The Chronicles Of     Awakenings

A Collection Of Experiences On Discovering The Man Behind The Myth

By Brad McClendon

Forward

By Ray Hughes founder of Selah Ministries

The Bible consists of thousands of stories, songs, parables, and poems. Each of them tells of the journeys of real people experiencing God in real ways. Conflicts of the heart and tragedies abound and so does redemption and restoration. Unimaginable grief as well as indescribable joy are wrapped in tales of destruction and healing. Life and death and death and life, lives lived and lost and lived again. Generation after generation the stories have been told and heard and told again. We have all visualized the gleam in the eye of the young shepherd boy when he saw and heard the armor clad giant crash to the ground. Who hasn't imagined what it looked like when the sea swallowed the entire Egyptian army of soldiers, horses, and chariots? We have placed ourselves somewhere in the crowd and watched with wonder as a nameless little boy freely gave his loaves and fishes and became a part of a miracle. And that miracle not only impacted the thousands on the hill that day, it has impacted millions and millions of people for some two thousand years. We so often overlook the power of story. We would live very different lives if it were not for storytellers. Every generation has them, for every generation must have them. Whether they are songwriters, poets, scriptwriters, authors, artists or actors, they are vital to the human experience in every culture in every generation. Whether they be preachers, educators, journalists, or shade tree philosophers, they are necessary. You can categorize or colonize them however you like. But, when all is said and done they are simply "guardians of memories". They are the ones that awaken us to truth and facts, with words and images that bring revelation worthy of responses. They are the ones that remind us that there were "five" smooth stones there that day. Who could have imagined that it would ever be necessary to know how many stones there were? It only took one stone to take the giant down. Need I remind you that Miriam played a tambourine and Jesus walked on water? Yes, we must be reminded, because what God has performed in the past can be counted as promises to future generations. To remember His mighty acts is to value them, and what we value in God determines what we access. So, if we value the mighty and wonderful acts of God, it changes our understanding and alerts us to new and wondrous possibilities in our daily lives.

To hear and know other people's journey is to hear and know their victories and their defeats. It’s not always about the seas parting and giants falling and storms being calmed and blind eyes opening. Sometimes the overlooked miracles, you know the small quiet ones that seek no attention, seem to reveal the character and nature of the Father the most. They are the quiet daily occurrences that many times go unnoticed or are not understood, and sometimes noticed but misunderstood. Then, one day they sneak back into our lives in the middle of a story. Sometimes those are the ones that over time tend to impact us most. They carry the lyrics that are the purest expressions of our lives. They speak of our tragedies and conflicts and grief and many times never say a word. The quiet miracles that are heard between the lines in our stories, the heavenly knowings that come flowing out of remembering and in their telling they tell us who God really is in our life. I believe the revelation that is gained through this very natural process born out of relationship truly delights the Father.

Every time we revisit one of those remembrances, we have an opportunity to gain greater understanding and revelation. It’s not that we relive the learning experience with all its harshness or its joys. It's more about renewing and reaffirming the revelation that we gained through the experience. To tell the story is to awaken the value systems and gratitude of heart and walk thankfully again through the experiences that shape us. It is knowing God, while seeing and hearing giants fall. It is knowing God, while hearing horses and chariots. Awakening is seeing God and living to tell about it.

Introduction

Why isn’t the world excited about this man named Jesus? Could it be that Jesus is completely different than traditional thought or belief - that His attitude toward mankind is opposite of what many think?  Consider for a moment the possibility of changing your mind about Him. I believe misinformation has given a false image of who He really is; for that reason I have written this book to help recover a portion of our inheritance.  Life itself.

A fundamental part of our walk with Christ is to reach out to others, as He did Himself.  Who would not want to tell others about this new Life?  A “Life” that can come and abide in us, and simultaneously give us eternal life, wipe away every tear, and destroy every evil thing ailing us?

Chronicles of the Awakenings of God can be found in this book. In it I will share insights I gained through revelations and true experiences with the Lord Jesus Christ as well as with ordinary people.  By doing so, I believe an impartation and awakening of the soul is released. True power is gained not only through knowledge, but the experiential reality that truth conveys.  He who has knowledge without experience lacks genuine power, but a person with experience has power that compels others to believe.  The validity of a person’s experience can be determined by looking into their eyes.  The eyes are the gateway to the soul and do not lie.

In the first volume, I hope to share my experiences and the understanding about the Lord gained from them. I realize none of us have all of the truth about God. But as I learned in my experiences with Jesus, we must remember to stay open minded. I pray that you will enjoy it and receive an impartation of Life Himself as I did.

Chapter One

The Revelation of Jesus’ Love

Years ago, at a time when my life was a mess as a professional golfer, I was radically transformed by visitations from the Lord.  Although I considered myself a Christian, I was not following the Lord. I was in fact a “carnal Christian.”

While at home, my time and attention was mostly focused on my family. However, life on the road consisted of gambling, drinking, and women.  I put myself first, golf and the world second, family third, and Jesus last. In the midst of this condition, I was radically transformed when the Lord began to manifest Himself to me.

Prior to the first visitation, God showed me I faced a crossroad in life, and must choose—Him or the world. When I made the undeniable choice to walk with God, a natural and spiritual stripping process began in order to remove all worldly entanglements. Virtually everything was lost. Initially I didn’t fully recognize the value of this process. My disappointment turned to excitement when I recognized what I had gained with God and my family through His fiery cleansing process. He was actually saving me by extracting those things that were hurtful to me. Although I considered some things stripped away as good, I discovered it was ultimately for my benefit.

In order to clarify what happened when Jesus first appeared to me, I need to start by explaining the supernatural events that occurred at the beginning of that day. I was in South Carolina for a golf tournament, and when I arrived at the event, I had no idea what God was about do with my life.  I walked up on the first tee to hit the golf ball and the Lord supernaturally took my ability to play golf out of me. I suddenly forgot how to play the game! I remember thinking, “I have to hit the ball somehow!” I tried to hit the ball the best I could and I almost missed it. It was horrible! I hit the top of the ball and drove it into the ground; it bounced straight up and rolled off the front of the tee. This was the beginning of the stripping away of my pride, and I played that way all day long. Everything within me wanted to quit, but God would not let me.

At one point in the game, I putted out on the ninth hole and started to walk off the course to quit the tournament. Immediately I heard a voice say, “Where are you going? I thought you said you would do anything for Me as long as I let you see Me.?”

I looked around to see if someone was talking to me. When I realized no one was there and that it was actually God talking, I answered, “I will.”

He said, “Then get back out there and play.”

I turned around and headed toward the number ten tees to continue, though I felt like a little boy who had just received a spanking from his father. By the time I arrived to the fifteenth hole I had lost all of my golf balls except one. I was excited to hit the last ball because I knew if I lost it I would be disqualified from the tournament and could go home escaping this humiliation. I hit the ball the best I knew how but it went into the woods. By the rules of golf, I was required to search for it for a few minutes. I reluctantly walked into the woods to just take a look, and I walked right to it! I was very disappointed that I had found it. I hit the ball again and it went through the woods, across the fairway, and into the woods on the opposite side. I just knew I had lost it then, but again, I walked right to it. At that point, I knew God was not going to let me lose that ball and I didn’t.

I played with that same ball from woods to woods until I finished on the eighteenth hole. I turned in my scorecard and they posted my score along with all the other players. My score was 110! This was humiliating, because the average score of a tour player is usually in the range of 68 to 72. I ran to my car with tremendous embarrassment and hurried to the hotel, all the while crying and yelling at God.

I opened the door of my hotel room, slammed my golf bag down on the floor, fell to my knees in tears, crying out, “Why are You doing this to me?” As I lifted my eyes from the floor, I saw feet. In fear, I put my face back down on the floor and said, “Oh God, help me, I’m hallucinating!” I glanced back up and there He was. It was not a hallucination. It was Jesus Himself! He put His hand on my head and like lightning, love shot through me. I supernaturally forgot all of the pain and the terrible experiences that I had walked through on the golf course. Then Jesus said, “Now arise, get a paper and pen and write down every word that proceeds out of My mouth.” One of many things He said and taught me was that it wasn’t principalities and powers or rulers of darkness that can separate me from Him; He said it was my carnal mind. He told me that most every time He would speak to me, my carnal mind would begin manifesting negatively and come against what He says to me. He then showed me where this principle was in the Bible—Romans 8:7,

The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This process was a frequent occurrence.  As God spoke to me, I began taking the resistances I had in my mind as a confirmation that what I was hearing was from God.

This was the first of many visitations.  Jesus very rarely told me what He was doing to me. He only spoke of His will for my life and showed me many things about Him and the future.

For almost two years, I continued to have visitations, while at the same time, playing poorly on the golf tour. At one point, other players began thinking I was having a nervous breakdown. Some asked me with great concern, “Are you okay?”

Just when I was about to open my mouth and say, “Well, I have decided to walk with God, and He is dealing with issues in my life,” God interrupted the thought and said, “No, no, don’t blame your situation on Me. You sowed your pride in public, and now you have to reap it in public.”

So I just told the other players, “I’m just having a hard time.” I could not blame it on God. Having to say that, my pride would just burn within me.

One day I was driving in my car and Jesus suddenly appeared in the passenger seat. He looked at me with a half-smile on His face, as though He couldn’t wait to tell me something that He had been waiting a long time to say. With an attitude of love and excitement as a kid, He said, “You can throw out those Percocet pills now.”

Incredible conviction and overwhelming love came over me, and I started to weep uncontrollably. I had been taking pain pills for years because of a rare cancer that I had a few years before. Despite being healed, I continued to take them, but I didn’t realize until later that I was addicted to prescription medicine.

I looked at Him with utmost respect and said, “You have been coming to me knowing that I was hooked on this medicine?” With a warm smile He replied, “I love you. Don’t you know My love covers a multitude of your sins.”

I continued to cry, overwhelmed by the love He had been giving me all along. At once, I saw flashes of past encounters with Him where He had been treating me like His best friend and teaching me for months without any judgment or condemnation. I remembered a time where I rose from my chair, walked over to the bottle of pills and took two of them, all the while Jesus was speaking to me. I immediately opened my traveling bag, grabbed the medicine, and threw it out of the car.  I never longed for it again after that day.

Learning Curve

I was freed from addiction that day. I truly received the revelation of God’s love, and that experience changed my whole perspective on how I thought God treated people. I discovered that Romans 2:4 was true: The goodness of God does lead men to repentance. God did love the world so much that He gave us His Son without any strings attached. I can understand now why sinners and tax collectors longed to be with Jesus. He loved them right where they were in their lives. By Jesus loving them this way it convicted them, so that they would not only want to change their lives, but also follow Him. When Jesus healed someone and said, “Go and sin no more,” the person was, of course, happy because of the healing, but also convicted because they knew that Jesus was aware they were walking in sin, yet chose not to expose them publicly. Instead, He exposed the sin within their own heart, with no one knowing except the person and Jesus.

The people Jesus healed had never met anyone like Him, and neither had I! Reaching out to people came naturally for Him. His love was given without discrimination. The way He cared was not programed or formulated. He didn’t say to Himself, “Now, I have to save a few people today or else I will not be the Son of God or a Christian.” No, evangelism was a part of Jesus’ nature—it was a lifestyle for Him. It wasn’t something that He tried to do. He was the “One” who came to save. It was part of His very nature to bring people to a life that is eternal and full of hope and prosperity. I believe Jesus naturally wanted people healed, restored, and their lives put back together, and following the Father of life again. He loved humanity. He loved His world. When you truly love people, you will help them. When you love people, you will heal them. When you love people, you will tell them the truth, even if you have to endure persecution while confronting them. Lastly, when you love people, you truly love God. This is what Jesus did and is still doing today. The Lord said in Matthew 20:28,

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus’ nature was to serve and He still serves us today without expecting any reward back from us. Think about how many times our lives were a mess, and we prayed, “God, please help me.” Before we knew it something happened that got us out of our situation. He heard our cries and came to our rescue even while we were a mess. This is what makes us love Him even more. He still comes to those who are lost and gives hope, healing, and salvation for eternal life, just as He did with us.

