Accessing the Promise: Your Hour is Now

By Andrea Carter-Coffer, MS
Text copyright © 2014 Rhema House Publishing
All rights reserved
To my husband Bern, our children, family, and friends for their love and support
Book 1: RESTORATION

Foreword

This is the year of the Lord’s favor upon your life. Although you may surmise
that your present state of affairs are questionable or you may have unwillingly
grown accustomed to them. Perhaps you have negated to obtain your personal
prowess, your desired level of extraordinary attainment. However, one thing I
am definitely sure of is that you have not fallen from grace, but fell into grace –
God’s unmerited favor.

Isaiah 61:3–5 reads “ God will grant [give] those [you] who mourn [going
through] in Zion, giving them beauty for ashes, the oil of gladness instead of
mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be
called oaks [trees] of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be
glorified. 4 Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the
former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of
many generations. 5Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners
will be your farmers and your vinedressers.”

The Holy Spirit will burn up the rejection, hurt, pain, fear, and traumatic
experiences.

As Minister Arlene King states, “ He wants those ashes because they do us no

good.”

It is time for us to clear the ash and place fresh wood on the altar. In Oberlin,
OH I purchased a Victorian home that was more than 100 years old and back
then homes were heated with coal. In the basement, the coal room used to store
the coal was still intact and the “ coal” man I was told would come by and
deliver the coal. The ashes from the burnt coal were removed periodically
otherwise they would smother the fire and cause it to go out.

The Old Testament gives us detailed instructions that we must follow

concerning the altar. "They must remove the ashes from the altar for sacrifices
and cover the altar with a purple cloth.”(Numbers 4:13 NLT). God didn’t intend
for us to hold onto the ashes because they will only put out the fire of the altar
of our heart; it cripples our walk. We hold onto the ashes because we don’t
know how to walk without them and it is a place of comfort, a place of familiar.
They are our invisible crutch being used to justify our misalignment with
God’s will.

We need to get into the place of retreat and while in His presence allow Him to
burn off those things that’s causing us to miss our deliverance and not allowing
the fire of our breakthrough to come through.

I decree and declare that this is your due season, season of jubilee in which you
can choose to accept the beauty and access the Promise. If you follow this five-
part audiobook, this year will mark your new beginning of walking in an
abundant life, the Promise is yours.

Andrea Carter-Coffer, MS
Chapter 1
Heart to Heart

“ A private victory precedes a public victory.” – Dr. Stephen R. Covey

Public victories are a by-product of private victories won through communing

with the Father in prayer and fasting.

But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you,
and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees
everything, will reward you [openly]. (Matthew 6:6 NLT)

The point Jesus was making here was to have a place of solitude or a safe haven
of retreat to continue to develop our personal relationship with the Father.

In its purest form ‘retreat’, means ‘to withdraw, to pullback’. Throughout

Christian history, the pulling away or retreat has been an interesting part of our
spiritual journey of growth and change. It is God’s kairos moments. In the
Greek there are two words for time, but they suggest two meanings, chronos and
kairos. Chronos, the basis of the word chronological, references minutes and
seconds, the time you go to work, the time you pick up the kids. It is the time
of quantity-a measurable source. We tend to think of our time in a chronos
mindset because it’s the familiar.

Kairos moments, usually inconvenient, are critical to our destiny. Oftentimes,

we become fixated and comfortable with the anointing in our churches-such as
shouting, jumping, and dancing and there we cease. The increase or the
blessing is in the pressing. When we press we are growing toward maturity.
(Philippians 3:12) The more we press, the less of the mess, which is us we see
and more of Him we will be.

This chronos time could make us miss God. God wants us to redeem the
kairos – to pay attention and take advantage of the opportune times and
seasons. Kairos is the time of quality. Spiritual timing, when preparation
meets opportunity. Kairos means an appointed time or due season. “ There is
an appointed time for everything.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

When God instructs us to complete a task it is in a specific timing, His kairos

(spiritual) time. If we commence to operate outside of this timing we are not in
the will of God and there exists chaos and confusion. It is imperative that we
consciously make a genuine effort to re-focus, re-assess and re-align ourselves by
withdrawing from our daily routine of the hustle and bustle. It is a time to get
into that secret place where we are fully present to His presence and experience
His fullness. There is a season for everything. We ought to pray that God
teaches how to move in His kairos timing.

Retreat is not about seeking God’s hands for provision, manifesting our vision
nor seeking his face for our plan. You wonder why you cannot break-through...
it is because you are not necessarily seeking a “ breakthrough”, but rather
looking for breaks-finances, new car, promotion, job, spouse, plan for your life.
The primary objective for a retreat is to seek His heart, which is our key to our
own heart’s restoration. Seeking the heart of God centers our being on prayer
and/or communing with Him in complete solitude, a relationship to find out
who He is. In Christ lives all the fullness of God. When we learn what He is
like, we see what we could be.

This private spiritual retreat points to restoring or building upon our

relationship with God. From the beginning, it was God’s divine design and He
desires it even now. When you are establishing a relationship with someone,
the first thing that we do is try to find out what that person is about, what is in
their heart. Its called intimacy. Intimacy can be difficult because it challenges
us to trust, let our guards down. We typically don’t start off a relationship
requesting things or laying out our life’s vision. We want to get to know that
person better. God wants us to know Him as we share heart to heart.

I remember being the leader of an intercessory prayer team. Praying down the
forces of darkness and breaking up witchcraft and prophesying all things said
coming to pass. One day, I prayed the following prayer:
 Lord look upon my heart, search the innermost part;
Remove all things unclean until it gleams.
Get it to a place, in a short while, where, when you see it, you
smile.

A short, yet powerful prayer.

I remember God’s response was, “ It is impossible for me to reign in your heart

until I remove the muck. You must be broken to heal.” As Dr. Agee says,
“ when you yield, God will heal.” You must be torn down so He can build.

God was saying that my heart was toxic and before he could reign there, he
must remove my stuff, the disgust, chaos, confusion, pride, jealousy, bitterness,
hate and malice, so he could put in His stuff. Much like a beautiful, palacious
building plagued with asbestos. Prior to any restorations, renovations or
renewals to take place, the toxic asbestos has to be removed with care. Much
like our spiritual retreat, asbestos removal is not a pretty situation. Once you
open up for excavation, you may find more than you anticipated.

This is why asbestos is called the hidden killer. It is a suppressed toxin that
lives within structures oftentimes hidden. Nobody knows it’s there unless a test
is done. Then it becomes evident. When we yield or retreat we come face to
face with things we have suppressed. God wants our all or nothing. There is no
gray area. There is no in-between.

As an educator, at the end of each lesson there is what we call an assessment or

test, whether it is multiple choice, essay, and/or performance based. Contingent
upon the content to be taught and learned, the assessment comes in various
formats. In the kingdom, we have tests and trials that come to mature or perfect
us, not to determine our outcome, but to show us where we come from and to
be compassionate of others in like situations.

The tests are not there to dictate to us who we are, but what is within. As an
educator, my assessments are not there to tell my students who they are, but
what they are made of, where their strength lie. God uses these sufferings to
bring us to a place of deeper fellowship, faith, and repentance. Difficult times
bring us to our knees. They remind us that we are not in control, but God is.
Prayer and reading scripture will deepen your relationship with Him as you
learn to trust His sovereign control. These hard times gives you greater clarity
of the Promise and allows us to relate to those going through tribulation.

We have grown accustomed to focusing on the assessment and not the lesson to
be learned. During the teaching of the content, if my students were to spend
time complaining and toiling over the test itself, they would miss the lesson
and fail the test. You know how the story ends; it ends with us repeating the
lesson, going around the mountain again. No more! God takes us through
challenges for our own good, not for our demise and destruction. Trials come
to make us stronger, to perfect and mature us. Knowing this we must be
mindful to focus on the lesson to be learned, the content not the assessment. If
we focus on the test, we will be a mess-of worry, frustration, anxiety, sadness,
depression and eventually fail the test. Concentrate on the lesson, that’s the
blessing. Go through like the soldier that you are and ask what it is that God
wants you to learn in all this.

Be ready to learn and not only hear, but obey and dance to the music [ac1] of the
Holy Spirit, not man. Without these experiences, obtaining wisdom is
impossible and peace does not exist. Peace is a byproduct of trusting God.
When we trust God and begin to realize why we go through, we can then shape
our own consciousness to translate all the negative that we go through into
something positive.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to

accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
(Genesis 50:20). And we know that God causes everything to work
together for the good of those who love God and are called according
to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28).

Aren’t you tired of the circuitous route through the wilderness or for some
captivity in your personal land of Egypt? We are always ready to try and get
out of taking a test or change the circumstance, but not too quick to improve
ourselves, and thus you remain in your place of Egypt or wilderness either way
you aren’t progressing. Do yourself a favor and become your best ally. Don’t
go and find yourself. Get lost! The more you lose yourself in Him, the more of
the real you that you will find. To seek God’s heart is to know Him, to know
Him is to love Him, to love Him with all your heart and all that is within you
restores you to wholeness, your true self.

Chapter 2
Pride the Hidden Killer

Once, I was bitten by this deadly insect called pride. Did you know deadly
insects are not only bothersome, but they may transmit deadly diseases such as
heartworm? Heartworm disease is caused by a parasite that lives in the blood
vessels of the lung and in the heart. It is spread by pesky insects. In some
cases, heartworm disease may be fatal and difficult to treat, but it is preventable
with monthly medication.​ Pride attacks the saving grace of Jesus which is His
blood. It tells you that you can do it all by yourself, and that it is alright to
control your own life even though you have been bought with a price. It tells
you that it is alright to follow man’s law of tradition and religion. The sin of
pride births the twins of unbelief and rebellion. Pride springs from a disbelief
of God to be what He is and a belief that you are more than what you are.

Did you know when good ground or good fertilized soil exists there is a low or
no incidence of insect infestation?

Pride is the greatest obstacle of seeking God and becoming that good soil. It
renders you hard and double minded, hot or cold. Leaning to one side or
another, never straight, crooked in the spirit. A person who is double-minded
is drawn in two completely different paths. He is not going anywhere because
his loyalty is divided and he vacillates between faith and unbelief. You don’t
trust God and He certainly can’t trust you. You are unstable in all your ways
and your spiritual walk reflects that, its hit or miss because you try to serve God
and you at the same time. The only way to counteract this pest is with the
repellant of humility, it counteracts pride. The Bible tells us to seek you first
the kingdom, not to seek after our own heart’s desires. (Proverbs 3:6). Seeking
His will means to seek after humility. We humble ourselves or lower ourselves
into obedience. Forsake all for Him.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from y ou. Draw
near to God and He will draw near to y ou. Cleanse your hands, you sinners;
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep!
Humble
Let y our laughter be turned to mourning and y our joy to gloom.
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James
4:7-10)

I’ve been guilty of playing games with God, thinking in my prideful mind that
I could out think Him. I would say things like, “ Lord, you said if I delight
myself in you that you would give me the desires of my heart.” His response
would be, “ you are not delighting yourself in me, and you are not taking
pleasure in my presence. Its all or nothing.”

The pride bug is vicious and has the tendency to cause a slow spiritual death.
Pride and impatience goes hand and hand as does humility and patience. Once
stung, pride can possibly cost you your spiritual walk. Taking your daily
medication of saturation in the presence of God in worship and Word can
prevent this.

Chapter 3
Victor or Victim

There are two types of people, those who hold themselves accountable-proactive
and those who are blamers-reactive people. I realized those two types are
simply the victors (people take responsibility and hold themselves accountable)
or the victims (blamers, they blame parents, life, the ‘man’). As Stephen
Covey says, “ response-ability the ability to choose your response.” Proactive
people (forward thinkers) recognize responsibility and act upon it. Instead of
blaming circumstances for their sit-uation or conforming to conditions, they are
transformed by the changing of their thinking. (Romans 12:2) Reactive people
are much like reactive power batteries; they are imbalanced and conform or are
affected by their surroundings and react to them. Reactive people are
thermometers, like cold blooded creatures, whatever the temperature is outside
that determines the way in which their mood swings or their temperature.
Proactive people are thermostats, they set their own life temperature gauge, and
they are atmosphere changers. Life doesn’t dictate to them, they dictate to it.
They believe that all things are possible through God. (Matthew 19:26) Both
groups of people experience disappointments, pains and extreme degrading
situations, but how they deal with each situation – either sitting idle or taking
action – defines who they are and the group where they fit.

The accountability, or responsible group, made a choice to live as victors, and

took action. They were dealt the hand of struggles – mental, sexual, or verbal
abuse, divorce, abandonment, and rejection like everyone else, but they chose to
rise above their circumstances instead drowning and wallowing in a cesspool of
muck. Playing the hand of model Godly behavior and qualities (fruit of the
spirit) as molded on His potter’s wheel.

In essence, they played with life’s deck of cards instead of allowing the cards to
play them. They realized that they were truly the captain of their ships and
controlled the flow of the waves by trusting God’s wind, the Holy Spirit. They
searched out ways to uplift, encourage, inspire, and empower in the midst of
their suffering and found peace in the eye of life’s storm. They allowed patience
to work in them and bring them to a place of maturity and wholeness so that
they could demonstrate the love of God.

The victim on the other hand chooses an entirely different path, heading to their
demise. It is not a path of reason, but a path of reason-ing to their own
understanding, ways, and complacent nature. They do not take meaningful
action because they are not proactive. They react to situations because they are
too busy rocking back and forth in anxiety. In their “ woe is poor me” chair.
Confused and all over place, they allow their thoughts to run everywhere. They
are unable to complete tasks and can’t take a moment to see the beauty.

