Day 10 (2011)
0:45 - Use confession sheets as a springboard into communion - I wasn’t totally trashing confession sheets. But I’m not a fan of the way they are presented. Quoting scripture to achieve a result. Transition that into communion with God - fellowship with God - personal face to face.
3:25 - Use worship songs as a springboard into communion - Sing to Him not just about Him - Make worship songs personal - in worship songs instead of saying “Him,” I’m always saying “You.” I don’t want to sing about Him, I want to sing to Him. Makes a big difference.
4:00 - Confession sheets - The word is powerful, anointed, alive, active. But speak it to Him and make it personal.
➡ 5:15 - YESTERDAY - we talked about communion with God and then we went wherever. We talked about meditating in the word day and night - Psalms 1 - benefits of meditating in the word. The whole purpose of what I am trying to accomplish yesterday and into TODAY is the motivation, the perspective and the mindset in which you are approaching God.
God Reality
5:55 - God reality comes not through knowledge alone (Bible knowledge) - You’re not just trying to acquire knowledge. The Bible says that knowledge puffs you up but love edifies. If your only motivation is knowledge, knowledge will take the place of knowing Him. Your knowledge will take the place of your relationship. Your Bible knowledge will become your identity. You’ll just take pride in your ability to know what the word says. In the long run that will bite you because you know that what the word says is not your reality. In time it works a weird thing in people.
6:40 - God reality comes through relationship - Commune the word to God - It’s love that edifies. Faith works through love. But brother, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word.” But the truth is God is the word and faith comes because the word introduces you to the truth of who God is, His will, His nature. So the word stirs faith in you because through the word you see God’s love for us. Mechanical reading of the word doesn’t necessarily produce God reality.
7:50 - God reality comes not through a method - A principle applied to get a desired result - “But I did that and it’s not working.” What does that language reveal? Reveals that it’s a method and not a relationship. I’m doing something to get a result. It’s still about you - what you can do to get Him to move. That’s impersonal.
Religion vs. Sonship
9:00 - Financial security - Prosperity principles - We preach on prosperity. Fear in the congregation. Use the word to get a financial result. We promote one couple that has achieved financial prosperity as a model. Applying a principle to achieve a desired result. A method. Trying to make it happen. It’s works. Testimony - unexpected gift. And we will promote that. "See what happens when you do this." I just need to keep giving. I’ve just got to keep doing this. Works driven - has nothing to do with relationship and faith that works through love.
10:30 - After loss of a job - Father, I thank You that I am so not moved here in this. This hit at an inopportune time. It seems like the worst thing that could happen. But the greatest thing is that You are my Father. And I thank You that You make a way for us - that You love our family - that You bless me with these children and You know my heart to be a provider. And God, I thank You that I will find favor - that a door will open - that there will be provision - that I will not fret - I will not be afraid because You are so good to me... There is a place to know that. And not be frantic.
11:25 - I’m not practicing a principle to put me in a position to receive. No, I need a Father that I can sit and talk with.
11:40 - Healing for my body - Healing principles - Making it like it’s a principle instead of a relationship. We will hold up certain healings and how they got healed and then preach a method. If you do this, this and this you’ll see what happened for them. It’s not works. Rather...I’m growing in God’s love for me, His provision for me. I’m identifying myself through Christ. And I’m separating myself from the identity of this symptom I am going through. And my relationship with the Father is growing bigger and bigger until it pushes symptoms aside.
13:55 - Evangelism principles - Sinner's prayer - to get names in a book - sinners prayer. When you come to Jesus you are giving up your life to walk in what God has designed you for. No other motive - not just to go to heaven - not just to say the sinner’s prayer and receive the free gift. I am dying to me so that I can live to Him.
16:20 - When you come to Jesus you are giving up your life and your life motive to walk in what God has designed you for. No other motive - not just to go to heaven. I die to me to live to Him.
17:20 - It's never too late - You can transition from religion to sonship immediately - Give your life to Him - You can transition from method to relationship immediately. Every one of us can jump into this - dying to live - even if you have been in traditional religion for 40 years. The truth makes you free. You can transition into truth immediately. You can transition from a sinner’s prayer / going to heaven mentality, to sonship immediately. Repentance. You can say in your heart, “Wow, I never really understood this or had this motive of giving up my own life. I’m sure glad I see this now because I was this way but I’m called here. And you just take the step and you rejoice.