When Jesus appeared on the scene, He came as a selfless, considerate man, thinking about others instead of Himself. He was the first to fulfill the greatest selfless law of all:

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(Matthew 22:37-39)

Jesus loved God and man equally. The same way He loved God, He loved people, because in Him was His Father’s DNA, which is love. Though He was tempted at times to breach the love He had, Jesus refused to listen to the reasoning of the enemy, which causes man to become selfish. He would only allow His mind to focus on God. It says in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” This means that we give birth to what we give the most attention to in our lives. Since Jesus’ mind was always on the Father, who is “Love,” rivers of that love flowed out of Jesus, whether it manifested through salvation, healings, miracles, deliverance, or signs and wonders. Later, the disciples shadowed this godly nature of love in II Corinthians 5:14, where Paul says that “the love of Christ controls us.”

If Jesus had paid attention to the voice of the enemy His nature would have changed from being selfless to selfish. Focusing on Himself would have been pride in its highest state and He would have fallen to the lowest pits of darkness. The Bible says in I Corinthians 10:12-13,

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Satan fell in the pit when his heart became focused on himself, as we see in Isaiah’s response to Satan’s self-exultation,

“I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit (Isaiah 14:13-15).

The only reward we receive when we focus on ourselves is the pit. Selfishness is a form of pride, causing us to fall into a lower state of mind. It eventually causes us to disconnect and hide from the dimension of God. This happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden with Satan. When they took their minds off God and put it on themselves, they fell into a lower state of mind and saw themselves in a negative, perverted way. Fear was released and they began to manifest the enemy’s nature and hid from God.

In spite of this negative heritage, Jesus came and made a way for us through the cross so we could have the original nature of God back. We can have the mind of Christ again, and if, like Jesus, our minds are focused on the ways of God, we will stay in perfect peace. This is the very type of peace that Paul and Isaiah write about in Romans 16:20, that the God of peace will crush Satan’s head under our feet, and Isaiah 26:3, - You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You. Because he trusts in You.

The peace that Jesus carried is the same peace that He has given us as well: a peace that surpasses all of our understanding—a supernatural peace. If we begin believing God, the power of His tangible peace is ignited. It then becomes flesh instead of it being an idea or good information.

Chapter Two

Your Heart’s Treasure

What is the meaning of the scripture “Where your heart is, there is your treasure?” (Matthew 6:21)  It means our heart dwells in the dimension of the very voice or person we entertain the most. If the heart or mind is saturated with the ways of the enemy, then we will carry his attitudes and impart them not only in our own life, but also within the lives of the people you influence. If our hearts and minds are not dwelling on God’s ways, we will not carry nor release God’s attributes. This is why the enemy is constantly releasing negative thought patterns about Jesus in the minds of people. He knows if he can keep us thinking negatively about God’s love we will not love others nor will we be able to walk in the power and love that Jesus walked in with the Father. It will keep us from loving God, people, and even ourselves. We must think on those things that are of God. Philippians 4:8-9 says,

“

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

What Paul was trying to relate here is that if a man can get his mind in the attitudes of God, which are noble, pure, lovely, and of good report, peace will abide in his life. The God of peace crushes Satan’s attitudes.  Disciplining our minds to focus on God’s heart will starve out the attitudes of the enemy and bring within our souls the presence of God. When we are at the point where our minds stop focusing on the attitudes of this world, but only focusing on God, the curse of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which distracts us from Jesus who is the source of life) is done away with, and the Tree of Life (Jesus) is planted in its place. When this happens, we will no longer hurt others through our minds and tongues and we will have a constant open heaven in our lives, which is the way Jesus walked on the earth. His mind was constantly being subjected to the will and attitude of the Spirit, which allowed the presence of heaven to remain around and upon Him, so that everything He did gave others life. This is why Jesus took away sin—so that we could abide in this same place where He dwells—the kingdom of heaven. Once we start dwelling where He dwells, it will be a sign that we are being led by the Spirit of God instead of the spirit of this world.

I am Not Supernatural

A student approached me from a group that I had been training in a ministry school with an attitude that was very selfish. The spirit of depression was tormenting him. I could see it before he opened his mouth. The power that he was emanating was horrific—almost making me want to be depressed with him. He said to me in a depressive voice, “I can’t really do this thing of walking in faith. I am not supernatural. I wish I were, but I just feel as though I can’t make it.”

As I was listening to the way he was talking, the Lord showed me that he was supernatural and didn’t know it. After the student shared his thoughts about himself the Holy Ghost revealed to me a revelation. I was able to explain how He was supernatural. I said to him, “You are supernatural right now.”

I asked, “Were you thinking that you were a failure when you woke up this morning?”

He said, “Yes.”

I then replied, “So, you took a thought that was not real and believed it as though it was real, and then brought it into existence, right?” His eyes lit up like spotlights in the dark.

Understanding began to penetrate the darkness in his mind. He then replied with excitement, “Yes, I did!” I then said, “So by your faith you became the spirit of depression in the flesh, by putting your faith in the demonic thoughts that came to you, right?”

He responded with a glow in his eyes, “Yes!

So I replied, “So you are supernatural; you are now the spirit of depression in the flesh. Think about what you could be if you believed God’s thoughts about yourself!”

We laughed so hard! We broke the spirit of depression and the thoughts that had been controlling him. He walked away knowing that he can be like Jesus now by focusing his faith toward Him and the thoughts that God has for him.

Principle of Focus

A principle of the kingdom can help us understand the importance of focusing on Jesus and not the enemies of this world. In Numbers 21:4–9, it says as the children of Israel journeyed, they started becoming discouraged. Discouragement is a type of emotion or power that comes from focusing on “self-wants” instead of God. This is the type of power that would hit many of the prophets and apostles in the days of old. This is a tactic of the enemy to get us self-focused on our situation or focused on the enemy’s voice and plans. When our mental focus is negative, we can be bitten by the serpent’s deadly poison. Once Israel started becoming focused on self they became rebellious (as Satan did) and started speaking against Moses and God. Their attitudes reached the point of complaining and disdaining the bread that God was sending from heaven.

This can happen to us as well—to the point where we start disdaining God’s daily Word, His will in our lives, and even the thought of living the life of His Son. Spiritually, Israel’s attitudes became as of the old serpent; accusing God and man. Once they took on the serpent’s attitude, God’s judgment manifested in the form of vipers and many died. This is what happens when we focus on ourselves, we take on the enemy’s image instead of God’s. Our sinful actions release judgment and attract demonic activity in our lives, bringing about physical or spiritual death.

For a moment, Israel became the nature that they beheld within their minds. They chose to focus on things beneath rather than from above. Nevertheless, in Numbers 21:7-9, God heard Israel’s cry.  God told Moses to make a fiery serpent, set it on a pole, and whoever focused on the pole would live and not die from the viper bite. Moses heeded God’s voice and made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and those who set their focus on it, surely lived. This prophetic picture is true today. The pole represents the cross Jesus hung on as He bled and died to take away the sin of the world. Jesus gave His life to take away the sin of the world that was released upon man from the “fall” in the Garden. Jesus extinguished the fiery serpent and his poison that was released within the mind of man. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus gave us the keys to eternal life and the power to overcome the serpent. No longer does the serpent have the power to overcome man with physical torment or mental death.  In the New Testament, we see God’s heart.  Once again He heard man’s cry upon the earth, sent His Son in the flesh, the “pole” Himself, “Jesus,” for people to gaze upon. Now every man that gazes upon Jesus can be healed and freed from bondage.

The enemy knows God has given man authority on the earth from the foundations of the world (see Psalm 115:16). The enemy knows that whatever man’s eyes and heart are focused on, he will produce in the earth.  Also, whatever world that man draws his attention to, whether it is God or evil, that world starts to draw to him to be one flesh, one spirit. If the enemy can get man to focus his attitudes on himself or on the underworld’s power to produce death, man will not only bring the destruction of the underworld upon the earth, but he will also destroy himself by ignorantly positioning his life through sin under the judgment of God, and union with death.

For centuries man has been ignorant of some of Satan’s devices and tricks. I believe man is now beginning to wake up to the schemes of the enemy because man is waking up to the wisdom of God. This is why Paul writes in II Corinthians 2:11, that we should not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. Ignorance only brings harm and judgment upon our lives. Jesus is the One that man can look to. He is the only One who can take away everything that   destroys man from within.  Remember, the pole that Moses made in the wilderness was a shadow of Jesus and the cross. If the people looked at the pole they would be healed from the deathly poison of the viper and live.

The battle we face with the enemy is helping man focus on Jesus and not the enemy. Once man has the correct focus, the glory of the Lord starts to dawn upon mankind. A godly focus enables man to bring the kingdom of light into focus and manifest heaven upon the earth. This is the way Jesus walked. Jesus focused on His Father. His heavenly focus released the glorious presence and freedom of God to rest within and upon Him.

Once the presence of God’s glory is upon man, the underworld is nullified, bound, and sent back to its appointed place of darkness. Jesus is man’s mirror and identity of who he truly is upon the earth. If we will gaze upon and search out His attributes we will be transformed into the same image from glory to glory. If we want to be controlled and possessed by the Love and power of God, we must look to our source, Jesus Christ. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Jesus ministered through love that was given to Him by the Father, and that love was God’s very Spirit living in and upon Him. We see this in Mark 1:10-11, when Jesus came to the Jordan to get baptized and the Spirit of God descended upon Him and a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” In this scripture, God was actually pleased to be within His Son.  For those who are in Christ, God is also pleased to dwell within us because of what His Son did for us on the cross. However, if we have negative thinking, despite also having that love within us, we will not be able taste and see how good God really is. That’s why we must repent and turn and realize that we have the same Spirit living in us as lived in Jesus.

The very Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is or can dwell in our bodies. The Holy Spirit is helping us wake up to the realization that we are children of God. We have the same divine nature as His Son Jesus. Knowing and believing in this, we can walk in the same nature and power as Jesus walked. Believing this, rather than believing what the enemy of the cross says about us, we will see death-defeating power released in our lives and eternal Life awakened. If we have the very DNA of Jesus, by the adoption of the Spirit of God, then we have the compassion and power to see people saved, delivered, and healed. It also means that we are able to preach the kingdom of God with power and watch signs and wonders follow us. When we read the Bible, we realize we are not only reading about who He is, but about who we are. The Word of God awakens our very calling in Christ Jesus. This calling is to reach out, disciple, and turn people and nations back to God.

Following In His Steps

Let’s look at this concept a bit closer in the Bible so that we can open up our minds to see a bit deeper into the nature of God and how it should operate in us. I Peter 2:21 says that we are called to follow in Jesus’ steps. The Bible also says in I John 2:5-6, “By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” After Jesus explained to His disciples that it was to their advantage that He must go, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, who would help them “walk in the same manner” as Jesus. Jesus told them the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of Truth,” would guide them, not only speaking on His own authority, but also speaking only what He heard from the Father. Jesus only spoke what His Father spoke, and He only did what He saw His Father do. He was completely submitted to the Holy Spirit.

In a sense, Jesus was telling them, “Hey, you are going to be just like Me. The very Spirit that raised Me and guided Me is now going to be with you. I will not leave you to be orphans, but God is coming to adopt you and transform you into a whole new creation like Me.” The disciples were about to be witnesses of His resurrection by walking in the same power and character of Christ.

