Day 7
➡ 0:30 - Up to the break we are going to teach - give more examples of where we ended yesterday. And then after the break we are going to go into the sanctuary, spread out and take some time to just enter in - meditate in the word looking at Ephesians 1.
God Reality through Communion
1:20 - Meditating on the word - If you don't have a way to respond and enter in, what do you have? Just knowledge.
1:35 - Holy Spirit builds a reality through the sacrament of communion - There was a season in my life where I received communion every day for a pretty long period of time. And it wasn’t just to receive communion to remember Him, my heart intent was that Holy Spirit would teach me the accomplishment of the body and the blood. It got to the point where it was taking 45 minutes… (just for one element).
2:30 - Example of communing - I know theologically that He is always with me. I would walk into the sanctuary and say, Good morning, here I am. Man, I am so glad to be here with you. And the presence of God would just meet me there.
2:50 - In the sanctuary. Lady came in. Had to walk her out. What kind of woman do you think I am? She told me, when she came in, she felt the tangible presence of God.
4:30 - Communing builds reality - Communing like that builds a reality in you. There are things that you don’t do after a while because they become real to you. You are doing them by faith.
4:50 - Enter in by faith - even when it doesn’t FEEL real - You can talk yourself out of it. You can believe the way that God made foolish. That’s your privilege, if you want to believe that foolishness. “Well, this isn’t real. I feel like I am just talking to the wall.” Then you are just cycling. Your communion is just a method. No, it’s relationship you are building. “Well, I don’t hear God. I don’t bother because He never talks to me anyway.” He’s talking to you through His word all of the time. He is speaking through His Son.
5:05 - Negative mindsets are not from God - Anything that is discouraging you is total deception. It’s a mindset that is a loser. And it’s trying to make you a loser. And the longer that you live in that realm, the more likely you are to say, “Yeah, I am a loser.” Don’t do that. If it is negative - if it’s not producing life, that mindset is not from the Lord.
5:35 - So Jesus is with us always? We just don’t perceive it? -
Conscious of the presence of God - Always. The things that I used to do - some of these things that I am telling you - have become so real to me that what she just said is absolutely real to me (the presence of God with me). I perceive that all of the time. That’s actually what keeps you in a real straight and narrow because… it’s not a fear thing - condemnation thing… I am just aware of Him - conscious of Him.
6:00 - Awareness of His presence crushes the pull of sin - So the flesh is crushed in that place. You are walking by the Spirit. So I am not continually thinking about what Jesus wouldn’t want me to do. “I shouldn’t do that.” That stuff is not even in my life because He is with me. We’re together.
6:25 - Awareness of His presence is established by faith through communion - But in the beginning I had to establish that by faith. Now my faith has become my reality. Where I do perceive that (presence of God with me).
6:35 - So what do you do if you don’t perceive it? You have to settle what you know is true and know is available in your heart. And pursue that truth until it becomes yours. And don’t grow weary in doing good. Because you will reap if you don’t lose heart. That’s Galatians 6:7-9. - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. - Into the the flesh - He is not just talking about sinning. He is talking about a mentality - feeding a flesh mentality - feeding a flesh wisdom. “Well but, yeah but.” Of the flesh you will reap destruction - So that is not the place to be.
7:50 - What is welldoing? Is He talking about making apple pies for your neighbor or sowing into the Spirit? It’s the good fight of faith.
8:40 - The good fight of faith - Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. - 1 Tim. 6:12. It’s not fighting the devil. It’s maintaining your identity. The faith is walking in the finished work of Christ - what we’ve become because of what He has done. It takes faith to walk that out. You have to believe He came by faith. You have to believe He was the Son of God by faith.
9:10 - God becoming reality - How does that ever become your reality? By continuing there (camping) and growing to know Him to where He bears witness with your heart. Romans 8:16 - The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: - So the more you continue in Him, the more you KNOW what you say you believe. But you can’t grow weary in well doing and talk yourself out of that.
9:35 - Objections from the soul - negative mindset is not from God - That’s why I keep pounding… If something is not edifying you, if it is derogatory, if it is condemning, if it is not life giving, if it is negative, it’s never God. It’s the biggest stumbling block - your soul getting in the way. Your heart is pure. You want to know God. You are pursuing Him and then this little “Yeah but” thing rises up and it has a form of wisdom to it. And you embrace it as truth for yourself but it sells you short. It happens all of the time.
10:00 - Continue in acts of faith - We can’t grow weary in welldoing. What is welldoing? Sowing into the my spirit. Sowing into spiritual things. Colossians 3 says that if I am in Christ, then to get my mind off the earth and keep my mind here where Christ is sitting. Why? Because I died remember? It’s not about me any more. I died and my life is hidden in Christ. - If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:1-3. It is about me in the sense of Christ in me. What I mean is it’s not about my own flesh - my own ideas, my own opinions. Remember we surrendered that when we got saved.