18:45 - Ladies who came to healing service - came with cane - healed - 70 yrs old - came for 4 weeks - so enthralled with message - grew up in traditional denomination - I’ve lived my whole life not understanding these things. My whole life went by. I am so glad that at age 70 it has come. And that my whole life didn’t go by without me knowing these things.
20:40 - Your perspective determines your spiritual health - Eye is the lamp of the body - there is something about your perspective that determines light or dark. If it’s healthy - light. If unhealthy - darkness. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy - if it’s single - seeing through truth - your whole body is flooded with light. If your eye is not healthy - not single - wide view lens - multiple choice - optional view. If the light in you is darkness - means you are created for the light - that’s perversion - how great is that darkness. Twisted view. What you see determines who you are going to be.
➡ 22:20 - YESTERDAY we got into meditating in the word. - about having fellowship with the God -
We can have the same relationship with God that the apostles had - Remember the Apostle John was writing about his fellowship and that the reason that he was declaring Him to us is so that we could have that SAME fellowship. God is calling us into this fellowship. He is alive, sitting at the right hand of the Father. And He has sent His Spirit to the earth to live in as many as would believe and do in His absence what He would do if He were here. We have fellowship with God through the Spirit.
23:45 - The relationship and fellowship that John is talking about - he’s saying that we all have that fellowship, even though Jesus is no longer here in the flesh. We all have access to that fellowship. So John wants us to all be in Him like he is.
➡ 24:10 - So TODAY I want to talk about some ways to pray - meditating in the word - and communing with God.
24:20 - Confession sheets. Example.
25:25 - Word of knowledge - He can tell His heart anything - Become His heart (love) - Time when my wife was hurting - God showed me where she was and what she was doing in detail. Do you know why I am doing this? Why I am showing you this? So, I can pray. No, it’s because I can. You’re going to hear like I hear. It’s like telling myself. You’ll handle it like I would. He can tell His heart anything. It's all about relationship. Just become one with Him.
27:35 - If we are not free from ourselves how can God trust us with insight and info? (You might use it selfishly.) Purity issue. We might respond totally wrong. Your heart needs to be in a position to love.
29:35 - Home group - vision - picture of person I know - Why is that there? - accurate - addressed
31:00 - More pictures - detailed - He can tell His heart - human medical heart - darkens
35:30 - He can tell His heart anything. Let's become one with His heart. Let’s be in a position to hear God and help one another like that.
➡ 36:10 - IN THE FUTURE: We’re going to talk about becoming love and it’s going to stretch you.
Meditating in the Word
➡ 36:20 - TODAY: I want to talk about meditating in the word again. Let’s read Psalms 1 real quick again.
An example of meditating in the word:
36:40 - Psalms 1 v.1 - Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. - counsel of the wicked
37:45 - [People calling Dan.]
39:10 - People living without understanding after salvation. Lack of knowledge. Wrong teaching. Yet heart is pure.
39:40 - Denominational church invites Dan to speak - hymnal - prejudices / projections - revival - I need to bring the Jesus I know - We just want God in our church - hernia - eyesight - frozen knees - These people love me according to what they have been taught. You're accountable for what you know.
46:40 - v.2 - But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. - meditates day and night - think through, talk through, God consciousness through relationship - way of the Lord mindset 24/7.
A Righteous Tree
47:55 - v.3 - And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. -
Be a righteous tree - Manifest Him - Especially in trials - Here are the dividends. Great reward. Crystal river trees with leaves for the healing of the nations - I wonder who those trees are? Be a tree! Trees of righteousness to glorify the Lord (Isaiah) - to manifest Him - so that men see Him through our lives.
50:30 - Trees - Job 14:7 - the cut down tree still has its roots. That's a comfort. Cut me? I will still have roots. Pruning.
51:00 - There is a lot in the Bible passages about trees. Rooted and grounded in love.
53:00 - Adversity - No matter what happens to me, I have roots that go way deeper than the trial I am going through. I am coming back. He loves me.
53:00 - Types of soil - Parable of the sower - One springs up with immediate joy because it feels like it got its immediate answer. Then life just shuts it down. What we lose sight of is God’s love. It’s just me and how life is going.
