A Charlie Brown Christmas Illuminates God's Truth

     I cannot take credit for the premise of this post. The beautiful interpretation of Charles Schultz's beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas comes from the pen of Jason Soroski, a pastor, writer and musician. He originally wrote a piece in 2015, titled "Just Drop the Blanket: The Moment You Never Noticed in A Charlie Brown Christmas", and a subsequent article entitled, "Drop the Blanket 2: The Rest of Linus's Story". I will include links to them both at the end of this post.
     But the reason I wanted to share this excellent presentation on the days leading up to Christmas is that I love the simplicity of what Charles Schulz was communicating, and how Jason makes it so meaningful. And I have a couple of thoughts of my own to add to the analysis.
     Here's the backstory: As a devoted Christian, Charles Schulz did not shy away from exhibiting his faith through the messages of his comic strips, and A Charlie Brown Christmas was the perfect vehicle to make a statement about the condition of faith within the confines of postmodern religion [which characterizes religious truth as highly individualistic, subjective, and residing within the individual]. A Charlie Brown Christmas was first produced in 1965, a mere three years after the Supreme Court decision that removed prayer from America's public school system. I also believe that the commercialism of Christmas, which Charlie Brown openly laments in the cartoon special, becomes embedded in the American psyche during this time period. 
      Charlie Brown finds himself the director of the school Christmas pageant, but becomes disheartened by his efforts to find significance in the holiday. He finally confides in Linus and shouts, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" Linus tells him, "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about" and proceeds to center stage, his security blanket in tow and asks for the lights to be dimmed. As he stands in the spotlight he begins to recite the Christmas story from Luke 2:8-14, the King James version. 
     But as Jason Soroski points out, there comes a climatic moment in Linus's recitation when he drops the blanket! Mind you, the whole cast of Charlie Brown -- from Lucy to Snoopy to Sally to Peppermint Patty -- have tried to wrestle Linus's blanket from him. Why is it so significant that he drops the blanket on his own? It comes at the exact moment he recites the command from the angel of the heavenly host, "Fear not"! Pastor Soroski proposes that this was very intentional on the part of Charles Schulz, and he suggests the following: Charles Schulz was proclaiming the truth of Scripture which says "the birth of Jesus separates us from our fears; the birth of Jesus frees us from the habits we are unable (or unwilling) to break ourselves; and the birth of Jesus allows us to simply drop the false security we have been grasping so tightly, and learn to trust and cling to Him instead." 
     I love this image! And I totally agree! Our only insecurity in this increasingly frightening world is Jesus Christ, our Savior. And this simple testimony from Linus reminds us to seek our safety and freedom [from fear] and our peace in Jesus. This is the message of our Inner Healing Ministry, as well. But as I noticed, and as Jason Soroski points out, as Linus leaves the stage he picks his blanket back up and sticks his thumb in his mouth. Why would he do that?
    This is where my experience in our Inner Healing Ministry comes into play. We are often able to help a Beloved see the spirit of fear [or other tormenting spirits from the Enemy] that has invaded their life, and help them work with Jesus to eradicate it from their life when they declare it must bow to the authority of King Jesus. They walk in this scriptural truth and leave confident in their power and authority to defeat the Enemy's tactics. But just like Linus, who boldly threw aside the false security of that blanket, we pick it up again in a moment of weakness when we believe the old lie from the Enemy that perhaps Jesus has not fully dispelled the spirit of fear; that we have some reason to fear. 

     But Charles Schulz doesn't short-change the truth of Christ. Throughout the Christmas special, much of the focus has been on the scraggly little Christmas tree that Charlie Brown chose as a protest against the commercialization of Christmas. But Schulz changes the focus from the tree to the true [and bigger] focus of Jesus. That little tree, which has spent the entire program bent over and losing its needles, comes to life when Linus declares that "Maybe it just needs a little love". He finally parts with his blanket and lovingly wraps it at the base of the forlorn tree as the gang breaks into the Christmas carol, Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the Newborn King. Suddenly that tree is transformed and ends the show beautifully clothed in splendor. 
     I will tell you that I have witnessed the Risen Christ do the same for many people who see themselves as failures. As they experience their inner healing and hear Him tell them that He loves them, they hear that they are beautiful, worthy, and competent/able to defeat the devil. Just as Linus wrapped that hurting tree in his blanket and adorned it with decorations, I have seen Jesus wrap men and women in royal robes of righteousness and place a crown on their head. They are immediately and divinely transformed into who they were meant to be!
     As Jason Soroski suggests, perhaps Charles Schulz used Linus's gesture of wrapping the blanket at the base of the tree to represent laying down his fear at the foot of the cross. I will tell you that Jesus has shown me, and countless others, that He wants us to lay our hurts and wounds at His feet for Him to take care of. When we see and hear the truth from our Savior who we are meant to be, we surrender our efforts in the flesh, and become joined to Him in the Spirit. We are undefeatable! 
     It has been over 50 years since A Charlie Brown Christmas came into our living rooms as a Christmas TV special. But we need it's simple message more than ever. Like Charlie Brown, I deplore the commercialization of Christmas, and go even further to renounce its pagan roots. But the beloved program's message of our security and freedom in Christ surmounts what the world has done to try to silence the voices of the multitude of the heavenly host as they sang their praises, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." And, thank you, Charlie Brown and Linus for showing us the true meaning of Christmas!

Here are the links to both articles by Jason Soroski: Click here and here. And have a Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:30-32    With my own eyes I have seen Your Word, the Savior You sent into the world. He will be glory for Your people Israel, and the Revelation Light for all people everywhere!

 
    

A Study of Postures in Prayer

     This blog post was initiated by someone who excites me because she is pressing into her newfound relationship with Jesus with enthusiasm and curiosity. Like many of us, Paige has been in the church for most of her life, but that didn't necessarily result in "knowing" her Savior. After receiving Inner Healing, she is on fire to experience Jesus to the fullest. Mark and I get some of our most interesting questions from her, and it makes us take stock of our own intimate knowledge of Him and His Word. So, I'd like to share her most recent question, which led to more research and the topic of this post.
     Paige asked the very good question, "When they say 'bow your heart' in a church service, is that just Christian-ese speak or does it [really] mean something?" First of all, I want to commend her for having the courage to question something she might hear in a sermon, and to have the desire to fully understand it, rather than accept it, just because it was spoken in church. I've always admired anyone who speaks about our Lord [whether they be a pastor, teacher, or fellow Christian] who is not afraid to say, "Don't accept it just because I said it. Do your own research!" And that is exactly what I ask everyone who reads this blog to do, also.
     So, here was my answer to her: "I [personally] don't know of any specific Scripture that tells us to "bow our hearts", but I don't see anything wrong with the description because the attitude of our heart speaks to how we love and honor Christ, and the posture of bowing is a sign of reverence and an expression of worship. So I don't see anything wrong with bowing your heart. Now, religious people would demand a chapter and verse reference instead of seeing the spiritual significance of the phrase. I think it's a good picture of how I want my heart to respond to my Lord".
     I just love questions like this because it leads me on a path to more knowledge. The Institute in Basic Life Principles website has an article entitled, What is the significance of using different postures in prayer? I would like to share with you what I discovered.
     It's important that we understand that the Bible does not require a specific posture when we pray to the Lord, but how we pray and the postures we adopt do speak of our attitude as we are praying. So the website suggested eight postures of prayer, and I'd like us to consider each one and how they speak of our attitudes towards God.
     Lying prostrate before God.  This is the ultimate posture for expressing humility toward our Father in Heaven. When you get on your face before God, you are indicating your unworthiness to be in His Presence. When God made a covenant with Abraham, Abraham recognized his unworthiness before God and “fell on his face” before the Lord. (See Genesis 17:1–22.) You are admitting your need for His mercy. When the leper came to Jesus for healing, he fell on his face and begged for mercy, saying, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean” (Luke 5:12.) And when you know that the Lord is the only way out of a situation in your life, you are ready to admit you need His deliverance and are willing to ask His help. (See Joshua 7:1-9).