10:35 - We died to ourselves so that He could come and live in us. So that all that He is could be in me. So that all of me is consumed with all of Him.
10:45 - Losing heart - So why do we not grow weary? So that we will reap if we don’t lose heart. There have been people here who have gone through seasons of losing heart in their pursuit of knowing Him. But God is here all of the time. He’s available. Theologically He is in me all the time.
12:00 - Meeting with God in the bedroom - closing the door - so I could open it and meet with Him.
12:30 - Little acts of faith pave the way for greater God reality - Was He always with me? Absolutely. Was He with me in my truck. Would it feel like sometimes He was sitting beside me? All the time. Those experiences were getting real to me. But it was because of little things like this - acts of faith.
12:50 - Contact points of faith - Do you know how God gives us things like the cup and the bread, the anointing of oil, water baptism - dying and living… They are contact points of faith. We can relate to those things. So every time I would open my bedroom door, it was a reminder of the throne room - the meeting place. The most fun part was opening the door. “Here I am.” I believed He wanted to meet with me. I believed He was my father. I believed He took pleasure in me.
13:45 - He takes pleasure in you - It was His good pleasure… Ephesians 1:5 - Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, - It’s His good pleasure to give you the kingdom - Luke 12:32 - Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. - He takes pleasure in you. You’ve got to believe that or you won’t give yourself to these kinds of things of faith. You will still be trying to find ways to be pleasurable to Him and He already loves you.
Faith & Feelings
14:30 - Believe first, feelings follow - That grew to a place where if I would just get alone and say, “Jesus,” His presence would hold me. I experience that all the time. But only because I believed first.
14:45 - Your foundation is not what you FEEL, but truth - A lot of people say, “Pray for me, I want to feel God’s love. Pray for me and impart that to me.” The most powerful thing you can do is believe first. Because if not you are going to live sensual and you are going to live from experience to experience. And in between those experiences you are going to feel like it’s a dry spell. And you are just going to be waiting for the next time God touches you. You live by faith. This is why you don’t hear me talk about manifestations a lot.
15:15 - The pastor’s wife - Pray for me, want to feel God. - Absolutely not. I wouldn’t do you that injustice.
15:45 - “Pray for me, I want to feel what you feel. Then we become very experiential.
15:50 - Altar calls to feel God’s love, when truth is your best friend - You have to be careful how you minister. I could minister in such a way that I would have an altar full of people crying and it would seem like a powerful move of God. And at the end we would accomplish very little. Because a lot of the tears are people wanting to believe etc. You can make a draw on need and it looks like a move of God. You could have altar calls constantly. Your greatest blessing is truth. There are altar call all the time to feel God’s love - to feel His love. You have believe His love. If God says I am going to impact these people with a sense of my love and they are never looking back, I would have that altar call. But if I am doing it just for you to go, “Oh, He does love me.” and not in a place where I am seeing that this is going to transform you…
17:10 - When do you just believe His love? - The need for reassurance - Here is what I have watched. Countless people go to those altar calls and what is motivating them is a reassurance. It’s a reassurance. It’s a reaffirmation. And sometimes the minister calls it that. That’s very dangerous. Because you are not called to continually need reassurance. When are you ever assured? When do you just believe that He loves you through the fact that He gave His Son? When do you just believe that? In your life there might be a time when you need reassurance but if I am ministering to you personally that is a discernment thing.
17:55 - Living sensual - living by what you sense - Lady in Warren, PA - I just need to feel His love. I’ve never felt His love. And I would be healed. She was saying that she knew that He loved her but at the same time she was revealing that she didn’t know that. How do you really know that He loves you? Because you feel it? Or because Christ came? And she knew I wasn’t going to pray for her. She wanted a manifestation. “Honey, you don’t understand the friend I am trying to be to you right now.” The consistency that you see in my life is because I believe it. Period. And then God can give me a stewardship of that relationship of love in a very tangible way. Because if I am not feeling it there are no questions. It’s not like, “Where are you?” This is what happens to people when they live sensual. And because they don’t feel Him this week like they felt Him last week they don’t know if He is hearing them. He hears you because He says He does. Faith is the greatest thing you can be established in.
19:30 - Living from a foundation of faith in truth - fun feelings are a bonus - I’m a faith guy, not a manifestation guy. But I feel God all the time now. I don’t talk about the manifestations. I don’t live from manifestations. You’d be amazed what I experience in my flesh while I am talking and teaching like this. I feel Holy Spirit hug me all the time. But I have believed He wants to, for years. I believe I am really huggable to God. I don’t believe that because He does that. I believe that because Christ came.
20:20 - Where does joy come from? Joy is the result of your salvation. The clearer you see the good tidings the more joy you will have. Joy isn’t something you get an impartation of.
20:35 - Holy laughter - I’m not saying that that is wrong. I’m saying that you can’t ride that. That’s not going to be your revelation.