54:50 - v.3 - Be established by the rivers of living water - Be established in truth - Where did God place us? By rivers of living water. Watch - It is only through meditating in the word and staying in the truth of the word that you find out who you really are. You find yourself in the word - your identity. You get established in truth. It’s the will of God. Who planted you by the rivers of living water? Who wants you there?
56:05 - Established - I’m the will of God. I’ll never be moved or shaken. A person that is locked in and established will bear fruit. You camp there and get established.
56:40 - A righteous tree will produce righteous fruit without you striving - Apples from apple trees - The fruit is in agreement with the tree. The apple tree doesn’t produce apples to prove it is an apple tree. An apple tree produces apples because it IS an apple tree. I’m not out trying to be righteous. I can’t help but to bear righteous fruit because I am a righteous tree.
57:10 - Be rooted in your identity - See identity here. It's the word of God that tells me the truth of who I am. And if I stay there in my mindset and don't drift away or allow myself to be pulled away - If I camp in the truth of who I am in Christ - I am going to be rooted and established in identity.
57:20 - Rooted and established in identity by the grace of God. And I am going to go on and bear fruit. And I am not going to wear out doing it. I’m not trying to do something I have become. I’m just doing what I do.
58:00 - Prospers - It comes out of the truth of who we are empowered by grace. It is faith working through love. It has to prosper. It is all the will of God.
59:20 - When life’s not going so good - “We know that all things work together for the good, brother.” That’s just a piece of the verse. “...for those that love Him…” Faith stays in the picture and faith works through love. Rom. 8:28
100:40 - The "God allowed it" mindset subverts relationship with God - When something goes wrong - First response - God, why did you allow that? As if He is responsible - almost an accusation. It’s not even love. It reduces you to, “I need you to do things my way and if you don’t, we have issues.” That mindset cuts you off from intimacy. Marriages can be like that.
102:15 - “...and are called according to His purpose.” So no matter what you are going through you realize your life is still the will of God and He is with you, for you and in you.
103:45 - God doesn’t just plant me, he tends me. That one thought has her all mushed up. That’s a sign of intimacy.
104:05 - Communing - meditating through Psalms 1
105:25 - When you read the Bible this way it can never become head knowledge.
105:50 - Doesn’t always matter how much you read.
106:20 - “What does the Bible say about that?” It’s not even love for them. No sensitivity.
Burn Out - Responding to Great Need
106:55 - There is no "burn out" in Christ - Father, I thank You that there is no such thing as burn out in my life. Because I am not trying to do anything to become anything. I am already Your son. I am already empowered. Your Spirit already lives in me. I'm enjoying the ride. I get the blessing and benefit of becoming Your heart by Your Spirit. It's Your desire that I'm a tree. It's Your desire that I'm planted and tended. Everything about me is Your will. You have initiated this thing and You will see it through to the end. I just keep my eyes on You...
107:50 - Anything that sells you short of what the word says is not the truth.
108:40 - Responding to needs from a perspective of love. One pastor said, “This ministry thing would be great if it wasn’t for the people.” People are so self consumed. But I’m not burned out. I do what I can do. It can become just ministry instead of loving people.
109:00 - People become dependent on the pastor. I'm not burned out or frustrated. I'm doing what I can do and trusting God with the big picture. Don't lose sight of loving people and just let it become "ministry".
112:15 - How do you release a situation after you have tried to help someone? - I let them be in dependence on me for a while until they have the strength to deal with the problem. You discern that stuff. They grow, you nurture. Kind of like a momma bird feeding the babies.
113:30 - Nest in the bushes. Feeding the birds.
115:45 - There is a season where they are really dependent on you. There is a season to nurture. If you see how God had to tend to you and nurture you, it will give you compassion to nurture others. The more you receive forgiveness, the more you are able to forgive. The more you receive mercy, the more you become a vessel of mercy. So the more you appreciate Him and live in thankfulness and receive His goodness, the more you’ll see that go out to others.
116:35 - The mindset that says that that has to wear you out is not true. I've been living this way for years.
117:40 - Bird nest (continued) - still dependent but growing fast.
119:25 - You have to discern where people are. If you understand where people are, there is a release of compassion.
120:30 - Call from young lady.
121:55 - I nurture them toward Him. They are looking for hope and help.
122:00 - Saturday - calls - life stopping situations. I give them little assignments. I point them to Him. Put yourself in their shoes - compassion - instead of how they are infringing on your day. Frustration. Before I hang up: Are you ok? 10x Are you hurt by anything I said? Some people are fragile and will feel rejected.
