to live, and refuse to change in any way. In other words, they refuse to
change their templates. What happens then, is that the original template becomes
like a chain in the inward man. The first event produces a template, which would
be the first "link" in the chain.
Then subsequent events in life that are close, but not the same, become allied
with the original template, adding a further link to the chain. This process
continues, so that any future events or facts which are added to the memory are
viewed in the light of existing knowledge and are interpreted in that light. We call
these "pre-suppositions" in our thinking patterns.
What we don’t generally realize is that our pre-suppositions are based on our
existing templates, and might be based on facts that we came to believe early in
our lives, but which were in fact incorrect. Now this incorrect knowledge leads us
to incorrect conclusions and the result is incorrect behavior.
Behaviorism
Psychologists have struggled with this idea and the modern day branch of
Psychiatry put forward by B.F. Skinner, which has come to be called "behaviorism"
has sought to remedy the situation by modifying a person’s behavior patterns. The
old story of the rat in the maze originates from this area of study. The rat learns
that if he goes certain directions down the maze he will be confronted with an
electric shock which cause him pain, but if he goes the "correct" way he will obtain
a reward in the form of a piece of cheese.
This is all good and well, but how does one decide which is the "right" way to go.
Here is where the ungodly counselor falls short. He has no standard upon which to
base his judgment other than his own moral code. And his own moral code was
formed by the templates in his own life, which are motivated by the flesh. So he
succeeds only in creating another incorrect template. He makes the person simply
sin in a different way.
Fortunately as believers we do not have this problem. We have the ultimate

standard for living in the "Operators Handbook" for mankind - the Holy Bible. Thus
if we are to build new templates, they can only be built upon the Word of God. The
Scriptures call this the "renewing of the mind."
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye

transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what
[is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
You can safely take the Word of God and use it to create new templates in place
of the ones that are causing you to act and react sinfully and come to wrong
decisions in your life. But how do we go about this? How can you use the
Scriptures to modify the things that have been built into you during your life? The
answer in a broad sense, is the same way we can change the things we believe -
by unlearning or relearning what we thought we knew.
This takes first of all a conscious decision to change. The will does not have in
itself the power to bring about change, but by an act of the will, you can go about
doing what is required to bring about change. This is a catch 22 situation. I don’t
"feel" like making the effort to change, but unless I change, my feelings will remain
the same. So there has to be a positive reason to change or a negative reason to
not change.
Behaviorism approaches this by a series of reward/punishment dynamics.

Remember the rat? He learns that going the wrong way produces pain, whereas
going the right way brings a reward. This gives him all the motivation he needs to
change. For man God has offered His own set of rewards and punishments - we
considered them earlier under blessings and curses.
But the history of the Israelite nation shows us that this system did not have the
desired effect. Men still followed their sinful ways. It takes a much stronger
motivation to cause us to walk in God’s ways. Blessings create a motivation of
desire. If the desire is strong enough then we make the effort to bring about
change. Curses use the motivation of fear. If we fear the consequences enough,
then we make the effort to change.
But both of these fail miserably. When our desire to be blessed comes into
competition with the desire to enjoy the pleasures of sin, it becomes a matter of
which desire is the greatest. When our fear of curses comes into competition with
our fear of being rejected by our friends the same thing applies. Rewards and
punishments are always relative, and do not present an absolute standard for
motivation.
There is only one absolute standard, and this is what Jesus taught as being the
key to victorious living. He took the laws of God and summarized them by two
simple commandments. "You shall love the Lord with all your being, and you shall
love your neighbor as yourself." When the Scripture speaks of this love it is
referring to a form of love that lies far deeper than the emotions of the soul. It is
the love that originates from the spirit and is sacrificial in nature.
Because man could not begin to understand this kind of love, God came down in
the form of His Son, Jesus to show it to us. In Romans chapter 5 Paul says,
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a
good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
This is a love that will produce in you an emotion far stronger than any desire you
can know. It will cast out all fear from you. 1 John 4:18 says,
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear
has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love."
But how can I obtain this love, so that it can become my motivation for living
according to God’s Word? Romans 5:5 says,
"And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us."
We have in the New Testament, what the Old Testament saints did not have. We
have the abiding indwelling Holy Spirit. We will be covering in detail in the next
study, the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing us to the place of living the way God
wants us to live. But let us complete this study by considering how we can go
about building new templates.
Building New Templates
This can be approached in two different ways, which we are going to call the
Shotgun Approach and the Single Shot Approach.
The Shotgun Approach
This is where you apply the Word to your entire life, and thus cause new templates
to be built slowly, and changes to be applied gradually to existing templates. It is
carried out by the process of meditation. Meditation is a process by which you
cause God’s Word to be fed down into your inward man, until it begins to form new
templates within you. I will be giving you specific projects to carry out that will
teach you how to use this process. For now let’s see what the Scriptures teach
concerning meditation. Psalm 1 gives us a look at the process of replacing old
templates with new ones, and it also tells us what results we can expect.
1 Blessed [is] the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he
meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings
forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and
whatever he does shall prosper.
The Psalmist speaks of a person who moves away from the sinful templates built
into him through his exposure to the world system, by meditating on God’s Word
day and night. Thus we can take the Scriptures and by the process of meditation
cause them to "re-program" us in God’s ways. Note that meditation is not study.
Studying the Scriptures only causes them to be fed into the memory of the
outward man.
For the Word to penetrate the inward man it must be fed in via the mind and the
will by the only means available for doing this. What is in the outward man or
conscious mind can only be understood by the five senses. So if you want the
Word to sink down into the inward man, you must convert it into a form that uses
the senses. To most effectively feed the Word inwards, you should be able to see,
hear, feel, smell and taste it. This is what the process of meditation involves.
To feed the Word downwards using the will, you must use the means that God has
given us - the vehicle of speech. God gave the method to Joshua before he
entered the Promised Land as Israel’s new leader. Joshua 1:8 says,
"This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall
meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to
all that is written in it: for then you shall make your way prosperous,
and then you shall have good success."
Joshua was given two means for causing the Word to regulate his life. He was to
keep the Word "in his mouth" or speak it continually, and he was to meditate it.
The result according to God was that he would be able to do everything that the
Word commanded.
The principles that we have mentioned have been discovered a long time ago by
man and used often to the advantage of those who have applied them. You have
heard the term "brain-washing" by which a person is caused through repetition of
instructions and procedures to adopt a specific way of thinking. Some of the
world’s success philosophies teach the principle of self-suggestion, using speech
as a means for creating a success mentality and modifying one’s behavior. What
none of these do however, is use God’s Word as a handbook and standard, and
their motivation is self rather than the love of God.
The Single Shot Approach
Finally, let’s take a look at the single shot approach to templates. This involves
taking a single template at a time and specifically replacing it with a new one. To
do this you have to first of all become aware of your template. If you cannot see its
operation in your life ask those around you - they will be able to very easily tell you
what is wrong with you from their viewpoint.
Of course this in itself could be a template - your inability to take correction from
others. Anything that causes an uncontrollable emotion in you should signal the
existence of a template. It is often shown in displays of anger, frustration or
impatience. Anything that "gets under your skin" shows the existence of an
underlying root. Of course a template might also result in a lack of emotion, rather
than an uncontrollable emotion. For example, an inability to show normal feelings
might be the result of an inner pattern.
Whatever the manifestation of your template, you must identify it, and recognize
that your behavior pattern is motivated by self and the flesh and is therefore sinful
in God’s sight. Until you come to recognize it as sin, there is no solution for the
problem. You must replace a sinful template with a Scriptural, righteous template.
If you don’t you will only be modifying the way you sin. For every sinful behavior
pattern, you can be sure that God’s Word has the correct alternative. We saw in
Ephesians 5 that Paul lists several sinful habits along with their Scriptural
alternatives. We are told to "put off" the old one and "put on" the new one. How is
this accomplished? The same way your original template was created.
You start by identifying your template, and then finding from the Word what the
correct alternative should be. Then you begin to feed the new template into the
inward man by the process of meditation and confession of the Word as we
discussed above. In addition to this, you must now start to practice the new
template. You do this whenever the old one surfaces.
As soon as your emotions are churned up by circumstances that trigger the old
template, you immediately identify it and fill your mind with the new template, until
the emotion subsides. As you practice this, the time will come that the new
template will gradually start to replace the old, and you will find yourself no longer
reacting instinctively to the old.
This is very much like bodily exercise. It takes an effort at first to make your body
do things it has not been used to doing. But as you continue it becomes easier
and you start to enjoy the new state of fitness that comes. The important thing to
remember is that like physical fitness, it is not a goal to be reached and then
neglected. You soon lose it if you stop exercising. The old template is still there,
and if you allow it to resurface it certainly will.
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Testing Time
robably one of the more controversial subjects on the Christian life, is

the subject of testing and trials. Because the spiritual life at times seems
so difficult, and because we are always facing problems in life, most of
us have come to accept the existence of trials. Unfortunately the vast
majority of Christians have come to the conclusion that these things are our lot in
life, and we just have to accept them. The Lord has a purpose for them, and we
must just submit to His will.
Others go further to say that the purpose for these trials is to keep us humble, and
they major on teachings such as Paul's thorn in the flesh, which kept him from
being exalted. I can well remember the words of an old song that we used to sing
many years ago, entitled Farther Along. The first part went like this:
Tempted and tried, we're oft made to wonder

Why it should be thus all the day long
While there are others living about us
Never molested though in the wrong.
Farther along, we'll know all about it

Farther along, we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine
We'll understand it all by and by.
And the message that came across loud and clear, was that God will sometimes
cause trials and temptations in our lives. We don't always understand the purpose
for it, but one day in heaven we'll understand why He caused these things in our
lives. I have learned since then that this is not at all the picture painted by the
Scriptures but comes as a result of not understanding the true nature or purpose
of trials.
Two Kinds of Test
Now I want to begin by explaining to you very clearly what the Scriptures teach
concerning testing and trials in the life of a believer. To understand the subject
fully you need to be aware of the existence of two different types of test or trial.
The Greek language that the New Testament was written in uses two different
words to describe these two different kinds of test. I am going to give you these
two words and their meaning, and then we will look at a few Scriptures that use
these two words.
Peirazo - the Pressure Test
This word is translated mostly as tempt or temptation in the New Testament. It is

a kind of test that is designed to expose the weaknesses and flaws. It is derived
from another work which means 'to pierce through.' So it can also mean assay or
expose to stress for the purpose of testing. It is the kind of test that you would put
a piece of metal to in the laboratory, to see how strong it is and what will make it
break. It is the kind of test that Satan uses against us to expose our weaknesses
and find our breaking points.
It is the same word that was used to describe those who came to bring Jesus trick
questions to try and catch Him out. It is always a test designed to expose
weakness and failure, and it is never used of God. In fact James is quite emphatic
about this and tells us that God does not tempt or test in this way. It is not
necessary after all, because God knows all about us and does not need to use this
kind of test to find out our strengths and weaknesses.
But Satan does not know our strengths and weaknesses. The only way he can
find out is to apply a test and see how we respond. And actually we as humans
can use the exact same method to expose both our weaknesses and the
weaknesses of others. Just push a little on a person, and you will soon find out
what is inside of them. Apply a little pressure in the right place and you will soon
find out what makes them tick.
I will be explaining in due course how the Lord actually uses this attack of the
enemy by causing us to come into a place where the enemy attacks and tempts.
And then when this takes place our weaknesses are exposed and we go to the
Lord to have them removed. Until we come to the place where there is nothing
more to expose.
Here are some examples of this kind of testing in Scripture

Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from
evil: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the
spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak.
Luke 8:13 They on the rock [are they], which, when they hear, receive
the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe,
and in time of temptation fall away.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There has no test taken you but that which is
common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not permit you to be
tested beyond what you are able [to bear]; but will with the test also
make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear [it].
James 1:2-4
2 My brethren, consider it all joy when you fall into various kinds of
trials;
3 Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have [its] complete work, that you may be mature
and complete, lacking nothing.
James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am [being] tested

by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does He test
any man:
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil.
Dokomazo - the Examination Test
This word also means to test, but it has a completely different idea. The test that
this word refers to is not the kind of test that exposes weaknesses. It is the kind of
test you write when you sit down at the end of a learning cycle. You have been
instructed and taught, and now you are given the opportunity to prove yourself and
show if you understood and remembered what was being taught. The purpose of
the test is to cause you to become qualified in a subject and as a result receive
some kind of promotion.
In fact, assuming that you understood and learned what was being taught, you are
not expected to fail this test. It is expected that you will pass and receive a
certificate to show that you have attained a new level of learning. This word is
usually translated as prove or approve. And that is the kind of test that the Lord
applies to us. He wants us to qualify and be promoted.
Here are some passages of Scripture that describe this kind of testing.
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found
unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
2 Corinthians 8:22 And we have sent with them our brother, whom we
have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more
diligent, upon the great confidence which [I have] in you.
1 Timonty 3:10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use
the office of a deacon, being [found] blameless.
1 Corinthians 11:19 For there must also be divisions among you, that
those who have been approved may be made known among you.
2 Corinthians 10:18 For not he that commends himself is approved,

but whom the Lord commends.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew yourself approved by God, a workman

that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
God's Training School
I have considered above the fact that God does not apply tests in the sense of
causing temptation and pressure to come upon us to expose sin and weaknesses
in us. This is the work of the enemy of our souls. He wants to expose our
weaknesses so that he can know where to attack us the most and where we are
likely to fall. And in fact this is the only way that he can tell where our weaknesses
are. So he uses all the weapons that are at his disposal to cause conflict, strife
and problems in life as well as all the temptations of the world and the flesh. And
when we respond to these temptations, we immediately show him where our
weaknesses are.
Sometimes you might think that if you just gave in to this temptation now, you can
resist it better next time. But that is a sad mistake. Because next time the enemy
knows exactly where to hit you. You showed him where when you yielded to his
temptation. Remember that Satan is not all knowing like God and he cannot tell
what is inside you unless you show him. So the more you resist temptation, the
more you are likely to show him that this is not an area of weakness, and you are
not going to give in. After a while he gets the message that it is a waste of time
attacking you in this area, and you will see the attack start to fade away.
But this is not a study on the work of Satan - I have covered that elsewhere.
What I want to look at here is how the Lord trains us to overcome sin in our lives
and enter into a greater dimension of victory. Anyone who has known the Lord for
a long time and has lived a bit as a Christian knows that the Christian life is never
easy. There are lots of things that come against you as you try to serve the Lord.
But those who have made up their minds to go all out for God and commit
themselves wholly to Him know that when you do this it does not get easier. In
fact it gets tougher.
How often have you seen people who live in a way that is not pleasing to the Lord
and His Word. Yet often they do not seem to suffer many problems in life. It looks
like things are going well for them. And then you look at those who have
committed themselves to a deeper walk with God, and their lives seem to be filled
with many problems. I know that there was a time in my life where in my desire to
know the Lord better and server Him more fully I would commit myself more to
Him and ask Him to draw me closer to Him. And what was the result? Tribulation
and problems.
Spiritual Boot Camp
I remember one day crying out to the Lord and saying, "Lord it's not fair. How
come I am facing so many problems since I committed myself more fully to you
and others who don't care are having a great life?" He reminded me of the time in
my youth when I was called up to do National Military Service in the country I was
living in at that time. As a young 18 year old I was draughted to go to boot camp
to be trained and sent out against the enemy of the land.
I'll never forget the day my parents dropped me off, along with a lot of other guys,
and we were ushered into a place where we had to fill in papers and have medical
examinations and all sorts of red tape procedures. I remember there was one
man there who appeared to be a staff sergeant, and he was very friendly and
helpful, showing me where to go and what to do. I began to feel a bit more
comfortable and wondered if all the stories I had heard about military service were
really true.
Then all the paperwork was over and we were assembled as a group and this
friendly man came over to speak to us. Suddenly this person that I thought was
so nice and helpful, became public enemy number one. He opened his mouth and
screamed at us. "You're in the army now!" he shouted, and with many expletives
proceeded to let us know in no uncertain terms that he was going to make our
lives hell until we learned to do as we were told.
So began a time in my life where I discovered muscles that I did not know existed
in my body. Where I found that I could do with less sleep at night than I was used
to. That I could actually walk great distances at a time. And that I could learn to
walk in step with a bunch of other people and keep my appearance neat all the
time and learn to shut my mouth until I was asked to speak. I learned to jump
when I was told to and not to question what I was told to do. And by the time it
was all over I was a different person to what I was when it all started.
And the Lord showed me that He did not force me to go into His army. I had done
so willingly. I had volunteered for His service and had very fervently prayed
without realizing what I was saying, "Lord break me and make me into a vessel for
your use." I had signed up for boot camp. And now suddenly the going was
getting rough and I was starting to complain about. Yet He was only doing exactly
what I asked Him to do.
Death by Crucifixion
Paul declared in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I
live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." The Christian life is a crucified life. Jesus
declared in Matthew 16:24
If any [man] wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow me.
He was saying that if you want to follow Him all the way, then you are going to
have to be prepared to have the cross applied also to your life. The old you has to
die before you can walk in newness of life. But how does a person crucify their
flesh? Have you ever seen anyone commit suicide by crucifixion? It just cannot
be done. You have to let someone else do it for you. The best you can do is lift
your hands up to the cross and let someone nail you. And even then death does
not come instantly. There is always a period of suffering before the person dies.
In fact death on the cross only really takes place when the person becomes so
weary that they cannot fight or push against the nails any more. Then they
suffocate and die. Remember when Jesus was crucified the Romans wanted to
break the legs of those on the cross, so that they could no longer push up against
the cross and they would die. But Jesus had learned to die quickly. Instead of
fighting the death and holding out as long as possible, He had willingly given up
His spirit. He died without a fight.
Are you beginning to get a picture here?
When you commit yourself to the Lord and ask Him to make you into a vessel fit
for the master's use, then you are signing up for boot camp. And you are
submitting yourself willingly for crucifixion. So the first thing you can expect is not
blessing, but trouble. You will suddenly find your life flooded with conflict and
difficulty. And the purpose for all of this is to bring you to the end of yourself.
What actually happens is that the Lord will lead you into a situation that is going to
predispose you to an attack far greater than you have ever experienced before.
For those who are called to ministry offices such as prophet and apostle, this time
of preparation is extremely intense and can take a long period of time, depending
on how quickly you learn to die. But you see it is not just the death of the cross
that counts. It is the resurrection that follows. The purpose of the time of training
is to show you only the areas that need to be dealt with.
Exposing of Templates
Returning to what we considered earlier about templates, you need to realize that
since you have formed many templates for sinful behavior during your life, these
things will have to be dealt with before you can move more fully into experiencing
the power of God in your life. But most of the time you don't even know what your
sinful templates are. Most of them were probably formed when you were much
younger and unless you are faced with similar situations in life, they may remain
so well hidden that you are not even aware they are there.
One thing I learned about army training, is that when you are on the battlefield or
in a time of confrontation with the enemy, it is not a good time to discover that you
have a weakness. Now is not the time to go to pieces and panic. You should
have been trained to face this situation before you ever came into contact with
your enemy. And the same is true of our spiritual life. You need to be aware of
what inroads the enemy has in your life before you try to go into the frontlines of
spiritual battle for the Lord.
Many preachers have failed to do this, and when they rise up in success and are
lifted up by it, they suddenly find themselves faced with temptations and pressures
that they cannot handle. And before long the enemy gains the upper hand and
God's warrior is destroyed. It would have been better for him to deal with some of
these issues before ever trying to move into ministry. Unfortunately not many of
our Bible Seminaries are like boot camp. They are just glorified Colleges that fill
people's heads with knowledge and then send them out to do a job they are not
properly trained to do.
But the best training is the one that the Lord gives you. He will show you all the
hidden templates of your heart one at a time. And as each one surfaces, the
chances are you are going to fail gloriously. It works a bit like playing a single
player game such as tennis, squash or racquetball. You might play quite well
against someone who has the same skill as you. But what happens if you are
suddenly put to play with someone who is far better than you? You find that
winning is not as easy as it was before. And now you start to lose the games.
Of course your immediate response is to apply yourself more. You have to play
harder and with greater concentration. It takes a lot of effort, and playing even
stops being fun for a while. But as you continue to pay more attention to your
playing, you start to get better. And gradually you find yourself returning to the
place where you are starting to win more often. This is exactly how it happens in
your spiritual training. You suddenly find yourself faced with greater temptation
than you have known before. People start to oppose you and accuse you and all
sorts of things go wrong in your life.
But as you apply yourself more. As you get into the Word more, and pray more
and learn to submit more, you find yourself more able to handle these things. As
the templates begin to surface, you start to apply the Spirit and the Word to these
things and cause them to be removed and altered. So the Lord trains you to
handle any situation that the enemy could throw at you. And when He has trained
you, He will then send you out to test whether you learned correctly. And now
comes the true time of testing. It is an opportunity for you to excel in what you
have learned. It is your opportunity to qualify and be promoted to a higher office of
ministry and responsibility.
Handling the Bully
And here is a picture of how it happens. Imagine a little boy who is being plagued
by a bully down the street. He cannot go past the bully's house without being
attacked and victimized. So he goes running to his Daddy for help. But instead of
going and sorting out the bully, the wise Daddy does something else. He knows
that if his son is trained to handle the bully alone, he will never be bothered by the
bully again. So he teaches his son to fight and dodge the attacks of the bully. He
trains him to handle anything that the bully could throw at him.
And then the day comes when Dad invites his son to go for a walk down the
street. And of course they walk right to where the bully lives. And as they draw
near suddenly the bully comes out to confront the little boy, and as he looks
around to see where his Dad is, he finds that Dad is nowhere to be seen. Dad has
purposefully hidden behind a hedge. And of course the reason Dad has done this
is to give his son a chance to prove the things he taught him.
Now the little boy has two choices open to him. He must stand and fight as he has
been taught, or he can run and escape the problem. But one thing is sure. If he
runs, then he will have to face this situation again another time. So he must
choose to go forward boldly and use what he has been given. And of course if he
does it right, there is no reason why he should not win and defeat this bully. In
fact that is exactly what his Dad expects him to do.
Can you see the picture? The Lord teaches and trains us through His Spirit and
His Word. And then he leads us on purpose right into a situation where Satan
comes out against us. But He knows what we are able to handle. The test is
never something we cannot handle. And of course there is always a way of
escape. But when we go forward and apply what He has taught us and overcome
the enemy, then we pass the test. And when you pass the test, then you qualify
for promotion.
Receiving the Crown
Just consider this passage of Scripture in conclusion.
James 1:12 Blessed [is] the man that perseveres under trial: for
when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which
the Lord has promised to those that love him.
This is one verse that uses both of the words that we considered above. James
tells us that when we persevere under trial, we come to a place where we pass the
test. And then we are approved by God. And the result of our passing the test is
a promotion. It is the crown of life. What is this crown? Well what is a crown a
picture of? Is it not something that a king wears? Does it not show clearly that the
person who is wearing it has been given authority. Does it not mean that this
person is reigning.
Now consider finally Paul's words in Romans 5:17
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more those
who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Do you want to reign? Then you need to go through the training, and you need to
pass the tests.
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7 Things Psychiatrists Want You To
Believe
That psychological problems are caused by 'Mental Illness' - a

mysterious disease that has no physical cause
That once you have reached a certain age you cannot change
That you are not responsible for your behavior
That having a conscience is your main problem
That man is really no different to an animal
That there is no cure for 'Mental Illness'
That passing an electric current through your brain will solve some of
your problems
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6 Things That Will Ruin Your Marriage
Not following God's order of Love and Submission
Not fulfilling your Scriptural role in the marriage
Not communicating correctly
Not resolving daily problems
Not recognizing triggers from the past
Not understanding the purpose for temperamental differences

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10 Things Satan is Afraid You'll Find Out
That the power he has in the earth originally belonged to man
That Jesus bought back what Adam gave to him in the Fall
That he cannot touch you unless you or someone else gives him
permission
That the youngest believer has authority over him
That he is actually afraid of you
That he has to bow to the Name of Jesus
That he has no power except the power of suggestion
That he cannot tell the truth even if he tried

That love is a weapon he doesn't understand and cannot fight
That faith disarms and paralyses him
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It's Time For Change:
Is Your Church Ready?
he Visible Church has never been a stable entity. It is a living organism

that is changing all the time like the human body. But every time change
takes place it comes with a huge shakeup. Just consider what happened
in the Reformation and the earlier Pentecostal Revivals. Now a new
shakeup is coming that will strike the core of the foundations.
Why is this?
Because God is about to unveil His end time Apostles and bring change to the
structures of the church.
Here are some of the changes that are going to take place.
Less emphasis on Gathering

Less emphasis on Place of Worship
Less emphasis on Tithing
Less emphasis on Race and Culture
Less emphasis on Doctrine and Statements of Faith
Less emphasis on Titles
Emphasis on Gathering
Probably one of the most preached verses is the one in Hebrews that says
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner
of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as you see the
day approaching.
One would think that Jesus had given this as the first and greatest commandment,
the way some pastors present it. But it is only one verse in the New Testament
and not one that is given prime consideration either. No! There is something far
more important than the assembling of the saints. Do you know what it is?
The Scattering of the Saints!
When Jesus gathered His disciples together just before He ascended He

commanded them to 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.' Sure He also
told them to gather in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, but that was only
until the Holy Spirit had come. Then they were to go out and spread the good
news throughout the earth. But what did they do? They sat in Jerusalem and had
a convention. So the Lord had to permit a man by the Name of Saul of Tarsus to
come and shatter their little tower of Babel, and cause them to be scattered all
over the earth.
Emphasis on Place of Worship

I was startled to read in a recent magazine publication that someone had depicted
the church of the future as being a huge edifice holding thousands of people. The
Visible Church is still so wrapped up in its emphasis on its place of worship, that
the coming move of God which will obviously lead to a great ingathering has led
them to think that they will need larger buildings.
What nonsense!
The early church met mostly in homes, and this will once again become the
emphasis as the church grows so fast and spreads so wide, that no building will
be large enough to house everyone. The trouble is we are so used to doing things
the wrong way, that we cannot conceive of doing it God's way.
Emphasis on Tithing
It is impossible to do anything in this world without money. But when your vision
becomes one of building your own empire, this need is highly amplified.
When God provided for His people as they left Egypt, He did it by plundering the
Egyptians. But today church leaders seem to think that it must be done by
plundering their congregations. To make sure that the people respond right it
becomes necessary to impose Old Testament law on them and beat them into
submission in fear, by preaching that they are obligated to pay their tithes. This is
going to change in the new church for several good reasons.
1. There will not be a need for as much money for unnecessary things such as
huge edifices.
2. People will return to the Biblical Pattern of walking in covenant with God and
with each other, and they will learn once again to be like the early church,
who gave all they had in love to one another.
3. People will learn to give from a heart of love rather than out of fear of
punishment.
Emphasis on Race and Culture

Every nation and culture have been molded by a specific archetype that causes
them to think in a certain way. While this mindset exists in people, it is impossible
for the division caused by these things to be dealt with. The church has failed
miserably in this area, because they have tried to approach it in the same way as
the politicians. You cannot enforce or forcibly remove something that has been
bred into people. Nor can you preach against racism and stamp it out with guilt.
It comes only when the unity of the Spirit of God in believers, and the flow of God's
love brings us to a place where we forget about our national and cultural heritages
and see only Jesus. Then only can we truly become brothers and sisters in Christ.
And then only will these things fall away so naturally that we will forget they ever
existed. But trying to bring change in this is like trying to take the darkness out of a
room to cause it to light up. It just will not work.
Just shine the light and the darkness flees. Just shine the love and the bitterness
and hatred flees. Just shine the life, and death must vanish.
Emphasis on Doctrine and Statements of

Faith
Isn't it amazing how folks who are supposed to love one another in Christ are
ready to kill over doctrinal differences. This is all going to change as God breaks
down the barriers that exist between believers because of doctrinal differences.
How often a group will accept someone who accepts their doctrine without
realizing they are opening themselves to someone who might bring a demonic
influence into their midst.
When this practice stops there will be less suspicion amongst believers, and less
need to state clearly what we believe. But there will come instead a spiritual
discernment that will quickly expose the deceivers and bring unity amongst those
who truly love the Lord, in spite of differing views on doctrine.
Emphasis on Titles
Since when did the Lord instruct leaders in the church to take the title of Pastor? In
actual fact He did the complete opposite.
Matthew 23:8 But do not be called Rabbi: for one is your Master,
[namely] Christ; and you are all brothers.
9 And call no [man] your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
who is in heaven.
10 Neither be called (pastors) masters: for one is your (Pastor)
Master, [namely] Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
The new church will not have leaders who insist on being called by their title. Nor
will the pastor be the chief leader in the church. But the church will be led by its
true Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who fill the place of under shepherds
will simply be His representatives in the Body of Christ, in plurality, the way it was
from the beginning.
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7 Traditions Denominations Will
Not Give Up
enominations are man made organizations that try to force the way they
see things in the Word on those that belong to them. They have come
into existence because of the world system that we live in. The Church
of God is a living organism, not an organization. But to function in the
world, we are forced to adopt some of the worldly procedures. This has led to the
church becoming like another business or club. In many cases we have taken
principles in the Word and twisted them to suit our organization.
Paying of Tithes
Church Membership
Emphasis on Church Meetings
Compulsory Education Or Bible School Training for Ministers
Statements Of Faith
The Pastor As A Super Hero
Church Buildings
Paying Of Tithes
The subject of tithing has caused a lot of conflict in the Church. It is stressed by
most church organizations and public ministries, largely because they all need
finance to operate. So rather than look to God as their source, they do their best
to bring God's people under bondage to the Old Testament practice of tithing. The
New Testament teaches a far better way, and we will be explaining it in detail
here. But first let's see why tithing does not apply to the New Testament Church.
Read New Testament Tithing article.
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Church Membership
Membership of an organization does not come from the Scriptures, but is a result
of trying to make the Church another worldly organization. It is an attempt to force
people to subject themselves to rules and regulations that do not come from the
Word, but from the leaders of the organizations. We will see what the Scriptures
say about this.
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Emphasis On Church Meetings
One of the Scriptures most used by preachers is Hebrews 10:25
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of

some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as you
see the day approaching.
This is largely because preachers want people to come and listen to them, fill the
pews, and pay their dues. If they cannot offer anything to draw people to the
meetings, then they use this as a way of making them feel guilty for not attending
church. But this is only one passage amongst many that teach more important
activities we should be doing as believers. We will consider all of them and see
what the Scriptures teach.
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Compulsory Education Or Bible School Training for

Ministers
The standard preparation for ministry these days is a period of education at a

Bible Seminary or other educational institution. A person is not considered
qualified to preach the Word until he has some qualification behind him. But what
was the pattern in Bible times? This is another worldly principle that has crept into
the church. We will be looking at the leadership ministries in the Church and
God's pattern for training them.
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Statements Of Faith
Because of the many different doctrinal viewpoints there are today, most
organizations have put together a summary of what they believe, which they call
their 'Statement of Faith.' This is just a way of showing that they are different to
other organizations and emphasizes the teachings that they have decided to make
their hobby-horse. A statement of faith is therefore nothing more than one group's
interpretation of Scripture. But what is the Scriptural pattern? We will see what
the Bible says about this.
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The Pastor As A Super Hero
Since the minister of the church has attended a training institution, has a
qualification behind him, and has been given credentials by his organization, he is
set up in a position that places him a cut above the rest. He is to be revered,
called by his title (usually 'Pastor') and is the final authority in the church. The
Scripture teaches very clearly what it is that gives a man authority and how he
should be treated by those whom he leads. We will consider exactly how
leadership in the church should be set up and how such leaders should function.
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Church Buildings
Have you noticed that one of the first things a congregation does when it grows in
size, is to start making plans for a church building. This building then becomes the
"Church" and we refer to a church by where its buildings are - The Church at the
corner of Main Street and First Avenue. But the early church were not like this at
all. We will see what God's order is for church buildings.
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Transforming Hurts to Healing
By Daphne Crause
Love and Prayer – The Keys to Victory Over Enemies
bet there are many times when somebody has either done or said
something hurtful or nasty to you and you feel like doing what Elijah did.
You want to escape or crawl into a little hole and forget about the big,
bad, ugly world out there and all it’s pressures and pain. Know what I’m
talking about? I’m sure you do.
I understand your predicament. Hey, I’ve been there over and over and over
again. At one time I began to wonder if I was destined to have it for the rest of my
life. Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Jesus said we would have tribulation, trouble
and problems. The good news, though, is that you don’t have to be sunk by it.
There is a way to overcome it, and it’s powerful – and pretty easy, too!
If you are facing this type of situation right now, I want to share with you a few
ways to turn the negative feelings and emotions around quickly and effectively and
get victory in your life. So be encouraged. You will start to look up soon!
Okay. Firstly, the most important thing when you’re dealing with something like
this, is to forgive the offender. I know this is really hard sometimes, and if you’re
mad enough or hurt enough about the incident you’d rather ask the Lord to take
him or her home early, right? (;>) Seriously, though, this is your personal key to
success in this area, and it can be done simply by an act of your will.
When Jesus walked on this earth and He taught us the Lord’s prayer He said,
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
Forgiving others and asking for our own forgiveness go hand in hand. They are
both very important. You see, forgiving others helps your relationship with fellow
human beings to keep clear, and asking for forgiveness for your own sins keeps
your relationship with the Lord clear. You usually have to ask for forgiveness for
yourself if you’re fuming and foaming at the mouth and feeling quite defensive. (;>)
When I was younger I suffered very badly from rejection by others and I battled so
much with forgiving people who hurt me. I felt bruised and battered for days and
felt like it would never heal. Then the Lord revealed something to me. He showed
me that He suffered the ultimate hurt from people when He, who was sinless, was
made to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. He would have been quite
justified to be hopping mad, and tell them how awful they were to Him. But what
did He do? He remained as quiet as a lamb and spoke forgiveness to them.
When I realized this, I began to see that our hurts and injustices are really quite
puny compared to what the Lord faced and overcame by forgiving. This really
released me and helped me to be able to do it myself. Could anything that was
done to me be as bad as having the sins of the whole world loaded unfairly on
me? Also, He came to show us how to live, what to do, and what our attitude
should be. I saw that I needed to follow His leading in all things.
Once you’ve made the choice to forgive, do so out loud. It helps to set you free,
and Satan can’t come and plague you with negative feelings anymore because
he’s heard it with his own ears. Words spoken out loud are vitally important
because they carry power with them. Simply thinking forgiveness is no good. It
must be uttered into the earth. Say something like, "Lord, I forgive (so and so) for
upsetting me today. She’s got so many problems, Lord. I guess she’s just
spewing. I put it to sleep now."
Next you need to ask the Lord to forgive you for any negative feelings or emotions.
If you’re bitter or angry say to the Lord, "Lord, please forgive me for reacting like I
did. I give it to you. Please wash me clean." The Lord removes it instantly and
restores the relationship with you.
The final thing you need to do is tell Satan to get his hands off you. Even if you
reacted negatively and asked the Lord to wash you clean, Satan will often come to
you and accuse you of failing and try and bring the whole ugly situation up again.
He’s the accuser of the brethren. He’s the one who tries to make you feel so awful
because of what has happened that you don’t want to even raise your head. This
is one of his neatest weapons. Watch out for it and when you identify it tell him to
get lost because he has no right to do it. You’re forgiven and your sins are
forgotten.
One thing that is important to remember is that you have to make the choice to
forgive and do it, despite the hurt you’re feeling and the other negative emotions
that go with it. You can’t control your emotions, but you can decide to do
something by an act of your will.
When you’ve spoken forgiveness and restored the relationships with the offender
and the Lord, then He will move in and remove the hurt that you are feeling. He
does it quickly when you ask him and He reaches deep inside you and pours His
healing balm on you. You may suddenly find the pain gone, and any feelings of
animosity, anger or resentment simply fizzle out.
I want to just mention here that often when a person hurts you, and you find you
have a continual battle gaining victory over it, it could be that you were hurt before
you were even born (the baby feels stress in the womb from it’s parents), during
your early years, or in adolescence. These are the times when all hurts take place
which leave a mark on the person's character. Each time a similar situation
presents itself in later life, you feel the same hurt even as an adult and you think
you’re being quite neurotic because you can’t get a handle on it.
This is a vast subject and I cannot cover the ins and outs of it here, but if you are
aware of something that could be an early hurt surfacing, it is wise to ask
someone to pray with you. It should be someone who can hear the voice of the
Lord and can let the Lord show him or her where the problem originated from.
Then, when the first hurtful event is exposed you can ask the Lord to remove it
and take away the painful sting associated with it. This is what inner healing is all
about.
Once this aspect is taken care of, here are some other good ways to get victory
(and the upper hand sometimes too). (;>) When God first called Abraham away
from his home and told him he would produce a great nation from him, He said, "I
will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you." This is a
powerful scripture. If you speak blessing on others, not just the good, but the bad
and the ugly too, you not only release the Lord’s power on them for change, but it
comes back to you too. So, the more you bless others, the more you will be
blessed yourself.
Romans 12:14 says, "Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse."
Blessing people must be important if Paul repeats it twice and emphasizes it. If
people only realized what a powerful, positive influence you can be in the lives of
others and did it more often, the world would begin to change for the better. But
the world is so subjected to negative influences and speech that positive, uplifting
talk is something totally foreign to most people.
I have made it a habit, that no matter where I am, I am continually praying blessing
on people. If you’re waiting in a queue at a grocery checkout point, or waiting to
catch a bus and you’re getting bored, give it a try. Just mutter softly under your
breath if you can.
This is the sort of thing I do. I may see a pregnant woman and I say, "Lord, I bless
this lady. Let her pregnancy go smoothly. I bless her baby now too." I see an old
lady and say, "Lord I bless this lady. Thank you that you meet all her needs now." I
see a little girl. I say, "Lord, I bless this gorgeous little child now. Thank you for
helping her to know you as her savior." And so you can go on.
You will be amazed at how your spirit begins to soar because you’re giving out to
others in love and taking your eyes off yourself and your own needs and problems.
When Les and I first began doing this we suddenly became aware of how people
began smiling at us or doing little things that were a blessing. They were total
strangers to us, too. Then the Lord reminded me that we had been sowing and
therefore we were reaping now too. So, if someone has been hurtful to you,
release the Lord’s power into their lives by speaking blessing on them and get a
blessing in return.
The final thing I want to share in this article is the concept of not just speaking
good things, but doing them too. Jesus talked about giving food to your enemy if
he is hungry or a drink if he is thirsty, for it heaps coals of fire on their head. What
can be more irritating or humiliating than if someone has been deliberately nasty
to you, and there you go and do something good for him instead of spewing
vengeance in his direction? ;-)
Here’s an example of how you can do it. If you and your partner say have had an
argument in the evening before going to bed, why not heap coals of fire on his or
her head by taking your spouse breakfast in bed the next morning? You may think
this is a bit overdone, but the point is that even little acts of kindness to someone
who is troubling you can, like speaking blessing, do a tremendous amount to ease
stress and restore strained relationships. Who wouldn’t have to be good to
someone who’s good to them? You just can’t help it.
So now, here are 3 valuable ways to make problems and hurtful situations turn
around and be easily removed. If you keep using them they will become easier to
do and your life will go from defeat and failure to victory and blessing!
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7 Tricks That Will Cause
the Scriptures to Open
Up to You
Try to read your Bible the same time every day. This means that it
becomes a habit and you don't find yourself too busy to find time to do it.
If you set aside a time, say first thing in the morning or last thing at night
to read your Bible, you will find that it becomes part of your daily life.
Try to always read sitting in the same place. Although it is comfortable

reading in bed, be careful that you don't find yourself wanting to sleep
instead of reading. Try to find a place where you feel comfortable and
always use that place. This creates a feeling where every time you sit
down to read in that place, you get "in the mood" for Bible reading.
Try to read from many different parts of the Bible each day. Decide how
many chapters you are going to read every day and then divide the Bible
up into that number of sections. Then read just one chapter from each
section every day. Tick off each chapter as you read it. It will give you a
track to run on and make your reading more interesting.
Keep a notebook and pen with you as you read. Do not keep any
reference books - these might be useful for study, but you are reading,
not studying. When you see something in a passage that seems to stand
out or interest you, then make a note of it in your notebook. This includes
something you see in the passage as well as any questions you might
have.
Try to put yourself into the passage as you read it. If you are reading an
historical account, try to imagine that you are there. Imagine that you are
one of the people you are reading about and try to visualize how they felt,
what they saw etc. Otherwise try to use your senses as you read. What
can you see, hear, feel, taste, smell? You will find it much easier to
remember what you read when you do this.
Before you read, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and guide you.
If you come to a passage which you do not understand, do the same.
Remember that the Holy Spirit speaks through impressions from your
own spirit, so when you pray do not ignore the pictures that come into
you mind. They might be His way of opening things to you.
When you are finished reading your chapters for the day, go back to the
notes you made and re-read some of the passages that stood out and
which you made a note of. If you found a great promise from God that
you would like to hang onto, then write the verse out on a card and carry
it with you the rest of the day. You can look at it and think about it every
time you are taking a break, doing nothing or waiting for something.
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Understanding the Anointing
Luke 4:18 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has
anointing me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to
heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
What is the Anointing?
n this message I want to speak on the subject, "Understanding the

Anointing". It is going to be the first message in several that relate to the
anointing, so it is going to be a general teaching covering various
aspects of exactly what the anointing is. Well, what is the anointing? We
have all heard the term. Everybody speaks about it, but what exactly is it? Is it
something that you can put your finger on? Is it something that you can look at
under a microscope? Is it something that you can measure on a meter? What is
the anointing? How do you know when the anointing is there? And, can you tell
when it is not there?
The Anointing Will Show
I remember a little graphic that I saw a long time ago and it is probably still in print.
I think it was in a book by Leonard Ravenhill from way back called, "Why Revival
Tarries". It was a picture of a preacher standing behind a pulpit, a normal church-
type scene. And the caption said, "Unction in the pulpit; action in the pews." Or, to
use a better term, "Anointing in the pulpit; action in the pews." When there is
anointing on the man of God who is speaking forth the Word, there will action on
the people who are hearing it. There will be results. When the anointing is there, it
will show. When the anointing is not there, it will not show.
You will be able to see when the anointing is there. And anybody who has ever
stood up to preach knows what it is like to preach when the anointing is there. And
oh, if you are a preacher I can guarantee you know what it is like to stand up and
preach when the anointing is not there. It’s like chewing on rubber. It is horrible!
It is one of the most devastating and humiliating experiences that you can have to
stand behind the pulpit and try to preach the Word without the anointing. You feel
like crawling out after the meeting. You don’t know what to do with yourself. You
feel a failure. You feel useless. You feel miserable. People are trying to avoid you
at the door so that they will not have to say to you that it was a nice message
because it would be a lie. It is a horrible experience, let me tell you. It is like the
Lord came to the meeting and said, "I’m not attending today. Do it on your own."
And He just left you and walked out the door and you had to struggle on your own.
Oh, it’s a horrible experience.
Now how do we come to the place where we have that anointing all the time? Or
is it one of those hit and miss things, that when you stand up to preach you say, "I
sure hope the Lord’s going to be here tonight. I sure hope the Spirit is going to be
here. I sure hope the anointing comes on me tonight." Or does it depend on me?
Do I have to have prepared my heart right? Do I have to have been walking in
close relationship with the Lord? Do I have to have been fasting and praying or
dealing with sin in my life?
There are a lot of different things to be taken into account here. I remember the
first time I ever went into ministry and I was pastoring a church, and I had my first
opportunity to be the one standing and doing the preaching every Sunday. I began
to have these experiences where sometimes the anointing was there and it was
powerful, and at other times it was lacking and I would have that bad experience. I
sought the Lord and I said, "Father, I don’t want this to happen anymore. I want to
be sure that when I stand up to preach, the anointing is there. Lord, I want to know
how to make sure that the anointing is there. How do I receive it? When are you
going to bring it to me? When will it come on me?"
Searching for Answers
So I began to dig in the Scriptures to find out about the anointing. I pulled out my
concordance to look up the word ‘anointing’. I figured, "There has to be lots of
Scriptures. We all know that the anointing comes down on you and comes upon
you, and the power of God is there. We all know that don’t we?" So I looked up
‘anointing’ to find out all the Scriptures that would tell me about how I could have
the power of God and the anointing of God to come down on me, and I could not
find one, not in the New Testament. In fact, the only two verses I found in the New
Testament told me that the anointing was a once only event, not to be repeated.
I was confused. I thought, "Hang on, Lord. For all these years I have grown up in
the Pentecostal Church and they’ve had tarry meetings to wait on You for the
anointing; to wait on the Holy Spirit to come down upon us; to wait for a fresh
touch of Pentecost. Why doesn’t Your Word teach that I need to seek the
anointing?"
Change of Ideas
I began to change my whole theology. I began to realize that what I had believed
for so many years did not seem to line up with the Word, certainly not where the
anointing was concerned. So I learned a few principles, or I began to learn a few
principles. You know those famous last words are, "One thing I have learned …"
They are famous last words, because the moment you open your big mouth and
say, "Well, one thing I have learned …" be sure you are going to be learning it all
over again. Oh yeah, we know all about that. Don’t ever say, "One thing I have
learned," because you are going to find you are going to learn it all over again.
I remember many times boldly proclaiming from the pulpit, being dogmatic and
firm on what I believed and did not believe. And the Lord brought me to an
experience where I had to change my mind; where the things I stood up and so
boldly proclaimed from the pulpit did not hold water anymore.
It is not easy to go back and say, "Remember what I used to preach so fervently?
It was wrong." Oh boy. So, what I am teaching you here is, "One thing I am
learning …" I am learning day by day about the anointing. So way back there God
began to teach me, and I began to learn some new things about the anointing that
I did not know before, and I am going to share some of them with you in this
message.
Anointing Oil
Where does this word come from? The word means quite simply to pour
something over somebody, or to rub on. The way they did it in the Old Testament
is they used a special oil, an anointing oil. Sometimes the word ‘ointment’ is used
in the King James, referring to this oil. It was a special combination of oils, a
special secret formula that God gave to the Israelites; a special combination of
certain oils in certain quantities. And they mixed it together, and that formula was
not allowed to be used for anything except the anointing. It was forbidden for them
to take those same oils and make that same anointing oil for themselves. It had to
be made only by the priests and for the priests, and to be used specifically in the
anointing.
Anointing for Priests
That oil was poured upon Aaron and his sons as they were ordained to the
priesthood. And Aaron became the first High Priest. That oil was poured over his
head. We read about it in Psalm 133: "How good and pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity. It is like the ointment (the anointing oil), that was poured on
the head of Aaron and flowed down onto his beard and onto his garments."
When you had that oil on you, you began to glow. It was those nice aromatic oils,
those nice spicy oils that made a nice warm glow on your skin. If you rubbed it on
your skin you began to feel warm, you began to glow. Why? Because God was
using in the Old Testament, a type, a picture. The whole Old Covenant is a picture
of what was to be fulfilled in the New. God was using a symbol, a picture in oil, of
what He was to do with His Holy Spirit; that when His Holy Spirit would come upon
people it would have that effect – a glow, a warm glow, a nice effect.
Anointing for Kings
That same anointing oil was used to anoint kings and to place them into office. It is
the first mention we have in the Scriptures of anointing. Then God began to pour
His Spirit out, and the type of the anointing, the oil, which symbolized the Holy
Spirit, began to show itself as God began to pour His Spirit out upon people in
anointing power. And when God’s Spirit came upon people under the Old
Covenant, there were a lot of different effects that took place. It produced power in
them, and gave them divine ability to do exploits for God. And if you look at
Hebrews 11 you see a list of some of the heroes of the Old Covenant and some of
the things they did. In Hebrews 11:32 the writer to the Hebrews says:
And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of
Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and
Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms,
worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of
lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned
to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to
life again.
Mighty Exploits
Miracles, power and anointing. The anointing of the Spirit of God, when it came on
those heroes of faith, made them do mighty exploits.
Gideon
Gideon, this mighty man – the angel came to him to tell him that God had called
him, and he was hiding away from the Philistines. The angel came and said, "God
is with you, Gideon, you mighty man of valor." And I think Gideon looked around
and said, "Who are you talking to? Who me?"
"Yes you."
"Me, a mighty man of valor?"
"No, you’re a little wimp, but I am going to make you into a mighty man of valor.
Now the first thing you do is go down and cut down that idol that your father and
his family are worshiping."
So you know what this mighty man of valor did? He sneaked in at night when
nobody was looking, and cut it down. But you see, he took a step in the right
direction. And the Scripture says, "And the Spirit of God came down on Gideon."
Then he stood up and blew the trumpet! Well, you cannot hide when you blow a
trumpet. Something happened to this little wimp when the anointing of the Spirit of
God came on him. He had a new power, he had a new boldness. And he went and
defeated the whole Philistine camp with 300 men. Talk about change! The
anointing of God will do that to a person. It will bring change. It will bring power. It
will bring strength, and it will bring wisdom and boldness.
Samson
Samson – well Samson received something else from the anointing. When the
anointing came on him he just became so strong he could break anything. They
tried to lock him in the city, but he just picked up the gates and carried them with
him. He was mad at the Philistines, the anointing of God came down on him, and
he just picked up a jawbone of an ass and wiped them out! Strength, power. When
the anointing of the Spirit of God comes on you, you become a new man. You
become a different person. You do things you cannot do in the natural.
David
How about David? David said, "By my God I can run through a troop; I can jump
over a wall." David, the Psalmist who released the power of God through song;
who could go against the giant Goliath with just a little sling and a stone, because
he came against him with the anointing of God. The power of God was upon him.
So we see some of the early prophets – Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and the mighty
miracles and signs and wonders that they performed when the Spirit of God came
upon them. The anointing gives you supernatural divine abilities. It brings a
change.
External Anointing
But what kind of anointing are we talking about? As we read in the Old Testament
we see the same expression coming again and again. It says, "And the Spirit of
God came upon Gideon..."
"And the Spirit of God came upon Samson..."
"And the Spirit of God came upon Saul …"
"The Spirit of God came upon …"
You see it again and again, that same expression, "The Spirit of God came
upon..." Well, it is that same picture of the anointing oil. It is the same picture of
this oil being poured on top of a person, on his head and running down and
spreading throughout his whole body. It is an anointing that is external. It comes
from without and comes upon the person. It comes upon their body and seeps into
their soul and into their spirit and fills them and saturates them.
It is like being caught in a rain storm and walking in a rain forest, or getting a
thunder shower suddenly coming down upon you. It is going to drench you. It is
going to make you wet. It is the external anointing. The anointing came upon the
prophets and they prophesied. We read how Samuel said to Saul that the
anointing would come upon him and he would prophesy.
Transferring the Anointing
We read again and again of the anointing coming upon someone. We read of
Moses, how God said, "I want you to pick seventy people and gather them
together in one place. And I am going to take of the Spirit that is upon you and I’m
going to put it upon them." And as they gathered together God came down, and
He took the same anointing that was on Moses and it came upon the seventy
elders, and something began to happen to them. We are going to look at that
shortly as we look at what happens when the anointing comes upon a person.
Even Saul, who was a king, when the anointing came on him he fell under the
power, and he lay there naked for a couple of days prophesying. You would swear
he was drunk the way he was behaving. The anointing came on him and had an
effect. It had a physical effect on his body.
New Testament Effects
Well, that was the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. What happened in the New
Covenant? We read that on the Day of Pentecost, as the disciples were gathered
together in the Upper Room, they heard a sound of a mighty rushing wind, and
tongues of fire came down and rested upon them. And they began to act like
drunk people, because everybody came along and said, "What’s with you guys? It
is nine o’clock in the morning and you’re drunk already!" It began to have an effect
on them. And we will look at some of the effects shortly.
Prophecy and Tongues
It is the same kind of thing as what you see in the Old Testament. The Spirit came
upon them. And you see it repeated throughout the book of Acts. You see Peter
standing preaching to Cornelius’s household, and while he was preaching the
Spirit of God falls on the people and they start to prophesy and speak in tongues,
and something begins to happen. It shows.
You see Philip go to Samaria to preach the gospel to them, and they send Peter
and John down to come and lay hands on these people that they can receive the
Spirit. Simon the Sorcerer also became a believer. He had dabbled in Witchcraft in
the evil powers of Satan. He was impressed with all the miracles and things, but
he had seen all that before. Now Peter and John come and lay hands on people,
and as they lay hands on them they receive the Holy Spirit.
Simon looks and he says, "Wow, I wish I could do that?"
Do what? Do what Peter and John were doing. Well, what were they doing? They
were laying hands on people, and when they did that the Holy Ghost came upon
them. Well, what happened when the Spirit came upon them? The Scripture does
not tell us what happened, but whatever happened it must have been outstanding
enough for Simon to say, "I want some of that." Something happened. It was
tangible; it was visible; it was physical. Something real takes place when the
anointing comes upon a person.
The Anointing Affects the Body