In Genesis 2:7, God made man out of the dust of the ground, then breathed into him. Adam woke up to a new world created for him by God. In John 20:22, Jesus appeared to His disciples and also breathed into them and imparted the Holy Spirit. He demonstrated the same as His Father did to Adam in the Garden at the beginning. It was like He was making them to be the first new men or image of God on the earth again. Then Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, they would be His witnesses of His resurrection.

When the Holy Spirit descended, the disciples began speaking in languages other than their own. At that time in Jerusalem, people were visiting from different nations. When they heard the disciples speaking in their native tongues, some knew that it had to be God, because there was no natural way the disciples could speak their language. Three thousand people were added to the church that day! The disciples were transformed by the Spirit and became supernatural beings, just like Jesus. They were completely possessed by the Spirit of God that day.  It was no longer them living, but Christ living in them. They corporately became the image of God on the earth once again for all men to see and hear. This caused men to turn back to Christ and be saved. Through salvation, they were transformed into the image of God by the redemption of the blood of Jesus Christ.

God wants us to be so possessed by His nature that our very lives give out a light that every man can see and know that God is the only way to a real life. The witnesses of that event did not just hear or see a group of men speaking in another language; they were looking at the nature of God. This is one of the foundations of what God wants to bring back: man-reflecting God upon the earth once again.

Chapter Three

Events We

Don’t Understand

I was in the process of selling our house and moving about an hour and a half north of Charlotte North Carolina, to a quaint mountain town named Moravian Falls. I owned an older model Jeep that looked cosmetically great but was a real money pit. It seemed like every time I turned around, I had to spend more money getting it repaired. I was driving back between the mountains and Charlotte NC, taking things from our old home to the new home in the mountains. At the same time, I was trying to close the sale of our home in Charlotte. It was a major transition for the whole family.

On one of the last trips from Charlotte, the Jeep’s transmission broke. I could smell the transmission fluid burning underneath the vehicle. I had the jeep towed to a transmission repair shop in Charlotte. Four days later, on a Friday, the people from the shop called and told me my jeep was ready. I was still in mountains, so I told them I couldn’t pick it up that day. Since they were closed on Saturdays, they parked it in the parking lot next to the main street. They put the keys under the front driver’s side wheel. The next morning I drove down to pick it up.

As I walked to the driver’s side of the Jeep, I noticed that the metal on the door was bent out. I realized someone had broken into the car by prying the door open with a metal object of some sort. I was so upset. I unlocked the Jeep with the remote and opened the door to see what was missing. I thought someone must have broken into the Jeep to steal the radio, but it was untouched. Then I noticed that all of the pocket change in the ashtray was gone.

I thought, “Surely, they have not ruined my Jeep door for the change in the ashtray!”

I opened the back latch where the CD changer was mounted, assuming they stole it. Again, to my surprise, it had not been touched. The more I thought about how they ruined my Jeep for pocket change, the angrier I became. I took the keys and threw them against the backseat.

Outraged I yelled, “I can’t believe this!”

I called the police and an officer came and filled out a report. As he was writing, I asked, “Do you think you’ll catch them for this?”

He said, “Most likely not. I’m sorry, Mr. McClendon.” Hearing his response maddened me even more.

After the police left the parking lot, I got into the Jeep, pulled out of the parking lot, and yelled out to God, “I can’t believe You let this happen!”

Suddenly, God responded and said, “I let a family who needed money for food break into your car because I assumed you would forgive them.”

Overwhelmed with conviction, I pulled off the side of the road and started crying and apologizing to God, asking Him if I could pray for them. He said, “Yes.”

As I began to pray, the Lord showed me in a vision what the family looked like and I started to cry again, realizing that God’s ways are so much higher than mine. I was changed that day.

Learning Curve

After this incident, and the encounter with God that followed, my mind started to take on a whole new way of understanding the sovereignty of God. For years, I was subconsciously taught that bad incidents that happened in my life were from the devil or happened because I was in sin. I never thought that God would allow these things to happen. Of course I do now. I am not saying that all negative incidents come from God, but what I am saying is maybe within some of those negative experiences lies a deeper truth of God that we haven’t tapped into. Isaiah 54:16-17 says,

“Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.”

What if God is telling us that He created the enemy, the “spoiler,” to show us that God is in control and that everything that comes to us in life is to further us in God and to wake up our true authority in Christ? In the writings of Isaiah 54:16-17, I believe God is telling us that He is in ultimate control, so when fiery trials come into our lives we will not be hindered in our understanding or walk with God. I believe God is also trying to tell us that the enemy is used as a tool to mold us into the very glory of Jesus Christ. In other words, deep within every trial lays God’s true hand that is developing us into the sons and daughters of God.

At times,

when you divinely know that the enemy is being allowed to come to you by God’s permission, it postures the mind to see things positively, rather than negative. When you are in this type of mindset, the enemy can no longer trick you with his accusing or manipulative words because you know that he has only been allowed to come to you for God’s sake and not his. I Peter 4:12-14 tells us,

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

When fiery trials or the enemy come upon you, it only confirms that God’s glory and image are upon you. The enemy comes to try to steal, kill, and destroy, but he doesn’t realize that he is being used by God to only confirm who we really are—the image of God. If it happened to Jesus, it will happen to us. Why? Because through Christ man looks just like Him!

Through this revelation, I began to understand why the Father allowed men to beat His Son. God knew it was for our betterment and His glory that Jesus was hung on the cross.  He took our sins upon Himself so He could set the world free. An amazing aspect of this event is that Jesus had to believe by faith that it was His Father’s good pleasure to hang Him on the cross. What an absolute trust and pure mindset Jesus had about His Father’s perfect will!

We read in Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” This Scripture reflects the procedures of priesthood in the days of Moses, when a lamb would be offered up for a “peace offering for the sins of the people.” Before the priest offered up a lamb to God he searched its entire body, even cutting it open and inspecting it’s entrails, to see if any type of blemish or spot could be found. If the lamb was completely flawless, outside and in, the priest placed it on the burning altar of God. Then God smelled the aroma of the lamb and released blessings of peace, forgiveness, and favor to His people.

Likewise, this happened to Jesus. God used the Pharisees and the Roman government as His priesthood knife to cut open the Lamb, Jesus. When God looked within His Son’s heart and found no spot or blemish, the Father sacrificed Him on the cross and released peace, forgiveness, and favor to the world instead of wrath and condemnation. This is one of the reasons why Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” He took on the wrath that man deserved and gave us His peace. Jesus was our peace offering.

We can apprehend a deep thread of peace in most trials, which lets us enter into the dimension of grace and joy, instead of wrath and condemnation. In seeing this, I began to understand why God allowed His disciples to be whipped and put in jail. I also understood why the disciples started to sing hymns and spiritual songs to God in the deep dark dungeons where they were not only locked up, but also bound in stocks.

Let’s look at Paul and Silas’ life in Acts 16:20-34,

And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”

Since Paul and Silas knew that the enemy could be used to bring glory to God and to release power from within, they endured this hardship. They knew joy and hope would come from God on the other side of their trial. This is why they began singing with a sincere heart toward God. When God heard that wonderful, familiar sound, like the sound He heard on the cross with His Son, He came down and shook the earth and opened the jail cells. God saved the jailer and his whole household through these two wonderful prisoners.

This event reveals that God had favor with the jailer and his household, and gave them an opportunity to be saved and enter the kingdom of God. He sent two sons of God to open heaven’s doors so that the family could experience the new life that was predestined for them from the foundations of the earth.

What a God! Lying deep within the trials of God, there is salvation, power, and healing for all of us. Through trials, Jesus comes to people who are sitting in darkness and seem out of reach, just like the jailer in the book of Acts. Trials are hidden opportunities from God.

Chapter Four

His Love Is Better Than Wine

Looking into Jesus’ life, how He ministered, and how He treated others not only gives us a glimpse of the Father’s heart, but also gives us a model of how we should walk with God and love people. Let’s look at a few examples of how Jesus cared for people so we can catch His loving nature in ourselves and find a new perspective on evangelism.

In John 2, the setting is a wedding and Mary makes it known to Jesus that they had run out of wine. Clearly she knew that Jesus was the Son of God and could do all things. If she had not believed this, she would not have mentioned the lack of wine to Him. She expected Jesus to have a solution. Jesus told her that it was not yet time for Him to perform miracles. Mary still believed that He could do it, so she spoke to the servants to do anything He told them. The wedding party needed a miracle even if they were not supposed to have one. Evidently, Mary knew how much Jesus loved humanity, or she wouldn’t have continued to press Him to do it. As the story goes, the Father and Jesus evidently agreed to change the timeline of His manifestation and transformed the water into wine.

Even though the wedding party was not scheduled to receive a miracle, God changed His timing or future plans to manifest the glory of His Son.  Isn’t it amazing? In spite of His plans, God manifested His overwhelming love by performing a miracle that man had requested. Now that is Love! That is Jesus!

At times, we may think that Jesus will not come through for us because the timing for a miracle is not right. This is not true. Jesus loves us, He will even change the tables of time to give us what we need at the time we need it.  In other words, the things that we think we have to wait on or can’t have, God longs to release them to us now.  When we begin to believe God will not give us what we ask when we ask, we get what we believe - poverty. We get nothing. However, if we start understanding how madly God is in love with us, and posture our mind in this type of attitude, we will begin receiving what we ask, because we believe that we will receive as we are asking, just like Mary’s request in John 2.  In spite of God’s timing she believed she would receive what she asked.

Jesus said, “If we give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father do also?” (Matthew 7:11) He also said, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). When He made this statement, He wasn’t intending to just give us a formula to answered prayer. He was trying to impart the attitude or expression of God’s love toward His people. He was basically saying “Guys, God loves you so much that He is just waiting on you to ask Him for something!” You see God wants us to understand how much He loves us, because He knows if we wake up to this love, it will change the perspective from which we pray. We will already know that He is going to answer it even before we ask, because all He really wants is a relationship! When God answers our prayers, there is a deeper statement and understanding that He is trying to convey to us: He is just saying, “I love you.” Besides, once we are totally walking in Love we will be walking on this earth totally in the Spirit. Every prayer will be from the place of the will and love of God.

Can you imagine what the people thought about Jesus after He performed that miracle of turning “water to wine” for them? I can just see the people tasting the wine and saying, “This wine is the best, and the best has been saved for last! Through what we have seen by the hands of Jesus, it is clear that God loves us, and the love here in this atmosphere is better than the wine that I have in my hand! Thank You God!” It was God’s love they drank that day! After that miracle of love, I am sure people married their hearts to Jesus and followed Him wherever He went.

We are called to do the same for others as Jesus did for the wedding party—perform simple miracles from the love we have for them. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, He has made us a whole new creation; therefore our love with God is one with Him and with His people. He has made us like His Son. He has made us Love.

Love Will Find You

I was driving on I-95 north coming back from a golf tournament in Florida and had worship music playing. As I was worshiping the Lord, God’s presence filled the car. He spoke to me in a still, small voice and said, “Pull off at the next rest area.” With joy I replied, “Okay!”

As I was approaching the “Rest Area” exit sign, I started getting excited about what God was going to do when I got there. At times, when God tells us to do something, we can start having grand ideas and imaginations about what is going to happen. One of the thoughts I had was maybe when I parked and stepped out of the car everyone would fall under the power of God. That is not at all how it played out.

As I pulled in I found a parking space near the front where the restroom was located. The place was packed with people. After I parked the car, I said with great boldness and excitement, “Now what do you want me to do?”

The Lord said, “Get out of the car and get down on your knees and pray with me.”