     Kneeling before God.  This is perhaps the posture that we Western Christians are most familiar with. When we think about praying, I would venture that most of us grew up being taught to kneel at our bedside in prayer, asking God to protect us. As we matured in our faith, most of us probably began asking for forgiveness in repentance, and sought His mercy. Scripture tells us that kneeling before the Lord is an act of submission to God and the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. One day every knee will bow before God, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. (See Philippians 2:9–11.) We also kneel before God when we are earnestly appealing for His intervention, as when Elijah knelt in earnest prayer when he asked the Lord to send rain to end Israel’s drought. (See I Kings 18:41–46.)
     Bowing before the Lord. Bowing before the Lord shows an attitude of honor, gratitude, and faith; acknowledging that everything comes from His Hand. It is a sign of reverence and an expression of worship. Just as subjects of an earthly king bow out of respect and gratitude for his rulership, so do we followers of Jesus who bow before our Sovereign King. When God answered the prayer of Abraham’s servant, the man “worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth” (Genesis 24:52).
     Standing before the Lord. I particularly like this posture because to stand before a ruler indicates that you have a legal right to be there. It is only through the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we are able to approach God as His children: “. . . We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:1–2). This posture means that we know who we are in Christ and that we know we stand righteous before God because Jesus has justified us. Then there is Ephesians 6:13-18 where we are told to stand, arrayed in our spiritual armor, and ready to do battle ... and having done all, to stand.... This posture also shows a readiness to serve as we stand before our King in the model of Daniel and his fellow servants of the Lord (Daniel 1:5).
     Sitting before the Lord. In Scripture, when the king or rulers of a city sat in their official places, they were in a position to rule and judge and to have their judgments carried out. We know that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and we know we are seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms. So this posture speaks of not only Their authority, but ours, in their Name. I am immediately reminded that we are to be the Ecclesia of the Lord; His ruling authority here on the earth. We should be mindful that our role is to occupy seats of rulership on the earth and see that the judgments of Heaven are carried out.
     Looking up to Heaven.  When we look to Heaven in prayer we are seeking the face of God. In the world of social etiquette, looking a person in the face indicates confidence and honesty. It is indicative of an open, trusting relationship. When we adopt this posture in prayer it indicates that we know where our help comes from; that we have confident faith in the One to whom we are praying; and that we have an intimate relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
     Stretching forth the arm. This posture reflects God's sovereign power. The Old Testament is full of examples of men stretching for their arm and releasing the power of God into a situation. I don't know about you, but I think of Moses as he discharged the plagues of God against the Egyptians, and when he stood on a hill overlooking the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites, holding the rod of God:  “It came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Exodus 17:11). But I also see the sovereignty of God's power in the New Testament when Jesus stretched forth his hand and healed the leper. It was a sign of God's power; His will to heal and deliver; and His blessing upon a life.
     Leaping for joy. I think of King David when I consider this posture of prayer. Here was a man that knew the highs of being a man after God's own heart, and the lows of disappointing the One he loved the most. And the Bible warns that even in the midst of persecution we are to "rejoice and be exceeding glad". In addition, we are told, Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23).
      Each of these postures is important to our prayer life and I like knowing their significance and what they symbolize. And it is my desire to incorporate them all into my times of worship and communication with the Lord, as the Holy Spirit leads me. And I'm sure that there are other ways to pray before the Lord that I haven't covered here. It will be fun to search the Scriptures and discover more expressions of reverence and supplication. And it's my hope that we would all be like my friend, Paige ... open to seek more of God than we've been comfortable with in the past. He loves to reveal more of Himself and His ways!

Philippians 4:6-7      Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ. 

"As You Go..."

     The Passion Translation of Matthew 10:7-8 has become the framework of how Mark and I live our lives ... And as you go, preach this message: ‘Heaven’s kingdom realm is accessible, close enough to touch.’ You must continually bring healing to lepers and to those who are sick, and make it your habit to break off the demonic presence from people, and raise the dead back to life. Freely you have received the power of the kingdom, so freely release it to others. This was part of the instruction Jesus gave the Twelve Disciples as He sent them out to display the power of God's Kingdom in the earth. It has changed how we approach each day and what we see as our purpose for being created.
     We have been blessed with the opportunity to be self-employed and to find ourselves in a variety of circumstances to walk out these instructions, as we go. This past weekend our path took us to a small Christmas show we had been invited to participate in. It wasn't our normal kind of venue, and there was more than once when we wondered if we were making the right decision from a business standpoint. But we always know that what it looks like in the natural is not always what God has in mind. So we packed up our paintings, hung them on a wall, and waited to see what God's plan was for us. As always, we dedicated ourselves to representing the Kingdom to whomever we came in contact with. And if our bank account prospered from the event, then we would have even more to praise God for.