I’m talking about me now.

Layers had come off…but there was a great need for me to go deeper and come
nearer. I had found some healing, but I was still shallow, demanding, and
controlling. Nothing was good enough, or enough, because I was prideful.
Internally I dealt with not being good enough. So no-one or no-thing would
ever be good enough. I repelled people and rebelled against God,
unknowingly. Friendships were frequently sabotaged.

I was reluctant to share my pain with anyone. I thought it was more holy to be
isolated on an island of righteousness. I never processed my emotions of being
brought low by others, so I puffed myself up. At every turn, I was on the
defense and in protective mode. I recall one day after an undesirable incident
took place saying, “ God I don’t care anymore. Whatever!” He said, “ that’s
pride, you do care and you are puffing yourself up. I never told you “ not” to
care, I told you to cast your care on me because I care for you.” (I Peter 5:7).
That day I learned how to humble myself- lower myself, trust God enough to
give the situation over to Him and process my emotions.

I used to think, “ Nobody is going to hurt me ever again.” I had to learn to let
go and trust God.

How immature, and undeveloped in my emotions I was. Those things happen

when you experience traumatic situations at a young age. You continue to grow
physically, but oftentimes, if not worked through it stunts your emotional and
mental growth.

Due to my immaturity, I became controlling and equally demanding, instead of

drawing people like Christ did, I would repel them. I had no joy and was
frequently heavy because I could never be gracious because nothing was ever
enough for me. I was constantly on the hunt to fill my inadequacies…bigger
home…greater promotion…nicer car…better husband…another college degree…
kids need to do better…the list went on and on. When I got to the top of one
mountain, I would look across and see another mountain and say, “ I must
climb that one too.”

That’s living in torment and turmoil, instead of peace and trust.

We should pray for a person to trust God because peace is a byproduct of us

trusting God. Peace comes from knowing that God is in complete control.
(Philippians 4:7) If you experience chaos, confusion, anxiety or basically have
no peace, the root issue is you don’t trust God and there possibly lies a love
problem. God’s love for us is constant and never changing. The Bible says
that “ God will keep in perfect peace all who trusts in Him, all whose thoughts
are fixed on Him!” (Isaiah 26:3 NLT). We are customarily fixated on the ones
we love.

I constantly focused inward and blinded myself from my own folly. This kind
of wasted mindset easily sets up unforgiveness in us because we have a critical
spirit and walk around with open wounds. Somebody always offends us. I had
to just get over myself and come to a crossroad where God said, “ No more
going around this same mountain. You either do or die. You either trust me or
die spiritually.”

The root again was pride. God said it is impossible to walk in the fruits of the
spirit when you don’t trust Him. How can you delight in someone you don’t
trust? How can you have strength which is a byproduct of joy when you don’t
trust, how can you love God’s people or his creation when you don’t trust the
Creator? How can you be righteous or do good when you don’t trust God?

You are not doing good, you are being good. There is a stark difference. You are
not “ being” righteous you are doing right. Your heart is not in it. It can’t be
because you don’t trust God. Therefore your trust is in your ability and you
have ulterior motives. You can’t trust Him and He can’t trust you with what He
promised. You have a superficial relationship. You will take the promise and
run.

You’re trying to run stuff now and don’t even possess the promise, so what will
happen if he gives it to you prematurely? You aren’t mature enough to handle
it. We already know that we aren’t meek…to be meek you need patience…
prideful people are impatient. Faithfulness means loyal, prideful people, don’t
trust God and cannot be loyal because they are seeking after their own will they
have ulterior motives. Don’t think you have to have lots of money to be
prideful. Pride always seeks after what it wants to do and when it wants to do
it. It is misaligned with God’s perfect will. It figures it knows what’s best.
Yep, that demon was thumping me.

God hates a proud heart. It is imperative that we allow God to examine us.
Trust God and seek Him. Again seeking after humility counterattacks pride and
allows you to do good. My daily prayer is “ Let not the foot of pride come
upon me.” (Psalms 36: 11 NLT).

What sums you up best? Do you sit idle or do you take action? Are you a
victor or victim? Do you have mindset of defeat or conqueror? Are you seeing
the manifestation of what you pray for in your life? Check your mindset. We
are what we think. A prideful mind is a haughty mind and nothing comes of it,
but destruction. (Proverbs 16:18).

Let’s get real with God in order to have a REAL–ationship with Him and not a
real–ity show of a life. When we get real with God, He becomes real-evident in
our life. God intends for us to step out so others can get through.
Chapter 4
Private Invite

The travesty of the defeated mindset of too many Christian people lies within
our churches and ministries. Allow me to indulge in a subject that is frequently
tiptoed around. I hesitate for fear of backlash because we love our Pastors, God’s
messengers. Sometimes we even embrace them more than the Creator himself.

I have admiration for the man of God, Pastor L. Myrick, whom God has
entrusted to provide me with shade and a protective umbrella from those sun
scorched days and stormy evenings. Nevertheless, God has always intended
from the beginning of time for us to have a personal relationship with Him. He
longs for the days and nights to sup with you, one on one. Recall He talked
with Adam, this occurred in the beginning of time. It was simply man-to-God,
unfiltered, unadulterated communication in its purest form.

We have to understand that it is our Creator’s desire to guide us in all truth and
knowledge and yes He can use people as intermediaries, but His desire is to
speak to us directly:

“ This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants everyone to
be saved and to understand the truth.” (I Timothy 2:3-4)

“ Call to me, and I will answer you great and mighty things, which
you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3)

In order to be successful in this type of relationship, we must believe that it is

so. That it is our God given right and God’s desire for us to receive from him
all truth. We have to believe that the Creator wants to communicate with His
creation. This is demonstrated throughout the Bible where God has revealed
himself to us time and time again.

He conversed with Adam in the first garden. He told Noah to build an ark. He
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. He promised Abraham a son. Paul heard His
voice on the way to Damascus.

Not only does he have a longing to sup with us, but He seeks those who will
listen to his voice and act upon it. The Bible tells us, “ Then he said, ‘Anyone
with ears to hear should listen and understand.’” (Mark 4:9). Unceasingly, we
are extended an invitation to hear what the Lord says to us. “ Lo, everyone who
thirsts…Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in
abundance; incline your ear and come to me, listen that you may live. (Is 55: 1-
9)
We are promised blessings if we hear and respond to God speaking to us. God
lives within us, and consistently we doubt the ability of the power of God’s
spirit to deliver due to our inability to perform. We have to activate that power
and take advantage of it in this journey.
In order to activate it, again we must believe that it is there and that God’s
divine spirit is within you as the Holy Spirit. Ernest Holmes puts it this way,
“ Each one of us is an outlet to God and an inlet to God. God is the source of
all power and we must stay plugged in to accomplish the extraordinary.” The
more into it we are the more power we will possess to accomplish His tasks.
God wants to show us more of His can do will do power, but because of fear of
success or fear of failure or simply fear, we limit God and equate Him to
ourselves in our miniscule minds.
Chapter 5
Fear and the Elephant

There is a common Western folk belief that elephants are afraid of mice. The
earliest reference to this claim is probably by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis
Historia book VIII. As translated by Philemon Holland (1601), “ Of all other
living creatures, they [elephants] cannot abide a mouse or a rat.”

Everyone has been a victim to fear one time or another. We all know how fear
feels and that it can creep into the deep crevices of our wounded souls and
present to us falsehoods. Fear immobilizes, it stunts our growth, and it holds
us hostage in the prison of our perceptions and beliefs.

Inaccuracies such as not being good enough, fear of success or failure, or fear of
the unknown are common hindrances. We fear loving for fear of being hurt or
rejected, freely giving for fear of being destitute and broke, confidence and
boldness for fear of appearing prideful, we are swayed by our shortcomings of
insecurities. The word of God says “ Such love has no fear, because perfect love
expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that
we have not fully experienced His perfect love.” (I John 4:18)

If we are afraid of the future, eternity or some punishment, we can remember

God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus. You do not have to react to fear, but be proactive
in the face of it.

Numerous zoos and zoologists have shown that elephants can be conditioned
not to react by using positive reinforcement. In the face of discouragement, you
can find courage in knowing that God loves you unconditionally.

Condition is bounded by a set of principles in the same way we are as

Christians. We are what we think we are. Our thoughts dictate our actions.
Apostle Paul instructs us to think on or condition our minds to those things
that are pure, true, moral, honorable, right, lovely, excellent, and worthy of
praise. Ask God to help you focus your mind on those things that are good and
pure. If you follow those set of criterion you are bound to overcome your fear.
Where fear exists in your life, do not deny it, embrace it, and face it by speaking
the Word of God and believing that you have received, believing is receiving.

I remember Kenneth Hagin said, “ There is a stark difference between hope and
faith and people miss their blessings because lack of this understanding.” He
said, “ people are always hoping that God hears their prayers, hoping to be
healed, hoping to have their needs met. However, hope is not faith, hope is
always future tense while faith is now or present. For example, hope says, I
believe that I will receive the answer sometime, but faith would say I receive
right now. I have it now.”
Chapter 6
The Deeper the Launch, the Greater the Catch

God wants us to overcome fear and launch out into the deep things of Him. He
continues to bless us according to the depth of the launching. God gives some
larger fish than others because they are willing to launch deeper than others.
How deep are you willing to go – deep sea oarfish (one of the most beautiful fish
species) length or simply coastal fish, that won’t profit you much, but it’s a
fish?

Your catch depends upon the depth of your dive, the measure you give so it
shall be given back to you “ what you sow you reap”. When we ask something
of God we tend to be grateful and satisfied with mere morsels, just crumbs
versus the seven course meal He intended. God is saying broaden your mind
and take the limitations off. Allow God to be God of your entire life because He
has so much more for you, and wants to give a fulfilled life.

Did you know that customarily the best catches are made in deeper depths of the
ocean and it is uncommon to catch much of anything standing on the shore?
Were you aware that deep plentiful sea fish live in dark water below the sunlit
surface? That’s how God wants us. God wants His word that is Him to be a
light to our pathway and a lamp to our feet on earth – the SONlit surface.

That’s why He is not a God of comfort nor complacency, but a God of growth
and change. He wants us to be ever evolving. He gives us tasks in the dark,
deep to navigate to the unknown that way He can lead us and we can truly walk
by faith and not by natural sight. Familiarity encourages us to be lackadaisical
and follow after tradition. It also allows us to lead ourselves or for man to be our
light. Tell yourself, familiar forget it. I take the path of the unknown things of
God, the faith walk. Its unknown to the flesh, but known to the spirit.

God illuminates our paths so that we can walk in the light He has ordained for
our lives. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will
quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the
LORD will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 58:8 NIV)

Remember God only moves in the measure of or according to our faith be it

very small or gargantuan. Then touched he their eyes, saying, according to
your faith be it unto you. (Matthew 9:29 KJV) The deeper the depth, the greater
the measure of faith, and the greater the blessing; in God’s depthness, he shows
us great and mighty things. We must go deep within ourselves through
consecration and alone time with God to launch out into that deep place in
ourselves in Him. As we do this, great and mighty exploits will follow.

You see there’s a small still inner voice that lies on the inside of us, the Holy
Spirit, and once we recognize that it is there, we must learn to do whatever it
instructs, tap into it, follow the peace. Oftentimes, the Holy Spirit speaks
through the word, but sometimes through revelatory knowledge or specific
words directly to your spirit. No matter the form of communication, be not
only a hearer, but a doer of the Word. (James 1:22)

When you do what He tells you, He’ll confirm it with His power, and that
surely will produce divine results. Believe God and take Him at his Word.
Don’t throw in the towel, don’t acknowledge defeat, hold fast to the Word of
God, you are more than a conqueror. (Romans 8:37). Put yourself in a position
that there is no going back, there is no way for you to retreat, its either sink or
swim, win or defeat, and we know there is no failure in God. The God
consensus has come out and it declares you are victorious and you win!

Don’t give up on God. He will never give up on you. Be strong and

courageous. Be courageous and bold, not afraid nor terrified because of
situations. The LORD your God goes with you [and before you]; he will never
leave you nor forsake you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)

In Napoleon Hill’s all-time classic book, Think and Grow Rich, he tells the
story “ Three Feet From Gold” about R.U. Harby. Harby’s uncle had gold
fever, so he staked his claim and started digging. After a lot of hard work, the
uncle found a vein of ore, so he covered up his find and returned home to raise
the money for the machinery that he would need to bring the ore to the surface.
They raised the money and Darby travelled with his uncle back to the site to
make their fortune. Things started well and before long, they had enough to
clear their debts. They were excited, everything from here on would be profit
and things were looking good. Then the supply of gold stopped. The vein of
ore had disappeared. They kept on digging, but found nothing. After a while,
they quit in frustration and sold their machinery to a junk man for a few hundred
dollars.

As I like to say, they didn’t cast their net deep enough. Your desire to succeed,
which is persistence, levels those mountains of adversity and despair. The seed
you plant is going to yield an increase if you don’t faint. It’s the law of nature
and spiritual. Again, we reap what we sow.

The deeper the depth, the greater the blessing.