Suddenly, I went from being excited to sweating and scared. It felt as though I got shot like lightning out of heaven and away from the presence of God, just like Satan did.

My old mind started making excuses and saying, “That can’t be God. There is no way I can do that! That would be embarrassing. I will look like some Jesus freak or something!”

So I asked the Lord, “Is that you God?” I heard nothing. I knew in my heart He was waiting on me to obey what He told me. After a few moments of trying to talk my way out of it, I said to Him, “Okay, I will do it.”

So, I very humbly made my way out of the car and stood next to it. As I was sweating with fear and embarrassment, which was really pride, I looked around at all of the people and tried to discern a time to bow my knees on the ground before anyone could see me.

When no one was walking by, I quickly knelt down on the ground and said, “Thank You Lord. I love You,” and quickly got up and jumped back in my car before anyone could see me.

Immediately the Lord said, “No, no, I want you to come out and really pray with Me.”

Convicted by my own pride, I said to Him with a sense of dread, “Oh, okay.”

I stepped back out of my car and knelt down to pray in front of everyone. When I lifted my head to look up into the sky, the tangible presence of God came upon me. The sky seemed to open up, and I could clearly see the Lord standing in heaven. He began to tell me what to pray. It was one of the most awesome experiences I have had in my life!

When the power of God enveloped me, it felt as though the place I was in was no longer earth but heaven. I was no longer aware of my natural surroundings. The embarrassment of praying left me instantly. I started to cry and pray what God was telling me to pray. I no longer cared about who was watching or even what people were thinking about me. All I cared about was Jesus and His presence. For a moment all of my love was totally upon Him and the love of the world had no hold on me. I was free! I probably prayed for about fifteen minutes, until the heavens closed up and I stopped praying.

I stayed for a moment on my knees crying and aching in emotional pain because I wanted to be where He was so badly. I was even begging Him to take me with Him. In that instant, I could understand how Jesus’ disciples felt when He went up in the cloud. The emotional yearning the disciples felt to be with their friend Jesus had to be almost unbearable. I began asking the Lord to let me live in the presence that I had just experienced. I stood up and got into my car and just sat there for a moment, staring into the distance. I could not believe what had just happened to me.

Waves of love passed over me, and I started to cry and say to the Lord, “I love You so much; please stay with me like this.” This went on for approximately twenty minutes.

After I composed myself, I started wondering why God told me to pull off at this particular rest area. I asked, “Lord why did You have me stop here to pray?”

He said to me, “Look over to your left.”

I turned to look, and about two spaces down from me was an elderly gentleman sitting in the passenger side of an old Oldsmobile. He looked as though he had lived a hard life. He was staring at me with amazement in his eyes, as though he had witnessed something astonishing. He didn’t look fearful, but he looked as though his face had a light shining on it. I nodded my head to acknowledge him and he smiled as he continued to stare at me as though something had changed him.

I responded to the Lord, “Yes, I see him.”

He then said to me, “Today, that man had to have an opportunity to see Me, for tomorrow he dies.”

Overwhelming emotion came over me and I started to cry again with my head down on my steering wheel. I was not only crying for the man but also in intense love for the Lord. To think that God would consider this hard person out of all the billions of people on earth was incomprehensible to me! God truly loved this man with all of His heart, and He didn’t want his life ending in darkness. He sent a normal person like me to allow him to experience the power and presence of God, giving him an opportunity to enter into everlasting life. After I lifted my head off of the steering wheel, I looked over to the car once more, and the man sort of smiled at me as if he knew that God had sent me there for him. God’s love had found him. I left that rest area a different man.

As I was driving down the highway I started thinking about the whole scenario. God’s love came and found this man at the right time and changed his heart the day before he was to die. Just as God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ to the earth to reveal His love and to save man from the brink of destruction, so did God send me, a son of God, to find this man to reveal Christ’s love to him through the demonstration of prayer upon a sidewalk. God wants to reveal His love to send His sons and daughters to the world to unveil the love that Christ has for them so that the world will be saved.

Jesus followed this pattern in Matthew 10 when He called his disciples to Himself and gave them power and authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. He then sent them out into the cities to show the people how much God loved them through His disciples. Jesus could not do it all Himself; He needed other men to go out as well. It is the same today. God has called people to Himself like you and me. We have experienced His power and love that have been given to us. Now we must go and find others to share it with, just like Jesus did with us. Just as Jesus’ love found us in the midst of our darkness, so should we find others in the midst of their darkness to give them the same power, light, and love of Christ as He did for you and I.

At times, Jesus’ life will enter into man’s life, causing him to understand that he could have paradise instead of eternal darkness. Nevertheless, man has to make an individual choice. Usually man will choose His paradise.

Learning Curve

I learned many things that day at the rest area. One was how important it is to obey what the Spirit tells us to do. If I hadn’t obeyed, that man would not have had the opportunity to experience God’s loving presence before He died—to experience eternal life while he was here on the earth. Of course, if the man died without having a chance to receive and experience Christ, maybe the Lord would have done it Himself at the point of this man’s death. Who knows? God can do anything He wants. What I do know is that it is very important to obey God. In 1 Samuel 15:22 it speaks of obedience being better than sacrifice: If I had not obeyed, I wouldn’t have been able to experience God in that miraculous way.  The event would not have happened.

Obedience to the Spirit is the key that opens up the realms of heaven. It releases what has been invisible into the visible realm for us all to see and understand. Obedience releases blessings upon us and within the lives of others. It allows the kingdom of heaven to come into the atmosphere and destroy the kingdoms of darkness. We can release heaven or hell, depending on whom we choose to obey.

Jesus is our perfect model of obedience. This was one of the areas in which Satan tempted Him while in the wilderness. Matthew 4:3-4 says,

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Satan tried to tempt Jesus into turning stones into bread without the guidance or will of the Spirit of God. Satan basically attempted to cause Jesus to obey him. Jesus understood that man could do nothing without obedience to the will and presence of the Father, because man was born from the will of the Spirit. Living by the will of the Spirit was and is man’s true natural DNA. Jesus modeled this so we could wake up to our true selves.

When Jesus answered Satan by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (see Matthew 4:4), He was basically telling him, “I was not born by the will of the flesh or by you. Therefore, I will not live by the flesh.” He was also saying, “I was born by the Spirit of God and I will live by the Spirit of God.”

Man was born to obey the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the flesh. While obedience to the will of God releases blessings, power, and eternal life, obedience to the flesh releases curses and death, separating man from God, leaving man in poverty. Living by the flesh is sin, which is Satan’s domain. Living by the Spirit of God is righteousness and peace, which is God’s domain. In Galatians 5 we can see the will of the flesh and the will of the Spirit in contrast. I like to call them attitudes of the flesh and attitudes of the Spirit.

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).

When man walks in the will of the flesh, he does not carry the presence God. Instead he is a carrier of the enemy’s presence, which causes man not to inherit the blessings of the kingdom of God. The inheritances that man receives by walking in the flesh are natural, spiritual, and emotional poverty and death. According to John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

We all know that the only natural way to conceive and give birth to a child is to have a sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex. The same principles apply to the area of our spiritual walk and destiny. If we are in a relationship with the things of this world, then we will conceive those seeds of darkness and give birth to it in our lives. However, if we are in a real relationship with God, then we will birth the pure and holy things that are of God. In reality, anything other than the kingdom of God is death. Remember, man’s real nature is to walk with and obey God. When we walk as one with the Spirit of God, He will make Himself manifest to us. He will also make Himself known to those around us, as He did with me, and the old man at the rest area. John 14:21 reveals,

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

If there is one thing I want in my life, it is to have God manifest Himself to me. I believe this is one of the reasons God manifested Himself to me and moved through me so the older gentlemen at the rest area could experience Him before he died. I just simply obeyed His commandment to pull off the highway. Could it be this easy? Absolutely!

In the book of Deuteronomy, we see that obedience to God causes us to inherit blessings, and obedience to serving idols (which represent walking in the flesh) releases curses and death:

And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments, which I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

(Deuteronomy 30:8-10).

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and               are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and               the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them”(Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

Again we see obedience to the Spirit releases the kingdom of God, which brings blessings, eternal life, and binds Satan’s domain. Jesus chose to obey God even unto death. His obedience caused Him to live forevermore with His Father and forefathers of obedience: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Each day, we have the opportunity to choose life by obeying the Spirit of God, or death by obeying the fleshly will of the enemy. Basically, if we obey the flesh we will live in the dimension of hell where there is eternal judgment and curses. If we obey God, we get to live in heaven while on earth! Obedience is the key to power and blessings.

The enemy knows that man has been called to walk with God since the beginning of creation. He will try to tempt us into obeying other things to prevent us from being near the Lord. He knows if mankind begins walking with God, God and man will begin taking dominion on the earth physically, spiritually, and naturally—wherever God directs. This is the way Jesus walked—He took dominion in every place He journeyed, with the presence of the Spirit. Wherever Jesus was, the kingdom of heaven abided. This is our purpose as well, for Jesus not only came to die for our sins, but also to mirror back to man His true nature and abilities when in right relationship and obedience with God. Find obedience with God, and you will find heaven.

Chapter Five

Blowing on the Knee

While we’re talking about obedience, I’ll tell you a story that shows what obedience to God can look like. A number of years ago, I was going out to dinner and needed a babysitter. A friend of mine recommended a woman from our church that was reputable and would be happy to babysit. I didn’t know this woman personally but had seen her occasionally at church.

I was getting ready in the bathroom when the doorbell rang. As it rang, something peculiar happened. Instead of hearing the familiar “ding-dong,” I heard, “Blow on her knee,” with the rhythm and sound of the bell.

I said to myself, “No way. That was not what I just heard. God would not talk like that to me.”

The doorbell rang again and sure enough, I heard, “Blow on her knee.” There was no denying then that God was saying to blow on the knee of this lady I did not know at all! Like the time at the rest area, I started to sweat nervously, and my mind was at war with what I was contemplating on doing. I wanted to ignore the voice I heard but I knew I had no choice but to obey.

When I walked into the living room, the babysitter was sitting in my Lazy-Boy wearing a white dress. I walked up to the lady in the chair and introduced myself. With sweat running down my face from embarrassment, I said, “I think God wants to do something here.”

She just looked at me and sort of nodded her head as though she was waiting on me to finish what I was saying. I blurted out, “I have to blow on your knee!”

Her eyes filled with excitement and hope. She grabbed the end of her long white dress and pulled it up past her knee. Her knee was black and blue and swollen as large as a softball.

The presence and power of God came all over me and in the room. I couldn’t believe it! I asked her, “What happened?” She said, “I fell down the steps coming out of my house and twisted it somehow.”

I bent down to her knee and blew on it. The knee instantly became normal, like a new knee just appeared in front of us! We looked at each other after seeing this miracle and started to laugh hysterically. She jumped out of the chair and started running up and down our hallway, thanking God for healing her and giving her a new knee. There was such a tangible joy and presence of God in the room that it felt like we were breathing it.

Learning Curve

I learned a few valuable lessons through this event. One of them is, no matter what God tells you to do, do it. Another is that God doesn’t always speak to us the way we want Him to. At times it seems like foolishness. I Corinthians 1:25 tells us, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

I discovered through this experience that truly the foolishness of God was wiser than me. Even if we can’t understand a situation or a person’s dilemma, we must trust that God has sovereignly prepared it for His power and glory to be made manifest. He just needs an obedient person He can flow through. What a night that was!

Through the “blowing on the knee” experience and the event at the rest area, I not only learned the importance of obedience, but also the power of releasing the presence of God. At the rest area, when I knelt down upon that concrete to pray, the tangible presence of God came upon me, around me, and through me. When I looked over at the man in the car, he was staring at me as if he had seen or felt something supernatural. I truly believe he did. I also believe he experienced the same physical manifestation of the power and presence of God as I did.