So we have seen these various signs. In the Old Testament we see with Samson,
supernatural strength takes place. We see another example where Elijah, after he
has prayed for the restoration of the rain, he picks up his cloak and he begins to
run because the rain is coming. And the Scripture says, "The Spirit of God came
upon him, and he outran the chariot." He outran the chariot! He became an instant
marathon runner, and he probably broke every record, greater than we even have
today. Why? Because the anointing came upon him. The anointing has an effect
on the human body. It is a very powerful release of energy that comes upon a
person when the anointing comes upon him. And you will read the same
expression there in the New Testament as what you read in the Old Testament.
We read that Paul, coming into Ephesus, finds some disciples who have accepted
the Lord but they do not know the fullness of the truth and he said, "Did you
receive the Holy Spirit since you have believed?"
And they said, "What are you talking about? The Holy Spirit? We’ve never heard
of it." Then you have another group who had been baptized, and it says they had
been baptized but had not received the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not
yet come upon them.
It Caused Miracles
So you see the expression again and again, "The Spirit coming upon them." And
every time the Spirit came upon them something took place. The exact same sort
of thing is what took place in the Old Testament. There were miracles that took
place in the Old Testament when the Spirit of God came upon the prophets of old.
There were miracles that took place in the New Testament when the Spirit of God
came upon the early disciples and the apostles. It had the same kind of effects,
but there was something new that took place in the New Testament. There was
something new that did not happen in the Old Testament. That is what I really
want to major on here. I want to show you that the anointing in the New Testament
is different to the anointing in the Old Testament.
Evidence in Speech
The first difference that took place had to do with speech. Jesus said that there
would be various signs that would follow those who believe. In Mark 16:15 and 16
as Jesus gave the commission He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. And these signs shall
follow those who believe; in My Name they shall cast out demons …" Strangely,
you did not see that in the Old Covenant. "In My Name they shall speak with new
tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly it shall not
harm them."
There seemed to be a greater power here than there was in the Old Covenant.
Somehow there seemed to be something extra. But one thing stood out above all
the others. "They shall speak with new tongues." Now, in the Old Testament when
the Spirit came upon people it had an effect on their speech. How do I know that?
Let’s look at that passage where the anointing came down on the elders. You will
find it in Numbers 11:24:
And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and
gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them
round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and
spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and gave it to
the seventy elders. And it occurred that when the Spirit rested on
them, they prophesied, and did not stop.
What happened to Saul when the anointing came on him? He began to prophesy.
What happened when the anointing came on the prophets of old? They began to
prophesy. Well, prophesying involves speaking. It showed in speech. They began
to speak out under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit took control of
their tongues in some way.
Tongues in the New Testament
Now, what happened in the New Testament? In Acts 2:4 it says, "And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance."
You say, "Didn’t they prophesy in the Old Testament?" Well, they did that too. It
says in Acts 19:6, "And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came
upon them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." You see there is
something very similar about the anointing in the New Testament to what there is
in the Old Testament. It is very similar.
You say, "Well, what’s the difference?"
So far the only difference really seems to be in the tongues. They did not speak in
other tongues in the Old Testament. In the New Testament they spoke with other
tongues. And just about every time this anointing came upon new believers in the
Acts of the Apostles, we read that they spoke with other tongues.
External Anointing and Speech Linked
There seems to be a link here with the external anointing and with speech. There
seems to be an indication here that when the external anointing comes upon
somebody it takes control of the whole person in a way that controls their
language as well. And when a person begins to speak and their very tongue is
under the control of the Spirit of God, it is a sign that God has come down upon
them; that the anointing of God has come upon them.
All these are signs of the external anointing. And apart from tongues, if you look at
the Old Testament and you look at the New Testament, they look exactly the
same. They look very similar. And if you look back in the Old Testament, you find
out that God only poured His Spirit down upon individuals who fulfilled certain
criteria. He didn’t pour it down on just anybody. He was very selective. He was
very choosy about who He put His anointing on. And when Saul turned his back
on God he lost his anointing.
Old Testament Anointing Influenced by Works
It was possible under the Old Testament to lose the anointing. It was possible
under the Old Testament to increase the anointing, depending on the kind of life
you lived; on the kind of commitment you had to God; on whether you walked fully
in His covenant. The anointing was dependent upon your commitment. The
anointing was dependent upon your righteousness before God, and your total
commitment to Him.
But then came the New Testament. So far, we have not seen any difference
between the two, but yet there is a difference. I told you at the beginning there is a
difference, and I am going to show you that difference now.
Something Greater Offered
We go back to Hebrews 11 where it was speaking about the heroes of faith, and
we read in Hebrews 11:39 these words, speaking of all these Old Testament
heroes of faith. It says, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they
without us should not be made perfect."
There is something that God promised to us in the New Testament that they did
not have. There is something that is promised in the New Testament that makes
the New Testament believer far greater than any Old Testament believer. So much
so that Jesus, speaking about John the Baptist, says of him that he is the greatest
prophet. He said, "Amongst those born of women, no greater one has arisen than
John the Baptist." He is the greatest prophet. "Nevertheless, he that is the least in
the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John the Baptist." Why?
Obviously there is a difference. Obviously there is something that the New

Testament saints have that the Old Testament saints did not. They had the
external anointing. They had the Spirit come upon them. In the New Testament we
have the external anointing. We have the Spirit coming upon us. But where is the
difference?
Sending the Comforter
In John 14:16, before He went to the cross, Jesus, speaking to His disciples says,
"And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may
abide with you forever; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it does not see Him, nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with
you, and He shall be in you." Then Jesus said, "I will not leave you comfortless." In
other words, "I will not leave you without a comforter." "I will come to you."
Now hold it, what is He saying there? What did He mean when He said, "I’m going
to ask the Father to give you another comforter."? Why another comforter? Who
was the comforter now? It was Jesus. Jesus said, "I am going to ask the Father to
give you somebody else to take My place when I leave. Don’t worry about it, guys,
I’m coming back. I won’t leave you comfortless. I am coming back to you, but I am
not coming back to you the same way. I’m coming back to you in the Spirit."
This was something different. This was a different kind of Spirit. Yes, it was the
Holy Spirit, but it was Jesus coming to His people in and through the Holy Spirit. In
Galatians 4:6 Paul says, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ " And Jesus went on to say
to them, "If you believe in Me, and the Father Himself, we will come and we will
make our abode in you."
Spirit Living Within Not Just On
We. Who? The entire godhead - Father, Son and Spirit. Jesus was offering the
New Testament saints something that the Old Testament saints did not have. He
was saying, "Not only are you going to have the Spirit with you; not only are you
going to have the Spirit upon you; but you are going to have something in you that
has never been there before. Nobody has ever had that before."
Nobody could have that before because Jesus had to pay the price for the sins of
the world. Jesus had to make man suitable for God to come and live there. God
could not live permanently in a sinful vessel. He could not. He could only come
upon; He could only be with, while that person was walking with Him. But Jesus
made a way for that vessel to be purged and to be made suitable; and to be made
righteous; and to be made holy, so that the Holy Spirit of God; that the Father of
glory Himself, and the Son could come and dwell in that redeemed vessel.
Jesus made some promises during His ministry concerning the Holy Spirit. On the
day He spoke to the woman at the well, the Samaritan, and He began to get her
attention by asking her for water, He said to her, "If you knew who I was, you’d ask
Me to give you water, because the water that I am going to give you is going to be
different." And He used these words in John 4:14:
Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him (in him) a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.
What are you going to do with a well? You are going to drink from it. Who is going
to drink from it? You are going to drink from it. "Whoever drinks of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst." Why? Because you are able to drink from your
own well.
The Inner Anointing
Jesus was speaking about a new kind of anointing. He was speaking about an
inner anointing. He was speaking about an anointing that was for you, not for
others but for you. It is for you to tap into yourself. It is for you to sink down your
bucket and to draw from yourself. It is to tap into for your own needs; for your own
thirst; for your own hunger, whatever your needs are. Jesus was offering a source,
a power within that you can tap into yourself. He was speaking about a new kind
of anointing. He was speaking about an inner anointing. How does that inner
anointing come about? By the Holy Spirit coming to dwell within, not upon but
within.
But there is still the external isn’t there? So what is the difference? In John 7:37
Jesus attended a feast. It was a special feast where they were celebrating the
Feast of Tabernacles, which was a time of rejoicing. And on the last day of the
feast, at the crowning ceremony as they would gather together, the Priest would
go down to the Pool of Siloam and he would bring out a jug of water. Then he
would stand in the ceremony and he would pour water out of this golden goblet
into a couple of silver goblets. As he would pour it they would read from the
Psalms where it says, "Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of
salvation."
Water of the Spirit
It was a standard ceremony. They did it every year. Nobody knew what it meant,
but they did it. Jesus knew what it meant. He was going to be the fulfillment of that
type, of that shadow from the Old Testament. You see, He is the golden goblet.
He was the one who was going to go to the pool and get the power. He was the
one who was going to go into the presence of the Father to receive on our behalf,
that new anointing, that new Spirit. And He was going to come down, gold being a
type of deity. Jesus being very God and very man was going to pour out the water
of the Spirit, and He was going to pour it out into a silver goblet. And silver, in the
Scriptures, always speaks of redemption.
Jesus stood there and He saw it, and He knew it! He was the golden goblet, and
the silver cup was you and I. It was those who were going to be redeemed by His
blood and through the work that He was going to do. And once He had done the
work of redemption, He was going to go and receive the promise of the Father,
and He was going to come and pour it out into those whom He had redeemed.
Rivers Flowing Out
In John 7:37 it says, "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried out saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He that
believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inward parts shall flow rivers of
living water.’ "
From his inward parts shall flow out, rivers of living water. It says, "But He was
referring to the Spirit which those that believe in Him would receive, for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
Jesus spoke about two different things here. He spoke about an anointing within
that we could drink into ourselves, that we could tap for our own needs and for our
own thirst. And He was speaking about a gushing stream that would gush up and
pour forth and produce rivers, rivers, of living water that would flow out to meet
the needs of others. Can you see the difference? The one is a well springing up
that we tap into. The other is a gushing forth that pours out to meet the needs of
others.
External and Internal Combined
Jesus was speaking about a new kind of anointing. He was speaking about an
outward anointing combined with an inward anointing. He was saying, "You can
still have the anointing of the Old Testament, and you can still go and soak in the
rain and become wet, but I am going to give you a bit more than that, because
after you’re wet you are going to open your mouth and you’re going to pour out
water. And you will make everybody else wet, too." He is speaking about an
outward and an inward anointing combining together.
Now there is something about the inward anointing that is different from the
outward anointing. Because you see, the external anointing came upon a person
at God’s sovereign will. It came upon a person when God chose. It came
spontaneously and unexpectedly. It came with devastating results, and it remained
while God poured it out. But Jesus spoke about a new anointing that would come.
The Holy Spirit of Truth that He said would remain with you forever.
Power on Tap
He is never going to leave. He is going to remain with you forever. And there is
going to be a power there that is going to be on tap that you can tap into and that
you can pour forth and use at any time. Heresy? Well let’s see what the early
disciples did with this?
Peter Opened the Tap
Peter and John were going up to the temple to pray and they come to the Beautiful
Gate and there is a beggar begging them for money. And the Scripture says, "And
as Peter stood there the anointing of the Spirit of God came upon him …" No it
doesn’t. Peter stood there and looked at the guy and said, "Look here!"
The guy said, "Oh, you have money for me?"
And Peter looked at him and he said, "Sorry, I don’t have any money. But I do
have something I can give you. I have something to give you, and such as I have I
am choosing to give to you." Then Peter opened his tap wide and he just reached
out and took that man by the hand and he pulled him up and said, "In the Name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" Pow! He opened his mouth and just
gushed out and drenched him. And when the anointing hit his body the
crippledness just had to leave.
The Scripture says he jumped up and ran all around, walking and leaping and
praising God. Why? Because Peter had a power. You see, the anointing had
come upon Peter and saturated him. But the anointing was gushing up inside of
him as well. Man, the guy was just riddled with it. He opened his mouth and it just
shot out. Imagine somebody opening their mouth and something comes out. Well
normally what comes out of a mouth you don’t want to come at you. But imagine
somebody opening their mouth, and every time they do, something hits you. You
cannot help it. Why? Because the anointing comes out of the mouth. We will deal
with that later. We are not going to have time to cover that here, but we are going
to look in a lot of detail at exactly how the anointing is released and how we can
use it – both the inner anointing and the outward anointing.
But you see there is power. In the New Testament there is something there that is
available to the New Testament believer that is far greater than what the Old
Testament saints had. And when Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning the
works that He did, He said, "These works that I do (with the external anointing)
you are going to do the same. But I want to tell you something, you’re going to
have the capacity to do greater works than these, because I am going to My
Father. And when I go to My Father I’m going to give you back something more."
The disciples had moved in the external anointing even while Jesus was with
them. He gave them power and He sent them out and said, "Go and heal the sick,
raise the dead and cast out demons." They had operated under that power
already. They knew it. They understood it. They worked with Jesus and did the
same miracles that He did by His side. But He said, "I am giving you something
greater. Just wait."
When He ascended up into Heaven He said, "Now you go and wait in Jerusalem
until you receive the promise of the Father, and then power is going to come upon
you. Power is going to come upon you when the Spirit of God comes upon you.
You’re going to have something new. You are not just going to be soaked from
without, but the underground stream from within your spirit is going to gush forth in
mighty power; far more power than what you guys have known before."
Differences Between Old and New
Old Testament Had External Only
So we see there is a difference between the Old Testament and the New. In the
Old Testament we see that they had an external anointing only. In the New
Testament we see that believers still have the external anointing. But we have
now a new power that has been placed within us that can gush forth from within.
Old Testament Given to Select People Only
In the Old Testament God gave His anointing only to selected individuals. In the
New Testament, "Whosoever will may come." Peter said, "This promise is to you
and to all that are far off, and to your children, even to as many as the Lord our
God shall call." This promise is to everyone who accepts Jesus. This promise is to
everyone who believes. This promise is to every single person who is born again
of the Spirit of God.
You don’t have to wait for God to say, "Well, you’re my favorite. I am choosing to
give you this anointing." You have a right to this anointing! Jesus paid the price.
He shed His blood to give you this anointing. It is your right, it is your inheritance,
and He has given you His robe of righteousness. And He has given you the right
to reach out and to take what He has bought for you at Calvary. It is yours,
believer. Every single one who knows Jesus as their Savior has the right to that
anointing.
Spirit Came Upon in Old Testament
In the Old Testament the Spirit came upon. In the New Testament the Spirit is
within. In the Old Testament they jumped into the river to swim.
Ezekiel had a vision. In Ezekiel 47 he had a vision where he saw the temple and
he saw from the threshold, the door of the temple and there was water pouring
out, water trickling out in a stream. Everybody knows this passage so well, it has
been preached so well. Everybody is talking about the river of God. "Get in the
river."
And the angel came and measured up, and each time he measured up the water
became deeper. It started up to the ankles, then up to the knees, then up to the
thighs. Then it became a raging river that you had to swim in. It is the river of God,
it is the anointing of God. It is the power of God. It is the external anointing, the
outpouring of God’s Spirit. You had to get in it.
A River in You
Well, the Old Testament saints had the river. They could get in the river. But I want
to tell you something, if you are a New Testament saint you have a river in you!
You can give out the river. You don’t have to go and get in the river, you can give
out the river. "Out of his innermost being," Jesus said, "shall flow rivers …"
He did not say, "Little trickles." He didn’t say, "A stupid little stream." He said,
"Rivers." He didn’t even say, "River (singular)." He said, "Rivers (plural)." You
have the capacity to pour out!
People are always going to find where the river is flowing.
"Oh, if only we could go and find a church that has revival, we can go and get in
the river and have a good swim."
Revival Starts in People
Do you know why that church is in revival? Because somebody in that church
knew how to let out their river, that is why. You will find every one of these
churches where revival has come, the revival is based on individuals; it is based
on people. You will see in some of these great revival churches, an individual has
come there and he has remained to keep that revival going. Why? Because he
knows how to pour the rivers out, and everybody is coming to jump in his river.
You gather a few people together, and they join their rivers together. We are going
to look at that shortly.
You have a river in you. Do you want to get in the river? Do you want to go for a
swim? Are you feeling dry? You are saying, "Oh, I wish we had revival in our
church. Oh, I wish I didn’t have to fly a thousand miles to a revival church to go
and get in the river." What is wrong with your river? Did it dry up? You probably did
not even know it was there. You have never learned how to let the river flow. You
have never learned how to release what God has put within you.
Corporate Anointing
So we come to the corporate anointing. What is that? That is what happens when
you take a couple of people together who both know how to pour out their river.
Do you know how a great big major gushing river is formed? It starts with a little
trickle up in the mountains and it pours forth, and then a tributary joins it from
somewhere else, and it gets bigger. Then another tributary comes in and joins it
from somewhere else, and it gets bigger still. Before long you have all of these
tributaries coming in, all emptying into the one river. And before you know it you
have a great big, fast flowing, gushing river.
Two or More in Unity
Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am in
their midst." What is He saying? He is saying, "I’ll tell you what. If two or three of
you will put your rivers together I will come and add mine and we’ll have a gusher."
That is all it takes; two or three, even two people standing together in one accord.
Do you recognize that expression? Go back and read the book of Acts and you
will read concerning the disciples, 120 of them, waiting for the promise of the
Father.
And it says, "And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come they were all of one
accord in one place." They were in one accord. They had one heart, one soul, one
mind, one spirit. They were flowing together, they were thinking together, they
were pouring together. They were pouring their streams out. They were ready as
one. And then the Spirit of God came down upon them and (pow!).
Disciples Had Internal Anointing
You see, when Jesus appeared to His disciples after He had risen from the dead,
the Scripture says, "He breathed into them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ "
When did they receive the inner anointing? Was it on the day of Pentecost? No, it
was not. It was after Jesus had risen from the dead, ascended to the Father, and
He came and He breathed into them and gave it to them then. Now for the first
time, they had the right to have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.
Internal and External Coming Together
Okay, now I am going to bring the two together for you. I want you to see
something. The disciples had the inner anointing already. They had not received
the external anointing yet. How did they receive the external anointing? How did it
come about? How did they put themselves in a position to receive that power that
was going to come upon them?
Unite Your Hearts
"Tarry in Jerusalem, and wait." How? By uniting their hearts together and
becoming of one accord. Can you see what Jesus was talking about now, when
He said, "Where two or three are being gathered together in My Name, there I am
in their midst." Jesus was saying, "If you will put your inner anointings together I’ll
give you the external one. If at least two of you will just get together and pool the
inner anointing together, you will draw the external. I will come in and I’ll pour it out
on you."
Two or More People Together
Now, you go back to the Acts of the Apostles and you will find that in every single
case where the external anointing came upon somebody, there was more than
one person involved. There was always more than one person involved. When
Paul laid his hands on the converts at Ephesus, the Holy Ghost came upon them.
As Peter stood there and preached the Word, the Spirit of God came upon them.
As Peter and John went to Samaria and laid their hands on the people, as there
came that unity of spirit, the anointing came upon them.
There is a key to receiving and obtaining and flowing in the external anointing. And
if you want to see the external anointing of God begin to flow, it is going to take at
least two people standing together as one. It is going to take a kind of a catalyst. It
is going to take a kind of a chemical reaction, if you like, that when you put two
chemicals together they begin to ignite, and automatically something begins to
take place.
Potential for a Bomb
I used to have fun doing this in my early days. I think it was glycerine and
potassium permanganate that you mixed together and suddenly it would begin to
froth and bubble and burst into flame. I am sure all the kids today with their
pyrotechnics know exactly what I am talking about. You just mix the right couple of
things together and you have a potential bomb. Jesus gave us the recipe for a
bomb. He said, "If two or three of you will pool together what I have put in you, and
become of one heart and one spirit, then I will ignite the bomb."
The Anointing Abides Always
We have been looking for the key to revival. We have been looking for the key to
the anointing of the Spirit of God, about how we can receive the anointing. And
people are saying, "You must fast for long times to get that anointing. You must
deal with sin in your life." And yet again and again you see people who are moving
in the anointing of God whose lives are lacking. You see people who have been
used by God who fell into sin, and the anointing is still there.
The Spirit of God does not leave you when you fall into sin. The inner anointing is
a permanent abiding anointing, and the Spirit of God will continue to strive and to
work in you to deal with that sin. But the external anointing, the power that is going
to come upon you, has nothing to do with that. It has to do with you, in faith
coming together and uniting your heart with others. That is why you cannot do it
alone. That is what the body of Christ is about. That is what fellowship is about.
That is what the church is about. It is about coming together as one. How often
have you seen that?
I remember growing up in churches and the one meeting I hated was the weekly
prayer meeting. No, I didn’t hate to pray. I loved to pray. You just give me a couple
of people who liked to pray and we would have a party. Oh, but you come into the
church prayer, and oh man. People are getting up there, and they are wailing and
they are weeping. And they are crying out to God and praying for the government,
and for the people behind the Iron Curtain, and … Oh Lord, these people never
pray at home. They come and do it at church. You are falling asleep while one guy
there is praying for half an hour. And he is just praying because he likes the sound
of his voice! No, that is not one accordness.
Power in Unity
I used to hate those prayer meetings. They were horrible. And as a young person,
freshly anointed of the Spirit of God I would gather a couple of young people
together after the dead meeting and we would go and meet in somebody’s home.
And we would get down and start to worship.
"Oh hallelujah, praise you Jesus. Glory! Thank you, Lord."
And KAPOW!, the power of God would be there. God would give us words of
prophecy, and He would tell us to go out and speak to the lost. He would anoint us
with the Spirit, and we would pray for one another. Things began to happen in
those meetings. Why? There was one accordness.
The early church, when they came together in one accord after they had been
persecuted and they came together, they began to pray in one heart, one soul and
one mind to the Lord and say, "Lord, look at the way these people are threatening
us. Now Lord, stretch forth Your hand to heal and let signs and wonders be done
by the Name of Your Holy child Jesus. Lord give us boldness." Man, I tell you what
happened. The building began to shake.
You say, "Boy, it took quite a crowd of people to do that."
No, it only takes two. How do I know that? Paul and Silas were in prison. They had
been beaten. They were sore. And they said, "Well, brother, let’s have a prayer
meeting." They began to worship. You have one accord when you sing together,
let me tell you. They began to worship and sing praises to God. And somebody
said, "God began to tap His foot to the music it was so good." And man, He tapped
it so hard the ground began to shake! There was an earthquake and it cast of their
chains.
It was the power of agreement, the power of uniting two human spirits together.
Jesus said, "If you will do that, I’ll add My power to it and you can have the
fullness. You can have the external anointing. You can receive the power. It is
right there for you. All I want is for you to come together as one. That’s all it
requires."
Questions on Internal Anointing
I am going to end now, in looking at these two anointings in conclusion, and I want
to just answer one little question. How often do you need to receive the anointing?
Anointing Given Once Only
As I read the Scriptures - and I told you that at the beginning - when I first began
to look into the Word on the subject of the anointing, I discovered two main verses.
The one said, "He that hath anointed us is God." As I went into the Greek I noticed
that the word ‘anointed’ was in the Greek aorist tense, which speaks of a once
only, not to be repeated, event. He who anointed you, once and for all, is God.
Anointing Abides Forever
Then in 1 John 2:27 the Apostle John says, "And the anointing which you have
received of Him abides (remains, lives permanently there) in you forever." The
anointing stays. It is in you. It is there all the time. You only receive that anointing
once. When do you receive that inner anointing? You receive it when you accept
Jesus as your Savior and you are born again of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of
God comes to dwell within you. You then have the capacity for that inward
anointing.
External Anointing
Baptism in the Spirit
What about the external anointing? How often do you receive the external
anointing? This is a difficult one. Those from the Pentecostal camp believe in the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? If you like it is a
kind of point where the inward anointing and the outward anointings meet together
and overflow in an utterance, the most common sign being speaking in other
tongues. That event only takes place once.
Bridge Between the Two
If you like, what happens is a bridge takes place between the outside and the
inside. A pipe is sunk down from your body through into your spirit. There comes a
channel that is produced that allows now that whenever the anointing will come
upon you it will flow out of you. And when you flow out the external will come. The
two begin to flow together and they begin to work together.
You will find that if you begin to speak in tongues – and I have shared this so
much elsewhere in our prophetic course – but if you will begin to speak in tongues
and pour out the anointing, after a while you will begin to feel some of that external
anointing as it begins to flow out into your body. You begin to sense the effect of
that anointing pouring forth.
Filling with the Holy Spirit
But there is an additional expression, another terms that is used in the Scripture,
and that is to be ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. Now this is where we confuse it. The
anointing and the filling are not the same thing, and yet they take place together. If
you read in the Acts of the Apostles it says, "And the Spirit of God came upon
them (the fire came down upon them) and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."
If you like, it is like somebody just drenching you with water until you are saturated
and full. There comes a filling, an infilling. There comes a pouring out and a
gushing forth from within until it saturates your whole being. That is what it means
to be filled with the Holy Spirit, where the anointing of God is on you. And if you
have experienced the anointing of God you know what I am talking about. You can
feel it. It is flowing. There is power there. But after a while it goes away. We don’t
walk in that 24 hours a day. We do not live in it continuously.
So there is an anointing, and there is a filling process. In Ephesians where Paul

gives us the commandment from the Lord that says, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit,"
he uses the Greek present continuous tense, which effectively means, "Be, being
filled. Be in a situation of being continuously refilled with the Holy Spirit." You have
to receive the refilling of the Spirit all the time.
Pour Forth by Praying in Tongues
Now how are you going to do that? You are going to do that by pouring forth the
inner anointing, by speaking in tongues, by praying in tongues, by worship. We are
going to deal with so many of those and how to release the inner anointing. And
you are going to do it by getting together to stand together in the prayer of
agreement with at least one other person.
When you do that, and there comes that one accordness, you both are filled. And
after you are filled you start to bubble over, and the stream starts to flow and the
rivers start to gush forth. Then the rivers start to join together and you get the river
of God, the anointing power of God. And anybody else who comes into the room is
going to feel it.
Have you ever experienced that? A couple of people are worshipping the Lord.
They are praying in the Spirit under the anointing of God, and you walk into the
room and you say, "Wow, I can feel it! There is something here; there is power
here. There is something different here." The external anointing has come with it.
Top Up Continually
But the process has to be repeated. Just because you were filled with the Spirit
last night, does not mean when you get up tomorrow morning that the flow is going
to be there. But I will tell you what, the underground stream is still there, and the
Spirit of God is all around us, and His anointing is all around us, because the Spirit
of God is everywhere. It is like the radio waves in the air round about us. They are
there all the time. You cannot see them, you cannot feel them. But you turn on
your radio set and tune into them, and you have a program; and you have music;
and you have whatever is being broadcast.
Well, the Lord is broadcasting 24 hours a day. Do you want to flow in the
anointing? Do you want to feel the flow? Do you want to get drunk? You don’t
need to go to the bar. You do not need to go to the bottle store. It is in the air. He
is here. How far away is He?
"Thank you Father, in Jesus’ Name."
Just reach out and touch Him. Pour forth from within. Reach out and touch Him,
and suddenly there comes this cloud of His glory. It is like sending up the vapors,
and the cloud forms, and the rain begins to come down on you. You can come into
the presence of God at any time. You can have the anointing of God at any time.
And all that has happened in revival churches is people have learned to do it, and
they have got into the habit. And they cannot wait to go back to the next meeting.
When they come back to the next meeting they do it automatically without even
realizing it. They just come in one accord, expecting it. And God never lets them
down.
You say, "I wish our church was like that."
Find two people. Well, if you are the one who is on fire, find one person. Just one.
Find just one person who will unite with you totally in agreement. If you can find a
third one, that is all the better. Just pool your spiritual power. Learn to pray
together and release the anointing of God together, and come together as one.
And God is going to be there. Jesus said so. He promised it.
If you are going to reach out by faith and claim that promise, and take Him at His
Word, He will never let you down. The anointing will be there. The anointing will
always be there when you need it.
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Using the Prophetic Anointing
Two Kinds of Anointings

e saw in our study on Understanding the Anointing that there are
essentially two aspects, or two kinds of anointing – an external anointing
and an internal anointing. We saw that there is basically one difference
between the two. The internal anointing is something that is permanently
within. If you like, it is the anointing on tap. The external anointing is something
that comes under God’s timing at God’s choice, spontaneously and sovereignly as
the Spirit of God moves upon us. It is not under our control until God moves upon
us.
We saw that the two flow together. I would like to look at that more here as we
consider using the prophetic anointing. We have spoken in the Prophetic School
concerning prophetic gifts; concerning prophetic listening; concerning prophetic
utterance. There are a lot of different subjects that we have covered concerning
the use of the prophetic ministry. Now I want to see how we can apply this concept
of the external and the internal anointing specifically to the ministry of the prophet,
to see how it functions and how it operates.
Old and New Testament Anointings

In the Old Testament
We see that the internal and external anointings on the prophet flow together. In
the Old Testament the prophet did not have the internal anointing. They only had
the external anointing. So they were totally reliant on God moving upon them and
giving them a word. If the word did not come they could not do anything. The
prophet had to sit and wait. The Scriptures say, "And the Word of the Lord came to
the prophet (so and so)," and God spoke.
We read at times of prophets like Elijah and Elisha who make statements like,
"The Lord has hidden this thing from me, that I do not know what is happening." If
God did not give the revelation they would not know what was going on. They
were totally reliant on the Spirit of God coming upon them spontaneously at the
right time for a specific season and for a purpose.
In the New Testament
Now in the New Testament it still works the same. The external anointing still
functions the same way that it always does. The external anointing comes
spontaneously upon the prophet in God’s sovereign will, in His timing, in the right
place, at the right time. It is a ministry of God. It is produced by the Spirit of God. It
is not something that comes from the spirit of man. It is not something we produce
ourselves. It is gift ministry and the Holy Spirit is in control of that ministry.
External Anointing – Like a Rainstorm
But the external anointing, when it comes in a New Testament prophet - not only a
prophet, but a New Testament believer – when the external anointing comes it
creates something else. It causes a surge to take place in the internal anointing. It
is like a rainstorm suddenly coming upon a river that has a slow flowing stream or
even a dry riverbed. And there comes this sudden rainstorm and it produces what
they call a flash flood. Suddenly out of nowhere this dry riverbed becomes a
gushing, fast flowing river. The water pours down and causes the river to gush
forth.
So you are walking down this dry riverbed minding your own business, and
suddenly you see a wall of water coming towards you. It is a flash flood. There has
come a build up further down the river of all the waters that were collected from
the rain, and suddenly the river gushes back to life and it pours forth. It travels all
the
way down the channel that it has cut, down to the sea. It pours its water forth.
Now that is what happens with the anointing. When the external anointing comes
upon a person it causes a surge to take place within. That is why usually when the
anointing comes upon you, you can feel it tangibly. You can feel it physically. But
what you feel more than anything else, is something coming out of your gut. Jesus
said, "Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water."
When the anointing comes upon you, you feel your river starting to fill up. It wants
to pour out and your stomach wants to burst. Well, it is not really in your tummy. It
just feels like it is coming from there. It is coming from the deep recesses of your
heart and your spirit. It is coming from deep within. There is a gush taking place
within, and it is going to pour forth.
When I first moved into the prophetic anointing and the prophetic ministry the Lord
taught me some things about how to use the anointing; about how to bring myself
to a place where the anointing could flow.
You see, it is not good enough to have a rainstorm come down and the water to
gush forth if there is not a river bed, a channel for the river to flow in. The river
must have a place to flow to, otherwise you have floods taking place in the
community. You have homes being destroyed. You have cars being washed
away. There needs to be a place for the water to go to when it comes.
The Underground Stream
The Lord began to teach me how to go down to that underground stream that
flows within our spirits, which is where the inner anointing is. It is like an
underground stream. You do not see it from the outside, but people know who
know about these things, that if you dig in the right place and you go down deep
enough into the earth, you are going to hit a gusher. There is water down there.
If you know the right place to dig, you can get down there and tap an underground
stream, and tap into the water that is flowing under there, continuously all the time.
You can reach in and draw out from that underground stream. And you can obtain
water in the midst of what may be a desert, where there is no water anywhere;
where there is no municipal water supply. You may be able to sink down into the
ground and tap water out of an underground stream.
The Lord showed me that the Spirit of God within us, the inner anointing, is like an
underground stream. We need to learn to tap into that. I am going to be dealing
with that a little bit in this study, and I am going to show you how to tap down into
that underground stream and how to set it up.
Questions on Using the Anointing

As God taught me how to tap down into that underground stream and to have it
come gushing up, I began to wonder how I was going to use this when ministering
to others. I knew what it was like to flow in the anointing. I knew how it felt. I knew
the effects that it had on me. I knew that if I was in the Spirit and there was
somebody here right now, I could minister to them because the anointing was on
me, and it was great. If I could stand up and preach, the anointing was on me, and
I could call people forward for ministry while the anointing was flowing; while the
wind was blowing; while the Spirit was moving.
But I began to say to myself and to the Lord, "Lord, what happens if I’m going out
there into the world in my day to day life and experience? What happens if I am
rubbing shoulders with people? What happens if somebody is visiting me or I am
visiting them and there is a need for the anointing. How am I going to go about
getting in the Spirit; getting into the anointing; getting the flow to take place like
You did when You walked down the streets and healed people? Like Peter and
John did at the Beautiful Gate with the lame man and they reached out, and just
lifted him up and spoke life into his body?"
Set Up Your Windmill
The Lord gave me a very simple picture. I have shared it before, and I want to go
into more detail here. He said, "All you need to do is sink a pipe down into your
underground stream and set up a channel for the water to flow. Then put a
windmill on top."
What does a windmill do? All a windmill is, is a mechanically operated pump that
pumps when the wind blows. And as the wind blows upon the blades and the
blades turn, it causes the pump to move and suck the water out of the pipe. No
wind blows, no water is sucked. That was my problem. I could see me there with
my pipe sunk down all great. And I would be standing there and somebody would
be coming and saying, "Okay, I want some water."
I would be saying, "Well, there’s plenty down there. If we just knew how to take it
out I could let you have some."
The Lord Provides the Wind
The Lord said, "You set up your windmill and I’ll provide the wind. All you need to
do is set up the windmill, and when it is time for the water to come out, I will
provide the wind. And when I blow My wind on your windmill and it begins to turn,
the water will come out, provided the pipe is there; provided the pump is attached
to the pipe. The water will come out."
Well, I knew what the wind was. The wind is a picture of the Spirit isn’t it? You see,
what the Lord was saying is, "If you set up the internal anointing correctly, when
the time is right I’ll blow the external anointing on you. And when I blow the
external anointing on you, the internal anointing will come gushing forth and the
power will be there."
Example – The Day of Pentecost
We saw it on the Day of Pentecost, how the Spirit came down on them – the
cloven tongues of fire – and it says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak in tongues." As the anointing came on it gushed forth and
they spoke in tongues. And you see it again and again in the Scriptures. As the
anointing comes upon people, it rises up and pours out. People are filled with the
Spirit.
Practical Application
I would like to have a look in this message firstly at how we can set up our
windmill, and once we have looked at that we are going to find out what to do with
our windmill. And we are going to find out how to go about getting water up, and
what we are going to do with the water when it comes out. Because it is no good
having the windmill set up and the wind is blowing, the windmill is turning and the
water is gushing and it is flowing everywhere and making mud. It doesn’t help
anybody!
Sink Your Pipe In
Well, if you are going to put up a windmill, the first thing you are going to have to
do is you are going to have to sink a pipe into that underground stream. The
Scripture says, "First comes the natural and then the spiritual," so let’s look at
what happens in the natural if you do that, and give it a spiritual application.
Effort is Needed
When is the last time you took out your shovel, went into your back yard and dug
yourself a borehole? It takes effort. It takes a lot of effort to drill down into an
underground stream. If you are going to dig a big hole then you are going to make
a well. And it is going to take a lot of effort to dig a well. It is easier to sink a pipe.
Well, depending on how big a pipe you are going to sink down it is going to
determine what type of water supply you are going to have. We are going to look
at that shortly. But you are going to have to sink a pipe down into the
underground, and that is going to take a bit of digging. It is going to take a bit of
removal of the dirt. It is going to take building a channel from ground floor to
basement.
Spiritual Application
How are we going to do that in the Spirit? We spoke about how what we call the
baptism of the Spirit is when the Spirit comes upon a person and what takes place
is a link is produced between the spirit within, the Holy Spirit dwelling in your
human spirit. Now that the external anointing of the Holy Spirit comes upon the
body, there needs to come a breakthrough in between. When a channel is created
between the spirit and the body the spirit begins to pray.
Pray in Tongues
How does the Spirit begin to pray? In other tongues. Paul said, "When I speak in
tongues my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." It is your spirit linking
directly with your body. It comes when you reach that point of breakthrough.
Now there are a lot of people who do not understand this. They say, "Well, I have
the Spirit of God when I was saved. Why must I receive the baptism of the Spirit?"
There are others who say, "You don’t get the Spirit until the anointing has come
upon you." We have these two extremes. But you have the Spirit. You had the
inner anointing from the moment you were born again. You had your underground
stream. But there needs to come a channel that is created. That channel that is
created is the ability to speak with other tongues.
If you want to be a prophet and you do not want to speak in other tongues, then
you might as well go home. I mean it. You can have a degree of revelation, but if
you want the anointing to gush forth; if you want to enter into New Testament
prophetic power that goes beyond what the Old Testament guys had, you are
going to have to learn to cause the flow to take place, so that when the anointing
comes upon you there comes a gushing forth from within that you can speak forth
the power of God.
Create a Channel
That is all that speaking in tongues is. It is a channel. It is when you have your
pipe sunk down. And until your pipe is sunk down, you do not have the ability to
tap into that internal resource that is sitting in your spirit. It comes out through
speech. And yes, you can get a degree out through speech in English. But God
has given tongues so that the mind does not stand in the way, because tongues
transcends the mind.
It is amazing, but when I started this prophetic series I ended up harping on

tongues, and I am doing it again. Could it be God is trying to say something here?
Tongues is important. In the very first assignment we gave in the Prophetic School
you were told to go and pray in tongues for an hour. Some people did this
successfully and many complained. Many battled. Many even argued and said, "It
is stupid. I don’t like it. Why should we do it?" Well if you just want to have a trickle
out of your windmill it is up to you. But you need to sink down into the underground
stream and you need to set a firm channel into that underground stream if you
want the power to gush forth.
Increase Your Capacity
Then if you want to increase the capacity of water that is going to come out of that
pipe, you are going to have to have a bigger pipe. You can have a thin little pipe,
but there is only a certain volume of water that can come through a thin pipe, per
minute, per hour. It is going to take you a lot longer to fill a bucket up with a thin
pipe than it is going to take with a broad pipe. That is why the water supplies to
our cities are not sent to us in thin pipes. The thin pipe may supply your house
good enough, but if they had that thin pipe supplying everybody down the road
you will have what we have here in Mexico where the water supply drops right
down and just trickles out of the tap.
Use the Word
You need a broader pipe. How do you broaden the pipe? Well, the pipe is the
Word. Why? Because what you receive out of your spirit can only be interpreted
by the Word. It can only be understood by the Word, because your spirit speaks in
impressions and in pictures. We dealt with it in Prophetic Listening, how to receive
the impulses that come up out of your spirit. If you see a picture coming up into
your mind out of your spirit, how do you know what it means unless you know the
Word of God? Unless you know the symbols that are used in the Scriptures
concerning spiritual things, how will you understand?
It is the same as interpreting dreams. It is symbolic; it is pictures. You can only

understand the impressions that come up out of your spirit by the Word. And
because they are impressions that come to your mind, that do not come out of
your spirit but come from the enemy attacking from without, how can you know
what comes from within and what is coming from the enemy?
We are going to deal with this in quite a lot of detail when we look at Prophetic
Deception, so I am not going to go into it much here. You are going to have to be
filled with the Word. But prophets don’t like to do that.
"Well, I’m not a Teacher, I’m a Prophet. We will leave it to the Teachers to go and
study all the doctrines and study all the Scriptures."
Be Filled With the Word
It gets to the point where I hear some Prophets saying, "What do we need the
Bible for? I will just wait on the Lord and He’ll give me a prophetic word?" You are
treading on dangerous territory. You are going to have one thin little clogged pipe
that is not going to give out much water let me tell you. You are going to have to
be filled with the Word, Prophet of God, if you want to function in the anointing,
and if you want the prophetic anointing to pour forth. You are going to have to be
filled with the Word.
It is not enough just to learn about the prophetic ministry. It is not enough just to
learn about the gifts of the Spirit. It is not enough just to learn about the anointing.
You had better be filled with the Word, otherwise the anointing cannot flow,
because the Spirit works through the Word. I will look at it more as we go on.
You Can’t Hide It
Well now, you have sunk your pipe down. You have widened your pipe to increase
the flow. Now you had better put your windmill in place. You had better stick it
where the wind is. You do not put it down on the ground where the wind is blocked
by the trees and the buildings. You do not put it hidden away inside a building,
inside a wall somewhere where nobody can see it.
You cannot hide a windmill. If you ride down the countryside you will see them.
You will see them standing proud and high in the sky. You cannot hide it. If you
want to be used by God and minister forth His power, you cannot do it in hiding.
You are going to have to come out into the open and make yourself available to
the Lord. You are going to have to say, "Okay, Lord, I’ll do it. I am prepared to
stand firm, to stand bold, to stand out and be available for You to blow Your wind
on me when You choose to use me."
Yes, God trained His prophets in secret, and yes He has called you to a time of
hiding and waiting on Him. That was the time you learned to sink the pipe down.
That was the time you did all your construction work, widened the pipe and had it
all set up. Now you had better put your windmill in place, and you had better wave
it high in the sky for the whole world to see.
You had better be available for God to use otherwise He is not going to use you.
How can He use you if you are hidden away? Nobody knows you are there. You
are going to have to be where God can put you in a situation where He can bring
people across your path that you can minister to. You are going to have to be
available to the Lord. You are going to have to be able to say, "Father, do with me
as You please. Lord, use me as and when You want to use me."
Keep It Primed and Full
Once you have done that you need to keep your pipe primed and full of water. You
have to keep it that way. Most windmills and boreholes have a tank. The windmill
blows and it fills the tank first, and when you draw water you draw it from the tank.
As soon as the level of the water in the tank begins to fall the windmill kicks in
again. When the tank becomes full the windmill engages a clutch assembly, which
causes the pump to stop turning. Then the wind can blow but the pump stops
turning.
You have to be primed. You have to be filled up. Well you know that being filled
with the Spirit is great, but it does not last. You have barely arrived home after the
meeting and it can be gone. Try it. Just go and get into a fight with your husband
or wife and it is gone. You have lost it. It is like somebody burst the balloon.
Somebody just opened the faucet and let all the water out. It is gone. You are
going to have to keep it filled up.
How are you going to do that? You are going to have to pray in tongues daily. You
are going to have to go in there and maintain that channel and get the water
coming and free, otherwise it goes stagnant in the pipe. Then when it comes time
for the Spirit of God to move on you what comes out is dirty rotten water for a
while before it comes pure. You have some poor thirsty person coming along for
water, and you give them this gungy, horrible, smelly water. They do not want to
come near you again. They do not want to receive your ministry. You open your
mouth to speak the prophetic word and what comes out is all the junk that is in
your mind, instead of what the Spirit of God wants to say.
You need to spend time in the presence of the Lord praying in tongues. You need
to spend time in the presence of the Lord in praise and worship.
"Oh, Hallelujah, thank you Jesus. Praise you Lord," and you just let it flow. You let
your pipe get filled up. You let your pump be primed and ready to go. You are
ready now for the wind to blow.
Getting to Where God Can Use You.

Now, how do we come to the place where God is going to use us? There are a lot
of windmills out there. Is God going to blow on yours? When is He going to blow
on yours? And why should He blow on yours? Well, we have this great big
windmill set up here in the desert. There isn’t anybody living within 100 miles.
Nobody ever goes that way because it is a horrible place. And most of the time
when you go there that horrible smelly water comes out and you have to wait days
for it to come out because it is never used. Do you reckon anybody is ever going
to come and visit? Is anybody going to try and come and get water from there?
Not unless there are none in another 1000 miles. Not unless they are really hard
up.
Expect God to use you.
Listen, if you want God to use you, you are going to have to start desiring and
expecting Him to use you. You cannot go and arrange the circumstances. You do
not run around with your windmill trying to find a wind. Can you imagine that?
"Well, I have my windmill in the back of the truck."
"Where are you going?"
"Well, we are going out looking for a wind."
"Huh?"
There are a lot of people doing that. They are travelling thousands of miles to go
and find the wind. When you do that you have to connect your windmill to
somebody else’s pipe and pump some of their water out. You do not have your
own.
God will arrange the circumstances for ministry. You do not have to worry about
that. You know I have found that as I have desired to be used by the Lord I have
cried out to Him and said, "Lord, I have to be like Rachel was when she came to
Jacob and said, ‘Give me children or I die.’ Lord give me people to minister to.
Father use me. Lord use me to speak to the broken hearted, to the down trodden,
to the discouraged. Lord use me to speak forth healing to those that are sick and
suffering. Use me to speak forth deliverance to the captives. Oh Lord, please use
me! Lord, there are people out there that hurting. Oh Lord, I want to minister to
them!" It must burn in you.
Desire to be Used
You say, "But what is the use? There’s nobody for me to minister to. I am not in
ministry. They never give me a chance to preach in church."
You do not have to go to church to find people in need. They are all around you. I
have found so often as I have cried out to the Lord; whether it be for the lost;
whether it be for Christians with problems; whether it be for those that are sick; as
my heart burns and I cry out, suddenly I find one day when I least expect it I bump
into somebody with a need. Suddenly I find myself speaking to somebody and the
subject switches to salvation, and I end up sharing the gospel with them. Suddenly
I meet somebody, who needs a word of encouragement. God rises up in me and
the wind begins to blow and the water begins to gush forth, and God gives me an
opportunity.
Make Yourself Available
You do not have to go and look for opportunities for ministry. The Lord will arrange
them. All you need to do is make yourself available. All you need to do is desire,
desire, desire! Grow hungry. Somebody has said, "Hunger for the Lord and for His
power and for His glory and for His anointing to be upon you."
The Anointing is For Others
Then make yourself available to pour that forth, because He is not going to give
you the anointing so you can fill up your own little tank; to go and have a look at it
every day and say, "Wow, our tank is looking good. Man our tank is really full.
Hey, we have even more water in it. Our tank is full! In fact, yesterday our tank
became so full it started to overflow. We had water all over the ground, there is so
much water there. We’re loaded."
There are people all around you who are dying of thirst. The anointing is for us to
give out. And unless you have that burning desire in your heart you are not putting
your windmill in place where people can come to draw water.
Love is the Key
The Scripture says that "love is the key to all ministry." Why are you wanting the
Lord to use you? So that you can be announced to the community? So that
everybody can be talking about you? So they can be writing in their emails to one
another about this wonderful prophet who has such revelation from the Lord? So
they can be inviting you to come and preach in their churches? Is that your
motivation? Then you are missing it.
"For God so loved the world," the Scripture says, "that

He gave His only begotten Son
Why? So that He could show them what a big deal He was? No. Because He
loved them. Love is always the motivation. The Scripture says, "Follow after love
and desire spiritual gifts." If that motivation is not there, forget it. You are in it for
the wrong reason.
Be Sensitive to Others’ Needs
To put yourself in a position where God can use you, you need to be sensitive to
the needs of others. I see so often, where you begin to chat with people, you meet
people and you share with them in conversation, and people just want to talk
about themselves. Somebody said, quite aptly, "Speak to somebody about himself
and he will listen for hours."
Well, if you are a prophet and you want to be used by God, you are going to have
to learn to speak to somebody about himself. You are going to have to shut your
mouth about what a wonderful prophet you are. You are going to have to shut your
mouth about how much Scripture you know; about all your qualifications and your
experiences; and you are going to have to just be sensitive to the needs of other
people. You are going to have to dare to ask somebody, "So how are you feeling
today?" at the risk that they are going to give you an organ recital.
Do you know what an organ recital is?
"Well you know (sob, sniff) I’m so sick. Please pray for me." (;-(
You Need to Care
We hate hypochondriacs. Sometimes a hypochondriac is just a person who suffers

a lot because they do not know how to trust God, because nobody has pointed
them in the right direction. Are you sensitive to the needs of other people? Do you
care enough to involve yourself in somebody else’s problems? How can you be
used to speak a prophetic word to that person if you do not care about their
situation? How can you speak a word of upliftment and encouragement if you do
not care if they are in trouble? How can you speak a word of prosperity and
provision if you do not care that they are starving?
You had better start becoming sensitive to the needs of other people. That is how
you put your windmill up. You are going to have to put it up there where people
can see it; where people are going to come running to you and saying, "I need … I
need … I need." It is horrible isn’t it, when people always need. Nobody ever
wants to give back to you again.
Be Other Oriented
Listen, you are getting from your underground stream. Forget about getting from
other people. Forget about going to have ministry from other people. You are
getting it from your underground stream. You are getting it from the Spirit of God,
and He is giving it to you so that you can pour it out to others. So take your eyes
off yourself now, and become sensitive to the needs of other people, and stop
talking about yourself. Talk to somebody else about himself. Then you will be in a
position where your windmill is of some use.
Speak the Word
Then if you want the Lord to use you, you had better learn to speak the Word. The
Scripture says that "the Spirit confirms the Word with signs following." When Jesus
sent His disciples out He told them to go into all the world and preach the good
news, not the bad news. Not the bad news which says, "You’re going to hell you
miserable rotten sinner!"
Preach the good news that says, "You do not have to go to hell anymore. You
don’t have to be sick anymore. You don’t have to battle in poverty anymore. You
do not have to be broken down and loaded down with mental illness (whatever
that is) anymore. You don’t have to be plagued by the guilt of the past anymore."
Preach Under the Anointing
That is good news. That is the Word. Haven’t you noticed that after the Word has
been preached in church, that is when they begin to pray for people, and the Spirit
of God begins to move? Why? Because the Word has penetrated. As the Word
has gone forth, and as the preacher has spoken forth the Word, he has poured out
the anointing through the words that have been spoken. The anointing has gone
out and has begun to touch the people, and their hearts are ready and prepared,
and the power of God is there. And when people come to the front they come, and
God meets them because the preacher has been pouring out water all the time
that he has been preaching. Man, the place is a lake at the front. Come and jump
in! Do you want the river to flow in your church? Preach the Word under the
anointing.
Respond to the Spirit
You are going to have to learn to respond to the Spirit. When the wind begins to
blow upon you; when you set up your windmill, you are going to have to learn to
respond to that move of the Spirit of God. Because when God moves upon you,
He moves upon you suddenly and unexpectedly at times. The wind begins to
blow. The windmill begins to turn. The water begins to gush.
Suddenly panic hits you. It comes unexpectedly. You were sitting there minding
your own business and God gives you a prophetic word, and your heart begins to
go ‘doof, doof, doof’. Suddenly a picture comes to your mind that you did not
expect, a prophetic word for somebody that you didn’t expect. And God is saying,
"There it is. Give it out. Minister it forth." Oh dear! You are going to have to learn to
respond to that revelation.
I remember when God first began to use me, it was easy when I was praying by
myself. It was easy to get revelations that I knew concerned me and concerned
others in prayer. But now suddenly you are in a meeting, you are sitting praying
and sharing together or you are praying with somebody and suddenly God gives
you a revelation for that person.
A Personal Example
I remember one time we were praying for some people, a couple, and suddenly I
saw a womb with a baby in it. It was full term, getting ready to be born. I knew it
was a little baby boy. I was praying for this sister and suddenly I saw the baby.
Now, what do you do? What do you do when it comes suddenly? It would be
different if I was praying for her to fall pregnant. There was no talk about babies.
Yes, I knew she hadn’t had a baby and she had desired one. But suddenly I saw
the picture.
I stood there and I waited and the picture just came back. I stood there and waited
some more and said, "Lord, what do I do now?" And the picture came back. I was
waiting for someone else to give confirmation maybe, waiting for somebody to
pray something or say something, maybe a word of prophecy. There was just
dead silence. I was it!
The Lord said, "Go and tell her what you saw."
"What if I am wrong?"
"Go and tell her what you saw."
"But Lord, it may be my imagination."
Have you ever imagined a full term baby in the womb? Try it. Close your eyes and
see if you can see it. The best you can do is try and remember a picture you saw
somewhere in a book or in a movie.
So I went to her and I said, "This is what the Lord shows me."
She looked at me and her eyes went big. And she said, "How did you know, I’ve
been crying out to the Lord every day about that?"
Well I learned a lesson. You see, I could have sat there and kept it to myself and
told her later, but you see she was not pregnant yet. God wanted me to give the
word to say, "The Lord has heard your prayer and He is going to answer your
prayer and give you your heart’s desire." And He did – a baby boy, just like I saw.
It was exactly correct.
Faith is Needed
I found this happening a lot when God first began to use me. I would be praying
with people or would be sitting in a group praying, and I would get an impression
or a picture or just a sense that I need to pray for a certain person. You know what
you do? You sit and wait for more. It is like the first time God gave you a word of
prophecy and He gave you a couple of words. You want Him to give you the whole
prophecy before you open your mouth in case you mess it up. It has to be a step
of faith. When the Spirit of God moves upon you, you have to respond. When the
wind begins to blow on your windmill, you had better engage the clutch, or
disengage it as the case may be. Start the pump turning. You are going to have to
take action.
So I learned that when God began to do that, usually when He showed me that I
needed to minister to somebody, it did not work until I actually went to them;
sometimes not until I actually put my hand on them. Then it would gush.
Sometimes I would just go so far as putting my hand on them. I didn’t know what I
was going to say. The Lord said, "Go and minister."
"But Lord, what do I say?"
"Go and minister."
"What is their need?"
"Go and minister. I will show you when you get there."
"What am I going to do when I get there?"
"Go and do it, and I’ll show you."
Now I do not know what is going to happen when I arrive there. As I lay my hands
on a person and begin to pray I may have a vision. I may have a discernment in
the Spirit. I may get a word of prophecy. It does not matter. As I move and act on
the move of the Spirit of God, something happens.
So sometimes I will just go and as I begin, "Thus saith the Lord …", off it goes.
You just don’t know what is going to happen. Sorry, that is the external anointing
type. You have no control over that. All you have to do is put your windmill in order
and ready to pump. And when God moves you, you just go there and you do what
He tells you to do. When you do what He tells you to do He will give you more.
That is the faith part. That is the part you are going to have to do yourself.
Now when the water begins to gush forth, God begins to give you things in the
Spirit. We have looked at it in Prophetic Listening. We have looked at it in
Prophetic Gifts, on how to flow in the gifts and how different people receive
revelation in different ways, so I am not going to duplicate that. Whether God gives
it to you by various different senses – by pictures, by prophecy, by an audible
voice – however you are receiving from the Lord, you are beginning to let that
water gush forth. There is somebody there in need that needs to be ministered to.
Use Wisdom
How are you going to give out the water? You do not just turn it up and let it flow.
You are going to have to put it in the right place. You are going to have to channel
it to where the garden is. You are going to have to move the hose to where the
bucket is. You are going to have to apply that anointing. You are going to have to
apply that revelation. You are going to have to apply that ministry in the Spirit
specifically in the right way. To do that you are going to have to use wisdom. That
is another reason why you need to know the Word.
Mentoring is Good
It is another reason why you need to be mentored, so that you can let somebody
else learn and make the mistakes and you can learn from theirs, instead of
opening your big mouth and putting both feet in it. It is sometimes the best way to
learn, but it is a lot easier when somebody else has been there. And as you open
your mouth and put your foot in they can say, "Uh uh uh! Foot out!" It helps. If you
want to be stubborn and do it your own way, go ahead and do it yourself. It is
much easier to learn from somebody else who has been there. It took them twenty
years of toenail biting. Hey, you could learn it in months. It is up to you. That is by
the by.
You need to use wisdom when God gives you a revelation. You need to know
what to do with that revelation. Sometimes it will come at an inopportune time. It
will come in a way that you are just not quite sure what to do with it.
When I Met Daphne
I want to share this one. When I found myself divorced and without a wife I sought
God for a new one and He gave me Daphne. Our meeting was miraculous and we
have told our story in other places. The night that Daphne and I met I knew that I
was going to minister to her. Whether she was the right one for me or not I did not
know. But I knew God had put us together that night and I made myself available. I
put my windmill up. I said, "Okay, Lord, I’m going to minister to this woman,
whether she is my wife or not. I am not going to waste this evening. If she is my
wife, that’s going to be wonderful. If she is not, she is going to have prophetic
ministry even if she hasn’t had it before.
So, after we had been out to a church service and we’d come home we began to
wait on the Lord and we began to pray. And as we began to pray God began to
show me things. He gave me a word of prophecy for her. I knew what He was
saying, but I had to put it in such a way that it didn’t sound too obvious. He was
effectively saying, "Okay, this is the guy, this is the woman, this is it! I have put you
together." You do not prophesy that, "Thus saith the Lord, ‘You shall be my wife
and you shall marry me.’ " You cannot do that.
But the Lord gave me a Scripture from the book of Esther where Mordecai said to
Esther, "How do you know that God has not brought you to the Kingdom for such
a time as this? Esther you are in the right place at the right time. This is it. I’ve put
it together." So God gave me a prophetic word which said just that. Well, I hoped
she understood what I was saying. I knew what I was saying. The Lord gave me
wisdom to present it in a way that was not imposing.
She had told me during the evening as we had talked about ourselves and our
lives, that her previous late husband had been unable to have children so she had
never had a child before. They had wanted to adopt a child and that never came
through. That is all that she said. And as we began to pray I saw her holding a
baby in her arms.
Well now, the Lord had told me a good time before that, and I had already shared
it with my children, that I knew that my new wife was going to be young enough to
want a child and that we must be prepared and open to receive another member
in the family once I remarried. I knew it. I was ready for it. I saw her holding a
baby. I knew it was going to be my baby. So what do I tell her? "Thus saith the
Lord, ‘This man shall be the father of your child …’ ". You cannot do it. You have
to use wisdom.
In my mind I was saying, "Lord, that’s all very well. I have three daughters that I
have custody of. Is this woman going to be able to handle them? She has never
even had kids before." And I saw the Lord giving her something, as I often see
Him doing in the Spirit, giving somebody something. I don’t even remember what it
was, but I knew what the Lord was saying. It was, "I will give her the grace and the
ability to do what needs to be done and to handle the responsibility."
Putting it Together
So I am walking up and down and I do not know what I am going to do with this
knowledge. I said to her, "The Lord’s showing me things and I cannot tell you
now." I had never had this happen to me before.
I said, "Lord, what do I do with this?"
He said, "Tell her what you saw."
I walked up to her and said, "Tell me, do you still have a deep desire to have a
child?"
She took one look at me and she just broke out into tears. She said, "How did you
know?"
Well, I did not know, but God knew. I could not tell her it was going to be my child.
I said, "The Lord’s going to give you the desires of your heart. You will have a
child. I see you holding a baby in your arms." I could not tell her the other part. It
was not the time yet.
You are going to have to use wisdom with the knowledge of the revelation that
God has going to give you as a Prophet. Do not just open your big mouth and
don’t jump to conclusions. Rather hold back. We will share more on that as we go
on.
How To Deliver a Revelation in The Public

Meeting
If God gives you a word in the church in a public meeting, specially if it is not your
church, and even more so if it is your church; if God gives you a word that perhaps
relates to the body, to the church generally, you had better be careful opening
your mouth and giving forth a word without finding out whether it sits well with the
leadership of the church. This is a difficult one. A lot of prophets have erred on this
one, and Pastors as a result have put the squeeze on them. They have said,
"Okay, you don’t prophesy anything without putting it through me first, or putting it
through somebody in the Church who is authorized to check prophesies out before
they are spoken."
It is not the Scriptural pattern. The Scriptural pattern is that a person will stand up
to speak and the others shall judge publicly. It is because of abuse; because of the
fact that these days there are more Prophets than others – we have more Chiefs
than Indians sometimes – because people have not learned to use wisdom. A lot
of the time it is because people have not been trained how to use the prophetic
ministry. That is why we have this Prophetic School, to teach you how to do these
things right. That is why we are speaking about this.
Prophesy at right time
You need to use wisdom. It has nothing to do with the fact that the Pastor lords it
over you and that you have to be under his authority. It does not give him the right
to reject a word that God has given you, that is a genuine word from Him. But
there could be a time and a place to speak that word, and you need to give the
leadership the right to reject the word before you speak it forth. If they do choose
to reject the word they take the consequences of rejecting it. I have had that very
thing happen to me very early in my experience. I perhaps did not use wisdom at
that time either. I tried to stand up and speak a word in a public meeting and I was
told to sit down and shut up.
Be Orderly
Use wisdom. If God gives you a revelation He intends you to do something about
it, but He does not necessarily intend you to do it now! If God gives you a
prophetic word in the middle of the preacher’s sermon you do not interrupt him.
"Just hold it, I have a word from the Lord. Shut up, please! Thus saith the Lord …"
You don’t do that. I would not try and do that.
Sometimes people break out in a message in tongues in the middle of a sermon.