     As it turned out, we had no success for our business, but we were greatly blessed in the Kingdom realm. We met many fascinating people, which has always been a benefit from our lifestyle and our type of business. And the Lord had much work for us to do, and it had nothing to do with selling paintings. First, we ministered to one of the gallery workers whose husband has been suffering for several years now with degenerative pain in his back. We told her we would like to have the opportunity to lay hands on his back and pray for the release of God's healing power through the Holy Spirit in us. In further talking to her, it was discovered that his father was a Freemason, and he was in possession of his father's Masonic regalia, including his Masonic ring. She was aware of the dubious reputation of Freemasonry, having been warned by a member of her Church, and now we had confirmed her suspicions. She was skeptical that her husband would receive this spiritual diagnosis of his physical condition. But she agreed to receive more information from us and to keep in touch with us about the possibilities of ministering to her husband.
     We also met with a most entertaining and charming woman who just came to support one of her artisan friends at the show. Her outgoing personality and witty humor covered what we knew were deep emotional wounds from her childhood -- some of which she shared as we got closer during the weekend. As it turned out she was a follower of Jesus, so it was easy to speak to her about His will to heal her spiritual pain and set her free. She was receptive of our message and we are hopeful that we will get the opportunity to speak more truth into her. At least we were able to connect through Jesus.
     Not so much with another of our fellow artists. We really enjoyed our time getting to know her, and as she overheard our discussions about our faith, she volunteered that she was Jewish, and we enjoyed hearing about how her family celebrated various Jewish holidays. It soon became clear that we would not be connecting with her through Jesus, as she did not understand any of our questions about what she thought about the Talmud, any of the Lord's Feasts [beyond Passover], and did not know what Messianic Judaism was all about. So we did not push or try to evangelize, we just respected where she was at, while representing our King Jesus.
     Although our weekend may not have been monetarily prosperous, we felt rich after a random conversation with one of the most successful artists at the show. She has always been courteous and the undeclared leader of that art community, with beautiful artwork on display. Until that day, we had never really been able to connect on a personal level. But like I said before, God runs His playbook His way, and we are just obedient to be ready for wherever He wants us to go. This time, our assignment was to just be patient and wait for what He had in store. This gracious artist came to us and we began a conversation, and it was soon apparent what God had in mind. As she shared her testimony of her husband's years as a pilot in the Vietnam war and how God helped her through those sleepless nights, we were able to connect by sharing our recent ministry with veterans of this era's warfare. From that moment, our conversation took on a very spiritual nature. I listened as she shared her pride in the schools her husband has built in Laos; of her grand-daughter's mission trip to Syria in which she led three Muslim men to Christ and then baptized them with water from a plastic bottle, all the while mindful that the Taliban were a constant threat to discover her work; and how this artist's faith and trust in Jesus got her through the loss of her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren in a plane crash in the mountains of Colorado during a freak August snowstorm. She now ministers to those who are grieving the loss of their own loved ones, and speaks of Jesus's healing Presence.
     We sat there for more than 30 minutes, oblivious to anyone around us, and praised the Lord for what He means to us and how He has worked throughout our lives. In the end, God solidified a new relationship and friendship in Him. There is now an unbroken bond that is centered on Christ and transcends the identities the world has given us. 
     These may seem like inconsequential encounters to you, but I promise you that this weekend was not at all about the number of paintings we would sell, but instead was all about telling others about the power of the Kingdom of God in our lives. And it was an example of how it can look to preach the Good News of that Kingdom as we go into the world. We just planted the seeds and we are trusting the Holy Spirit to water them. And we will be ready to respond if that seed grows from good soil. Although the world might judge this weekend as unfruitful, we know otherwise. We have freely received the power of the Kingdom, and we will always eagerly look for the opportunities to freely give it away. Thank you, Lord!

2 Timothy 4:1-2      I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
 
      

The Richness of God's Mercy

     At our Home Church this last week, we were going to dive into Matthew, Chapter 9, and in preparation for the study, I found myself [once again] involved in a treasure hunt in God's Word. I was intrigued with the account [in verses 9-13] of Jesus calling Matthew, the tax collector, to follow Him. Scripture says that as Jesus was eating with Matthew at his house, "many tax collectors and sinners" came and ate with Jesus and His disciples. But when the Pharisees, who were religious, saw this gathering, they questioned why Jesus would eat with such a group of despised people. (Mind you, they are despised by those with religious spirits. Jesus doesn't want anyone to perish, but rather all to come to repentance, as 2 Peter 3:9 tells us).
     I can imagine Jesus sitting there with those people and pouring into them, sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is why He says He was sent (Luke 4:43). And His reply to the Pharisees is what set me on an amazing trip through the Bible ... Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

     Now, this is not the first time that I have read this passage, but this time I was stopped in my tracks. Jesus said to Go and learn what "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" means.  Now, those who were there with Him, would have understood that this phrase "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" came from the writings of the prophet Hosea, and also is referenced by the prophet Micah. So it had meaning to those listening at that table. But since I believe that the Bible was inspired to speak to all generations, I clearly saw Jesus's instructions to me not to just read it, but to "go and learn what it means"! It is obvious that it is important that we know what MERCY means, if it is what God told the prophets He desires. 
     So that set me off on a search to learn what MERCY is and why God desires it above sacrifice. There was much to learn, and on different levels. I was not particularly surprised to see that our English translations of the Bible have once again short-changed us. In Hosea, the Hebrew word for "mercy" is chesed, and is probably one of the most important words in Old Testament theology [as it applies to God]. Biblical scholars assign three facets to this word: strength, steadfastness, and love -- and all must be present to represent the fullness of mercy. 
     The word chesed points to one of God's central characteristics: His lovingkindness to His people who need redemption from their sin, their enemies, and their troubles in life. But it also stresses reciprocity -- our strength, steadfastness and love for God and His Kingdom and its people. When we truly walk in chesed, we live a life of sanctification (set apart for God) and in response to His covenant with us. I believe that Jesus was reminding the Pharisees of this important fact: all the sacrifices they performed to remove their sins was not as pleasing to the Father as their mercy (employing the Old Testament understanding of chesed).
     To further add to the richness of this word MERCY, our English Bibles translate Jesus's use of the word here in Matthew from the Greek word, eleos. Here, in Matthew, the word mercy means "the removal of misery from our sins". That's what Jesus was doing with these tax collectors and sinners. And the Gospel of the Kingdom is all about knowing there is no misery in God's Kingdom in Heaven, and that Jesus had come to establish this same rule of government here on earth ... Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. But we must not forget the context in which the hearers received this message. They are Pharisees, religious leaders of the Jews, who well knew the writings of the Old Testament prophets and what that phrase "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" meant. 
     The prophet Hosea was writing what the Lord spoke to him: "Say to your brothers, "You are my people', and to your sisters, "You have received mercy' ".  Through Hosea, God is calling His people back from their rebellion, disobedience, and unrepentant hearts. In Hosea 6:4-6, God asks:

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes early away.
⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
⁶ For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 

     By reminding the Pharisees to "Go and learn what this means", Jesus is reminding them that since God is merciful to us [and removes the misery of our sins by forgiveness], He desires that we do the same for others. And Jesus is modeling that display of MERCY [for His disciples] by showing what it looks like as He expresses it to the tax collectors and the sinners. 
     But there is another level of meaning that I don't want to just skip over. When Jesus quotes "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" from the prophet Hosea, I believe we are to understand that by Old Testament standards, sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins was a temporary system and unable to permanently remove the effects of sin. Therefore, recognition of God's mercy (His strength, steadfastness, and love) to deliver Israel from their sins was of more consequence. But for us New Testament believers, we recognize that Christ's sacrifice for us is the ultimate mercy [and display of God's deliverance from our sins] as well as the fact that God still desires reciprocal mercy on our part to see others delivered from the misery of their sins. We now play a part in dispensing God's mercy through Kingdom living. 
     So, as you can see, our English word mercy does not come close to defining the fullness of all that God's mercy exemplifies. It includes His faithfulness, His lovingkindness, His strength, His goodness, His pity in our times of need, and yes, even His reproach [done out of His love for us]. But here is what I've learned by "going" and "learning" as Jesus instructed me .... if our concept of mercy does not include all these facets, it inevitably loses some of its richness. As The Strong's Concordance points out when defining the Hebrew word chesed, "Love, by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from our covenant with God". Jesus intends us to understand that all that God has done for us is wrapped up in that word "Mercy", and because we have benefited from it, we are to extend it to others when sinners express repentance and seek Him. Thank the Lord that His mercies never end and they are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!