20:50 - Joy comes out of the good tidings - Your revelation is going to come through the good tidings. Getting your eyes fixed on it and not growing weary in welldoing (definition above). Or you are going to be in another service a year from now and you are going to be saying. “Boy, I remember when God touched me with that holy laughter but it seems like for the last 3 months I have been a pretty dry tank. I need my tank filled. I am going up for some more impartation of joy.” I’ve never had anybody pray for me for any of that stuff that I have watched people go to the altar for that all the time. And sometimes I think we are teaching ourselves to live sensual and our feelings instead of what we really believe.
21:30 - I’m not against God touching people and His love just come upon them. But my motive is never, “We all just need to feel God’s love.” And people would be crying. But if you would have that same altar call in two weeks the same people would stampede to the front.
22:10 - Living for another touch - Conference in VA - At least 12 said to me, “My life is so transformed and how free they are.” And in a week they are cycling. We are so emotional. We live from emotion. Sometimes we just ride the wave of emotion and fail to get alone with Him and let Him build on that deposit. The deposit is not enough. The deposit should take you more to Him. So that that revelation can be established. So that we can perceive Him in an everyday way. A lot of people get talked out of it by circumstances, feelings and emotions.
23:10 - So these 12 people were talking to me and this service started and the message sounded like a basic Christian message. And there was an altar call to pray for people. At least for 2 nights we pounded truth and people are free. At the end He used a phrase - how the world has encased us and enveloped us and formed us. And some of you in this room are under that yoke and I need to break that off of you. 95% of the congregation went up like cattle. And everybody that told me they were free was in the line because they wanted prayer.
24:00 - They are saying, “I’m giving up my identity and what’s established in me, for another touch.” I don’t need another touch. I need revelation through His love. I need Him to become real in my life. I don’t need you to lay hands on me. It is so overplayed in the church right now.
24:45 - Laying on of hands - Impartation - We’ve laid hands on so many people over the last decade. If it was so powerful we would have a lot more consistency and fruit in our lives. We’re living from moment to moment and we are afraid to talk about it and admit it because we think we are saying something negative. Getting alone with Him… Is there a place for impartation? Absolutely.
25:15 - Preaching at Global - Randy Clark - But they know that I don’t agree with a lot of things at Global and they still let me come. Sometimes I am uprooting what they just learned. “Dude you just wrecked my whole theology. Where do I go from here?”
26:20 - What’s lacking in our lives is truth. I can’t even talk about it without being passionate. It’s truth. It’s made me free - John 8:31-32. Truth is my best friend. I’ve never had anybody pray for me for impartation. I’ve had people bless me and touch me but I can count them on one hand. I’ve never gone to the altar for something from God. I get it in the secret place all of the time. I get it in my truck. I’m not saying it’s wrong. But if you depend on that…
26:45 - Asking for impartation to release a gift - Now I understand seeing a gifting in somebody’s life and saying would you bless me? That that gift just unlocks in my life. Like a Bob Hazlett (prophecy) or Bill Johnson you better believe I might say, “Would you just lay your hands on me and just bless me and just impart…” I’m ok with that.
27:10 - Identity is not imparted - I’m talking about identity stuff. I’m not talking about gifting. (Laying hands on head) I can’t do this long enough and shabah long enough to put identity into him. I can pray for his heart to get more released into seeking for identity - get a yoke off of Him that is keeping him from getting face to face with God. But I cannot impart the identity I am walking into him through prayer. And I have no conviction to lay hands on him for the experience of the things that I experience without the foundation of truth. I want the foundation of truth in Him. We are putting our faith in things other than knowing him and being with Him.
28:30 - He loves you. And I'm telling you that you will never look back if this thing hits your heart by you stepping out in faith.
28:40 - The gifts are in you - The gifts are already in you. They don’t need to be imparted. Giftings can be released through impartation. Asking for impartation from a humble, pure place.
30:00 - With impartation my real concern is that it is way over emphasized.
30:10 - People asking for impartation. It can get weird. Randy Clark’s school - Global. What Randy is seeing in me is identity. The foundation where I am coming from is agreeable. And I don’t attack the other stuff. I just preach the gospel. And as I preach Jesus, it raises a lot of questions.
33:25 - Jesus saw clearly - We are growing in healing - Jesus happened to be Lord and the revelation of truth. He was the word revealed. So He didn’t just know the truth He was the truth. And He would look at a paralyzed limb and there wasn’t even one thought like we get tried with. He wasn’t thinking,”I hope this works,” or “Oh, wow, yay, it’s moving.” That’s what we do. And when we do that we reveal that we are all just growing. When Jesus sees that, He sees it for what it really is, in light of who He is. And there is an authority over it every time. So when He says, “Take your bed and walk.” And the guy starts moving. He is not in His heart going. “Oh, thank you Father. God, this is awesome. Yay!” He knows that he is getting up.
34:25 - Now you and I haven’t walked that way at large. I’ve walked in that. I’ve gotten glimpses of that. And I’ve seen a lot of people healed in the level of what I see.