125:20 - If you respond from frustration, you will probably end up touching their lives in a wrong way - and not much grace will be on it.
126:15 - BREAK
➡ 126:55 - Meditating in the word - I’ve been wanting to get to this: Meditating on the word / meditating in the Lord. It is really powerful because it is taking your Bible reading from just learning what the Bible says to a personal communion.
127:20 - I'm alone. Now what? - A lot of people are like ok, I’m alone, now what? Where do I go from here? It doesn’t seem like He is close or really real - seems far away anyway.
128:00 - Read your Bible to know Him - Not just know about Him - Meditating in the word day and night is a big deal. I don’t read my Bible to know about Him, I read my Bible to know Him. Little motivations can be a big deal. You can read the Bible like a history book - just to know what it says. There is a benefit there because it is alive and Holy Spirit will have a voice through it - conviction. But I don’t want to read it just to know about God. I want to know God. And I want to walk more effectively with Him.
128:45 - When you read the Bible consider it your face to face encounter with God - In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. I began to realize when I read the Bible - this is like my face to face encounter with Him. I look into who He is here. And no man can look into His face and live. So as I look in and see who He is, it dismantles (kills) who I am apart from Him. And it raises me back up in truth. So I actually don’t find just Him here, I find the truth about me here - the real me.
129:25 - Pray His word back to Him - You want His word to become your heart - Read the word. (His heart toward you.) Then you express your heart to Him. I want to become the truth that the word is speaking about - the word became flesh. So I’m not just sitting trying to achieve reading a chapter, I’m communing with the Lord.
130:40 - Father, I have no need for natural wisdom. And I thank You, Lord God, that You are giving me an ear to discern and hear just "the way that seems right to man" - that You are making it so obvious to me through filling my heart with truth. Lord God, I've lived a certain way my whole life and and those ways are over. Lord, You're training me up in a brand new way. I'm putting on Christ today...
Time with Him brings Transformation
131:15 - You are transformed through time spent with Him - Grace meets faith and transforms without you striving - Holy Spirit will meet you there - He's expanding your heart with understanding - you’re getting more out of the word - it becomes alive to you - a part of who you are - now you are embracing it as truth and truth is making you free. So you are coming out of your time alone with God, transformed by spending time with Him. Why? Because you are releasing faith in an area and when you release faith, grace comes to meet that faith and begins to mold and etch you. Grace is what fashions you. Grace is the workmanship, craftsmanship of God - His skillful hand working inside of you to make you like Him. Grace is God’s ability / power and He’s willing to use it on your behalf to make you look like Him.
132:10 - See like You see - Father, I thank You that when I see the world, I see what You see, Father, because we are one. You've put Yourself in me and You're the one that looks through my eyes. And You're causing me to see the world with the value they possess in Your heart...
132:30 - It's a supernatural power bringing transformation - Not working or striving - You can’t read on love and just go do it. As you are praying this way, Holy Spirit is doing a work - it’s supernatural - grace through faith - and God gets the glory. We are not self-made. What makes us amazing is He is amazing. And we have yielded to Him and His Spirit is working effectually through us.
134:25 - Want to - It’s the gospel that changes you. You’ve become one with Him. You’ve taken the time to let Him cultivate your heart by releasing the faith that is saying, “I want this.” When you do that grace comes and says, “OK.”
134:55 - He changes your perspective - Through the word, He changes your eye (perspective) by showing you something that is different. You agree to it. And then He changes the way you see. - He shows you there is another way to look. You say, “Yeah!” And then He says, “OK!”
135:30 - Perspective of fallen man. Hardheartedness - judgement. Valuing yourself above them apart from truth. Self-righteousness - getting saved and forgetting that it was by grace - and then seeing others apart from grace.
137:40 - Sanctification - setting apart for a purpose - is a supernatural process of transformation - I was thinking for me, then I look into the word and get convicted (conviction). Light comes. Now I change my mind (repentance). I don’t want to live this way. Now God is removing that. Faith is being released. Grace is coming over your life and making you the expression of what you are now seeing. Stepping out of the old into the new. Now, set apart for a purpose. A supernatural process.
138:05 - Perspective of old me - motivation in relationships.