This is the type of presence Jesus carried. He not only carried the presence of God within Him, He carried a constant presence of God upon Him. In John 1:32-33, when John the Baptist was baptizing Jesus, he said,

“I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”

The physical presence of God came upon Jesus that day and stayed with Him all of His days. People saw it on Him, and they were attracted to it— they could tell that there was something wonderful about Jesus. This presence of love and the power of God were so prevalent that it drew people out of their darkness and into His marvelous light. It caused sinners and tax collectors to want to hang out with Him, which drove the Pharisees and religious cults crazy. The Book of John tells us,

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17).

I believe Jesus had this love and power upon Him to such a degree that people could tangibly feel that love from the Father, expressing how much heaven welcomes all sinners and tax collectors just the way they are.

In the Old Testament, God instructed the people through Moses to make a vessel for Him called the Ark of the Covenant. The instructions were to overlay the wooden box inside and outside with gold. The Ark of the Covenant foreshadowed the coming of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, because gold in the Bible represents purity, and purity is what God dwells in and upon. This is symbolic of Jesus. He was overlaid with purity inside and outside. He not only had a pure heart within, but He also walked in a pure heart outwardly with people. He was like the Ark of God in that way, because He carried the presence of God in Him and upon him. Also, in dying for us, Jesus became like the gold that was overlaid on the wood—His supernatural purity was superimposed over our natural lives, allowing us to carry God’s presence as well.

Can I Do Wondrous Things?

Many of us think that God can’t do miracles through us because it’s not our time yet or because we have to be in a certain state spiritually. I beg to differ. God wants to use us miraculously despite the timing or the place we are in geographically, spiritually, emotionally or mentally. He is not a respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34). He shows no favoritism, He just loves us. God wants us so possessed by His love that we just naturally perform miracles for people—the kind of miracles that communicate, “God loves you right where you are, right now.” If Jesus is alive in you, then you have this love abiding at this moment in your heart.

Though it has been sometimes said or assumed that we need to do something super spiritual in order for miracles to come forth through our lives, this is not what Jesus said. He said, “If you believe in Me, out of your bellies shall flow rivers of living water” (see John 7:38). Have you seen natural water that is alive? No, not yet. Then clearly Jesus meant that the supernatural substance of God would come out of us if we just believe!

The works of God are not “doing something.” The works of God are when we begin to believe. Jesus said in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” We come to really believe when we find ourselves doing the things that God speaks in His word or through the Holy Spirit. When we believe God supernatural life flows out of us from within. In contrast, if we think we have to do something in order to have more of God, then the enemy has tricked us into an attitude of evil thinking or doubt in who God is and who we are as well. This is one of the tricks Satan did to Eve in the Garden. He said, “If you will eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). In other words: “You have to do something.” The revelation is Eve was already like God, but the enemy deceived her into thinking that she had to do something in order to be like God. This caused Eve to doubt her true identity, which led her to eat of the forbidden fruit.

The enemy is still using this trick on God’s people! When we think we have do something to get more of God, or do something in order for us to be like Him, we are still eating of that tree called “the knowledge of good and evil.” I like to call it the tree of reason or opinion. These things shut down the flow of faith to believe, which shuts down or dams up the river of God. The truth is the same miraculous nature of God that flowed out of Jesus in the story of the wedding in Galilee. This truth lives in you right now. Believe in what Jesus says, and the river will start to flow.

Jesus never said we had to eat of more knowledge to be like Him. He just said, “Believe.” He is the life. When we start to believe, His presence will consume us, and the people that we come in contact with will feel it. If love is His nature, then it has always been ours as well, for He lives in us! So let’s wake up to who He is and who we really are and start producing miracles and power! Let’s go and transform people’s lives from water to new wine! Let’s give them the same thing that Jesus gave us: eternal life, Christ Jesus.

Jesus’ House

If we want to find a heart for reaching out to people, we must study the true pattern given by God - Jesus. He is the heart of it all. Let’s look at the way Jesus handled certain situations and hopefully the Spirit of love will be imparted to us.

Mark 2 tells the story of Jesus preaching in a house so full of people that not even one more person would fit. In fact, it was so crowded it wasn’t possible to even get near the door. This picture says it all: Everyone there felt as though Jesus welcomed them no matter their physical or emotional condition.  Whether they were addicted to drugs or their clothes and bodies smelled from days on the road—whether they had been sleeping in the allies of the city or had experienced the luxuries of wealth and fame—or even if they were evangelists of great reputation, they all felt like they could be at home with Jesus. They all felt safe and sound.

This is how it feels to be near Jesus—not fearing that the enemy is around the next corner of life—not feeling like we might die from exposure from having to sleep on a park bench or in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of winter—not feeling like we have to stay ahead of all the social games that people play—and not feeling compelled to stay ahead on the stock market. In Jesus’ house, we can lay our heads down and rest, because everyone is at home. This is how people that interact with us should feel, because Jesus is already in our “house.” He is in us.

Jesus loved people so genuinely that I believe it caused them to want to be with Him constantly. He loved people without an opinion or expectation. In turn, their hearts pounded with love for Him while they were with Him. Their lives radically changed from darkness to light. This is one of our greatest points of reference as followers of Jesus.  Now allow it to sink into our minds: When we can love people without an opinion or expectation the Lord will change them. It allows the Holy Spirit to flow freely through our lives in anyway He desires.

Luke 10:27, is the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” This is one of the most freeing statements that we can hear. We are allowed to love the Lord and our neighbor with all of our hearts, without any opinions or expectations in our minds about God or man, which means He takes care of the rest for us.

One of the deceptions of the enemy is to cause us to feel like we are responsible to change people or to judge them, causing us to take on religious burdens that the Lord has already taken for us through the cross. These burdens wear us out spiritually and mentally, preventing us from loving people purely and hearing God clearly for ourselves and at times, for others. It is up to God to change people. When you love people in this non-judging, unassuming way, it opens up real power in the Spirit, and the kingdom of God enters the situation. People will start feeling the presence of the Lord and will ask, “What is this presence I feel?” or “Why are you loving me this way?”  This opens up a door to share the heart of God with them. It turns them toward wanting to have a relationship with God instead having to have a relationship with God. It is a totally different attitude. After they have this type of “love” encounter with Jesus, they will love people all the more because they see that Jesus loved them right where they were in their life.

The love of Jesus is like a magnet that attracts the kingdom of heaven to man and draws man to the kingdom of heaven. When the kingdom of heaven and man come together, miracles, healings, and signs and wonders start to appear, waking man up and restoring him to his original purpose: becoming the image of God on the earth as He is in heaven.

One thing Jesus did when He walked the earth was change the mind of man by being a living example of how God loves us and how we were created to love God and others (see I John 2:6). He is our perfect example. If you look at Jesus’ life, you are actually looking into a mirror image of how you are right now; it’s just that some of us haven’t awakened to it because of the strongholds that have been established in us through the way that we have been taught by the world or by religious systems. We are that image now in God, but we have been put to sleep by the doctrines of limitations. It says in II Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

The more we consider Jesus, the more we wake up to who we really are. He is our mirror! We are like Him now! We have felt as though we had to do something to attain this high calling, but He has done it all! It is finished! Jesus said we must “believe” in Him in order to have eternal life. (John 3:15) We must also believe that through Him we have been given His nature and power.

In II Peter 1:2-9, He reminds us that we have been given this now,

"

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins”.

When we begin to believe, this nature and power starts to awaken within us. All of heaven and earth become excited, because God’s sons and daughters are awakening to the reality of the Spirit and who they really are on the earth as He is in heaven. Love is the greatest tool in heaven and on earth.

Most of the time when Jesus set someone free, He told them to either “go and sin no more,” “your faith has made you whole,” “go your way,” or “go and tell the others.” He never said, “Listen, now that I have healed you, you have to follow Me.” He did not try to control people; He simply wanted them to have a great life while here on the earth. That is it. However, when He released people to go their own way instead of trying to control them, it made them want to follow Him even more, because there weren’t expectations coming from Him. Jesus wasn’t trying to make a name for Himself or create a popular ministry by releasing the power of God. He really just wanted to see people set free and healed without wanting anything in return.

Look at blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52,

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you."

And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

The blind man said to Him,  "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."

Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

When Jesus heard Bartimaeus cry out, He stopped and told His disciples to bring Bartimaeus to Him. When Jesus healed this man, He told him to go his own way, not Jesus’ way. It amazes me that Jesus would heal someone and not tell that person to follow Him. God just wants us to live a free life and have it more abundantly. This is what Jesus came for: to give life more abundantly. He wants us to have our own independent life with the Holy Spirit so that we can have the same Life as Jesus had while walking on the earth.

Do you think that when Jesus healed Bartimaeus, without control or stipulations, it made him want to be with Jesus even more? Absolutely! The people Jesus healed could not believe that this man didn’t require them to do anything. It blew their minds that a man would just want them to be free without wanting anything back. This is what made them addicted to Jesus. This is what real love is.

Chapter Six

Redeeming Love

Years ago I was ministering to the poor and homeless, telling them about Jesus. One day while I was speaking the power of God was present, and I said, “If anyone needs prayer for healing or deliverance, please come to the front.”

Most of the people came forward and lined up in front of the staged area. As I went down the line of people praying for them, the power of God’s love set them free and healed them instantly.

While praying, a person came and whispered in my ear and pointed to a man who was standing at the end of the line and said, “Would you pray for my friend there?”

I said, “I sure will. I’ll be there in a minute.”

When it came time to pray for this man, who was about fifty years old, he was grinding his teeth and clenching his fist in anger.

Before I could ask him if he minded if I prayed for him, he said with a raging attitude, “My friend told you to pray for me, didn’t he?”

I said, “Yes, he did.”

I felt as though this man would hit me at any moment. I looked at him and said, “I tell you what, I’ll pray for you, and if God doesn’t come, He isn’t real and you can go.”

It sort of shocked the man, and he looked at me and he said, “Okay.”

I have been hit by people while praying for them with demons like this, so when I took His hands I held them very lightly and kept my eyes open so I could move out of the way in case he tried to hit me.

I began to pray, and as soon as I said the word “Lord,” I was instantly transported in the Spirit to a street corner in a city. I was a bit surprised by this, but I knew the Lord was in control, which made me feel like it would be okay. I looked up at the street sign on the corner and it read, “Sixth Street.” Next, behind me I heard the squeaking of wheels coming toward me as though someone was riding a bicycle. I turned and saw a young boy about six-years old pedaling down the sidewalk with one of the biggest smiles on his face. He had so much joy on him that he was glowing in the Spirit. People were drawn to him and stopped to talk to him. Without being aware, they began to get free of all the demonic troubles in their lives. After talking with this little boy, they walked away happy again, ready to start life with a new resolve. They had the same joy and smile on their faces as the little boy did. I realized this boy had a specific gift of joy and favor from God to set people free from their troubles.

After he finished talking with the people, he pedaled the bike onward with a big smile on his face like he enjoyed being with them and wanting to encounter more. As he passed by a walkway that led up to a house, suddenly a man came out and snatched the boy off of his bike and took him in the house. God transported me into the house, and as I observed what the man did to the young boy, I felt sick and began weeping. After the man finished abusing him, he snatched him up, took him back outside, and slammed him back on his bicycle. As the young boy gritted his teeth, taking the pain of hitting the seat of the bicycle, the man looked at him with burning rage and said, “If you ever tell anyone about this, I will kill you!” He then turned and walked back into the house. The boy turned his bike around, and with immense pain and stiffness, he struggled his way back home.