34:35 - Visuals that get bigger than our revelation of the will and heart of God - But I can honestly tell you that there is a war going on in my head in a lot of visual stuff sometimes. When I see a child with cancer and they are down to skin and bones and I pray and the next time I see them they look a little thinner. That tries to speak and get in your head. The key of this identity thing and growing in this healing thing is to where that revelation gets way bigger than what your eyes are seeing. To where no matter what you are seeing (in the natural) that is not your motivation. Here is what happens to us: that (visual) becomes our motivation. And we dig deeper and pray harder. Why? Because we are motivated by that (visual). It’s happened to me. And I am sure that it has happened to you if you pray for the sick where there are visuals.
35:25 - Meeting in the secret place - So I go into my secret place and in the beginning it just felt like a thing I was doing. Even though my heart was alive. I was born again. For a while it was a faith thing. I was child like. I believed I was meeting with God. Was He in me while I was walking up the steps (before getting to the secret place)? Absolutely. But I was believing that He was there in a specific way to meet with me in secret face to face.
35:55 - So I would slide in the door, shut the door and say, “I’m here.” And I wouldn’t even turn on the light. And most of the time I wouldn’t even make it too the bed. I would just stand there communing and things would come alive in my heart. I’d end up wherever (on topics of discussion), I didn’t have a plan. But what did I do? I went into the bedroom by faith believing He would meet me there. I wasn’t even expecting Him to say anything specific or sit on the bed and manifest visually. I wasn’t even expecting necessarily to feel His presence. I just believed He called me to that place so He would meet me there. Everything else just came out of knowing Him.
Manifestations
37:00 - Chasing manifestations - So I was only doing that for a couple of weeks when I went in there and my whole bedroom turned into the throne room. I rarely share that stuff because people chase that stuff. The only reason that I am sharing this now is that that (experience) is not what I was going in there for. That (experience) was totally unexpected which made it totally awesome. I wasn’t looking for it - every day going in, “Show me the throne room.” It’s not about that.
37:30 - Comparing manifestations can be detrimental - It’s not wrong to have that desire but I see people pursue that. And then 4 other people will say, “Oh God has been taking me right into the throne room in prayer and I am sitting at His feet.” And then this other person is like, “I’ve never even had a dream, a vision, nothing. I wonder what is wrong with me?” And we are talking all about these spiritual manifestations at the cost of one another. Because it puts people under pressure and they start weighing (themselves).
38:10 - People under pressure to manifest - They will be in meetings where it is important to fall down and shake and be on fire. It’s important to go through the fire tunnel and manifest. And they walk through and are being honest and are not experiencing what the others are. But after a while they looked around and realized that they were the only one that wasn’t responding this way so they were left alone feeling, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I not having this?”
38:45 - Fire tunnel at Global - I just walk through. But I do it with my heart before the Lord. If He whacks me and knocks me down, it won’t be because I was trying to manifest. That would be great. I am not against that. I’ve been knocked out a few times. I'm going in for a purpose. I want to come out with something I didn’t have when I went in. I’m not just going in to play. I’m not going in to just manifest. My heart is faith and purpose. I want to receive something that changes me. It’s at the cost of things if you don’t teach faith. All of the sudden the person is forced to manifest to fit in and in their heart they know that it is not their reality and their real experience. That happens all of the time.
40:10 - Pressure to manifest - to not be left out or to draw attention - There are students that do that. There are students who cried and admitted doing that. They don’t want to feel left out. Some of those are the most expressive of all because they go to the far end. So they just draw attention through it. It makes them FEEL like something. It’s sad if we are creating that and making it important.
40:50 - I will walk through a fire tunnel. I won’t say no. I’ll walk through a fire tunnel in faith.
41:00 - “Ho” Atmosphere - Todd at a different school. And they were all touching. They are going to expect you to “ho”. Sorry guys I don’t mean to disappoint you but I am just not a manifester. But hey, we can preach Jesus.
42:15 - I’ve had more powerful experiences in the bedroom than I have ever had in corporate settings - in a personal intimate way.
42:25 - Whirlwind going around bed and I couldn’t even get up. Speaking out of the whirlwind.
42:35 - You are not going to find God reality apart from you and Him alone - I’ve had amazing experiences with God, I just don’t talk about them. And those experiences put such a security in you that you don’t have to prove anything. You are not reaching. A lot of what we do, is reaching for something that is real. You are not going to find it apart from you and Him alone. Him and you alone is where it becomes yours. It’s yours already. But you’ll realize it in that place.
43:15 - Raining on me in bed - It felt like it was tangibly raining on me in bed. And every drop that hit me, God’s perfuse, unexplainable, unsearchable love would saturate me. And I didn’t even know what to do. I just froze there.
43:40 - I didn’t have these experiences to be somebody in front of you. Or to provoke you in a wrong (way). I had them because I was seeking Him and I must know Him. And it is so healthy and so pure.