Let’s take a look at how the story ends. After they went home in
disappointment, the astute junk man called in a mining engineer who checked
the mine and calculated that there was a vein of gold just three feet from where
Darby and his uncle had stopped digging. The junk man went on to
make millions from the mine. Darby returned home, paid back everyone who
had lent him money and was determined to learn from his mistake in giving up
too soon. He went on to become a phenomenally successful insurance
salesman, more than recouping what he would have made from the gold mine.
He learned the lesson that you need to persevere through difficulties and stay
focused if you are to become successful, satisfied and fulfilled.
Chapter 7
Circumstances Don’t Define You

Maxwell Maltz suggests don’t embrace success or strive not to be a success, in

terms of acquiring prestige symbols and wearing certain badges leads to lack of
character or neuroticism, frustration and unhappiness. Look to be success-ful.
Full of God’s joy. We are to rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering
produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces
hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-
5) These obstacles result in opportunities if you let patience have her perfect
work in you. Don’t grow weary of doing good, for in due season you will reap
a great harvest. (Galatians 6:9)

Whenever you feel like giving up on your dream, remember that you may be
just three feet from gold! Therefore, don’t throw in the towel. The next round
you will win says the Word of God! It behooves you to obey the word of the
Lord, whether Logos (written word/revelation of Jesus Christ, Bible) or Rhema
(spoken word, the divine appropriation of the written “ word”).

Recall when Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding ceremony in Cana
in Galilee. Before the miracle, Mary, the mother of Jesus had given the servants
a wise counsel; to do whatsoever the Lord Jesus instructed them to do. (John
2:5) We know the story, the Master directed the servants to fill the water pots
with water. When they had done so, He told them to draw from the pots and
serve the master of ceremony. When the man tasted the drink, he asked the
celebrant why he had kept the best wine until the end. A miracle had occurred!
When exactly did the water turn into wine? It happened when the servants
became doers of the word of God. (John 2:1-10)

As you study the ministry of the Lord Jesus, you'll find there is always a
miracle whenever anyone acts on His Word. Therefore, a key to activating the
power of God's Spirit in your circumstances is acting upon the Word. When
you decide to take steps in the light of His written or spoken Word, His divine
power enacts and enables us to lay hold on the results you desire because God’s
word is His manifestation of Himself just like our thoughts; our unspoken
words are a manifestation of our life.

The Lord took me back to the beginning in Genesis 1:2 when the spirit of the
Lord hovered over the face of the waters. When something hovers it hangs
fluttering in the air in a state of suspense. The Lord said Let there be light and
it was so. When the spirit hovers something is getting ready to take place.
Things manifest when the spirit of God takes active part in His creation as He
longs to do. This happens again through communication with Him.

We need the spirit of God to hover, to hang fluttering around us to be in that

state of suspense that the Bible talks about then “ What no eye has seen, what
no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” – the things God has
prepared for those who love him. (I Corinthians 2:9) These are the things that
He has planned to create prior to us being formed in the womb. When the spirit
hovers and God speaks things begin to happen.

His word will not come back to Him empty without accomplishing what it was
sent to do. It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD
of Heaven’s Armies. 7 Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in
Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! (Zechariah 4:6)

God took me over to the New Testament when the Holy Spirit hovered and
rested upon Jesus during his baptism. At that point He became filled with the
Holy Spirit and went around performing great works. Not because power nor by
his might, not by our will or power or clout or connections we may have, but
because of God’s unfailing, perfect Spirit, and speaking the Word as His Spirit
speaks to us. We need God’s spirit to rest upon us, to hover like it did from
the beginning of the time and as it rested upon Jesus. In John 14:12 Jesus
said, “ I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I
have done, and even greater works.”

God gives us the same authority, a power to command, through him to speak
his written word and His revealed word to you through revelatory knowledge.
Isn’t that amazing?

The Bible instructs us to speak those things that are not as though they were, as
it is written, [Abraham] a father of many nations have I made you in the
presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who give life to the dead and
calls into being that which does not exist.

In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many

nations according to that which had been spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR
DESCENDANTS BE." (Romans 4:17-18) For those that are of the like faith of
Abraham have this same power. We must simply believe.

The beauty of all this is there is no need to envy or be jealous of anyone because
there is more than enough to go around. You are fearfully and wonderfully made
through God gifting you with your own unique set of creative abilities and
talents. (Psalms 139:14) Later in the series we will discuss how to tap into
those talents. Refrain from walking in your Pastor’s light. Walk in the light
God has specifically planned for you. Be the best “ you” that you can be. No
one can beat you at being you.

In I Corinthians 13:12 the Bible says that we are seeing in “ a glass darkly”,
meaning we are not seeing the complete picture of all that He is. When the Lord
bestows upon us revelatory knowledge, He gives us a peek at one more aspect of
His character. Suddenly, our life is more exhilarating because we understand
something so awesome about God that we've not known before. To say that
there is "no revelation apart from the Bible" in this light means that God cannot
come and illuminate the Word and our understanding of it, which further means
that God does not speak to His people today.

Regardless of how the Creator chooses to reveal Himself or “ speak” to you,

remember one truth: He will never contradict His Word, and the message He
gives will always bring glory to God. The Bible warns about adding anything
to the already written, God-breathed Word of God, or accepting any other
messenger who claims to be superior to Jesus. (Revelation 22:18-19; II
Corinthians 11:4)

The direct opposite is not hearing from Him causes great distress in our
Christian walk or journey:

7Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his
voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of
temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works
forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do
always err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of
you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
– Hebrews 3:7–12

It was never intended to be man to man, but God to man because man is man,
he makes mistakes. He talks with them by His Word. (Proverbs 6:22) He talks
with them by His Spirit. (John. 14:26) This honor have all his saints. There is
nothing wrong with intermediaries, God uses them well, however they are not
to take the place of your alone time with the Father.

The Bible says “ Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely
on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:5
NLT)

In order for us to be all which God has commissioned, a byproduct of accessing

the promise, we must began to or increase in our communing with Him. He
who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil.
(Proverbs. 1:33) The church exists, in part, to oversee our spiritual growth and
change/development. It was never meant to take the place of God.
Chapter 8
Walk In His Light

We are to walk in the light in which God, not another man, has illuminated for
our path. Walk in the light as He is in the light. (I John 1:7) To walk in
something refers to a lifestyle. Walking in the light that God intended for us
can be a laborious task because at that point we must think for ourselves and
look to God, but there lies your freedom. To walk or live in the light means
that everything that is of the darkness actually drives you closer to the center of
the light, God. As Nelson Mandela stated in his book A Walk to Freedom, “ …
and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.”

We have been programmed to believe that God is a mystery and that he talks
with those of us with titles and we must sit at the feet of these and wait until
God downloads something “ deep” to them. This and the promise, by
observing the state of our communities, appears or is believed to be locked away
in an airtight container only to be opened by the very elite. My charge is to
serve those seeking to access the promise by helping them get there and tap into
their greatness. My justification is not only in the urgency of the event, but the
word of God tells us that whom He predestined He also called, and those whom
He called He also equipped and qualified. (Romans 10:30)

Once Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, "It is appalling that the most
segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday
morning." What is even more disturbing is that much has not changed in
regards to the segregation of that hour in this present day and the separation of
God’s people, particular those of African descent, from accessing the promise.

When we look across some of our churches and the communities in which they
rest, we can attest to the fact that there lies monumental suffering. Deplorable
living conditions, abject poverty, economic disparity, an abundance of single
motherhood, and criminal rates of incarceration, what we see are tragic and deep
societal woes. This is not a campaign against or delineation of the Black church
and the community at large, but in part an analysis of the enormous human
stock in man and churches when the Bible clearly states that this is a personal
walk.

Many buildings have been built, at the expense of negating to build people.
Furthermore, our ministries, as I will call them for the sake of this project,
should be an extension of our communities therefore being impactful, discerning
of the time and needs therein and working toward meeting them. The Black
Church seems to have hardly any notice that these things are evident. Perhaps
we can blame it on the fact that it is taboo to speak on social issues when the
dialogue should be primarily geared to “ winning” souls, even though the ones
that have been won are losing the race of life.

Our people have become weary in doing, waiting on the state of being; we
should be looking to the promise. They are doing the best they can whether bad
or good all while succumbing prior to the time when the blessings are due.
Devoid of urgency, lack of realization is not only sheer mockery, but a grave
sin. I was instructed to create tension in the minds of people to bring them to a
point of accessing the promise.

We tend to have a number of clichés in our churches:

“ When the praises go up, blessings come down.”

“ Plant a seed, reap a great harvest.”
“ Faith without work is dead.”

Those are all true to a degree, but if it were that simple, we wouldn’t have such
pressing issues plaguing our ministries that outnumber that of the secular;
alarming divorce rates, teenage pregnancies, lack of fathers, and again the barely
surviving single mother. Far removed from the Biblical image of God is our
perception of Him. Our concept is one of this imaginary Godfather with a wand
coming to our rescue on an as needed basis.
Furthermore, we have been accustomed to making excuses such like the man at
the pool of Bethesda in fear of losing our “ status” because fear begets excuses.
We make God to be a lot like us even though the Bible says "For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
(Isaiah 55:8) He has to constantly remind us that “ I am not a man, I am God.”

As we look closer at the story of the man at the pool we see that Jesus inquired
as to whether he wanted to get well and his response was, “ I have no one to
help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in,
someone else goes down ahead of me.” (St. John 5:7) That was a true case of
victimhood, self-pity, lack of responsibility, and no accountability for 38 years,
what bondage! He was held hostage by his own fears, which in turn
immobilized him. Jesus instructed him to rise above his situation, challenges,
circumstance, and walk. We possess that same power to conquer any obstacle
that comes our way no matter what it may be.

Does that sound familiar? Are your fears keeping you from accessing the
promise? Are you plagued with the “ can’t do” disease or walking upright in
His “ can do power”? Jesus promised us an “ abundant life”. He is that life,
and when we are in and move in Him and have our being in Him, that life is
us. We are the promise, the gift to the world. Greatness lies within you. Jesus
answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.” (John 14:6) God wants this same life to flow through you
whereas you become contagiously blessed and it transfers to all who are near
you and enter your arena. Jesus is the promise, and you in Him are too. Once
you access Him you will have the green light for all of the other promises and
will be a great blessing to everyone you associate with. When we seek the
promise, everything that comes after it is blessed.

People have asked where is it Lord? Others have taken the man at the pool of
Bethesda attitude and simply surmised it’s the devil’s fault and “ it is what it
is” in lieu of “ what it could be” based upon us BE-lieving in the promise and
BE-lieving that it did and still exists, it can and will BE.

Are we thirsty such as the lady at the well, who desperately wanted her promise
of the never-ending water? The woman said to him, “ Sir, give me this water
so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John
4:15) Are we questioning where is the promise, the Abrahamic covenant of an
abundant life that generations have preached, lectured and discussed? Perhaps a
number of us have inquired and within this series, accessing the promise, herein
lies the answer. Walk in the light, live in His Presence. He has overcome the
things of this world and so have you in Him. We are in this world, but are not
of this world. We are spirit beings. Either we walk in light or darkness. There
is no in between.
Chapter 9
The Holy Spirit

In the book Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets he says:

These are the very same words used in Isaiah 66:8; “ As soon as
Zion travailed [chuwl] she also brought forth [yalad] her
sons.” This is extremely important! What the Holy Spirit was
doing in Genesis when He “brought forth” or “gave birth to” the
earth and the world is exactly what He wants to do through our
prayers in bringing forth sons and daughters. He wants to go forth
and hover around individuals, releasing His awesome power to
convict, break bondages, bring revelation and draw them to Himself
in order to cause the new birth or new creation in them. Yes, the
Holy Spirit wants to birth through us. (132)

Maybe you’ve been in a meeting where the Spirit of the Lord began to hover
over the whole room and move in a particular way. At times God has even
done this over entire communities. In many of the classic revivals of the past,
stories are told of an individual driving close to church where God has been
moving in mighty ways and the person begins to weep, goes to the church,
walks inside and says, “ Something drew me here and I want to get saved.”

What happened? The moving or hovering of the Holy Spirit became so great
that He brooded over an entire geographical area to bring forth life. I believe
this will even happen over nations as more and more prayer is generated for the
unreached people of the earth. There has never been a time in history with the
amount of prayer that is currently being offered for the lost. The Spirit of the
Lord is being released through this intercession to hover over not only cities,
but entire nations. We will see dramatic revivals as this hovering continues and
intensifies through the prayers of the saints.

We need that hovering of the Holy Spirit today, in our lives like never before.
But when the Father sends the Advocate [helper, support] as my representative
—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of
everything I have told you. (John 14:26)

How to get the Holy Spirit to hover or rest (rule and abide within you) is an
inquiry that is frequently raised. We need the rain to come. You need to be led
by God’s spirit and He desires you to be. As we all know, the Bible very clearly
states that the sons of God are led by the Holy Spirit in this life.

“ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans
8:14) Now that we have confirmed that the Holy Spirit wants to hover, desires
to rest, rule and abide within, let’s take a look at the how, shall we?

God’s number use in the Holy Scriptures points to a specific meaning. They are
part of the infallible Word of God. This CD is a 5-part series representing
God’s grace given to us only because of His love for us. It is being released
during the fifth month of the year. The number five represents God’s grace. I
likened it unto this, the number four is representative of God’s earthly creation
under the Heavens. In ourselves, we are weak, and can’t accomplish much of
anything. When we employ God’s Spirit, we could do all things through the
spirit that dwells within us. We need the hovering of God’s spirit.