Matthew 5:7    Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Jesus's Gift of the Holy Spirit

    

     At this time of year, we Christians contemplate the gift of the Son of God to mankind. It still blows my mind that God would send a part of Himself to this earth to deliver me from the penalty of eternal death. That precious baby in the manger spent the next 30 years preparing for his short-lived ministry of three years which would change the world forever.
     But even though the Son of God only walked the earth for 33 years, He left us a gift that in many ways was His greatest act for mankind: the gift of the Holy Spirit. Yes, I know that Eternal Life is unquestionably a gift that is beyond compare, and one that will keep on giving for eternity. But note that I said the gift of the Holy Spirit was an act for mankind.  For the time that I am on this earth, the Holy Spirit is my source of power to fulfill my assignment for the Kingdom.
     Yes, we each have a purpose and an assignment. And it surpasses our salvation experience. Have you ever wondered if accepting Jesus as your Savior is the sole intention of God for your life? How many have thought that after coming to that glorious decision, you receive Christ, and then automatically begin a new life filled with a new purpose and a new way to live in this world? Are you disappointed that life still seems the same in so many ways? And how many Christians do you know who still struggle, even though they have heard it preached a dozen times or more that they are "a new creation", but have no evidence of that reality in their lives?
     I think that sometimes we believe that the importance of Jesus is summed up in His life, ministry, death, and resurrection. That seems to be where many in the Body of Christ stop in their understanding of what He has done for them. But I urge you to read John, Chapter 14, because what Jesus has to say to His disciples is just as relevant for us [and perhaps even more so, since I believe the Body of Christ has lost some of the magnitude and importance of His message].
     In this chapter, Jesus is informing the Disciples that He will soon be leaving them to return to His Father in Heaven, stressing the truth that everything He has taught them was not by His own authority, but the Father's, who dwelt in Him. Furthermore the works [miracles] Jesus had done were evidence of the power [and works] of the Father [in Jesus].
     Then Jesus says something that every Christian should rejoice in: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." Can you comprehend that Jesus is telling us that because we believe in Him as our Savior, we will do the works that He did, and it will be possible for the same reason it was possible for Him -- because the power of the Father is in us [to do His works]? How can that be? We have the ability to do the works of the Father -- the same works Jesus did -- because our Lord tells us that He will send a Helper to be with us forever.
    Let me continue ... Jesus says this Helper is "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." Of course, that Helper is the Holy Spirit, which is the very breath of the Father. So, just like Jesus, we have the power of the Father dwelling in us to do His works. Then Jesus tells them, "I will not leave you as orphans".  And here is where I think that we 21st Century believers run into a stumbling block. I believe we often act like orphans. And here is why ...
     In John 14 Jesus tells the Disciples, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." I will tell you that I am astounded at the number of Christians who do not know the Word; who do not read, let alone study and know their Bible. We act like orphans who don't know we are part of God's Kingdom family even though we are saved, which gives us the right to enter the Kingdom as sons and daughters of the King! (Read John 3:5).
     Have you ever tried to give your theological view to another Christian that, based on your salvation, you are now an ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven; stationed here to represent your King's way of living, and have been given an assignment to continue His works on the earth to defeat the works of the devil and reclaim dominion of the earth as God intended in Genesis? Well, I have, and the question I usually get is, "Can you show me where it says that in the Bible"? At that moment, I know they have not read the Word for themselves, nor have they received revelation from the Holy Spirit. And you don't have to be a biblical scholar, having spent years studying the Scriptures. Just read the Book of Matthew and it should open the eyes of your heart to see the truth of the Kingdom and our purpose! I do not put myself forward as someone special or anointed; I am just an obedient follower of Christ who one day woke up with a hunger to know, for myself, what the Bible could reveal to me. And I do not credit my human mind, but the mind and the heart of the Holy Spirit to show me what I could not discern on my own.
     How many of you, like me, sat in churches for years and were never encouraged to read the Word for ourselves or to seek a relationship with the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls "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 that I have said to you." Is the Body of Christ willing to be taught? Do they hunger to know and remember all that Jesus has said to us through His Word? Sometimes I wonder. Because the concept of the Kingdom is not that hard to discover if you spend anytime at all with the Holy Spirit in the Bible! And just because I can't give you Chapter and verse that I'm an ambassador of the Kingdom, etc., does not mean that my theological view of the Kingdom and my position and responsibilities to my King (stated above) are not the truth. 
     So, I will state Proverbs 25:2 again, as I have so many times before, It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out. That's Chapter and verse. but are they going to accept that word to mean that it is incumbent upon us to not only read the Word, But how many will seek the counsel and direction from the Holy Spirit to connect the dots in all of Scripture to receive greater revelation than just what we've heard someone else preach or teach? For instance, to even comprehend this verse in Proverbs it means we have to understand that we are "kings and priests" as is written in Revelation 5:10, And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth (KJV).
     In summary, the Lord had three years to spend with the Disciples to teach them all the Father wanted them to know and to do. Knowing that He would be crucified, resurrected, and returning to the Father, Jesus made sure to let His Disciples know that He would not leave them alone; that He would send the Holy Spirit to help them continue God's plan to dwell in them and give them the power to do His works and defeat the devil, whom Jesus called "the ruler of the world" in John 14:30. Nothing has changed. He still sends the Holy Spirit to those who are called His disciples. It's the greatest gift He could give us this side of Eternity. And we have all of our lives to receive this teaching!
     I pray that the Body of Christ will celebrate not only the birth of the Christ child this season, but will seek greater understanding of the Kingdom of God through the Word of our Lord. It is my prayer that all who love Jesus will embrace the gift of the authority and power of God [in us] to grow us in the wisdom and the knowledge of the height, the breadth, the width, the depth and the immeasurable revelation of the Holy Spirit to guide us to seek His Kingdom. It's more than we've thought, folks. Salvation is the entry point into the Kingdom. There is more for us to do in this life! Do not put a limit on your purpose based on your denominational doctrines, religious mindsets, or the fear that you might be deceived. You have an assignment! And if you are seeking the Kingdom, the Holy Spirit will be faithful to reveal it according to the righteous desires of your heart. Trust Him and receive Jesus's gift to faithful men on the earth. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Acts 1:8     But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
      

Christians: Do You Act Out Of Your Soul Or Your Spirit?