44:00 - Do I have a religious spirit because I won't manifest? - So am I religious because I won’t manifest? Do I have a religious spirit because I won’t go through a fire tunnel. I’ve heard that taught from the pulpit. That the people who resist these things are riddled with religious spirits.
Intimate Relationship
44:20 - Intimacy leads to pregnancy and kids - But Jesus seems to love me when the door to my secret place is closed. It’s called intimacy. I’ve been pregnant for a long time. I’ve got a lot of kids to God. I’ve produced some things through that intimacy. We’ve got a lot of children together. That’s where you get pregnant. Probably more people have gotten pregnant with one person alone intimacy, than have in groups. You can get touched in groups. You get pregnant when you are all alone (with the other). There is a truth there.
45:40 - Awareness of His Presence - So I am going into my secret place for awhile (many days?). And it is really real to me now. It’s getting bigger and bigger and God is touching me there. It’s getting to the point when I mention Jesus’ name when I am driving or walking, His presence is there and assurance - a knowing there - a realized perception that He is always with me - always. You are growing into that. The Bible says that we are growing up into Him in all things - Eph. 4:15. So it’s not like you get saved and it is always there.
Surrender & Die
46:25 - Surrender from the beginning - It was close to that for me in the beginning. I can tell you why. Some people say that it was a sovereign gift. I so saw my life for what it was and my heart that I didn’t ever, ever want to live that again. And I surrendered and I know I died that day. I gave myself to the Lord. The night I got saved, I gave myself to the Lord. And in no way did I see that I incorporated Him in. My total motive was to die so that I could live. I didn’t ever want to be that man that I was seeing ever again. I am not conscious of one thing that I held onto and wrestled with letting go. I'm not aware of anything that I consciously withheld. I gave Him my life that night. That meant a lot. Because that determined the level of grace that came into me and the level of revelation. Because if old things pass away then all things are new. But if you give 90% of the old things and there are still 10%...
47:50 - A hard time surrendering - Some of us call it a long sanctification process. “Well it’s a process brother.” What we are saying is, “I'm holding on pretty tight and it’s going to take a while to let go.” And we don’t realize that’s what we are saying. We are actually saying God is doing a work in me brother. {Pulling back one finger at a time screaming} And each one of those takes a year and to let go takes 5 years. “I finally laid it down.”
48:20 - Who has ever noticed that when you have a conviction, when you finally, truly laid it down, there was an increased grace and blessing in your life. I hear people talk about it.
48:30 - Face to face with my selfish heart - What I’ve grown into is the Lord showing me mindsets that were unproductive and things like that. But as far as my life, I don’t think I held anything back when I got saved. I gave Him everything. Now I had a revelation of my own heart. I had a face to face with my own heart and saw that it was wretched. It was completely, extremely selfish and it was at your expense. And I didn’t even know love. I didn’t know if God was real. And I saw that my heart was solely, completely selfish and I wanted everybody to love what I didn’t even like - me. And I saw that so clearly.
49:10 - So I died - Is there grace to allow that? Absolutely. I saw it. But what I did with it was what God intended - I died. So that was a pretty good springboard right there into knowing Him. Because the God reality that came into my heart was overwhelming. But from that next morning on it was just a joy ride of just knowing Him.
49:35 - Dealing with what is thought to be manhood - He dealt with the definition of manhood the first morning I got saved. That was a stronghold in my life. Just what it meant to be a man. My whole sexual perspective. I cried and I said out of my mouth which a lot of men won’t say this… I shared my revelation that God walked me through with three pastors that said, “Stop. I don’t want to hear any more.” Because they were coveting a certain thing called their manhood - in the way they liked being a man. When I saw this I in my secret place I said to God, “You couldn’t have made me this way. It’s totally self-serving and self-centered.” There is no way that you made Adam this way in the Garden because you are love and there is not one selfish thing about you. You couldn’t have made Eve because Adam was lonely and needed a woman. You have to deliver me. I have received my definition of manhood through the world. So much so, that when that woman came into the dark sanctuary (earlier story), my first thought was to get her out into the parking lot.
➡ 51:10 - Old things dead / all things new - That’s called all things dead and all things new. All new perspectives. Everything I thought was wisdom and knowledge before Christ must be 180ed. Why is this so important for your life? So that your identity is secure in Him. So that you don’t have glitches, weaknesses, vulnerabilities.
Healthy Identity
51:45 - Lack of identity makes you vulnerable - Purity before marriage - As a pastor I’ve only known two couples that didn’t come together sexually before marriage. And I can’t tell you of the countless Christian singles that go to these dating services and end up sleeping around. They are seeking companionship - meeting of needs - desire - loneliness. It’s because identity is missing. That’s not even an issue when Jesus is real. All of these things are an evidence of a lack of God reality in our lives. God reality erases all of those things. Knowing God is to be filled with all of the fullness of God - Eph. 3:19. So all of these things reveal vulnerability.