As a Pastor once explained, our four fingers are weak, number four representing
feebleness, however once we add the thumb, the fifth finger or God’s grace, all
things become possible.
Now that we know that the Holy Spirit wills and desires to lead us in this life
because the Bible now tells us so, exactly how can this happen?

The number 8 represents a new beginning. This text

represents a new lease on your spiritual life through
accessing the promise. I believe there are eight
(8) basic ways to activate the hovering, the
suspension, the cloud, the resting of the Holy Spirit
in your life that I will share. If the Bible calls
the Holy Spirit our Guide and Teacher in this life,
then this means He will attempt to communicate to all
of us. How else will we know his will and plan for
our lives?

How do we get faith? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans
10:17) The more we hear God’s Word, the more we know Him and come to
trust Him. That’s very common in earthly relationships, the more we get to
know a person they more we feel comfortable with them and trust them.

Here are eight ways to activate the hovering of the Holy Spirit:

1. Faith things first. Be proactive in your thinking. Think faith. How

can one think faith? Thinking that your God exists and His word
abides within you and that His word rings true in the midst of
unsavory circumstances is laborious, its work. However, the Bible
tells us that faith without works is dead. It’s nonexistent. I was
taught rote and memorization when it came to reciting the scripture on
faith. Faith is the things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Faith is not only to be quoted, but also acted upon, walked out and
never doubted. You can either take the road to victimhood and sit and
wallow in your circumstances. Letting life happen to you, instead of
you happening to it. You can react to every stimulus by believing the
enemy’s lies. Or you can choose to be proactive by believing that the
Holy Spirit is our personal guide and teacher in this life. We have
been taught that the first step of salvation is seeking ye first the
kingdom of God. If you don’t believe, what are you even seeking?
Over in Hebrews 11:6 it talks about it’s impossible to please God
without faith. Again we have to believe that a thing exists before you
can “ seek” and be successful in finding it. All power is within our
reach. We simply need to embrace the Spirit on the inside of us. The
Spirit can never fail. Only we can fail, if we fail to receive its offerings
 by unbelief. “ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26) “ However,
when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all
truth.” (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit comes inside of you to dwell in
order to guide us in all truth and teach us all things. The Bible says
that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. God’s spirit is on
the inside of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.
(Acts 17:28) Apostle Paul encourages them to seek God, but only
after he had invited them to believe that He existed. “ He is the God
who made the world and everything in it.” (Acts 17:24)

2. Personal relationship. We started this dialogue with your private

invite. Once the belief is established, you must consider accepting
your private invite to develop a personal relationship or connection
with the Father, not through an intermediary or “ man of God”, but a
“ direct” personal connection. At the start of any connection, the
initial connect is the official connect. The saying goes you only have
one time to make a “ first” impression. Official means position. This
connect puts you in right “ position” or standing with God. It puts
you back on the “ right-eousness” track. God is our direct power
source or supply. What a power supply does is transfer power to
electric power converters so that the converters can convert the power
to other forms of energy such as mechanical (energy associated with
motion and position), chemical, and solar.

When the work is done upon the object, that object gains energy.
The energy acquired by the objects upon which work is done is
known as mechanical energy. It is the energy you have because of
your motion or work that you have put in. Machines use
mechanical energy to do work. We are instructed that faith without
mechanical energy is dead. When operating in faith, we are using
this mechanical energy to perform the motions or work. Without
being connected or plugged into the source or believing that this
source exists, we will simply have potential energy. The potential
to do, but not doing is nothing. We see so many of our folks go to
a ministry with so much potential. We always hear, “ Sister Lou
has so much potential.” People can be useful when put into some
kind of motion.

Chemical energy is a type of potential energy, but again this energy

results with doing work as well, during a chemical reaction is
called chemical energy. The energy that results during a chemical
reaction is called chemical energy. It is the potential of a chemical
substance to undergo a transformation through a chemical reaction.
The Bible tells us to be ye transformed by the renewal or restoration
of your mind. How do we restore our minds? Our life is a direct
correlation of our thoughts meaning our thoughts dictate our
actions. We are technically walking thoughts. You want a better
life, change your mind and you change your life. Read the Word
and begin to act upon it. Therefore, if we want to act like Christ,
we must think like Him. Connecting and staying connected with
the power source, seeking that source out to stay connected “ in
whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col.
2:3) One is that we will come to “ the full knowledge of the mystery
of God, both of the Father and of Christ.” (v. 2)

Isaiah tells us that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. (Is. 55:8)
That is due in part to our paradigm our beliefs that were formed out
of life experiences, negative parents or adults, misfits, abuses and so
forth.

How do we obtain the mind of Christ? Stay connected by thinking

on the things that are true, “ Whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such
things.” Included in the list are things that are “ true.” (Philippians
4:8)

Studying the word of God, spending time in His presence for his
Rhema.

Solar energy, energy from the Sun and the Son of God are the
cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source.

Come unto Him all that are heavy laden and He will give you the
rest that you so desire. A function of the Holy Spirit is rest. In
order for you to function in a thing, you must first inhabit it. He is
saying to you come to me & I will give you my Spirit. Being an
educator by trade I wanted to point out that righteousness is a noun,
therefore it is a thing, not a verb which is an action word. The
Bible clearly tells us that righteousness is not something we must
act upon or do. It is something that we must receive by our
believing or faith. “ For if by one man’s man [the fall, Adam]
offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life
by one, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17) The Bible tells us to come
boldly before the throne of God, so that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Assuring us that Jesus paid the price for us and we can come before
him without a sense of guilt or blame. Righteousness is not how
we act. It’s a gift from God.

The righteousness from God is the joy of salvation King David

longed for in Psalms 51 when he says to RESTORE onto me Lord
the joy of your salvation. We are being set free no longer bound by
our personal Egypt experience. Psalms 118:15 says, “ The voice of
rejoicing and salvation [deliverance] is in the tabernacles, [the
dwellings, our temple which is us] of the righteous.” Our salvation
is tied within our right standing with the Father.

The invitation has been extended. The choice is yours. You have a
free will to choose to accept or deny. God made it this way because
he wanted us to love Him as a conscious act like in any
 relationship, not out of fear tactics, coercion, or manipulation, but
simply out of love. We know that with the right to choose, came
the right to choose the wrong thing i.e. the fall of man. By
choosing the latter man lost his “ righteousness” or right track until
our sovereign God sent Jesus to redeem us all. There is no
redemption without the shedding of blood. (Genesis 1:26, Genesis
3)

You have the right or freedom to choose the place of rest or

damnation. A place of rest is a place of restoration. It’s a place free
from anxieties, fears of rejection, loss and failure. Fear has a death
grip and within our churches has caused grave immobilization.
However, restoration is a place where you remain God confidence,
God conscious, God trusting, and a place of action. Accepting this
invitation, you will then be RESTORED to your original position
of right standing with the Creator. The Bible says, “ And all of this
is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.
And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” (II
Corinthians 3:18) You must make a direct personal connection if
any true fellowship is to occur. The objective is going to be
working in Him as He works through you. Apostle Paul writes
“ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (II Corinthians
13:14) “ Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any
comfort of love, if any true fellowship of the Spirit …” (Philippians
2:1) These two verses let us know that we have permission to have
direct fellowship and direct communication with the Holy Spirit.

3. Repent. The Greek word for repent is “ metanoeo” which means

literally: “ change one’s mind.” In layman terms, it means to do an
about face, to make a radical turn from one way of life to another.
The Hebrew word for repent means “ to turn”, to cause to move
around so as to affect a desired end as of unlocking or opening. An
outward change is a byproduct of this type of true Godly sorrowful
repentance. It opens the way to enter God’s heart and unlocks us to
allow God’s spirit to hover in our heart in order to restore you.

When Jesus sent forth the twelve and the seventy messengers to
proclaim the good news of the kingdom of heaven, He commanded
them to preach repentance (Luke 24:47; Mark 6:12), a turning away
from the old into the new in an effort to go another direction to get
on the right path.

The importance given to the subject of repentance in the Scriptures

can hardly be overemphasized. John the Baptist began his public
ministry, as did Jesus also, with the call to repentance upon his
lips. (Matt.3:1, 2; 4:17) Foremost in the preaching of the apostles
was the doctrine of repentance; Peter, (Acts 2:38); Paul, (Acts
20:21). The burden of the heart of God, and His one command to
all men everywhere, is that they should repent. (II Pet.3:9; Acts
17:30) Indeed, failure on the part of man to heed God's call to
repentance means that he shall utterly perish. (Luke 13:3) Repent is
an act of submission, humbling oneself. It involves not lip service,
but heart service, a change of heart. Turning away from (sin) and
turning towards righteousness–God’s right order and way. If my
people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,
he will heal you from all the hurts in your life, abandonment,
rejection, fear, abuse, heartbrokenness. After all the clutter and
debris is gone, it sets the tone to allow God to enter in. Just like
there is no redemption without the sacrifice of blood. There is no
salvation without repentance or turning away. (II Corin. 7:10) II
Peter 3:9 and Romans 2:4 confirm that it is the goodness of God
that leads us to repentance. Not our lip service or good works that
we often think puts us in right standing with God and “ go to
heaven”, as we stated before, righteousness is not something we do
or a state of being, it is a gift. The Bible tells us it’s not our works
that puts us in right standing before God or righteousness, nothing
we can do is ever good enough to warrant a ‘right” standing with
 God.

The grace that saves is the free, undeserved goodness and favor of
God; and he saves, not by the works of the law, but through faith in
Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:9 Matthew Henry) We are justified
through faith. That’s with any true relationship. Who wants
someone to begin to mend a relationship by simply doing works or
buying them gifts and using lip service to say I love you, when
their heart is not totally turned toward that person, their heart isn’t
there. Gifts have their place and they are nice, but we would be
more apt to show grace to that individual if their heart is right or is
turned toward us. We want all or nothing right. So does our Lord
and Savior, the Bible says that God wants us to be either hot or
cold not lukewarm or occasional.

4. Trust. Our spiritual foundation, once we believe that God exists, is

to simply trust Him, rely on Him-rest on Him. There are four key
components to a healthy relationship, with them you have a
blossoming flower, and without them you have a weltering plant.
The four key must-haves as stated in Psalms 37:3–5 is trust, doing
good, delightfulness and commitment. Distrust leads to stagnation in
a relationship. It is wise to do good. Where there is no delight it
causes a lack of motivation or responsibility, and accountability. No
commitment, we all know what this spells, disaster, no respect, no
beauty, no unity comes from this plant because it causes division. We
will discuss delight and commitment later on. Trust is believing that
someone or something is trustworthy, reliable, good, honest and
effective. A trust is an arrangement or an agreement of sort in which
someone’s land is legally held or managed by someone else or by an
organization for usually a set period of time. We are to trust God and
make Him our trust as he holds our “ trust”, our interest for our
benefit. He does a great job with managing or directing our lives. He
is the author and finisher of our faith as the Bible tells us. Trusting
God is all for the bigger picture, it’s all for our benefit. When we
trust Him there is no need to fear. He has our best interest in mind.
 No good thing will He withhold from us. Trust God because of who
He is. Life can be tough. It comes with obstacles of challenging
relationships, abuse, financial difficulties, lack, pride, and greed, but
trust God and know throughout the Bible Jesus overcame each and
every one of our enemies, and you will too. (II Chronicles 20:22) As
they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the
men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah,
and they were defeated. verse 7, “ Did Thou not, O our God, drive out
the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and give it to the
descendants of Abraham Thy friend forever?” It’s not our battle, it is
God’s battle and we win. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principles and all the power of the enemy and we win. We
must trust God.

5. Seek wisdom. Real wisdom restores us back to the Lord.

The LORD says,

“ Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;

my love will know no bounds,
for my anger will be gone forever.
5 I will be to Israel
like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
it will send roots deep into the soil
like the cedars in Lebanon.
6 Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,

as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.

7 My people will again live under my shade.

They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.

They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.
– Hosea 14:4–7

When God restores you, you will be a blessing to others, not

blessed only unto yourself.
“ Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches,
wealth, or honor, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked
long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that
thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king:
Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee
riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had
that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the
like.” (II Chronicles 1: 11-12)

Solomon was given the wisdom like no king before or after him
because he asked for wisdom to lead God’s people how God
ordained. With that wisdom, God also granted Solomon many
other things that many people have desired. Solomon asked for the
best, and also received all the rest. Please do not misunderstand me,
knowledge is valuable in its own right, it is important. The Bible
says people perish because of the lack of it.

Therefore study to show yourself approved [affirmed] and worthy of

the calling. (II Tim 2:15) Did you know once you receive the Holy
Spirit you receive God’s word? It is already in you. We are
studying to affirm it or approve it, so we can confirm what is on the
inside of us. We need to know what is on the inside of us so we
study it, so we can speak it. In the book of John it says, “ In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.” They are all separate, but at the same time, they
are all one, just as when you breathe and you speak, your words can
be one with you.

Wisdom is related to the word skill in the Old Testament. For

example, the Bible says that God gave the spirit of wisdom to those
who built the tabernacle so they could do the job. Some translations
even say that God gave them the spirit of skill, or that God gave
them skill to build the tabernacle.

So the words wisdom and skill are related. What does that mean to
 us? It means that wise living is living skillfully, living to the
optimum. Wise living is extracting the most out of life. You
become like an artist, a practitioner, someone who lives life with
skill.

We need to put our lives together this way. We need to learn to live
skillfully, which is the product of the Holy Spirit.