No. "God is not the God of disorder," Paul says. Use wisdom, Prophet. And if you
are an emotionally expressive Prophet as most Prophets are, you had better learn
to control your emotions.
Don’t Force Your Ministry
Make sure that when you are going to minister to somebody that the person wants
to be ministered to. I have seen people in meetings, especially when you have
small meetings like home meetings. You have the prophetic types. They have
itchy fingers.
"Who can I lay my hands on tonight? Who can I prophesy over? Oh, yes, we have
that new guy sitting there," and you eye him the whole night.
"Lord, give me a word for him."
You just cannot wait to get your hands on him. You just can’t wait to go over and
say, "Thus saith the Lord …" and if you do not have the guts or opportunity to go
over to him personally, then you are going to give a public prophecy to speak it to
him.
The Holy Spirit is pictured in various symbols, and the Lord is pictured in various
symbols. The Holy Spirit came down on Jesus as a dove, and a dove is often the
symbol of the Holy Spirit. A dove is a very tender, gentle, and easily frightened
bird. It is not aggressive. It is not a vulture. If you want to be anointed by the Spirit
of God, the anointing is not the anointing of a vulture.
He is as meek as a lamb, gentle as a dove. He leads as the Shepherd. He is not

the butcher that drives the sheep to the slaughterhouse. As the Shepherd, He
goes before the sheep and He woos in love. He does not hammer in
condemnation. Don’t you dare take the prophetic ministry and use it as a whip
against others, especially to cover the sin in your own life. It is so easy to speak
judgement and condemnation on others and make yourself look good. You are
going to have to use wisdom with the prophetic anointing when it comes upon you.
Don’t Act Under Pressure
You must not act impulsively, and you must never act under pressure. The Holy
Spirit will never pressure you to do anything. He will tug at you. He will woo you.
He will gently tug at you. The Spirit of God will move upon you, and He will nudge
you gently again and again and again. It is a gentle nudge that says, "Speak it
forth, speak it forth. Do this. Do that."
I have heard prophets say, "But God told me to say it. I had to do it! I knew the
Pastor was going to oppose me. I knew the people wouldn’t like it. I knew they
would hate me for it. But I had to do it. I would have disobeyed the Lord if I didn’t
do it."
Nonsense. The Lord never forces you to do anything. The Scripture says in 1
Corinthians 14:32:
"And the spirits of the Prophets are subject to the

Prophets, for God is not the author of confusion, but of
peace."
Yes, you need to obey what God has given you to speak. You need to obey in a
spirit of gentleness and meekness, and love and wisdom. And you need to know
how to minister forth what God has given you. Do not take your own aggression
and your own impulsiveness and use the Holy Spirit as an excuse to do what you
wanted to do. You just could not wait for the Lord to give you that word for this
miserable, rotten church.
You see, that is why Pastors have to put the squeeze on Prophets. I am afraid it is
true. You are going to have to learn wisdom before God is going to trust you to
pour forth His water.
Be Sure of What You’ve Seen
And if you are not sure what the Lord has shown you, don’t wing it. If you are not
sure of what God showed you; if you have a picture and you are not sure what the
picture means, do not go and do an impromptu interpretation on the run and hope
it is right. You might get away with that in dream interpretation, but you are not
going to get away with it in a prophetic word.
I am sure you have heard cases of Prophets who saw a picture as they looked on
somebody and misinterpreted the picture. They gave a prophetic word and said,
"The Lord says this and that …" and it was wrong. If you are not sure what the
picture means rather share the picture. Maybe the person understands what the
picture means even though you don’t. Receive confirmation first if you are not
sure. Just share.
"Brother as I’ve been standing here I see this bag hanging over your head. Now I
am not sure what it means. Perhaps you know what it means, but I just want to
share that with you. God wants to minister to you, and He wants to meet your
need. And if you need special ministry I will pray with you afterwards, or you can
come forward now …" whatever you want to do. But if you are not sure, do not
open your mouth and put your foot in it again, because you could destroy
somebody’s life.
Use Boldness
Apart from using wisdom in what to do with this water, you need to use boldness.
There are a lot of Gideons out there. The Lord tells them what to do and their
knees start to shake.
"Oh Lord, I will do it if you give me confirmation. Lord, make the fleece wet and the
ground dry and I’ll do it Lord."
"Okay, make the fleece wet and the ground dry."
"Well, that could have been a coincidence, Lord. Um, make the ground wet and
the fleece dry."
"Okay, give it to the guy!"
"Um, well Lord, can’t you give me one more?"

Do you know people like that? They are too scared to make decisions. They are
too scared to speak out. They are sitting with the revelation and God said, "Go,"
and they sit there the whole night trying to pluck up enough courage. They go
home that night and feel depressed and discouraged and know they have
disobeyed God, because they did not speak what God wanted them to speak
because they were afraid of what people would think. Hey, you are going to have
to be bold.
"But what if they throw stones at me?"
Then you are stoned.
"What if they say nasty things about me?"
Then you are criticized. Hey, you should have made that choice before you started
on this thing.
Every Ministry Operates By Faith
You need to take a step of faith. You are going to have to faith this thing, because
every gift and every ministry that God has given operates by faith. And if you have
not learned faith as a Prophet you are not going to excel in your prophetic ministry.
That is why part of the prophetic preparation and part of the prophetic training
often will mean that God will lead you into situations where things that always just
panned out nicely before do not work anymore. Where finances just flowed easily
before, suddenly they are blocked. Where everything fell into place and you never
had problems, suddenly your whole life goes wrong.
"Oh, what is going on? Lord what are you trying to do? Are you punishing me
because I was a sinner?"
No, He is teaching you faith. He is teaching you to exercise and to develop the
faith that is within you. He is teaching you to learn to use your faith, because it is
going to take faith to stand up and say, "Thus saith the Lord …" Maybe you are
going to stand and prophesy over somebody and God is going to say, "Thus saith
the Lord, ‘I have called you from when you were a child. I have prepared you and I
have raised you up. And you will do signs and wonders, and you will heal the sick,
and you will raise the dead, and you will go to places you have never gone to
before.’ "
"What if I’m wrong?"

Well you had better learn. You had better learn to step out in faith and give weaker
prophecies than that first before you can give stronger ones. You had better learn
to give the nicer ones that just say, "Thus saith the Lord, ‘I have seen your heart,
and I care.’ " If you do not have the faith to give those ones you are not going to
have the big ones.
"Oh but it’s not fair. The Lord gives that person such wonderful prophecies. I would
love to prophesy like Sister So-and-So."
You can. She has just more guts. She doesn’t care what anybody thinks. She is
like a child that learns to walk, and stumbles and falls and gets bruises, but stands
up and goes again. You are going to have to be bold if you want God to use you.
You are going to have to have the audacity to believe that the water that is pouring
forth from you, somebody else is going to need and want, and it is going to help
them and quench their thirst. You are going to have to be bold enough to actually
believe that.
Believe in Yourself
You are going to have to bold enough to believe that when you preach somebody
is going to want to borrow the tape or even buy it, and pay money for it to listen to
it.
"Who would buy something that I preached?"
You had better be bold enough to believe that somebody will. You had better be
bold enough to offer it for sale. I know that one. It is going to take boldness. You
are going to have to believe in what God has put in you. You are going to have to
believe in the anointing of God that is in you, because if you do not believe in it, do
you think the other people are going to? If you do not believe that God is using
you, do you think you are going to fool anybody else?
"I don’t want what you have if you don’t even have confidence in yourself. You can
keep it. Hey, if you don’t even want to drink your own water, do not come and
palm it off on me."
Don’t Apologize for Yourself
Don’t apologize for your presence or for the revelation that you receive. Do not
ever apologize for being God’s spokesman. Don’t ever stand up and say, "Well,
I’m so useless, but I will just give this forth."
Everybody is going to say, "We agree, you are useless. Shut up!"
Be bold. I stand here in humility, but I speak for the King of Kings, "Thus saith the
Lord God Jehovah Himself …" It is His word. You are speaking for the King of
Kings. You do not have to apologize for Him, because you carry the insignia of His
authority. He chose you and He called you, and He trained you and prepared you
to set you up as a windmill. He is not afraid to stick you out there for the whole
world to ride by and say, "There is a water source. I am going to go get some
water there." You had better be confident enough and bold enough to lift up high
and show yourself to the world and say, "I may just be an ugly old windmill, but we
have some water here."
Handling Negative Responses

Now here is a difficult one. What happens when you try and pour forth the water
and people won’t drink it? What happens when somebody responds negatively to
your revelation? That is a tough one. Has it ever happened to you? You are
praying with somebody and God gives you a picture. He gives you a revelation
and you are sure of it. You know that this is of God and you share it with the
person. You say, "God shows me this. Can you identify with that?" and they say,
"No, I don’t think so. No, I do not know what you’re talking about. No that has
never happened to me."
You could have been wrong, yes. You have to be prepared for that possibility. And
if you are wrong you can retract gently and apologize and say, "Well I saw this.
Perhaps I misinterpreted it. I’m sorry, but this is what God showed me. Can you
make anything of it?" It could be that what you really touched on is a sore point in
the person’s life.
I remember once praying for somebody. He was supposed to be sick. I did not
know what was wrong with him. I began to pray and I saw this blood vessel and it
was blocked. There was a clot in a vein, and it was quite clear. I stopped and I
said, "What is wrong with you, brother?"
"Oh," he said, "Yes I’ve had trouble at times with my heart and whatever, and …"
I looked at him and I thought, "Wow, I must have missed that one. I never saw his
heart."
Then his daughter said to me, "What did you see?"

I said, "I saw a blocked blood vessel."
She said, "You’re perfectly correct!"
He had a blocked blood vessel in his leg or something. Now I do not know why he
did not want to talk about it. Maybe he had been trusting God for healing and he
did not want some prophet coming, I don’t know. But it threw me for a moment. I
thought I had missed it, but I had not missed it. I had seen correctly. And only as I
shared that picture of what I had seen did it come out.
Listen, do not be swayed by negative responses to revelations. But by the same

token, don’t be so arrogant as to say, "Well, I know I was right. You had better
acknowledge it." Be bold and confident enough to stick with it if you know that God
gave it to you, and confident enough to withdraw and give the person a bit of
breathing room if they don’t want to acknowledge it. But don’t let it knock you off to
the point where you begin to lose confidence or you are afraid to open your mouth
next time you have a revelation in case you are wrong again. You are going to
have those kinds of responses if you have not had them already. It is going to be
part of your training, you will see.
Handling Rejection
Sometimes you have outright rejection. You want to start ministering inner healing
to somebody and they do not believe in inner healing. Hey, I used to preach
against inner healing. I guess if somebody had come to try and minister inner
healing to me and said, "I see you have some hurts there and God wants to
minister inner healing to you," I would have said, "Baloney, that’s psychological
garbage!"
So the Lord used guile on me. He sent some guy to me who did not even know
what inner healing was. He just knew how to flow in the Spirit, and he said, "I don’t
know what is going on, but I have this glowing heat in my hand here, and I want to
pray for you."
I said, "Well, okay, go pray for me."
He prayed for me and the power of God hit me. Something happened and I started
laughing. I did not understand what had happened and he didn’t understand what
had happened. None of us knew what had happened, but something had
happened.
He said, "I don’t know what happened, but God said He has taken a weakness out
of you and He has put a strength back in its place."
I said, "What are you talking about?"
He said, "I haven’t a clue."
Well, we both learned what inner healing was because it happened. You know
what it is like when you have to go tearing all the pages out of your notes; you
know all the ones that are wrong? It really messes your theology up, I tell you, it
really does. You are going to have people like that. They are not going to believe
in what you have to minister, and yet God has given you revelation.
Again, use wisdom and be bold and just go ahead. Just share the pictures that
God gives you. Just speak the word; touch the person at the point of their need.
Stay away from doctrines they are going to stumble over. Just offer somebody a
ministry in love. They will receive it, and they will be ministered to. And when the
Spirit of God comes upon them and the anointing hits them they will change their
tune. They will start to rethink and they will start to click, "Now hold it. Maybe what
I believe isn’t right after all. Maybe what I believed all my life was wrong." Let God
do that. Do not try and do it in one little ministry session.
Be Humble
You must be bold as a Prophet, but you must also be humble. Do not ever claim to
be infallible. I have seen Prophets that want to stick with their revelations and they
are so full of obvious deception that it is so glaringly obvious and is sticking out
like a sore thumb. But they will stick to the revelation.
"God showed me that. I know it was God. I heard this voice booming out of the
sky. It was the Lord, I knew it was. I was driving along in my car and the Lord said,
‘Go to the Mall.’ When I arrived at the Mall God said, ‘Go buy a new TV.’ I knew it
was God. I don’t know why He wanted me to buy a TV. I didn’t need one. I already
had one. It was expensive, but I knew it was God. I had to obey."
Old and New Testament Prophets Different

Have you heard those before? I have. No, you are not infallible as a Prophet. We
have looked at that in deception. Realize that you are going to make mistakes.
There is a difference here, between the Old Testament Prophet and the New
Testament Prophet. The Old Testament Prophet did not make mistakes, except
deliberately. The reason being that the Old Testament Prophet only operated
under the external anointing. And when the external anointing came it was
controlled by God and by God alone. All the Prophet was, was the delivery boy.
He just spoke forth what God gave him.
So, when you had false Prophets in the Old Testament they were Prophets who
spoke deliberate prophetic words that they knew would tickle the ears of the
hearer, and they knew that the anointing of God was not on them. But when the
anointing of God came on them they would speak by the Spirit of God, and what
they spoke was of God. And if what they spoke did not come to pass and was not
true, you could tell straight away it was not of God, and therefore that person was
classed as a false Prophet.
People are mixing up Old and New Testament Prophets. I still want to get to
dealing with that subject, and God has prevented me from dealing with it until right
at the end. I have had to lay so much groundwork for all you Prophets out there
who think you are called to be an Elijah; who think that you are called to be an Old
Testament Prophet; to speak judgment; to try and act like an Old Testament
Prophet. You know about the external anointing, but you do not know anything
about the internal anointing. You have never learned to tap what is in your spirit, to
pour out love and grace as Jesus intends the New Testament Prophet to do. We
will deal with that later.
When you come to minister as a Prophet do not try and exalt yourself. Exalt the
Lord that is in you. You are not there to make a name for yourself. That is true
humility. True humility is not the opposite of boldness. You need to understand
that true boldness can only come from true humility. True humility is a total
confidence in yourself in the Lord; a total confidence to the point where if you
make a mistake it is very easy to say, "I’m sorry. I was wrong." Total confidence to
the point where if you do not make a mistake you can say, "I’m sorry. I was right."
But it does not affect you, you see, because it is not you. It is the Lord in you. You
are simply His spokesman. You are simply speaking forth His words.
Ministering the Anointing

Now I want to look at how we minister forth the anointing. We have looked at
general principles. You can minister forth the anointing to a crowd or to a group, or
you can minister forth the prophetic anointing to an individual. Unfortunately
today’s churches have been built up in such a way that the emphasis has always
been on the public meeting. So the idea and the aspirations we all have, is to
stand up there behind the pulpit.
"I am tired of sitting in the pews. I’m tired of being a little nobody in church. Every
now and then God gives me a prophetic word then I have to go and write it out
and give it to somebody else to approve. And if I’m lucky and they like the word,
maybe I will be able to read it out."
Ministering in Public
There has been too much emphasis on the public meeting, and it is only the big
names who make it to the pulpit. It is only the big names who can travel around
and preach to the crowds that are considered true Prophets of God and moving in
the ministry. Let me tell you, the majority of your ministry as a Prophet is not going
to be in the public meeting, it is going to be to individuals. I am going to look at
both of those before we finish this message. In fact I am going to look more at the
individual than I am at the crowd, but let’s look at the crowd ministry very quickly.
Perhaps many of you reading this cannot identify this because you have not stood
behind a pulpit yet to preach. Maybe you have hardly even had any opportunity to
speak publicly. Perhaps if you are a lady you have spoken at some ladies
meetings. If you are a guy perhaps you have spoken at a youth meeting or at a
home meeting or something like that. Perhaps you cannot fully identify, so I am
just giving you a couple of principles to identify with when you have the
opportunity, because you are going to have it if you want it.
If you are going to move into the prophetic office that God has called you to, you
are going to have the opportunity to stand up and speak to a group. And you need
to picture it and visualize it and desire it until God fulfills it in your life. You need to
use the anointing in preaching.
Prophetic Preaching
What is preaching? That is when somebody stands up and gives a sermon, right;
reads it off their notes? Did you know that preaching can be prophetic? The Lord
taught me this very early in my experience. I started out my ministry as a Teacher.
I was a very successful Teacher. Wherever I went my ministry was successful and
people invited me back. I prepared my messages all nicely and homiletically. I
need to teach some of you Prophets a bit of homiletics because you need to have
a track to run on if you are going to teach in any way. But there are times that God
will say, "I want you to preach prophetically tonight." That is one of those times
that are like when the Lord says, "Go and speak a word of prophecy. Go and pray
for that person. Open your mouth and speak and I will fill it."
You say, "Well, what must I speak on," and He says, "I’ll tell you when you open
your mouth." Or He will tell you what to speak on and He will not tell you what to
say about it until you open your mouth. Well, sometimes that is going to happen
when you preach.
You say, "Well, I can go about five minutes in prophecy." If you are an expressive
you can talk. You can talk your way round. You can flower it, paint the pictures,
add Scriptures. You can stretch it out. You can give a good long prophecy there.
Try standing up behind the pulpit and doing that. Hey, how do you think I manage
to go for an hour or two at a time? It does not come from my notes, let me tell you.
Why? Because you need to speak by the Spirit. You need to speak out what rises
up out of your spirit as a Prophet.
Personal Experience
I remember the first time that God began to do this to me. It was in fact the last
church that I pastored, or propheted. It turned out I was not really much of a
Pastor because I was already flowing right in the prophetic ministry. God gave me
the opportunity to minister as a Prophet. So when it came to Sunday meetings and
I had to preach, I just wanted to prepare those good old homoletical teaching
messages. And I said, "Lord, give me a word and He said, "Okay," and He gave
me a Scripture reference.
I said, "Lord, I want a word."
He said, "That’s your word. Take that Scripture and preach on it."
"But Lord, what do I preach on it?"
He said, "You will know when you stand up."
Well you know, people are used to you preaching for at least thirty minutes. Have
you ever tried preaching for thirty minutes on one verse? You have to do a lot of
talking. You tend to be a bit repetitive and say the same things over and over
again in different words to make the time stretch. But I learned to stand up and
open my mouth and He fulfilled that Scripture that says, "Open your mouth wide
and I will fill it."
Why? I will tell you why. Because I had already been in the ministry for many
years. I had already studied the Word. I was already full of the Word. I was already
full of the knowledge of the Spirit and of the things of the Lord and the spiritual life.
How long does it take you to prepare a message? Not ten minutes, but ten years.
Not twenty minutes, but twenty years. That is why I can preach for so long now. I
have lots of years. You are having all of them loaded out on you now.
I learned to open my mouth, taking the track. All He gave me was a Scripture or a
principle or a topic and He said, "There’s your road. Go and walk on it." And as I
would walk He would give me the next step. It would be like walking down a road
where you can only see a couple of feet in front of you. Now you just walk towards
how far you can see, and as you get there you see the next few feet that are in
front of you. You keep walking until you hit a wall and you stop. It is that simple,
really.
Prophecy
That is how you prophesy isn’t it? It is the way I prophesy. I start speaking, "Thus
saith the Lord …" and here we go, and off we go, and then (stop). That’s it. Shut
up. Some people try and smash through the wall at the end and start talking
nonsense, and you hear that their prophecy has gone beyond what God intended.
They start climbing the wall, man. And you feel like climbing the wall because they
are talking rubbish. You had better learn to step out when God tells you to step out
and shut up when He says, "It’s over."
Follow the Rabbit
Well, that is how you are going to have to learn to preach as a Prophet. You are
going to have to learn to speak. And if you are going to be tied to your notes what
is going to happen is while you are preaching, while you are walking down this
road, you are just going to see this rabbit running across the road and the Lord is
going to say, "Chase it." And you are going to dash off after the rabbit, and the
rabbit is going to here and he is going to go there, and you are going to follow the
rabbit. Suddenly you are going to wonder where the road is and try and go back to
it. Forget it, the Lord told you to follow the rabbit.
This goes against homoletics. They tell you not to follow the rabbits. If you are
going to be a Prophet, the homoletics do not work. Follow the rabbit. He is leading
you to the burrow where the Lord wanted you to be, because there is somebody
sitting in the meeting now that has a problem; that has a need, that was not in your
sermon.
Meeting Potential Needs

That is how you minister as a prophet when you are preaching. And if you are
going to minister to people publicly, if you have a hundred people out there you
are ministering to, you have a hundred potential needs you are going to minister
to. You are not going to have time to deal in detail with every single need. So God
is going to bring needs to your mind, to your spirit and to your heart as you are
ministering. And it is possible that God will give you revelation. You are probably
not going to have time to call everybody forward.
Have you ever tried praying for a healing line of a hundred people? I have never
prayed for that many people, but I have dealt with at least twenty or thirty at a time
and it takes a while, and it drains you and you are exhausted – if you minister
prophetically that is. It is easy to do the evangelistic thing. Just (pop, pop, pop)
and see them all fall. Then you can walk out and think you have done your job.
Personal Ministry Needed
If you are going to minister as a Prophet you are going to have to spend a few
minutes with that person to get revelation for them; to speak healing; to speak
revelation; to speak a word of direction; to give them something specific from the
Lord. You cannot do that in a public meeting. That is why the public meeting
cannot be the main thrust of your ministry, because you are not going to give the
right amount of attention to a person.
Call Out the Pictures
The easiest thing to do if you are ministering publicly is to learn to identify the
pictures that God gives you and to call them out. A lot of the great healing
evangelists like Kathryn Kuhlman started that kind of thing, where they would just
stand up in the meeting and say, "God is healing somebody of cancer over there.
Somebody over there, a blind eye is opening," and she would just call it forth.
Well, the Lord can do the same for you as a Prophet. It is possible for you to call
out the people that God is ministering to. It is possible for you to speak out
prophetic words over individuals while they are out there. Just a word of warning –
do not ever embarrass somebody in a public meeting.
Individual Ministry in a Public Meeting

I remember the first time I went into a public meeting and saw a Prophet calling
people out. I had a mixture of emotions. On the one hand there was the kind of
feeling that said, "Ooh, I wish he would call me out and tell me that God’s called
me." Nobody ever did. I used to fight with the Lord about this one. I said, "Lord if
you have called me to such a big ministry, surely you can get this Prophet to call
me out?"
The Lord said, "What do I have to make the Prophet call you out for? I have
already told you. Are you deaf?"
Don’t Reveal People’s Sins
I was trying to be like a Gideon, you see. If you are going to call somebody out,
you had better call them out to minister to them, not to condemn them or to
embarrass them or humiliate them in a public meeting. When God starts to reveal
to you the sins of people and some of the secrets in their lives, God has entrusted
you with somebody else’s secrets. You had better not be a gossip. If you are a
gossiping kind of person, you had better deal with that before God is going to tell
you His secrets as a Prophet. You had better not try and use those revelations to
make yourself look good in a public meeting by exposing other people’s sins.
If God reveals to you something that needs to come out, call the person forward
and speak to them by themselves, or generalize it and say, "God shows me there
is somebody here tonight. You are involved in an adulterous affair and God says
you must break it off." By all means speak that word, but don’t point out and say,
"You there, lady with the hat on. You are involved in an affair with a guy at work
and you’d better sort it out." I don’t care if God showed you that. Do not do it!
An Example from Jesus
You use wisdom in a public meeting. The Lord Jesus never did that to people. He
condemned those self-righteous hypocritical Pharisees who were standing up and
trying to do that; the ones who threw the woman in adultery at His feet in the
public place and said, "She’s an adulteress. She needs to be stoned." And instead
of humiliating her, the Lord humiliated them by writing in the sand and saying,
"Okay wise guys. You super-spiritual heroes. The first one of you that is without
sin, come on, throw the stone."
You know what, He publicly revealed their sin, and even then how did He do it?
Well I heard somebody suggest this once. I thought it was a good idea. When
Jesus sat down and He wrote in the sand, what did He write? Somebody
suggested that Jesus actually wrote in the sand and He wrote, "Adultery –
November 25th 1954." And the guy who did it took one look and said, "I am out of
here." It is just a fancy thought.
Jesus did not publicly reveal their sin, but yet He did. You see, God wants you to
expose sin. God has revealed it to you for a purpose, and the purpose is to
minister to that person to bring them to a point of repentance. Again it is a matter
of using wisdom, especially in the public meeting.
Private Exposure of Sin
Now, if you are dealing with a person in private, that is different, but the Lord may
actually want you to say that. You know what the Lord is usually going to say? He
is going to say, "You’re caught in this adulterous relationship and I understand,
and I care, and I love you both. But it is going to destroy you. I want you to be
free."
It is going to minister in grace and in love and He is going to bring the person out
of that sin. I know because I have dealt with that kind of situation. I have dealt with
that exact kind of situation. And when I have shared with the person the love of the
Lord and said, "The Lord understands. He doesn’t condemn you," the person’s
eyes nearly popped out of his head.
He said, "How can you say that?"
I said, "Because Jesus says so."
It had an effect, let me tell you. He was waiting for me to slap him. "You miserable,
rotten sinner! How can you do that to your wife?"
Use wisdom and love, and especially in a public meeting, be very careful about
exposing other people’s sins.
Individual Ministry
Let’s go on to the individual before we end. You can use the prophetic ministry to
minister to unbelievers and you can use it to minister to Christians. You can
minister prophetically to an unbeliever. The prophetic ministry is not for the world.
It is not for unbelievers. The prophetic ministry is not meant to predict who is going
to be the next president. It is not going to predict which country is going to invade
which country and what war there is going to be. I am not saying God cannot
reveal that. If God reveals that He reveals it so that the Prophet can tell the church
to pray, not so they can publicize it in the latest newspaper and be known as this
great Prophet who predicted the downfall of the Government.
Ministry to Unbelievers
But God can use you, through the prophetic ministry, to minister to unbelievers.
And God can reveal to you a person’s sin and their involvement with Satan, either
to bring about a conviction of that sin or to show the person, "God knows about
your sin and He still loves you and He still cares. He died for you on the cross of
Calvary to purge you of that sin and to forgive you." It is so easy to condemn.
I remember reading recently about a famous convicted murderer that was in

prison, who came to know the Lord. Now he preaches and says, "If God can
forgive me, who’s a murderer, He can forgive you." It is easy to condemn. If God
gives you revelation of a person’s life it is to minister His grace, not condemnation.
There is a whole world out there ready to condemn and stab you in the back. You
do not need to add to that. People have seen enough of that. They have had it
wherever they have gone. They want somebody who says, "I can see your sin. I
can see what a miserable rotten sinner you are. But I love you." There is nobody
else out there that is telling them that.
Ministering to Sickness in Unbelievers
God can give you a revelation of sickness and disease in that person to show that
He cares. I remember fairly recently speaking to a man who had been suffering
with his heart. He kept having tests and they could not find out what was wrong.
He kept having problems with his heart. And my heart burned. I said, "Lord, I want
to minister to this guy."
The next time He came around the Lord said, "I want you to pray for him. I want
you to pray for his heart." Well, I was not sure if he was going to be open to that or
not. I had made it clear to him what I was and what I believed. I said to him, "I’d
like to do something with you before you go today. I would like to pray for you that
God would touch your heart."
He said, "Sure."
So we bowed our heads and I just put my hand on him and man the anointing
came. The wind blew. I began to pray and the Lord showed me his heart. I could
see it so clearly. I could see that the one main blood vessel coming out of the
heart was kind of crimped and semi-blocked so that the blood would not flow out
clearly.
I said to him, "I can tell you what’s wrong with your heart." I said, "One of the main
blood vessels coming out of your heart is constricted and blocked. I am going to
pray for you that God is going to sort that out."
I saw him a while later and he said to me, "You know what? You were right." He
said, "They went and gave me some more tests and they discovered one of the
blood vessels in my heart has been clogged."
Well I do not know what effect I had on him spiritually or his commitment to the
Lord. But I ministered forth and reached out and touched him with the love of the
Lord. God can use you to minister to unbelievers as well as to Christians as a
Prophet.
Revelation of the Future
God can give you revelation concerning the future for an unbeliever. As you are
beginning to minister to them God can give a revelation. He can give a promise to
show that they are on a path to destruction. He can give a revelation that says, "If
you will turn from that path of destruction, this is what God has for you. You can be
blessed and you can make it through." God can do that for an unbeliever because
He cares for every single person, believers and unbelievers alike. So as a Prophet
you can minister even in evangelism. Use the prophetic anointing and bring
people to the Lord.
Ministering in Counseling
But of course the main part of your ministry is going to be to the believer. One of
the most effective ministries of the Prophet to the believer is in counseling.
You say, "But yes, for me to counsel surely I am going to have to go to University
and earn a degree in Psychology. I’m going to have to get a Doctorate, surely in
Psychiatry, before I can mess with people’s lives and try and counsel them on their
severe problems with mental illness?"
Well I am going to bite my tongue here because I am going to deal with this in a lot
of detail in our Counseling School, so I am going to skim through very quickly
here. And I am going to show you that as a Prophet you can minister to any
problem; to any need; to any situation; to any so-called mental illness; to any kind
of psychological problem. The Psychiatrist and the Psychologist will spend months
digging to find a problem that the person does not know and the Psychiatrist does
not know, and nobody knows, but God alone.
If you want to counsel that way you will spend the same time digging, digging,
digging; looking for you do not know what. But when something comes out you
say, "Well maybe this is what we are looking for. Maybe it’s not. Keep digging in
case." When you come as a Prophet to minister and to counsel somebody with a
need you do not need the shovel. You just stop and say, "Okay, Lord, you know
where the problem is. Father we give it to you. Lord, I’m putting my windmill up.
Blow the wind."
The Lord says, "Take your water hose and beam it right there."
God reaches in and He puts His finger exactly on where the problem is. If you take
your water hose and you beam the water right there, the problem can be solved in
minutes and it takes Psychiatry years. But the Spirit of God will do what man
cannot do.
Prophetic Counseling
How are you going to do it? You can do it by identifying hurts from the past; hurts
from the past that the person has forgotten or has so blocked out from their
memory that they cannot even remember it, or do not want to remember it. But
God will reveal to you as a Prophet and He will reach in and put His hand and His
finger right there. And He will go back and show you a scene. And as you are
praying for a person you will have a picture maybe. You will see the person at a
certain age. You may see the clothes they are wearing. You may see the
circumstances they are in. You may see the people that they are with. But God will
show you.
All you need to do is reach in and say, "I see you about the age of six. You are
sitting crying. You have a rag doll in your hand. You’re wearing a little blue dress.
Can you remember that?"
Pow! You will find the person suddenly break down and start to cry. "Yes, I
remember that. This is what happened. It still hurts when I think about it."
Transforming Hurtful Memories
God reaches in by His Spirit and He goes into that memory and transforms it and
takes the pain out of it. And in minutes the person is set free of a problem that has
plagued them all their lives. Is it that simple? Can it be that simple? Yes it can be
that simple. But there are a lot of problems perhaps that need to be uncovered.
There may be a lot of hurts that need to be uncovered. And it may take different
times of praying with the person to uncover different ones.
I am not saying it is all instant. We all like ‘instant’ these days. You are going to
have to use wisdom, and you are going to have to again know how to use the
revelation that God has given you. That is why we want to train you in counseling,
not just to counsel with counseling methods, but to learn as Prophets how to take
the revelation that God gives you and to use it to minister to needs by the
prophetic gifts and by the prophetic anointing.
You need to identify templates and triggers. We covered it in this course and in
other places. Sometimes God will reveal to you the exact template in the person
that needs to be dealt with, and a trigger that is causing them to feel the way that
they are.
Minister to the Child
You are going to minister to the child within, not to the adult. The counselors and
the Psychologists are trying to minister to the adult. The adult is grown up and
thinks as an adult. This woman is thinking as an adult woman. She is thinking as a
mature woman, but she was abused as a child. It is not the adult woman that is
thinking of abuse. It is the child. It is the confused little child who was abused that
is still hurting as a child. You cannot reach the adult mind because it is the child
that is hurting. It is going to take the Spirit of God; it is going to take a revelation to
go in and touch that little child and heal it. And when that little child is healed the
adult will be healed too.
You cannot do that with Psychology and Psychiatry. Psychology says once the
character is set it cannot be changed. Psychology says once the past has taken
place and the scar has been left, it cannot be healed. It is with you forever. The
best we can do is help you forget it.
God says, "You can change. I will help you change. I’ll cause you to change." God
says, "You can get rid of that memory. You can get rid of the pain of the memory.
I’ll take the sting out of it."
You can do that as a Prophet, because God is going to reveal to you exactly
where the problem started and you are going to speak forth a prophetic anointing,
and you are going to speak forth a prophetic word to that little child. And that little
child is going to be healed and set free.
Dealing with Bitterness

You may need to speak healing and forgiveness. Do you know what is the root
cause of most problems in the spiritual life? Bitterness - in every single one of us.
There are actually three roots (we have covered that in Counseling) but the tap
root is bitterness. If you want to start ministering to a person with spiritual
problems, you are going to find bitterness. I have found very often that I have dealt
with people who have problems with lust. Sigmund Freud goes and digs in the
past sexual experiences. When I counsel with a person, the Spirit of God moves
and I say to them, "Have you forgiven your father yet for what he did?"
"Well what has that got to do with lust?"
"That’s where your problem started. You are bitter against your father."
"Huh? Where did you suck that from?"
"Out of my spirit."
God knows exactly where the source of the problem is. And very often you will
reach in by the Spirit and you will solve and minister to a need that will solve other
needs and problems, because you do not have to think in your mind. All you need
to do is speak forth what God reveals to you, nothing more. You do not have to sit
down with a person, put them on the couch and let them go through their whole
life of woe. I did that once and it nearly killed me. I sat listening for hours to a guy’s
woes and it did nothing until the Lord just went and put His finger right on the
problem. He had not even covered it in his hours of woe. You can do that as a
Prophet.
Dealing with Guilt
You need to deal with guilt and condemnation. Condemnation is the greatest
strength that Satan has against us. And if he can keep you in guilt, usually false
guilt, it takes away your faith and prevents you from entering into all that the Lord
has for you.
Dealing with the Law of Judgment
You need to deal with the law of judgment. And God is going to reveal to you as a
Prophet where judgments have been made that are affecting the life of this
person. I am not going to deal with that in detail, because we have also dealt with
it elsewhere.
Spiritual Imprisonment
You are going to have to deal with spiritual imprisonment. This is a big one. This is
something that you are not going to be able to do with ordinary counseling,
because the person, through bad experiences in life, has built walls around them
and have put themselves in a spiritual prison. They have built gates and walls
around themselves to prevent anybody from getting in and causing further hurts.
And they are sitting there in their self-made prison, afraid to go outside; sitting in
the dark; sitting all alone and weeping inside. They are lonely and crying out.
Only a Prophet is going to be able to go there in that prison. Only as a Prophet is

God going to show you that little child there in the prison. God is going to show
you, as a Prophet, how to walk into that prison. He is going to show you the light
shining in that prison. God is going to show you the Lord Jesus taking that little
child and picking him up in His arms and holding him close, carrying him out of the
prison, and shutting the door behind so he never needs to go back. He is taking
him out into the sunlight. Only a Prophet can minister to a person that way,
because only a Prophet can have that kind of revelation that can reach in and
touch the hurts that have been in a person’s life for so many years.
Ministering Deliverance
As a Prophet you are going to minister deliverance to the captives. How are you
going to identify the curses that exist in the life of a person? Because God is going
to reveal it to you. God is going to show you curses that are caused by their
association with other people. God is going to show you curses that are caused by
objects that are in their home. God is going to show you curses that have come
down through family generations.
Curse on My Ministry
I had a problem very early in ministry where it seemed that every time I tried to do
something it went wrong. People would turn against me. Part of it was prophetic
preparation. But as I cried out to the Lord I said, "Lord, what’s going on?" God
showed me a man from way back. I could see by the way he was dressed. He
looked like an old time preacher in his suit. And I heard Him speak the words,
"You are cursed with a curse, because you have disobeyed the Lord your God."
He was speaking to some woman. And I saw through the generations of family
and I heard the voice echo through the generations like an echo and a
reverberation taking place in an open canyon. I heard those words coming down
on me. "You are cursed with a curse."
I do not know who he was. I have not been able to find out much about that far
back in my family generations, because it is quite a few. God showed us. Way
back there, there was a man of God who spoke a curse, perhaps on one of his
daughters, I do not know. Whoever she was she was one of my ancestors. It was
a curse that was spoken and was carried down through the family generations.
God revealed it prophetically, and I broke the effect of those words and
disassociated myself with those words, and broke free to walk in the blessing of
the Lord.
Family Generational Curses
You are going to have a lot of that sort of thing. Do I sound paranoid, way out?
Well, perhaps it does to somebody who is not a Prophet. If you have had prophetic
revelation perhaps you will know what I am talking about. If you haven’t you are
going to get it, because God is going to reveal things to you. You are going to be
ministering to people, and at times as you minister to them you may see several
people standing behind that person as though going back in generations. At times
God will show perhaps this person with their mother and their father, and you will
see it going back behind one parent, and you will know which of the two parents
the family generation bondage or curse came from.
God can show you those things as a Prophet. God will show you sinful templates
that demons have had control over, and you are going to be able to set people
free from demonic bondage.
This has been a long message but I had a lot of ground to cover. So I just want to
end by asking you a couple of simple questions. You are a Prophet. That is why
you are on this course. You have the potential to flow in the anointing and to
minister effectively. You are going to be able to do that wherever you are, whether
you are in church, whether you are at home, whether you are at work, whether you
are at the shops, whether you are walking down the streets. Your windmill is set
up. It is ready to go.
Be Available Always
Be ready. Be available to minister to the Lord wherever you. You are going to be
able to minister to the Lord at any time. If somebody wakes you up in the middle of
the night and you are half asleep you should be able to wake up and set up your
windmill and say, "Okay, Lord, blow. I’m ready." And when the Lord blows on you,
the anointing will come forth and you will be able to minister. You will be able to
minister to anyone.
A Personal Experience
I just want to share one final experience of my own in closing. I found a telephone
number in my Bible the one night, and I was not sure who it was so I phoned it. It
turned out it was a Pastor who used to be my Senior Pastor, a man who I really
respected and revered. I felt God wanted me to make contact with him again,
because perhaps God had something to minister for me from this man of God. I
had not seen him in a long time. As I looked to the Lord He said, "No. I want you to
go and minister to him."
Now as a Prophet, you have the ability to minister to anyone. You need to be open
to it. You need to realize that the big name out there in the public eye, who is so
famous, is not exempt from needing ministry. Of course it is going to be a lot more
difficult to write him an email, if he will ever notice it, if God gave you a word for
him. But be open and ready to minister to anybody, anywhere, at any time.
Because as a Prophet of God you have that ability. Now go do it!
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Victory Over Spiritual Battles
By Daphne Crause
ow many times have you been in a spiritual battle and have longed for
and cried out, unsuccessfully, for victory? How many times have you had
a problem in your life that you have tried so hard to gain the victory over
and yet you still do not seem to have success? If you are in this position
today, I want to encourage you to read on, because there is victory ahead!
What Problems?
So, what problems am I talking about? I am talking about emotional problems that
you think you should be able to solve by conventional means, but you can’t. They
are spiritual in nature, but they manifest themselves in an emotional form and you
feel like you are going through a tug-of-war.
Have you ever participated in a tug-of-war? If you have you know that you hang
onto that rope for dear life, but you are being pulled one way and then the other.
You are pulling with all your might in one direction, and then you are suddenly
pulled in the other direction, and it is difficult to stay in one place and stand your
ground.
This is a good picture of what I am talking about. You may have a problem that
has cropped up recently or one that has been ongoing for years and years, and
you try vehemently to stand your ground against the tug-of-war and turmoil that
you are feeling inside, yet you swing like the pendulum and go from one extreme
to the other.
Personal Battle
I am well aware of having spiritual tugs-of-war. I went through one once that put
me into the depths of despair about ever gaining victory over it, but the Lord took
me through a process which I would like to share with you on shortly, and I
received full victory in it.
I did not fully realize that I had a problem in a certain area until the Lord moved my
husband more fully into a different type of ministry. I had always backed him and
given him full support, yet when he moved into this new thing that the Lord had for
him I suddenly felt an anger and irritation about it that baffled me. It was like when
a cat and dog meet unexpectedly for the first time and the cat’s fur stands up on
end. For the life of me I couldn’t understand what was happening. It was illogical
and irrational, and try as I may I simply could not get victory over it.
I examined my heart, confessed my anger as sin and realized that I could be

stopping him from accomplishing all that the Lord wanted to do in his life, but in
spite of confessing and receiving cleansing from the Lord the feelings of irritation
were still there and I resented his involvement in this ministry terribly.
Here was my tug-of-war. I knew that my attitude was wrong. The very last thing I
wanted to do was stand against him in the work of the Lord, but my emotions went
way out of control and it is as though there was an internal influence there that
was stopping me from breaking free. Indeed there was and it was the key to
breaking completely free of it. For the first time in my life I understood what Paul
was saying in Romans 7:19, 24 and 25:
19 For the good that I want I do not do: but the evil which I do not
want, that I do.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
This is what was happening to me. I wanted to do what I knew was right in the
Lord, and what I didn’t want to do I found happening. So what was the key to
victory? I want to share what the Lord showed me.
Sin, Bitterness and Judgment

If you are experiencing a continual battle over anything, even though you may not
be in deliberate rebellion and may have every good intention of walking with the
Lord, you need to face up to the fact that sin is at the root of the problem. In
almost every case that sin is bitterness, because bitterness is the tap root of most
of our problems.
You may say, “Bitter? Huh? I’m not bitter!”
Look at yourself carefully and see what is going on in your life. Look at how you
react to people. Do you want to know if you are walking in bitterness? Check to
see if you are down-mouthing anyone, or getting angry with anyone. If you want to
smack a person when you see them instead of giving them a hug, then you are
walking in bitterness, and it is unfortunately sin. It is so easy for it to creep in. The
enemy can bring anyone across your path to try and rile you up and get you to
open the door to him through strife.
When you have identified and seen the root you may now need to look a bit closer
and see if your problem does not have a judgment associated with it. The Lord
showed me that the reason I could not break free of the problem I was
experiencing was because I had in fact judged someone in my childhood for the
same thing, and this judgment was continuing on and being reaped in my
husband.
If you are continually struggling with something like for example all women
rejecting you, you need to do a little digging and ask the Lord to reveal to you if
you have made a judgment about a woman rejecting you in the past and you are
now reaping it in your life. It may have been your own mother who rejected you
and you may have judged her in your anger. Now unfortunately that judgment is
still with you and you are reaping it again and again, and it will remain with you
until you have dealt with that judgment.
Sometimes it can be devastating to realize that you have a law of judgment in

operation, but it is powerful to see it, because you will suddenly realize why things
have been going the way they have and why you have sometimes reacted the way
you have. How many times have you treated your children the way your parents
treated you and yet you have never wanted to be to your children like your parents
were to you? Do you know why that may have happened? It is because you likely
judged your parents for something, and despite not wanting to repeat the negative
cycle, you have gone and done just that! If the Lord shows you something like this
it is wonderful, because now you can do something about it and truly break free.
Submit and Forgive