53:05 - Counselling young women to grow in spiritual truth instead of following needs. Following needs cripples identity. Many in the church live this way.
53:50 - Christian dating services - not impressed. We just do the thing that the world is doing and call it Christian. Meat markets. Fornication.
54:05 - He is all you need - Establish identity - From there you live healthy - Get alone with Him. Begin knowing that you are valuable and that there is something about knowing Him that can fulfill your life forever - that He is all that you need. And from that place you lead a healthy life. He’s above my spouse, my kids - above all. He is all that I need. And from that place, life is a blessing. But He is all that I need. Now I have to grow to know that. And that has become my reality. I’m still driven by a lot of things.
55:35 - Cycling - Lack of God reality - The cycle reveals a lack of God reality. The cycle in our lives - the ability to do things to violate our consciences apart from truth is nothing more than a lack of realizing who He is in your life.
55:50 - Don’t fall apart - Get to know Him - So if something like that is in your life, don’t fall apart and judge yourself and be negative. Let it motivate you to know Him more. Because that is your answer. Because if you know Him more these things will fade away without you trying to change them.
56:10 - Desires changed - Like my desire life has totally changed just by knowing Him. the things that I used to think were so valuable or that I needed to do, has so totally changed, the more I started knowing Him. My whole life transformed.
56:30 - Open vision in bedroom. Throne room. “Shhhh. My son has come to meet with me.” I'm intimately fixed on you son and I hear you when you pray. I’m right here. And then it all went away.
58:20 - Manifesting - Not making fun of manifestations, they are real. Just make sure your motives are pure.
58:30 - Knowing Him - My need is to know Him. My greatest desire is to know Him. Eternal life is knowing Him. 1 John 1:3 - That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. - And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. He’s talking about intimacy and knowing Him.
59:30 - Alone with God, now what? - Who has ever gotten alone with God and then you think now what? You felt speechless. You felt like you didn’t have things to say. The more you fill your heart with the word… The expression of one verse can get so big. So how do you build that in you? With the word. Don’t commune with God without the word.
1:00:25 - Let’s go to Psalms 34. And everything it is saying, I’ll respond to it.
The Sacrament of Communion
1:00:40 - Revelation of the sacrament of communion - It’s like communion. I’ll ask Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit show me everything through the word. Bring it to my remembrance - what the body accomplished and paid for. After 2 weeks of doing that, I couldn’t put it in my mouth for 45 minutes. Because I was realizing everything the body accomplished. It’s not a trivial thing. It’s deep. It’s powerful.
1:01:05 - The body - A lot of what I preach comes out of that season of my life. I took the body and was remembering His purpose in coming in the flesh. I wasn’t just looking at Him getting beaten and by His stripes you are healed, I am looking at Him coming as flesh - taking on a body - coming as a bondservant - coming in the likeness of men - me being perfected through Him - and it just kept getting bigger and bigger… Now He’s a man. He’s in the flesh but He’s the Son of God. But He is a man at the right hand of God on behalf of men. It was so humbling and life-giving.
1:01:45 - The blood - And now you take the blood… And the blood covenant can explode in you if you take time there. You are not just doing an ordinance. You are exchanging. It’s a contact point of faith where you are expressing your faith in the reality of what you are doing.
Meditating in the Word - Psalm 34
1:02:10 - Interacting with God through a Psalm - It’s the same way with a Psalm - Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. - Man, you read something like that… Father I just bless you. You could speak out things that are challenging your soul - that have challenged your life. And in the light of who you are, why would I ever worry? Because you are my Father. The truth is you are the Lord, God, worthy of praise. And all of the sudden you just enter into this place that is real to you.
1:02:45 - Example prayers show flavor not a formula for your prayers - I don’t want you to just puppet these prayers. It builds in your own heart. When it builds in your own heart, that’s when it’s really yours. Or else it can become a liturgy thing.
1:02:50 - Interaction with God becoming familiar, dry, religious - I went to a Catholic mass and I saw Christ there. I saw Holy Spirit working. I actually said, “Amen” and “Praise God” and got some looks. I was seeing Christ in the liturgy. But to the people it becomes so routine - just a pattern of response - it can become dry and religious. But the life (light?) is still there. What you do with it and perceive it and handle it is important. You can get familiar with things. We can fail to take earnest heed and the reality can slip away.
1:03:45 - Funeral mass - It all made sense to me. Lord I see you in all of this. Before that I had a mental picture from what everybody says that they weren’t even maybe saved. That it was religion. And I got there and I saw Jesus there. But I looked around and I wasn’t sure that people saw Jesus there because it was just tradition (to them).
1:04:20 - Speaking for 5 minutes. I finished in 4. I spoke out of my heart. I went in there out of my heart and I saw it for what it was - life. But it can become religious if there is no expression of heart. It just becomes form.