     That's a big question, and I ask it because I'm not sure that Christians understand what it means to know who we are in the Spirit. In fact, I would suggest that most Christians live their lives from their soul, rather than their spirit. Even though we all quote the Scriptures, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12), and [God] has raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6), do we really understand the full implications of those verses? After our salvation, what part of us is seated in Christ in Heaven? Certainly it is not our flesh; we still remain on this earth.
     That leads to another question -- do you know that we are a three-part being -- body, soul, and spirit? And do you understand that our soul and spirit are meant to be separate entities, as Ephesians 2:6 suggests? We all know what our body is -- our flesh, the physical tent that houses our soul and spirit. Our soul is our mind, our [free] will, and our emotions. Our spirit is what identifies us with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are made in their image ... he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. 
     But here's the thing; too often a person's soul refuses to submit to the spirit, and can easily overrun or smother the spirit. And just as common is the scenario that a Christian thinks they are hearing in the spirit, when in reality it is their soul who is running the show. They respond to what they are thinking [in their physical mind] or what they are feeling [in their emotions], and both of those are elements of the soul, NOT the spirit -- and then they proclaim they are living by God's directive to their spirit. But is there fruit in their life that is evidence of this claim?
     Sadly, as the human race has increased in knowledge over the last 2000 years, and as we have experienced new technology and gained new skills, it has resulted in us living from our flesh and our souls, rather than our spirits. In our arrogance, we have come to rely less on our spiritual connection with Christ, and more on our own accomplishments and abilities. We may have grown in our knowledge of things of the world, but we are also more ignorant of the spiritual realm in which our spirits have citizenship -- our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). This has also resulted in the fact that we don't know how to engage our spirit because we credit what we think or what we feel as a word from our spirit, when in reality it originates in our souls and flesh.
     Here's a concept I'd like to propose to you: God designed our souls to interact with our spirits and our flesh. In other words, consider this: Our souls are designed to receive divine inspiration from our spirit and then birth it into the natural through our flesh -- a heavenly download if you will from Heaven to our spirit. Our soul received the revelation from our spirit, and then we follow through in our flesh. But if we don't know who we are in our spirit, then it's likely that we will be more influenced by own mind and emotions than we are by God's opinions. 
     Remember, Jesus is our model. He said He did nothing that He had not heard or seen from the Father (John 5:19 and 12:49). Can we say the same? When we tell people, "I heard the Lord say" ... or "The Holy Spirit showed me"... is that the real truth? Are we sure? Did those revelations originate in the mind of God, or do they coincide with our own desires? 
     How many of you truly believe you became "a new creation" when you received Christ as your Savior? And what does that look like? I mean, your body stayed the same right? And your soul only begins to change when you use your free will to renew those parts of it called your mind and emotions. That's a growth process. BUT your spirit is reborn immediately as exemplified in Ephesians 4:24: "[the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation]." We are spirit from Spirit, and it is true that we are born with a sin nature; a nature that is unlike the Lord's and separates us from Him. But again, I remind you of 1 Corinthians 6:17, But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. At the moment of your salvation, your spirit becomes one with His; you are a new creation, with a new spirit and a new nature. But do you recognize that truth and receive it?
     And do you understand the bigger truth that your spirit can be in heaven and also interface with your soul and flesh here on earth? Again, Jesus modeled that for us as a human man on earth whose spirit interacted with God in heaven. Like Jesus, we can receive counsel, resources, knowledge and breakthrough in our lives IF we actively engage our spirits to receive God's downloads, spend time in our spirits to understand them, then translate these revelations to our souls [through our renewed minds] and finally walk them out in the flesh. 
     But we need to have a relationship with our own spirit, knowing who we are in Christ, and where we are seated.We must come to the knowledge that we are designed to be spirit beings, having access to the spirit realm in Heaven and the Presence of God and Jesus. We have been made a spirit being, yet having a soul and living in a physical body. As Christians, we must begin to experience the spiritual realm and cooperate with Heaven to see God's Kingdom come and His will be done. We must begin to think like God and act like Jesus and hear/see with the help of the Holy Spirit. Then we can collaborate with Them and bring heaven and earth into agreement through our thoughts and actions. 
     All of Heaven’s resources are available to us through our spirit, which in proper alignment with our soul, prompts our minds to think and act righteously. I know I'm being repetitive, but it is so important that we get this ... Our human spirit will get a download from God [through the Holy Spirit] and then impart the divine thought or concept to our soul [which includes our mind]. The soul has to come together with the spirit in order to be implanted with the seeds of revelation, breakthrough, and those things that have been written upon our scroll in heaven. If our mind has been renewed to think from heaven’s perspective, rather than this world’s, then we will be able to receive the heavenly concept, plan according to God’s ruling principles, act on what has been revealed, and produce fruit for the Kingdom. Our mind/soul and the spirit must work together to give birth to the designs of God in the earth, and our spirit has to take precedence over our soul! 
     So, it is my earnest prayer that the Body of Christ come into a fuller knowledge and relationship with our spirits; that we begin to encounter Jesus through true and authentic spiritual experiences ... spirit to Spirit. Only then will we learn to walk in the path Jesus modeled.

Ecclesiastes 12:7     then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
     

The History Of Christmas Revisited

     This is a re-post of an article I wrote in 2016 on the History of Christmas. Back in 2013, I had begun doing research on where our Christmas traditions came from and was astounded to find so many pagan roots. I will admit that I was angry that the Church had promulgated so many of the false traditions as religious truth. I had to take my confusion to the Lord and let Him help me work through the feeling that I had been deceived and that God's truth had been compromised to promote a false story about what has become a "sacred" holiday to most Christians.
     I will tell you that I became almost religious in my commitment against the holiday for the first couple of years. And I still am pretty disgusted at the commercialization and the exploitation of our faith. I still do not put up a Christmas tree, but I do put up my manger scene and some meaningful artifacts that celebrate the Lord's birth (even though it was not on December 25th, as you will see when you read this blog post). I have been able to reconcile my sentimental memories of childhood Christmases with my adult understanding of how the Enemy has manipulated man through the institution of this holiday, and I am now at peace with where I stand. 
     I can still enjoy all the Christmas movies and the lights and the songs of my childhood, but I don't pretend that they have anything to do with Jesus. I know that I am viewing them all through the lens of my flesh, while my spirit recognizes how my God wishes to be truly celebrated. I don't need to justify myself or my beliefs, and what someone else chooses to do is up to them. And that is a decision you will have to make for yourself as you read and contemplate the following information. I do not condemn anyone for their choices -- you must decide what you will do with this knowledge. And perhaps the best thing is to take it to the Lord, just as I did. Your spirit will recognize His voice, and let Him counsel and comfort you.