Having identified the sin issue, now let’s consider how to break free. The first thing
to do is James 4:7:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will

flee from you.
You need to submit yourself to the Lord and then close the door on the license
that you have given to the enemy through your sin. Once the sin aspect has been
dealt with, the rest will follow suit fairly quickly, although the Lord may still need to
deal with other weaknesses of the flesh that are standing in the way. You will find
though that the tug-of-war will cease and you will have a calmness in your spirit
again.
If you are bitter against someone who is close to you and whom you can talk to,
you need to admit your bitterness to them and ask for forgiveness. Sometimes this
is extremely difficult for some people to do face to face, and you may feel better
about writing them a letter, but either way you need to say those words and get
them out into the open in order to begin the process to victory.
You can share and be open about what you feel – always in love - but then you
need to say, “I was wrong in being bitter towards you. Please will you forgive me
for this?”
The person you were offended at should say, “Yes, I forgive you,” and now you
can close the door on the sin aspect that gave Satan license to attack you and
keep you in bondage. Turn to Satan now and tell him out loud that you are closing
the door on him and he and his oppression must leave. If a law of judgment has
been revealed openly renounce that judgment and let it go. You have now gained
a great victory, but the process has not been completed just yet!
Past Links
If the Lord revealed to you a law of judgment you now need to ask Him to shine
His light on the past and what caused the law of judgment in the first place. You
may have been hurt and reacted badly. You have dealt with your sinful reaction,
but there may still be a sting in those memories and when you think back on them
you still feel horrible about the situations or events. It is a good thing to get
someone to pray with you and ask them to speak healing to those painful
memories. The Lord will go back with you into those memories and shine His light
sometimes in places that you have even forgotten, and in a flash He will heal the
pain associated with them. Now you can think about them without wanting the
painful emotions that went with them before.
A Choice
Now you need to make a simple choice to walk with the Lord and to let Him help
you overcome the problem completely. The Lord will not force you to change, but
as you have committed your problem and your tug-of-war to Him, He desires to
get in there with you and help you to overcome completely. You have done the
spiritual part and done what you can by dealing with the sin aspect, bitterness, law
of judgment and negativeness towards the person. Now you need to make a
choice to let the Lord change you and move you from victory to victory.
You have to make a choice to walk with Him in love and be free from bitterness. If
something has irritated you, you need to choose to not let it irritate you and make
a commitment to perhaps even become involved in what you did not want to be
involved in before. Be flexible and have an attitude of humility before the Lord,
because that is what He desires of you. If the person or people involved are not
walking the way they should, as you keep your own attitude right before the Lord,
He will move on them to correct theirs as well if it should be needed.
Do you know what happens now? You will find that what stressed you out badly
before and what you were having so much trouble getting victory over will
suddenly not be a problem anymore. You will change in your spirit, your soul and
your body. You will be at peace and often you will see things from a completely
different viewpoint from what you used to before.
You can walk in victory! As you go through these points that I have discussed and
implement them in your life you will rejoice to see the chains that bound you
before fall away, and you will win that tug-of-war once and for all!
“Thank you Lord for setting your people free. Thank you for giving them the victory
that they are crying out for. Lord, whoever is reading this article now, if they are
facing a problem that is difficult and they are battling to overcome, I ask you to
release them. I ask you to show them the sin in their lives that is causing the
bondage. Reveal any laws of judgment, Lord, so that they can let it go, confess it
and put the past to sleep. You have come to set your people free, and I thank you
Lord for the victory that is theirs in you right now.
“Satan I stand against you and declare that you will take your hands off God’s
people. The Word says, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free!” In Jesus’ name I speak freedom and liberty to your people, Lord. I declare
that you will make your truth known and that your people will begin to walk in
victory as never before, as they break those negative bonds from the past and
take your hand to walk down the path that you have for them. Thank you for it,
Lord.”
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What's Happening Lord?
By Daphne Crause
ow many time has this happened to you? You are moving along
H smoothly in your Christian walk. You feel inspired to continue and go
from strength to strength. You have a zeal and a determination to do
what the Lord wants you to do. You are feeling motivated and feel like
you can conquer the earth and you ask the Lord to really move in you in power
and might.
All of a sudden though your world comes crashing down and you find yourself
facing tests, deaths and problems. You become the opposite of what you were
before. You become confused, discouraged and often depressed, and instead of
having the zeal and determination you had before you now just want to throw in
the towel and give up completely.
If what I have described above fits the way you are right now and you are
wondering what in the world is happening, ask yourself this question, “What have I
been praying and asking the Lord to do in my life?”
I recently had a tremendous time of prayer with the Lord and I felt motivated and
inspired to give my all for Him. During the time of prayer though I prayed, “Lord,
crucify my flesh. Take what is not of you. I give it to you, Lord. Holy Spirit, I invite
you to take control now and to cause your fruit to begin to manifest more and more
in my life.”
My prayer time ended and a short while later I found that zeal suddenly ending in
a heap of irritation and anger as I faced a situation that I had to yield to but really
didn’t want to. Instead of submitting, for a brief moment I wanted to dig in my heels
and throw a tantrum. A few minutes later though I repented and asked the Lord to
forgive me and I sat thinking, “What is going on here? This morning I felt like I
could conquer the world. Now suddenly it feels like everything is falling apart.
What is happening, Lord?”
All of a sudden the Holy Spirit said to me, “Why are you so confused? I’m just
answering your prayer!” and He reminded me of my prayer of earlier on.
Immediate Work
Let me tell you, the moment you pray and give Him the go-ahead to deal with you
in any area He will say, “Sure, let’s go and revamp you a little bit to enable the
answer to come about.”
If you find yourself going through what seems like the crucible of affliction right
now, look up and rejoice because the Lord considers you worthy enough to shape
you into His image and to mold you into the plan that He has for you life.
I can well remember how, when I first married Les, my heart’s desire was to work
for the Lord and go into ministry with my future husband. I had this idea that
ministry was something wonderful where people looked up to you in awe and kind
of hero-worshipped you; that the Lord put you on a pedestal for everyone to
admire. I was full of enthusiasm and zeal, but I was soon to learn that there was
little or no glory, and certainly no people hero-worshipping you in ministry. In fact,
it was a rude awakening to realize that it often involved humility and being a
nobody in order to give out to others so that they could grow and be blessed by
the Lord. He was starting even then to shape me and mold me and to show me
the many areas that needed to be dealt with in order for me to be a real blessing
to Him.
Perhaps you have this same zeal and determination burning within you. Perhaps
you have a desire to rise up in the Lord and do great exploits for Him, but you find
that this zeal is suddenly very short lived, and instead you feel like you on a roller
coaster ride with no way of getting off. The tests and crunches are coming fast and
furious and it seems like almost daily there is something that is being exposed in
you to make you feel anything but someone of importance in the Lord’s Kingdom.
Deep Work
Why is it that the opposite seems to take place? It is because the Lord is digging
deep down inside of you to make you and mold you into that vessel that will be fit
for His use.
The Lord gave me a word for someone once which went something like this: “I am
doing a deep work in you at the moment. I am like a gold miner that has to go
down deep into the bowels of the earth and blast away the rock in order to process
it and make it into that beautiful bar of gold. So my children, do not be despondent
if you feel as though you are being torn apart and shaken up. Look at the end
result, for it will be a product of great beauty.”
If you are feeling shaken up right now, this is what is happening. The Lord
sometimes needs to turn you inside out and remove those ‘things of the flesh’ that
will stand in the way of you being effective in ministry for Him. It is for your benefit
as well, because until every weaknesses have been dealt with the enemy can
come along and destroy what God is doing in your ministry in one easy step.
Think about it for a moment. If you have a problem with say anger and bitterness
in your life and you want to rise up in ministry, if that area of the flesh is not dealt
with you could easily be tempted and fail in your ministry. It would be an easy
thing for the enemy to set up a situation where someone just ruffled your feathers
in the right way and you lost your temper, and your whole ministry could be
jeopardized as a result. It would not only destroy your ministry, but the bitterness
would defile the lives of many as well and wreak havoc in the lives of believers. It
is not worth it. Every area of failure and even sometimes strengths need to deal
with so that you are truly as putty in the hands of the Lord and He can direct you
as and when He desires, for maximum blessing and ministry to the Body.
Romans 9:21 says: 21 Does the potter not have authority over the
clay, from the same lump to make one vessel to honor, and another
to dishonor?
Allow the Lord to mold you and shape you, even as a potter does when he makes
some pottery. You need to be even as a patient on the operating table. Let the
Lord do what He wants to in your life and yield yourself to it. Be encouraged, for
He will not take you through things which you are not capable of handling. Each
trial and molding may be slightly deeper, but within your capability of handling.
Now, what should your attitude be when the tests are coming, the deaths are
continual and you seem to be more on the floor with your face in the dirt than even
standing and looking on at the potential for ministry in front of you? Let me deal
with them quickly:
Teachable Attitude
Firstly, you need to maintain a teachable attitude so that the Lord can continue to
pour into you and make you grow speedily. As you maintain that spirit He can give
you revelation concerning which direction you are to go in and He will reveal bit by
bit those areas that need to be dealt with so that you can be truly effective for Him.
Esteem Others Highly

Do you desire to be standing in the forefront like some famous preachers are? Do
you wish that for just one day or so you could be standing in their shoes and
preaching fiery messages and getting the people stirred up? It is good to aspire to
be the best for the Lord and to keep that vision firmly fixed in your mind, but until
you get there one of the best attitudes to have is one of ‘esteeming others highly
for the work sake,’ as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians.
Why is this such a powerful thing to do? It is because you are maintaining a
humble attitude and being other-oriented, and by this very act, the Lord will reach
down and lift you up and He will be the one to exalt you in due time. I have been
there myself and have done just that – lifted up others in ministry and esteemed
them and spoken blessing on them because of the benefit that they are being in
the Body of Christ. Then quite unexpectedly within a short space of time the Lord
began to lift me up and people started to recognize what the Lord had put in me.
The Lord said to me, “This is because you have humbled yourself in my sight and
in the sight of man. Now I am causing you to be raised up.”
Don’t try and do it yourself. Don’t try and raise yourself up and think you are so
wonderful, for you will fall in pride. Let the Lord do it for you, because then He will
do it at the right time and in just the right circumstances for you to be abundantly
blessed. It is like a parent giving their child an unexpected gift because they are
proud of them and what they have achieved.
Look Ahead With Joy

In conclusion, I want to consider one final attitude you need to have when you are
going through tumult in preparation for ministry. I have touched on it briefly above,
but you need to have the attitude of Jesus when He was about to face the cross. It
says in Hebrews 12:2:
2 Looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith; who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus went through the ultimate in humility and literal death in order to fulfill the
call that the Father had on His life, but He didn’t look at what He was going
through at the moment and the trials and pressures He faced at Gethsemane. He
didn’t look at the fact that the Father rejected Him and unloaded on Him the sins of
the entire world, when He was guiltless before then. No, He looked beyond all of
that and He saw the end product, and He saw that it was priceless.
Where are you right now? How far are you prepared to go with the Lord? The
amount that you desire to rise up in power with Him is in direct proportion to the
pressures that will come upon you to mold you into that end product. The Lord will
not force you. He gives you a choice, and if you should decide to pull out before
He has completed the work because you can’t handle it, He will not condemn you.
He will continue to love you and use you as He can, but you will not become that
end product of beauty that you could become.
Do you think you can stand the pressure? I think you can, and you will become a
beautiful produce in the Lord’s hands and you will stand out as a shining example
of His love and grace in your life! Push on now and look ahead and see the end
product that the Lord has for you.
Testimonies
"Your words blessed me so much. Lately everything the Lord has been giving me,
has been coming to me by death or a good dose of humility. No more cutting
corners. But in everything the Lord is good. I just wanted to tell you how much
your article blessed me."
- R.J., Oklahoma
"The articles that are sent out by the team are so timely. It never occurred to me
that anyone else was going through these kind of things as in this your posting.
Your posting surely is food for thought."
- J.W., North Carolina
"Praise the Lord, this was right on time. I just was ready to throw in the towel. I
was just now fed up, and saying to my self is this even worth it, I'm rejected just
about any and every where I go and for two years I've been taught by God through
through the Holy ghost. I had a lot of zeal five years ago and now I'm wondering If
God called me at all. Its Like everyone around me are ministers, evangelist and
the like, but I'm still on the potters wheel. I know with God everything is in his
timing, but sometimes I just want to be used by God and I need discipline direction
and the need to know his voice. So thanks this was truly a blessing."
- T.H., New York
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Why Marriage?
hy marriage? Today marriage is under attack. It has been for a long

time. In many circles marriage is considered old fashioned, outmoded,
not necessary. We do not need it anymore. Well, they were talking
about this a while back when I was younger a long time ago already.
They were saying, "Pretty soon people are just not going to get married any more.
They’re going to go and live together because why bother getting married?
Marriage is old fashioned. It’s going to fall away.
Well, they are still saying that and it still has not happened. There is a very good
reason for it. And the reason for it is in the contents of this message. Why
marriage? Divorce rates have reached proportions unheard of in the past. They
are getting worse all the time. And I know they have been saying that for years as
well. But divorce is so easy now. It comes in do-it-yourself kits. It is very easy.
Actually, getting a divorce is easier than getting married these days in some
places.
The gay movement has arisen proclaiming a new morality. Why live with
somebody of the opposite sex? You should be attracted to members of the same
sex. Marriage is being attacked from all sides. A man and a woman living together
for the rest of their lives? Even believers are battling to cope with the stresses that
are coming on the marriage.
Many Questions
There is an attack, and it is against the marriage. Why is Satan attacking the
marriage? Why is marriage such a big problem to him? We will be answering that
question in the next few episodes coming up in this series. But let's look at the big
why. Why all this upheaval? Why all the problems in marriage? Why all the
conflict? Well, quite simply we have lost sight of the Scriptural pattern and the
reason for marriage in the first place. People do not know anymore, even in
Christian circles, what the Bible really teaches concerning marriage.
So people are asking questions like, "Why did God institute marriage in the first
place? What did He have in mind when He made it? What was the purpose for it?"
And how about this one? "How come God made the man first, and the woman
afterwards?"
Have you ever thought about that one? Why did God make man first and woman
second? Is that because God is a male chauvinist pig? Why should we get
married and live with just one partner for the rest of our lives? I mean, that is dull.
Why has God gone and imposed that on us? It is not fair.
We need some answers. And we do not need the kind of answers that we
sometimes give to our kids when they say, "But why must I do that?"
"Don’t ask why. It’s just because I say so!"
A lot of people have been given that kind of answer for so long.
"Well why?"
"Because God said so.""
"But why?"
"Because God says so."
Well I want to know why He said so! Don't you? I mean great, He is God and we
are His creation, and we need to obey His commandments. But I am one of those
people who likes to have a little bit of information below the surface there. If God
said so I would like to have some teeny little idea of what was in His mind when
He said so.
Answers
So I am going to try and pick God’s brains a bit here and I am going to see if I can
somehow tell you what was in His mind, and what are some of the things that God
had in mind when He set the marriage in order.
Okay, now is God this mean ogre who just imposes His will on us? Is He? When
God put man in the Garden of Eden He said, "You can enjoy the whole Garden,
but that tree over there it’s my favourite one. Don’t touch it, okay. That one is just
for Me."
Is that what He said? Well that is kind of what the Devil wanted them to think
wasn't it? That tree was poison. It was deadly. And when God said, "Don’t you
touch it," God had a very good reason for it. It would have killed them. Well it did
actually.
Satan’s Lies
But Satan came with his lies didn’t he? He came and he said, "Well, God’s trying
to withhold something good from you. It’s not fair that God doesn’t let you partake
of that tree. Because God knows that if you were to partake of that tree you would
know a lot more. And you might be a threat to Him, because you’d become like a
god as well. God is holding out on you here. He doesn’t want you to enjoy."
That is the same lie that Satan still brings to people in the marriage situation.
"Well, why did God tell you, you are supposed to stick to one partner? He wanted
to just squeeze your fun. He’s just a mean old thing. I mean, He gives us these
wonderful pleasures that a man and woman can have, and then He says you are
not allowed to have it except with one person. How boring."
No Escape
It is the same kind of lie. God had a reason, just like He had a reason in the
Garden of Eden. Because there is death out there. There are snares waiting for
you. The results of disobedience are always the same. Pain and loneliness. And
those who think they want to do the marriage merry-go-round; those who are sick
and tired of being in the bondage of being married to one person; of being tied to
this miserable individual for so many years, decide they want to break free.
"I want to be free. I want to be free. I’m tired of being bound."
Fallacy of Compatibility
You know that song, ‘Please release me let me go, ‘cause I don’t love you
anymore?’ That is hogwash. You want to be free. And then you break free and
suddenly you find out that freedom is not so good anymore. You are lonely. There
is nobody who cares. You have to go round and try and find somebody else now.
And every single person you find has only got one thing in mind. They want to use
you, take from you, suck the goodness out of you and spit you out again.
You say, "But I’m looking for Mr Right. I’m looking for Miss Right. She’s out there
somewhere."
"And how will you know when you find her?"
"Well, we’ll just click you know. We’ll be compatible."
That’s a lovely word isn’t it?
"Well you know, my husband and I, we are not compatible. So therefore, it’s
pointless us continuing with this marriage. I need to break this and find somebody
that I’m compatible with."
What does compatible mean? It means you want to find somebody who dances to
your tune. It means you want to find somebody who does not upset you,
somebody who does not cramp your style. If you are a dominating person you
want to find a partner that you can control and dominate. And if you are a grown
up mommy’s boy that looking for a mommy, you want to try and find somebody
that is going to dominate you.
We call it compatibility. There is no such thing as it. How can two sinful people be
compatible? Yes it is true there are differences in temperaments, and we will be
looking at that later. We will be looking at it in a lot of detail in our Counseling
Series, on how temperamental make-ups affect each one of us. And we are going
to be looking at it especially in the marriage situation to see how temperaments
flow together to get two people to complement each other.
But most people do not think of that when they think of compatibility. They are just
thinking of somebody they do not fight with; somebody that they feel comfortable
with. And a lot of the time you do not even know what you are looking for, so you
do not even know when you have found it. So you try this person to see if this is
the one, and you get married to that person and it does not take long for you to
find out that, "Hey, we’re not compatible. He doesn’t do things my way."
"Hey, she just doesn’t give me what I want all the time. How can we be
compatible?"
So, you hop on the marriage merry-go-round again; in divorce and remarriage, in
divorce and remarriage; in divorce and remarriage. And so the merry-go-round
continues. Until eventually you just get off the merry-go-round and stand and
watch it go round and round. You are too scared to get on any more because you
cannot find that person. So you come to the conclusion that no such person exists.
It is a lie. It is a lie of Satan, because you believed his lie in the first place. We are
going to be looking at it in much more detail in this marriage series. We are going
to be looking at all of these aspects. So in this study I am just going to cover a
groundwork or foundation if you like of all the things that we are going to be
covering. You see, the only way that you can be compatible is to do things God’s
way. You have to do it His way. And if you do it His way it is guaranteed to work.
Work Needed
You know the 'w' word - work? You know that thing that we hate? Work. Well, it is
going to take work. It is not just going to fall into your lap. You are going to have to
work at it. And you are going to have to know how to work at it. You are going to
have to know what to do about it to make this thing work. That's what we are going
to be teaching you in this series.
So where are we headed? We are going to be looking in this series at the

Scriptural standard for marriage. We are going to have a look at where we tend to
violate that standard. We are going to see why people violate it, and we are going
to see what happens when they violate it. Then we are going to show them how to
correct their mistakes. In the end we are going to get a new view of marriage and
give some plans of action to fix things.
We will touch on some subjects like rearing of children as well. And we are going
to look at something for the unmarried people. We are going to look at how to deal
with an unsaved marriage partner, and we will look at how to deal with divorce and
widowhood. And we are also going to have a look at the gay lifestyle and how to
deal with that as well. We are going to be covering it in a lot of detail. This is going
to be a big series.
There is going to be a lot of intertwined areas that we are going to have a look at
in this Counselling Series and in this Pastoral Counselling course that we are
going to be doing. We are just looking now at the marriage aspect, but there is
going to be so many other areas that all interlink and interrelate and all come
together to affect us, because so many things that affect the marriage are caused
by personal problems in each marriage partner.
If you are going to solve the marriage, you have to solve the problem in the
individual first, because marriage actually is very simple. We are going to have a
look at it shortly, and see how simple it really is. Just the complications in our lives
and the other problems that we have in our lives are what make our marriage
complicated too.
Marriage Important to God
So I want to look at some marriage basics firstly. I want you to realise that God
considers marriage so important that He dealt with it first. Do you know that? If you
pick up your Bible and read, you will find that way back at the beginning God
speaks about marriage. Marriage is very important. It is high on God’s priority.
That is why it is also high on Satan’s priority, because the marriage is the key to
victory in the spiritual life. A successful and happy marriage are at the base of you
succeeding in ministry; of living the kind of life God wants you to; of walking in the
way of blessing that the Lord has for you. And if Satan can attack you right there
he can begin to destroy everything that God has for you.
So marriage is vitally important. How important is marriage? If marriage is so

important, then why may I ask is it not top billing in every sermon that preachers
are preaching? Why is it not top billing in teaching seminars? The last prophetic
conference that you went to, how much time did they spend on marriage? The last
revival that you went to, how much emphasis was put on marriage?
Wrong Pictures
I tell you why marriage is not preached on much, and I will tell you why nobody is
presenting the Scriptural standard. It is because history repeats itself. And where a
failure is made in a marriage, that failure is passed down into the thinking of the
children. And as the children grow up and rise up and enter into a marriage
situation, they make the same mistakes that they saw their parents make. And
they fail again, the same way that their parents failed. They communicate it again
to their children, and their children grow up, and it goes from generation to
generation to generation.
You have men and women in the church of God; those in leadership; those who
are preaching from the pulpit, and their marriage is not right. So how can they dare
to stand behind the pulpit and teach other people how to run their marriages? How
dare they stand behind the pulpit and preach what marriage should be, when their
own marriage is lacking? Why? Because nobody taught them. They had a wrong
image, a wrong picture. And they have gone, and they have perhaps studied the
Word and learnt a few things. You will find that the only people that are ministering
on the marriage are the only people that went through the mill with so many
marital problems that they began to look to God. They began to dig into His Word
and find some answers.
No Fighting Could Be Wrong
But you will get the average person who married somebody who was compatible
with them. You know what a compatible marriage is? A compatible marriage is
where the woman lets the guy do whatever he likes. And the guy is quite happy
just to ignore his wife and do his thing. And as long as he gets what he wants, and
as long as she gets what she wants, they live together under the same roof. They
never appear to fight, and they carry on their dull humdrum existence that is not a
marriage. But they never fight. They never squabble. And when you speak to them
and say, "Man, I’ve had such problems in my marriage," they will look at you with
that condescending attitude and say, "I can’t understand why you’ve got a
problem. I’ve never had a problem in my marriage."
They never had a marriage in the first place. That is why they never had a problem
in the marriage. But that now becomes the standard, contrary to the Word of God.
And for the person who is trying to work at it, to try and make their marriage into
the way God wants it to be, Satan is attacking them. He is hitting them and trying
to destroy it.
People look at you and say, "I can’t understand what’s wrong with you. You’re
always bickering and fighting and always having problems. Your marriage is
always in difficulty."
It could be that your marriage is closer to the Scriptural standard and you have
come under more attack than anybody else. Because Satan knows if you get it
right he is in trouble.
You know why? Because the Scripture says that if two shall agree concerning
anything, it is done, whatever is spoken. If they shall, "stand together as one and
agree concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done by My Father in
heaven." There is power in agreement. The Scripture says, "One shall set a
thousand to flight and two shall set ten thousand to flight." The power goes up in
tens. There is power in agreement. There is power in unity.
Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am in
the midst of them." When a husband and wife stand together as one, Jesus joins
them, and you have a full compliment. You have the fullness of His power right
there. Do you think Satan is going to allow that? No way is he going to allow that.
He saw the power right back from the beginning in Adam and Eve, and he
reached in to bring a division between Adam and Eve and a division between man
and God, to make sure that they could not tap into that power.
Ungodly Standards
But it goes on, cycle after cycle, generation after generation; history repeating
itself. So, who is teaching the right pattern? The pastors? They are getting
divorced left, right and centre themselves. Psychology and psychiatry? They are
the experts now. The psychiatrist is teaching you how your marriage should be. He
does not even have the Word of God to go by. And people are going to ungodly
counsellors for marital counselling. What are they going to teach you? To build a
marriage that is based on the Word? They do not know such a marriage. They
have never seen it. They are going to build by their own standards.
God’s Pattern
So we go back to the beginning. Let's see what God's pattern is. Let’s see how it
was supposed to be, and let’s see where the problems came and how they came.
You see, there are two different eras - before the fall and after the fall. There are
two different complete pictures that existed in the marriage relationship. So we go
back to Genesis 1. We read in verse 27:
God created man in His own image; He created them in His image;
He created them male and female. And God blessed them and He
said, "Be fruitful and multiply; replenish the earth and subdue it; and
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
God made man and gave him dominion. And in Genesis 2:20 it says:
And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to
every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper
suited to him.
Made in God’s Image
God made man in His own image. Now what is interesting in this verse is God
repeated Himself. It says, "God created man in His own image. He created him in
the image of God." Why did He say it twice? Do you reckon the guy who wrote
Genesis, who was reputed to be Moses, do you reckon he was just the kind of guy
who stuttered a bit and repeated himself a lot? Was he one of those preachers
who repeated himself over and over? It is like he put a bit of padding in to make
his book bigger.
I have found that in God’s Word when something is repeated there is a reason that
it is repeated. And these are the kinds of things that you need to look at when you
study the Scriptures. We will cover that in another series. The Scripture says,
"God made man similar to Himself." He created him to be like God. That is why it
is repeated. "God created man in His own image." And then to make it even more
clear he says, "He created him in the image of God."
What kind of image does God have? The first thing about God is that, "God is not
a woman that she should lie," the Scripture says? Is God a man or is He a
woman? Is God male or female? Well we always know Him as a He don’t we? But
yet God actually has both male and female characteristics. And when God made
Adam He made him with both male and female characteristics. We will look at that
more shortly as we go on.
But why is God always portrayed as a man? Why is God portrayed as male? And
what about the angels? In the Scriptures you read about the angels. You will
notice it speaks about a man that appeared. It is always a man, contrary to that
lovely modern movie ‘Touched by an Angel’ where the angel is female. You do not
find it in the Scriptures. Somehow the Scriptures always seem to portray the
angels as being masculine.
And yet we know that they do not have a gender because Jesus spoke about that.
When they came and asked Him about the woman who had been married to so
many men, they said, "Who’s is she going to be in the resurrection?"
Jesus said, "In the resurrection we will be like the angels. There will be no sex."
Oh darn, sorry guys! Nobody wants to get resurrected anymore hey? There will be
no male or female. They will be genderless. The angels do not have a gender, but
yet they are always portrayed as representing God, and somehow they always
seem to be seen as male. Yeah, God really is male chauvinist isn’t He? Or is He?
Why?
Both Male and Female

When God made Adam He made him as male and female blended together. Let’s
go back to that little passage we just read there. It says:
He created him in the image of God. He created them male and female.
When God made man originally it was just Adam. But yet he was made male and
female. So what was he then, a hermaphrodite? Was he somebody who had both
sexes? No, he was one person who contained, as God does, the qualities of
masculinity and femininity, malehood and femalehood united together in one
person. Adam was both male and female, just as God is both male and female. So
you woman’s libbers do not need to worry about changing the Bible to change all
the he’s to she’s. I tell you why it is a ‘he’ in a moment, and I will show you why
God has set that masculinity is superior to femininity. Ouch! I will just leave that
one as a titbit for you to chew on before I get there.
In Genesis 2:21 we read about how God made the woman.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he
slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead.
And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a
woman and brought her to the man. And Adam said, "This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman
because she was taken out of man."
As we look in the Hebrew here we see that the word that is translated ‘rib’ can
actually mean ‘side’ rather than rib. What happened when God took out Adam’s
rib? God took out Adam’s side. He took a side out of him. You see Adam had a
masculine side and a feminine side united in one person. And when God put
Adam to sleep, He took out of him the feminine side and He took it and made it
into another kind of man; another kind of humanity.
Gender Separation
Eve was just like Adam, exactly the same. But now there was a difference. Adam
was now both man and woman in one, in so far as his spirit was concerned. There
were male and female characteristics, but the male was dominating. God took the
woman and He made her so that her feminine side would be dominating. So
immediately you would see a difference between a man and a woman. Apart from
the physical difference, there was a difference. Within the man there was
maleness dominating. Within the woman there was femaleness dominating. Is it
clear as mud?
Gender in Animals and Man Different

Let’s carry on and look at this gender difference a little bit more. What is
interesting is that God made man and the animals differently. I remember when I
was a young kid it was great fun to catch birds and put them in an aviary. I
remember in the place we were living in, there were so many beautiful birds that
came there, all different kinds and different colors. It was such great fun to set up
a little bird trap and put up a little box with a stick and a piece of string and put
some seed under it. And you go and sit behind a rock and wait for the bird to come
and eat. And when the bird is under, you pull the string, out comes the stick, and
the box falls on them, and you have yourself a bird.
Was it cruel? Maybe it was, but we put them in a cage and gave them lots of food.
We were not being cruel. We just wanted to catch that nice one. And we would
see all these birds that would come and you would get these ugly stupid little gray
things, eating and eating and eating. And you would wait for this beautiful red
colored bird to come. When he was under the trap then you would pull it.
You see, there is something about color that attracts us isn’t there? It is beautiful.
And you know it took me a while, as I began to learn about birds, to realize
something. Those little gray birds and the colored ones were from the same
species. The ugly little gray ones were the females, and the beautiful colored ones
were the males. I found out it was the same in every species. The female was
plain Jane, ugly, unattractive. You just caught her to keep the other guy company.
You would catch some of those females just to put in so the male could have a
mate. But it was the male that was so beautiful and attractive, so you wanted to
trap that one and put it in your aviary.
When God made man He changed it. He switched it all around. What He took out
of Adam He made into something beautiful. Now as we look down upon human
creation what is it that shines out as a beauty? Who is it that you want to catch in
your trap? It is not the guy, let me tell you. It is that beautiful woman that God has
made, that beautiful wonderful creation that just shines in beauty the way the Lord
has made her.
Man Special and Different
It is totally different in the human kingdom compared to the animal kingdom. You
see, in the animal kingdom the male is the beautiful one who attracts the female.
In man God made it that the woman was the beautiful one to attract the male. God
changed the whole order to show that man is not just another animal. Man is
different. God has a special plan and purpose for man that is different to the
animals. Man is not just another animal to go and procreate. He is something far
more important than that.
When God made woman he exalted womanhood in a new way, contrary to what
women feel, that they are trampled under and pushed down, and they have to be
subject to man. God gave her a compensation. He gave her a quality that makes
her superior to the man in many ways. He gave her a new quality. If God had
made man like the animals the guy would have had everything. He would have
been dominant and he would have had all the beauty. But God compensated it
and He gave the woman beauty. What does that have to do with marriage? We
will look at it more later and we will see how men and women respond to one
another visually, particularly when it comes to the sexual relationship.
But you see, God has made man and given him the honor of being the leader.
Why? Because masculine always dominates. That is why God is viewed as a man,
because the dominant aspect shows His masculinity. Yet God shows the qualities
of femininity as well. His attributes do not contradict one another. They flow
together, but the dominant aspect, the dominance and the control and leadership
is always vested in masculinity, not in femininity. Let’s look at in Genesis 2:23:
And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man."
Man Names
You see, man was both man and woman together. Woman was taken out of man.
Man still is the dominant one. Woman came out of man to be part of him and
together for them to flow as one in control, but the masculine side still must
dominate. Now, I want you to see something very interesting in this Scripture. God
gave Adam the right to name things in the earth. We looked at this in the Way of
Blessing series. When you have the right to name something that has been made,
that gives you the copyright control over it. It means that you are the owner and
you are the one who is in charge of that object. If you are going to name it you are
in charge.
I want you to notice that it was not Eve that named Adam, but Adam named the
woman, just like he named the animals. The man does the naming. When a man
and a woman get married whose name dominates? The man’s. From whom do the
children get their names? It is the man’s surname that the child takes, the father’s.
The male always dominates. The male names, and the father names his children.
He gives his name to his children. It is all part of the image of God in man. It is
God’s order and the way God made it.
Those who want to kick against it in the Woman’s Liberation Movement are kicking
against something absolutely vital. There is a protection there. There is an order
there. And we are going to look at that in a lot of detail as we look at the role of the
wife later on. There is a protection there. There is a protection from danger, just
like when God said, "Don’t touch that tree," and women are kicking against it. They
do not want the restriction. They do not want to be dominated. They want to break
free.
You are playing with fire. You are violating something that God put there for a very
good reason, not just because God is a man, so He puts a man in charge. A lot of
women are seeing it that way. It is not true at all. God has given women very
wonderful qualities and He has given women privileges that men do not have.
Keys to Marriage Harmony

There’s only two keys, two very important keys that have to be looked at from the
start, that lead to marital harmony, and two very important things that are perhaps
amongst the major causes of problems in marriage. Matthew 19:5 says:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be
joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. Therefore they are
now more two, but one. What therefore God has joined together let
not man put apart.
Men
In preparing our own translation of the Scriptures I dug into the Greek on this
passage, and I found out that there are a few meanings there that comes out as
we look at it. And I translated it this way:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall
become glued to his wife.
Glued, you know as with superglue, the kind you cannot take apart?
And they two shall be one human being. Therefore they are no more
two, but one being. What therefore God has joined together, let not
man put apart.
Spiritually Bound
When a man and a woman come together in the marriage union it is not a legal
contract that binds them together. It is not the court of law that makes a marriage.
There comes something far deeper than that. There comes a union. There comes
a joining together in the spirit as God takes two people and he makes them into
one. It is like He joins them together. Can you imagine two people standing
together and they are glued together like Siamese twins? You just look at these
Siamese twins. They have had to learn to live with each other for life, especially if
they are joined at the spine. They cannot be separated.
If you are joined that way, if the one decides to bend, the other person cannot say,
"I don’t feel like bending." You have a problem. If the one bends, the other one has
no choice. You bend with, because there is no breaking off this one. You are
joined, you are one. So where the one person goes the other one has to go. You
are joined together as one. That is why Jesus said, "What God has joined
together, let not man put asunder."
You cannot get divided by a court of law, because it was not a court of law that put
you together in the first place. It was not the law of the land that gave you your
marriage in the first place. It was God that united you together as one. And He
took two people and He made them into one person. Just as He took Eve
originally out of Adam, so they were put back together again, so that together as
two people they could become one person. Together they could become what
Adam was originally. Together they could become the image of God in man again.
It is essential that you cleave.
You will notice that the father gives away the bride, but the man steps out on his
own. The father is the one who gave the name. The father is the one, the
masculinity who dominated, and the father gives away his daughter to be joined to
a man to become one with him. Marriage involves a total union, not just a
partnership of convenience. When you become united and joined together with
somebody else, there comes a change in your rights. You had liberties and rights
of your own before, but when you became joined to somebody else your rights
began to change. They are not your own anymore.
It does not take long for two people to learn, that when they get married and start
to live together, they realise that, "I can’t do what I want to do anymore, when I
want to do it anymore. I have somebody else to consider."
You are like the Siamese twin. You cannot just go where you like anymore. You
have somebody joined to you. And this guy is going to tag on with you. He is going
to tag along wherever you go. It is going to be a real pain. You are going to try and
shake him off, and you are going to find out that he has been superglued to you. It
is tough, but it is essential. It is part of the way God made it.
Physically One
There comes a yielding of rights. There are things that you have to give up. Oh,
here it comes! You have one body now. In terms of the Lord, you have been
joined together, and your bodies are considered as being one. 1 Corinthians 7:3
says:
Let the husband give the wife due consideration, and likewise also
the wife to her husband.
What is he talking about? Sex, of course. You knew I was coming up with that one
didn’t you? We are just going to touch on it in this lesson.
The wife does not have sole authority over her own body, but her
husband does also. And likewise also the husband does not have
sole authority over his own body, but his wife does also.
Oh dear, so if she wants your body to go and fix the leaky tap, and she wants your
body to get into the garden and do a bit of cleaning up; if she needs your body to
go and clean the trash out, it is her body too you know.
Paul says, "Do not deprive one another unless it is by mutual agreement for a
while, that you may commit yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together
again so that Satan does not tempt you through your lack of self-control."
He is saying, "You are not to deny anything to another. You are not to deny your
spirit, your soul or your body to one another, because the two have been united
and joined together as one." And just as you use your body as it needs to be used,
so the body of your spouse needs to be used in the same way, and needs to be
available.
It is a covenant. It is just like a Blood Covenant where you do not have to beg and
plead for your covenant partner to give you what is your rights. When you are in
Blood Covenant with somebody you do not go with cap in hand and say, "Please
can you help us out this month. We’re battling financially." You just walk into his
house and say, "Where’s the check book? I’m going to sign a check. I know you’ve
got lots in the bank." It is a covenant. The two of you are no longer two, but you
have become one.
Now strangely enough, Jesus and Paul both repeated this one, so God seems to
consider this one important. Ephesians 5:28 it says:
So men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves
his wife loves himself.
You have to love your wife as your own body. She is part of your body. So if you
want to go out and have fun with the guys, what does your wife’s body think about
that?
For no man yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it
just as the Lord does the church.
If you are going to feed your body are you feeding hers too? If you are going to do
things for yourself, are you going to do the same things for her? If you are going to
spend money on yourself, are you going to spend it on her? The two of you are
one. It is the same body. And whatever you do for this body; when you fulfil the
natural bodily desires of nourishment, defence and reproduction, you need to
realise that you need to consider the body of your partner as well.
For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
Just like we are part of the Body of Christ, we are part of Him.
For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother, and will be
joined unto (the Old King James said ‘cleave’) his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh.
So you get leaving and cleaving. There again Paul is speaking the same Scripture
we read before that Jesus spoke about, and God spoke about it. Old Testament,
New Testament, it is all the way through. You cannot get away from it. There has
to be a leaving, and there has to be a cleaving. And here is where the problems
begin – the leaving and the cleaving.
Father’s Vital Role
If you do not leave you have problems. If you do not cleave you have problems.
Here is how it works. When a girl is in the home she is under her father’s authority.
She is under his authority and control and she is subject to him. If he is the kind of
father that he should be in terms of the Word of God, he has actually brought her
into maturity, into womanhood, and showed her how to be a woman, and to be the
kind of wife that she should be.
Now you are probably saying, "But shouldn’t the mother be teaching the girl how
to be a wife?"
She had her turn to do that when the child was younger, because when the child
was younger it was her responsibility to build the foundational principles or
templates into the child. When the child reaches adolescence, the father has to
take over. Because only a man (male) has the capability of bringing in the
templates of maturity which teach a child to be a leader, whether that person be
male or female. Only a father can bring a child into full adulthood effectively. Only
masculinity has that capability. Femininity does not have that capability.
Therefore it is necessary, it is essential, that when the child reaches adolescence,

the mother steps back and lets the father take over. It is essential that the father
takes up his responsibility and does not just hand it over to his wife.
"Well, she’s done the job all along. She might as well just fix it, carry on and sort
the kids out. And she must just give her daughter all the advice. I mean it’s a
woman thang. Let her sort it out. Why must I get involved? I’ve got work to do,
man."
Now you know why there has been generation after generation of problems in the
marriage? Because the father has failed to fulfil his role. You see, when the girl
leaves, she is leaving her father. When she cleaves, she is cleaving to another
male. And unless she learned from her father how to behave in that male/female
relationship, she will not know how to behave in this new male/female relationship.
Only a father can show her, and give her an environment and a situation to test
things out, to try them, to try out her charms and femininity. She tests it out on the
only man in her life that she should be able to trust.
She begins to try her charms on her dad, because it is safe ground. A lot of the
time it is not safe ground. You would be amazed at how much incest occurs, not
just in the world, but even in Christian homes, because men have misunderstood
it. Because a father has not recognised his role and responsibility and the
importance of bringing that flower out; that beautiful flower who is his daughter,
allowing her to mature into womanhood. She must be allowed to try her charms on
him, for him to show her how she must be a woman with the man that she is going
to spend the rest of her life with.
Mother Must Let Go
Sometimes it is not the father’s fault, it is the mother’s fault, because the mother
does not want to let go. The mother’s letting go actually involves more the guy.
You see, mother does not have a problem letting daughter go, because daughter
grows up and they become friends, and it is not a problem. But mother wants to
control her son and hold onto him for as long as possible.
That is where the major conflict occurs where leaving and cleaving is concerned. I
will tell you why. Because a woman does not have a problem leaving her father’s
authority and coming under her husband’s authority. It is just one guy to another. I
mean they are all the same. They have the same characteristics. By and large,
they have the same things. If you have seen one guy you have seen them all.
Usually the woman will find a guy who is just like her father if she has got on well
with him.
His Own Authority
But the man is another story. When the man leaves home who is he coming out
under, and who is he going under? Well if the man has been under mommy, and
mommy is still controlling, and mommy is still there wiping behind his ears, he is
coming out under one mommy to another mommy. Have you ever seen two
jealous mommy’s? That is where the problems begin to occur in the marriage.
Because the man should be stepping out and taking up the image that his father
taught him; an image of strength, leadership and masculinity.
But if the image his father gave him is, "Yes, you must obey your wife now. You
don’t rock the boat. You just let women have their way because they are just
temperamental creatures, and …"
Do you see again why the father’s image is so important and why it is so important
that the mother steps out of the way? Also why the woman needs to be in
subjection to the man? You will see it all come together as we go through and look
at all of these details. The mother fulfils her role in the child, bringing the child up
to puberty. The father then takes over and shows the son how to be a leader; how
to be the head of his own home one day as he steps out and takes his wife to
himself. And if the father has not given the man that image of true masculinity, of
true leadership, of being the true head of his home, then the cycle repeats itself
and conflict begins to take place. And there comes a reversal of order, a reversal
of the roles. We will be looking at this next.
Disorder in the Home

God’s whole order is put into chaos. When the children come along, what are they
being shown? They are being shown disorder. They are being shown the wrong
pattern. They are being shown everything that is wrong and contrary to God’s
order, and they do not know any different.
When they grow up they look at marriage and they say, "Yes, other people seem
to be the same way mom and dad were."
The cycle goes on. There has been no leaving and there has been no cleaving.
So as the woman comes out and she cleaves to her husband there is not a
problem. There should not be a problem. She just moves from her father to her
husband. The man is seldom jealous of his son-in-law who has taken over his
daughter’s affection. He walks her down the aisle and he gladly hands her over to
the new son-in-law.
"Here you are, I’m giving her to you. I trust you boy, I trust you. I’m giving you my
special one. I’m putting her into your hands."
In-Law Conflicts
The guys become one and they agree with each other. They talk guy talk and they
think like men. But oh, when the woman has not let go of her son, and this little
vixen takes over her poor little son and makes his life a misery, and she wants him
to come back to mommy so she can help him out … Man, you have never seen
conflict like there is between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law! We will talk more
about in-laws later.
Jesus even knew that. He said, "I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring a
sword." And He gives conflict between a man and his father, … and a daughter-in-
law and her mother-in-law. He does not say, "The son-in-law and the mother-in-
law." Now I know we make jokes about mother-in-law. You know, guys love to
make jokes about mother-in-law.
"Knock knock, there’s the door. Oh look who’s here? Dear old mother-in-law. Well,
don’t just stand there. Go home!"
But you see, people do not make jokes about mother-in-law and daughter-in-law,
because that is so vicious. You have not seen anything like it. You do not even go
there. Why? Because mother-in-law will not let go of her son. And you know what,
son is such a wimp that he runs back to mommy all the time. Son is such a wimp
that he has never been given an image of standing up on his own and being a
man and a leader in his own home. And the conflict begins to take place.
Communication
There has to be a leaving and there has to be a cleaving. They both have to take
place. And there needs to be open communication. Ninety percent of all marital
problems are caused by lack of communication. I want you to look at the before
and after again in these Scriptures, as we read concerning how God created man
and woman and put Adam and Eve in the garden. The Scripture says, "And they
were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."
They could walk around nakedly with each other and were not ashamed. There
was no problem. She was not afraid he was going to grab her if she walked
around naked. She probably let him. There was no hiding from one another. There
were no secrets. NO SECRETS! There were no barriers and no secrets between
Adam and Eve. There are meant to be no secrets between a husband and wife.
"You mean, I’m not allowed to just hide that little thing from him that I’ve been
doing behind his back?"
No secrets. How can you be one person? That is like the left hand not knowing
what the right hand is doing. I mean it just does not happen in the body. Your body
is a unity. You cannot cut your tiny little finger without the rest of the body finding
out. If you are to be one, you are to be one in spirit and in soul and in body. You
are to flow as one. You are to be so one that you think together, until you get to
the point where at times you begin to say the same thing at the same time.
You begin to come up with the same idea at the same time, because you have
become one person. You think your thoughts together, you make your plans
together, you build your aspirations together. You consider one another the way
you consider yourself. Your partner is as important to you. His or her body is as
important as your own body. No secrets, no barriers. That is the way God made it.
There was a full sharing of everything. Then what happened? From the moment
they sinned suddenly they began to cover up. I have never thought about that
before. I mean, who else was there in the garden. Were they covering up from the
animals? They covered up from each other. They began to sew figs leaves to
make aprons and clothing.
"Yeah, God’s a nudist."

Let’s not get off onto that. The point is, there was no sin. There were no barriers in
communication. They could be open with one another. But the moment sin, fear,
guilt and evil thinking came in, barriers began to come between the man and the
woman.
One of the best illustrations that you may have heard and I have seen so often in
the marriage relationship, is to consider the husband and wife and the Lord as the
three points of a triangle, with the Lord at the top and the husband and wife at the
bottom. As you take those two corners of the triangle, if you move upwards
towards the top corner making the triangle smaller, what happens is as you start
getting closer to the top, to the corner that represents God, you automatically start
getting closer to each other. And the closer you get to God the closer you get to
each other. And the further you get away from God the further you get away from
each other.
Communication problems are caused by sin. They are caused by failure to be

transparent with one another and by a failure to be open and to share everything
with your partner. That is where the problems begin, when we begin to walk in
darkness instead of in light. The Scripture says, "If we walk in the light as He is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanses us from all sin."
Total Unity
So what is God’s order in summary then? God’s order firstly is that a husband and
a wife need to break free of the control and influence of their parents. Then they
need to cleave. They need to become united together as one person. There needs
to be openness and honesty with each other, each one being aware of what is
happening to the other. There needs to be a sharing of everything – physical,
material, the thoughts and intents of your heart. Do you share with your partner
the thoughts that went through your mind as you lay in bed at night? Have you
shared with your partner the lustful thoughts that you have been fighting with?
Have you? Oh, you would not dare to do that would you? Why not? Then that
person can pray with you and help you to overcome it.
But you struggle and battle along on your own as a separate individual. You each
have your own bank accounts. You each have your own vehicle. You each have
your own job. You each eventually have your own lives. Where is the unity?
Where is the oneness? This World System has pressured the marriage and
squeezed us into a mould that is contrary to the Word of God.
If you are going to enter into marriage you are going to have to give up your rights.
People say, "Well, you know marriage is a 50/50. It’s give and take."
No it is not. That is the Old Testament love. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." The New Testament love is, "Love one another as I have loved you." That
means you give your all for that person. That means marriage is 100 percent give
on both sides.
It is quite simple, really. It is God’s order. Why? Because God said so? Because
God makes us do it? No! Because that is the key to true happiness. That is the
key to true success. That is the key to becoming everything that you can be in this
world, and in the Lord, and to have full satisfaction in spirit, soul and body.
Because you are going to have a partner that is going to add to you everything
that is missing from your life. All your weaknesses are going to be overcome by
that partner’s strengths. And all your strengths are going to be added to that
partner’s weaknesses. And you are going to blend together as one person.
You are together going to become as Adam was originally – in control; totally in
control of the earth, dominant. Not just the man dominant. It is man and woman
together united as one, the man in leadership but the two becoming one person,
until you get to the point where when you speak you speak in ‘we’s’ not in ‘I’s’.
Whenever you speak about yourself you end up saying, "We". When you sign your
name at the end of a letter you end up signing yours and your wife’s name
together, because you have become so one, you have become such a team, that
you cannot even conceive of doing without that person. You cannot even conceive
about being away for one night away from them. And when you have to do it
through business you cannot stand it. You want to get back.
I see married couples going on holidays, taking their vacations separately. I look
and I say, "Lord, something’s wrong. That is not a marriage." I could not live
without my right hand for a day. Could you? Well how about half of you?
How about we just cut off everything right down the middle? Take half of you off
and say, "Okay, you half go that way, and this half will go that way, and we’ll do
our own thing."
I cannot do it. And I cannot conceive of me possibly doing anything without my