1:05:00 - When I got up and shared, I had a sea of people around me saying, “What was going on when you were speaking?”
1:05:15 - Catholic wedding - Bride and groom tied together - Holy Spirit rippled over the people and settled. And nobody went to see the bride and groom. They all came to me. “What just happened?” And I got to explain to them. Holy Spirit came over my shoulders, swirled around the bride and groom and tied them together and blew out over the people. He was excited to come to their wedding. She was expecting for Him to come. Holy Spirit knocked out back-slidden best man. I told you He would come. Holy Spirit will make you one at the vows - giving yourself to one another.
1:08:55 - Disagreement - 9 months later - unresolved - no communication - 3 days go by - no body is budging - and it’s getting worse. Out of her mouth - maybe it was a mistake. That can’t possibly be true. It’s us. If that was true He would have never come like He came. Ran to one another. Instantly restored. They got their eyes back on the fact that He joined them.
1:10:50 - v.2 - My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. -
Spiritual vocabulary in prayer - When you are reading something like that, you don’t have to feel like you don’t have enough spiritual vocabulary, just enter in with what’s real in your heart. As you continue to grow in the word and grow in prayer, that vocabulary will grow.
1:11:20 - Don’t just read it - Do what it is inviting you to do - So whatever it means to magnify the Lord… Declare that He is the Lord. Declare that He is King of kings. Don’t just read it. It’s asking you to magnify the Lord. So you spend a little time there. It may be two, five, thirty minutes. How long you spend is not so important. What’s important is that in your heart you express some level of truth that this is calling you into. This is how you read your Bible and respond so that it becomes yours - where it becomes reality.
1:12:00 - v.4 - I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. - You can reflect back to when you were saved. And how you touched my heart with God reality. I was so lost. I was so wretched inside but you saw the best in me. And I wasn’t even seeking you. You called me to the carpet. But when I responded, your faithfulness was right there. And God, you have changed my life forever. That’s how I read my Bible when I am sitting on my bed.
1:12:30 - Reading the Bible - There are times when I read a lot. There are other times when I will just read one Psalm and it will take me into a place of prayer and worship, a time where identity is secured or even springboard you into praying for people and things because it just grows.
1:12:55 - So here is what we tend to do. We go through it real quick and because we read it, that is our devotion to God. We read for knowledge. And without faith, you just see what you are not.
1:13:15 - Don’t weigh scripture against your life - That’s backwards - One lady told me that she stopped reading the Bible because it kept revealing how unfaithful He’s been in her life. That’s what she came to believe because she compared her life to the scripture - not seeing that the scripture was truth, not her life and the the scripture was calling her life to be transformed. She was weighing the scripture against her life instead of her life against the scripture.
1:14:25 - Waiting for the magic moment of change - How does He redeem your soul? By filling it with truth - by showing you the right way - His way. Most of us are waiting for God to just breathe on us and redeem us - waiting for the magic moment where things change. They change in His presence when truth strikes your heart.1:14:45 - v.19 - Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. - Father, your faithfulness is amazing. I am in the world but not of the world. And I thank you Father that in every trial, in every adversity, I am not picking a fight, but I am so not afraid of adversity and afflictions. It just forms me in you because my eyes are on you. You can never fail and you are working in me effectually to manifest your great name. No way am I afraid of my enemies. And to them it’s a sign of their destruction. And to me it’s proof of my salvation. I am saved. The salvation of the Lord has come to my life. I will go off like that in my bedroom and go absolutely ballistic. I will preach the whole gospel - through one scripture like that. It might be the only scripture that I read. Release faith - speak truth.
1:15:45 - v.20-22 - He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.- Father my eyes are fixed on you. My soul is kept in you. I thank you that fear and worry are a thing of the past. My heart is content in you. Father, I thank you that your eyes are on the righteous and that would be me because you see me as if I never sinned through the blood of your Son and now I am a son. Where does it end? It will just grow and grow as your understanding grows. A lot of people pray but it’s only about what is wrong and what they feel needs to change. Rarely are people taught to pray in light of the truth and what’s been made right. We are praying for God to change us. Start building on the fact that He has changed you through His Son. and He has already put His Spirit in you. He’s already put His kingdom in you. He’s already made peace with you.
1:16:50 - Needing to FEEL peace - People needing to FEEL peace and going to the altar. And then you get up from the altar more conscious that you don’t feel peace. So then you ask people to pray for you, “I just need to feel peace.” Cycle of asking for prayer. And three weeks later you are going back up to the altar. Waiting for the day that you feel peace. When He has already made peace. The peace is in your spirit. There is a place for you to say, You have made peace with me. I have peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, you know what, you are redeeming my soul. I’m not going to be deceived and live out of my feelings. I'm not going to feel like I don’t have peace and then don’t believe I have peace when you said there’s peace between you and me. There is peace, goodwill towards me. It makes you feel good to make peace for me. I am accepting it today. I am thanking you that you are aligning things. You are bringing my emotions into a place of redemption where I realize the peace I actually have with you. But the bottom line is this you are in me and you love me. You are absolutely for me. You have got to challenge this stuff. Or you are going to turn yourself into a sensual living person. And you will just be thrown around. Manifestations - feelings - emotions - they come and go all the time. But they have to get redeemed through truth so they don’t eat your lunch.