A 1783 painting, titled "Saturnalia" by Antoine Callet

     I know I will be accused of being a Scrooge during this Christmas season, but I must tell you that it is encouraging to me that our society and culture are beginning to deal in Truth.  With each passing year, we are accepting that the origins of our Christmas celebrations have less to do with Christ, and more with modern commercialization, ancient rituals and even pagan practices. While most Christians, like me, have no problem with honoring our Lord's birth this time of year, there are a growing number of Believers who recognize that Christmas, as we know it, evolved out of the Roman tradition of Saturnalia, a festival honoring their god of agriculture, Saturn, on the winter solstice.    
     The date of Saturnalia, -- December 25th -- was celebrated as "the birthday of the unconquered sun" and was also a convenient way for Emperor Constantine to combine his pagan Sun god worship  with his newly self-professed Christian faith.  It was also a way for him to exclude the influence of the believing Jews from the new Christian faith, by declaring the day as a Christ Mass. Though we now celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ, we don’t know the exact date, or even the year of his birth. (Many scholars believe that it was in late September or early October, and associate it with the Feast of Tabernacles). And during Saturnalia, children would often be given gifts of wax dolls – an act with a rather macabre history itself; the dolls were used to represent human sacrifices that Rome had given to Saturn in the past as payment for good harvests. Boughs of certain trees and other plant matter were also common gifts during Saturnalia, and were used to represent bounty and good harvests. So, while I like the idea that gift-giving at Christmas time is associated with the gifts of myrrh, frankincense, and gold that were presented to the Christ child by the three Magi, the reality is that the pagan beliefs were the original impetus for gifts.
     Legend has it that stocking stuffing is rooted in the charitable donations of Saint Nicholas, the forerunner to our Santa Claus.  Nicholas believed that childhood should be savored and enjoyed – but in a time where boys and girls younger than 10 had to work to support their families, this wasn’t always possible. So he decided to ease their burden, and gave what he could in homemade food, clothes, and furniture. The bishop even gave out oranges, which would have been very rare and expensive in Lycia, where he lived. The problem became where to leave these gifts so that the children would find them. According to legends, he then saw girls’ stockings hanging above a fireplace, and ol’ Saint Nick (to paraphrase) thought “Why not?”.  From then on, children would hang stockings up hoping that Saint Nicholas would visit them that night.
     But there is another legend that pre-dates the good bishop.  The practice can be traced back to Scandinavian countries that still held their Pagan beliefs. Children would leave their shoes full of carrots, straw, or other similar foods for Odin’s mythic horse, Sleipnir. When Sleipnir ate the food, Odin would leave candy or other treats in their place.
      Then there is the issue of wreaths and Christmas trees. Although many Christians might say these items are separate from belief in Christ, God still has something to say about our festivals.  Jeremiah 10:3-4 says, For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold...  In fact, Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.  Early Church fathers, Irenaeus and Tertullian, omit it from their lists of feasts, with Tertullian writing, “The pagan Romans clad their door posts with green and branching laurels.  In the Saturnalia, presents come and go. There are gifts and banquets … yet Christians should have no acquaintance with the festivals of the pagans.”  And then there is God, Himself, who says in Amos, Chapter 5, I hate, I despise your feast days...

      And we can't ignore that the evergreen was also known to have represented the same values to a variety of cultures, including the Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. The worship of trees was also very common in European druidism and paganism. In Christian tradition, trees were often put up in December to serve the dual purpose of warding off the devil and allowing a perch for whatever birds still remained. Evergreen trees decorated with apples and wafers were also used in Christmas Eve plays during the Middle Ages to represent the tree from which Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Now, I know that no one will admit that we are worshiping our Christmas trees, here in the 21st Century.  But, if we were honest with ourselves, they have become idols.  True, we do not bow down physically before the Christmas tree, but when you consider that they have become a matter of the heart, and how much emphasis we put on them as a symbol of the time we say we are worshiping Jesus... well, sounds like idolatry to me.
     Then there is the tradition of mistletoe, which has an interesting story.  The Greeks believed that Aeneas, the famous ancestor of the Romans, carried a sprig of mistletoe in the form of the legendary golden bough. In Eddic tradition, mistletoe was the only thing able to kill the god Baldur, since it had not sworn an oath to leave him alone. Among other pre-Christian cultures, mistletoe was believed to carry the male essence, and by extension, romance, fertility, and vitality. The history of its popularity as a kissing agent is unknown.
     These are just some of our most endearing Christmas traditions, and I know that there are many of my fellow Christians who do not feel the same as I do about the holiday.  They will tell me, "Fine, I recognize that some of the origins of our modern Christmas celebration come from pagan rituals. But that's not what it means to me, and God knows my heart.  He knows that Jesus is the reason I celebrate Christmas". While I respect their decision, it's not that easy for me.  Because the worship of false gods and idolatry were intertwined with these rituals and festivals, my spirit has a tough time sharing a celebration of my Savior's birth with any other idol or deity.
     The final factor for me is not what the celebration of the Christmas holiday means to me, but what does it mean to my Father in Heaven?  And I want to interject this thought ... Although there is no instruction in the Bible to celebrate the birth of Christ, I don't think He condemns us for wanting to honor our Lord and Savior. But, I don't think it pleases Him that we can so easily dismiss the connections between the Christmas holiday and its pagan roots.
     How is it any different than the justification the Israelites gave for worshiping the Golden Calf? Read Exodus 32:1-6, and see if there isn't a valid comparison.  Didn't the Israelites set something up for their pleasure, and declared that it was from God? Weren't they worshiping a representation of a pagan deity, and had the arrogance to say “it shall be a feast to the LORD”?  Didn't they celebrate, claiming they were thinking about God as they brought gifts, drank and made merry? Personally, this is what I think we do with the holiday of Christmas.  And I understand how difficult it is to separate our hearts (our flesh) from what pleases God.
     Nobody enjoyed the emotions and sentimentality of the Christmas season more than me! And if I say, BUT GOD KNOWS MY HEART and my heart is focused on Jesus... aren't we then making it about US, and what we want, NOT what God has asked us to do?  Are we offending Him by celebrating our own man-made feast, rather than His appointed Feasts, and then saying it's about Him?
     I know this is a tough subject, and I do not wish it to cause division in the Body of Christ.  It is a decision that must be made by each individual -- how you choose to honor the birth of Christ is something you need to be certain about in your spirit.  But you should be honest and uncompromising; don't let the Enemy convince you with sentimental memories and nostalgia. Don't let him combine man's pagan rituals with the holiness of the Christ child, and persuade you they are one and the same.  And one secular website even proposed this idea: "Christmas is the one time of year where everyone (or nearly so) is friendly, generous and gets along with each other, [so] does it matter the inspiration?"  (To read an article from this perspective, click here). In other words, why doesn't all mankind just ignore whether the inspiration for Christmas comes from the birth of the Christ child or from an assortment of rituals honoring a variety of false and pagan gods, and just all enjoy the merriment and good cheer?  That might be fine for the non-believer or agnostic, but if you are a Christian you must ask yourself this question ... Would God agree?  