Suddenly, I was brought back in the room, facing this grown man. I realized God had shown me why this man was full of hatred and demonic activity. He revealed how much He loved him. God had great compassion on his state of mind and pain. I was instantly convicted about how I judged or made assumptions about people who were angry or in a twisted state of mind. I then understood how Jesus could love some of the worst people and set them free. Through the eyes of “Love,” He sees what has caused His people to be tormented or deranged. He could see into people’s lives because He truly loved them. I knew I couldn’t have seen or understood this man’s problem without the eyes of God’s love. I began learning how and why God could love His people, because He understands what is tormenting us.

I looked at the man with tears in my eyes. I wasn’t sure how to pray, and I didn’t want to expose or embarrass him in front of everyone by articulating what happened so long ago. So I asked God for help. He replied, “Just love him, and I will do the rest.”

As I gazed into his eyes I spoke with the deepest love and said, “When you were six-years old, you had joy and favor, which transformed everyone you encountered. The enemy saw that you were going to be someone who would radically change peoples lives bringing them back to God with this powerful gift. The enemy came and raped your joy from you on Sixth Street.”

He looked stunned and frightened, because God was starting to knock on his heart to tell him, “I understand son, and I love you right where you are.” I said to him with a smile, “Why don’t you just get it back? Do me a favor, just fake some laughter.”

I knew it was going to require considerable faith toward God on his part to do it. He looked at me as though I was crazy, and even though he was still under demonic torment, he mustered up a fake laugh. When he did, the power of God came on him and he really began laughing. Then he cried, and screamed out with a loud voice, and the demons that had been planted in him since he was six-years old came out.

He fell into my chest crying, and whispered in my ear, “How did you know?” I answered, “I didn’t. Jesus did.” He cried out again and said, “This is the real Jesus!”

We held each other for a while, and then he stood in front of me and smiled. Then God showed me the man was a writer and the title of a book that he was going to write. The words of the title came down between us in the Spirit and began swinging back and forth from left to right. I looked at him, and realized he was watching it as well. I couldn’t believe that God had opened this man’s eyes so clearly.

I said, “You are a writer.”

He smiled and said, “Yes, I am.”

I said, “You are going to write a book and the book’s title will be…” as I spoke and pointed toward the title in front of us, he interrupted and spoke the title before I finished my statement. We both began laughing because he could see it as well as I could. No one else around us could see it, which made it even more miraculous. We hugged again, and he went on his way, free of sin and demonic activity.

Learning Curve

I learned a few things from the Lord through this experience. First, we can’t judge a person by the way they are acting or living. There is always a series of hidden events in their lives of which we are not aware that has contributed to the way they are. If we could see these events we would have much more compassion for people. I didn’t know that this man had been through such a trauma. At first I judged by the flesh and was intimidated by his outward manifestations and the way he looked. However, when I allowed the Spirit to take over, I began to understand why this man was the way he was. I also learned that when the Spirit of God sees men, He sees them through love and compassion. This is the kind of nature I want to rule my mind because it will keep me in the right spirit to minister with power.

Having the mind of the Spirit also gives supernatural vision to look into a person’s life and see what kind of bondage or torment the enemy has them in. It will enable us to transcend time and go to geographical places where people have been wounded or tormented in order to get the understanding we need to set them free. The man in Hawaii was still trapped in his mind back in the time where he was tortured as a child. We can also see from this example that we can get strategic details from these scenes to speak to the person in order for them to see that we are speaking from God. This unlocks their heart to receive from God and see that He truly loves them.

If you will notice in the story the Lord gave the man understanding about his past, his present, and his future, which set him free, body, soul, and spirit. These three dimensions are the testimony of Jesus Christ. It says in Revelation 1:8 that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, “Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” The Lord deposited every dimension of who He is into this man, and it cast out all of the demonic bondage that was within him. Jesus moved in and the devil had to move out. When God is released, the devil has to leave. If we want to start really binding the enemy’s domain then we must release the kingdom of God, because it is the kingdom of God that binds and casts out demons. Jesus said in Matthew 12:28-29,

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

In other words, Jesus allowed the Spirit of God to work through Him in order to cast demons out.

As we partner with the Spirit, he does the work. We can’t do it through religious formulas.  God has made it to where we can’t go through a list of books in our minds on How to Cast out Demons. We have to do what He wants to do; then He does the rest. Also, if we focus on trying to figure out what kind of demon a person has, we have lost focus on listening to the Spirit and are focusing on the demon instead. I have seen this time after time. If the enemy can get us out of the Spirit and stay focused on him, then there will be no power to kick him out.  Unaware of his trickery, we take the bait from the enemy and position ourselves in the carnal will instead of staying in alignment with the will of the Spirit of God. This is what the demon attempted to do when I first approached this angry man; it tried to intimidate me so I would focus on the manifestation of anger instead of the presence of the Lord.

This story reveals another aspect of the Spirit of God, in that He covered the man’s shameful experience and sin. The Lord spoke to him in code so that only the man and I understood what God was saying. The people whom were watching were unaware of the meaning of the things being relayed to him. The love of God covered a multitude of his sins in addition to setting him free. We can also see in this story that the man was bound by such darkness that he could not understand true reality. He could only see things through an evil heart or attitude. Nevertheless, God came in His joy and delivered him from all the hate in his heart that had bound him for years. His vision was then restored to see and understand clearly in the spirit as well as in the natural. This is why he too could see the title of the book rocking back and forth in front of us in the Spirit. The Spirit consumed his life, giving him a merry heart that brought complete healing.

As Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.” When God gives a merry heart, sometimes He is healing pain that we might not be aware of. It is so great to see God give someone an extreme makeover!

Chapter Seven

“Saving” People

I grew up during the “Jesus” movement of the 70s, as well as the discipleship and shepherding movements that followed. Even though these movements went off into areas that weren’t of God, they still produced great fruit. One of the attributes I admired about these movements was the love and unity that it brought to all mankind. Sadly, selfish ambition crept in and these movements eventually faded away. Many people were left wounded and hurt. Some are still wounded even now. I believe the enemy saw how much ground these movements were taking, and so he began sowing selfish ambition in areas of people’s hearts, thus opening them up to the influence of evil. Once this seed of ambition was sowed, sin entered the camp. Control and division spread like wildfire and the movements died. However, I believe we are going to see these kinds of movements again, except on a bigger scale.

During these movements, it seemed people received salvation (or what we would call “got saved”) on every street corner. Christians were telling unsaved people about Christ because they really loved God so much that they just had to tell them about the opportunities of Jesus. God was real in the hearts of people. They were not trying to get people saved because they were required to—it was because they wanted to. The unsaved could tangibly feel the love of God coming from the people as they spoke into their lives. People gave their hearts to the Lord, not because they were being forced to or pressured, but because they wanted the same kind of love and kindness the Christians were carrying. It seemed as though the kindness of God was tangibly in the air causing men to repent.

When selfish-ambition and control found its way into the camps of these movements it tainted the love of God in some of the people’s hearts. The color and excitement about Jesus faded from the prevalent attitudes and doctrines. In the beginning, a person who knew Jesus would want to tell someone how wonderful He was in their lives. Toward the end of the movement, the mentality shifted to thinking they were required to tell others about Jesus in order to get people saved and in church. The motivation shifted to being more about how many you can “get saved” than just loving Jesus Christ and people.

My father was a leader during these movements. As a young boy, I saw a negative transformation of attitude to occur in him. At first, my dad was like a young excited boy when it came to telling people about Jesus, and many miracles and healings followed.  When he traveled on the highways, he would pick up any hitchhiker, take him home, feed him, and then get him saved. It was awesome to watch! But when the enemy hit the camp, my dad’s attitude changed, and since I was watching from a child’s perspective, it seemed like God started getting hard and controlling. The enemy was stealing the life of God out of my dad. It seemed as though we had to love God now, instead of gladly loving Him as a way of life. God was forced upon people instead of being presented as a choice.

I believe God gives us a choice. If He forced us to have a relationship with Him, He would be a controlling God, and we would be slaves instead of sons. One of the things Jesus did through the cross was that He tore the veil from top to bottom, allowing everyone to come to Him without any laws and requirements. He made salvation a free gift. This is the way we should present salvation to people who are away from Him. The unsaved will see the Lord through us, not by us putting burdens on them, but by taking off their burdens so they can be free.

For years, I thought I had to get people saved, until Jesus said to me, “Why don’t you love them and I will save them?” I also had come to a place in my life where I thought I had to present a message to the unsaved to get them convicted of their sins. It would always backfire on me, and the people would get mad instead of glad! I was not convicting them. I was condemning them by the attitude I was manifesting.

Then one day the Holy Spirit said to me, “I was sent to convict the world, not you. You love them and show them the truth, and I will convict them.” What a revelation that was! I no longer felt the burden of thinking I had to get people saved! I could leave that up to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I began to love people just as they were, and they would ask me, “What is this presence you bring with you when we meet?”

I answered, “It’s Jesus!”

Or they would ask me, “Why do you love me the way I am?”

I responded, “Because this is the way Jesus loves you!”

They would then say, “I’ve never known that Jesus feels this way toward me.”

I said, “Well, this is the way He is. He loves you right where you are and the way you are.”

This allowed the power of God to come and open up their hearts, enabling them to hear the story of Jesus and how He feels toward them. These people would then want to receive His salvation instead of feeling forced.

Oh Boy, God!

Late one night after a healing meeting, I went to a restaurant with a large group of friends from church. Some of the families in our group finished eating early, and when they went up to the counter to pay their bill, I noticed the manager of the restaurant talking to one of the young boys who was with them. The manager had noticed a necklace the boy was wearing, that had a charm with a symbol on it that represented the notion of good and evil dwell together in harmony.  The manager bent down and innocently began to tell the young boy the meaning of the charm. Nevertheless, the boy’s mother came quickly and snatched the young boy away from him.

He said, “It’s okay. I was just telling your son what the sign on his necklace meant.”

She grabbed the manager’s arm and forced him to come to our table. She then said to him, “Here, meet Jesus!”  There this manager was, just standing there while I still had food in my mouth.

My friends and I politely introduced ourselves to him. We could see he was not happy with the situation. With great frustration he said, “I know all about the Jesus thing.”

He began telling us how many churches he had visited and how they did not show him real love. He shared how some even kicked him out because of the color of his skin. He said, “But I found something for myself. I became a Muslim while I was in the Vietnam War.”

As I was listening to him and eating my dinner, a love that is beyond understanding came upon me.  I was not even formulating in my mind where this man was coming from in order to have an answer.

When the manager finished speaking to us, I looked at him with true sincerity and care and said, “I’m so glad you found something that satisfies you.”

Shocked by my answer, the man said, “What did you say?”

I said again, “I’m glad you found something that satisfies you.”

He said with great surprise, “You mean you’re not going to try to change me?”

I said, “No.” He replied, “I have never seen a Christian like this.”

I said, “Well, you have now. Jesus loves you right where you are. He always has and always will.”

The manager said, “I’ve never met a Jesus like that.”

The man was intrigued by the way he was being treated. I said, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

He warmly replied, “No, I don’t mind.”

I asked, “After you pray, does your god walk and talk with you during the day? Can you see and feel his presence next to you?”

He said with great surprise, “Why no, he doesn’t!”

I said, “I have a God, named Jesus, who walks with me. I can see Him and feel His presence. He is my best friend and He lets me introduce Him to people.”

He said with great excitement, “I’ve never seen Jesus this way!”

Then something of God came over me and the whole group that we still don’t completely understand. I said, “I tell you what, I will ask Jesus to come here, and if He does not come, then He is not real.” I instantly thought to myself, “What are you doing?” I became scared, hoping that Jesus will come.

The manager said with a challenging voice, “Okay, if Jesus is real, He will come right here.”