other half. She is part of me. Without her I am incomplete. Without her I cannot
function. God has given her to me to fulfil me and to make me one complete
person in His image, so that together we can flow as one.
That is the order. That is the way marriage is meant to be. And we are going to
show you through this series how to bring your marriage to that place, if you really
want it of course. And I think you will want it when you find out all the blessings
that are going to be involved.
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Why Salvation?
oteriology is a very big word, but a very simple word really. It is made up
of two Greek words – Soterios and Logos. You have probably heard of
logos. Soterios is the Greek word for salvation. Logos is usually
translated as ‘word’, but it can also mean ‘study’, so by putting Soterios
and Logos together we get Soteriology, which means ‘the study of salvation’. So
Soteriology is going to be the study of salvation. What is salvation?
You say, "Well what is the big deal with the study of salvation? I always thought
that salvation was pretty simple wasn’t it? How much would you teach on it?"
Well, quite a few studies. You are going to be surprised how much we are going to
cover in this series. In fact Soteriology is at the heart of everything that we stand
for and believe in. It is at the heart of our whole spiritual lives and it is what we are
here for. It is what serving the Lord is all about. So that is why Soteriology is such
an important subject.
What is Salvation?
Before I get onto it let’s just stop and get your minds turning a little bit. Saved –
what does that mean to you? If I come to you and say, "Are you saved?" what are
you going to say? Well, I hope all of you are going to say, "Yes," otherwise there is
a problem. All right, "Are you saved? What does that mean?"
If I were to ask you, "What do you mean when you say you are saved?" we are
going to hear things like, "Well I believe if I died tonight I will go to heaven." In fact
that is probably about what more than 90% of Christians will say.
"Saved – saved from hell. Saved is to go and live eternally with the Lord in His
presence in heaven one day," and that is what most Christians believe. So to them
salvation means getting born again, getting saved, turning from the path of sin that
has taken them to hell, and now turning to salvation. If that is all your salvation
consists of, then I feel sorry for you because salvation involves a whole lot more
than going to heaven one day. That is why we need to study the subject of
Soteriology and salvation.
But before we can learn what it is that we are saved from, and what it is that we
are saved to, we need to go back to the beginning again. We need to go right back
to the beginning of the Bible and see exactly what it is that God intended for us in
the first place, and what it is that He intends for us in the end. And what I would
like to specially cover here is the condition that we are now in – every human
being is in before they come to Christ and enter into what we call the experience
of salvation.
Creation
So let’s go right back now to Book 1, Chapter 1, Page 1 – right at the beginning of
your Bible. I am not going to cover it here because it will take too long and I have a
couple of other Scriptures which I am going to deal with later, so we are just going
to review what we know about Genesis Chapter 1.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth
was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said,
"Let there be light."
So God began to go through the stages of creation, and we know the story of the
six days of creation and how God made Adam, man, on the sixth day of creation.
Then on the seventh day God rested.
Man in the Garden of Eden
We read that God took this man, He planted a Garden in Eden, and He placed the
man in that Garden. We read how God took the man and caused him to go to
sleep, and removed part of his body. Most translations say a rib, but the original
actually means his side. God took out a half of him and formed it into a woman,
and He brought Eve to Adam and God presented him with his wife.
And God commanded Adam and Eve and said, "You can eat of all the trees in the
Garden. Whatever you like, there it is. Help yourself. Enjoy. Just don’t touch that
tree there, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because in the day that
you eat of it, you shall surely die."
So Adam and Eve started their life in this beautiful paradise, this wonderful place
where everything that you could possibly want was there. You were living with the
best looking person in the world. He was the most handsome guy that ever lived.
She was the most ravishingly beautiful woman that you had ever seen. And you
know what? There was no competition. There was no-one else that he could be
attracted to, nobody else that she could be attracted to. They were living in this
garden paradise with the most wonderful, luscious fruits that you could possibly
have, everything that was wonderful to eat.
And God did not say, "Thou shalt eat only 2000 calories per day otherwise thou
shalt put on weight."
There were no diets. Wow, it was wonderful. None of this heavy stuff that we
suffer with when we eat too much, no diets, no restriction. No, "Thou shalt push
weights three times a day. Thou shalt do aerobics to make sure that thou keepest
fit." There were no gyms necessary in the Garden of Eden. It was a wonderful
paradise and everything you could ever want was there.
Perfect Peace and Unity
Then Adam and Eve were created with innocence. There was no guilt, no fear,
and no negatives. There was no taking up a person the wrong way. There was no
conflict, no strife, but perfect innocence where they could walk naked without
feeling ashamed. There was perfect openness and honesty with one another.
I just want to show you this, which is something extra. You know the thing that
brought Adam and Eve together so close was the fact that they both had a good
relationship with God. Consider this little illustration. If you take a triangle and put
God at the top, and Adam and Eve on either side at the bottom, if you take Adam
and move him closer to God, and you take Eve and move her closer to God, you
know what happens? They get closer to each other. There were no barriers
between them and the Lord. No guilt, no sin, and as a result, there were no
barriers between each other. They could come close to the Lord without any
restriction or hindrance, and automatically they would come closer to each other
as well.
You know what? There were no marriage squabbles in the Garden of Eden. There
was no, "Well, Eve, it’s time you learned to submit to me."
There was no Eve getting on Adam’s case and saying, "Why did you leave your
socks lying on the ground again?"
No, there was just perfect harmony, sinless perfection, not even the thought of sin
entering their minds, and yet total freedom, and total liberty.
Adam Given Authority
There was authority. The Scripture says that God gave man authority over the
fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, over the whole of creation. God said to Adam,
"You are in charge."
Adam took a look at all of these animals and he did not say, "God, what am I going
to call them? What do I call that big funny looking thing with the big trunk and the
massive feet?"
God said, "That’s up to you."
And Adam said, "I think it looks like an elephant."
God said, "Great idea."
Adam named them all. He was in charge. Adam did not have to go to God and
say, "What do I do? How do I run this place?"
God said, "I’ve put you in charge. Use the authority and power that I’ve given you."
The Bible says that Adam was given responsibility to care for the garden. Now, I
do not read anywhere that God supplied him with hedge clippers, lawnmower,
shears, spade and fork. Could you see Adam going through the Garden of Eden
there, trimming the trees? But surely there must have been a need for something
like that? Surely there must have been a need for some kind of control in the
garden? How did Adam do it? He had authority.
What happens when you have authority? What do you do when you have
authority? Come on, who has authority over somebody else? How do you show
your authority over your children?
"John, come here now!" and he comes. "Leave, sit, jump, run! Go get me this, go
get me that!"
Authority means you command. Now if Adam had authority over the creatures in
the earth, and over the vegetation, and over everything in the earth, Adam had the
authority to command. So if this tree was growing just a little bit close to the other
one I think Adam had the right to say, "Hey, move over NOW!"
I can see the tree saying, "Yes boss!" and moving.
Same Authority as Jesus
You do not believe me? Just read the New Testament and see what the last Adam
did. He came to a fig tree and He said, "You will not bear fruit again." That was the
end of the fig tree. Did He not? He spoke to the wind and the waves and He said,
"Peace, be still!" Instant calm.
You say, "Well, that was Jesus. He was the Son of God."
No, He was the Son of Man. He came to show us what Adam was. Yes, He also
came to show us what God was, but the Scripture says He put aside His divinity
and put on Himself the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became a
man. Jesus came to show us what man was meant to be in the first place. Jesus
came to show us what Adam was.
The Tree of Life
So God gave to Adam and Eve access to the Tree of Life. If you want to read
more about the Tree of Life go to the book of Revelation right near the end and
have a good read about the New Jerusalem. And you know what? You are going
to read about the Garden of Eden? You are going to read about the same rivers
that flowed in Eden, and you are going to read about the same Tree of Life that
bore its fruits and its leaves were for the healing of the nations.
The Tree of Life was for health. There was no sickness or disease in the Garden
of Eden, none whatsoever. And as they continued to eat of the Tree of Life they
would have lived eternally and forever. We will look at that more later. They had
access to all things freely. There was nothing to pay, no price and Adam’s work in
the Garden of Eden did not determine whether the fruit was going to come. Adam
did not have to dig around the tree and put in some manure and make sure that it
was well fertilized before the peaches come out.
He did not have to do that. Yes, he had to care for the garden. Yes, God gave him
a job to do, and Adam did not sit and have holiday all day. He had a job to do, but
he did not have to work hard at it. All he had to do was to keep control. He had to
just exercise his authority. The trees grew naturally. They bore their fruit naturally.
Everything came freely. I would like to call that prosperity, wouldn’t you?
Everything just falling into place perfectly, everything obeying you, everything
flowing with you, and everything that you touch with your hands prospering and
being successful.
Abundance of Everything
They were secure in the Garden of Eden. There was no loss. You did not have to
be afraid that if you left your peach lying there somebody was going to come and
steal it. They did not have to be afraid of anybody harming them. The animals did
not attack in those days. There was no strife, no strife either amongst Adam and
Eve or amongst the animals. The animals did not tear each other and fight with
each other. You know why? There was an abundance of everything.
We had an experience recently where our dogs started getting into each other
because they had not been fed, and when we gave them food suddenly they
thought this was the last meal they were going to have and each one tried to grab
before the other and there was a terrific fight that ensued. It was not like that in the
Garden of Eden. There was no lack. There was an abundance of everything.
Fellowship and Communion
And most important of all, there was fellowship and communion with God. Every
day in the cool of the day, the Scripture says, God would come down and He
would walk in the Garden and He would talk with Adam and Eve. He would
fellowship with them and He would share with them. He would not come down to
command or to dominate them. Do you know why? Because Adam had been put
in charge.
All God did was to come down and have fellowship and say, "Adam, so how is it
going?"
And Adam would say, "Well, it’s okay. I found a couple of species today that I
hadn’t named before. And you know what, I called that funny buzzing thing? I
decided to call it a bee."
God probably said, "Great idea, Adam. I like it. Anything else I can help you with?"
"Yes, well we’ve been having a problem here, and we don’t know what to do
there…"
Whatever the problem was Adam could share with God. God could give him
advice. He could tell him how to run the world, and He would be off again. There
was perfect fellowship and communion with the Father, God not interfering, just
being in control of the universe. But what took place on the earth was in Adam and
Eve’s hands, specifically Adam who was the head.
Satan Was Jealous
But it did not stay that way did it? No, there was another character on the earth
and he did not have the authority and the power that Adam had, and oh how he
wanted it. And his name was Satan, Lucifer, the Devil. We will look at him another
time and learn all about him and his kingdom. But God had given to Adam the
power and the authority in the earth. Why? Because God had made Adam, man,
in His own image and had placed a piece of Himself in man in his spirit. And we
are going to learn that in detail when we get to Anthropology.
God placed in Adam the ability to be a god in the earth. Adam was the god of this
world. Did you know that? He was the god of this world. He was in control of this
earth. That is the way God made him, and oh how Satan wanted that power. Man,
he wanted that power. And God gave to Adam and Eve two trees. We looked at
the first already - the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil.
There were two trees, in addition to the rest of the trees in the Garden. And God
said, "You can eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life freely, but of this tree you shall not
touch." Why? Because those two trees were a lot more than just ordinary fruit
trees. Those two trees were gateways. They were gateways into dimensions, into
realms, that could have determined what kind of future man was going to have.
When Adam and Eve had access to the Tree of Life they gained access to God’s
realm. The Scripture calls it the heavenly realm. They gained access to where God
was, and to His power and His blessing, and to everything that is offered in the
heavenly realm. But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, if they were to
touch that, they would open another door. They would open a door to a realm that
was not of God at all, but they would open the door to the one who stood against
everything that was of God – the Prince of Darkness himself.
God said, "Don’t you dare touch that tree. Don’t you dare eat of that fruit, because
if you do, death is going to be the result."
Now I like to think of each of these two trees as doors. It is very easy to imagine
that with the science fiction stories we have these days where people pass into
this warp and they go into another dimension. God lives in another dimension, so
does Satan. It is the dimension of the spirit.
Satan knew that the only way that he was going to get the power and the authority
that was vested in Adam was to somehow draw him into the place where Adam
was under his control. You see, only man has authority in the earth. Only a spirit
living in a physical body that came from this world, which was made from the
elements of the earth – only a spirit living in that body has the authority and the
power to determine what goes on in this world.
And God Himself, being Spirit, though He had spoken forth the worlds by His spirit,
He Himself withdrew and said, "Adam, I will work through you, because in your
spirit, I put of Myself, and I will work through your spirit in you. But you as a human
being living in a physical body, have the authority and the dominion in the earth."
That is why when God came to visit He did not impose. He moved through Adam,
through his spirit. He gave him instructions by his words and told him how to live,
and Adam then implemented the words that God had given him.
The Fall
In order for Satan to have control in the world, he had to tap into the power that
was in Adam, and to do that he had to get Adam to submit to his authority. And
that is what the temptation was all about. That is how he tempted Eve and he drew
her aside as a bait, to get Adam to finally submit to him by partaking of the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I am not going to cover that in detail here
because that again is part of Anthropology, and the creation and fall of man, but I
am just trying to show you exactly why salvation is necessary.
As Adam submitted in sin and partook of the forbidden fruit, he opened the door to
Satan’s realm and gave him access into this world. He opened the door wide like a
Pandora’s box and all the demons of hell were released into the earth. And Adam
submitted himself to his new lord and master, Satan, and Satan became what
Adam was – the god of this world. Now Satan pulled the strings, now he called the
shots, and Adam had to do what he said, because Adam was now under his
control.
Fear, Guilt and Disharmony
The first thing that took place was guilt and fear. As soon as it was all over the first
thing that happened is that Adam and Eve suddenly realized they were naked.
They had never noticed that before strangely enough, but now they did. And they
started covering each other up with fig leaves, covering from each other. What
happened? All of a sudden clouds of guilt came between them and the Lord.
And do you know what the result was? It was barriers between them. On that day
began the first marital problems. How do I know? Watch what happened when
God came to Eve and said, "Eve, why did you eat of the fruit?"
"Well…, the serpent tricked me into doing it you know."
"Adam, why did you eat of the fruit?"
"Well, it was my wife’s fault."
I think a marital squabble started right there don’t you? There was guilt and fear.
They heard the voice of the Lord coming down in the cool of the day to speak to
them and they ran and hid away from Him in fear. Fear of what? Did God ever say,
"I’m going to hurt them."? Did God ever speak judgement on them? No, all He
ever spoke was love and blessing upon them. But God had said, "In the day that
you eat of it you shall surely die." And I guess when they ate the fruit and they did
not fall dead they figured, well God must have been kidding or something. Or
maybe the devil was right. Maybe God was lying to us. Then when they heard His
voice they thought, "Okay, maybe He’s going to come and kill us."
Effects of Sin
Sin became their master. It began to control them. And you see it begin to
manifest immediately as they began to have children and started to multiply on the
earth. And later on God looked upon man and says He sees that, ‘the ways of his
thoughts are wicked continuously.’ Sin began to bear forth fruit, sin that entered
their bodies at the time that they partook of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil.
There was no more sinless perfection. They were barred from the Tree of Life. No
more divine health became their portion, and no more access to the realm of God.
They lost it. And then they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. There was no
more getting up in the morning and thinking, "I’ll just go and have a nice plum." No.
The bible says that Adam now had to work in the sweat of his face. You know
why? Suddenly weeds started to grow. They had not been there before.
Have you ever tried to plant a garden? Oh man. You plant all your seeds and you
water it and sure enough, within days you see the sprouts coming up everywhere.
And you get all excited and say, "Whoa, just look at my wonderful garden!" And
you look a little closer and you see that those seeds are not the ones that you
planted. Well where did they come from? I never planted those things? You did
not need to. You do not have to plant weeds for them to come up automatically.
And then when the real seed finally begins to come up, and the fruit begins to
come forth and you see those wonderful peaches begin to ripen, wow you cannot
wait. And you reach and you grab one and bite it, and what do you get? Worms,
because some insect came and stung it and laid an egg in it.
The Curse of Adam
The curse – the curse of Adam. The whole earth became cursed as a result of
their sin. There was no more security. Instead there was fear, pain, sorrow and
strife. That did not take long with Cain and Abel. Cain came to bring his offering to
God and Abel came to bring his offering and God showed more regard for Abel’s
offering than Cain. And Cain got jealous, and he got angry and he killed his
brother. Strife, hatred, jealousy – all the negative things that were never there
before, suddenly began to show themselves. There was no more communion with
God in the Garden in the cool of the day, no more close loving fellowship. Instead
there was just this judgement. All of these things were taken away from them.
There are two completely different pictures. And the curse of Adam is still in the
earth today. Oh we know all about the curse of Adam today don’t we? We know all
about sickness and disease. We know all about poverty and financial lack and
things going wrong. We know all about hatred and strife and theft and destruction
and pain and sorrow, and all of the things that go with it. And we know about trying
to reach the Lord and He just does not seem to be there. He has gone. When you
pray it feels like your prayers are just hitting against the ceiling. He has gone. He is
not there.
Plan For Reversal
All of those are the results of the fall. And when God looked down on man He
made a plan. He formulated in His mind a plan by which He was going to reverse
all of the effects of the curse. As I said earlier, if you read the book of Revelation
you will see a picture of the New Jerusalem. So what has that got to do with us?
Aren’t we going to heaven? Heaven? Where is heaven? Well heaven, that is up in
the clouds somewhere isn’t it. That is where God lives out there on another planet.
Does it? Are you sure? Well Jesus went up there didn’t He?
Read the book of Revelation and you will find out where heaven is going to be.
Because the Bible tells me that the New Jerusalem came down to the earth and
there was a new earth. God is going to restore and improve on what Adam and
Eve had. He is going to bring it all back again and the curse is going to be
removed.
So, what is it that we are saved from? We are saved from all of the negative
effects of the fall, of the sin of Adam and Eve and of the curse of Adam that came
into the earth. We are saved from all of them. That means that we are saved from
the power of sin in our lives. We are saved from sickness and disease. We are
saved from poverty and lack, strife and destruction and pain and sorrow. We are
saved from broken fellowship with God. All of these things are to be restored, and
in Christ all of those things have been restored, as we will see as we continue with
the study.
But because of the sin of Adam, that effect was passed down onto his children,
and to his children’s children, and to his children’s children’s children’s children… right
down to you and I. Each one of us, when we are born, are born in a condition, not
like Adam was in the beginning, but like Adam was after he had sinned – under
the control of Satan, under his power, under the curse. And I am going to show
you a few Scriptures now, and I am going to show you the condition that man is
outside of Christ; the condition that every single person is born into and grows up
in until they come to that place where they appropriate and experience the
salvation that Jesus has purchased for them.
Man Outside of Christ
I want you to look at a couple of passages of Scripture with me now. I want to

firstly go to the book of Romans 1:14. Paul says:
"I’m a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and

unwise, so as much as in me I am ready to preach the gospel to you
who are at Rome also."
Paul is writing to Christians here. He is writing to the church at Rome which has
already been established and has been going for a while, and he says, "I want to
come and preach the gospel to you." Weren’t these people saved yet? Why did
Paul want to preach the gospel to them? Maybe what we thought was the gospel
is a little bit more than what we thought it was. We are going to be speaking about
that plenty more.
Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God
to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and for the Greek. For in it
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, ‘The just
shall live by faith.’ "
These are lovely passages. We will be studying them all in a little more detail in
time to come.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in
them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the
world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, and understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead, so that
they are without excuse."
Okay, I am going to just give that to you in a nutshell. Paul is saying here, "Listen,
there is no such thing as an atheist because everybody, because they’ve got a
spirit in them is already aware of the fact that there is a God. And as they look at
the creation round about them they have proof that there is a God, so there is no
excuse."
He says:
"But although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither
were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like
corruptible man - and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping
things."
Downward Spiral
What happened? Man had the ability to know and serve the Creator, but he went
down, down, down, until he ended up serving the creation. Man bows down before
his idol in worship and praise to it. The early Egyptians worshiped the River Nile,
they worshiped the frogs and the beetles (not the singing group), the dung beetles.
In fact every one of the plagues that Moses was told to bring upon them actually
hit one of their gods. They worshiped all of those things.
Man has begun to worship created things instead of God. That is the depravity
that humanity and human nature has sunk to.
You say, "Well, we don’t do that in our modern times, us well-educated,

sophisticated people in the more well-to-do countries."
No? What about your car? "Nobody else is going to drive my car. It’s very special
that, just for me."
Idols? What do we depend on, what do we count on? So many things. There are
so many things that control our lives that manipulate us and have become gods in
our lives. Man is serving the creation instead of the creator.
Spiritual Death
I want to go to another passage now and I want to describe to you a little bit more
the condition that man is outside of Christ, and that is in Ephesians 2:1. It says:
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in
which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as
others."
The first thing Paul says here is you were dead. God said to Adam, "In the day
that you eat of that fruit, you shall surely die." Well Adam lived about 900 years
odd. So was God wrong? No, the day that Adam partook of that fruit what
happened was what we saw there in Romans Chapter 1. Man’s mind became
lifted up against the knowledge of God and his foolish heart was darkened. Adam
died spiritually that day. His spirit became ineffective and he lost the power and
authority that he had. He was spiritually dead. Every person who is outside of
Christ, has a spirit, but their spirit is dead towards God.
Paul says, "In which you once walked according to the course of this world." The
Greek term ‘according to’ there is a very interesting word. It speaks about a
downward motion, or control, or domination. It means effectively ‘under the
domination or control of’. According to the course of this world – under the control
and dominated by the course, by the way this world does things.
Living in a Rut
So as we grow up it does not take long before we start living just like everybody
else in the world. We are following the course of this world, and the course is like a
rut. You have no choice. You just go in it all the time, everybody doing what
everybody else does. You sin, according to the prince of the power of the air, and
under the control of the prince of the power of the air – the air, the ether, the
heavenlies – where Satan and his host rule. That is another subject we will look at
later, but there are certain evil powers that are on the earth, and there are other
powers that are in the air, who control. And Satan is called the prince of the power
of the air. Every single person who is outside of Christ is under the control of the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of
disobedience.
Natural Body Desires
Finally it says, "Among whom we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind," under the control of the
natural bodily desires.
Food and Nourishment
What are the natural bodily desires? Firstly food, eating, nourishment. And when
that desire begins to dominate and control our whole lives we live for things. We
live for money, we live for pleasure. We live for all the things that are involved with
things and the joy of owning things and controlling, possessions, and getting.
Reproduction
The other natural function of the body is reproduction, and when that begins to
control our lives we begin to live lives of lust and sexual desire, leading from
normal sexual desire to illicit sex and all sorts of other aberrations which have
become prevalent today. If you go back to Romans to that other passage that we
read, it goes into how women left their natural function and men left the natural
desire of the woman, and burned in lust towards one another. And it describes the
gay movement and the homosexuality that is so prevalent today.
Self-Preservation
The last function of the body is the self-preservation or self-defense mechanism,

which instead of protecting ourselves from harm becomes aggression and attack,
and hatred, strife, murder and killing. If you want to see those three, just switch on
your TV. Fortune and fame, sex, murder. Show me a TV program that does not
have at least one of those. I have not seen one yet. They are all there. That is
what the world thrives on – fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind.
That is the condition of a person outside of Christ, and the Bible calls that living in
the flesh, living under the domination and control of the world, under the control of
Satan and of his hordes, and living by the control of the flesh.
No Hope Outside of Christ

The last passage that I want you to look at, and this one is the one that I really
want to emphasize here and end on, is Romans 3:9:
"What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have
previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
There is none righteous, no not one."
There is how many righteous? None. Any exceptions here? No. Do you mean to
tell me that there is nobody out there in the world that does what is right, that is
righteous and good? No. What about all these people who do their charitable
deeds and care for the poor and have sacrificed their lives to help others? No.
God says there is none righteous. If you want to try and do righteous deeds and
good works, "They are filthy rags," the Bible says, outside of Christ.
"There is none who understands."
There is how many who understand? None. Have you ever sat down a person
who does not know the Lord and explain to them so simply that a two year old
child could have understood it, the way of salvation, and they have looked at you
blankly and said, "I don’t know what you’re talking about." Have you ever
explained blue to a man who was born blind? I would not even know where to
start.
"There is none who understands" the Bible says. "There is none who seeks after
God."
There is none who seeks after God. Hang on, the world is full of religions. The
world is full of people who are all seeking God in different ways, right? There are
the Buddhist’s that are seeking God through Buddha, and there are the Hindus
who are seeking God in a different way. And there are the Shinto’s and all these
different religions, and they are all seeking God.
No they are not seeking God. They are seeking relief from the problems of life and
they are trying to find a way out.
But aren’t they seeking God? Not according to this passage. It says there are how
many who seek after God? None who seek after God. Are you starting to get
confused yet? I hope so.
"They have all gone out of the way."

Most of them? A lot of them? All! They have all gone out of God’s way. Have you
heard that little verse? "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." I
memorized that verse when I was much younger.
I thought, "Well yes that’s true, everybody has sinned and come short of God’s
glory."
But the verse says more than that and you do not pick it up in the standard
translation. That verse should say, "For all have sinned and are continually coming
short of God’s glory." It is a present continuous tense the word ‘come short’.
For all have sinned and are still continuously coming short of God’s glory. Yes,
well I did sin back there. Sin is a continual process. It is at work in you because of
the root of sin that was placed into the body of man when Eve and Adam partook
of that fruit. You will read about it in Romans 7 where Paul says that it is sin
dwelling within me. I try to do the good but I find that I cannot because it is sin
dwelling within me.
"They have together become unprofitable."
God has no use for you. He has no use for you at all. I do not care how much you
dress up your sin and how good you become and how much charitable deeds you
do. I do not care if you are caring for the poor and the sick and you are doing such
wonderful things and giving money to charity, and it is on TV – "And so-and-so
gave a check of so many thousand dollars to such-and-such a charity." Wow, isn’t
she wonderful? God says she is unprofitable. She is no use to Him at all. I do not
care how much money she is giving away or how much she has sacrificed.
"There is no who does good."
None? Any exceptions there? No, not one. It is almost as though God heard
somebody say that. And he answered it again,
"No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb."
Could you imagine an open tomb? We passed by a rotting animal corpse once
and the smell was unbearable. Can you imagine sitting by an open tomb?
God says, "If you’re unsaved keep your mouth shut. It’s like an open tomb. It
stinks."
"With their tongues they have practiced deceit."

Every time you open your mouth to speak, even when you say those good
wonderful words, those kind tender loving words, God says it stinks. It stinks bad,
too.
"The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and
misery is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Total Depravity
I want to end with a little illustration that pictures it so beautifully. We often present
the gospel in this way. We see the sinner as a person who is sick. They are sick
because of their sin, and in Christ in the gospel we have the solution to their sin.
We have the good news, the medicine that is going to make them better. And we
present it to them like.
"Here is the free gift of salvation in Christ, here is the medicine. If you would just
take this medicine, if you would accept it, if you would drink it, you would be
healed of your sin. Now take it."
The gospel is quite simple really. There is nothing complicated about it. But I want
to tell you a little bit more about this person, this sick person that you are trying to
give the medicine to.
I want you to know firstly that this person is lying in bed because they are
paralyzed and they cannot move. This person is blind so they do not see the
medicine that you are offering them. I want you to know that this person is deaf so
they do not hear you offering the medicine. This person does not believe in
doctors or medicine so that even if they could see and hear they would not take it,
and because they are paralyzed, even if they wanted to they could not.
Right, now you have a picture of what an unbeliever is like, and now you have a
picture of what the chances are of somebody accepting the free gift of salvation
when you offer it to them. Their eyes have to be opened first. Their ears have to
be opened to hear the Word. There must come a desire in their hearts to receive.
There must come a confidence in the doctor who prescribed the medicine, and
there must come a release from the paralysis that enables them to reach out freely
of their own choice and to take that medicine, to drink it, and to be healed.
I am going to go quickly through Romans and show you.

"There is none righteous."
They are all sick.
"There is none who understands."
They are deaf.
"There is none who seeks after God."
They do not trust Him.
"They have all gone out of the way; they have together
become unprofitable; there is none who does good, …"
… and the whole description. You see, a person cannot come to God because sin
has so permeated their being as to render them totally unable to come to Him.
They are running their lives by the course of this world. They are under the control
of the prince of the power of the air. They are being ruled by their own sinful
passions.
Why should they come and receive salvation? They are not seeking after God. It is
a condition that theologians call Total Depravity. I am mentioning that so if you
ever hear the term, you will understand what I am talking about.
Born in Sin
David spoke about it. He said, "I was born in sin, and in sin my mother conceived
me. I was born in iniquity. I was conceived in sin and in iniquity my mother bore
me."
All of us are born in sin. We are born with a tendency to sin, and you do not have
to teach your children to be bad, to be naughty, or disobedient, or to be sinful. The
seed of sin that is in them begins to manifest itself until eventually it controls their
lives. And so each of us, before we came to the Lord, were in that condition of
total depravity, of being unable to come to Him.
Now how do we move from there to salvation? How do we get a person to go from
that situation to where they are ready and prepared to receive the gospel? You
see, I told you Soteriology is a big subject, and this is only our first study in the
subject. Unless you understand this principle and this concept well, you are not
going to understand what we are going to teach from hereon. Because unless you
understand just how bad man is, how low and degraded he has fallen through sin;
unless you can understand that picture very clearly you are not going to
understand why and how salvation actually comes to be applied to such a person.
So if you can get that picture very clearly and firmly here on this first study, you are
going to have a good foundation to follow it through and to understand exactly how
salvation takes place.
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Wives Submit To Your Husbands!
I can almost hear you cringe when you read that statement! ;-)
Ephesians 5:
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the

Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head
of the church: and he is the savior of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so [let] the wives
[be] to their own husbands in every thing.
es, we all know it is a commandment of the Lord – but one I think most
of us woman would rather avoid all together. *S* After all, I am the
stronger of the two, the Lord just doesn’t know what kind of man my
husband is! He is lazy, He doesn’t understand one thing about the move
of the spirit and really doesn’t care either. I know I need to submit but under the
circumstances, I feel that I need to go forward for the Lord and if he wants to stay
behind, then that is his problem.
Any of this sound familiar? It is not an easy place to be when you are the one
moving forward for God and your husband is somewhere in the dust cloud behind
you. But, yet it says there quite clearly that we are supposed to be subject to them
in EVERY thing. How does this all fit in with your ministry and how can you submit
to a man, that isn’t even moving in the spirit? I hope to clear a few things up for
you on this and hopefully encourage you to press on see great results in your lives
as a team.
Ok so you know you need to submit, but man, it is so hard when your husband just
doesn’t understand where you are at! I had a similar problem with my husband.
Being saved most of my life, I had a background he didn’t. He got saved shortly
after we were going out for a while. To my surprise the Lord gave us both the
Prophetic Key indicating that we would work together as a team in the office, doing
great things for His kingdom.
I was so excited! I thought it would be great, we would just walk hand in hand
doing the work of the Lord wherever we went. Boy was I in for a shocker! What I
didn’t realize was that as I was growing in the Lord, He had been training me
extensively for the office and had come to a place way ahead of my husband. He
was only now moving into training and I felt myself floundering.
On the one hand I wanted to push forward with what the Lord had for me, but yet
on the other hand I didn’t want to leave my husband behind. I was in a position – I
cried to the Lord what now? Where do I go? Do I sit on the side line and wait for
him to catch up, or do I press forward hoping he will someday get to where I am
going and in the middle of it. Where do I draw the line between submission and
ministry?
Out of the two of us I have the stronger character. My husband is an amiable

person, you know, one of those people everyone likes and he just never upsets
the apple cart, going through life happy go lucky. Then there was me. I just wanted
to go out there and conquer the world. I am the kind of person that steps on toes
and almost always putting my foot in it! *S* By nature I like to take the lead, I like
to organize, make decisions. So it was easy for me to take control, easy for me to
dominate. I found it hard to submit and not because of rebellion but because I
could just do it better in my own thinking ;-) Ever been there?
I had so much trust in my own strengths and abilities that I didn’t trust Craig
enough to be capable. I didn’t trust him with things I thought I did better. In my
mind he let people run over him too easily, he didn’t have the backbone I did. I
guess back then already I should have known I was in for a crunching! *S* The
Lord had to bring me to my knees, He had to make me fail at everything until I had
no one to go to except my husband. I had to fail so badly that Craig was the only
one in this world I could rely on.
I remember at one time we had a lot of conflict with his family. Because I didn’t
think he was strong enough to deal with it, I took it on myself to fight the battle. I
wore myself out. I understand too well now why we need to submit. It is our
covering, our protection. I stepped out of that when I decided to do it all on my own
and I came under heavy attack. The devil played me for a fool and I failed
gloriously.
When I couldn’t take anymore I withdrew and hid behind the covering the Lord
gave me. I could not believe the pressure that lifted from my shoulders. I felt a few
pounds lighter, I found I could breathe a little easier. What I did was release Craig
to be the man the Lord wanted him to be – before then, I had never given him the
opportunity. You know what the amazing thing was? Craig coped. He not only
coped, he did it better than I did.
I am daily coming to a realization of what it means to submit, and believe me it

isn’t for the sake of your husband, it is for your sake.
Ephesians 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that loves his wife loves himself.
The Lord knows what emotional creatures we can be and so He placed a covering
over our heads to prevent the devil from hitting us, that way he has to go through
our hubbies first. It is the nature of man to protect. Here in Ephesians the Lord
says that a man is to love his wife as if she was his own flesh. He is supposed to
protect you as he would himself and encourage you as he does himself. That
doesn’t sound like someone who will dominate and crush, rather it is God’s pattern
for you to let your husband shield and nourish you, to let him treat you as he would
his own body and his own mind.
Can you understand now why you fall flat when you go off in your own steam, can
you understand now what you drain all your resources fighting a battle that is not
yours? It is the Lord’s wonderful way to make sure that we are taken care of. The
woman is precious to the Lord and He made sure plans that we would be given
the strength through our husbands that we lack in our own emotional (and often
hormonal ;-)) lives.
Now comes the tough part. How does your submission to your husband fall in with
your ministry? As I stated earlier I was way ahead of Craig when the Lord first
called us as a team. I wanted to hold back and wait, while inside I just wanted to
burst! I asked the Lord what I should do and He told me quite clearly to forget
about where Craig needs to be, and to move on to what He has for me. What
happened next with us was a time of different paths. The Lord took me to one side
and Craig to another. At first I was worried that we might never flow together as a
team and it looked like Craig was getting no where, but still the Lord urged me
forward assuring me that He knew what He was doing. So, I went on, I forgot
about Craig’s spiritual life, pressing forward with mine. I took Craig often to the
Lord and left him in His hands.
The tough part in this was finding that line again. Here I was way ahead of him in
the spirit, so naturally I dominated most prophesies, most revelations. I was getting
them and Craig often came to me for ministry. The problem was that because I
took the lead in ministry I took it up in our home as well. We had endless battles
where I tried to assert my position and he had to keep reminding me that he was
capable. It did not mean that because he was behind me in the spirit, that he was
under me in the flesh! To submit in All things became a hard pill to swallow. It was
a battle, but we came to equilibrium.
I took him into consideration before spending any time with the Lord. I made sure
my other duties were taken care of first before I took time to get into the word and
into the spirit. It might look to you that I put my husband before the things of the
Lord, but what I did brought results on both our lives. You see, that way he was
not in competition with the Lord.
Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love
their husbands, to love their children,
5 [To be] discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their
own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
It may sound odd, but sometimes that is how a man sees it. I remember at one
stage I was so involved with the Lord and so lit up that I just wanted to spend
every waking moment with Him! It may have been an admirable commitment and
indeed I was learning much at the Father’s feet, but I was neglecting the needs of
my husband, to press forward in the spirit. So instead of him backing me, he felt
he had to compete and there now came a pull between him and the Lord for my
affection. There is a line and you need to make sure where it lies.
Your first responsibility as a wife and mother, if you look at the scripture above, is
to your family. Why? Because when you do that, you bless your husband and your
commitment becomes a benefit to you as a family unit. That way your husband is
blessed by your commitment to the Lord and not discouraged. Did you not think
for a moment that maybe your intense commitment to the Lord might be driving a
wedge between the Lord and your husband? Are you giving the kind of example
that leaves your husband wanting you to become a better Christian, or are you
making him feel that he wishes you never got on fire?
When I submitted to the needs of my husband and family first and then set time
aside with the Lord, my husband not being in competition any more, encouraged
me and even surprised me at times offering to take care of the kids, while I spent
time with the Lord. So we learned a balance and could walk forward again.
I had long forgotten to try and get Craig and I on the same plane. Then the Lord
took me through a death that I could not deal with on my own, I had no one to turn
to and all sides seemed blocked, even the Lord was silent. I had only Craig to turn
to. Like the last time, I had to be brought to a state of humbling before I could
come to him. So I went to him and asked out of desperation, for him to pray with
me. Not thinking he would get anything, but so desperately knowing I needed help.
Well I just know that the Lord has a great sense of humor! My husband just
astounded me! He not only told me the source of the problem, but also gave me a
prophetic word and helped me deal with it. I got up again feeling refreshed and full
of power. The Lord then opened my eyes in a big way to how He had been
preparing Craig all this time, even though I could not see it.
It was as if overnight I noticed the change in Craig. From that time forward I
noticed how he progressed in leaps and bounds until it came to the place where
the Lord told us, that He had put us on different paths for a while to train each of
us differently to work as a team. Now we walk on the path together and I am
amazed at the work He has done in both of us. When I feel oppressed or under
condemnation I run immediately to Craig and he takes up his position and tells the
devil to get his filthy mitts off HIS wife. Now I don’t find it hard to submit at all, he is
not only head of our home, but now head in our spiritual walk as well, it is great to
have those comforting arms to cry into when I feel down.
He is my greatest protector and although there are some things I am still ahead of
him on, he does not fail to amaze me with the wisdom and strength the Lord has
placed in him. Ladies, your husband may look like nothing but a couch potato right
now. Maybe you see a spark every now and again, but nothing to get excited
about, so you lose hope. Maybe you see nothing at all and you have lost all hope.
If your husband is a Christian, the Lord wants you to be a team. Give it to Him and
don’t even try to understand it.
Look to the Lord for a direct word or conformation that he wants the two of you
working as a team and when He gives it to you, hold on to it for dear life! Don’t let
it go for anything! Push through with what the Lord is doing in you and keep
placing your husband before Him. Do not bug your husband, do not try to bible
bash him, do not expect him to get excited about what you are doing. Just go
forward for the Lord.
What you do not see is the work the Lord is doing in him behind the scenes. One
morning you will get up and that little bud you have been so accustomed to seeing
tightly closed, would have bloomed into a magnificent rose. Its fragrance will be
pleasing to your nose and its sight beautiful to behold. You will worship the Father
who does in secret those great mysteries of the Universe.
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Indestructible.


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The Word of Wisdom
am planning to give some studies on prophetic hearing, but since I have

been asked a question concerning the gift of the Word of Wisdom, I want
to answer it, since it relates especially to the prophetic ministry.
This gift is often misunderstood by those who have never functioned in it. It is a gift
that is largely peculiar to the prophet and functions extensively in the prophetic
ministry. I am going to compare it with the Word of Knowledge to make it a bit
clearer.
Firstly it has nothing to do with natural wisdom or intellectual capabilities. It is not

the Holy Spirit giving you an ability to be wise to overcome your lack of knowledge
or intelligence. It has nothing to do with you getting a solution to a problem where
before you were perplexed. I know that this is the way some people have
interpreted it. The Holy Spirit reveals the Word to us at times, and we ‘see’ things
in the Word that we have not seen before. This is not an operation of this gift.
It is not you suddenly getting the wisdom to solve a crisis. If you are sitting in a
church council discussing some problem that needs to be solved and you
suddenly get the solution, that is not an operation of the Word of Wisdom. It
seems to me that everyone gets stuck on the word ‘wisdom’ as though it relates to
mental capability. You can receive such influences from the intuition of your spirit
at any time.
But that is not the operation of a spiritual gift. It is simply tapping the power that is
within you. I have covered that aspect in The Way of Blessing book available at
GMR Publishing.
The Word of Wisdom is simply a revelation of God’s plan and purpose for the
future. It always has a future orientation. When you are ministering to someone
and the Lord gives you a Word of Wisdom for that person, you will get a revelation
concerning their future life and/or ministry, indicating both the current path they are
on, and what God is planning for them. It is always an impartation of knowledge
concerning the future.
The Word of Knowledge on the other hand is simply a revelation concerning the
past and present. It is a supernatural impartation to you of facts concerning the
person’s past and present. It might be about something that happened the
person’s life, or it might be a current circumstance or condition. It could even
include a person’s thoughts and aspirations. It could include the condition of the
spirit, soul or body. Or it could include events in their life. It might include
something the person doesn’t even know themselves.
Now since the Word of Wisdom has a future orientation, we need to clarify exactly
how it operates and what we are supposed to do with it when we receive it. Many
people seem to think that when a prophet receives a revelation concerning the
future by this gift, that he is predicting what is going to happen in the future. In fact
this is so entrenched into people’s thinking, that the term ‘prophet’ or ‘prophecy’ is
usually considered as one who predicts, or a prediction of what is to happen in the
future.
When someone makes such a prediction and it does not take place, we tend to be
skeptical of the person and see him or her as a false prophet. It then causes you
to doubt whether you heard correctly and you wonder if you were deceived. I have
seen this happen many times, both in my own ministry and in that of others, and I
sought the Lord for clarification on this matter. And this is what I want to share with
you.
A good few years back when I was still new in these things, I had an aunt that was
suffering from cancer. We all prayed for her, and I remember one night as we were
praying there was a tremendous anointing. My late dad was at that time moving
very strongly in the prophetic anointing and the Lord showed him that my aunt
would live to see many more years. But she suffered on under treatment and
seemed to not improve much. Later on the Lord led me also to minister to her.
The anointing of the Lord came down very strongly, permeating her whole body,
and the Lord showed me the cancer leaving her body, and her being used by the
Lord in a healing ministry. The Lord confirmed this to her and she rejoiced and
thanked the Lord for me and prayed that the Lord would use me mightily in my
ministry. I will still very young in these things at that time.
But sometime later, after much struggling, my aunt died and went to be with the
Lord. I was really confused. The Lord had clearly shown both my dad and me that
He was going to heal her and use her. Yet she still died. Were we both wrong? Did
we miss it? Was this a true revelation from the Lord? I sought the Lord concerning
this, and He showed me something interesting. He showed me that He had
indicated to us what His will and purpose was for my aunt. But she had failed to
enter into it.
I realized afterwards why this had happened. It turned out that my aunt’s mother
had died of cancer at a young age. The children were gathered around her
deathbed, and just before she died, she called the aunt in question over to her and
tried to tell her something. But she died without being able to say what she wanted
to say. The aunt grew up with the opinion, expressed also by some of the other
family members that her mother was trying to warn her about something that was
going to happen to her later on in her life.
She grew up wondering and fearing that she too would die just like her mother, of
cancer at a young age. And sure enough she did just that. Her faith in the fear that
had gripped her sealed her destiny. The Lord had tried to move her away from it.
The revelation given to my dad and I was the Lord telling her that He wanted her
to be healed and that this could be her future. But in the end, the final destiny was
determined by she herself, and not by the Lord.
Now let me give you another example in similar vein. My ex wife had a grandfather
that was a dear child of the Lord, although he had been very wicked in his youth.
They lived a long way from us on the coast of the South Africa, and we went down
to where they lived one Christmas for a holiday. As we visited with them, he asked
me to pray concerning his health. He had been suffering much physically and was
really down.
I laid hands on him and began praying for him, and as I did, I just saw darkness. It
gave me a fright, because I didn’t think he was that that ill, but I felt in the Spirit
that his condition was serious. Then I saw a path leading up ahead of him. The
Lord often shows me this kind of picture, and I know that it is a picture of the path
that lies ahead for a person. The condition of the path often tells me what lies in
store for that person. If it is full of obstacles or holes, then I know that a difficult
time lies ahead. If it is smooth, green or bright I know that it speaks about a time of
blessing ahead.
In this case, I saw his ‘road’ take a turn, go uphill, and then I saw the Lord waiting
for him at the end of the road. I had never seen such a picture before, but I knew
instantly what the vision meant. It meant that I was seeing the end of his road. The
Lord was waiting for him there. He was going to die. Let me tell you that is a very
difficult vision to receive. What do you tell the person? I couldn’t tell him that I saw
he was going to die.
As we ended that holiday I returned home with mixed feelings about what I had
seen. But one night as I was praying I felt led to intercede for him again, and this
time I saw clearly in the Spirit, a funeral service, and I knew without a doubt that
he was going to die. The Lord even gave me an indication of the month it was to
take place, which is something I seldom receive – the time period of an event.
As it turned out, the Lord led us to actually move down to the city where he was
living. But just before that I received a final confirmation of what was to happen. I
was praying one night when I felt a very heavy burden of intercession. The Lord
often uses me in a manifestation of the Word of Knowledge, where I actually enter
into a person’s experience and feel what they are actually feeling inside.
This usually happens when I pray for someone, but the Lord also had begun to do
this when I interceded for someone. I began to experience a deep groaning in the
spirit and felt that someone was suffering physically and battling to breathe. It went
on for a while, and I looked to the Lord to show me who I was praying for. He
showed me that I was praying for this man. And I continued to pray that the Lord
would reach out and touch him physically.
Then as I was praying, I suddenly experienced a tremendous release in the Spirit,

and I broke forth in song. I saw myself marching with what appeared to be a band
of angels. It was like marching along in a brass band, like the Salvation Army do.
And I was full of joy and all the pressure was gone.
I thought at first that the Lord had healed him as I prayed, but then the Lord
showed me what had actually happened. The Lord told me that I had experienced
in the Spirit, what was going to happen when he died. I actually went through the
process he was going to go through in death, and went with him into eternity.
Well needless to say, I was now quite sure that he was going to die. The Lord had
showed me this on three different occasions now. As we moved down to where he
was living, I was not sure how I was going to minister to him. How would I prepare
him for his death? He certainly was ready spiritually. His life was dedicated fully to
the Lord. I was a bit nervous when we visited with him and his wife about what to
say.
But as we visited with them, the Lord placed the strangest picture in my mind. He
showed me that old man strong and well. He showed me that He was going to
rejuvenate him, to the point that he was even going to be able to drive a car again.
I saw him totally healed and set free. And I was quite confused. When I asked the
Lord what was going on, He told me that there was a difference between what was
destined to happen and what He desired in His perfect will.
This brother was destined for death, partly because of the attack of the enemy on
his body, and partly as a result of his own desires and faith. But the Lord was
offering him the opportunity to change the picture. The Lord was saying that this
could be changed. And I tried to share this with him. But it seemed that he had
already committed himself to going home soon. I found out afterwards that he had
already arranged his coffin and funeral plot and made all necessary arrangements
for his death.
And sure enough, in due time, it happened. We received a phone call to say that
he was suffering physically and I rushed there to pray with him. They had called
the ambulance to come and get him, and he seemed more concerned about
getting dressed in new pajamas than seeking the Lord for healing. And then he
suddenly collapsed and started to turn blue. I was sent out of the room by the
relatives to see if the ambulance had arrived and to direct them to the correct old
age home. And while I was out waiting he suffocated and passed into eternity. It
had happened just as I saw and experienced it.
So where was it at? Did the Lord want him to die? Did I get a revelation
concerning the future? Did I hear incorrectly when I felt the Lord saying He was
going to heal him? I had to once again weigh up the facts and come to a
conclusion. And I came to the conclusion that the Lord does not necessarily
decree things when He reveals the future, but simply gives us an insight into what
is destined to take place and how we can change what takes place. But in the end
it is not the Lord that determines the final destiny, but we ourselves.
We need to take His Word of Wisdom and apply it, to cause it to take place. Let’s
consider what happened when the Old Testament prophets spoke of the future.
When the prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the

government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.
Was he predicting what was to take place in the future? Was he showing that God
had revealed to him the birth of the savior? No, I am more inclined to think that
God had given him by the Word of Wisdom, an insight into His own plan and
purpose. And the prophet was responsible to speak it forth into the earth.
How does God accomplish things in the earth? Does He not do it by His word, the
Rhema? In Isaiah 55:11 He says
So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not

return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper [in the thing] for which I sent it.
But how does He send His word forth into the earth? How does He make His
decree? He has to do it through human lips. And He does it through the lips of His
prophets. That is why He says in Amos 3:7
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to
his servants the prophets.
God works through His prophets, to cause them to speak forth into the earth, the
Rhema Word that will cause His will and purpose to be fulfilled. The prophet Isaiah
did far more than predict the coming of the Messiah
HE LITERALLY SPOKE IT INTO EXISTENCE.
And that is what the Word of Wisdom is about. It is God revealing to His servants
the prophets what His will and purpose is concerning the future. And He does this
so that we can speak forth His Word into the earth, and cause it to take place. We
are His instruments in the earth. It is our responsibility to speak forth His word, to
cause His will to take place in the earth.
I believe that if God’s prophets would pick up on this and realize their
responsibility, they would be more careful about what they hear, and would not
glibly make predictions over people. This is why intercession is the major ministry
of the prophet. We are called to birth on the earth, the secret things that God
reveals to us. We should not be telling the whole world His secrets, in an attempt
to show how great we are at hearing His words. We should be taking the secrets
He gives us by the Word of Wisdom, and speaking them into existence.
Sometimes it would be better to remain silent when the Lord gives you a Word of
Wisdom. It might be that you are to intercede for the fulfillment of the word rather
than speak it forth. At other times the Lord wants you to let people know what they
should aim for in their life and ministry. He shows you what is happening and the
way things are currently headed. And He shows you the way that He would have
them to go.
The Lord never imposes His will on us, as so many people seem to think He does.
We think that God has sovereignty decided our future for us and we just have to
get ourselves in line with it. So we go off at a tangent contrary to what we already
have felt in our spirit. This is especially true if some prophet comes along and
mistakenly gives the wrong directions. A clear understanding of this gift prevents
this from happening.
When a prophet gives a genuine word of wisdom he is revealing something that

God is offering to you in His wisdom. The Lord knows the future as well as the
past and present. So He offers you an opportunity in His wisdom, via the word of
wisdom. He is saying to you, "I am making this opportunity available to you if you
wish to pursue it." He is not telling you that this is your destiny and you have no
choice in the matter.
When you come to recognize this operation of the gift it will change both your
attitude to prophetic words given to you by others and those you receive on behalf
of others. The final outcome lies in the hands of the person to whom the word was
directed. As a prophet you need simply deliver the word the Lord gives you. It is
not your responsibility to make it come to pass. That is the responsibility of the
person who it is for.
You need to make this clear to the person you are ministering to. I often see a
door when I minister a word of wisdom to someone. And it means that the Lord is
offering the person an opportunity, like a door that they can go through. But until
the person actually goes through that door the opportunity will not manifest. The
Lord will not force His plan on you. You have to give Him license to do so by going
through that door and submitting to His plan.
As a prophet you will also be given a key when you move into the prophetic office.
In fact the key is the symbol of the authority of the prophetic office. I have seen the
Lord giving this key to every person I have helped to move into the prophetic
office. You might function in the ministry of a prophet, but the receiving of the key
indicates your moving into the prophetic office.
As a prophet you are then responsible to use that key to open and shut doors in
the lives of others. So you are able to unlock doors of opportunity and offer them
to people in the Spirit. And that is what you do by the Word of Wisdom. The ball is
then in the other person’s court. You will also at times need to block a person from
proceeding in a direction that is not correct. So the key can also be used to close
doors.
Of course you need to realize that before you can receive such a key and be given
such a responsibility, you are going to have to prove yourself trustworthy of such a
responsibility. That is why the preparation for the prophetic office is so intensive
and takes such a long time.
But that is another subject altogether. :))
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Jesus Protected Me
By Craig Toach
ave you ever had something bad happen or almost happen to you? You
could have been hurt really bad, but you weren't? Well today I want to
tell you a story of Chantal and how Lord Jesus protected her.
Chantal was a quiet little girl who loved reading books and asking questions on
many things, but mostly on the Bible. She was always asking her daddy lots of
questions like, "What do angels do?" and "How can Lord Jesus be every where all
at the same time?" She loved to listen, as her daddy would tell her all about Lord
Jesus and what the Bible had to tell them about all the things that were asked.
She was amazed every time to discover that the Bible always had an answer to
ANY of the questions she asked. This happened so much that it became a fun
thing to do for her and her family. They would all sit on her daddy’s bed and would
take turns to ask a question and then they would all spend time finding the
answers from the Bible. One night as they where spending time together, the
question was asked, "Can Lord Jesus protect us from danger?"
As her daddy looked through the Bible, he found many verses telling them that
Lord Jesus loves us very much and there is no evil or danger that could come
near them. One of the verses they found was this one:
Psalms 91:11-12
For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep
you in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their
hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Chantal just loved this verse and asked her daddy if he could write it out on a
piece of paper for her to read and learn. She had done this another time and found
that learning verses in the bible can be very fun and help you when you need it.
When the devil would come and try to tell her lies, Lord Jesus would make her
remember what the real truth was and she would tell the devil to go away and stop
lying to her. And do you know what? It worked every time! You see the devil has to
listen to Jesus, because Jesus is stronger and can tell the devil what to do. And do
you know what? You can do the same! When you asked Jesus into your heart to
stay, Jesus in you makes you stronger and allows you to tell the devil what to do,
as long as you do it in Jesus Name and it says you can in the Bible.
From that day on Chantal took that piece of paper with her everywhere she went
and would read it every time she thought about it. Her two favorite times to read
these verses were just before going to sleep at night or on her way to school. You
see Chantal had to ride her bicycle to school everyday. Her parents could not take
her to school by car.
The only problem with riding a bicycle to school was there was not much to do and
it would take forever to get to school. So what she would do to pass the time is
spend the time learning the verses from the Bible till she knew them off by heart.
And so it happened on this very day...
Like every morning, Chantal was making her way to school, and this morning she
decided to take the verse about how Jesus protects us and started to read it out
loud and learn it like she had done with so many other verses in the Bible. As she
rode to school, she spoke it out loud over and over again. To make it easier to
remember, she would make up pictures in her mind to help her remember better.
She read the verse 'For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in
all your ways. They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot
against a stone.' Can you think of a picture? What picture comes to your mind as
you hear this verse?
Well this is what Chantal saw… She remembered the story in the Bible of when
the Syrian king tried to kill Elisha the prophet. A big army surrounded them. Now
Elisha's servant was so scared because he knew there was no way they could
escape and if they where caught, they would die. Elisha on the other hand trusted
in God and prayed that his servant could see in the spirit what he was seeing - He
saw all the warrior angels of heaven on chariots of fire all around them, keeping
them safe! Could you imagine what that must have looked like? Why not close
your eyes now and try making the picture of Elisha and the entire warrior angels of
Heaven around him protecting him.
It was a lot of fun imagining pictures and it made the bicycle trip to school not so
long and hard for Chantal, as usual. There was just one little problem - It had been
raining the night before and the roads where very slippery. Chantal was just come
to a part of the trip where she had to leave the road and ride on the sidewalk. She
had done this so many times in the past that she could do it with her eyes closed,
but on a wet day like today it was a little more difficult and she had to be a little
more careful than usual. This is when suddenly, something bad happened! Do you
know what happened?
Well, let me tell you! As the wheels of Chantal's bicycle left the road and touched
the sidewalk, the bicycle slipped from under her and she fell. What was even
worse is that the bicycle fell into the road and she could not get out from under the
bicycle as she fell. There was nothing she could do to stop herself falling, but hold
onto her bike for dear life and speak her verse as she fell right into the busy road!
Now if that was not scary enough! A car came rushing passed her head only
inches away, it was the most scary thing that ever happened to her.
With a loud 'SCREEECH" from the brakes, the car came to a stop and a lady ran
out of the car to see if Chantal was okay. Chantal was feeling a little weak and
shaken up from the fall and seeing the wheels of the car come whizzing passed
her head so fast and close. As she checked herself, she was very thankful that
she had not been hurt in any way and that her bike was in one piece. As for the
lady, she was very happy to see that Chantal was okay and offered to take
Chantal the rest of the way to school in her car.
As Lady drove Chantal to school, they spoke about what had happened. The Lady
could not believe that she had missed hitting Chantal. The whole thing had
happened so fast that before she could do anything, Chantal had already fallen
and the car had passed by her and was behind her.
It was then that Chantal knew why! She told the Lady that Lord Jesus had
protected her. She told the Lady of how she had learnt the bible verse and was
busy learning and speaking it on her way to school when everything happened.
She told the Lady how she had learnt for her daddy and the bible, how Jesus
always promises to look after us and protect us no matter what happens. It was
then and there that she decided to thank Lord Jesus for protecting her and the
prayer went like this:
"Thank you Lord Jesus for being so special!

Thank you for always looking after me and protecting me from
all the bad things.
Thank you for the powerful verses in the Bible that help me so
much!
Please help me to never forget what the Bible says,
And help me not to listen to the lies of the Devil.
In Jesus Name,
Amen!"
As the lady gave Chantal her bicycle and said goodbye, she still could not believe
that Chantal was still not hurt, but they both know why and that Jesus was very
special and had made sure nothing bad had happened.
So if anything bad ever happens to you or you’re scared something bad could
happen, why not use the verse Chantal used and let Lord Jesus protect you? You
see He will always look after you no matter what and like what happened to
Chantal, even though the Devil tried to make a bad thing happen to Chantal,
Jesus was there to protect her and keep her from getting hurt. Aren't you happy to
have Jesus in your life to look after you? Don’t you just love Him so much for
loving you? Why not thank Him today for all the special things He does for you!
The End.
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Daddy I'm Scared!
By Craig Toach
re you scared of the Dark? Do you see ugly monsters in your toy chest
or in your clothes cupboard every time the lights go out? Well today I
would like to tell you a story about a little girl named Carin who was also
scared of the dark and how Lord Jesus helped her.
There was once a little girl called Carin and she had a very big problem. You see,
every night when she went to bed and switched off the lights, strange things would
start happening! Funny noises would start coming out of her toy box, ugly scary
shadows would move across the walls in her room.
This would make her so scared that she would hide her whole body under her
blankets. It was the only place where she could be safe from the monsters and
would not have to listen to their scary noises. Of course she had to stick her little
nose out so that she could breathe. But do you know what? It didn’t help! It only
stopped the monster from getting her, but they stayed there all night waiting for
her to pop her head out so they could catch her. What was worse is that every
night there seemed to be more and more monsters in her room! Well this went on
for some time, till the one day she learnt something that changed this scary
problem forever.
Carin loved stories and used to read as much as she could (or she got her
mommy to read them to her like I am reading it to you). Well one day her mommy
and daddy brought her a new book. This was a special book and it had so many
exciting stories in it she could not put the book down. There were stories in this
book of clever kings, brave warriors, strange lands and about a special man who
died to save us all – Who do you think that man was, and what book do you think
it was? That’s right! The man was Lord Jesus and the book was the Bible. But this
Bible wasn’t for grown ups, it was for boys and girls like you.
Now one night Carin’s mommy read her a story from this special Bible about a
man that was thrown into a cave full of hungry lions because he loved God so
much and because he would not pray to anyone else but God. Do you know which
story it is? That’s right! Daniel and the Lions Den. You are so clever! Well Daniel
sat in the lion’s den and prayed to Lord Jesus and asked Him to help him because
he was very scared and he didn’t want to be the lion’s supper. Well do you know
what happened? Lord Jesus did help him, He sent Angels down from heaven and
they stopped the lions from eating Daniel.
Do you know what angels you are? Well, they are God’s helpers that He sends to
help us when we need help – just like in the story of Daniel. These angels are very
strong and they make sure that you stay nice and safe no matter what. Yup, that’s
right! Nothing gets past them - not even scary monsters!
So that night Carin prayed with her mommy a little prayer to Lord Jesus that went
like this:
"Lord Jesus thank you for my mommy and daddy.