6. Do Good. (Psalms 37:3) Always find yourself in an act of

benevolence. It keeps down confusion, doubt, and fear. It keeps our
mind on God. Again that is a lifestyle of worship. “ My old self has
been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NLT) We do
good, not as a qualifier to enter heaven, but as an ongoing awareness
of the realness of the Godhead that is ever present. The Holy Spirit
will hover and be ready to create. Not by my might, not by power,
but by God’s spirit. The “ do good” trait makes for any healthy
relationship. Always look out for the other person’s best interest.
Seeking out ways to please them through reverence and respect.
Doing good by being a magnet of love, displaying acceptance,
collaboration, forgiveness, gentleness, thoughtfulness, peace, and
harmony.

7. Delight. Take joy in being in that person’s presence. Take pleasure in

what pleases God without an ulterior motive. Taking delight in the
Lord is a byproduct of trusting God. It means that he is reigning in
our hearts and our hearts are filled with His peace. At this point, He
can give us the desires of our hearts because our desires become like
His desires, spiritual in nature. When we choose to delight ourselves
in Him, He will go above and beyond what we request.

8. Commit. Commit your ways unto Him. When we obligate ourselves

to God, He is then obligated to bring it to pass. This goes back to
trusting God. Commitment starts in the heart.
Selflessness is vital to all relationships. These eight keys on the hovering of
the Holy Spirit first and foremost are founded on the principle of loving God.
Chapter 10

A Purposeful God

He does have a plan for our life. For I know the

plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans
for good and not for disaster, to give you a future
and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

I remember God told me, since I was 18 years old, He

had granted me my permissive will. I wanted to
attend and graduate from a Big Ten University, done.
I wanted to obtain my secondary degree at a small
private university, done. I wanted to work downtown
in a large metropolitan city, granted. I wanted to
open my own charter school, done. All those
accomplishments involved my will or things God
permitted or allowed me to do, but were not
necessarily on his “perfect” agenda for my life.

Our God is a mission oriented God, one who has us on

earth to fulfill a particular God ordained purpose.
The Bible says that God knew us before the foundation
of the world. (Jeremiah 1:5) In other words, our
destiny has been predestined. In saying that, we are
not here by accident to be wandering around aimlessly
without direction or a compass. God is the road map
and the Holy Spirit, our helper, is our compass. We
actively seek after God and the Holy Spirit is there
to bring the “life plan” to fruition, as the Bible
tells us it is not by our might, not by power, but by
God’s spirit. We are to trust God, lean not to our
own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him
and He will direct our path. (Proverbs 3:5–7)

The truth of the matter is that trust does not lie in

our ability to do what has been planned or
commissioned or promised, but in or through God
Spirit’s ability to make good on what has been
planned and promised. Look at it this way, our fear
of inability should not affect our faith in God’s
ability to deliver. Don’t get me wrong, God still
blessed my permissive will in self, but I didn’t read
the fine print. Our permissive will, although
allowable by God, excludes life’s full package, the
abundant life, fullness of God, which is our promise,
that only comes with the perfect will. Remember the
Holy Spirit will not go against your will. After God
had shown me all that he had done for me in the
permissive will state, he extended a private
invitation to come out of the familiar, the place of
comfort and complacency, my personal Egypt experience
and take a journey with him into His perfect will to
allow for the hovering of the spirit to create.

God wants us to upgrade, to have his best and our

permissive will is second fiddle. It’s survival
mode. He said in His will you will thrive,
experience the fullness of joy, an abundant life and
your fulfilled purpose. You don’t have to fake it to
make it or be merely surviving paycheck to paycheck.
That’s Egypt, that’s bondage. We must come out of
the survival mode. To survive is to merely exist,
have just enough or in some cases not enough, barely
making ends meet, we are just there just taking up
space.

Often, your circumstance seems so great that you lose

hope such as the Israelites did in Egypt or when
Joshua sent out the spies. They were defeated
before the war had even begun because they had
allowed themselves to believe that defeat was their
lot or portion. I said allowed because it was a
choice. Be not moved by your circumstances, move out
in faith, speaking the word of God, thinking and
acting as if you believe that you have received what
you have prayed about. We have the God given ability
and power to control our thoughts unlike any other
living creature. The Bible says, “Whatever a man
thinketh so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

If you think you are broke, then it is highly likely

that you will be poverty stricken. As Ernest Holmes
says, “Life is a mirror and it will reflect back to
the thinker what he thinks into it.” I remember
before Michael Jackson had the biggest selling album
of all time, he wrote his desire on the mirror.
People thought it was a bit odd, but when he looked
at his reflection he saw himself along with his
desire reflecting back at him. He thought himself to
have the biggest selling album of all time, and he
did and still does.

Likewise, if you think you will fail, chances are you

will. "Man is just what he thinks himself to be...
He will attract to himself, what he thinks most
about. He can learn to govern his own destiny when
he learns to control his thoughts,” says Ernest
Holmes. You can think yourself out of poverty. It
takes the same amount of effort or thought energy to
be broke or live in lack, as it does to walk in
wholeness and live in abundance. I remember a famous
athlete once said that as a youth his body lived in
the projects, but his mind lived in a mansion. His
body eventually caught up with his thoughts. I’m
sure as God looked upon the face of the deep and His
spirit hovered over He thought, the athlete had it on
his mind what he desired to create, and then spoke
that thing that didn’t exist into existence with the
same authority given to all of us. That is a
resurrection of life, giving power or anointing.

He has a plan, a plan for our life. (Jeremiah 29:11)

“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 or expected in.
God thought about you.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were
born I set you apart. You have a planned purpose.
God’s thoughts preceded action. Same with us, our
mind dictates our actions.
Chapter 11

You Are What You Think

TRULY, “thoughts are things” and powerful things at

that, “…when they are mixed with definiteness of
purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their
translation into riches, or other material objects,”
says Edwin Barnes. There is no research that exists
that indicates people from certain communities;
families and ethnicities are doomed to failure and
impoverished conditions, just like there is no
evidence to support the other extreme of riches is
only for the affluent. However, there are sets of
principles to follow in order to access the promise
of an abundant life which one is seeking God with all
your heart that by default will restore you into
right standing with Him. (Jeremiah 29:13–14) We were
not created to succumb or be victims of our
circumstances, it is a choice. Obstacles come to be
conquered. The Word of God tells us that we are more
than a conqueror in Him. (Romans 8:37) Whatever we
are faced with we can overcome. God would not put
more on us than we can bear. What kind of Father
would do that?
Choose life and live more abundantly. When we do
embrace victimization, at this point we possess a
defeated mindset and become a victim of our
circumstance versus a victor to chance. Our inner
attitude should not reflect our outer circumstance.
Apostle Paul was full of joy because he knew that no
matter what happened to him at the end of the day,
God was with him. (Philippians 4:4)

I recall a close friend that’s been saying for the

last 40 years that they deal with rejection. I
stated, “no, you are not dealing with it, you are
simply choosing to live with it.” Bruce Barton
states, “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved
except by those who dared believe that something
inside them was superior to circumstance.” We must
believe that God’s spirit lives on the inside of us
and that there is no failure in Him.

In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl,

has an in depth dialogue in regard to this mindset.
Having lived through the Nazi concentration camps,
Frankl noticed that there was a distinct difference
between those who were able to survive (and sometimes
even thrive) during that experience and those who
gave up. This was the ability to be proactive or
deciding [choosing] how they were going to respond to
the ordeal. The Nazis may have been able to take
their liberty away, but the freedom of how they would
respond would always remain with them.
The same with us in our Egypt experience, we can engage in one or two acts,
we gaze at the sit-u-ACTION, and SIT idly wallowing in woe and let life
happen. We take on the whatever blaming attitude – blaming our neighborhood,
parents, jobs, spouse, children – or we can TAKE ACTION by forcibly
speaking (in spite of adversity) and believing the word of God. (Matthew
11:12)

The Egyptians “ sat” for 400 years until they humbled themselves, prayed,
sought God’s with all their heart (not hands or lip service), and turned from
their wicked ways (repented). He heard from heaven and forgave their sins and
restored them. God wants to restore you today. Ask God to rend your heart.
To break up the fallow ground, break your heart. (Hosea 10:12). Then the
LORD told him, "I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I
have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am
aware of their suffering. (Exodus 3:7)

Egypt was a place that God used to refine his people and reproduce to prepare
them for their promise land. “ But the more they afflicted them, the more they
multiplied and grew” Exodus1:12 The place where we are most afflicted, God
uses this to work in us patience, endurance and perseverance for our journey
ahead. This is preparation for bearing our heavy cross or this is part of our cross
to bear.

People become afraid of your Egypt experience because they know the only place
that you can go is onward and upward. The Bible tells us that the Egyptian
enemies became afraid as they grew mighty. All the while, the Israelites
perceived it to be a place of physical slavery, but it was more or less mental
bondage. Your outlook rests upon how you view the situation. The Bible
says, joy comes in the morning, but that’s when you decide to wake up.

I remember God showed me an analogy. Did you know that eye problems might
indicate an unhealthy liver? According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
there is a strong correlation between the health of your liver and the health of
your eyes. Improving the health of your liver can often help to prevent or
ameliorate eye conditions.

According to TCM, liver blood deficiency can cause problems such as blurry
vision and other vision problems like short-sightedness (myopia), dry eyes or
floaters in the eyes. Excess liver heat can cause painful, burning and bloodshot
eyes.

According to Western medicine, the liver is the main cleanser and filter of your
bloodstream. Every toxic substance that enters your body eventually ends up in
your liver, which attempts to break it down and prepare it for excretion. If your
liver health is compromised, you will have a greater quantity of toxins in your
bloodstream, causing free radical damage. The delicate retina and macula in the
eyes are particularly vulnerable to free radical damage, and this can have a
devastating effect on vision. Jesus is our spiritual liver. (Ephesians 5:26)

God likened that to us; oftentimes in the spirit realm our vision is impaired
from lack of knowledge which births unbelief, such as the blind man in Mark
chapter 8. Jesus asked Him what do you see and he responded I see men that
look like trees.

I ask you today what do you see? Do you see broken dysfunctional homes or
peaceful unified marriages? Do you see the working poor struggling or people
blessed beyond measure flourishing? Do you see dissension or harmony?
When we are cluttered, flustered, and filled with all sorts of toxins, such as
broken hearts, failed marriages, unhealthy relationships, pride or disobedience,
our ability to see becomes unclear, therefore our life is chaotic. Though life can
be difficult, it is easy to become sidetracked and discouraged when faced with
uncertainty and adversity, but we must check our vision, our perspective. What
do you see?

We surely need God’s spirit to hover. This was the man’s new beginning, his
being able to understand, to “ get it.” God has shared that this is your new
beginning, the time to restore you to your original make-up prior to any of these
damaging forces. Mark records the partial healing of the blind man to illustrate
Jesus healing of his disciples’ partial understanding.
Though the disciples saw that Jesus is the Christ, they saw only in part.
When we are faced with adversity, we must look at Jesus as the Christ, but not
the Christ of our expectations. Sounds familiar. As we read with the liver,
cleansing of the toxins in the bloodstream allows for this healing to take place
so we can see clearly and come into the full knowledge of God. It is the means
by which Jesus washes us (Rev. 1:5; 7:14)

Did you know when if you go to the doctor and say you are ill the first thing
they do is check your blood? Everything originates and ends with the blood.
When a child is birthed there is a shedding of blood. It gives life to those who
consume it (John 6:53).

There is no redemption without the shedding of blood. It redeems us (Eph.

1:7; I Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 5:9). The blood in our natural bodies is our lifeline
and must be free from toxins in order for us to live a full, vibrant life. With low
flow or unhealthy blood our lives don’t thrive and we barely make it. It
cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb. 9:14)
Jesus’ is our lifeline, without Him we are nothing and in Him we are
everything.

We can get muddled sometime, but we can remove those toxins with the word
of God which is likened to water, we remove toxins from our natural body with
water as well.

Mark sets out to engage in a two-part healing of the blind man (8:22–26) which
parlays into Jesus' rebuke of the disciples for their lack of understanding (8:14–
21) and Jesus' direct question to his disciples, "Who do you say that I am" to
which Peter rightly responds, "You are the Christ." (8:27–30) Jesus rebukes
disciples for lack understanding. "Do you have eyes but fail to see...?" (8:14–
21)

In Egypt, the Israelites could not see past their circumstances to know that God
allowed this to occur. God again is a purposeful God and He is always in
control. His ways are not our ways, nor is His thoughts our thoughts. He
knew the plan for their lives, which was to take His people to a place of
promise, abundance and fulfillment, and also he kept the road map, how they
should get there, who should go and when.

During our trials we are to consider it pure joy whenever we are faced with
them because we know that the testing of our faith produces perseverance, which
equals greater faith. We are to let perseverance finish its work so that we may
be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:24) More often than
not, including myself in the past, we begin to murmur and complain, “ Lord
why me?” He wants to bring you back to Him, to restore you. Yes, you may
be in church or God’s people like the Israelites, but they were still in bondage.

I was going to church, serving as a powerful intercessor, speaking prophetically

and just being a go-getter, and God revealed to me that I was in an Egypt
experience and that he wanted to restore me. I was dealing with some deep
seeded personal challenges, not being a victim, but having a victim mentality, a
defeated mindset; there is a difference between being a victim and a victim
mentality. Psychology today defines a victim mentality as having a “ poor me”
attitude, refusing to take responsibility for your own actions, and blaming other
people or situations for our unhappiness.