140:40 - The more completely you surrender, the more completely He can transform you - You walk in sanctification at the level you surrender. ...perfected forever those who are BEING sanctified. Cultivated in truth and manifesting truth - growing up into Him. But it’s at the level you surrender. If you sell out to God, grace comes.
142:40 - Removing frustration - Father I thank You that You never get rubbed the wrong way. Whatever is causing this and however I feel and whatever is rationalizing my feelings right now - I thank You that You show me and teach me and that You remove that away. And just continue to show me the value of this person. You love them. You shed the blood of Jesus. For the last two days I've been focused on their weaknesses. And God, right now, I just focus on their strengths and the blessing of the potential of their life. And if I would have to, I would speak out and declare their destiny - their value, just as if I were praying over my own life...
143:35 - No hotshot. No low life. We all need the blood of Jesus.
Mindset of Low Esteem
144:20 - In my alone times with God, how do I get over the hindrance of not feeling like He is pleased enough with me? How do you handle the discouragement?
145:10 - Avoid self judgement and comparing to others - Some people when they get alone with God - what rises up in them - they judge themselves. They look at what they are lacking, what they are not fulfilling, what is still missing. They put that on as a garment, as if that is who they are. Here I am with You and I’m like this - argh. It doesn’t invoke intimacy. Just start undressing those things before God.
145:55 - Be very careful not to compare yourself and your growth to anyone else. Be inspired by one another to pursue what you see in them. Our living is not to show people where they are not. But to point people to Him. We have been trained in an ear of condemnation / works / legalism.
146:30 - Stand in the truth that He already loves you - Conviction comes because He loves you - He is already pleased with you. He is pleased to love you. So you have to stand there - start there. You are not introspecting yourself. You are getting alone with God. If a conviction arises in your heart that is a good thing. Conviction - to shine light upon. Condemnation - I am judged for a thing. A conviction has come for your benefit.
148:10 - Comparing to others - If somebody is talking about something that you have not walked in, don’t be discouraged at that - feel pressure. That’s not the joy of our relationship. Let it be a prospect that is exciting - something to grow into. Don’t be put back under a yoke when a price was paid for your freedom.
148:55 - Pray those truths through with Him - You are already free, already loved. While you were yet a sinner, Christ died. While you were an enemy He said you are holy, blameless and above reproach through one sacrifice. You start there and rejoice.
149:20 - Conviction of something lacking - God I so thank you for bringing that to my understanding. It is so my privilege to yield to You in that area... and you put off the old and put on the new. And during that time you are fully pleasing to Him.
149:35 - Your heart cares and you want that. That means you are a teachable person. Don’t let it shift to where it is works (v. relationship).
150:40 - Commune your "want to" to Him - Grace meets faith and brings change without striving - If you “want to” - if you have a “yes” in your heart to the things of God - if you want to become that - that is YOUR PART. You take that into a secret place of prayer and commune that with God and grace says, “Oh, that is so cool - OK!” (Then He molds and shapes your heart.) That’s how it works.
151:40 - It’s simple. I am what I am because I believed Him (faith). Beieving takes you there. It’s not something intellectual - something you wrap your mind around. No, it’s something you wrap your heart around. I believe.
152:00 - Be a child - be loved. You don't have to worry about being a warrior.
155:30 - It’s not trying to live the Christian religion. It’s being sons and daughters - learning what it means to be children of God.
155:48 - Communion with God - Meditating in the word - Regardless of where you open your Bible you can commune with Him. Meditate on OT with NT light.
157:15 - When you hold onto things it affects how you see life - Surrender and let your mind be renewed - Surrendering things to God. Until you are completely surrendered you see different than you have seen before. You’ll still see through what you don’t let go of - through the way that seems right to a man. At what point does your mind get renewed?
158:10 - The mind is renewed through the word - Meditating in the word - How does your mind get transformed? Meditating in the word. The way that seems right to a man gets confronted by THE way. I yield. Transformed through the knowing of truth. This whole gospel is designed to change the eye you look through - to see situations through love - through Him.
158:50 - It's not just about doing "Christian" works - It's about being transformed - This is a big stumbling block. We are just trying to do good works for God - stay faithful within the church - live a pretty good life - put on a pretty good showing. We don’t experience the change that comes through seeing everything through love.