And thank you that you love me so much Lord Jesus, please
would you send angels down from heaven
Thank you that they will protect me from the monsters in my
room.
Thank you that you and your angels are stronger than any
monsters and I don’t have to be scared any more.
In Jesus name,
Amen"
Well that night as Carin’s mommy switched off the light do you know what
happened? I am sad to say the monsters were still there, BUUUT there was
something else there too! All round her bed there were these strong looking men
with swords! No, they weren’t Monsters! What do you think they were? That’s right
you guessed it! They were angels! And do you know what? They stood there all
night and protected her – just like your mommy and daddy protect you from bad
things. The angels even chased the monsters out of the room so that Carin did not
have to listen to their ugly noises.
For the first time in a long time Carin could sleep with her head out of the blankets,
because she wasn’t scared any more. All the monsters and scary noises where
gone. Now as Carin lay in her bed and her eyes got heavy with sleep, she heard
the most beautiful voices singing her a song. Not only did the angel’s scare off bad
things, they also sang beautiful songs that made Carin all warm inside. And from
that day on she never had to worry about monsters and ugly noises ever again,
because there were always angels there to protect her and sing her to sleep.
So are you battling to sleep at night? Do you have the same problem like Carin
had? Or maybe you are just scared of the dark?
Well I have good news for you! The Lord Jesus loves you cares for you very much,
all you need to do is pray to him and ask him for help and He will take care of the
rest. He will send his angels to look after you and protect you all the time.
Till next time - Sweet Dreams!
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Giving Is Fun!
By Craig Toach
re you having to give away something really special to you? You love it
so much, but you know in your heart that you needed to give it away?
Well, today I want to tell you about a little boy named Gavin and how he
learnt that giving can be better that keeping.
There was once a little boy named Gavin, who, like other children his age, had
something very special that never left his side. It was a blanket, and everywhere
Gavin went so did this "blanky". He loved it so much that he could not sleep
without it. He loved his "blanky" and always wanted it to be with him, even when
he "growed up".
Well time went on and Gavin got bigger, and still he had his "blanky". He was
getting a little too big to take it with him everywhere he went, and whenever his
mommy and daddy tried to take it from him he would cry till they gave it back to
him. His mommy and daddy could have anything else, but not "blanky".
Well, something was about to happen that would change that! You see, Gavin also
had a pet dog named Muffin that he loved very much. She was always glad to see
Gavin and would jump around and make a noise like she was talking to him
whenever he got home. He even taught her to play fetch. He would throw a ball
and Muffin would run after it and bring it back to him. But the one thing Gavin
loved about Muffin was that whenever he fell and hurt himself or was just feeling
sad, Muffin always seemed to know and she would come and lick him till he felt
better.
Now one special day as Gavin came home from school, Muffin did not come out to
greet him. He called, and instead of her running and jumping like normal, she just
walked out slowly and wagged her tail. Gavin called his mommy quickly and asked
her to see if she was okay. Well, Gavin’s mommy had a look and gave him a big
smile. And do you know why? Would you like to take a guess?
Okay, let me tell you! You see the reason Gavin’s mommy smiled, was because
Muffin was about to have babies! That’s right. She was getting ready to have
puppies, but the sad thing was she could not find a warm place to have them.
Well, Gavin’s mommy decided to let Muffin stay in the shower inside the house,
where she could be safe and warm. Now as they got the shower ready, there was
one every important thing missing! Can you guess what it is – No? Okay, for those
of you who didn’t get it, it was a blanket! How could Muffin be warm without a
cuddly warm blanket?
Gavin didn’t want to think about it, but it was hard not to. You see, he had a
blanket and it was just the right size for Muffin. But there was one big problem! It
was his one and only "blanky" that he was thinking about. He didn’t feel so good
inside, but he knew what he should do. But that would mean he would have to say
good bye to something he really loved.
As he was trying to decide, He remembered a story that was told at Sunday

School. It was the story of the good Samaritan. Do you know it? Well the story
goes like this.
There was once a man that was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now in those
days they didn’t have cars like us, they would either walk on foot or would ride on
a horse or donkey. Well this man was attacked by bad men, who stole all is money
and hurt him so badly that he nearly died.
Now as this poor man lay on the road hurt and bleeding, two men walked by one
after another, and did not stop to help. Nope, they just went right passed him on
the other side of the road and did not stop to help. They just carried on as if they
did not see him.
But shortly after that a Samaritan came along. Now when he saw the poor hurt
and bleeding man, he felt sorry for him and helped him. He stopped right there
and cleaned and bandaged up the man’s wound. He then put the hurt man onto
his donkey and took him to an inn where he paid for the man till he was better.
You see the good Samaritan gave up his own time and money for this man he
didn’t even know. He gave it up so that this man would get better and live.
Do you know of someone else that did something like that? That’s right, Jesus! He
died on the cross so that we can could become God’s children and live forever.
But I will be telling you more of that in another story!
All of a sudden Gavin felt bad. He was being mean to his friend that had been
there for him every time he had hurt himself; his friend that had made him feel
better when he was sad in his heart. He knew exactly what he had to do and off he
went. He went to his bedroom and got his "blanky" and gave it to his mommy for
his special little friend Muffin.
And do you know what? Gavin wasn’t so sad to give up his blanket. No, in fact he
felt really glad inside as he saw Muffin give birth to her puppies and saw how
Muffin snuggled them into his "blanky." What was even better was that he got to
have lots of friends to play with now! You see, the puppies got big, and for a little
while he got to play with not only Muffin, but he got to play with her puppies too!
And as he went to bed that night he said a little prayer that went like this:
Thank you Lord Jesus for everything.

Thank you for my friend.
Thank you for helping me do the right thing.
Please help me to always do the right thing no matter what.
Thank you that I could help Muffin like she has helped me.
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
So, are you having to give up your special something today? Are you really
battling to let it go? Then give it to Lord Jesus and watch as it blesses someone
else. I promise you now, that you will feel so good inside that you will want to give
all the time. And you want to know what else? Lord Jesus will give you something
else in return for giving to others.
The End.
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I Can Do This!
By Craig Toach
ave you ever hurt yourself with or on something and been so scared you
did not want to use it again? Maybe you where riding your bicycle and
fell off and now you don't feel happy when you ride on it. Well today I am
going to tell you a story about a boy named Bobby who had something
like that happed to him and how he learnt to stop being scared.
From very young, Bobby loved animals. As far back as he could remember he
always had a pet or an animal in his house. Like the time he brought tadpoles
home from a near by pound and watched as the tadpoles grew into little baby
frogs. But there was one animal he really loved very much and wished he could
have. The only problem was, this animal was too big to stay in the house where he
lived! You see, Bobby lived in the city and the garden was just too small to keep it
in. Would you like to guess which animal it was? Okay I will tell - it was a horse!
It was very common for Bobby and his parents on a Saturday morning to go to the
near by horse racing stables and visit for a while before going shopping. They
would sit and watch as the stable workers exercised and cleaned the racing
horses to keep them fit and healthy. But the most exciting thing to watch was the
young horses playing in the meadows with each other. They always look so free
as they ran, jumped and roll around on the ground. They where always getting up
to mischief, like nipping each other when the other horse was not expecting it.
They would then chase after each other and a game of catch would be played.
Bobby so wished he could just ride one of the horses and feel what it was like to
have the wind in his hair. He would dream of a beautiful chestnut brown horse that
was his every own, He would ride the horse over the open countryside and sleep
out under the stars, just like they did in the cowboy movies. There was only one
big problem though! He didn't know how to ride and if he got on the horse he
would most likely fall of because he would not know how to hold on or how to stop
the horse if it did start to run. But it was sure nice to dream and in his dream he
was the best horse rider in the world.
One Saturday Bobby could not understand why his parents where making him
wear his blue jeans and cowboy boots. They where his most favorite clothes and
he loved wear them, but something was up with his parents. Well he put on his
blue jeans and cowboy boots and made his way to the car. His daddy started the
car and off they went, but this time his parents did not go the normal way to the
horse racing stables they had gone to so many times in the past, in fact they
where going the opposite way. He felt a little sad in his heart because now he was
all dressed up like a cowboy and he would not see a horse. Or would he?
As he started looking out the window, he began to play the normal game he
always played when riding in the car. The game was to see who could see the
most animals on the trip they where on. He would shout out the names of the
animal every time he saw it and he always seemed to win or at least he liked to
think so.
This trip seemed to be quite a bit of fun as it seemed to take them passed a lot of
farm lands, but Bobby soon understood what was going on when in the distance
he could see a horse riding school. Was it true? He could not believe his eyes!
Was this why his parents made him wear is cowboy clothes? His parents where
taking him horse riding? His dream was coming true!
They went into the Riding School and from the car Bobby could see lots of other
children getting ready for a riding lesson. They had riding hats and funny looking
sticks called crops. Some of the children where making sure the saddles where
tightly fastened to the horses, while others where already on top of the horses
waiting to start.
As they got out the car a lady came to Bobby and welcomed him to the Riding
school. She was to be his teacher. She told him that they where going to have a
lot of fun together and if he ever had any question he should feel free to ask.
Bobby was feeling really excited about learning how to ride, but he was also very
nervous too. He had never done this before in real life and the horses didn't seem
to be as big in the movie or in his dreams. Some of the horses where so big, he
could not look over their backs never mind climb up onto them! He knew the horse
riding lessons were not going to be easy, but it was going to be fun learning and it
was the only way he would learn how to ride a horse right, just like they did in the
movies.
Well time went on and little by little Bobby got the hang of riding a horse. At first all
he could do was walk the horse, which was not much fun to do! But as he got the
hang of riding the horse, the walking became a slow run or trot. He also found out
about all the things that had to be done to look after a horse. It took a lot of money
and hard work to own your own horse. He helped clean out a horses stable once
and it wasn't every nice. He much preferred coming to the riding where they did in
all for you. Besides He had made some friends and he also enjoyed being able to
ride different horses.
Well this soon changed one day, when a new horse came to the riding school. It
was always fun when a horse trailer would come to the riding school. Every one
would get so excited, it was like Christmas had come early and they where
opening their presents again. It was always a surprise to see what new horse was
inside the trailer. Even the other horses in the riding school would "winnie" as the
new horse would come out of the trailer. Well this day as the horse came out
Bobby could not believe his eyes.
It was a chestnut brown horse and as the sun shone on the horse’s coat, it made
the horse look even more beautiful than before! His teacher told the class that this
was a new horse for the school and the horses named was Monty. Bobby fell in
love with Monty and every time he went to ride he would beg his teacher to ride
the new horse. As it so happened the other children seemed to be a little small to
ride the horse, so Bobby got to ride the horse of his dreams and she was a dream.
She never did anything naughty like some of the other horses. When he was on
Monty's back he felt like a King and would do his very best. He did so well that his
teacher would let him ride one her away from the other children sometimes so that
Monty and him could ride alone.
One day as Bobby and Monty where riding alone something bad happened that
almost spoilt everything. You see, this very morning it was very windy and as
Bobby and Monty rode alone around the paddock, Bobby could tell that Monty was
not happy. He spoke to her quietly and told her not to be scared and that if she
was good he would give her an extra sugar cube. (Bobby would always teat Monty
to a sugar cube every time they rode together and she behaved.) This seemed to
calm her down a bit and Bobby kept talking to her softly as he was taught to do by
his teacher when a horse was scared.
Everything seemed to go great until a loud CRACK! rang out across the paddock.
It was made from a branch from a near tree as it broke and fell to the ground.
Monty got such a fright that she reared up into the air and then ran to the other
side of the paddock. There was one problem in all this commotion and it had to do
with poor Bobby. As it so happened he did not get to stay on the horses back!
Nope - He was knocked to the ground as Monty reared into the air. He tried his
very best to hold to the reins, but it did not help. He was not strong enough and his
hands slipped of the reins and there was nothing else to hold onto because Monty
was moving faster then he was and was already out of his reach. Bobby felt like
the guy in the cartoons when the horse runs away and the rider is left with all the
horse gear but no horse. And if that was not bad enough, when Bobby finally
landed, he landed in the food trough where the horses ate their food.
At first Bobby just lay there and tried to figure out what had just happened, he was
a little confused because it happened so fast. As he climbed out the food trough
and had dusted himself off, he was quite happy to find out that there wasn't
anything badly wrong with him. All he had wrong was a few scratches and bruises
from the fall. The worst damage was his pride from falling into the food trough. Still
feeling rather sick and shaken up inside. He started to make his way out the
paddock. He had had enough of riding for one day and after falling like that, the
last thing he wanted to do was fall off again - he was scared. He loved Monty and
knew the she would never have hurt him on purpose, but he still did not want to
get back on her. Every time he thought of getting back on her back he would break
out into a cold sweat, his stomach would do flip-flops and his legs just wanted to
collapse on him.
Then the worst thing happened - his teacher asked him to get back on. She knew
that if Bobby did not get back on the horse and ride, the fear from him falling off
the horse would grow inside him and soon Bobby would be too scared to ever ride
again!
Bobby didn't know what to do! He did want to ride again, it was his most favorite
thing in the whole world. The problem was he did not want to fall and get hurt all
over again. As He stood there, too scared to move, he has was reminded of a
Bible story he heard when King Saul was made King.
The children of Israel wanted a king like all the other people in the different lands
near by them and so they asked God to give them a King. But he was not to be an
ordinary king - no! They wanted the tallest and the best looking king that was
brave and strong. They wanted the best!
Well it was not what God wanted, but he loved the children of Israel so much that
He gave them what they wanted. He gathered all the people in a certain place so
that he could choice their new king. Everyone was so excited, they where going to
have a king! Once all the people where ready, God told the prophet Samuel to call
for Saul and make him King. You see Saul was the tallest, strongest and best-
looking person in all the land of the Children of Israel.
Well do you know what Saul did? Instead of being all happy and brave and going
to Samuel to be made king, Saul tried to hide away in and amongst all the pots
and baskets of food and water that where lying there. They had to find him and
force him to go to Samuel, but do you know what? Once he got over being scared
and asked the Lord to help him, he became a great king.
Well Right there Bobby knew that if he was going to ever ride Monty again he
would have to do it now, so he said a little prayed that went Like this:
"Lord Jesus, I need your help.
You know how scared I am.
You know what I am feeling inside and you don't make people
scared.
Please help me to not be scared.
Please help me to get back on Monty and ride her like I always
have without being Scared.
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
Well as Bobby made his way over to Monty, with each step he took it seemed like
the Lord Jesus was taking all the bad feelings away from him. By the time he got
to Monty he was feeling a lot better and with a deep breath and some help from
his daddy, Bobby got onto Monty’s back and began to ride. At first he was still a
little scared, but he soon forgot about the fall and started to remember all the good
things he had done with Monty before. The Lord Jesus had taken the bad fall
away and now instead made him remember all the good things. Jesus did such a
good job, that not long afterwards he and Monty won first place in a special event
that was held at the Riding School for all the children. The event was held to show
everyone what the children had learnt and how good they where at handling a
horse. Bobby was so glad that he had prayed and had got back on Monty,
because all his hard work and scrapes and bruises had paid off.
Has something bad happened to you, to make you scared? Are you like Bobby
having to face something that makes you so scared, you break out into a cold
sweat and your stomach does flip-flops? Why not let the Lord Jesus help you? He
knows what has to be done to make it all better and is the only one that can fix it.
He wants to take those horrible feelings away from you, so that you will never
have to feel it or face it again!
The End!
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Jesus Gave Me Wisdom!
By Craig Toach
ave you ever wished you where clever? Haven't you ever wanted to be
the top of you class at school? Or maybe you just would like to be able
to do things better? Well today I want to tell you a story of a boy named
Greg that asked Jesus to give him wisdom and knowledge.
Greg was just a normal little boy, he loved toys and playing with his friends. He
liked going to school where he could play with his friends, but like all kids, did not
like the work and homework the teachers always seemed to give him.
His favorite pass time was riding his trusty old bicycle. Him and all his friends
would ride up and down the road where he stayed and would race each other to
see who could ride the fastest, but best of all was the ramping they would do on
their bicycles.
There was just one problem. Greg's old bicycle just did not keep up with the newer
bicycles, he always seemed to come last in the races or the shortest when
ramping. He wished he could have a nice bicycle like the other boys, but knew that
a new bicycle costs a lot of money, and his parents did not have that kind of
money.
One Saturday morning Greg, his mommy, his daddy and his little sister went
grocery shopping at the local shopping mall. It was not one of his favorite things to
do on a Saturday, he would have rather stayed at home and played with his
friends. But he decided to make the most of the trip by going to the bicycle section
to see what cool bicycles and equipment there where on display.
He made his way to the bicycle section. He started by looking at all the equipment
for the bicycles. As always there where many things for the bicycles. New grips for
the handlebars, water bottles, a puncture kit, spare inner tubes and crash helmets
in all colors and shapes. There was even one that looked like the one they use on
motorbikes. As he looked at the helmet he could just see himself riding a new
bicycle with a helmet on that matched the bicycle. Greg put down the helmet and
asked Jesus to keep one for him.
As he walked over to look at the bicycles he could not believe his eyes! Right
there on display was the very bicycle that matched the helmet. Right away Greg
ran over to his parent and explained the whole thing of how he had seen the
helmet and then found the bike to match. As his parents looked at the bicycle,
Greg begged them to please get it for him. It was his dream bike and the shiny
blue color with the racing sticker was the best he had ever seen.
After nagging so much, Greg’s parents decided something… They told him that
they would get him the bicycle, but first he had to do one thing. They said that he
had to do his best at school and if he did that, they would get him the bicycle.
The rest of the day and night Greg could not think of anything else but that new
bicycle, he knew it was not going to be easy. He was battling a little with his
schoolwork and if he was going to do well, he would have to have some serious
help.
He then remembered a story in the bible about Solomon. He was the new King of
Israel and he had a lot to do and look after, he was the president of the country in
those days. It was his job look after the whole land and all the people in the Land.
It was up to him to make sure everyone was happy and that there was enough
food for everyone. What was even worse is that there where so many people, that
when they stood all together they where like dust, they where everywhere! Do you
think you could do the job Solomon was given?
Well Solomon was worried, he knew he could not do the job properly without some
help. One night as he went to pray the Lord came to him and asked Solomon what
he wanted from Him. He could ask for anything and the Lord would give it to him.
Well, what would you ask for? What do you think Solomon asked for? No Silly! He
did not ask for the latest Barbie doll or the latest action figure. He asked for
wisdom and knowledge! He cared so much about the people God had given him
to look after, he didn't even think of what he wanted but rather what would help the
people. With knowledge, Solomon could understand the people and what they
needed better, and with wisdom he would know the best way to look after them
and make sure they had every thing they needed.
God was so happy with the choice Solomon made that He told him, He was not
only going to make him the wisest man in the whole world, but He was also going
to give him riches, honor and wealth. More than any King ever had before and
after him.
And do you know what? God as always kept his promise. He made Solomon the
wisest and richest man in the whole world. Solomon was so wise and rich that
other kings and queens would come from all over the world just to see how wise
and rich he was. You can read all about him and all he did for God and the people
of Israel in your bible in the book of 2 Chronicles.
Right then and there Greg prayed to Lord Jesus and this is what He prayed:
"Jesus, thank you for always listening to me.

Oh Jesus you know everything and you know about the bicycle.
I really want it, but I have to do good at school.
Please help me to do well at school.
Please help me to be wise like Solomon.
Help me to be the best I can be.
In Jesus name,
Amen"
From that day on Greg did his very best at school. You know what happened?
Things started to change. He started to understand the schoolwork better. He
could do the work without battling like he usually did. Schoolwork became fun and
exciting and he looked forward to doing it instead of hating it.
Well the School year went by fast and it was nearly the end of the year. One day
Greg and two other children where called to the Principles office. As he and the
other two children were going there, none of them had any idea way they had
been called out. Greg could not remember doing anything wrong! The walk there
seemed to take forever and when it finally did come to an end, Greg was so
nervous he could hardly stand. He wished he was far way - some place else.
As he entered the Principles office he was amazed to see other children there too.
The Principle then gave them the best news they could ever hear. They where not
there for doing something wrong, they where there for something completely
different.
He said: "Boys and Girls, I bet you are wondering why I called you to my office
today. Well I have good news for you. You have been called here because you are
the children that have got the best marks out of all the children in your classes. I
have called you here so that I could congratulate you and invite you to come to a
special evening to be held at the school. What we do is invite all your parents to
come and enjoy a evening with us and during the evening each of you will receive
a certificate for your good and hard work."
Greg could not believe it - he had done it! It was the first time he had ever done so
well, that his high marks made him to be one of the three children at the top his
class. He just knew that it was Jesus that had helped him. So on the way back to
the classroom Greg thanked Jesus for helping him and making him wise to do his
best.
Well that special evening arrived and Greg got his certificate as the Principle had
said he would. At the end of the evening as Greg and his Parents where walking
to the car, he got the biggest surprise! There in front of the car, was a beautiful
bicycle! It was the bicycle from the shop. The Shiny blue one with all the special
racing stickers on it.
At first Greg could not believe his eyes! It was as if he was in a wonderful dream
and he had to pinch himself to make sure it was not a dream - but it was real. As
he got onto the bicycle he was so happy, all his hard work and the help of Jesus
had paid of and now he had a new bicycle to ride.
Well I don’t need to tell you that when Jesus blesses us, He does a really good
job! You see, the story did not end there. Not too long afterwards, Christmas time
come along. On Christmas morning as Greg open up his presents would you
believe that there was a helmet in one of the boxes, but this was not just any
helmet - No! It was the one for his new bicycle, the very one he asked Jesus to
keep for him in the shop.
You see Jesus did not forget and even though Greg had forgotten about it and felt
he did not deserve the helmet because he had such a nice bicycle, Jesus
remembered. So He made sure that Greg's Mommy and Daddy got him the
helmet as He had promised Greg as a gift especially from Jesus Himself.
Are you battling today and need some wisdom? Have you been promised
something nice if you do a job well, but are battling to do it? Well, be like Greg and
Solomon and ask for wisdom and knowledge. And what better person to ask than
Jesus, who loves you and always wants to give you the things you desire and
more.
Do your best at whatever you are doing and Jesus will always be there to help you
along the way no matter how hard the job is. And He will bless you even more
than you expect Him to!
The End.
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The Loving Shepherd
By Craig Toach
ave you ever felt all alone like no one loves you? Maybe your Mommy
and Daddy don't stay together anymore and you feel like they don't love
you? Or maybe they are just too busy to spend time with you?
Well today I would like to share a story about a little boy who found out, there is
someone who loved him and would always be with him.
Tom was really sad, things just did not feel good in his heart. His mommy and
Daddy always seemed to be shouting at each other and being ugly to one other.
They were so busy fighting that it seemed they did not have anytime to spend with
him. They didn't have time anymore to find out what he had done that day and the
exciting things he had learnt.
At school he couldn’t even think straight. He was so lonely and upset that he found
it hard to listen to the teacher and what was being taught. At playtime, he didn't
feel like going to play with the other children. So he would just sit there and watch
the other children play as he ate his lunch alone.
One day as he was walking home from school, he noticed something was
happening at the Library as he passed by. They where having a story reading time
and it was about to start. As he watched the children go into the library and take
there places he felt like he wanted to go inside and listen. He just had to go and
see what it was like. Maybe he would even find some happiness. As it so
happened Tom's parents where not going to be home for quite some time, so he
could easily go and listen to the story and be back home in time before they got
home from work.
He carefully took his place in the very back of the room so no one would see him,
he couldn't wait for the story to start. All the children where talking to one another,
wondering what the story would be this week. After sometime a very friendly lady
entered the room. She seemed to have a special something about her that made
her different to many of the grown ups Tom had spoken to or been around. In her
hand was a big leather bound book, which seemed to be quite thick and quite
heavy. She sat down and asked the children for some silence, because she
wanted to start reading the story. A deep hush fell over the whole room as the lady
opened the book up and started reading.
The story went some thing like this:
There once was a shepherd that had a flock of sheep, 100 hundred to
be exact. Every day the shepherd would take the flock of sheep to a
beautiful meadow filled with juicy grass for them to eat which also had
a lovely river in it with cold clean water for the sheep to drink from.
He loved these 100 sheep so much that he knew each one of the
sheep like he only had 1 instead of the hundred. He spent all day
from when the sun came up to when the sun went down making sure
each one of the hundred was happy and safe. He knew which of the
sheep could run away and get lost. He also knew which of the sheep
always stayed and never got into trouble. The shepherd loved the
sheep so much that whenever bears and lions came to hurt or eat the
sheep, instead of running away, he would do all he could to fight and
frighten the bad animals away to keep the sheep safe from harm.
Even though this meant that the shepherd might get hurt while
protecting the sheep.
Now one day as the sun was setting in the sky, the shepherd saw
that one of the sheep was missing. It was no where to be seen. He
was so worried that you know what he did? He left all the other 99
sheep so that he could go and find that one that was lost. He
searched and he searched till he found it and when he did, he was so
happy! The sheep had fallen and hurt it self so he fixed its cuts and
bruises, then carried the hurt sheep in his arms all the way home,
while he lead the rest of the flock of sheep safely all the way home.
As Tom listened to the story he so wished he could be that lost little sheep. He
was lost, hurt and in need of someone to care for him. He so wanted someone to
just take care of his hurting little heart.
Then Tom heard the best news of all! The Lady asked if the children would like to
know where they could find the story and if they would like to read the book it
came from. Everyone was excited and shouted all at the same time that they
wanted to know. The lady then told them that the story could be found in the Bible
and that all they needed to do to find it, is to look in the book of Matthew. She also
told them that there were many other wonderful stories in the Bible that would be
great to read. She also invited anyone to come and talk to her if they really loved
that story, because there was something more she wanted to tell them.
Tom just had to find out more! He could not go home till he had found out all he
could about this story. He quietly walked to the lady and asked her to tell her more
about the story and the Bible. He told her how he loved the way the Shepherd
always loved the sheep and did anything to keep them safe. As he spoke the Lady
could see that there was something wrong with Tom, she could see that he was
hurting inside. So she explain the story to him a little better.
Tom was only to happy to have someone give him some time and he eagerly sat
there as she told him this: You see Jesus is the Shepherd and all the people in the
world that have Jesus in their heart are his sheep. He loves each one all the same
and will do anything to keep them happy, healthy and safe. He loved His sheep so
much, that he put his life in the way of all the bad things that would ever happen to
the sheep. Because He did this He died on a cross, but he loved the sheep so
much that he came back to life so that he could take special care of them again.
She also told him that if he asked him, Jesus would come and live in his heart.
Tom for the first time felt that he was not alone. There was someone that really
loved him and would do anything to make sure he was happy, healthy and safe.
He knew that Jesus was the only one who could be there for him and that it was
only Jesus who could take the hurting in his heart away. So right there he asked
the lady to help him bring Jesus into his heart.
The prayer he prayed went something like this:
"Jesus I need you.

Please come into my heart.
I want to become one of your sheep Jesus.
I want you to look after me and protect me.
Thank you for dying on the cross to take all the bad things away.
And thank you for your blood that made me clean from all the
bad things.
Thank you for coming back from the dead to look after your
sheep.
I want to live my life for you Jesus.
Come and be my savior.
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
Right away Tom could feel something change inside. He could feel a change in
him that he could not explain. He felt like a new person and best of all, his hurting
heart had stopped hurting and was now full of peace and bursting with joy over the
love that his new Shepherd Jesus had for him.
Are you hurting today? Are you wanting for someone to be with you all the time?
Someone that understands you and loves you no matter what you do, good or
bad?
You do have someone like this and He is standing right there by you and all you
need do is open your heart to Jesus. He is such a special person, He loves you so
much and want to look after you and make sure you never hurt again.
Maybe you have Jesus in your heart already, but the devil is telling you that Jesus
doesn't love you. I want to tell you something. The devil is a liar, he can't tell the
truth even if you paid him to, so tell that liar to leave you alone in Jesus name.
Now look into the eyes of your loving Jesus and you will see for yourself how
much He loves you.
Get to know Jesus in a special way today and you will always have a Shepherd
there that is looking out for you and will never leave you no matter what comes to
scare and hurt you.
Amen!
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I Am All Better!
By Craig Toach
o you remember the last time you were sick? It is not very nice is it? You
cannot do all the things you normally do. All you can do is stay in bed till
you are feeling better. Well today I am going to tell you a story of
Rebecca and how Lord Jesus helped her get better.
Rebecca was a little girl that was always busy; she didn't like to sit still for too long.
There were too many exciting things she could do. If she was not out side playing
house, she was climbing trees and all the other fun stuff there was to do. The
worst was when it rained. On those rainy days she had to stay inside and there
were not many fun stuff to do inside, but she would find things to do. She would
either play with her dolls like other little girls or read books so that she could
imagine going to exciting places in her head and not be stuck in her house. But as
soon as the rain stopped, she would be outside again having fun jumping in the
rain puddles.
Well one day as Rebecca woke up and was getting ready for school, she did not
feel very good and she had a lot of pain in her sides. She told her mommy and
daddy and they sent her back to bed so that she could rest up. After a little prayer
and sleep Rebecca felt a little better, but her sides were still very sore.
So her daddy took her to the doctor to see what was wrong. The trip seemed to
take forever but when they got to the doctor, he was very gentle and friendly and
did his very best to make Rebecca feel better. This helped Rebecca a lot and soon
the doctor told her daddy what was wrong with her. He told her dad that she was a
very sick little girl and that she was to stay in bed for a whole week and not move
around too much. The doctor gave them medicines that her daddy was to give her
to make her better.
Rebecca was not happy about this but the doctor was right, she was very sick and
she was so sore that she did not want to move. Her daddy gave her the medicines
and it started to help but Rebecca just wanted to be better. She didn't like being so
sick she could not go out and play, but she was not sure what to do!
As she sat reading her favorite book she read something that made her very
happy inside. You see the book she was readying was a special Bible that was
made like a comic book and she loved looking at the pictures and reading the
stories inside. Rebecca had read it so many times that she nearly knew all the
stories off by heart, so just for fun she would open the book anywhere and start
reading. This time it just so happened she turned to a story of a little girl and she
was also sick. Well this is what happened:
Jesus was with his disciples in one of the cities called Capernaum, when a man
begged Jesus to come with him to his house to pray for his daughter. His daughter
was very sick and there were no medicines that could make her better. He knew
that if Jesus prayed for her, He would make her better.
So Jesus went with him, but on the way there, some of the people that were at the
man’s house told him that his little girl had died and that it was to late. But do you
know what Jesus did? Jesus told the man to be strong and to believe in Him and
He would make the little girl better and so they went to the man's house.
At his house every one was sad and crying because the little girl was dead but,
Jesus, the little girls parents and some of his disciples went straight to her room.
When they were all in the room Jesus prayed for her and she came back to life! In
fact she had not only come back to life, she was not sick any more. Jesus had
healed her too.
Well Rebecca knew that even though she was not sick enough to die, that Lord
Jesus wanted her to be better and that he could heal her just like He did that little
girl. So she prayed a prayer that went like this:
"Lord Jesus I need you!

I am sick and don't want to be sick any more
Please heal me just like you healed that little girl!
I know you can!
Thank you Jesus
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
Well as it so happened, Rebecca's Daddy had been praying too and do you know
what? Lord Jesus showed her daddy what was making her sick and told him to go
and pray for her. So he went right away to her room and put his hand on her sides
that were sore and started to pray for her.
As her daddy prayed, Rebecca felt a warm glow of Jesus’ anointing come form her
daddy's hand, that got very hot. The heat was going into her body to where she
was sore and the pain was starting to go away. As she lay there and let her daddy
pray, she closed her eyes and there she was the Lord Jesus. He was smiling and
telling her everything was going to be okay and she was getting better. Rebecca
felt so happy and warm inside, she just knew how the little girl in the Bible story felt
when Lord Jesus prayed for her. She felt so warm and happy inside that she fell
into the best sleep she had ever had.
The next morning when she woke up, can you guess what happened? You are
right, she wasn't sore anymore. She was all better, as if she had never been sick
in the first place. Well her daddy took her to the doctor just to make sure and it
was just as he thought. She was completely healed. The doctor could not believe
his eyes, he had never seen anyone get better so quickly and asked what they
did.
Rebecca told the doctor that they had both prayed to Lord Jesus to make her
better and because Lord Jesus loved her and doesn’t like to see us sick, He had
told her daddy to go and pray for her so He could make her better.
So if you are sick or have something wrong with you, why not pray like Rebecca
did to Lord Jesus? He knows what is wrong with you and knows how to fix you! All
you need to do is pray and let Jesus do the rest. And before long you will be as
good as new, up and running around like everyone else!
The End.
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Jesus Loves Everyone
By Craig Toach
ave you every had to sit next to some you did not know or liked? You
where not sure how to talk with them? Maybe they did not dressed nice
or smelt funny and you did not like being with them? May be you had to
share a your favorite toy with them even though you wanted to play with
it. Well today I would like to tell you a story of a boy named Ted who had a
problem and how Lord Jesus showed him how special everyone was.
Like most boys and girls Ted went to school and did his very best to get good
grades and write the neatest he could. Ted always seemed to get along with all
the children in his class and liked to talk with them. There were times when even
the class bully would talk to him and be his friend.
One day as the school bell rang to start the new day, Ted and the other children in
his class settled in their seats to start, when all of a sudden there was a knock at
the classroom door. The teacher went to see who was there and after spending
some time outside talking, she came back inside with a new person they had
never seen before. The teacher introduced the new boy to the class and told them
that he was their new classmate and to please make him feel welcome. His name
was Mike and even though he was new to the school, he sure did not look new!
The clothes he had on where old and he was not the neatest looking of all the
children in the class.
Mike went to go sit down and who do you think he decided to sit next to? Yup -
you guessed it Ted. Ted was really uncomfortable with Mike sitting next to him, he
was not sure how to make Mike feel better seeing as though it was his first day.
Well the teacher started class for the morning and Mike realized he did not seem
to have all the pens, pencils and rulers he needed to do the work. So Mike asked if
Ted would mind sharing his stuff with him.
Ted was not sure about this, you see he did not know Mike and he was worried
that Mike would do what some of the other children in the past did when they had
asked to use some of his stuff. They had either broken them or had never given
back what they had lent like they promised they would. Well Ted knew there was
no way Mike could do the work if he did not lend him the stuff, so Ted agreed to
share and so the day went on.
The days went by and it seemed Mike never had anything he needed, he was
forever asking Ted to use his things. Ted always let Mike use his things but it
would make him really mad inside, he was forever waiting to use his stuff while
Mike was using it or something like that. Ted was so cross with Mike that he did
not want to be his friend. If Mike was using all his stuff now and they where not
Friends, what would he be like if they where friends? Well what would you do if
you where in a situation like Ted? Something had to be done, but Ted was not
sure what to do.
That night as Ted was in his room getting ready for bed, he was thinking hard on
what he was going to do about Mike. He decided to ask his Mommy about it and
see what she would say. As she came to tuck him into bed he told her the whole
story and asked how he could stop Mike from always taking his things and how he
did not want to be Mikes friend because then Mike would probably take even more
things.
Ted's mommy listened as he told her the whole story and when he was finished
she went to the bookshelf and took out Ted's Bible and read him the Story of
Jesus and a man named Zaccheus. You see Jesus was in the city of Jericho and
the people where all around him trying to see him and to hear him preach. Now
Zaccheus was a short little man and when he was standing among all the people,
he was too short to see Jesus over their heads. He decided to run ahead of the
people and climbed into a tree so that he could see Jesus when he came walking
past.
Well Jesus did just that, and came walking right under where Zaccheus was, but
do you know what? Jesus did not walk passed him, but stopped when He got
under Zaccheus and told him to come down for the tree he was in. Jesus also told
Zaccheus to take Him to his house because Jesus wanted to stay in Zaccheus'
house that night.
The people were very cross with Jesus because Zaccheus was not a nice person.
It was his job to collect money from all the people for taxes, but what Zaccheus
would do is cheat the people. He would tell them to give him more money than
what the people had to pay and take the rest of the money for himself! He would
steal the money and the people could not do anything about it. If they did not pay,
he could get them into trouble. He was a bad person and now Jesus was going to
stay in his house?! What would you have done if you where Jesus? Would you
have stayed at that bad mans house, who stole from everyone?
Well Lord Jesus is such a special person that he could see the real Zaccheus’
heart inside and not the Zaccheus who was stealing money from the people. He
was a scared little man that needed someone to love him and to care for him. So
Jesus chose not to act like the other people and went to Zaccheus' house and give
him a chance to become a good man. And that is what happened, Zaccheus
realized he was being bad and gave double the money he stole from all the people
back to them. He was so happy inside that Jesus showed him love and care that
he gave his money to the poor people that did not have money.
Do you know that Jesus did something very similar for us? He loved us so much
that He looked passed all our bad things and gave up His own life and died on the
cross so He could be with us in our hearts forever and loves us all the time. He did
it for every person that lives in the world, He died for the good people and the bad
people too. You see we all need to de loved and to know that someone really
cares for us no matter how bad we are. There was just one person who could do it
and he came to earth and showed us while he walk on the earth and now he lives
inside us. And His name was - Jesus, God's only son!
Ted was feeling bad inside, he was being ugly to Mike just because he was
different and used his things all the time. He had not taken the time, like Jesus did,
to see the real Mike in his heart, but had let Mike's clothes and other things tell him
what kind of person Mike was. Mike had never broken any of his stuff or stole
them. He had always asked really nicely and always made sure to give them back
right away. It was then that Ted decided to rather do it Jesus’ way from now on
and to love even if it was hard to and ask Jesus to help him see the real person in
their heart. So He prayed a prayer right there that went like this:
"Lord Jesus please forgive me for being such an ugly person

and not sharing my stuff!
I did not look passed the outside and at Mike’s heart and what
you see in him!
I want to see people like you do and to be more like you Jesus.
Thank you for loving me so much that you gave up your life for
me
Thank you that you love everyone in the world.
Thank you that you will never stop loving them no matter how
bad they are.
Thank you for being such a special person
In Jesus Name,
Amen!"
Straightaway Ted felt something leave him and he felt a lot lighter. He was not all
cross inside when he thought of Mike the knot of anger in his tummy was all got
and instead was happiness. In fact he saw what it must be like to have to ask for
the things you need all the time. Ted remembered the day when he left his pencil
box at home, how hard it was that day at school. Not only did none of the children
want to lend him anything but he had to first build up the courage to ask. So Ted
went to the cupboard where his mommy had spare school stuff and put together a
pencil box just for Mike. It had all the things Mike always needed and a few extras.
The next Morning as Mike came into class and sat down at the desk, Ted told him
he was very sorry for not being very nice to him and gave him the pencil box he
had made for Mike. He told him of the story he had read and how he wanted to be
Mike’s friend. It was then that Mike told Ted that this was the best thing anyone
had ever done for him. You see Mike did not have a daddy and that meant that his
mommy had to work extra hard and do everything for both of them. She did not
make enough money to buy stuff like pens and pencils. That is why he was always
asking even though he always felt very bad having to ask. He had no choice.
From that day on Ted and Mike shared everything together and became the best
of friends. In fact they even spent times at each others house over weekends and
school holidays. Ted found out that even though Mike was very different to him in
how he dressed and how he lived. Mike was a very special friend that Lord Jesus
had brought into his life. He was different to all the other friends Ted had, but Mike
was by far the best out of them all. He had learnt a very important lesson that he
never forgot - always ask Jesus to show you what the persons heart is like on the
inside and not to ever judge the person by what they look like on the outside!
Do you have a problem like Ted had with Mike? Do you know someone that is
different and you are battling to be nice to them? Maybe you have an older brother
or sister that is always being ugly to you and taking your things? Why not let Lord
Jesus show you the special person they are in their hearts? He made them and
knows every thing about them. He knows what is making their heart sore and what
would make them happy. So why not show them how special Lord Jesus is by
doing some thing special for them? Lord Jesus loves us all, so why not show that
love!
The End.
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Talking Out Loud
By Craig Toach
ave you ever had a problem speaking to people or talking to a crowd?

Maybe you had to give a book report to your class or tried telling
someone about something exiting that happened to you? But when you
tried to tell them, it all came out wrong and you sounded silly? Well today
I want to tell you the story of Vaughn and how Jesus helped him.
Vaughn was a quite little boy that always seemed to spend a lot of time alone. He
was always playing by himself and every time someone would come to Vaughn
and try speaking to him Vaughn would get nervous inside, but try and talk back.
The only problem was the words never came out right and he would either stutter
or the words would come out all mixed up and the other children would not
understand what he was trying to say. This would leave Vaughn feeling very sad
inside and angry because all he wanted to do was be like the other children and
talk and have the other children know what he was trying to say.
So to stop the other children making fun of him, he would try to be alone as much
as he could and find other things to do that would help him stay away from the
other children. Then one day something happened that Vaughn was not happy
about and this is what happened:
On this very day in class, his teacher gave them a project to do. What the Children
had to do was to take a book that they really like reading and then tell the rest of
the Children in the class about the book. Everyone seemed very excited about it
except for one little boy! Yup, you guessed it – It was poor Vaughn!
He loved reading and read lots of books, so it was not a problem for him to find a
book he liked. It was that he would have to speak to all the children about it. If
talking to one person made him speak all funny, he did not want to even think of
what a whole class of children would do to him! He did not want to make a fool of
himself and have everyone laugh at him!
What was he to do? What would you do if you had a problem like Vaughn?
Well here is what Vaughn did! He went to his teacher and asked her if their was
some way that he could rather write out the book report that he would have to read
to the class and rather let her read it. Well I wish I could say that the teacher just
let him off the hook that easy, but nope she didn’t! What she did do though was to
help him with his problem!
You see it just so happened that his teacher was a kind and friendly teacher. She
was different to the other teachers. She told Vaughn a very special story that
helped him with the problem he had! And it was from the bible! Do you know which
story it was?
Well, let me tell you! It was the story of Moses! You see Moses had killed a man
and had to run away from Egypt to save his life and was now living in the desert
looking after sheep. He was very happy because all he had to do was look after
sheep all day and he did not have to talk to them to make them do what he
wanted.
But this was about to change! God had a very special job for Moses and that
meant doing two things that Moses was scared of doing. The first was that he had
to go back to Egypt where he had run away from - this meant that he could be put
to death if the people remembered him and what he did! And the second was that
he had to go before the king and speak to the king and tell him to let God’s people
go!
Now if that was not scary enough Moses had an even bigger problem! Do you
know what that was? Well, let me tell you. Moses had trouble talking – that is right!
The bible tells us that he was slow in speech and tongue. And now God wanted
him to go all the way to Egypt to speak to the King. Well, God promised to help
Moses and showed him that He would not let anything happen to Moses!
Moses did as God told him to do and went back to Egypt and do you know what?
Moses not only got to speak to the king of Egypt, but he also got to take the
Children of Israel out of Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land that God had
for them.
Vaughn could not believe his ears! That night he took his bible and read the book
of Exodus to see what all happened to Moses and the Children of Israel. He could
not believe all the wonderful things that the Lord did for them and after reading the
story, He just knew that Lord Jesus could do this for Him.
So He sat on his bed and prayed a little prayer that went like this:
Lord Jesus I thank you for always hearing my prayers!

I have a problem and I need your help!
Please help me like you did Moses!
Help me to talk so that I don’t make a fool of myself anymore!
You are so special Jesus – love you so much!
In Jesus Name,
Amen!
The next day at school Vaughn was still nervous inside but there was something
else there that was not there before. It was like the Lord Jesus was standing next
to him ready to help him. Vaughn felt so happy inside that he forgot about being
scared and do you know what? Each day it got easier to speak.
Well the day came and the children all had a turn to speak about their books.
When it was Vaughn’s turn to speak He got up and got ready. He opened his
mouth but this time instead of battling to find the words and to speak, he found it
easy to talk. Lord Jesus had helped him and now it was easy to speak. He told
such an exciting story that all the children wanted to read it. And do you know
which story it was? It was the Book of Exodus, the Story that showed him how
Jesus could help him speak properly!
So are you not too good at talking to others? Do you find it hard to find the words
to tell other people what you are trying to tell them? Then why not ask Lord Jesus
to help you? He loves you so much and will never say no! He loves to help us and
to see us happy in everything we do or say!
The End!
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Forgiveness Isn't Hard
By Craig Toach
ave you ever had someone do something bad to you and you just didn’t
want to forgive them? Every time you think about it you get mad all over
again? Well I would like to tell you a story about Kenny and how he
handled this problem.
There was once a boy named Kenny who had a best friend name Warren. Now
Kenny and Warren where always together. If one of them got into trouble you
would be sure to find the other one close by. They spent as much time together as
they could. They would even nag their mommies to sleep at each other’s houses
as often as they could. They even went to the same Pre-School (Crèche)! And this
is where our story begins!
You see, like I said, Kenny and Warren did everything together. They were so
close, sometimes people would asked them if they were brothers! One day as
Kenny and Warren sat at their usual table, one of the teachers told the children
that there was a new swing for them to play with.
Well Kenny and Warren just knew they had to be the first ones to try out the new
swing! They had to be the ones that would learn how to use it before any of the
other children did. As they ran outside they could not see it straight away. It was
by the tree house and they knew the tree house very well. It was the one place
they used all the time, to get away from the girls! One time when the girls tried to
put makeup on all the boys, it was Kenny and Warren who were the only ones that
got away from them!
So off they went, and yup you guessed it. They were one of the first kids to get
there. Well Kenny and Warren watched as the other children swung out on the
new swing. It was the kind they used in the circus, the one they use for the trapeze
artists. Well some of the children swung out and came back to the tree house and
then there where others that would let go and drop to the floor. Soon it was
Kenny’s turn and he was just getting ready to let go with one of the biggest leaps
he had ever done! Then all of a suddenly there was a mighty push from behind
him! And do you know what happened next? Well Kenny got the biggest fright of
his life and went sailing off the landing and over the edge of the tree house. He
tried to hold on to the swing as best he could, but I am afraid to say he couldn’t. As
his hands slipped off the swing and all he could see as he looked up was Warren
standing there with a very guilty look on his face.
Now as Kenny fell to the ground all he could do was put his arm out to break his
fall, and you guessed it! As he hit the ground there came a funny sound and a lot
of pain. No, Kenny didn’t die! He just broke his arm and had to go to the Doctor so
that he could have it fixed.
As Kenny sat at the doctor’s office, he started to think on what had happened. And
as he thought about it, he started putting it all together. And what do you think
happened? What do you think Kenny thought happened?
Okay, let me tell you! After all that thinking, he came up with this! He figured that
because Warren was behind him, and because he had such a guilty look on his
face, it must have been him that pushed him off the tree house. Now this made
him very mad. You see, until his arm got better he couldn’t swim, ride bicycles or
do any of the other cool things he normally got to do. It made him so mad he never
wanted to talk to Warren ever again. In fact he didn’t want to be his friend ever
again.
Well, I am afraid to say that this went on for quite some time. They both wouldn’t
talk to each other, and every time Warren tried to talk to him, Kenny would run
away as fast as he could. The only problem was that none of them felt very happy
inside! They didn’t know what to do with themselves when the other one wasn’t
around.
One day, Kenny’s granddad called him over to have a talk, (Kenny’s mommy had
told is granddad what had happened). His Granddad told him the story of Esau
and Jacob. You see Esau and Jacob where brothers. Now Jacob tricked Esau and
got him to give up his birthright, which in the Bible days was a very important thing.
Esau got so mad he wanted to kill his brother. Well Jacob got so scared he ran
away and went to another country, where he worked for a very long time and
became very rich - with Gods help!
Well one day Jacob decided to go home to where his mommy and daddy lived.
But there was one big problem and I mean big! If he went back there he would
have to face his brother who was a very big man!
So what he did was to send all the things he owned in front of him to give them to
his brother as gifts. But do you know what happed? No, his brother didn’t want to
kill him anymore. You see, he had forgiven his brother and was so glad to see
him, he ran right past all Jacob’s things and ran up to his brother and gave him a
big hug and kiss. And they made friends, and from then on they were happy with
each other again.
This made Kenny feel silly, because his broken arm wasn’t as bad as what
happened to Esau. And if Esau could forgive his own brother, then to forgive
Warren wouldn’t be so hard either. So he got down on his knees and prayed this
prayer,
Lord Jesus thank you for my good friend Warren.

Thank you that we have such fun together.
Please forgive me for getting mad.
And please help me to make friends again.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
Well Kenny went straight away and got his mommy to take him to Warren’s house.
And as they got closer to his house, he started to get really nervous. He could just
imagine how Jacob felt! Now as they pulled up to his friends house, who should be
there waiting for him? Yup - you guessed it, Warren!
Now as Kenny told Warren the whole story and that he was very sorry, Warren
started to laugh. You see he didn’t push Kenny. Want happened was two little
boys behind Warren started to have a fight and as the one pushed the other, they
bumped Warren, who knocked Kenny off the tree house.
Well, now Kenny was feeling really silly and didn’t know where to put his head.
That was soon sorted out as Warren handed him one of their favorite ice creams
that they always ate together. And do you know what? After that they never had a
problem like that again.
So are you mad at someone today? Did something happen to make you mad with
that person? Why not go and see them and forgive them for what they did to you?
I’ll tell you now; a friend is far more fun to have than no friend! You will be laughing
and having fun together again in no time.
The End
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Help! I'm Lost!
By Craig Toach
ave you ever been in a situation where you where not sure what to do?
You where doing great one minute and the next minute you where in
trouble and scared. Well this is a story of a little girl called Teresa who
got lost one day and how she let Jesus help her.
Teresa was a very small and quiet little girl, who loved to play pretend games. She
would go to far away lands where princes and monsters would fight and she would
be the princess that would get her prince in the end. She would get so caught up
in playing these games she would forget where she was. Sometimes she would be
so busy playing in her pretend game that she wouldn't even hear her mommy
calling her or would even walk into things.
One day her mommy and daddy decided to take her out to a near by shopping
mall to go looking through the shops and to get a bite to eat at a fast food
restaurant. Teresa loved doing this with her parents, she could look at all the toys,
books and clothes in the different shops and if she was very good she would
normally get to take something home with her.
As her mommy and daddy where busy getting ready to go out, Teresa was in her
room putting on her best dress and shoes so that she not only felt like a princess
but looked like one to! She was just finishing up combing her hair when she heard
her daddy calling her. It was time to go! With a loud YIPPEE!! Teresa ran and got
in the car. She was so excited that she could hardly sit still. Only her mommy and
daddy had an even bigger surprise for her. Her favorite cousins where going to
join them tonight for the outing. Once they had picked her cousins up they made
their way to the Mall.
The sun had just set and the mall had all its lights on. It made the Mall shine like a
beautiful castle from one of the fairytale stories. As they entered the mall they
where almost knocked over by all the people that where busy with their shopping
and other odds and ends that could be done at a mall. It made things a little
difficult for Teresa and the rest of the group to go around the mall, but it didn't stop
them and they enjoyed looking at the lots of exciting stuff that there was to see!
Amongst the many exciting things Teresa saw a new dress that glittered and
shone just like the Cinderella dress in the movie she saw.
As she walked away form the dress she could just see herself in it, a real princess
that lived in the castle of her dreams. She could see herself and her prince as they
went dancing through the castle with her dress spinning round and round making it
balloon out like they always did when they dance in the stories. She was having so
much fun, till she stopped and realized that she was in very big trouble. In all her
day dreaming she had lost sight of the group! She could not find her mommy or
daddy or cousins - they where gone!
She was so afraid and was not sure what to do! She had never been lost before!
While she was sitting there she remembered a story from the bible of when Jesus
was a little boy and He was left behind by accident in the church and how worried
his mommy and daddy got. They looked everywhere for Him and finally found him
in the same place where he had been all along - in the Church. So right there she
prayed a little prayer that went like this:
"Oh Jesus, I've lost my mommy and daddy and I'm scared.
I need You to help me to be found Jesus.
I need to find my mommy and daddy.
Please bring them to me so that we can be together again.
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
As she stood there not quite sure what to do, a strange thing happened to her.
She felt something warm and cuddly come around her. It felt like a warm blanket
that was being put around her to make her feel better. It was like the Lord Jesus
was right there with her, protecting her and even though she was still a little
scared she knew everything was going to be okay. She sat very quietly where she
was and waited for her mommy and daddy to come. It wasn't very nice being in a
strange place all by herself.
Well it was not long and she heard a very familiar voice call her name! It was her
Daddy! He had found her! They both sat there hugging and crying, because they
where so happy they found each other. Teresa told her daddy that she was very
sorry for not staying with them and that she would never do it again. She told him
how she had prayed the Jesus would help them find her.
To her surprise her daddy told her how he had also prayed for Jesus to show him
the way and that he felt like someone was showing him where she was and how to
get to her. They where not sure, but both of them felt that it might have been an
angel sent from heaven to help her daddy find his little princess. Well right there,
they thanked Jesus for helping them and went as fast as they could to meet up
with her mommy and cousins. Her daddy had sent them to the restaurant to wait
for them. Teresa's mommy was so happy to see her that she cried all her make up
off and made Teresa promise to never let go of her hand ever again when they go
out. Well Teresa soon felt a lot better when a juicy cheeseburger and a cold drink
was placed in front of her to eat and drink. Getting lost was hungry work and the
cheeseburger was just the right thing for it!
With a full tummy and happy heart that Jesus had helped make everything better,
Teresa, her parents and her cousins where tired of shopping for one day and
made their way back to the car. As they all got into the car, Teresa sat on
something that was on her seat that she could not remember leaving on the seat.
With a puzzled look she lifted a packet and looked inside. What she saw she could
hardly believe her eyes, it was the princess dress that she had seen in the shop.
Her mommy and daddy had bought it for her and even though it had caused so
much trouble, they got it for her because they loved her so very much.
From that day on Teresa made sure that if she decided to play those pretend
games that it was in a safe place and there was no way she could get lost or get
into any trouble.
So if ever you are in trouble or you are lost, Why not be like Teresa and pray to
the Lord Jesus? He always has the best plan to help you and he will never let you
down. He will protect you and will always send help to get you out of trouble and to
help you find your way - every time!
The End!
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Lord Jesus Listens
By Craig Toach
ave you ever wanted some thing so badly that it almost hurt not being
able to have it? Well today I want to tell you a story about a little girl
called Denise. She had the same problem as you, and it tells how she
got the very thing she wanted.
There was once a little girl named Denise, who loved to help her mommy shop.
Her mommy would tell her what to get and so she would run over and fetch it and
put it in the shopping cart. This was a lot of fun and at the end of their shopping,
her mommy would take her to the toy section where they would spend lots of time
looking at all the toys.
One day as Denise and her mommy were looking at the toys, she saw the most
beautiful princess doll she had ever seen! The doll had a beautiful purple dress
and shoes, with of course a crown to go with it - otherwise she would not have
been a princess – hey?
Denise got so excited she jumped up and down and shouted for her mommy to
come over and see. Her mommy rushed over to see and took the doll down off the
shelf for Denise to have a closer look at it. The doll was even more beautiful up
close, and it reminded Denise of all the princesses she had heard about in all the
fairy tale stories. It was at this point, Denise knew she just had to have this doll.
She asked her mommy if she could get it but the doll was too expensive and there
was no way her mommy could afford to get it for her. They didn’t have a lot of
money and they just had enough money for food. What would you do if that
happened to you, and what do you think Denise did? Nope she didn’t fall to the
floor and start crying for it, although she was sad and really wanted to cry. Instead
she asked her mommy to pray with her.
Yup - right there in the shop Denise and her mommy prayed to Lord Jesus and
asked Him for the doll. Denise had learnt in Sunday school that if you really want
something and you ask Lord Jesus for it, He will give it to you.
And this is how her prayer went:
"Lord Jesus thank you for everything.