I needed rescuing and I resisted help. I answered every suggestion with “ Yes,
but…” I didn’t think I was guilty of blaming people, I took responsibility for
my actions, however I was always on the defense, I was thinking somebody had
it out for me instead of the victorious God mindset of everything is provided as
I need, as I seek. I am given the desires of my heart as I delight. This mindset
grew out of past hurts and disappointments. Just about anything can throw us
into this world of frustration. (I Peter 4:8)

We must continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude
of sins. Jesus truly loves us and understands what we go through. You are
never alone. By not moving or going forward at all – progressing – we are
allowing the circumstances or outside stimuli get the best of us instead of God
getting our best. Have faith in Him, which is the only way to please him.
Giving God our best is the highest form of worship.
You can do it because God said you can. Don’t think too highly of yourself-
pride neither to low-low self-esteem, yet another form of pride. (Romans 12:3)
With pride we are headed for a fall, destruction. Possessing low self-esteem you
have already fallen in a slump because you have allowed it to hinder the flow of
God’s spirit in your life and receiving what He has in store for you. Remember
in the book of Numbers the spies were sent out and the Israelites saw
themselves as grasshoppers and their enemies as giants. (Numbers 13:33)

How many giants do you encounter on a daily basis: securing a car or home
loan, relationship issues, children tuition and/or sport fees, mounting bills?
Due to the fact that the Israelites saw themselves so low or small, immediately
fear set in, which inhibited their progress or growth. Fear is an immobilizer. It
stops you dead in your tracks. Ask yourself why you didn’t go after that job,
start your business, finish school? Was it fear of success or fear of failure? God
told us that we are lenders and not borrowers, we are the head and not the tail,
we are above and not beneath and no good thing will he withhold from us. He
promised to supply our every need, that those things will be added when we
seek after Him. You are what you think you are. The Israelites did not think
that they were valuable as God saw them to be, that’s low self-esteem, another
form of pride-one of our greatest hindrances. You may think pride involves the
person that boasts, brags, and is over-confident. This is true. That is a person
of low self-worth. They have to puff themselves up because they allowed
someone to bring them low. A person with a healthy outlook about themselves
doesn’t have anything to prove.

Excessive complaining, nothing is ever good enough, overly defensive and

having a critical spirit are all signs of low self-esteem. Motivation is intrinsic,
it comes from within, the weaker the self-esteem, the weaker the drive. You
withdraw socially because you feel isolated and unloved. You do not open up to
people freely because you are so sensitive that you get hurt easily.

All areas of your life are affected when you have low self-esteem. Everyone feels
a little inferior at times but when it becomes intense and lingers, there is a
problem. This didn’t happen overnight, it comes after years and years of layers
of hurt and disappointment. Moving into the secret place of retreat with God is
key. Eating his Word to change your mind set and thought patterns about who
you are is the best remedy. Therefore, humility is essential.

When you are suffering from low self-esteem, you have to begin with your
thinking, you are what you think are. Change your mindset; come to the place
where you begin to know God and you will find the greatness, the promise that
lies within you. Change your mindset, change your life. God is your shepherd,
your strength and you are renewed daily; walk therein. (Psalms 23)
Chapter 12

Water Level

What is your water level? Driving in my late model Mercedes one summer
morning the warning light came on the dash and read check windshield washer
pump or reservoir defective. Something was wrong with my windshield washer
pump. When I came to a stop, I grabbed the car’s manual. It read that the
windshield washer pump in a car's windshield wiping system moves washer
fluid from a reservoir through hoses. If clogged the fluid is unable to flow to
the surface and clean the windshield.

The washer fluid helps windshield wipers remove rain, dirt, or other objects
that can interfere with a driver's visibility much like God’s word cleanses us.
The Lord showed me this is us more oftentimes than not in our walk with
Him, in our dry places our water level is low or we are clogged. His will for
those who “ believe” is to have rivers of living waters flow from within their
hearts. (John 7:38) Rivers denote plentious and consistency. This will
produce spiritual fruit in due season-good actions, sound temperament, which
by default will manifest in the natural realm as tangible blessings.

When we are in a dry place our hearts are stony and the Bible refers to them as
fallow ground. If we are not seeing the fruit of the Spirit evident in our lives,
there is definitely a clog in the line and the situation must be troubleshooted
immediately. This is a potentially hazardous situation because it impairs our
ability to see. Such as if the washer fluid is not being sent out when activated
in our cars there may be a clog in the line and we have a hard time finding or
driving to our destination.

God being our spiritual mechanic instructs us to troubleshoot, check the line,
and check the connection. If dirt has sunk to the bottom of the reservoir of the
car, the reservoir is removed from the car and cleaned in the inside. If unbelief
exists in the reservoir of our hearts, you must ask God to purify your hearts
because you are double minded, unstable in all your ways, and should expect
nothing from Him. (James 1:8, 4:8) In more extreme or severe cases the
reservoir needs to be replaced. In those situations, we must ask God to create in
us a clean heart and renew the right kind of spirit in us. (Psalms 51:10)
Reconnect the necessary wires and hoses when reinstalling the reservoir.

In some cases, we try to repair it ourselves, without counsel or expert advice, by

adding a small amount of fluid, it’s not enough to thoroughly cleanse and will
cause even more damage. Haven’t you seen when a small amount of fluid
squirts onto the windshield and it just smears the dirt, grime, and insects that
are already on there? When we try to put in a little of the Word of God and
hold onto to our dirt-pride which causes unbelief and not trusting God, we make
more of a mess of things. We are merely warm, double minded, and
untrustworthy for what we are called into. God cannot use us and he doesn’t
want to use us in this state. He said that he will spew us out of His mouth.
(Revelation 3:16) We need the rivers of water to break up the fallow ground of
our hearts. Charles Finney puts it this way:

To break up the fallow ground means to break up your heart, to prepare your
mind to bring forth fruit unto God. The fruit represents the actions and
affections of those who receive it. Sometimes our hearts get matted down, hard
and dry, and all run to waste, being useless, until there is no such thing as
getting fruit from them until they are broken , mellowed, and fitted to receive
the Word of God. It will do not good to preach to you while your
heart is in this hardened state. The farmer might just as well sow his grain on
the rock. It will bring forth no fruit. A preacher may wear out his life and do
very little good, while there are so many stony-ground hearers who have never
had their fallow ground broken up.

I remember we rented out our family home. The renters neglected a section of
the huge backyard. Each season they would simply cut the portion of the lawn
that they used while the other section became overgrown with troublesome
weeds. One day my husband was in the backyard attempting to uproot these
pesky plants. He came to this stubborn, deep rooted weed that had been there
for a number of years. He pulled so hard, that he fell back and almost injured
himself.

This weed was rooted and grounded in rock hard soil. My husband decided to
get a pitcher of water. He poured a little on there, and pulled. Nothing
happened. He poured a little more, and created a messy mud pile, and again
pulled to no avail. He went and got the garden hose and began to flood the
ground with water. He barely pulled and that pesky weed began to float to the
top and out of the ground. We need rivers of living water so that we can purge
our heart from those pesky familiar weeds that makes us fall and could possibly
be injurious to us. Check your water level. Check your connection. You will
produce fruit in due season.
Chapter 13

The Altar

Have you been praying for something and you know that it is God’s will and it
has yet to manifest? Do you feel that something is missing in your walk with
God? God intends for us to walk in His presence at all times, not only in the
physical sanctuary. He wants our hearts to be His sanctuary. Have you ever
wondered why someone in your church or family seems to have so much
success in their ministry? Sometimes you find yourself becoming envious or
even jealous because you wish you were them. You know that deep down in
your gut that you are the promise, the gift to the world, that greatness lies
within you, but for whatever reason, possibly fear, you deny the power. (2
Timothy 3:5)

You are consistently watching the person at church that lays hands on the sick
and they recover or flow in the prophetic hoping that would be you someday.
You sum it up as God gave them something that he didn’t give you instead of
learning how to activate and/or tap into your power source by creating the same
open heaven that they operate under.

An open heaven simply means heaven is open for you, God is near and heaven
will be manifest in the natural “ as it is in heaven”. You are literally bringing
heaven down to earth. How does that happen? I remember God showed me a
vision where Jesus was standing on top of and in the middle of this gargantuan
body of water with His hand reached out to me requesting that I come nearer. I
had to trust Him, I had to believe, and I had to launch out into the deep so that
I could do the greater works. He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my
Father. (John 14:12)

Access to God, the Promise, coming near to Him has always been through an
altar. In the Old Testament an altar was a specific place or location that people
traveled to in order to offer sacrifices. He moved from there to the mountain east
of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east;
there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. (Genesis
12:8) In modern times the altar is our heart. We don’t tap into God by doing
good contingent upon the world standards, but God statutes. In order to operate
under an open heaven, we must operate from our heart. We must fervently pray
to God because prayer opens up heaven.

When Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit He went about doing good based
upon scriptural, Godly standards and healed the oppressed because God was
with Him. (Acts 10:38) The Holy Ghost causes us to hear God’s voice with
clarity. Did you know that they Holy Spirit is our helper and that we cannot
have an effective Christian walk without it? We can recite the “ sinner’s” prayer
a million times, but we must have the keeper-Holy Spirit.

Our altar is our heart, where His Spirit dwells, we commune with Him, seek
His guidance and direction, and have His word hidden. An altar in scripture
indicates approach to God, or communion with Him, and the altar was often the
place of sacrifice, teaching us that our approach to God, and communion with
Him, is based upon the one great sacrifice of Christ, our promise, to which all
the sacrifices of the Old Testament point toward. Before any altar is seen,
approach to God is shown to be by sacrifice, sacrificing ourselves, holy and
acceptable to Him. Again, we must go into the place of retreat, the place of
intimacy, the place of trust…it’s a test of our love for Him. If we love Him we
will obey Him.
You may be living in bondage much like the Israelites, but God wants to restore
you. The first step in that restoration is freedom within us. The world tells us
to use stumbling blocks as stepping-stones. God chooses to take those
stumbling blocks of life –past hurts, disappointments, abuse, etc. – and wipe
the slate clean so that he can rebuild on a solid foundation, that’s true
restoration. “ Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a
person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents
and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse
because it is built on bedrock.” (Matthew 7:24–25)

I remember praying for someone and asking God to heal them. He told me
much like a car prior to being restored has to go through a process of preparation
and so do we. On the car, you have to smooth out the rough places to create a
surface perfectly smooth and free from as many flaws as possible so that the
“ restored” or new coat can adhere-or hold fast or maintain loyalty. No new
wine in old wine vessels. If God would not clean us up first, then we would be
tempted to go back to our old ways. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he
would not bring them by the way of the Philistines, lest they should
repent, when they saw war, and return to Egypt, bondage. (Matthew Henry).
Prior to restoration we gravitate to the familiar, we are comfortable with being
comfortable. Much like people that had prior addictions, they have stay away
from the former environments, the familiar.
He has to massage our heart. They actually call it, in the medical arena, a
cardiac massage. This is done when someone’s heart is dangerously out of
rhythm or it has stopped. This is an emergency situation done by human
hands. God told me that he massages our hearts with spiritual hands so that
our hearts would be free from impurities (bitterness, malice, hate, rejection,
unbelief) and that we could be loyal to Him. I thought that was awesome
because my prayer was, “ Lord remove anything that may be hindering me from
opening my whole heart to you and giving you my all for the sake of
restoration.”

Those are things that trip us up and again cause that mentality of victimhood,
but God desires us to walk straight. “ I will go before thee, and make the [level
mountains] crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and
cut in sunder the bars of iron.” (Isaiah 45:2)
Giving God our best is surrendering our all to Him. Making our bodies that
living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. (Romans12:1) Giving God our best
is believing. (John 16:33) says “ I have told you these things, so that in me
you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world." Giving God our best is trusting him enough to love
[HIM] with all your heart, and all your soul, and your entire mind. (Matthew
22:37) Hold God to His living word because it is truth. It is the same with
my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I
want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. (Isaiah 55:11)
Circumstances don’t come to break us, they come to make us. Sound God
conscious decisions or judgment stemming from God confidence eventually
produce fruit in due season. God’s fruit producing word comes from us taking
action, remembering faith without work or actions is dead. It is nonexistent. (I
Corinthians 12:9) Being still and waiting on the Sovereign move of God, is
faith in action. (Psalms 46:10) Looking in the face of adversity, but holding up
God’s word to it, is faith in action. Visualizing yourself walking in the promise
in spite of the circumstance or what it may look like is faith in action. Writing
the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the
vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not
lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry
(Habukkah 2:2-3), is faith in action. Belief in God’s existence and in the
totality of His Logos (written) and Rhema (spoken) Word, above all else, faith
in action and more importantly it moves God.
The Bible says whatever a man thinks so is he. If you can believe it, you can
receive it. Something I have realized. Just make sure it is part of God’s perfect
will for your life. He’s not a lucky charm or gumball machine. We are
definitely accustomed to the name and claim it doctrine. There are preapproved
blessings set aside for you on this journey, waiting to manifest.
What I mean by that is there are things before you were formed that were already
predestined for you to possess once you access the promise. We can go outside
that boundary in our permissive will, but undesired consequences will
accompany that self will decision. In all of this, the world lies to us and tells
us desperate times, calls for desperate measures, you have to do what you have
to do. You are not to emulate the behavior and customs of this world, but let
God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you
will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
(Romans 12:2)

We start making desperate decisions and lose patience (which is a sign of

arrogance and pride) on being still and waiting on the Lord’s salvation. Psalms
46:10 says, “ be still [in those times] and know that I am God.” We are to let
God’s perfect will manifest. In order to be still, we must have trust or know the
truth. The fruit of the tree of [truth] or right-eousness will be peace; its effect
will be quietness and confidence forever. (Isaiah 32:17)

There have been several books written in regards to survival strategies. The
number one age old survival strategy is simply trusting God. That is the
surefire way to get us out of that “ panic” way of life. If you don’t trust God, He
can’t trust you. How can He trust you to do what he tells you to do once He
opens the door to your promise? He can’t and He doesn’t operate in that
manner because you would definitely go in there and mess it up. You are not
ready.