159:05 - When you don't surrender "self," you impair the way you could see - See everything through love - If there is an ounce of self, you are going to look through the complications of self. You’ll look at how the situation affects me instead of love for the person. When there is anything less than surrender, your eye is going to channel through that. You are pure. You know and love God. But there still is much fear or anxiety or hurt or jealousy. He doesn’t just want to love you. He wants you to become that love. Because you and Him are one. And He made you in His image.
200:00 - So the whole finished work of Christ is not to get you to heaven, it’s to get heaven back inside of you and transform your nature back to His (to get you seeing like He sees). So that you are in the world and not of it. And you shine forth as a light holding fast the word of life.
Becoming a Doormat?
200:25 - How do you surrender and not become a doormat?
You can't be a doormat when your mindset is no longer self-centered - When you have become love - I can’t be a doormat. Jesus wasn’t a doormat. That was the most unjust thing ever. He gave His life in love. When Peter told Him that this could never happen, Jesus said, Get behind me satan. That mindset is coming from the pit of hell. Because that mindset is self-serving, it had nothing to do with real love for Jesus. You’re thinking like man. Man thinks for Himself.
202:15 - This can’t happen. You are the best thing that has happened to me. Ain’t nobody taking you from me. I’m not living without you.
203:00 - It’s impossible for you to emotionally abuse me. I know who I am.
203:25 - The only reason a spouse may be trying to abuse you is that they don’t see the value of their own life. We get hurt by them instead of hurting for them. And all of our prayers are based on hurt instead of hurting.
203:45 - Because you believe you can be emotionally abused, you are a target. You’re a sitting duck. You can’t emotionally abuse me. It’s a funny thought to me. Because I know who I am.
204:10 - Cry for people not because of them - If someone is trying to emotionally abuse me it’s because they don’t understand who they are or who I am. It’s all they know. Father forgive them. They know not what they do. Our hearts should cry for people in that situation. Important to be established in truth so that nothing else can identify you. So you don’t put on the harsh words, neglect and reject of people. Why do we need counseling? Because we don’t know who we are. How can you reject me now that He has accepted me.
204:45 - It's not an arrogant, isolationist kind of thing - Then it is still about us - That’s not an arrogant kind of thing - “I don’t care if you like me, Jesus likes me.You don’t need to accept me, He’s accepted me.” If you’re talking like that, it shows that you’ve already been hurt.
205:30 - How can I be a doormat if I truly love you. Jesus wasn't a doormat. He was love.
Ministry to Feelings - Sentimentality
206:00 - It's not about our feelings in adversity - Motive of sentimentality - We have sentimentally intervened in situations. We try to protect them because we know how we would feel if we were in their shoes. And we are trying to save them from something - hurt. But that empowers us to hold onto self.
207:20 - It's not about us getting sympathy in adversity - Dan's wife - started to compare self to husband - they only talk to me because of you - lost self for six years - introverted - didn’t want to live. I didn't need your sympathy -the privilege of adversity - never asked for prayer - Why? Because of what I believed. You don't get frustrated. You love her.
211:20 - I'm teaching you this belief that sees clearly. The eye you see through will stay clear the whole way through adversity. If it was about me, I would be in trouble. There would have been resentment towards my wife.
212:30 - Where she's at is not a detriment to me. It just makes a draw on my compassion.
213:00 - I’m not married to her for my sake.
214:00 - People calling me with much smaller problems - totally undone, unaware of what I was going through. "Don't you get it? You don't see yourself as a man with a problem. They are calling you because you can give them that perspective.
214:30 - It's not about getting sympathy because of what has happened to us - Exalting our story. Accomplishes what? Permission for being the way we are. Justification of feelings.
115:20 - "But you don't know what I've been through." Is that what's important? Are we supposed to compare our stories now? I don't need to set her straight. I want to rescue her from the lie that's eating her lunch. I want to see her free.
217:00 - Hurt by the church - What are you doing hurt? Somebody needs to be there to impart truth rather than just sentimentality. Catering to their feelings which just affirms their position. We’re trying to relate instead of set them free.
218:00 - Have you ever been addicted to drugs? Then you can’t minister to me because you don't know what its like. Of course I can. I’ve been addicted to sin and self. I talk about being in prison my whole life - lost identity - lost sight of who I am. You've not known who you are either. We have more in common than you may think.