We asked him if we could hold his hands, and he permitted us too. We prayed a simple prayer fearfully, just hoping Jesus would come. We said, “Jesus, if You are real, You will come here right now.”

Suddenly, an actual wind came from heaven into the restaurant and hit this wonderful man so hard, that if my friend and I were not holding him tightly, he would have been blown across the whole store. It felt like a hurricane wind!

As the wind blew, the man asked with great fear and excitement, “What is this?”

Surprised myself by what was happening, I said, “Uh, it is the Lord!”

With tears in his eyes, the manager yelled out publicly, “This is what I have been looking for!”

The wind calmed down, and I asked the man if he would like to receive Christ in His heart. He looked at me and my friend as though we were crazy and said, “Why, yes!”

So we said to him, “Just say, Lord Jesus come into my heart.”  As soon as he asked the Lord to come, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in such power that we had to let go of his hands less we go down with him. He then fell out on the floor in the Spirit. After that, incident we were not hungry so we decided to pay our bill and go back to the hotel. While he lay in the floor we said to him, “Well, we will see you later.” He instantly shot up off the floor, and while taking off his serving apron he began to follow us out. We asked him, “What are you doing?’ He answered, “I am going wherever you guys are going. I will carry your bible or whatever, I just have to go.”  Instantly, the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear, “Who does that remind you of?” I then realized, it reminded me of the stories of the New Testament, when Jesus would do a miracle for someone or call them to follow Him they would drop everything to follow their Savior. My eyes began to swell with tears of joy. I smiled at him and said, “You have to stay here with the others so that you can tell all of what God has done for you.”

Learning Curve

Genuine love was the key to opening this man’s heart. If I hadn’t genuinely loved him as he was, and in the attitude that he was in, I would have stopped the doors of heaven from opening and releasing God’s power and love. We see in the Bible that Jesus walked, hung out with, and truly loved sinners. The religious Pharisees hated this about Jesus. As it says in Matthew 9:11-13,

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

In this Scripture lies a hidden key that both opens up heaven for people to connect with Christ and stirs up love within. Love is God’s voice that calls sinners to repentance. People may not be able to hear God’s voice audibly in their ears, but their inner spirit recognizes when true love calls. Their spirit then begins to ascend out of that deathly grave called sin and into His marvelous light or truth. They find themselves wanting to turn from the sin that has entangled them. Romans 2:4 says, “the goodness of God leads you to repentance,” and in Luke 6:35-36, Jesus says, “God is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”

When God sent his Son, Jesus, He sent Him to love and save the world. This released judgment on the sin in men’s hearts, leading them to an opportunity to repent and receive the inheritance of the kingdom of God. The judgment for the people on this earth is love. This is the very thing that causes men to be convicted. God judged this world by sending us Love in the flesh, which was Jesus Christ.  In Luke 23:47-48, people were standing around watching Jesus hang on the cross. As they saw Jesus’ attitude and heard Him say, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do,” it released such power that it opened the eyes of a centurion to see who Jesus really was, and caused others to beat their breast in conviction. This is a perfect example of how God judges and ministers to His people. He did not come to judge people. He came to judge sin by loving the people. Love is the ultimate power. Jesus said in Matthew 5:44-45,

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

He was basically showing us how to war against principalities and powers. He was also showing us that His goodness is not just for those that love him, but is also for those that are evil. Love never fails.

Love Is Confronting

Loving people means also having to confront people with the truth, as Jesus did occasionally with the Pharisees, such as in Matthew 23:25-26,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”

Jesus was not saying this to condemn them. He had to be strong with them because they were God’s own children, and they knew the truth but were living a life of sin. The attitude that Jesus was in was not a type of anger that releases negative criticism or condemnation, but a righteous – type of anger like a good father would be toward a son who knows the truth but continues to do wrong. Jesus had to be a bit stronger with the Pharisees (His own children) because they knew the truth, but stubbornly continued to walk in sin. Hebrews 12:6 says,

“For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives.” Jesus’ love is chastising them.

So what am I trying to say? Make sure you are in an attitude of caring for another person’s life before you confront them. Regardless of whether we are right, we need to remove any offense from ourselves in order to help or confront with the proper attitude. This is found in one of the revelations in Matthew 7:3-5,

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?               Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Attitude and power ride upon words that are spoken. Even if we are speaking truth but are harshly angry, that truth becomes tainted and demonic. The anger becomes one with the words. We then will find ourselves killing with truth, instead of setting people free. We should love people, but abhor the enemy. When speaking the truth in love to a person, love opens their heart and enters in to destroy the enemy in his or her life. Real truth carries compassion and love, it houses the attitude of Jesus, and we know that the person Jesus is literally the Truth.

At times people will manifest negatively when confronted with truth in love, because the demonic spirit that controls their life begins to be exposed and fights the truth with all its strength. If we keep this in mind, we will find ourselves being calm and compassionate with people who become angry toward us. They are not being themselves.  At times people will walk off and reject loving truth, but they will never forget how they were treated. These same people when faced with their own confrontations, at times will remember the love that was extended to them and will also respond in the same attitude.

The CD Player

Imagine that a CD player or stereo system is playing offensive music. Is it the player or the CD that is offensive? Would you take the stereo system and throw it in the trash, or would you discard the CD? Of course, you know it is the CD, not the player, so you would eject the CD and throw it in the trash, without harming the player or the stereo system. Man is like that CD player. He plays what is put in him.

For the most part, we are in the habit of judging the person instead of the sin or spirit that is causing the individual to be offensive. If we can see past the person’s actions and understand the real cause, we can extract the offensive source leaving the person intact. This is how Jesus ministered to people when He walked the earth. He loved the people, but destroyed the sin or demonic activity. Jesus came to judge sin, not the people.

We see a perfect example of Jesus’ mentality in Luke 23:34. Men whipped him, mocked Him, and hit Him in the face at least six hundred times, then stripped Him naked and nailed Him to a cross, placing Him on the level of a thief. Those men were ignorant of Satan’s devices and were blinded by the enemy. They were used to kill, steal, and destroy. Jesus, however, looked down at those men and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

He knew the men were not the problem; it was the enemy or sin that was the problem. At the greatest and most painful moment in the history of the universe, Jesus could have judged man; instead He released forgiveness and life. At that moment, power was released, and Satan’s domain was bound. Jesus took on our sins and gave us life in return. We beat Him, and He loved us in return, setting us free. This is one of the mysteries of the cross and a principle of heaven: Giving life binds death. Colossians 2:13-15 says,

He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

The enemy had tricked man into playing the wrong CD. This caused man to walk in sin and be an offense toward God. Jesus came, extracted the offensive CD out of the player of man, and gave back the original CD (the life of Christ), creating harmony within man’s own life and with God. The demonic CD tells man to live by the flesh. When man does this, it opens up the kingdom of darkness and attracts demonic activity. The enemy knows this principle. The new CD is Christ directing man to live by the Holy Spirit, and when man lives by the Spirit, it opens up the kingdom of God and attracts heavenly activity.

Whatever we are drawn to is also drawn to us. This kingdom principle is found in James 4:8 where it says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Today, let’s draw near to God and give life to the people as Jesus did on the cross. We will then see humanity awaken and fall in love with Jesus Christ again. All of heaven will come and people will get to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Chapter Eight

The Grumpy Man

One summer I was giving a message in a church on the love of God. During that message, the power of God came into the room and started delivering and healing people everywhere. I announced to the people that if they wanted to come up front to pray, they could. Almost the whole church came forward. I could not believe the response! It seemed that people were getting saved, delivered, and healed all over the place. I was amazed how thick the atmosphere was with the presence of Jesus.

After it was over, I came down off the stage and started walking toward the door to leave the church. An older gentleman came up to me in anger.

With his hands clinched together in fists, he got right in my face and said, “How can you do this to these people? How dare you give them false hope!”

For a moment I was stunned and didn’t know what to say. As I stood there, and stared in amazement, out of the corner of my eye I could see his wife running up to ask me to forgive her husband for the way he was acting. It was clear to me this man was being controlled by a religious spirit.

Suddenly, I felt as though a garment of love fell on me, and supernatural awareness of this man’s life possessed my consciousness. I genuinely cared for and wanted to help this man, even while he was still persecuting me.

I looked at him with care, waiting on him to finish his accusations, then patted him on the shoulder and said, “It’s okay man, you have just been wounded with false authority in the past. What you felt in this room was God’s true authority: His love for you. When it started to open your heart and free you, fear and anger rose up to try to keep you from your freedom. God has made this fear and anger manifest so He can take it out of your life and you can be yourself again, just as you were when you were a small boy—free.”

He looked at me, and tears started to roll down his face as he tried to fight his emotions from coming up.

I said, “Listen, I love you just the way you are, even if you don’t change. I understand. I’ve been in the place you’re in right now.”

I reached out my hand to shake his as a sign that I loved him, and he continued to cry. He put his hand in mine, and then hugged me as tight as he could.

He whispered with a broken sound in his voice, “I don’t want to be like this anymore. It is torment.”

I responded, “You don’t have to. You’re free now.”

Then the power of God took off his bondage as we were talking. I put my hands on his shoulder and said, “You’re free.” I gazed into his eyes with a smile, and he started to smile back. As I started to walk off, I said, “I love you.”

He couldn’t talk; he just watched me walk off in amazement. He was free.

Learning Curve

Through that experience, I learned a lot about how God binds the enemy. I even had visions that day of some of the stories about Jesus in the Bible. One vision that comes to mind was from John 8:4-12, when the Pharisees dragged the adulterous woman to the Lord. They accused her publicly in front of Jesus and were trying to trick the Lord so they could have a way to accuse Him. In this passage, God unveiled to me something that I had never seen before about the way Jesus’ thought process worked.

The Pharisees were unaware that Satan was controlling them. Even Jesus says their father is the devil in John 8:44 saying, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”

In the vision I had, I could see in the Pharisees’ faces the “accuser of the brethren” himself. The accuser hated Jesus because He gave life to everyone, whether the people accepted it or not. The enemy was constantly trying to stop this river of life from flowing on the earth and was using the Pharisees as his instrument to try to destroy Jesus.

Everywhere Jesus would go, a person was either forgiven or set free. This drove Satan crazy because Jesus was undoing his work. Over thousands of years man’s mind had been programmed to think from a foundation of evil—to the point of thinking that evil is good and good is evil. But Jesus, by doing only good, was reversing the minds of man, and the Pharisees, being in the enemy’s control, hated it. They hated the fact that Jesus went around giving life and not condemning people that were, in the minds of the Pharisees, deserving of condemnation. This was driving them and the enemy mad.

In my vision, the Pharisees stated how the Law of Moses required the adulteress to be stoned. They waited with anticipation for Jesus’ response, intending to entrap Him. Jesus was in a bind here, I thought. He could feel the anger and hatred emanating from the Pharisees, and the condemnation and shame from the adulteress. Then I noticed something about Jesus. He was not nervous, scared, or intimidated by the situation. That blew my mind! He was calm and collected and I could even see in His face that He cared for both parties.

When He knelt down to write in the sand as though He did not even hear the Pharisees, it hit me like a ton of bricks. His mind was not thinking of asking the Father how to get out of the situation or even asking how He should answer so that He wouldn’t get hurt. His mentality was on a whole different level. He was asking His Father how He could destroy the sin that both parties were in and save all of them without condemning them.

Sin was already condemning both parties openly. While the adulteress was aware of her sin, the Pharisees were not.  They were already dead in their trespasses and were walking the course of the world, according to the prince of the air. They were putting burdens on God’s people that even they could not carry and were wearing them out. Jesus was about to awaken the Pharisees out of their sleep so they would be aware of their sin and have the opportunity to repent. He was not looking at the appearance of things, but was about to sow righteousness to judge the hidden enemy that was destroying both parties.