Matthew 15:8-9    This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.    

Good Question Regarding Power of the Believer!

     One of the benefits of doing Inner Healing is when you encounter someone who recognizes not only the importance of this ministry, but also gets excited about seeking more of the Biblical links. I love it when it leads to inquiring questions. Such was the case recently, when a new friend emailed me the following query ... "Is there something more powerful about the laying on of hands and the anointing of oil versus just praying healing for someone?" I loved this question because it made me really think about my own theology and what the Bible has to say on this subject. Here was my answer...

     This is how I understand the Bible to address this debate: In the Old Testament the laying on of hands was to confer authority upon someone, such as Moses laying hands on Joshua to commission him to lead Israel. In Numbers 27:15-23 we see that Moses asks the Lord to appoint a man to lead the congregation of Israel. The Lord tells Moses to take Joshua (in whom the Lord has placed the Holy Spirit), and stand him before Eleazar the priest. Moses is then to invest Joshua with some of his authority [from the Lord] and commission him to lead. This conferring of authority by the laying on of hands is further confirmed in Deuteronomy 34:9, which reads "And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses."
    In the New Testament Jesus (who has conferred His power and authority to us to cast out demons and heal the sick (Luke 9:1) then commissions us to lay hands on the sick and heal them (Mark 16:18). Scripturally, it looks like this: "Jesus summoned together his twelve apostles and imparted to them authority over every demon and the power to heal every disease... They will be supernaturally protected from snakes and from drinking anything poisonous. And they will lay hands on the sick and heal them.” NOTE: Some scholars believe that this sentence contains two Aramaic idioms. To pick up snakes could be a picture of overcoming one’s enemies (“snakes”), and drinking poison may be speaking of dealing with attacks on one’s character (poisonous words). The imagery is from Psalm 91:13.
     Regarding the anointing with oil, in the Old Testament, it was always about consecrating and setting apart to God, (becoming holy) — first the priests and the Tabernacle where God dwelt, as written in Exodus 30, verses 25-32. The Lord instructs Moses to make a sacred anointing oil of a blend of spices, and to anoint the tent [where God met with them], the ark of the covenant, and all the implements of the temporary tabernacle. In essence, everything that the oil touched would be consecrated unto the Lord, becoming holy. God told Moses, "This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person." In this passage it is poured on Aaron and his sons, as priests. But in 1 Samuel 10:1, Scripture tells us that Samuel, the priest pours it on Saul, the first king of Israel: "Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, 'Has the Lord not anointed you as ruler over His inheritance (Israel)?' "
     The Lord's truths of the anointing oil all come together in the New Testament, where NOW the anointing of oil sets US apart [made holy as believers in Christ] as both priests and kings as Revelation 1:6 notes: "Jesus is the prince of kings of the earth, and He has made us kings and priests to God, His Father." Furthermore, our bodies are now the tabernacle where God dwells! In fact, I would charge you to read 1 Corinthians 3:16, which says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" No mistaking that truth, is there?  
     So, when I get a question like the one my friend asked me, it’s about “connecting the dots “ to build the big picture of who we are in Christ.  It glorifies God more when we, as citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth (Philippians 3:20-21) use our power and authority to anoint with oil as kings and priests, and when we lay hands on the sick and heal them. This displays more of our appointed power than if we just pray for healing, which is asking God to do it. Jesus commissioned us to carry on His work and He wants us to step into our identity! And it glorifies the Lord [and pleases Him!] when we step into that role instead of asking God to do it for us. 
     Let me be clear, I am not saying it is wrong to pray to God for healing. But my prayers usually consist of asking for more of His power in me to deliver a person from physical or spiritual disease as I anoint them with oil and/or lay hands on them. That is the Biblical model that I clearly see in both the Old and New Testaments. And it has changed my whole understanding about divine healing and the role I play in it. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for revealing the Father's heart!

Mark 6:13   And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. 

Mark 8:25   Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  


      

Psalm 95:2-3

Let us come before His presence with a song of thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with songs.
For the LORD is a great God
And a great King above all gods

 

     I am definitely experiencing this Thanksgiving season with unrivaled joy and praise for my Lord! Mark and I just returned from a four-day retreat in which we worked with others to minister to 37 military veterans and I got to see 24 of them have an encounter with the Risen Christ! Nothing can surpass that spiritual high of seeing so much pain from the devil being washed away by the Living Presence of Jesus! And I am praying that this experience only multiplies in the Thanksgivings to come.

     Although not everyone has the opportunity [or the desire] to do this Kingdom work, we should all be wary of shortchanging our God with our gratitude. We all need to remember that the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  It is easy to give thanks for those things that come easily -- our family, friends, our health, our job, God's provision.  But notice that Paul said everything!  

     So, what exactly does that mean? Are we supposed to give thanks for the minor stuff like our aches and pains, the difficult people in our lives, the mounting bills on our desk?  And, Paul couldn't possibly mean that we're supposed to give thanks for the sinful world we see all around us -- the immoral culture, the apostate Church, and the escalating evil that abounds in the world, can he?

     Instead of focusing on all the pain and sadness and anxiety that all those things -- both great and small -- bring to our mind and hearts, wouldn't it be nice this Thanksgiving to actually put into practice the words of Psalm 95?  To come before His presence with shouts of joy and songs, in full spiritual recognition that no matter what is going on in our lives or in the world, He is a great God and a great King above all gods?

     You see, I think we Christians tend to give thanks for all the things that we can see or have taken notice of.  But when we thank Him for EVERYTHING, we begin to see Him for Who He is and all that He has done.  So what does that really look like?  

     Have you ever thought about thanking Him for all the times He said, "No", and for unanswered prayer because it not only made you depend on Him more, but humbled you to admit that He knew what was best for you?  What about thanking Him for the things He withheld from you, and for protecting you from things you may never realize ... and the closed doors that may have frustrated you, when, in fact He mercifully kept you from going places He did not want you to go.  

     As we celebrate our traditional holidays this year, will we see it as more than just family, friends, and food?  Will we take advantage of these days that are designed to give thanks and which are dedicated to our great God -- to the LORD who has given us an inheritance in the heavenly places, which is something greater than all the possessions of this world?  Will we thank God for the greatest gift He could ever give us: forgiveness through His perfect Son's death on the cross on our behalf? 

     And then will we take the next step and give Him thanks that He has provided a way for us to release all the lonely times, the tears, the uncertainties, the failures and personal losses ... all our pain? In fact, will we recognize that He not only died on that Cross to forgive our sins and give us eternal life, but that He went to the Cross to set us free and He wants what He died for! He wants you to surrender all your pain and He wants you to live the rest of your life Wonderfully and Completely free!