218:35 - We over-rely on the human intellect - It often makes excuses for us to stay the same - We bring so much intellect into this gospel that we limit grace and truth. We value our opinions - the way that seems right - human psychology and integrate it into the gospel of truth. It doesn’t bring freedom. It gives excuses for the flesh and remaining the same. If I can’t find the way I am thinking in the gospel why am I thinking that way? If God never saw me that way, why am I seeing you that way.
Counseling - Impart Truth
219:35 - When people come to you for counseling, you primarily teach them who they are? As opposed to ministering to them, praying for them?
Impart truth rather than concentrate on ministering to feelings - Truth sets us free - We are so ministry minded. The touch of the Spirit is wonderful but the strength of my heart is truth. The life of Jesus is truth. Truth is our best friend. What makes you free - the touch of God’s presence or truth? The Bible says that truth is what makes you free. Ministry at the altar is fine but if it becomes apparent that they are hindered by a lie, I have to address the way they are thinking. If they continue to think the same, they will experience the same. Then they will be back at the altar for prayer in the future. They will be waiting on the touch of God to be free.
221:25 - Interceding for wife - Did not intercede every day for wife. I live by faith. I'm in a position of faith.
221:55 - Intercession for wife - Father, that is not who she is. And I thank You that that has no power over my life. You have taught me to love. My God, you love her so much. Thank You for bringing her up and out, for teaching her for confirming her heart. And give me the wisdom to continue to manifest You and be like You are to her and be a living example. Thank You for the wisdom to love my wife and be a husband unto her. And I am going to run this race.
222:40 - Mindset and marriage before saved - I'll start over
223:20 - Taking responsibility for failing marriage - Father, if I'd have been living in Christ all of these years and living what I was created to be, none of this would look like it does. I release her from all responsibility. It has nothing to do with anything she has ever done wrong. It has to do with me not being sincere with my heart and life, and not living for Your glory. And God, I release my wife from this marriage in the sense of any responsibility and I take responsibility on my end that I have not been a man of God. And I know Your will is to restore my marriage. And I put it on the altar of Your mercy. And I thank You that Your will will be done... And I never even thought about or prayed for my marriage one more time. Seven weeks later... wife encounters God in the bathroom.
223:40 - Wife’s difficulties continued - people only pay attention to me because of you.
225:45 - Stay in faith. Your heart can’t get hard when it is in position to love. Healthy repentance vs. regret.
Free from You - Free to Love You
227:00 - Go buttonless - Become love - Your perspective changes - My concern is all the pain in peoples hearts. You need to address the pain. "You need to pray that my husband stops pressing my buttons." Pastor says, I want to pray that there are no more buttons. Why are there buttons? Let’s get rid of the buttons.
227:45 - Satan knows just which buttons to push. Grow in love until there are no more buttons or if he pushes it, it’s out of order. Because your perspective has changed and your reality sits in a different place.
228:30 - Living without offense. Why do you have so many buttons to push?
229:00 - Put no expectations on others - Receive love from God - You are to live trustworthy. But I’m not to put my trust in you. If my expectation is in you and you disappoint then all I can see you for is failure and weakness. I don’t see the value and potential of your life because all I can see is how you failed me.
229:30 - You are called to love, not be loved. The “be loved” comes from Jesus. Church shopping for a loving atmosphere.
231:00 - We live in a world where "I love you for me" is the norm - It's not a 50-50 marriage - You can need one another. You can say, I love you. But it really means, "I love you. Do you love me?" It’s an self-serving emotional exchange. I do for you. You do for me.
231:30 - 50-50 marriage. No, I'm not seeking my own. I give myself to you for your sake. Christian relationship books - the world's wisdom and way couched in Christ's name - the way the world lives with Christ incorporated.
232:25 - Christian psychology - the mindset that comes from God can’t be intertwined with fallen man. We accommodate all the old stuff, when after we are born again all that stuff is to change.
233:20 - Relationships - Love is more than how we've seen it - It’s not love it’s “I need you - for now.” I just don’t love you any more. It’s needs driven in the first place. Co-dependency.
236:00 - It takes one person in a marriage to be like Jesus - to hold onto love.
238:10 - Praying for an estranged child - Father I so thank You for what I know - that I can't even be moved by this. It would be nice if they would spare themselves of this. But God, I thank You that You won't spare them of Your love. Thank You that Your hand is upon them...
239:00 - Communing - closing prayer