Due to our lack of trust we would make decisions out of self by leaning to our
own reasoning which again is that survival mode when the Bible clearly
instructs us to trust the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths
straight in other words His spirit will lead you. (Proverbs 3:5)

Purpose is blurred. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds
of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the
Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who
is the exact likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) In the permissive will we
experience great anxiety and fear because that was never the route God intended
for us.

Let’s go back and look at what we talked about how God longs to commune
with us.
God wanted to be the King of the Israelites. The people saw how other nations
had kings and desired a king for themselves. It was not God's will for the
people to have another king because God was already their king. The people
kept asking for a king. That is so us. We envy what sinners may have or
another religion and want it for ourselves. Thus we have watered down or
diluted or polluted dogma, profiteering, propaganda, and trendy doctrines in the
church. Before, we know it the enemy is prevailing, and we end up travailing.

We become fascinated or in love with the state of being and not the Supreme
Being. That is religion and tradition. The disheartening part about that is
people in those churches really believe that they have salvation, but in actuality
they are in bondage just like the unbeliever. Being saved is not a lifestyle it’s a
heart style that just so happens to impact your lifestyle. In Christ’s perfect will
lives all the fullness of God and when we learn what He is like, we see what we
are, could become or what could be.

What God has for you is for you. In our permissive will and in this instance
with the Israelites, the Holy Spirit stepped aside and allowed for the people's
desire. What happened? The situation of our lives became burdensome,
plagued with chaos and unrest and I’m sure fear and anxiety of the unknown
because that was not the promise. It was the problem. God intends the problem
to not separate us or for us to compromise, but to bring us closer to the
promise.

I remember on a number of occasions, I chose the problem only to make matters

worse. Of course this choice came with confusion. I thought I knew what was
best for me more than the Creator himself. Really, how foolish of me. God
allowed or permitted it to happen because He does not go against our self-will.
At this point, instead of us walking behind the ark, we become the ark. We
become THEE big G-o-d while the sovereign steps back and is made to be a
spectator in a life story that he produced and should be directing. Do you know
what that is? We are likened unto atheists at this point. An atheist is not a
boogeyman of some sort. It’s simply a person that lacks belief in the existence
of God.

Exist means to be real, means to be ever present. Belief is not an action word
or verb, it’s a noun, meaning it is a state of being, the definition says a feeling
or being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true.

We lack belief in God everytime we don’t believe or take Him at His Word.
Whether Logos or Rhema, we are technically saying that I don’t believe in your
Word because I don’t believe in you or the thing that possesses this Word.
God cannot move if you don’t believe Him. See the word “ in” is a
preposition, used as a function word to indicate purpose and means to indicate
that someone or something belongs to or is included IN as part OF something.

When we lack belief IN God, we lack belief OF God. In this belief IN God we
have our being. That’s who we are, its one or the other. Additionally, people
who believe IN God, won’t live as if He doesn’t exist, unless you are part of
this atheist group. Matthew Henry Commentary explains in I Corinthians 1:1
Christians are distinguished from the profane and atheists that they dare not live
without prayer; or commune with the Father or that He simply do not exist. I
didn’t make up the definition of the word atheist. I’m not saying sometimes,
we may be a little shaken in our faith, that’s different, but simply unbelieving
and living in that manner cause for us to re-evaluate our walk.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible states:

We must believe that he is; or exists, as the Arabic version; and he

must not barely believe his existence, but that, as it is revealed in
the word: he must believe in the three Persons in the Godhead; that
the first Person is the Father of Christ; that the second Person is
both the Son of God, and Mediator; and that the third Person is the
Spirit of them both, and the applier of all grace; for God the Father
is to be approached unto, through Christ the Mediator, by the
 guidance and assistance of the Spirit: and he must believe in the
perfections of God; that he is omniscient, and knows his person and
wants; is omnipotent, and can do for him, beyond his thoughts and
petitions; is all sufficient, and that his grace is sufficient for him;
that he is immutable, in his purposes and covenant; that he is true
and faithful to his promises; and is the God of grace, love, and
mercy: and he must believe in him, not only as the God of nature
and providence, but as his covenant God and Father in Christ.

Is it sufficient enough to say we believe in God, but live as if He doesn’t exist

vs. atheist who honestly say that they don’t believe in God and live as if He
doesn’t exist. So does are mere words make us a believer or our actions
because the atheist’s actions make them unbelievers.

Don’t forget, “ In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) We obviously don’t trust or believe God
or in Him enough to go along or adopt his plan for our life. It’s not degrees of
belief of God, either you believe God exist or you don’t. If we believe God we
must believe everything that proceeds out of His mouth because that is Him.
We CANNOT have one without the other. When we don’t believe, we are
calling God a liar.

Like the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith. Please means,
in this sense, to be the will of. Does it please the Father? Anyone who wants
to come to him must believe that God exists. It’s impossible to say you
believe that God exists, but don’t believe His Word because they are one and
the same. Either we take Him for His Word or we don’t and become the
Sovereign God of our life and hold our purpose hostage.

That’s all we are doing, holding a knife to our God’s ordained purpose saying
don’t you dare move for fear of failure or fear of success. This is the route we are
taking. Think about it though. The perfect will of God to the natural man is
unknown, but to a spiritual man, the way is known. The plans I have for you
are not to harm you. (Jeremiah 29:11) I take good pleasure in your prosperity
and good success. (Joshua 1:5–8)
I cannot blame anyone, but myself because God is so good to us, he allowed life
to come with all types of warning labels that are found in his Word if we go
outside the plan he has ordained for us. Does it come with consequences, of
course, all wrong turns do! What life plan are you choosing today? Would you
like to move forward on how to access the promise or stay in Egypt and accept
the problem?
Chapter 14
The Ex odus - Ex it Us

How did I get here? Why Egypt, why now?

Written by Moses, Genesis, the first book of the Pentateuch, is a great historical
account of God’s creation. It is also referred to as the book of beginnings. The
word itself means “ origins” or “ beginning”. If you did a survey and asked
people the central focus of the book of Genesis, I can almost be certain that most
if not all would state it is about creation. Yes, it does set in motion the
occurrences of the Bible or what is to come, letting us know God’s perfect plan
for His creation, while introducing us to a sovereign God who call those things
that are not as though they were into existence for his purpose. (Romans 4:17)
While those things or beliefs hold to be evident, the catalyst of the book of
Genesis was to prepare God’s people to enter into their land of promise. It
foretells, believe or not, the promise of the coming Messiah. In order to tap
into the Promise, we have to be in a place where we give up everything for
Christ-Exit Us.

We typically gloss over the book of the beginning, where it all started, the
covenant, and proceed straight into the book of Exodus when we dialogue about
getting to that place of promise. Genesis is the “ beginning of the end”. In the
16th century this phrase was used to mean a description of an approaching death.
Death must occur prior to any redemption. For God presented Jesus as the
sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus
sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. (Roman 3:25) It begins our journey of
dying, taking up our cross, and following after the Promise to find our Promise
in Him. In the Bible, Jesus did not begin to share Himself with the disciples
until they chose to “ Exit” themselves. (Matthew 4:19-20)

Genesis begins with the people of God in Eden, a place of safety, and ends in
safety in Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs. As we look at the time when God
called Abram, God told Abram to come before Him blameless letting us know
that Abram at that time was not aligned with God’s perfect will for his life. In
Abram’s case God told him to be faithful and be blameless.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I
am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. (Genesis 17:1)
First off, God introduced himself as the Almighty. This is the first time we are
introduced to him by this name. We can surmise that in this context God’s
identity as the Almighty serves to establish the sense of awe and wonder we
have toward Him and to let Abram know that He is God above all else without
limitations. See, even though we know Abraham, the changed man, as a great
man of faith, it was a process.

At this point in his life Abram didn’t know how great he was as a person
because he didn’t recognize how great God was. Look at how God gave Abram
the promise of an heir and instead of him relying on God to deliver the package
he decided to become the mailman. We have to remember to stay in our lane of
belief and we will receive in due season. God did not instruct us on figuring
out how the manifestation was going to come. “ He is the matter of the
manifestation”, as stated by my dear friend Apostle Carol Williams. He gave
strict directives on how to activate our faith that brings the promise into
fruition.

The more we fast, pray, and spend time in God’s presence, the more power we
possess on the inside of us in order to obtain the promise. As we hear so many
times over, take the limits off. Just stop and think, have you any limits on
your Almighty God. There is no failure in Him. In Him we have our being.
You and the Creator are one. When we are in God and he is in us our
possibilities are endless, they are limitless. Whatever we can think, we can
become.

Matthew Henry explains it this way, “ He is a God that is enough; He is all-

sufficient. He is enough in himself; He is self-sufficient; He has everything, and
He needs not anything.”
He is enough to us, if we are in covenant with Him, we have all in Him, and we
have enough in Him, enough to satisfy our most enlarged desires, enough to
supply the defect of everything else, and to secure to us a happiness for our
immortal souls. God is purposeful and there was a reason that he chose to
identify himself to Moses as the Almighty God, a God that can do anything,
but fail. He knew Abram struggled in the past, present, and will struggle in the
future with wavering faith.

He told Abram to come to him blameless. Although, Abram is known as the

man of faith, the issue at hand was the lack thereof. We have witnessed that
Abram had a problem which was doubting God, and we also know the only
way to be pleasing to God is by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please
God or to fulfill God’s promise, because anyone who comes to him must
believe that he exists. (Hebrew 11:6)

You must first believe that He exists if we are to come to Him. In that move of
faith there is a greater reward in store for you. The Phillips translation puts it
this way, “ The man who approaches God must have faith in two things, first
that God exists and secondly that it is worth a man's while to try to find God.”
It’s impossible to believe in something that you don’t believe exist. God
likened unto me in this fashion.

Atheism is not a disbelief in god(s) or a denial of god(s); it is a lack of belief in

the existence (presence) of god(s). If you don’t believe God’s presence can and
will abide in you or through earthly vessels, how are you different from an
atheist? Are we calling God a liar? I know this may be a bitter pill to
swallow, but the foundation of the principle of faith is a harsh reality. John 1:1
says, “ In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and
the Word was God.” We must have it prior to integrating or incorporating any
other Godly principle in our lives.

Did you know that without establishing this belief first, none of the other
principles are even possible or obtainable? We must establish this principle,
even prior to seeking God’s kingdom first. How can you go after a kingdom that
by your lack of acting appears to be mythological or fictitious? You must
believe something exist, before you seek it correct? That is what God
established with Abram before he made the covenant with him. He’s like, “ Ok
Abram let’s get something straight.”

Notice that he did not present himself like the God of glory such as in Genesis
12. The number 12 in the Bible signifies a turning point in one’s life or event.
The LORD had said to Abram, “ Leave your native country, your relatives, and
your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you
into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a
blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat
you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
(Genesis 12:1–3)

That was a turning point in Abram’s life. He had to leave everything that he
was comfortable with, accustomed to, familiar with, had some sort of faith in
and go to a place of the unknown. The only thing he had was his trust in the
Father. That is the main reason God showed up as the God of glory.

Does that sound familiar? God takes us out of our comfort zone to learn to
depend and trust on Him. Sometimes our traditional way of thinking causes us
to gravitate to the notion that we are being punished, sometimes we kick and
scream because remember we have fallen into complacency, who wants stale
manna. God wants us to continue to grow. How else can we continue to grow
and change than when God “ changes” our circumstances? Look what Abram
does, again displaying his lack of faith, he allows Lot to accompany him to be
his heir not believing God is going to make good on the promise. I was guilty
of trying to help God out until he changed my name and told me greatness lies
with me because the Godhead lives there. We must realize how great we are
because God is great and greater works will we do than Jesus if we believe.
Who or what is your “ Lot” in life?

The Bible goes on to share that in Jeremiah 29:13–14 that God will restore.
That’s His desire, but with an effect there is a cause. The cause of seeking Him
with all our heart, will effect us in finding Him. Then because of this we will
receive restoration. The blessing (the restoration) is directly tied to being in a
right relationship with God. And being in a right relationship flows from
seeking “ with all your heart.”

I remember how God had shown me I had become like the Israelites when they
went into the land of promise and begin to worship the blessings rather than the
Blessor. They began to melt down gold and silver to make idols. Oh, how
guilty of this we can be. Finding ourselves blessed with that new car, anointing,
house, job or whatever the case may be and then we begin to forget about whom
all blessings flow, the Creator, and start worshipping what was created.

In Genesis 17 God appeared or manifested Himself to Abram by introducing

Himself as the God Almighty. Creativity is simply a matter of “ seeing” the
result that we wish to manifest.