     This holiday season, it needs to be all about HIM and HIS KINGDOM! I've spent too many Thanksgivings and Christmases focused on what He's done for me, and that is certainly valid and His due. But now, I want to demonstrate my thankfulness by concentrating on what I can do for Him. My salvation is accomplished; my eternal life is secure; but now I want to dedicate however many days are left to me on this earth to fulfilling His purpose for my life in glorifying Him and His Kingdom. 

     I want everyone to know what a GREAT GOD and a GREAT KING He is! I want everyone to understand their true identity as His Kingdom representatives on earth, and to know their Kingdom assignments in this life. We are not meant to just glide through this life until the day we are called Home. We are seated in Heaven with our Lord and Master and we have the same access to His counsel as He did when He walked this earth and heard from our Father in Heaven. 

     My prayer for each of you this Thanksgiving is that you will truly understand and experience that you can come into His presence; that you can experience such spiritual joy that you want to shout of His greatness and goodness in your life, and how the world can serve His Majesty, the King of Heaven ... in all circumstances and in all ways.

     Finally, I want to leave you with a couple of additional Scriptures that I think will inspire you.  The first comes from the Old Testament, but joins with the verses from Psalm 95 to give us special inspiration for the times in which we live.  It is Isaiah 12:4 ... In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted."  The second comes from our Lord Himself, in Matthew 24:14 ... Yet through it all, this joyful assurance of the realm of heaven’s kingdom will be proclaimed all over the world, providing every nation with a demonstration of the reality of God. And after this the end of this age will arrive.  

     Let us fulfill our purpose this holiday season -- and every day for the rest of our lives -- to make the Kingdom of Heaven on earth known throughout the world; to participate with Jesus in giving everyone a demonstration of His very real presence in their lives; and to plant Kingdom seeds that the Holy Spirit can water and grow. 

     So, I pray that you and your families had a most Blessed Thanksgiving; a day filled with gratitude for all that our Great God and King have done, are doing, and will do in our lives. And I urge you to move from gratitude to being a spiritual force in the world for the Kingdom. If you truly want to thank Jesus, serve the Kingdom and your King! 

 

The Lies And The Truth

"When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon my heart, I will dance like David danced"

      I want you to contemplate the following post that appeared on Steve Harmon's Facebook page. It's really hard to describe exactly who Steve is -- he's a deliverance minister, a warrior for God, and an ambassador for the Kingdom ... and he just makes a lot of sense when he writes about the tactics of the Enemy to destroy our relationship with God. His latest Facebook post struck such a compelling chord with my spirit that I had to share.
     He writes, "The Demonic know that they can't separate you from the Love of God. So, because of that, they have to do things to convince you that God doesn't love you or care [about you]. So they work to cut off your communication with Him. They work to stop your prayers from happening. They work to dictate the circumstances in your life so that you believe that God is ignoring you, or has left you. The whole purpose of this is so YOU will let go of God and turn away from Him in your life. Since they can't get God to turn away and let go of you, they have to get you [to let go of God.]
     When one turns away and lets go of God, it doesn't mean God has stopped loving them. It just means that their connection with God is now cut off because they shut the door of their heart. So their life starts to feel hard, difficult, hopeless, and dry because they sever ties with the Life Source. And all because they believe the Life Source left them -- which never happened.
     This is how the game is played. You can't ever let your circumstances dictate how you believe who God is, and what He is like. Jesus always stands at the door and knocks. Open the door again. He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you, no what it feels or looks like."
     And here is the last sentence I would add to that post ... So we have to stop listening to the lies of the Enemy. I will further tell you that what he wrote perfectly describes the tactics of Satan in every single Inner Healing session we do. As Paul wrote in Romans 8, there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God. And as Steve Harmon wrote, it is never a question of God letting go of us, but of us letting go of God. The Enemy will take the difficult circumstances of our lives and try to convince us that God was never there; that He abandoned us in that moment [or sometimes years]. He will try to convince us that all the promises in the Bible are a lie, when in fact it is he who is lying.
     Those promises include the truth that He will fight for you (Exodus 14:14); that He will strengthen the weary and increase the power of the weak (Isaiah 40239); that no weapon formed against you will prevail (Isaiah 54:17); that He has plans to prosper you and not harm you; plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11); that He will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).  So when the hard times come -- and they will -- either from our own rebellious sins, or the times someone else's sins caused us pain, we must not allow the Enemy to convince us to cut off our communication with God. We must not turn away from Him nor let go of His hand.
     There is no amount of addiction, adultery, molestation or sexual sin that will cause Him to stop loving you. He will always be knocking at the door of your heart, waiting for you to open it to Him. And even if your childhood was filled with physical or emotional pain, He never abandoned you! I have experienced indescribable joy -- and many tears -- when [during an Inner Healing session] the Lord shows a person exactly where He was when the pain was being inflicted, and they see His face as He delivers them from that painful memory. And then Jesus walks them out of that situation and shows the Beloved that His blood now covers that memory and it is sealed from causing anymore pain. The lies of the Enemy have now been blown to pieces and the person knows in their body, soul, and spirit who God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are, and what they are like.
     I had the amazing privilege this past weekend to witness the encounters that 24 military veterans and first responders had with the Risen Christ. It was indescribable! Jesus paid the price for their pain and they were willing to be vulnerable enough to give Him what He died for. It was one of the most beautiful weekends of my life. My spirit is still soaring high! These men are no longer prisoners to the lies of the Enemy!
     And that brings me to my last witness that I want to share. A most cherished friend and Sister in Christ has a Prison Ministry and I want to share her testimony about her experience this past Sunday ... There were 116 men at Sunday services at the prison where she ministers. The Spirit of God broke out as the worshipers led the men to stand and sing Alleluia to the Lord. She then led them through a time of forgiveness where they could see Jesus with them [during the episodes of their life]. She led a man who lives in the segregation unit of the prison to the Lord, presented him with a Bible and he will be baptized next week!
     Then during the song "Dance like David danced", the Lord said to tell the men that if they used to dance in the clubs [when they were on the outside], it was okay for them to dance here in the prison church. Men began filling the aisles and dancing; men with tattoos covering their heads; tall men, short men, Hispanic, White, and Black men. They formed a circle and men went into the middle and danced [with sheer joy and abandon] -- just like David! The officer on watch said they felt the presence of God inside those prison walls.
     So, you see, there are all kinds of prisons, both physical and spiritual. But Jesus can enter into both and bring freedom with Him. And Steve Harmon is right -- we can never get God to turn away from us or leave us alone. Never! We simply must leave the door to our hearts open to the Life Source of the Universe. Grab on to Him and never let go!

Romans 8:37-39     No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.