Thank you Lord Jesus that you always hear me no matter what.
Now, Lord Jesus I really love this doll and really would like it
more than anything!
Please Lord Jesus can I have it?
Thank you.
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
Now, I am sad to say that the money didn’t fall from the sky or anything like that!
But what Denise did do from that day on, was every night before going to sleep,
she said the same prayer and never stopped thinking about that doll. She even
started to make special places where she could put the doll so that she would be
safe when she finally got her. And every time Denise and her mommy went to the
shop they would go and check to see if the doll was still there.
One day as they checked it was gone! Nowhere to be seen! Someone else had
bought the doll! Now what was she going to do? She had a special box where it
was going to sleep at night and a special box to put all the extra pieces in so that
she wouldn’t lose anything. Well, it was hard for her to pray that night, but she
knew that Lord Jesus would give her the doll because He loved her. He had said
in the bible that if we asked Him for anything when we pray and believe He has
given it to us – we would get it.
Well time went on and one of those special times came around. It was Denise’s
Birthday and she just loved birthdays! She got to blow out candles on her birthday
cake and play with balloons. She even got to eat as much candy and cake as she
could. But best of all were the presents she would get. One of them she was
looking forward to opening the most was from her granny!
You see, Denise’s granny lived far away in another country over the sea and didn’t
get to see her much, but every Christmas and birthday she would send Denise a
present. Now as her mommy brought in the presents she started to think of what it
could be, but there were just so many things to try and imagine, it made her head
hurt! So she decided to just wait and see.
She opened the present from her granny last. She started to take the wrapping off
slowly. Can you guess what was in the present? That’s right, I think you guessed
it. As the last piece of paper fell Denise could not believe her eyes! In the box was
the beautiful princess doll all dressed in her beautiful purple dress! In fact it was
the very same one she had asked for. But there was more to this story. With it was
the prince that went with the princess too, which Denise had not seen in the store,
and the two dolls made a beautiful fairy tale come true.
You see, Lord Jesus had not forgotten what Denise had prayed for and He kept
His promise to her. He used Denise’s granny to bless her with the very thing she
was praying for. But not only that, He also gave her the prince because he loved
her so much.
Is there something you would really like today? Then do like Denise did and pray
to Lord Jesus right now! Lord Jesus loves you so much and loves to give you
those things that will make you happy inside, so don’t give up. And when He
answers your prayer you will see like Denise did, that nothing is impossible for a
little girl or boy who believes!
The End.
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Help Is On the Way!
By Craig Toach
ave you ever had something happen to you that you needed help to fix it,
because you where just not strong enough or did not know how to? Well
today I am going to tell you a story of a boy named Doug who got into
trouble and how he got help!
Doug had lots of things he loved doing but most of all, he loved playing his musical
instrument and riding his bicycle. He would practice all the time so he could be the
best and when he wasn't playing music he was riding all over the place. He would
ride to the shops for his mommy to buy groceries and would ride to his friend's
houses to go play all the time.
Of course like most little boys, Doug would try and stay out as long as he could
before having to go home. Very often he would have to go home just as it was
starting to get dark. He did not like riding in the dark and would ride as fast as he
could so he could get home quickly. But ever so often he would have to ride home
after dark and he would make sure he rode where the street lights where because
it wasn't too bad riding where the light was shining, it was not too dark.
The only problem was Doug's friends lived on the other side of a ravine which did
not have any lights in it, but it was the quickest and only way home for Doug.
What is a ravine you ask? Well, let me tell you! It is when a river slowly washes
away the sand from the ground. After a long time of it washing away little bits of
sand on the ground, it ends up making a big, deep hole. Some ravines are so big
you cannot jump across them, so you would either have to climb into it, or if there
is a path going across it, like the one Doug had, you could ride through it with your
bicycle.
Well thank goodness the ravine Doug had to go through was not to0 deep and all
he had to do was go as fast as he could to build up enough speed on his bicycle to
make it up the other side. He had done it so may times in the past he could do it
with his eyes closed. In fact that is what he did when it was dark and he did not
want to look at the scary shadow on the ground. This worked very well till the night
something bad happened! This is the story…
Doug had to go to band practice like he did every week. We loved to go because
he got to play in the band with all the other children with their different musical
instruments. It was fun playing by himself, but there was nothing better then when
everyone played the some music at the same time with their different instruments.
Each musical instrument playing together would make the others sound great. And
the more they practiced together the better they sounded. It was so much fun that
no one wanted to go home and they would play till the very last minute they had.
This happened the one night and you guessed it - It was well passed sunset and
dark outside! As Doug made his way home and it seemed the road was much
longer than it ever was the other times he rode on it. To make this worse, he could
hear a different sound that he did not remember hearing before. This made Doug
even more scared than usual.
He pedaled as fast as he could and before long right in front of him was the ravine.
As Doug stopped and took a look in, all he could see was BLACK! There was not
a single light to be seen, except on the other side where the streetlights shone.
Well Doug knew what he had to! He turned around and rode back down the street
a little bit, then turned around again to face the ravine. He started to pedal as fast
as he could to build up enough speed to get through the ravine as quick as he
could. With each push of the pedal Doug could feel the speed getting faster and
faster.
He was feeling quite good because he was going so fast as he got to the edge of
the ravine, where the light stopped. With an extra hard push, he dropped down the
edge and sped down the dirt path that ran through the ravine. He could almost feel
how far he had ridden along the path and just as he was about to reach the bottom
of the ravine, he started pedaling to have enough speed to get up the other side.
That is when everything went wrong! Suddenly out of nowhere he heard a really
loud SCREEEEEEEEECH! And if that was not enough to make him scared out of
his wits, his bicycle came to a dead stop! It was as if something had grabbed the
back his bike and stopped it completely!
As he carefully got off his bicycle Doug fearfully looked around in the dark to see if
there was anyone there. As his eyes got used to the dark, Doug could see that
there was no one there. With a big sigh of relief knowing that it was not some bad
man that has stopped his bicycle, Doug started to see what was wrong with it. He
check the wheels to see if the where flat - nope they both seemed nice and hard.
He checked the brakes to see if they had jammed - nope both where fine and
working. Then he saw it!
On his bicycle he had mudguards. (These guards were just above the wheels to
stop all the mud and dirty water from splashing up on him when he rode his bike in
the rain or over a wet patch. It helped to keep his clothes clean and dry.) Now
what had happened is with all the bouncing and rattling around on the sand path,
the back mudguard had come lose, fallen and jammed tight on the back wheel.
That is what made the loud scary noise and made his bike stop!
He was so happy it was easy to fix! All he had to do is pull the mudguard out of the
wheel and he could get out of that scar ravine as quickly as possible. So got
ready, the pulled on the mudguard as hard as he could. Do you know what
happened? The mudguard stayed tightly jammed on the wheel and fell back on to
the ground as he lost his grip. Try as he might he could not get it lose and every
time he tried to move his bike forward, it would jam the mudguard against the
wheel even tighter.
So there he was in the middle of the dark ravine with his broken bicycle and no
way to move it. Now he did not want to leave his bicycle behind just in case he got
back and it was not there. So there he stood not sure what to do and listening to
all the sounds that where around him. They made him feel really scared and
wished he could just wake up from this horrible nightmare or if somehow some
one could just come and help him!
Now before his legs started shaking and knocking together and his mind started
thinking up scary things that could happen, he decided to do something better and
think of what he had learnt at Sunday school. He started thinking back to all the
stories he had heard, then remembered the story of Joshua who asked God to
help him when he had a problem he could not do on his own.
He had to knock down the walls of Jericho and there was no way he could do it by
himself. The walls where so big they could drive chariots on them, chariots where
the cars of those day, so you can just imagine how big the wall was! Well, God
sent help. He sent his special angel to Joshua and He told Joshua exactly what he
had to do to knock down the walls. All the children of Israel just had to do exactly
what the Angel told them to do and they would win the battle.
And do you remember what they did? That's right they marched once around the
city for six days and then on the seventh day, they walked around the city seven
times and at the end gave the biggest shout they had ever shouted. Well you
know what happened? Those walls did come down and the Israelites won the
battle!
Doug knew just what he had to do! No silly, he didn't run around his bike seven
times and give a big shout! And no an angel didn't come out of heaven and fix the
mudguard! But he did close his eyes and pray to Lord Jesus! And this is what he
prayed:
"Lord Jesus I need your Help!

I am really scared and can't do this by myself.
Please send someone to help me,
Some one strong that can fix my bicycle
And will come here to where I am.
Thank you Lord Jesus
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
It did not happen straight away but after some time, Doug heard a familiar voice. It
was he older brother calling him! Oh Doug was so happy to see him that he
dropped his bicycle and ran to his brother right away. He explained everything that
had happened and asked is brother if he could help him fix his bicycle. Well his
Brother was very strong and was strong enough to pull the mudguard out of the
wheel and back into place. With a big YIPPEE! Doug got on his bike and his
brother and him made their way home, riding side by side.
On the way back Doug asked his brother what had made him come to look for
him. His brother told him that his whole family had become worried when he had
not arrived home so long after sunset. They knew he did not like riding in the dark
and even though band practice was so much fun, they knew he wouldn't stay that
long. So he decided to come and look for him. He followed the route Doug would
have taken.
Doug was so happy inside because, He knew that Jesus had kept his promise and
sent some one who loved him and was strong enough to help him.
So if you are ever having a problem and it’s just too much for you to handle, why
not ask Jesus to send someone to help you. You see He loves you so much and
he will always send help, all you need to do is believe in Jesus, ask Him to help
you and he will always do it!
The End.
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I'm a Big Brother!
By Craig Toach
ave you ever had to share something with someone? You had
something special that you always played with but now had to share?
Maybe you had to share a special day with someone? In today's story
I'm going to tell you the story of a boy named William who had to share
something and how Lord Jesus helped him.
William was a little boy who loved playing as much as he could, but best of all he
loved playing with friends. The one thing that made him very sad was when he
would have to leave his friends behind and go home. He did not have any brothers
or sisters so he would have to play alone. He so wished he had somebody to play
with at home. He would often think of what it would be like to have a brother or
sister to play with him, of how they would ride bicycles or play with his favorite
toys.
One day after school his mommy told them some good news. Can you imagine
what it could be? Well, let me tell you! William's mommy had gone to the doctor to
see if everything was okay with her and while at the doctor she found out that she
was going to have a baby! William was going to be a big brother! His dreams were
coming true, he always wanted to be a big brother and with his mommy having the
baby he would be just that.
From that day he on, everything seemed to be about the baby. If they were not
buying clothes for the baby, they were getting the room ready for the new baby. At
first it was very exciting and William did his very best to help but before long there
was not much he could do and he would have to leave it to his mommy and daddy
to do the work. This would make him very upset inside because all he wanted to
do was to make everything ready for the new baby.
As the time went on, William’s mommy's tummy grew bigger and bigger then one
day it was time for her to go to the hospital to have the baby. William watched as
his mommy and Daddy packed a suitcase for his mommy and the baby. He was
very excited as they all started to head to the car, but his joy soon stopped when
he found out he could not go with to the Hospital. He would have to stay at his
granny’s house. He loved his granny, but he did not want to be away form his
mommy and he sure did not want to miss the birth of the baby. As they dropped
his mommy off at the hospital, he was given a very important job to do. He was to
think of a name for the little baby. This helped to make him feel a little better, but
he was even happier when his daddy promised to phone him the minute the baby
was born.
Straight away William started thinking of names. This was not an easy job! If
finding a name was not hard enough, he had to find two names! One for a boy if it
was a boy and one for a girl if it was a girl. So with a piece of paper and a pen
William started to write down names and waited for the phone call from his daddy.
Well it was the longest time William had ever had to wait. As he lay in the bed he
would watch the clock and it 'ticked, tocked' the night away and just when he
thought he could not keep awake another minute the phone rang. He waited for
his granny to pick it up and sure enough it was his daddy. His daddy told him that
he was a big brother to a beautiful little girl and asked if he had come up with a
name for her? He had so much time waiting for the phone call that he had thought
of the best name! The name he had picked was Beth. His daddy liked the name
and said he would tell his mommy for him.
For the next few days, William's mommy still had to say in the hospital, but that
was okay because everyday they would go to the Hospital and even though
William would wait in the car. His Mommy always made sure to stand by the
window and show William his new little sister.
Then the day arrived! William knew that he would finally get to see his little sister
up close. She was coming home with his mommy and they would all be together
again. They arrived at the hospital and William's daddy went inside. After quite
some time of looking at the entrance of the hospital watching the people come and
go like he had so often in the past few days, there came out a very familiar site. It
was his mommy and in her arms was a bundle of blankets. William knew that
inside there somewhere was his little sister and he could not wait to see her. His
heart wanted to burst he was so happy.
As they got to the car his mommy made him sit very still in the backseat of the car
and she then put his baby sister in his arms. He pulled back the blankets and
there he saw the smallest little person he had ever seen. She was all wrinkly and
had her eyes closed. The whole way home he sat and looked at her sleeping in
his arms.
Well from that time on, things got really crazy and it seemed his mommy and
daddy were always busy with the baby. They were either making a bottle to feed
her or they were bathing her or they where changing dirty diapers or they were
making sure that there was not too much noise in the house so that Beth could
sleep.
William started to think that a baby wasn't such a good idea. In fact he started to
wonder if this being a big brother was such a good thing. He never got to play with
his sister because she was too small and all she ever did was sleep. She could
not do all the fun stuff he dreamt of doing with his sister, like the time he tried to
show Beth his favorite toy and his mommy told him he couldn’t because there
where too many small pieces on it that she could swallow.
One night as William was getting ready for bed he opened his Bible to a very
interesting story. Would you like to know what that story it was? Okay well it was
the story of baby Moses and his big sister Miriam.
You see Moses was born in a very bad time and was in trouble right away. The
Israelites where slaves to the Egyptians and the king of the Egyptians had ordered
all the boy babies of the Israelites to be killed at birth.
Moses' mommy had to do something fast. So what she did was make a basket
that was water proof and hide baby Moses in it and let it float down the Nile river
where the Egyptian soldiers would not find him. The only problem was that there
were lots of other dangers to think about. What was she to do? If She kept Moses,
he would die and if she put him in the river he could die to!
Well fortunately, Moses had a big sister and she promised their mommy that she
would follow the baby as he floated in the river and make sure nothing happened
to him and that is exactly what she did. She looked after her little brother the whole
time as he floated down the river.
And do you know what? God saved Moses because he was special and he was to
help the Children of Israel when he grew up. Well, God let Moses float right into
the palace where the Princess was having a bath. And when she saw Moses she
fell in love with him and decided to be his Mommy seeing that he was alone.
Miriam had done her job! Moses was safe and would not die. Then she did
something else that was very brave and special. She knew that the Princess could
not look after him properly so she went to the Princess and told her she knew a
lady that would look after Moses for her. The Princess was so happy that she told
Miriam to go and call the lady. So Miriam called the Lady and do you know who
the Lady was? It was Moses' mommy! That is right, Miriam not only made sure
that Moses was safe, but she also got Moses and his mommy back together.
It was then that William knew he had a every important job to do. He felt bad for all
the ugly things he had thought about his little sister. He knew that he had a very
important job just like Miriam. Even though things were not as bad as they where
for baby Moses, he knew it would not be easy. So right there he prayed a little
pray to Lord Jesus to help him and it went like this:
"Lord Jesus - Thank you for my little sister!

Please forgive me for thinking bad things about her
Please help me to be the best big brother I can be!
Help me to be like Miriam and always do my best for my sister -
no matter what.
In Jesus Name,
Amen"
He was so happy in his heart that he just had to see if his little Beth was okay and
safe. Well as he got to her room, he heard his mommy telling Beth that she had a
brave and proud big brother. She also told Beth that she was very proud of William
and knew he was the best brother Lord Jesus could have ever given her. She also
said that she loved both Beth and William the same. With a big smile he gave his
Mommy and little sister a big kiss and went to bed with the happiest heart he could
ever have.
So are you like William and have to share your house with someone else? Or do
you have to share your special toy with your younger brother or sister? Well, why
not be Like Miriam and William and Let Lord Jesus show you How special you are
and what a big job you have to do. I will tell you now, it might be hard work, but
you are going to have lots of fun doing it. Jesus gave you that special person and
that is why you are the BIG BROTHER or BIG SISTER.
The End.
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Leaving It Behind
By Craig Toach
ave you ever had to move house? It wasn't a nice thing to do was it?
You had to leave all your friends behind and start all over again. Maybe
you had to leave some of your toys behind because they were too big to
take with? Well today I want to tell you a story of a little boy called Paul
and how he had to move and how Lord Jesus helped him.
Paul like most little boys had lots of toys and loved playing with them and with his
friends. He loved putting his toys out and playing games where he could use most
of them at one time. He also loved playing outside with his bicycle and swing set.
He would sometimes play a game that the swing set was an airplane and he
would swing in it pretending he was flying his airplane through the sky. He would
then jump out the airplane and parachute safely to the ground. He would land on
some grassland ready for what waited him next. He would then take his bicycle,
which to him was a motorbike and would ride round the yard in search of wild
animals to hunt. It was even more fun when his friends joined in because it was
almost like being on a real hunt. He could play these games all day and would
hate to see the sun set because it meant it would soon be time to go inside and
get ready for bed.
One day as the sun was setting and the day was ending, his daddy came home
from work with news that would change their lives forever. At dinner that night
Paul's Daddy told him the news, he told them that they where going to be moving.
The people that needed his daddy to work for them wanted him to work for them
as soon as possible, but they were very far away from where Paul's family stayed
now. In fact it was so far away that they would have to go on an airplane over the
seas to a new country and stay there.
Paul was so excited he could not believe his ears. He had never been on an
airplane and he had always wanted to go on one. He had seen lots of movies
about airplanes and how they work and what it was like to fly in one, but never had
he been in a real one. He wondered if he would get to sit at the window so that he
could look out of the plane as it took off and flew in the sky. He was so full of
questions that his daddy had a good laugh at how excited he was about this whole
flying and moving thing.
From that time on it was every exciting, getting photos taken and getting black ink
all over his fingers so his family could get all the right papers they would need to
travel and stay in the new country. Well it did not take long and everything was in
place and ready, they where almost ready to do the big move.
Except for one very important thing! Can you imagine what it was? It was what
was going to be packed into the suite cases they were to take with them. Paul
asked his daddy how they where going to take all their things that belong to them
with them? It was then that Paul first started to think that this moving thing was not
such a good Idea and fun anymore! You see unfortunately because they where
moving so far away it would not be possible for them to take everything they
owned with them, except what they could put into their suitcases. All the rest of
their things would have to stay behind.
As Paul sat in his room and looked at all the things he had, he knew there was no
way he could fit all his clothes and toys into one suit case. He knew that there
were some of his toys he would have to leave behind. This made his heart really
sad because he loved his toys so much and He could not imagine playing without
them. How could he choose which ones to take from all of them, when they where
all his favorite toys?
It took some time and a lot of packing and unpacking and packing again, but in the
end Paul put in as much as he could fit. He was feeling rather heart sore as he
looked at all the toys he was leaving behind. Then he thought about his friends
and that they would also have to stay behind too. He just wished there was some
way he could take them with him to his new house.
Paul's daddy could see that his little boy was not very happy and came to see
what he could do to help. As Paul told his daddy how sad he was and how he
wished there was some way that he could just take everything with him, his daddy
remembered a story in the bible and told it to Paul.
It was the story of Moses. You see Moses had grown up in the palace of the king
of Egypt and was one of the king's children. He had everything he would ever want
and if he didn't, I am sure he could just ask and it would be given to him.
The only problem was that he was an Israelite and not a real Egyptian. Now the
Israelites where slaves to the Egyptians and they had to work hard and long hours
to make the Egyptians happy. Moses was special and knew something had to be
done, he wished he could help the Israelites to be set free of being slaves.
One day Moses saw an Egyptian hurting an Israelite, Moses got so cross and he
attacked and killed the Egyptian by mistake. What was Moses to do? He had killed
a man and that was the worst thing anyone could ever do! If anyone found out
what he had done he would be punished and killed for killing the Egyptian. So he
ran away from Egypt to the land of Midian far, far away. He had never been to
Midian before in his whole life.
He left in such a hurry that he took nothing with him except the clothes he was
wearing. He did not even pack a suitcase or anything like that. He had to leave
everything behind including his family and run to a completely new place where
the king of Egypt could not find him.
Well even though Moses had done such a terrible thing, God still loved him and
looked after him. And it so happened that when Moses got to the land called
Midian, he was just in time to help a man's daughters out of trouble that they
where in. So after that he got to live with this man and his family - they became his
new family.
Even though Moses had to give up all the things that belonged to him and give up
his family in Egypt, God helped him to find a new family and to get more things in
the new land. Moses later went back and took his real family out of Egypt with
Gods help - Yes, all the Israelites left Egypt and followed Moses!
Paul felt a little silly for being so upset about all his things. He was so glad that he
did not have to leave his mommy and daddy behind like Moses had to. Could you
image going somewhere and never seeing your mommy or daddy ever again? He
knew that even though he loved his toys, they where not as important as Lord
Jesus and His Family was to him. So right there he decided to pray a prayer that
went like this:
"Lord Jesus Thank you for always hearing and looking after me!
Thank you that you are always with me - no matter where I go
even in other countries!
Thank you for my parents and that we are together and we love
each other so much!
Please help us as we move and help us to be happy in our new
country!
In Jesus Name,
Amen!"
It was then that Paul knew everything was going to be okay and that Lord Jesus
was going to make everything better. With a happy heart Paul gave his toys to a
special home where children stayed who did not have mommies or daddies. They
did not have many nice toys so they were very happy to get the toys from Paul
and the lady that looked after the children thanked Paul for being such a kind little
boy.
The big day arrived and it was time for them to leave. Paul was feeling very sad in
saying goodbye to his friends and family that where staying behind, but was also
feeling very excited about going to the new country. As they got on the airplane
Paul's daddy showed him his seat and you guessed it, it was by the window just
like he had hoped. He watched as they got everything ready for them to go - It was
a lot of work to get an airplane ready!
The engines started with a big 'whine' and then the airplane started moving to the
runway where they would takeoff. It seemed to go forever and then suddenly
stopped. Paul wondered why it had stopped and looked outside the window and
saw other airplane in front of them waiting to takeoff. They would have to wait their
turn before they could takeoff. Well their turn came and the pilot told them to all sit
down and put their seatbelts on.
Once everyone was ready the engines started to make an even loader sound than
before and all of a sudden Paul saw the runway below the airplane start moving
faster and faster. In fact it was going so fast Paul found it very hard to sit straight,
he was being pushed back into his seat. Then the airplane lifted off the ground
and headed up towards the sky. All the houses and cars below them became as
small as ants, Paul could not believe how far he could see from so far up.
All the way he looked out the window of the airplane and it felt really funny to fly so
high in the sky. He was flying in and above the clouds. It was weird to be in the
same clouds he had seen from the ground so many times and now he was flying
in them. One thing still stayed the same - they still looked like pretty soft cotton
wool.
After a very long time of flying and having to wait at other airports for the airplanes
they had to take, they finally reached the new country and Paul found it to be a
very strange place, nothing like he expected. The cars all drove on the wrong side
of the road and the people all talked funny. They even use other word for different
things, like 'Gasoline' instead of 'Petrol' or 'Cookies' instead of 'Biscuits'. He found
it hard to understand them sometimes, but the more he spoke to them the more he
understood them. As they pulled up into the driveway of their new house Paul was
very surprised see a whole group of people waiting for them.
You see, Paul's daddy had family that had moved over to this country before Paul
was born and lived in a house near by. What was even more of a surprise is that
they had children around the same age as Paul. At fist Paul did not know how to
play with them or what to say, but that changed when they showed Paul their toys
and Paul showed them his. They had better toys than the toys Paul had, but they
had fun playing together and sharing them with each other.
Well before long, Paul had an even better collection of toys than he had ever had
and not only that, he was given a brand new bicycle too. Him and his cousins
would often play together and have fun just like Paul used to have fun with his old
friends. Paul was so happy he had moved and just knew that God had taken care
of everything!
Are you like Paul, moving and giving up things you love? Are you scared about
going to your new house? Well do you know that you are special and that God
loves you very much? He knows everything and has already made a plan for you!
He wants to see you happy and bless you with lots of nice things. Even though
you might have to give up some of your favorite things, God will always make a
plan to give you the things you really want in your heart. Just ask him and watch
as he makes everything prefect for you!
The End.
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Look for more teaching in the 'Full Teachings'

archive.
1. Lord!? Why Do I Not See Victory?

By David Rund
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Lord!? Why Do I Not See
Victory?
"Follow peace with all [men], and holiness,

without which no man shall see the Lord:
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace
of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up
trouble [you], and by it many be defiled."
- Hebrews 12:14-15 (GMR)
I
" have confessed my sin as your word
says Lord." "I have broken every spiritual link and closed the
door to all curses" “Where is my victory? Surely your word says that
you go before me to destroy my enemies and to bring me to that
Promised Land where all blessings flow!?” “Lord, I have studied your
word and pray daily… I do good works and praise your name. Where
O’ Lord is my victory?”
Have you ever been in such a place? You have done all you know to do
but yet there is still something holding you back… something blocking
you from receiving the fullness of blessing. I think that if you are
human, you have been there or perhaps are facing this in your life
right now.
I want to share a few things that I am learning from the Word and
from my own experiences and I won’t go into a full teaching because
the principles have already been taught by others who have written
several books that go into more detail of which I will list in the
conclusion for your interest. I wish to look at one aspect of the heart
here that many fail to recognize and, even more so, fail to
acknowledge.
Living Victoriously
What is meant by victorious living? Well, if you have read the Way of
Blessing, then you would know that it is a life of total blessing and
well being. Where every need and desire you could ever have are
being met by the Lord and you are living in the fullness of His blessing.
A life where faith, hope, and love are manifested in everything you do
or say and the divine favor of the Lord rests upon you and abounds
into the lives of those around you.
A life that is full of true happiness and fulfillment. That is what the
Lord has promised us isn’t it?
Promises
"The thief does not come, except to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy: I have come that they might
have [zoe] life, and that they might have [it]
more abundantly."
- John 10:10 (GMR)
The Word of God is filled with promises of prosperity through life in

Jesus Christ. By living our lives being led by the spirit of God we are
meant to be producing the fruit of the spirit which ultimately leads to
blessing. Jesus said once, “if you love me, keep my commandments”
and “to love one another as I have loved you.” There is an even more
difficult one that, as we go on you will see, ties in perfectly. The one
that says to love your enemies and pray for those who curse you.
Now that’s a hard pill to swallow!
Can you imagine what life would be like if everyone loved each other?
I see a world full of peace and joy… a world where people are giving
freely from their hearts without competition or strife ….a world where
blessing others is more fulfilling than striving to be on top ...where
there is abundance of every blessing. What do you see?
We could look at Deuteronomy 28 for an example of blessings and also

of curses. God told His people that if they meet the conditions of the
covenant He made with them that they would be blessed and if they
did not, they would be cursed. Picture for yourself what you see as the
perfect life of blessing you would desire for yourself. Do you have that
life now? Are you on your way?
Well, most of us honestly are not there yet and some are on their way,
but there are many who are caught up in the ways of the world and
can’t break free into this blessing. I can distinctly remember a time
when I was asking the Lord, “Lord… Why do I not see victory?” I had
done everything that I knew… confession, breaking links, resisting the
enemy... the whole lot. But I was still being held in bondage to
something that I could not see.
Open Doors
I had learned the spiritual principles involved with curses and had
applied them diligently to my life in every area that I could think of.
Yet the evidence of the curse still remained. One of those
principles dealt with closing the door to the enemy that he came in
through. Hey, that should have stopped the curses! Well I later
learned an important detail that made a huge difference. If you closed
the door to the enemy… he is still inside! He still has license to be
there! I began to apply James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. I found this to be very
powerful in my life and began to break free of a lot of things and even
began sharing this principle in my ministry.
I came to that place where most of the external influences were dealt
with and I saw a huge change in my life. However the Lord began to
deal with deeper issues… issues of the heart. That place where we
have formed the patterns that we use to deal with circumstances that
were developed by our experiences early in life. Unfortunately because
we are born into sin, we have built up a lifetime of sinful patterns.
This is the area dealing with the roots of the flesh which I will not go
into great detail because it is covered thoroughly in the Way of
Freedom. This began a whole new level of awareness of the things
that cause us to sin and what the root causes really are. I want to
focus some on the tap root of the flesh which is bitterness. Your first
thought to this is probably, “Who me? I’m not bitter.” Well, if you are
born in sin and have not been transfigured, then it is likely you have
bitterness buried somewhere deep in your heart.
Think about it… do you have negative thoughts toward anything? Do

you have memories where someone caused you pain? Can you
honestly say you are able to freely flow out in agape love to anyone in
any circumstance?
These are issues the Lord deals with in our hearts and if we are
seeking to be more like Him, then we will face the humbling process of
forgiveness. Sometimes this can dig up a lot of old memories that
have pain attached but through ministry by the Holy Spirit these
issues can be dealt with and bring healing and great change and
freedom to our lives. These issues must be dealt with because they are
chains that bind us, they are license allowing the enemy to bring
curses into our lives, and they are blocking the Lord from pouring out
the fullness of His blessing into our lives. That’s right! By holding onto
those things we are stopping the Lord from blessing us.
Yes, and that is one truth the enemy has been keeping you from
finding out!
My Experience
When I first began to experience this, the Lord used my work situation
to deal with my temper. Oh man, what a temper I had! I tried to hide
it. I tried everything I could not to get angry, but some little thing
could happen or be spoken and Bam! Out came a flood of words
that no Christian should ever speak nor wish to hear. I couldn’t
understand what was triggering me. I was filling myself with the word
and asking the Lord to take these things out of me that I may be like
Him. I just wanted to love people. I really had a heart to love but I
also had bitterness in my heart that was destroying my relationships.
No one that I know wants that kind of love.
Oh it was a difficult time for me because I couldn’t see what was

causing this anger. I tried to forgive those people that had angered me
and for a time it seemed to work. Then something would trigger me
and Bam! There I go again. What a mouth I had! Through my
preparation and training for ministry I began to learn the principles
from The Way of Freedom to deal with hurts, anger and bitterness.
Forgiveness is one main key element, but I learned that many of the
issues we have in this life are formed early in life when we are young
and are developing the patterns for our responses to situations that
are based on sinful experiences.
I received the greatest breakthrough when I was able to submit to

personal ministry from another believer who was well versed in
spiritual counseling. During this time of ministry the Lord brought
many issues to surface and many of them were painful memories.
Some of those were memories that I had completely forgotten and
even blocked from memory.
I discovered that I had bitterness towards my natural father who
left me when I was young. I was bitter towards my stepfather for the
abusive nature of our relationship. I was bitter at my mother for
allowing (in my childish mind) that man to abuse me. Oh this was a
tough time.
Then the Lord led me to speak (I mean out loud) forgiveness to each
of them in the spirit and to renounce and release them from the law of
judgment that I had unwittingly placed on them. The Lord took me as
a child back into those memories and I saw Him enter into those bad
memories and change them. He took out the pain and gave the child
who experienced them, a peace never known before. That
transformation brought an inner healing to my heart and removed the
bitterness that was consuming me and turning everyone I knew away.
What a breakthrough I had after that ministry! My work situation

didn’t change but my responses to it did. Now when I felt that trigger,
my reaction was not explosive and repulsive. I began to see that the
enemy had been using this condition to manipulate me and keep me in
bondage. Ha! I am free! The enemy could no longer use this against
me because now I could truly flow out to those around me in love and
forgiveness.
Forgiveness
"Let all bitterness, and explosive anger, and
boiling anger, and violent argument, and
slander, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, just as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven you."
- Ephesians 4:31-32 (GMR)
In the model prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples He said….”and

forgive us our trespasses as we forgive” ...It is an attitude and also a
commandment. Forgiveness is one large aspect of love. Jesus loved us
so much that He gave His life for our forgiveness that we may be
restored to that love relationship with the Father who IS Love.
The topic of forgiveness is a large topic and there are many things to
consider. I will not go into a lot of detail as it is dealt with fully in The
Way of Freedom. I would like to touch on the attitude of forgiveness
though according to the Word.
Be Kind
Be kind to one another. How can I be kind to this guy who just
offended me? I remember a passage where Jesus basically said to turn
the other cheek. Well how can I do that? Let me ask you this… was the
offense so great that you just have to turn the world upside down and
get revenge? There was a time at my work where this guy had the flu
or something and he was standing next to my desk sneezing. I was a
bit irritated because he sneezed several times toward me. But I held
my peace. Then he turned his head and wiped his runny nose on his
hand and wiped it on my desk. Ick! Well I rebuked him for that and he
just laughed and went his merry way. Man was I angry! I jumped
up and shouted at him and spewed. He didn’t respond so I then went
and made a big fuss with the manager.
I look back now and see that though I may have felt justified, I took it
way too far. After all I could have just as easily cleaned the mess and
continued working. The bitterness took control and spewed out and it
affected my working relations for quite some time.
In my angry outburst there were words of condemnation. A law of

judgment had been issued through my words and actions. It remained
until I could come to that place of forgiveness where I confronted the
person and confessed I was wrong for reacting the way I did and I
asked for his forgiveness.
It’s amazing the power of forgiveness! He forgave me and likewise

asked for forgiveness and we got on great after that. He was an
unbeliever but from that time on he was interested in my faith and
asking questions. From that day a wall was broken down and many of
those I worked with opened up to me in a new way. The day I left that
job they all had spoken blessing on me. Imagine that! Unbelievers
speaking blessing! Surely seeds were sown.
Be Tender Hearted
Being tender hearted means looking at the person who has offended
you instead of the offense. Why did he do it? What’s eating him that
would cause him to do such a thing? It causes you to look deeper into
the person and to feel for them. They obviously have something
burning inside that is causing them to act this way. Really! Does
anyone truly desire to cause other people problems? Or are they
showing signs of an inner turmoil themselves? I tell you what… if you
can come to that place of looking at the person you can turn it around
into a time of ministry to them.
Jesus, when He was being crucified, prayed to the Father… "Father

forgive them for they know not what they do." He saw past the nails
and the spears and saw people who didn’t know love. He who loved us
with His death took our sin and blessed us.
Anyone can play the tooth for a tooth game, but if you wish to show
the love of the Lord, you need to see past the offense and to the heart
of that person. Have compassion for them like Jesus did to the sinners
of His day.
You Are Responsible

Inevitably in this life we will be faced with conflict. You can’t avoid it in
this world of sin. What you can do is shine the light to make the
darkness flee. To do this you will have to take responsibility in these
situations even if you are in the right. The Word actually makes this a
commandment to take responsibility.
"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar,

and there remember that your brother has
something against you; Leave your gift there
before the altar, and go your way; first be
reconciled to your brother, and then come and
offer your gift."
- Matthew 5:23-24 (GMR)
Even God is saying that you need to be reconciled before coming to

Him in prayer.
“What are you talking about? I can pray to God anytime I choose.”
Let me put it this way… when you pray, what are you seeking?
Blessing? Whether it be for yourself or for someone else ultimately you
desire God to bless in one form or another. After all that’s what God
does. The Word says that every good gift comes down from the Father
in heaven. So what does this have to do with being reconciled?
If your brother has anything against you there is bitterness in his heart
which brings a curse and any actions or words he uses against you will
license the enemy to bring a curse to you which ultimately blocks the
blessing that God would give you because the enemy seeks to steal,
kill, and destroy. Shine the light! Bring unity back to God’s people!
Show them the love of the Lord that you both may receive the blessing
and cause the enemy to flee.
"Moreover, if your brother trespasses against

you, go and tell him his fault between you and
him alone: if he listens to you, you have gained
your brother."
- Matthew 18:15 (GMR)
There is so much more to this topic that needs to be addressed in the

body of Christ and you reading this can take that first step and be a
leader. There is a greater freedom and blessing available to God’s
people than they have seen so far. The Word is there to show us the
way and thank the Lord for raising up leaders who have received the
wisdom and revelation to give a thorough and powerfully practical
teaching to help us on that journey.
In my life these principles have set me on a path of total victory. I am

armed with the truth that will set me free and the authority as a child
of God to destroy the works of the enemy and reign and rule with
Christ to bring His will to manifest in the earth.
I have the victory in Jesus! Thank you Lord.
There are two powerfully anointed tools the Lord

has given that deal with issues we face today which
are designed to help us break free and walk a life of
total prosperity. These are...
The Way of Blessing and The Way of Freedom by

Apostle Les D. Crause.
You will find them along with other anointed

teachings at GMR Publishing.
If you don’t buy them… I forgive you ;-)

Be Blessed!
David Rund
Contact Us Feedback
A Prophetic Word for 2003
A Word for the Church Universal concerning the Year Ahead

By: Les D. Crause
Date: December 28th 2002
(To receive further words of this nature,

follow the subscription details at the end of this publication)
As the New Year approaches, I have felt a deep stirring in my spirit from the Holy
Spirit, to present to the Church of God some direction concerning the year that lies
ahead. I have meditated on this and the Lord has given me some pictures of what
is to come. Then as I awoke early this morning to wait on Him, He gave me a word
to send out to the Body Universal.
I submit this humbly for the consideration of the people of God, claiming no special
favor or capability, but honoring only His will in my life, and speaking forth in
obedience what He has given me to speak.
I pray that the words will go forth into the earth in power, and I send them forth, not
simply as a prediction, but as a decree into the earth. And as they go forth thus,
they go forth not as the words of man, but as the very words of Almighty God.
Therefore they shall not return void, but they shall accomplish that which they
were sent for.
Keywords For This Year

As I waited on the Lord he gave me several keywords that will characterize the
year that lies ahead and the future from this time forward. I will share what He
showed me concerning these before I share the prophetic word that came forth as
I wrote them down.
Change
This year will be a time of change in the Church Universal. The Lord reminded me
of a prophetic word that I received a while back, which was published under the
title, "The Coming Storm."
I have not yet really seen a great manifestation of this word in the earth. But there
will come a shaking of the church universal in the days the lie ahead. We will see
many large ministries beginning to flounder and fail. Many will fall and many will be
deserted by those who have supported them in the past, for they have become too
strong in themselves and too self-reliant.
In some cases these ministries have simply become targets for the enemy
because they are so visible and huge, and because they do not have the
protection of the watchmen of God, whom they have failed to recognize and have
even ostracized. They will therefore find themselves without protection from the
onslaught of the enemy. They will fall, and great will be their destruction. For the
enemy will attack them just as Herod tried to kill the Christ child by attacking that
which he could see, and just as the early church were martyred by the enemy.
In their place the Lord is going to raise up thousands of small churches and
organizations, which alone will not seem to pose much of a threat to the enemy,
because they are small. But because they are small and will need each other, they
will join together under the direction of those leaders whom the Lord will raise up
to give them direction. They will not rise up as denominations or single
organizations, but they will rise up retaining their own individuality. They will be led
by those whom the Lord will raise up, not as dictators, but as spiritual fathers and
mothers who will send them forth into the earth.
Travel and Migration
There will arise a new breed of Joshua Apostles who will take the land and drive
out the influences that have prevented the Church from influencing the world. The
Joshua's will go forth proclaiming the Word in great power and authority and will
cause a displacement of worldly thinking from the hearts of God's people. There
will come a new awareness of the presence of God in the church, and a greater
dimension of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, so that revival will no longer be an
isolated experience, but the common and normal experience of most churches.
The enemy has succeeded in blinding the hearts of those leaders who desire to
lead the Church of God by programming them with the archetypes of their nations
and cultures. Therefore the Lord is going to cause many to leave the country and
nation of their birth to migrate to other lands that they are not familiar with, in order
to carry out the call of God.
In the past this has been relegated to mission societies, whose only aim was to
convert the heathen. But God is sending now his leaders to the larger established
nations who already know the gospel. Even the United States of America which
has always been the hub of what God has done in the earth, will find itself
inundated with many from other lands who will come to set up their ministries in
the country. For each nation has become blinded by the programming and
archetypes of the world, and even those who are truly committed to the Kingdom
of God do not easily break free of this programming.
Therefore God is sending to each nation, those from other nations who will initiate
and bring about the changes that are necessary. And then as each leader is
brought to a place where they can be most effective for the Lord, they will begin to
bring change to the lives of those who live in those nations, and the Lord will begin
to release those who have been waiting to arise from obscurity.
Do not be surprised when you see God move his leaders unexpectedly. Do not be
surprised if the Lord suddenly plucks you up from where you thought you would
minister and transplants you to another place. But know that you have been
specially selected by God to accomplish great things in the earth.
Growth
There will be unprecedented growth in the Kingdom of God, and this will begin
initially by the return of those who have fallen away having previously been part of
the Church. They will arise in great numbers as though from the very sands of the
earth and suddenly churches will spring up overnight that did not exist before.
Many of these will already have the knowledge and even previous ministry
experience to begin immediately to do the work of the ministry.
There will arise a new breed of Solomon Apostles who will create a new structure
for the Church and bring together both the old and the new. Those who have left
the system will be brought back into a new system. And those who have remained
in the system will be brought out of it, as God begins to destroy and demolish the
old system.
The time of the mega church under one leader is coming to an end. Instead the
emphasis will be on the building up of the Mighty Warrior. This will be
accomplished by an increased unity amongst believers, not based on
denominational or doctrinal preferences, but on unity of spirit and purpose. Many
shepherds will arise who truly care for the flock, and they will lead their flocks to
where they can be fed, instead of keeping their flocks to themselves for fear that
they will leave them and go to another shepherd.
The shepherds of the future will have no fear of bringing all of their flocks together
for they will be true shepherds who will care for the flock and all shepherds will
share the same purpose. They will still retain their leadership but will not need to
hold on to it, because each will lead by the power of the Spirit and not by the
power of their flesh.
Creativity and Business
There will come a shift in the business world, with ministries taking a more active
part in business, and accumulating the wealth of the wicked to build God's
kingdom in the earth. Believers will begin to control many of the enterprises that
the world uses to program the minds of people, and will begin to promote the
Kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of darkness.
A new breed of believers will arise with the power of creativity that comes from the
Spirit of God, to displace the creators of this world and to produce inventions,
writings and publications, and forms of entertainment that will promote the
kingdom of God. With the increase of financial flow into the kingdom of God that
will come about those in the Body of Christ who have a God given talent but have
never had the resources to use it will be at last given an opportunity to use their
talents for the Lord.
The Word of the Lord to the Church Universal
Behold I have set a demarcation says the Lord, and I have set the parameters that
my church will move in for the days the lie ahead. And indeed the time has come
and is even at the doorstep, when I will begin to unfold my plan for the times in
which you live. For the plan has been in preparation for many years, and from the
beginning of time I have set my will and purpose concerning what I will accomplish
in the earth in these last days.
Therefore rejoice says the Lord, for upon you has fallen the ends of the earth, and
the times of the end that will swiftly be accomplished in the earth and in the hearts
of my people. For I have raised up and prepared in secret many of my servants,
who wait for their release to go forth in my Name and to do the work that I have
called them to. But there is need for a release to take place, and I am raising up
those who will go forth in my Name to bring about this release says the Lord. I am
raising up those who would dare to step out and bring change in the earth. I am
looking for those who are not afraid to stand against the majority, who are not
afraid to speak my Word when there is opposition.
For there are many resources that I have accumulated for my Church that will be
used for the extension of my kingdom. And there are many souls that I have
reserved unto myself for such a time as this. But they are lying dormant, awaiting a
word of release and the opening of the doors that will enable them to come out
and move into the places that I have destined for them.
Therefore I am granting unto my select apostles the keys of the kingdom, even as
I gave them to my beloved Peter many years ago. They will go forth in my name
and open new doors of opportunity and new avenues of ministry that have not
existed up until now. For my Body has been limited by using only the resources
that they have known and they have been blind to what I have put before them. It
is time that they are led into the way that I have for them, and this they shall do
only when I have set in place the leaders that I have set apart for this purpose
says the Lord.
For I have raised up my leaders throughout the world, and I have trained them in
secret. Many of them do not even realize what a great task they have been called
to, but their hearts burn for change and they yearn to see me move again upon the
earth. And behold there are many upon the earth says the Lord, and they come
from all walks of life, from all peoples tribes and tongues. Yes even amongst the
nations where none would have imagined they would be. Even in the countries
where it would seem impossible for me to work, I have raised up my leaders for
these end times, and prepared them in secret says the Lord.
I have hidden them away, that none may recognize them, and the enemy has tried
again and again to find them, but he has not succeeded, for they are not amongst
those whom the world would expect to find them. They are not to be found in the
places that the world would expect them to be. And like the wise men of old
sought the king of kings in the palace of Herod, not expecting him to be in a lowly
and insignificant place, so my choice leaders are not to be found in the palaces of
this world. They are not to be found in the high places, and the organizations of
renown, but they are to be found hidden away in the most unlikely of places.
And just as Herod sought to destroy all the children in order to reach the Christ
child, but still did not succeed in finding him, so too the prince of darkness has
struck out in many places where he expected to find my servants, hoping to
destroy them amongst the crowd. But he has not succeeded, for I have hidden
them away says the Lord, and I have concealed them in ways that are beyond
finding out. For just as the enemy has used guile to infiltrate my Church, so too
have I raised up those who will infiltrate his camp and destroy his works.
Therefore do not look for my servants in the usual places says the Lord, for you
will not find them there. But when the time comes for their manifestation they will
become visibly obvious, and you will know by revelation and by my anointing upon
them that they are those whom I have chosen to lead my people out of bondage
and into victory and abundance. And when they shall arise, they shall arise
everywhere at the same time, so that the enemy will be caught napping, and will
not have the resources to stop them. For there will be too many fires to put out at
the same time, and the fire will spread quickly, causing devastation to the
Kingdom of Darkness.
And as each of my chosen leaders shall arise says the Lord, they will take the
keys that I have placed in their hands, and they will immediately release many
warriors who will rise up as it were out of the sands of the earth for they shall come
forth as the magnitude of the sands. The enemy has not yet fully comprehended
the magnitude of my armies and of my kingdom. He has thought that he has stilled
the life of my church. But a large portion of my church has remained buried
awaiting resurrection. And what is seen of my church in the visible world is but a
small portion of those whom I have set aside for my work says the Lord. Yes, even
as the tip of the iceberg, so is that which is currently visible, but that which lays
below the surface is of far greater magnitude than what the eye can see.
When my mighty warrior arises, my Bride and Body, then the whole world will
tremble with amazement, and the emissaries of darkness will quake in fear, when
they realize that they are up against a foe that is far greater than them. For from
the midst of my church shall come the fire of my power and my glory, and it shall
spread throughout the earth says the Lord. My body shall no longer be disjointed
and divided, but it shall become truly one in my love and in my power, and as a
mighty warrior it shall arise to overcome the kingdoms of this world, and to make
them mine.
And the enemy, who has prepared for the battle based on what is seen, will
suddenly find himself overwhelmed by far greater odds than he has ever
imagined. And the powers of the world which are under the control of the enemy
will suddenly be dwarfed by the magnitude of the power of my mighty warrior. And
many will fall at his feet in fear and trembling and come with gifts to appease him.
For my church will rise up in power and will no more grovel to the powers of this
world and beg for help from the world. My people shall rise up as mighty leaders
and warriors in the earth, and the powers of this world will stand in awe of them,
and reverence them and bow before them.
This is the heritage of my people says the Lord. And I will expose and remove
those who have used my kingdom for their own profit and exaltation. Yes indeed I
will remove their power and humble them in the sight of those who have stood firm
on my Word and walked in humility before me says the Lord. For the last shall be
first, and the first last, as I vindicate my servants who have stood in the
background and watched as others who lacked their commitment were recognized
and revered by man. The time of their vindication will come says the Lord. And
they will be lifted up to the place that I have reserved for them, but which they
themselves have not aspired to attain.
And then shall come a move of my Spirit such as this world has never seen. For all
manifestations of my power, from the early days of the prophets of the Old
Testament until the revelation of my power in my early apostles, combined
together will not compare with the power that shall be revealed says the Lord. Yes,
all the manifestation of my glory since Pentecost, and during the past centuries
shall not compare with what I am about to do in the earth. For my glory shall be
everywhere, as the waters cover the sea, and I shall come as a flood upon my
people, and upon the earth, and I shall set the enemy to flight when my people
that are called by my Name shall arise in that Name and claim their inheritance in
me.
For since the beginning this has been hidden from the world and also even from
my people says the Lord. Just as the coming of the righteous one and the
manifestation of my mystery in the church was hidden until the time of
manifestation of the church, so also has this mighty move of my power in the end
times been veiled to the world, and also to the church. But just as the Son of Man
came in the fullness of time, so also shall my new church arise in the fullness of
time. And the princes of this world will stand in awe and wonder, and they shall
tremble at the sight, for it shall be awesome and glorious.
Stand ready therefore my children, for you are to be part of the greatest event in
the history of this world. You are destined to take your place in history as players
in this great move. It is time to take stock, and to make yourselves ready for battle.
It is time to separate yourself from the influences of this world, and make yourself
ready for the unveiling of my End Times leaders, and the release of my Mighty
Warrior, which will be made up of many such as you. For though each will take a
different place in the body, each will fulfill a vital part, and together you will
become a power to be reckoned with.
As you shall look upon the time that lies ahead, look no more with eyes that are
colored by this world. Seek not worldly ambition and that which only satisfies the
flesh, but seek that which promotes my kingdom. And I will indeed grant unto you
every good thing says the Lord. For I created this earth and its treasures for you
and not for those who are with the enemy. I have made all things for your pleasure
and not for those who control the world. And I shall cause a transfer to take place
as I have promised, so that the wealth of the wicked shall become the wealth of
my people. And so shall my kingdom be established in the earth, and my people
shall take the land for me and enter into their full inheritance says the Lord.
This word is presented by Les D. Crause, Apostle and Founder of Global

Ministry Resource Network. Please feel free to send this word to your own
mailing list, ensuring that you leave our weblinks below
Global Ministry Resource Network - http://www.gmrnet.org
Building the New Church - http://www.fivefold-ministry.com
The Prophetic Network - http://www.prophetic-network.com
Contact Us Feedback
The Coming Storm
A Vision of The Church: The Coming Storm

Date: 11 January 2002
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follow the subscription details at the end of this publication)
THE VISION:
I saw that there was a storm. I was observing the whole thing
as though I was hovering over the sea and watching each boat and ship
as the waters began to swell and the wind and waves caused each one to
be tossed about. I saw as boats of varying size were subjected to the
elements, and each faced huge waves, that rose up out of the sea like
towers. I saw as smaller boats would come to the huge wave and would
rise up high as they were borne to the top of the wave. But then I saw a
huge ship, somewhat like the older sailing ships, and as these came to the
huge wave they were pushed upwards and backwards, until the force of
the water caused them to turned all the way backwards and crash onto
the water upside down. I saw some of these being driven onto the rocks
and being smashed into pieces.