In school we are taught how to memorize, analyze, conceptualize – everything

except how to create even though we are made in the Creator’s image. We are
little creators. See Abram had an issue and was unable to see the vision plain
that God had promised him early on, like we often do. God had to show
Himself mighty to him get to believe.

For example, when Moses told Pharaoh that God said, “ Let my people go,”
God could have changed Pharaoh’s heart the first time. God allowed Pharaoh’s
heart to be hard so that Moses could perform miracles. The miracles Moses
performed weren’t for Pharaoh. They were used to build the faith of the
Israelites.

You might find yourself in a position where you know that job is yours or God
told you to possess that house and there is a person that just doesn’t seem to
cooperate, but you know you heard from God. He’s probably using the
situation to test and build your faith. Faith or belief in God, that He can and
will remove mountains, and make them plains is essential. We are charged with
“ seeing” the vision plain, and believing that we have received already what God
has predestined or preapproved for us because He said so. God’s word which is
Him is living and will not come back to Him void. It must do the task in
which it was established. Isaiah 55:11 says, “ So is my word that goes out
from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I
desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

See Abram wavered in this, in his belief, his faith in God. He doubted. When
God presented the promise to him I would imagine he was very excited. When
testing came, the excitement dissipated, doubt reared its head, and anxiety came
soon after. See Abram looked at God’s promise as a God challenge, a challenge
for him to bring the promise to fruition not a chance to wait and see the
salvation of the Lord, God’s glory.

God wants people to see your story, so they can witness His glory. Perceiving
God’s promises as our problem to get it done brings fear and anxiety because
it’s too great of a job for us. We must employ, give the spirit the job, the spirit
of the Almighty that lives within us. Not say the devil is busy in your
business. Fire him; give the job to someone who can deliver.

The word of God says: So he said to me, this is the word of the LORD to
Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD
Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6) It is for us, but not by us. The reality is that faith is
not driven by our ability to act, but His ability to take action or make good on
his Word, what He has promised.

Almighty means just that all sufficient, all powerful, hills of difficulties become
plains of daisies in His presence. He lives within us, so again nothing can stop
us. There is no failure in Him, so there is no failure in us. What is committed
unto God that falls in the realm of his perfect will which is under His grace will
come to pass and shall prosper. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in
him; and he shall bring it to pass [He will help you NLT]. (Psalms 37:5)

Abram was imperfect, like we are [RW2] and he dealt with everyday challenges
just like we do, but God standard still holds true today to walk before Him and
strive for perfection.

We tend to get out of alignment and when bumps and dips are in the road it
throws us completely off and we struggle to get back on track. When God calls
us in alignment with Him it’s for a purpose. Alignment is in the perfect will of
God, on His wheel-circle of life.

We know when we are in need of alignment when we become weary and think
about giving up, it is because of something in the natural. We are walking by
natural sight, seeing men as trees, and mountains, and not by faith, not after the
spiritual things of God. The chapter immediately preceding Abram being called
by God you see him and his wife take matters in their own hands and proceed to
drive the car instead of allowing God to take the wheel. God promised Sarai a
child and instead of her waiting for the delivery or promise, she takes the wheel
and devised her own roadmap, which set the course for the rest of history, as we
know it. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife
took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
(Genesis 16:3)

We soon found, that was not the promise, but a problem. Did you know one
wrong turn can cost us our life? Spiritual or physical wrong turns can result in
a spiritual death or physical death.

A lot times when we are in need of alignment we shake or have anxieties,

unable to get balanced or go straight. We are constantly looking at our
problems, which magnify them even more, and trying to solve them in our
miniscule minds instead of acknowledging God and allowing him to drive the
car or direct our path.

What’s interesting about alignment is that it doesn’t involve driving straight as

much as it involves the inside mechanisms such as the suspension, what holds
us up. Are we being held up by our own strength or are we walking in God’s
power? “ Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the
majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.” (I
Chronicles 29:11)

When we are worn out and being stretched, we go into panic mode or anxiety
attack. In actuality God is simply stretching our faith, trying to get us realigned
and restored. Let Him stretch your faith, it won’t break.

An out-of-alignment or person that possesses “ blame” or fault is a common

result of everyday living by what we deem as our reality, what we see, not what
we know to be the truth, the word of God. Romans 8:28 encourages that,
“ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We are not seeking God
first because we don’t trust Him enough to do so. That is why the smallest
bump in the road can cause such disruption and chaos in our lives. Some of us
tend to lean toward alternate forms of support trying to align ourselves or self
medicate which is also trying to make it right. While others turn further away
from God and even think of ways of ending it all. As God called Abram, he
was taking him to a place of correction such like ourselves, restoring those
places that were crooked. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places
straight. (Isaiah 45:2)

The most visible benefit of alignment, God’s restoration is no worry because we

are trusting in God for what he promised and know that he is not a man that
should lie and will deliver the promise. By the way, trusting God allows us to
go through our day energized and delightful, but worry, frustration, and stress
literally sucks the life out of us.

Coming before God blameless is an elaborate process of completion or perfection

as it is translated in the Hebrew. Although, it may seem like an overwhelming
task of impossibility, the word of God assures us that through Christ all things
are possible. (Phil. 4:13)

Oftentimes when a car is in need of an alignment it pulls to one side. Are you
going straight or do you feel you are being pulled to one side? That pulling to
one side is actually a longing to satisfy an empty soul. To what you are drawn
to is what you have made into your god, an idol. We are to be content in all
things, and not waver or be pulled here and there. (Philippians 4:12-13)

This alignment is needed for repositioning us and putting us in proper place

with the Creator and a “ master” mechanic must do it. When sin enters the
camp, such as the time with Adam in the beginning, we lose our gift of
relationship with our Creator. We become separated from God. Isn’t it awesome
that he created a plan to redeem us? All we have to do is to be Godly sorry,
repent, and come before him blameless.

He then sees us through the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we
are back on track. I didn’t say there aren’t any consequences for our choices,
but we are redeemed. God is not talking about being sinless – although that is
the ultimate goal. (Philippians 2:5; Hebrews 4:15)

He is seeking a people whose hearts seek after the promise, not promises (the
things), not His hands, but the promise. This comes from living like you know
He lives, by His standard daily and consistently so that our human nature
begins to be replaced by God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us. (Romans: 8:7-9)

God called Abram to come out of the world around him and to be complete in
Him, wholly focused on His way of life which can only be done through our
faith and belief in Him. We are made right with God by placing our faith in
Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
(Rom. 3:22) Abram was guilty as charged having little faith.

God gives us, just like Abram, every opportunity and assistance in order to help
us achieve His standard of being blameless when we ask Him. You are all sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you
belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise. (Galatians 2:26–29)

Let us follow the perfect example of Christ and "walk before [God] and be
blameless. Mahatma Gandhi once advised us to “ be the change that you wish to
see in the world.” Growth and change is the name of the game. Exodus opens,
much like Genesis closes, Jacob and his family are settling in the land of
Egypt. It was a time for comfort for them as they were welcomed with peace,
"the best of the land" of Egypt (Gen. 47:6) was allotted to their use. Not long
after, as we all well know the story, Joseph passed, and they were subjected to
hard labor. It is often preached that Egypt is a place of hell, in part that is true.
In actuality, God intended for Egypt to be a place to reproduce or multiply and
strengthen or prepare them for the journey ahead. The Bible says, “ But the
Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers
and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” (Exodus 1:7)
This was a place of preparation. This place of Egypt is synonymous with our
exodus out of the world into God’s marvelous light.

Egypt, a place of bondage, was none other than being enslaved in the mind or
mental bondage, a place we too often find ourselves due to succumbing to our
circumstances. Being in bondage in the mind is living hell. It’s interesting to
note that the Israelites time in Egypt was much like our time in the world or
outside the perfect will of God and transitioning into a life with Him where we
are born again. Prior to the birth and during there is always a struggle, hard
times up ahead.

We all have a personal Egypt that we found ourselves in at some point in our
life. Some people may be experiencing an Egypt right now. Egypt was a place
that God had allowed and ordained for His people, for His purpose. It is futile
to fight against the Creator’s destiny for you. For I know the plans I have for
you,” says the LORD. “ They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give
you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) You will seek me and 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. In the Aruthur W. Pink’s book, Gleaning in
Exodus, he surmised the Egypt experience as such: "But the more they afflicted
them, the more they multiplied and grew." (v. 12)

This proves how thoroughly vain it is to fight against the purpose of Him who
hath sworn, “ My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” (Isa.
64:10) Pharaoh might propose to "deal wisely", but "the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God." (I Cor. 3:19). God hath declared, “ I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent.” (I Cor. 1:19)
So it is proved here, "the more they afflicted them the more they grew." This
also illustrates a principle, which has been exemplified again and again in the
history of Christendom. Times of severest trial have always been seasons of
blessing to the people of God. The more fiercely have burned the fires of
persecution the stronger has faith waxed. So, too, it should be, and often has
been, in individual lives. Opposition should cast us back more and more upon
God. Persecution results in separating us from the world. Suffering ought to
refine. The experience of the Psalmist was, “ Before I was afflicted I went astray:
but now have I kept Thy Word.” (Ps. 119:67) May it prove true of writer and
reader that "the more we are afflicted" the more shall we "grow" in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord.

God is approaching you today much like he did with Abram to restore you. He
wants to change your name today and make you great in your land of promise.
When he changed Abram name to Abraham meaning father of many nations, he
was confirming the greatness that was within him. This marked the restoration
of you. After which, He commanded Abram, as a sign and seal of the covenant,
to undergo circumcision.

As we discussed earlier with the liver and heart, God first and foremost uses
natural laws to illustrate spiritual truth, much like parables. “ A man is not a
Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and
physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is
circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” (Rom. 2:28–
29)

“ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have
been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not
with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done
by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through
your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made
you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written
code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he
took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:9–14)

In this instant, God is calling for circumcision of the heart, a cutting away of the
old, walking into the new, and the restored self. God gave me this analogy. He
said our hearts are much like a glacier. Glaciers begin to form when snow
remains in the same area year-round, where enough snow accumulates to
transform into ice. Therefore it is formed over a number of years from layers of
packed snow. Each new year brings more layers of snow that bury and compress
the previous layers.

From past hurts and pains, physical abuse, molestation, and divorce, our hearts
begin to form a protective shell, a hardness, where nothing can come in and
nothing can go out. This happens after years upon years of disappointment and
emotional pain. Sometimes in our life it seems that each year brings about a
new layer of pain. Perhaps your parents divorced and left a layer of
abandonment. Maybe you were sexually abused which left a layer of mistrust.
My Mom became deathly ill when I was a teenager and staying with relatives
made me feel unwanted, despite them showing me love, it still left a layer of
rejection.

By the time we are adults these layers are compressed and we are making
decisions broken, yet appearing to be in a whole state. Although, glaciers
appear to be whole, in reality they are pieces of ice formed after years of
compressed layers of snow. After all this, we become pieces of our true self in
which God has to put back together or restore to its original make up. Our
hearts become hard like a rock and many times we don’t even realize we are in
this state.

God showed me an enormous iceberg. He said that I am breaking off the years
of hurt, pain, and trauma that was the cause of your life’s drama. In its natural
state an iceberg is a mass of ice that has broken off of the main glacier. The
separation from the host is caused by wind, sun and pressure. We need the
wind of God, which is His Holy Spirit, the very breath of God, in order to live,
not simply exist, as if in that survival mode.
Think of Adam, the clay figure of Genesis 2:7, “ The Lord formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man
became a living soul.” We need God’s son Jesus, who manifested himself as
man to bring about change in the world, to heal the brokenhearted. In all that
we do, God uses pressure to facilitate growth and change, and when we exhaust
our abilities, God is made strong. God wants to circumcise your heart today.

Abram fell down before God, in Godly sorrow or repentance as we are to do in

order for restoration to take place. He wants to change your name today and
restore what was lost in the storm of life, in your glacier experience. He wants
to bless the world through your greatness as He said to Abram.

Your gift that God has bestowed upon you makes you a gift to the world. In
order for God to make you a service to nations (people), he must restore you
first. Through this restoration process you will be on your way to reaffirming
the Abrahamic covenant. Through this covenant you will have access to the
promise, Jesus Christ. God's greatest blessing is repentance and the restoration
of a right relationship with God. He sent Jesus the promise, Abraham's
offspring, for this very reason.

Jesus is the promise that allows you access to abundant life, the other
promises. Only when we come to a state of true repentance can we be restored
back to the Father and begin our journey to the promise. Abraham's
relationship with God depended upon God's promise, which Abraham believed–
not on works or status, but on faith.

We need the Son of God, which is our Balm in Gilead. We need the
atmospheric pressure. The pressing is what brings out the blessing.

I close this volume as I began. Let God be God and man be man. It was never
intended for a human being to be God to others. God is love. Love covers a
multitude of sin and he wants to be your God today. Abram was restored, and
accepted God's promise. Abraham accepted God's perfect will for his life and
God's covenant. He made a decision to walk before God in complete surrender-
trust, following after God with all his heart. He understood that the more we
give to God, the more of Himself He gives to us.

His actions was that of faith and our loving God. On that very day he
experienced a circumcision, a cutting away of the old and an impartation of
something new and everlasting. Abraham believed that God was
God Almighty. Make the choice to walk before God blameless in complete trust
and obedience. Be made whole today. Be restored today. In Jesus’ mighty
name.

[ac1]

[RW2] I don’t understand what you are saying here.