1:18:00 - Flip it 180 and proclaim the truth - Replace lies with Truth - To where if something comes up that is counterproductive in my life, I am so walking in Him - so realizing He is with me. If something becomes counterproductive, my immediate response is to flip it 180 (degrees) and proclaim the truth about that thing. I realize that it is counterproductive immediately because i am in Him. I am walking in Him. I am staying built up in this truth. If you are not doing that, the counterproductive thing comes and you think it’s just the way it is. And you gray out. And until God changes that or breathes on you or touches you, you can’t be free. That is deception.
Communing through Confession Sheets
1:19:15 - Do you think that we are too focused on the promise and that we should be more focused on the Promisor? Absolutely. That is a beautiful point. There are people and I am not against a good confession but there are people who have been taught to take every promise and slap it all over your fridge and confess, confess, confess. You can confess until you are blue in the face and never make contact with God and talk to Him intimately. It’s all about knowing Him. It’s not about knowing what He said. What He said is important. He said, You - Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. - John 5:39. There is a place where God and the scriptures are one. And I understand that there is a power and anointing on the word. You can confess the word and actually get a result in your life through confessing the word. But if it doesn’t leave you with knowing Him more, what are you accomplishing other than getting your needs met. Your greatest need is to know Him. Because to know Him is to be loved by Him. And to be loved by Him is to be filled with all of His fullness.
1:20:15 - Confession sheets - So I don’t ever just encourage confession sheets or quoting promises over your life. There are books that just have you quoting the word over your life. I don’t speak the word over my life. I commune with God based on what that truth says. For example, if there is a promise, I’ll take what God says through that promise to me… Like Psalms 91:15-16 - He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. - I’ll read something like that and I won’t quote that over my life in an impersonal way. I’ll say, Father, I thank you that it’s your good pleasure to give me the kingdom. I thank you through Jesus you have shown me salvation, good tidings of great joy. God I am so not afraid. I am going to live long, bear fruit, leave a legacy… I make it personal. I take what He promised and I convey it back in an intimate way where I am talking to Him person to person. I don’t just quote the word over my life. I take what He is speaking to me in that promise and exchange it with Him in faith and then grace comes on that faith and makes it your reality. And the eyes of your understanding get illuminated.
1:22:10 - We know the word but haven’t become the word because of lack of intimacy - That was an excellent point about just not seeking the promises, because that has been a big stumbling block. Here is what happens. The church so much knows what the Bible says. We know every promise. When a preacher is preaching most people can finish the scripture before the preacher gets through because we know what the Bible says. But we haven’t become what it says because we lacked intimacy and taken it right to God and knowing Him. So here is the paradox, we know what the Bible says, but subtly in our mind it is not our reality and we have been in this thing so long. Then your mind starts saying, “When am I ever going to get it? I know what the Bible says but hey...” Then when you read your Bible again you are reading it through that LACK of experience, through that cycle, instead of just looking up and affirming these things.
1:23:00 - Getting past the common problem of false humility - Affirming that you are loved and valuable to God is probably one of the biggest challenges to people because we have been taught opposite - that false humility thing. It’s hindered us. We think that to make ourselves low is to raise Him up. When He has raised us up out of sin, into sonship, to sit with Him in heavenly places. So one of your biggest challenges is to see the value of your life to God.
1:23:30 - My value to the Father - Worth the blood - Nobody pays a high price for nothing. If He shed the blood of Jesus for you, you must have value to the Father. Now, life might not have revealed that. And you might not even be totally able to see that but I’ll tell you the fact that His Son came, you can see you must have value, you must be a pearl of great price. Nobody spends $100k on a $20k car. And yet the blood of Jesus was expended for you and me. We must have amazing original value with the Father that He wants to redeem and restore. You have to start there and see that you are worth every drop of the blood. Even if you have done nothing right, you are worth the blood. He came while we were yet sinners. So you have got to settle that in your heart and let that be the foundation - rooted and grounded in love.
1:24:15 - Rooted and grounded in unfailing love - When we are just seeking it in other ways, it comes and we receive it with joy, but there is no depth of root - no root of unfailing love. And you go out in the heat of the day - the pressures of life come - and what sprung up so quickly withers with discouragement, “Here we go again. I thought this was my breakthrough.” Why? Because there is no root. What’s the root? Love. You are loved. And when you know that you will face the heat of the day and the persecutions through a whole different eye. It won’t be just be about, “Here we go again.” It will be, “Here we go again!”
BREAK
[The second session on this day was an exercise in communing.]