The Losers...
The carnage seemed to go on and on and never end, until I could see the
waters were full of huge ships that had succumbed to the storm. I could
see some of the masts and portions of the bow sticking out through the
waters as they were tossed to and fro and pushed out to sea. As I cried
out in despair, "when will this all end,” I saw the waters finally subside
and now the waves began to drive towards the shore, what remained of
the many ships that had been in the storm. I could see pieces of
wreckage and the remains of many of the big ships. Some of them were
sunken below the waters, and their masts still jutted out and were
visible.
The Survivors...
But then I noticed something interesting. There were boats that were
coming ashore that appeared totally unharmed. These were not huge
vessels, but mostly smaller boats such as rowing boats, motor boats, and
small cruise vessels. Some of them seemed almost as though they were
airtight and unsinkable. They showed no signs of damage at all, but
looked as good as new. I saw as someone restarted the engine on one of
these small boats, and it kicked into action immediately and went off with
power. It seemed as though my 'backyard', as it were, in the water, was
filled with many of these smaller boats, which seemed to come from
nowhere. They all looked unharmed and ready to take to the water.
The Leaders...
Then I saw as the news crews and investigators came in to find out what
had happened. And I saw as two men were singled out as being heroes of
the day, for they had obviously been involved in successful rescue
operations, and had succeeded in saving many of these boats and
bringing them together. There appeared to be two prominent men who
were singled out, since they had worked together as a team during the
storm. One of them was a white man, and the other black. And these
men were subjected to interrogation to find out who had given them
authority to be involved in the operation, and they were asked to produce
papers to prove who they were and from where they had received license
and authority.
I knew in the Spirit that these men were highly qualified and authorized to
do the job. But they carried no official papers and were not in a position
to prove their authority or identify themselves. It became clear to me
why they could not do this, and therefore refused to do so. They had
been given a job to do as part of a covert operation, and were working
under cover as part of a secret operation that could not be revealed to the
world openly, least of all to the news cameras. Rather than attempting to
defend or explain themselves, or earn the right to be hailed as heroes and
splashed all over the headlines of the news, they chose instead to
disappear amongst the crowds, looking for others who like them had been
set apart to carry out covert operations.
I knew in my vision that these men carried the highest authority, and
were like officers in an army at war, who had removed all insignia of
authority so that the enemy could not identify them and thus expose
them for attack. But those whom they worked with knew them, and knew
who they were, and they exercised their authority in that way. It was not
for the world to recognize them. They needed no such acclaim or
recognition.
The Purpose of The Vision
The vision was clearly an external prophetic vision, and

therefore a revelation from God concerning others. As I meditated on it
and waited on the Lord, it became clear to me that the Lord had given me
a prophetic word for the Body of Christ, and that I need to make this word
known to those who had an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the
churches at this time.
THE INTERPRETATION:
As I waited on the Lord He gave me the following word
for the Body of Christ:
Behold there is coming a storm says the Lord, that will shake the earth,
and indeed it will be directed against the Body of Christ. For the enemy
knows that his time is limited and he seeks to destroy everything that will
hinder him and destroy his kingdom. Therefore as Herod sought to
destroy the Christ child by slaying many young children, the enemy will
seek to destroy those ministries that I have set in place, by causing a
storm of unprecedented proportions to come upon the visible church.
And as this storm shall come upon the earth, there will come a time of
testing for each ministry that has taken to sea. And the seaworthiness of
each boat will be tested thoroughly as each one faces the storm. There
will be those ministries who like the ships of old are large and bulky,
carrying too much weight and unnecessary cargo, which when faced with
the power of the sea will find themselves unable to withstand the
pressure. They will be overturned and driven upon the rocks, because
they were not made to withstand the storm. They may have looked huge
and magnificent when the waters were calm, but the storm will expose
their weakness and they will be destroyed and disappear beneath the
waters.
But there will be those vessels that are made to withstand every storm
that the enemy would bring against them. They are newer vessels,
equipped with better power and lightweight and resilient. They will not be
large and bulky but small and full of power and maneuverability and they
will face the storm boldly without experiencing any damage. For they
cannot be sunk by the strongest of winds and torrents. And when the
storm is over they will rise to the surface to be seen by all. They will be
gathered together to function under the guidance of those whom I have
raised up for this purpose.
And those whom I have chosen and ordained to bring such ministries
together will be examined by the world and by the church system to find
out how they obtained such power and authority. Others will want to
know from whence they received their power and who gave them license.
They will be interrogated like my servants long ago, who were asked, "By
what name or authority do you do these things?" And they will, like the
Son of Man, refuse to expose themselves or attempt to defend themselves
in order to receive acclaim from man.
These will be my mighty men says the Lord, and they will be men and
women of all colors, creeds and nations. They will rise up and lead my
people to victory, not justifying themselves or demanding recognition, for
their authority will be clear to all, and they will be known by name to
those amongst whom they work. And as they shall continue to work in the
secrecy of the task that I have given to them, I will cause them to come
across the paths of others who are in like manner called to work under
cover for me. And they will meet and recognize each other, and instead
of competing with one another, they will work together, each in their own
right, to accomplish the task that I have given to them.
And I will cause to rise up at this time many ministries that will be small
and powerful says the Lord. For their emphasis will not be on size and
appearance, but on functionality. They will turn from the old way of doing
things, and refuse to be patterned after the ministries of yesteryear,
which though they might look magnificent and awesome, are inefficient
and incapable of completing the work that I have called them to do. And
the enemy will have great difficulty overcoming this new fleet of ships that
make up my ministries in the Church, for each one will be self-contained
and fully functioning, but each will remain small, so that instead of a few
large vessels, there will instead be a multitude of small vessels.
The Reason For Small...
Therefore whereas in the past, the enemy could cripple the work by
attacking a large vessel, and thus drowning many at the same time, now
he will have to attack many different ministries in order to stop the work.
And not only will these smaller ministries be more powerful and
unsinkable, but there will be a vast number of them. So that if the enemy
should succeed in sinking such a vessel, he would only have destroyed a
few and not many. He will soon find that he does not have the resources
to cripple the work or cause my kingdom to be weakened.
The Reason For Secrecy...
And when he seeks to attack those who are in leadership in the Church,
he will find himself being unable to easily identify them. For they will not
stand out attempting to gain recognition for themselves, but they will
continue to function, being known only to those amongst whom they
work. They will often not even know each other until they meet by
chance along the way. So that even if the enemy should cause some of
these leaders to fall and to defect to his side, he will not be able to find
out from them where the others are. He will find that he faces an
impossible task if he wishes to destroy the work.
Thus from the storm that the kingdom of darkness shall bring upon this
world and upon the church shall arise much good says the Lord. And for
those who have placed their confidence in the strength of man, and have
their boast in the size and magnificence of those ministries that appear to
be somewhat, there will come a wakeup call. For they will find that the
vessel they thought was a safety and a security was in fact a danger and
a false hope.
Do Not Fear But Look Up...
To those who have looked upon their ministry as small and insignificant,
the Lord would say rejoice and continue to make secure what I have given
you. Do not be dismayed nor discouraged or feel that you are all alone in
the world. For I have raised up many like you says the Lord, and though
you might not know who they are, there will come a time when you will
be gathered together under the leadership of my servants the End Times
Apostles whom I am raising up in secret at this time. And the storm is not
something which you need to fear. For the storm cannot destroy you, but
it will instead cause you to rise up and be seen by others. And as a result
of the storm, you will come to meet others like yourself that have been
prepared in the background and unseen.
And together you shall make up an invincible force for me says the Lord.
Each one will continue to function with power and resilience as I have
taught you, and as you shall continue to operate in the way I have shown
you, so you will extend my power into the earth and cause many other
ministries to arise like yourself, that will know my power and will be
unsinkable by the enemy. Seek not the old way of ministry, for such
ministries will not be able to withstand the storm and will be driven to the
rocks. And you will see their debris floating in the water, and they will be
no more. Indeed they will become wreckages that will lie in the water as
obstacles to you when you pass through the water. Therefore avoid them
and have nothing to do with them, or you will become a partaker of their
destruction says the Lord.

A Personal Word
From Les D. Crause
I release this word to the Body of Christ, not to condemn or
expose, but to warn and encourage those whom God is raising up in these
end times to take an active part in extending the Kingdom of God into the
earth, and those whom He is training in secret to work together, from
every tribe, kindred and tongue, to lead and direct the end times
ministries that God is raising up. The purpose is not to instill fear in
anyone, for God is not the author of the storm, but the enemy. Therefore
see the coming storm as something positive rather than negative, for it
will expose that which is not of God, and bring to the forefront those
whom He is preparing for the wonderful new move that has already begun
to take place in the earth.
May the Lord bless and inspire each who read.
Apostle Les D. Crause is the Founder of Global Ministries Resource Network.

For more information regarding G.M.R.N. and its various divisions please go to:
http://www.gmrnet.org/about_gmrn.htm

admin@gmrn.org

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Contact Us Feedback
America Under Attack
A Word To The Body of Christ
Date Given: September 11th, 2001
oday some events occurred which have impacted not only the
US Nation, but the entire world. Our hearts all go out in
compassion in feeling with those who suffered grief and pain,
and lost loved ones as a result of this disastrous act. Because
of this many emotions are running wild and in the panic that has
followed, the Church are crying out for answers. Why did this happen?
How did it happen? Why did God allow it? Was God responsible for it?
What will we do now?
As the leader of Global Ministry Resource Network I felt it my

responsibility and duty to wait on the Lord for some answers. Apostle
Colette Toach sent out a word earlier calling on the prophets of God to
stand and wait. To assemble together for instruction from the Lord. (click
here to read the word below) I would like to take the opportunity now to
call you to hear what I believe God is saying to the Church and to the
Fivefold Ministry. It might not be what you are expecting or hoping to
hear, but I believe that it is what the Father would say to His children at
this time.
Firstly, I would like to say that at the time that today's events were
occurring, I was in my prayer closet, spending time in the presence of
the Father, and seeking His face for direction for this ministry, and for the
Body of Christ Universal. His presence was very real, and His directions
to me very clear.
BUT...
And this is the part that really puzzled me at first. I sensed no foreboding,
no warning, no leading to speak forth a word of protection or any such
activity that you would expect the Lord to give, in the face of what was
already taking place without my knowing it. Now normally the Lord will
warn me ahead of time of any impending danger, or that the enemy is up
to something, and I will enter immediately into prayer and warfare to
stand against it. This is something that any true prophet experiences and
is part of the basic ministry of intercession. Yet it has become abundantly
obvious that the prophets of God appeared to be caught napping,
because they were not warned of it either. Certainly none of those whom
we have confidence in as standing in the prophetic office have indicated
that they were warned to act to prevent this from occurring.
This was puzzling to say the least, and many of you have faced the
same confusion and wondered if perhaps you were out of the Spirit, or
missed God. How could something of such magnitude have bypassed
those who are used to hearing the voice of God? Surely there should
have been prophets around the country, and indeed around the world, all
receiving the same word of warning to prevent such loss of life and
resources?
Is God Judging The Nation?
Now I can hear some of you thinking out loud, and saying something
like, "Yes but God has been warning that He was going to send His
judgment on America. The nation has turned from God, and have
forsaken the faith of their forefathers, and now God's judgement has
begun to fall."
This is the first thing I asked the Lord as I went once again into His
presence, to find out what happened. At first I entered into fellowship in
the Spirit with the Father, and waited on Him for some word of
confirmation or warning, or direction concerning the events earlier today.
But He remained silent once more, and refused to speak. That was when
I began to ask Him to tell me what was going on, and whether He was
judging the nation. His words to me from then on came very clear.
He reminded me immediately of a passage that I had long forgotten, and

I had to look it up in the Fivefold Ministry Bible to find it. I am enclosing it
here for you to read.
Luke 13:1 There were present at that [kairos] time some
that told him about the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate
had mingled with their sacrifices.
2 And Jesus answering said to them, Do you suppose
that these Galilaeans were greater sinners than all the
Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
3 I tell you, No: but, unless you repent, you will all
likewise perish.
4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam
fell, and killed them, do you think that they were greater
sinners than all that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, No: but, unless you repent, you will all
likewise perish.
(GMR)
What exactly is the Lord saying here? He is saying that sin is sin, and
that there are no degrees of sin. The Scripture says that all have sinned
and are continually falling short of God's glory. And if we keep the whole
law, and yet offend in one point, we are guilty of all. That means that
each one of us is responsible before God for our own sin, and this
applies to every nation and people in the world.
Why then would the Lord single out America to pour His judgement
upon? This is one nation that has perhaps more Christians than any
other. The United States is the hub of the world. From it stems most of
what God has done in the past that has impacted the entire globe. That
last outpouring of God's Spirit at the beginning of the last century began
in the United States, and what happened at Azusa Street and other
places impacted the whole world. More missionaries are sent out from
this country than any other. Why then would the Lord want to destroy the
very source of His blessing?
When the Lord first brought us to this part of the world, from Africa, He
gave me a very clear word, in which He told me that He had brought us
to the hub of the world, in order that from this place, we would reach out
to every nation with the principles that He was giving us. This is fast
becoming a reality as GMRN reaches out around the globe, laying down
a new foundation and putting in place a new mandate for the Body of
Christ Universal. And we are not alone in this. Recent events and
contacts with people around the world have shown clearly that God is
sending representatives from all the major nations to work from the
United States and surrounding regions. Those coming from other
countries are reaching back into the countries from which they came,
using this powerful hub as a launching pad.
And now, the Lord has spoken to us very clearly concerning the future of
the Body of Christ, and He has given us a very clear mandate to take our
place in the new move that has already begun, and will spread forth
throughout the world. We have spoken many times of the vision of the
Sleeping Giant, and how the Body of Christ is being awakened from its
slumber. As I prayed concerning this, the Lord showed me a map of
North America, and I saw the West Coast and the East Coast as two
vital areas in which God will begin to work. Each represents an arm of
the Sleeping Giant, and the first sign of life that will be seen when the
Sleeping Giant awakens will be seen in these two areas.
The left arm of the giant has already begun to arise, and we have seen
the move of God taking place in revival power on the East Coast.
Already this has begun to impact the world. But the left arm is not the
greater arm in the Body. It is the right arm that always signifies the
greater, and the right hand is always a picture of power and authority. No
wonder the great moves of God in the past have taken place from this
region. For the Azusa Street revival and the early move of God amongst
the youth in the Jesus Revolution all sprang from the West. God is
poised to move as the Church of God wakes up and arises in power. The
new move will begin in the United States as it always has in the past,
and it will spread rapidly to the rest of the world.
This is what God is doing, and what He has planned. Not the destruction
of the nation, but the building up of the nation in Him. The awakening of
the Body of Christ that has fallen asleep in their complacency and the
empowerment of the Church with a dynamic power of the Holy Spirit that
is far greater than the Church has ever experienced before. Even the
early apostolic church that was born on the Day of Pentecost will not
compare with this final move of God. For God is raising up a new breed
of Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Pastors and Evangelists, who will lead
the Church to higher level of commitment and power than this world has
ever seen before.
This, people, is what God is doing in the earth right now. This is what
God is doing in America right now. We have been telling the prophets for
some time now that they are responsible to birth the New Move and then
to protect it. You may not realize it, but the New Move has already been
birthed. The baby has already been born, but like the Christ Child, it has
been hidden away from the Herod of this world lest he seek to destroy it.
The attack which you heard about today and will continue to read and
hear about is not the Lord bringing judgment on His Bride, but it is a futile
attempt by the enemy to sidetrack and deter the people of God from
what the Lord is doing and is about to do in the earth. Satan knows what
is happening, and he is afraid of it. He is panicking and using every
attempt that he can to stop it. But since he does not know where to
attack, he has instead chosen a ploy that has worked so often in the
past. He has attacked in an area that will affect the most people, and
especially the Church.
What is his greatest weapon, and the door that opens the way for him to
come in and destroy? Is it not the door of fear. We have shown you this
clearly in the Way of Blessing. For fear negates the power of the Spirit,
destroying faith, hope and love, and causing the saints to lose their
power. Add to this the extreme anger and bitterness that has now been
generated as a result of today's attack, and you will see how effective
this has been in neutralizing the power of the Body of Christ. The
Sleeping Giant is being lulled back into slumber, at the point when he is
about to rise up and conquer. The enemy has struck a blow which not
only has disabled the power of the Church, but he has even got
Christians putting the blame on God.
How does this affect you? If God is judging the nation, then where do
you stand? You immediately enter into fear, not only of terrorism, but of
judgment from the Lord Himself. Instead of rising up boldly to rout the
enemy, you are either groveling around in condemnation and failure, or
you are using your powerful weapons that were designed to bring
blessing, to turn on your own and destroy them instead. What better
weapon can there be, than to get your enemies to turn on each other. If
the enemy can succeed in this, then he has won his battle without a shot
being fired.
Hear then the word which the Lord has for the Fivefold Leadership at this
time...
For behold I have called you to rise up and lead my

Church to victory says the Lord. I have called you to set
in place that which I have designed and ordained, and
to remove that which is not of me. I have called you to
bring my people to a place of blessing and victory and
authority over evil that they have never known before. I
have called you to equip the saints that they might rise
up in my power, and do mighty exploits for me. I have
called you to encourage my bride to make herself ready
for me. And this you will do as you keep your eyes on
me alone at this time, and continue to speak forth my
words of faith, hope and love.
Apostles of God, I have called you to lay a new

foundation for the Church. I did not call you to make a
name for yourselves and exalt yourselves. I called you
to take charge of those who are scattered abroad, and
to bring them back to the fold. For they have been
scattered by the enemy as a result of the hurts that they
have experienced at the hands of their own brethren. I
have called you to bring them together and place them
into formation, as a general sets the battlefield in array,
placing each one in their correct position.
Prophets, I have called you to speak forth and birth into

the earth the plan that I have already set in motion. And
you do not realize it, but your words have gone forth in
power, and have indeed accomplished that for which
they were sent. For what you have decreed by the
Spirit, often in secret, has already begun to take place.
Therefore do not act on what you see with your eyes,
but act on what you see with your spirit. And now as
you see the enemy rising up to stop this new move, you
know what action you must take. For the time is at hand
that I will bring out of hiding those whom I have been
preparing for this work says the Lord. The time is at
hand that I will raise up my leaders and put them in
place to lead the Church to its final destination.
Therefore recognize your responsibility in this, and
shoulder the load willingly, not faltering but standing
firm in continuing to speak forth my blessing on those
whom I have raised up and will continue to raise up to
lead my Church to their destination.
Teachers, it is time for you to speak forth my word with

boldness and authority. It is time to open the blind eyes
that they might see. It is time that the stony hearts that
have been hardened through the hurts and experiences
of life are softened to receive the ingrafted seed of the
Word. And indeed this is already being accomplished
as the Apostles and Prophets have begun to rise up
and bring change to the Body Universal. Therefore
stand ready to speak forth the word of power that they
will need to grow up quickly into what I have for them.
Sow the seed continually, speaking not the negative
word of condemnation or the seeds of false teaching
and side issues, but speak forth my pure Word of life
that will cause them to grow up quickly, and will place
in their hands and mouths, the weapons needed to
accomplish the victory that is needed.
Pastors, it is time for you to manifest the heart of the

Good Shepherd. No longer must you consider you own
life of any value, or your own aspirations of any value.
No longer shall you build empires that will exalt the
flesh, but you will labor in love and bring my sheep
together to good pasture, and rest in my presence. For
many are scattered and lost, and there are no good
shepherds who will go to seek and find them, and bring
them back. Many have been ravaged by the wolf and
the lion, and they have been left to fend for themselves,
instead of being rescued from their adversary. And then
there are many who are impoverished and lack the food
and water that they need to grow and multiply. I am
calling my shepherds who truly have the heart of the
Good Shepherd to rise up and pastor my sheep, and
care for their needs as I have called you to do says the
Lord.
Evangelists, forget about preaching the bad news of

judgment and condemnation and go tell my lost sheep
that I love them. Tell that I loved them enough to die for
them. That I do not condemn them, but that through me
they may find the life they are seeking. Go seek for the
lost and bring them in, that my house may be built. For
you have in your hands the answer to the problems of
this world. And only when the Word of Life, and the
Good News of the Kingdom go forth into the hearts of
men and women can you bring about the change that is
needed. Go heal the sick, and set the captives free, as
the Son of Man did when He walked the earth. Go show
them that I am not dead, but I live, and I am ready to set
them free of the bondage that the enemy has put them
in. And then stir up my people. Wake the Sleeping Giant
and inspire all believers to go forth into all the world
with the truth, that my kingdom may be extended in the
earth.
For I cannot come until my bride has been gathered

from every nation, tribe and tongue. And you have in
your hands and your mouths the power to cause such
an ingathering as has never been seen before. You
marvel at the 3000 souls that were won on the day of
Pentecost. You marvel at the addition daily to the early
church of those who were being saved. Yet I am placing
in your hands far more than the early church had. I am
giving you my power in greater measure than you have
ever known before. Therefore no longer restrict your
ministry to the simple preaching of the gospel, but go
out in faith and perform the signs and wonders that
accompany the preaching of the Gospel. And I will
indeed move with you as I did with the early church,
confirming my Word with signs and wonders says the
Lord.
Hear my people says the Father. I would gather you

together as one, but the enemy has sought to scatter
you. Therefore take your eyes off the world and the
world system, and what the enemy is doing to distract
you from what I am doing in the earth. And seek my
face afresh, for I have a plan and a purpose for you
says the Lord. And the time will come when the news
will be filled, not with what the enemy is doing, but what
I am doing through my chosen vessels in the earth.
This then is what the Lord has given me to send forth to the Body of
Christ. Please read it with discernment and an open heart. Pray about it,
and seek His face. Send it by all means to your friends and associates,
and especially those who are confused at this time. Encourage them to
rise up and be excited about what the Lord is about to do, rather than
discouraged about what the enemy has just done. This I believe is what
the Lord would have us to do at this time.
In His Love,
Les D. Crause
Apostle and Founder
http://www.apostolic-movement.com
http://www.prophetic-network.com
http://www.pastoral-network.com
http://www.fivefold-training.com
http://www.fivefold-ministry.com
http://www.gmrnet.org
http://www.gmr-publishing.com
http://www.gmrn.org
Stand and Wait

by Apostle Colette Toach
Issued: September 11th, 2001
shortly after the GMRN leadership heard of the attacks.
For those residing in America, you would already have seen and heard
of the devastation taking place. The attack on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon has caused tremendous havoc. Your first reaction is to
cry out, to pray to intercede, to do SOMETHING! But as we as the
GMRN Leadership have looked to the Lord, we receive the Word,
"Stand and wait"
In the spirit I see the armies of God being assembled. Once they are
assembled the Word will go out. The Word will go out in power and it will
be issued forth in His timing. The Lord will speak what is on HIS heart
and not our own. Put aside fear and put aside your own ideas. Switch off
your radio and turn off your t.v. Stop listening to the reporters and listen
to the heartbeat of God.
Once the armies are standing as one and you have your heart knit to
your fellow brothers and sisters, the Lord will release the Word and it will
come forth in great authority and it will have an effect on the entire
nation. If you go running into this battle alone, you will not only undo
what the Lord is trying to do, but you will come under attack yourself.
Stand and Wait! Wait for the word. Wait for what God has to say. All
Network members please meet and make your presence known on the
Prayer Wall board. All Prophetic Course students, please meet in the
student's lounge. Once we are assembled and our eyes are set on the
Lord alone, the Word will come.
Colette Toach
Apostle
Contact Us Feedback
Calling all Mosaic Apostles
Date Given: August 16th 2000
he voice of the Lord goes forth into the earth and shall not return void.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken and called forth His chosen ones
from amongst the sons of men and those who stand in the offices that
He has placed them in. The Word of the Lord goes forth to his servants
that have been selected and set apart within the confines of the existing system
that regulates and controls the Body of Christ in this earth. And the Lord would say
unto you:
"Behold I have watched you and I have seen your travail and dissatisfaction with
the system that you must work in. I have seen your heart’s cry for a change, and
your frustration at not being able to bring about such change. I have seen your
desire to make a difference in my Body and yet you have felt powerless to do
anything about the current state of affairs. Therefore know says the Lord, that you
have been prepared for such a time as this. You were placed where you are in
order to bring about the change that is needed. You were given the experiences
that you have had in order to equip you for the task that lies ahead.
Even as Moses of old was equipped and trained in the courts of Pharaoh so I have
trained you within the confines of the religious system in order that you might know
and understand both the ways of God and the ways of man. I have called forth
from the system those whom I would raise up as Davids, to heal the hurting ones
that were driven away and to gather them together outside of the confines of the
existing church system. I trained them in secret, and now I am bringing them into
manifestation. I am calling them forth now, both those who are still in the system,
and those who have left long ago. And I am calling them to prepare a new
foundation that will displace the old system.
But to you whom I have raised up to be my Moses at this time I would give a
different commission says the Lord. To those who are still functioning within the
confines of the visible church system I am calling you to remain where you are,
and to cause change to take place. I am calling you to teach my people the truth,
and to show them that they have been serving me with the traditions of man, and
not according to my patterns and principles. To those who left the system in order
to be trained, as Moses on the backside of the desert, I am calling you to return
and confront the system, as Moses did to Pharaoh.
And as you shall confront in my name, not my people, but those who oppress
them, you shall take the power that I have placed in your hands, and you shall use
that spiritual authority that I have built into you. You shall teach my people the
truth, and show them that they must leave the Egypt of this world and displace the
influences of the world that have crept into my Body. You must return to your first
love, and rise up in authority and power. You must plunder the wealth of the unjust
and turn it to be used in my kingdom. You must speak forth judgment on the
forces of wickedness that have kept my people in bondage.
You must destroy the mindset that keeps them enslaved in Egypt, by teaching
them the truth. For when they know the truth, then the truth will set them free. For
my Body has sought to compromise with the Egypt of this world by agreeing with it
and seeking to be united with it. But I never intended my people to remain in
Egypt. Egypt was never their Promised Land. But they became comfortable in
Egypt and did not want to leave. And because of this, the powers that control this
world began to also control the Church of the Living God. And now my people
have become so programmed to think like the world, that they cannot tell anymore
what is the original pattern that I set, and what has been introduced by the world
system.
Therefore I am calling forth my Moses now to rise up and proclaim the truth. And
as you proclaim the truth to those in the Body of Christ, they will rise up together to
confront the Pharaoh of this world. They will arise in the power of my might and do
signs and wonders in my name, and show that I do still reign amongst the sons of
men. They will display my glory to those who oppress them and restrict them and
they will cause pressure to bear upon their taskmasters. It will not be an easy task,
and therefore I have selected for myself only those who have been chosen and
trained for such a task as this. Those who like Moses of old are not afraid to stand
up and declare my Word with boldness, and to confront the powers of darkness.
For I have given you the weapons that you will need to do the work says the Lord,
but you need to learn to use these weapons wisely. You need to know how to
instruct those in my kingdom concerning the true pattern, and you need to know
how to bring pressure to bear upon the world system in order to release my people
from its bondage. Therefore you shall receive first at my hand the correct pattern
for the Church, and you will receive at my hand the mandate that will release you
to confront the powers of this world. You will learn how to use the one to
encourage and motivate my people to action, and the other to release them from
the tyranny of their captors.
Therefore the decree goes forth now into the earth. Come forth unto Me says the
Lord and answer the call. For the call goes out now, but until you obey the call, I
cannot train you in the way. You have much to learn, and you will learn as you
grow, to apply and use the gifts I have given you. Be not as Moses of old who
made excuses and did not want to obey the call. But submit yourself willingly unto
me and I will open the way. And I will cause to come to you those who will work
with you to help you in the work, even as I did with Moses and Aaron and Miriam. I
will use you together to lead my people out of the bondage of Egypt. And you will
bring them out by a great deliverance says the Lord.
The promised land awaits those who would answer the call. My people perish for
lack of knowledge. They perish for lack of leadership. They perish for lack of
direction. They are waiting for you to rise up and take your stand as my end times
Moses. Therefore answer the call and come forth now my servants, and I will
cause you to shake those who have fallen asleep, and to rouse them up to enter
into the battle and overcome in my Name," says the Lord.
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Speak the Word
A Plan of Action for the Body of Christ
Date Given: May 3rd 2000
The Army
The battlefield is set in array. The faces of each warrior are set before him. With
their gaze set as a flint, they look upon the enemy as one. There is no malice in
them, only determination. With a sword of golden fire at their sides, the
magnificence of their garments gleams in the sunlight. Just to look upon them in
array makes one squint from the brightness. Their sashes of blood red blow in the
breeze and the gold trimmings of their armor leave one in awe. As you catch a
glimpse of their eyes of blazing fire, the fear of God seizes your heart, and you
know that you look upon that which is wonderful.
Here stand the royal army of God. An army of war and an army of strength and
might. Armed, ever powerful and undefeated. As one they stand. They stand in
wait.
The War
Opposite this field, in a distance, a tumult is seen. A picture of ultimate destruction.
There the enemy strike their swords and spears into the lives of man. There is
murder, there is bitterness, and there is much pain. Blood flows freely and
confusion reins. The terror on the faces of those who are trodden into the mud and
the pain of those struck from behind while they flee in ignorance and confusion
makes you cringe as you realize that here lies the Body of Christ. Broken, torn
apart and left to the wolves to be devoured.
Yet there stand their redeemers. The army of God, ready for war. For what do they
wait? Why do they look on as the war continues before them? Why do they not
take up arms and snatch the victims from the hordes of hell? Has the Lord not
promised us to reign in this world? Has He not promised us the inheritance of the
ungodly, has He not promised us the blessing of Abraham?
Oh Lord! Your people perish for lack of knowledge! How they strain and struggle
under the oppression of the enemy! Jesus how your heart burns for your Bride.
How you weep over her anguish and her pain. What is to be done? Lord what
must we do? How do we overcome, how do we reach out and save your precious
bride? How do we teach her how to overcome?
Speak the Word!

" My word is living and powerful and is sharper than any two edged sword, says
the Lord. Piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. There is no
power on this earth that can stand before my word. There is no army of hell, or
any attack of the enemy that can withstand the power of my word being released
into the earth.
Now look. Look as My army is set in array. As My word is uttered into the earth, so
shall they draw their swords and so bring to the end the tyranny of the enemy
against My people. But My army stands in wait. They wait for you to speak the
Word! They wait for the command. They wait for the word that authorizes them to
bring about change in the earth. I have given enough power and warriors to meet
you at every need. To overcome any demon of darkness. I gave you at the foot of
the cross, the weapons and authority to overcome the attacks of satan. Yet you
have hidden your armor and wait instead for another to fight the war.
You look upon the blood shed and you shake your head in grief. You utter words
of discouragement as you look upon the slain and you whisper words of shame on
how many of My people are trodden, rejected and torn by the wolves. ’When will
the deliverer come?’ you cry. ‘When will one come who will save us from this
affliction? Oh Lord do you not see our pain? Do you not see how our enemies
come on every side and destroy us in flesh and in spirit?’
YOU are the Deliverer for Your People.

So did My people cry to me in the wilderness and in the days of the judges and
each time My spirit would come upon a man and so Israel would be delivered for a
time. Through the anointed power of one man the whole Israelite race was
redeemed and brought to victory for a moment. Yet here stands My Body. Each of
you having My anointing within you. Every single one of you having, what just a
single man had in the times of Old. If a single man could bring defeat to an entire
gentile army, how much more then could you as a Body, defeat every enemy on
this earth?
Yet you wallow and you cry out as the Israelites did in times gone by: ‘send us a
deliverer!’ Rise up church of God! For your deliver did come, your deliverer is here
and is dwelling in your very own heart! YOU are the deliverer for your people. You
carry the sword of goliath and the sling of David. You carry the authority to bring
the enemy to his knees.
The Command Shall Go Forth!

So cry out to me no longer in defeat. But lift your head and say to yourself. ‘I will
deliver! I will rise up Lord. I will speak the word!’ Then as my mighty servant David
you will come against your enemies and they will bow before you. Indeed then the
mountains will tremble and the oceans will roar at the sound of My name! For you
shall stand and speak forth the words I shall place in your mouth and the
command shall go forth. My army shall draw their swords and fall upon the enemy
with no mercy. There is not a single one that will escape the edge of the sword
and there is none that will not be repaid for the pain and suffering they have
inflicted on My people.
Did I not pay back the philistines and the Moabites and the ammonites for their
tyranny against Israel? Am I not the same yesterday, today and tomorrow? Shall I
not then avenge you, My people? Shall I not raise up a standard against those
who despise you? Shall I not fight on your behalf? Shall not all My promises come
to pass as is written in My word?
Why do your heads hang low then? Why do your hands tremble in fear and
discouragement? Look at My word and see I am a God of My promises and
rhema! I am a God who will indeed see all these things come to pass. I am a God
who will indeed show My power before all mankind. And you My children are the
vessels I will use.
You my beloved are those precious vessels I will use to show this world an
example. For you are as a city set on a hill and you are beautiful to the eye. You
glisten in the sunlight and you bring much joy to My heart. So shall I lift you up as
an example to this world. So shall I unite you and bring you into one body, that you
might stand in power and stand as an object of fear and awe before the people!
So shall it be that when you speak that the earth will obey and that when you walk,
that the earth shall tremble.
A Shaking is Coming
For indeed a shaking is coming. A mighty shaking throughout the earth. Such a
shaking that has not been seen since the beginning of time and one that shall not
come again. The Kingdoms of this world will be broken before the name of the
Lord and nature will be brought into obedience by the spoken word of the
Almighty. No power shall stand before you, My children; no enemy shall be able to
stand before you without trembling.
For the time has come that when the word is spoken that it is spoken with power.
That when My will is carried out, that it is carried out in power. That when My body
rises up as one and in love that the very sky will open to embrace it. For you have
remained hidden until now. My glory has remained invisible to this world. But now
it shall be revealed before all man. Now shall the invisible plan and power placed
within each of you come to life in a magnificent way! So shall you see in each
other, how you fit into one another. So shall you recognize in each other My will
and purpose and My plan. No longer will you see with the eyes of this world, but
you shall instead see with the eyes of My spirit.
You shall see truth as I am truth and you shall be love as I am love. Then shall the
boundaries of man fall away and so shall my bonds of love be embraced. For my
plan is wonderful and all embracing. There is not a soul of My body that is not
invited to be a part of it. So come My beloved ones. Gather now to your King.
Come and take of My hand says the Lord and open your mouth to speak My
words and watch as the enemy is defeated before you! Then come together as
one. Fitting into one another as a body of many members. I invite you, I woo you, I
entice you to come and taste of Me – for I am good.
I offer to you a wonderful plan. I open My hand to embrace you and invite you to
come that I might cover you. Come little ones. Come into the fold. Come and see
the glory I have prepared for you. Give me your heart. Give Me your hand and let
me lead you into the greatest time of the age!"
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A Word for 2000
This is Your Time and Season

s the year draws swiftly to a close we find ourselves hurtling towards a
change that is coming only once in our lifetime. Writers have fantasized
about the year 2000, teachers and prophets have looked ahead and
made their predictions and given their opinions. Yet as we stand now on
the brink of this momentous occasion, each one has mixed feelings about it. But
what does God think about the year 2000? Where does it feature in His timetable?
Has He decided that this momentous occasion will be one of particular blessing or
judgment?
These were some of the thoughts in my mind as I lay awake late last night seeking
the Lord for guidance concerning the year ahead, and the new era that it will bring
forth. And then I felt that deep stirring that I knew was His call to listen to His
voice. The words He spoke to me surprised me, because they were not what I was
expecting. But they told me how He views the time and season that we live in right
now. So I want to share that word with you now as a member and associate of this
ministry.
I believe that much of what the Lord said to me applies to the Body of Christ, and
especially those of you who have committed yourselves to being His instrument of
blessing. May you be blessed and inspired as I was, to rise up and do the work
while it is our time and season.
Prophetic Word Issued December 29th 1999

by Les D. Crause
Team Leader, G.M.R.N.
Behold you stand on the brink of one of the most momentous times of your life
says the Lord. For it is not so much the dating of the calendar that counts, but the
fact that you are standing at a point in history in which I am about to begin the final
roundup and completion of the Plan of the Ages.
Therefore see not just this year as something special, nor regard the dates that
man has made in his calendars, but consider My Plan of the Ages, and the
timetable that has been laid out for Me to move upon this earth to complete My
work. For man thinks in finite terms, but I think in infinite terms. And man regards
one day above another and one year above another. But I live in eternity says the
Lord, and therefore I consider all days as equal and all years are the same to Me.
But man has sought to bring mystery to the times and seasons, and man has
sought to implicate Me into his fantasies. Therefore man has decided that I should
bless or curse, according to the times and seasons. And man has decided that
because of the momentous time that I should either pour out judgment or blessing.
But My judgments and blessings are not determined by the seasons of man says
the Lord. They are determined by the faith and actions of man.
And so as the season has dictated a change of attitude in men, so also man has
determined the course of this world. And those who have seen this as a time of
judgment have released the forces of judgment on the world. And those who have
seen this as a time of blessing have decreed blessing. But I am moved by none of
these things says the Lord. I am moved only by the faith and love of my people,
and their hope in Me.
Therefore as you stand now on the brink of this new era, do not fear says the
Lord, for I am not the author of fear. But be bold and strong in Me, and know that
you walk into this new era with Me by your side. And with Me by your side, it
matters not what men of the world shall think, for it is what I think that matters. I
have not changed says the Lord. My plans have not changed. But man has
changed and therefore man sees Me differently.
But you shall walk into the New Year with Me, knowing that as I walk with you, it
shall be no different to any other New Year that you have walked into with Me. It is
simply a gateway into some of the new things that await you and which I have
already taken care of. It is neither a beginning nor an ending, and yet it is part of
both. For it ends an era in My Body that was determined, not by the calendar, but
by experience. It ends the things that were determined by past thinking.
And it is also a new beginning, not because of the calendar, but because there is a
readiness in the hearts of men and women for something new. I have held out the
new for some time now, and many have written and taught concerning the new
thing. But because there was not in the hearts of My children a readiness to
accept that new thing, so I shall use the opportunity now to bring it forth says the
Lord. For as My Body is ready and expecting now a new thing to come forth, so I
shall respond accordingly and bring forth that which has been lying dormant and
hidden for some time.
Do not think that this is a sudden change in My plans says the Lord. Do not think
that I have chosen such a time as this to bring forth something new. For what I
shall bring is not new at all, but has been in preparation for some time now. But
since the times are right, and the hearts of men are ready for change, therefore I
shall bring it forth now says the Lord, and it shall come into manifestation swiftly
even as My people are expecting it to.
Now therefore you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this says the
Lord. Therefore seize the opportunity and pour forth in abundance now what I
have taught you and built into you. Hold not back, but run with the vision. For men
are ready now to receive and to be taught, therefore make use of this opportunity,
for it shall never be available to you again.
As you shall take everything I have taught you and pour it out to others, you shall
multiply yourself and you shall release into others what I have put into you. And
they shall receive it open heartedly and willingly, and they shall take the vision and
run with it. And I shall confirm the Word as you shall speak it forth.
For this is your time and your season says the Lord. My time and season are
always there, but not so with you. But now your time has come, and your season
has come. Therefore shine brightly for Me now. Burn brightly with all that is in you,
for as long and as brightly as you can. For the time will come when your season is
over, and the time will come when this opportunity shall no longer present itself to
you.
So rise and shine my child says the Lord, for your light has come and My glory has
arisen upon you. For this is your day and your time and your season. May you be
found pouring out all that you have for My Kingdom, that when the Lord of the
harvest comes to gather in his ripened grain, he might find the laborers at work
and in the midst of their labor.
And then only will come the call to rest, for then the work shall be finished says the
Lord.
For Words and teaching concerning the New
Apostolic Movement, go to our Apostolic
Movement International division.
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Word given on the launching of the
GMR Apostolic School
Date Given: November 11th 1999
ehold the time is at hand says the Lord and I am about to show My arm
both to this world and to the kingdom of darkness and to My Body. For I
have tolerated the works of darkness in the past and I have waited
patiently for my people to make themselves ready for my appearing.
And now the time is at hand for my Bride to be made manifest to the kingdoms of
this world and to the princes of darkness. For I shall clothe My people in power
says the Lord, and I shall cause them to rise up in my glory and to overcome the
princes of this world and to claim the kingdoms of this world for me.
Therefore hold not back says the Lord, but strengthen your arms and stand girded
and ready, for I shall not wait any longer. But I shall call out those whom I have set
apart in preparation for this final work. And I shall cause them to come out of
hiding and to rise up and conquer for me.
It is time to put your hand to the plough. It is time to take up your weapons of
warfare. For the enemy has gone about as a roaring lion seeking to devour my
people. But now the Lion of the Tribe of Judah shall show His roar. And the
citadels of darkness shall tremble.
For I am calling out my Body to rise up and become the conquering warrior that I
have always intended it to be.
THE TIME IS AT HAND SAYS THE LORD!

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The Coming Apostolic Movement
Date Given: September 27th 1999
ehold the time is at hand says the Lord, that I shall cause My hidden
servants to be gathered together and arise and take their place in My
kingdom. For as I have prepared the way by raising up my Prophets to
speak forth My Word into the earth, so now I would call together those
who have stood in the background and travailed over the condition of My Body in
the earth.
You have sat as Moses in the backside of the desert and though you have
faithfully served Me, you have wondered concerning My call on your life, and
pondered how and when I would restore My church to its former glory. And your
heart has burned to see the restoration of My power and to see My body united
together as one. But somehow it seems an impossible task, and like Moses of old,
you do not feel qualified to rise up and bring change.
Now therefore says the Lord, I will do a sign and wonder in your sight, even as I
did with My servant Moses at the burning bush. I will get your attention and draw
you to that place in My holy presence where you will stand and behold My glory.
Then I will send you forth as Moses of old to set a new standard and lay a new
foundation.
And as My Moses ministries shall rise up they shall confront the Pharaoh of this
world that has held My people in bondage and in slavery. And they shall send forth
the command to, "Let My people go." They shall rise up and do signs and wonders
in My Name, to show My power to the princes of this world, and to bring judgment
on the adversaries, and blessing on My people.
Like Moses of old they shall come into that secret place in My presence on My
holy mountain, and they shall receive from Me the pattern for My church. And they
shall set in place a new order in My Body. They shall mobilize the Body of Christ to
come together and build My house. And I shall set My seal on this by coming
down in My glory cloud and covering My temple.
Then shall My people be delivered from the slavery and bondage of this world.
And they shall move forward as one mighty army to do exploits for Me and to
conquer and take over the ground that the enemy has held for so long. They shall
plunder the works of darkness and recover from the enemy, the ground that
belongs to My people. For My people shall no longer labor under lack and
suffering says the Lord, but they shall rise up and take their place as kings and
priests in the earth.
And then shall I raise up My servant David once more to be their leader and
deliverer says the Lord. They shall rise up and conquer and restore the tabernacle
of David, and I will build a new house, yes a glorious house. It shall be far greater
than the former house, for it shall be permanent and founded on a rock. This new
house shall be magnificent and far exceed the glory of the former house.
For just as the temple that David designed far exceeded the first tabernacle in
glory, so shall My new house exceed the former house in its glory says the Lord.
For the early tabernacle contained My glory in the tent of meeting, and only My
choice servants were able to enter into My presence and My glory. But the latter
house was filled with My glory, so that the priests could not stand to minister by
reason of the cloud of My glory.
Therefore I do a new work says the Lord, and I build a new house. And in My new
house My power and glory will not be restricted anymore as it was in the first
house. And the power that came upon the early Apostles that was limited to those
in leadership, will now break upon all who make themselves available to Me. Just
as in the tabernacle and temple of David My glory became more freely available,
so shall it be in My Body in these last days says the Lord.
It is time then says the Lord, that My Moses and David ministries come forth and
be manifested to the world. And these two shall work together as one, each one
fulfilling their purpose in the earth. For My Moses ministries will lead My visible
church out of bondage and into liberty. And My David ministries will draw out those
who have fallen and have been rejected of men, even as David drew to the Cave
of Adullam those who were considered dropouts in society.
And I shall bring together both groups says the Lord. Both those who are part of
the existing pattern and those who have turned away from the existing pattern.
They shall come together as one and be renewed and restored, and My sleeping
giant that has been incapacitated for so long shall arise and go forth in My power
and glory, and do mighty exploits for Me.
And then shall the way be prepared for Me to finish the work says the Lord, and to
come and receive that bride that I have longed for and desired to take unto Myself.
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God Will Do A New Thing
Concerning the Coming Apostolic Move of God
Date Given: June 28th 1999
ehold the time is at hand says the Lord, that I will begin a new work, and
a new plan, and a new way. And indeed this is not a new way, but a
return to the correct way. Yet it has taken a time of preparation and many
things have needed to come into place before this could happen. For just
as the Son of Man came to the earth in the fullness of time, so shall my new plan
come in the fullness of time says the Lord. And the time is at hand, yes it is just
around the corner, and the door that has stood shut for so long is finally beginning
to move on its hinges to reveal this new thing that I have planned for my Body.
Therefore I have raised up at this time those who are the keepers of the gate, who
hold in their hands the key that unlocks the door. And I have called my prophets to
come forth at this time, to rally together to the task that lies ahead. For the door is
huge and the task is great, therefore it will take much preparation and ground
laying for it to be accomplished. I have hidden this away for so long, that the
enemy cannot interfere with it, nor block it in any way. But the time is at hand, and
it cannot be kept veiled any longer. It is time for manifestation. It is time for the
servants of the Most High God to show themselves to the world and to the princes
of this world. It is time for my army of gladiators to rise up and conquer says the
Lord.
I have called you from many walks of life, and with varied experiences and
qualifications. Even as I called my apostles of old. There was no clear pattern that
would distinguish one from the other, only their commitment and willingness to
follow me completely. And when I called there was no question of what it would
cost. In fact it cost many of them their entire life's goal. They gave up all and
followed me. And in the end they even gave up their lives willingly for the sake of
My Kingdom and the gospel.
And now as I prepare once more to return says the Lord, in the fullness of time. I
have sent ahead my spokesmen in the earth to prepare the way. And I am raising
up now those who will gather my body from the ends of the earth and make it as
one again. I am calling those who will gather my bride and make her ready for my
return. I am calling those who will arrange the wedding and set everything in place
for the marriage feast. And they will come forth from the east and the west, from
the north and the south, and they shall rise up and restore the building and they
shall restore the walls, even as it was in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Yes the time is at hand says the Lord, and will not wait. For my bride cries out in
despair, for she is scattered and tormented and her garments are in tatters. For
even those who were meant to be the keepers and the healers, have built empires
for themselves instead of caring for my bride. They have sought their own desires
first, and my desires afterwards. And my sheep have become scattered says the
Lord. They are lying in the ditches and caught in the thorns, and there are none to
care for them. And my heart cries out for them, as I hear their cries and their
despair, saying, "How long Lord must it go on this way?"
Therefore the time is at hand says the Lord for my Body to be restored to
wholeness, and for the sheep to be gathered together as a flock once more. The
time is at hand for my love to be shown and manifest in my Body. The time is at
hand for my power to be manifest as never before. The time is at hand for healing
of the nations, and purging of those whom I have called and chosen for myself.
The time has come for my people to be called out of hiding and to rise up in My
glory and proclaim to this world that I am alive and that I reign in the affairs of
man, and that I am coming quickly to defend my own and to destroy the
adversaries.
Look up now says the Lord, for you will begin to see the signs that point to what I
have been setting in place from the beginning. Look around you and see what it is
I have been doing in my Body. And take note of what has been happening. For the
old garment is decaying fast and falling away, and I am lifting up a new people
who will go forth in my glory and power as never before. Who will walk before me
in white and will take their stand in my name in the earth. Who will not fear the
hordes of darkness, but will stand against them with the sword of my spirit and the
word of my power and command them to flee.
And look inside you says the Lord, and you will see what it is that I have placed in
you. Look around you and see where it is that I have placed you, and learn from
me and know without any doubt what it is that I am calling you to do at this time.
Then reach out and lay hold of that which I have placed within you. And look up
and reach forth unto the goal that I have set for you. For you have been chosen to
represent me in the earth, and you have been chosen to be my instrument of
blessing in the earth. Therefore no longer look at your weaknesses and failures.
No longer look at your inability's and lack. But look at what I have placed into you,
and know that I have equipped you for the task. Know that I am well able to
perform what I have called you to and that I have given you all that you need to
carry it out.
Last of all look up and see the door that is about to open, and realise that you are
chosen to be part of the opening of this door. You are chosen to be one of the
forerunners, who will cause that door to swing wide open. And you are chosen to
be amongst the first to walk through that door into the glory that I have prepared.
And as you do so, you shall experience my glory in a way that you have never
known it before, and a way that you have never heard of it before.
Because I am about to do a new thing says the Lord, and I am making my

intentions known to my servants the prophets and those whom I have chosen and
called to rise up and become my end times apostles. Therefore hear the words of
He who has chosen and called you, and hesitate not, but hasten to the goal, and
cast off everything that is holding you back and stands in the way of that goal.
For the time is at hand says the Lord.
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Word for the Church in the New
Millennium
By Les D. Crause
Date Given: Beginning of the Year 1999
s we moved into the New year, many have wanted to know

what God has in mind for the Church. What has God
spoken to His prophets concerning the year that lies
ahead? What is His agenda for the Body of Christ? And
what about the new century that looms ahead of us? Should we be
panicking about Y2K and stocking up our shelves?
I would like to address this subject from what God has revealed to me
concerning His purpose and plan for the Body of Christ in the year
that lies ahead. I stand not as one who predicts, as a fortune teller,
but as one who humbly hears and speaks forth the Word of God.
Therefore what I declare is a putting forth of what God desires to do
in His people. May it motivate His prophets to rise up and speak forth
His word into the earth.
It is the prophets of God who release His word into the earth, for God
says that He does nothing unless He reveals His secrets to His
servants the prophets. Therefore the prophets of God are
encouraged to use their prophetic authority to speak forth the
manifestation of what God would accomplish in the earth.
The New Century and Millennium

For behold just as 1999 is the last year of the century and even more than that,
the last year of the millennium, even so says the Lord , this year shall signal forth
the ending of two entities that have existed. The one signals the end of that which
began at the turn of the century, the other signals the end of what began a long
time before that.
Therefore as this is the final year of the century that heralded the outpouring of my
spirit in Pentecostal power, so shall it end with a greater measure of my outpouring
than has been known before says the Lord. And what began as the Latter Rain at
the start of the century, shall manifest itself in the fullness of my power being
poured upon my church.
Therefore the year that lies ahead will see an outpouring that is greater in both
quantity and influence. And the rain that has fallen in select places in the past, will
begin to overflow all boundaries and spread everywhere, to encompass areas that
have never before been reached by my power.
So shall the century end, even as it began, with my glory being poured out on the
Body of Christ in many places. But it will not be the final outpouring that I will pour
upon my church. Yea it shall rather be an anointing of power for preparation of
what I shall do in my Body in the new century that is to follow. And it shall bring
about an end to what began at the beginning of the century.
For as the first outpouring resulted in the formation of the Pentecostal churches,
known also as the Full Gospel movement - all those proclaiming the Pentecostal
blessing. Even so the end of the century will bring an end to this. For the
Pentecostal churches have become but another man made structure to restrict the
manifestation of my glory. And therefore the garment that fitted well at the
beginning has become old and worn out says the Lord, and it shall be discarded in
favor of the new.
So as the end of the century shall bring an end to the establishment of the
Pentecostal structures, so also shall the end of the millennium bring about the end
of the patterns that came to dominate the church in the millennium that has been.
For as my body moved further and further away from the original pattern that I set
for it, there came a structure and pattern that was foreign to what I had ordained
originally. And so the patterns of men crept into the church, and false methods of
the world came to dominate my work, says the Lord. Until eventually the plan and
pattern that I ordained became corrupted by the ideas of man.
Behold the time has come for restoration says the Lord. And the last century of
this millennium has been one in which I have sought to restore my body to the
original pattern that I had for it. Therefore as this millennium draws to a close, the
incorrect pattern shall reach its peak of usefulness and shall wax old like a
garment. Then as the old shall reach the end of its usefulness, so shall the new
arise says the Lord. And therefore even as I have placed my prophets to speak
forth the destruction of the old and the creation of the new, so shall I move swiftly
to bring into being what has been spoken forth.
Therefore in the final days of the century and millennium, I shall raise up my
prophets as never before, to speak forth into the earth, the destruction of the old
and the launching of the new. And as my prophetic intercessors shall send forth
my word into the earth, so shall the hosts of heaven be mobilized to bring forth
what has been declared by my servants the prophets.
Behold I shall do a new thing says the Lord. Yet it shall not be new, but rather a
restoration of what was at the beginning. And as the new century pours forth, and
the new millennium comes into being, there shall come forth those whom I have
hidden away in training, awaiting manifestation. So the new century and
millennium shall see the full manifestation of my glory and power, when I build
again the foundations that were long ago destroyed. Then my apostles shall rise
up out of obscurity and come forth to take their place in my Kingdom.
Then I shall rebuild the waste places says the Lord. And I shall restore those who
have been bruised and broken. And I shall cause them to return. For there shall
come an ingathering unlike anything that has been known before. For as the new
foundations are laid, there shall arise ministries that will exceed the bounds of the
current church system. And many who have grown cold and become disheartened
by the wrong patterns will find a new hope. So that they will spring forth to new life
again.
For the building of my end time church shall be glorious says the Lord. And the
traditions of man will no longer apply. The restrictions of organized procedures will
no longer block my work, and my people will no longer seek for great men of God
or great ministries, but they shall every one of them rise up together as one Body.
The sleeping giant that is my Body will shake off the chains that bound it and will
rise up as a mighty warrior, going forth to conquer. And the gates of hell shall
tremble as my body arises in power and goes forth as one. The Kingdom of
Darkness will be plundered as my people go forth with my words in their mouths
and my power in their spirits.
Therefore shall the new millennium bring forth a new church, with a new power
and a new structure. But it will be like the first church. It will go forth in power. Only
this time the church will arise in every nation. My body shall extend to every
country. And my glory shall be manifested in all the world. Until my bride is ready
and adorned for her bridegroom. She will stand without spot or wrinkle, with a
heart full of love, yearning for her groom. And then shall come the sign of the Son
of Man in heaven, as He returns to receive his bride, says the Lord.
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Welcome to the:

ALL ARTICLES sorted by Title

Full Teachings (Total: 28)

Articles (Total: 70)

The Blessing Kids Manual (Total: 16)

GMRN Archives (126)

2002: The Year Ahead Hearing the Voice of Prophetic Preparation

Answer to Prayer, 6 Intercessor... Not An

Applying the Spiritual Interpret Dreams by

Approaching God, 8 Intimacy With Jesus

Love Thy Neighbor! Taking His Hand

Tapping the Supply

Power in Being Time For Change: Is

Facts (5) Politicians Victory Over Spiritual

Facts (7) Most Doctors

Hearing the Voice of

Teachings listed by alphabetical order.

1. Dealing With Demons

4. Divorce and Remarriage

5. Hearing the Voice of God - Introduction

6. Hearing the Voice of God - Part 1

7. Identifying the False Prophet

8. Interpret Dreams by the Spirit

10. Nature of Man, The

11. Network Indestructible, A

12. New Testament Tithing

13. Power in Being Glorified, The

14. Problems, Cause of

15. Problems, Solution to

16. Prophetic Intercession - True Prayer

17. Prophetic Listening

18. Prophetic Ministry in Marriage

19. Prophetic Preparation

20. Psalmody: Origins of Music

21. Psalmody: The Power of Praise

22. Scriptural Pattern for Discipleship, The

23. Testing Time

24. Understanding the Anointing

25. Using the Prophetic Anointing

26. Why Marriage?

27. Why Salvation?

28. Word of Wisdom, The

Demonic Realm Medical Relationships

1. Anointing Oil, The

2. Applying the Spiritual Pump

3. How Revival Comes

4. Inner Streams, The

5. Price of Revival, The

7. Tapping the Supply Within

9. Way to Revival, The

1. God's Plan Unfolded: The Church of the Future

2. It's Ok! You Do Not Have to be Perfect!

3. It's Time For Change: Is Your Church Ready?

4. New Church: The Blueprint Unveiled, The

6. What Will the Next Move of God Look Like?

1. Victory Over Spiritual Battles

2. Templates and Triggers

3. Templates and Triggers - The Way to Victory

4. Transforming Hurts to Healing

1. 10 Things Satan is Afraid You Will Find Out

2. Life With Jesus

1. Can Children Decide?

2. Can My Child Hear the Voice of God?