Jesus stooped down and started to write in the sand, pondering how to give life. What I saw amazed me. He wrote down the sins of those present, not naming the guilty. Jesus stood up and said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (see John 8:7). Instantly, the Lord gave a righteous word and revealed the Pharisees’ sin in their hearts. True light had come and exposed those things that were hidden in the heart of man and their own consciences convicted them. Jesus had caused the whole situation to turn from evil to good. What the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good, for the adulteress and for the Pharisees. Remember, Jesus loves all men and women. Jesus’ heart was as much for the Pharisees as it was for the adulteress. He wishes no man would perish, but that all would turn back to the original eternal life that was ordained for them from the foundations of the earth.

Jesus came to earth to give life to man, not to destroy him. He came to destroy the works of the devil and to save man. Only the enemy comes with an attitude to kill, steal, and destroy. That is the foundation of his thought process. God’s mind is not this way at all. As Jesus said Himself, He is the Life or Light of the world. In John 8:12, He said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” He also said in John 6:63-64, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” God’s mentality cannot carry opinions or power that is negative. If He did, He would be evil or condemning. His mind is postured to save, not to destroy. The last thing God wants to do is destroy people’s lives. It says in Psalm 145:8-9,

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.

Jesus said in John 7:24, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Jesus lived this out in the story of the Pharisees and the adulteress. When righteousness is sown in the midst of sin, sin itself is exposed in people’s heart, giving them an opportunity to repent and enter into freedom. It is called righteous judgment. Ephesians 5:13-14 says,

“But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

If we want to destroy the enemy, we must release life to man, then God will release His power that will destroy the enemy. This is what it means when Paul wrote in Romans 12:19-21, Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Cross—Man’s Inheritance

For years, I thought Romans 12:19-21 meant that if I love the people that hate me, then God would get them. That thought process is far from being the definition of that Scripture. Ephesians 6:12-13 tells us,

We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Nevertheless, about eighty-five percent of the people wrestle against people and not the enemy. We end up wounding one another and letting the enemy live. When people do us wrong, our minds are still programmed to hurt people. This is not the way the Lord did it at the cross. He did not accuse the people who were putting Him to death. His loving His life not unto the death destroyed the powers of the enemy and set man free.

Let’s look at the cross in both the spiritual and natural ways that it happened and maybe we can come away with a deeper understanding of how Jesus gave His life and bound the enemy. A few clues at the cross shadow what is happening in the heavens with God and the enemy. Let’s review a few events at the cross so that we can understand the personality of Jesus and the power of God.

When Jesus was being beaten and scourged in John 19:1, He wasn’t trying to bear the pain so He could get through to the other side with His Father. If He did think that way, He would be a God who was selfish, thinking only of His own future instead of ours. Hebrews 12:2 says: “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

His joy was not just about getting to sit with His Father again. His joy was in seeing all of mankind being able to apprehend the life and glory that was lost in the garden. Before Jesus went to the cross, we see Jesus praying in the garden. In John 17:20-24, He said,

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

While He prayed selflessly, God opened the heavens for Him to see who to pray for. He saw thousands of his brothers and sisters like you and me, receiving the eternal life and glory, which was given to man from the foundations of the world. Jesus didn’t just come to die for our sins only. He came to give man the original life and glory back that was stolen from the Garden by the trickery of Satan. The Garden was not just a geographical place where man dwelt. It was also a supernatural state of mind or glory that was given by God that lived within and through man. Man carried it wherever He went geographically and spiritually. Wherever man would travel, heaven would follow as well.

Heaven Followed

We can see this pattern throughout the Bible with men and women who were called by God. Look at Moses’ life after God had called him to attention. Wherever Moses traveled, heaven followed. Wherever the priest carried the Ark of God in the wilderness, heaven followed. Wherever Jesus would go, heaven was at hand. Heaven was and has always been within man’s grasp. This is one of the reasons why Jesus said in Matthew 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

It was right there among them, but because of the hardness of sin in the peoples’ hearts, they could not see it. Jesus also said in Mark 16:17-18,

“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Jesus was not just talking about what man could do if he believed. He was also trying to convey to man that his real God given nature is to walk supernaturally, above all principalities and powers and rulers of darkness. Jesus was trying to awaken man to realize that he was just like Him.

Wherever man goes, so does the kingdom of God. The supernatural glory and authority was given to man on the earth, which reflected God Himself in heaven, was lost by the trickery of Satan in the Garden. What Jesus conveyed in Mark 16: 17-18 was not new knowledge for man, even though the people who were listening to it thought it was. The knowledge that Jesus gave them was something very old, which had been kept secret for centuries by trickery of the devil through thousands of years of false doctrines taught through men, sorcery, traditions that created burdens, doubt, fear, lust, etc. This is one of the reasons why Jesus rebuked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” (Luke 11:52)

Some of the lawyers knew exactly what Jesus was saying to them—they knew that Jesus had exposed them of their own sin toward God. Some of the Pharisees and scribes knew the mysteries of God and the original power and authority that man had been given, but kept it to themselves and didn’t teach it. Yet they didn’t walk in it themselves. Over centuries of time, the devil had infiltrated the minds of the men of the law and governments, causing them to turn and do evil in the sight of God. He perverted the principles of God to control and put heavy burdens on man that they could not carry—conforming man to be a slave to Satan, instead of a free man with God. This type of demonic and systematic thinking is still lurking in the minds of man today and is one of the great powers of the devil that Jesus came to destroy.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8).

Satan is not just a fallen angel; he also represents a systematic way of thinking that has been built up for thousands of years in the mind of man. One of those arrangements of thinking originated from a lie that the devil presented to the mind of man dating back to the Garden in Genesis 3:4-5,

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Hidden in this lie is doubt and fear that man is about to partake. This statement was conveyed to man so we would believe that we are not like God and we need to do something or partake of something more in order to be like God. This lie in itself caused them to doubt, not only who they were, but also who God really is. This lie is in almost all of religions, businesses, or systematic thinking. Man still believes this old ancient lie today. He says within himself, “If I can just pray more, read more, get more knowledge, or do more, I can be a superpower or be like God.” This is the furthest from the truth. Jesus said, “You don’t have to do anything anymore—all you have to do is believe in what I’m telling you and you will awaken to who you really are already.

Eve didn’t have to eat the fruit of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to be like God; she was already like Him. Mankind has never been called to know good and evil. He was called to know God, have the mind of God, and be like God on the earth as He is in heaven. When mankind starts to believe in Jesus’ words and life, he starts to enter back into living an eternal life like God on the earth as it is in heaven. Whenever mankind calls on the name of Jesus, Jesus will save and transform that persons thinking out of eternal death and deliver them into the eternal life of the living. This is happening every day with someone in this world. Mankind is also about to have its greatest awakening on the face of the earth.

Just as Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty, so shall it be with man upon the earth as it is in the heavens (see Revelation 1:8). Man has been the reflection of God on the earth, but man has been tricked by Satan’s tactics by causing man to take on the mind of the world or sin instead of the mind of Christ.

Man and Glory

For thousands of years, Satan has hidden the secrets of the life of God by sending a flood of unbelief and doubt through the minds of man. Jesus came to give man back the glory that he lost thousands of years ago. In John 17:5, Jesus is praying in the Garden and saying, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

When Jesus received the glory before the world was, so did mankind. Jesus was, is, and is to come, the glory that man was created from. God created man’s inner and outer self with His glory. That glory itself was the Father’s Son, which is Jesus Christ, the Son of all glory. In Genesis 1:26, God said,

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”

God looked at His Son and said, “Let’s make man like You and I.” Nevertheless, by the trickery of Satan, the glory and power that was given to man was eclipsed by sin. This separated man from being one with God on the earth as the Father and Son were one in heaven. However, in John 17:20-24, Jesus interceded for not only His disciples to have that glory back but also for thousands that will believe in Him.

Access to Heaven

Because His prayer and the cross took away the sin of the world, we now have the right to live in a supernatural state of mind, which is far beyond the earthly wisdom of man. We now have access to be where Jesus is in the heavens and behold His glory that was given to Him from the foundations of the world. The glory and authority that Jesus was given by God has now been transferred to man. Man now has access to live in the heavens while on the earth. This is the dimension that Jesus walked in while on the earth through faith. Jesus even tries to convey this principle to Nicodemus in John 3:13 where He says: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

Jesus was talking to Nicodemus while standing in a heavenly dimension living on earth and ministering to Nicodemus. This is the same type of life man has been given by Jesus through the cross. He tore the veil of sin that separated man from having fellowship with the Father and heaven. Through faith, man has been made alive, and has been given total access to have fellowship with the Father and heaven while living on the earth. This was the original plan in the beginning with man as stated in Ephesians 2:4-10,

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We no longer have to walk according to the natural principles of the world, which produces fear and limitations upon man (see Colossians 2:20-34). Now man’s mind has access to live and have the thoughts of God, which are far above the thoughts of the rules and regulations of the world. In order to enter into this new realm of consciousness with God, man only has to believe in what Jesus has done for him and the process starts. Believing is like a main breaker switch that turns on all the power in a man’s house. Everything that was dark and considered to be invisible, the naked eye man suddenly becomes very clear, giving vision to walk without stumbling.

In order for man to have eternal life and glory, Jesus lives through and upon man while on the earth. Jesus and His ways will always be the foundational blueprint for man to be built back into the perfect new man, which is the image of God. When man looks at Jesus and follows His ways, he gets a glimpse of what he himself is like. Jesus is man’s mirror, which awakens and transforms him into the same image. II Corinthians 3:18 states,

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Chapter Ten

The Cross Experience

During the last few years I have had a series of experiences from the Lord concerning the cross. During one of these experiences, I found myself in what I believe was the Praetorian, watching a garrison of militant men mocking and beating Jesus. The pain He suffered was unbearable. At one point, the soldiers were taking turns hitting Jesus. I looked at Jesus’ countenance, and He was not trying to bear the pain, he was actually caring for the soldiers who were disfiguring Him. He understood that these men were pawns being used by the evil one.

One particular soldier came up to Jesus to strike His mangled blood soaked face.  Jesus looked past the soldier’s anger gazing deep into his eyes with such love and more compassion the man had ever known. It was as though Jesus was telling him, “It’s okay, you can hit me.”

When the soldier saw the expression and love in Jesus’ face, it caused his eyes to open and his heart was pierced with conviction. He immediately fell at Jesus’ feet as though he had no strength within his body and said with tears of remorse in his eyes, “Oh Jesus!”  Then Jesus said, “It’s okay.”  Suddenly, the soldier was pushed out of the way by another saying, “Idiot, what are you doing? Get out of the way!”

The soldier tumbled out of the way with a glazed look in his eyes as though he was in shock. As I continued to observe, tears began to coarse down my face. To see Jesus beaten beyond recognition was the most terrible thing I could behold, yet His loving response to their hate was the most beautiful thing to behold. I had been honored to be an eyewitness of what Paul was trying to convey in Romans 12:19,

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Jesus did not avenge or protect Himself against the soldier’s abuse. Instead, He gave place to the wrath of those soldiers. He demonstrated God’s love. This enabled the love of God to take vengeance upon and destroy the demonic powers that were controlling the soldier and set him free. Jesus did not take personal offense when the men were beating him; He didn’t even accuse them of their wrongdoing. He still loved His enemies. Jesus understood that it was not man who was doing this to Him; it was a demonic force that was controlling man. Jesus knew that He was not wrestling with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers in high places.

We cannot wrestle against the dark powers of this age within our own strength or flesh. We wrestle, bind and cast the enemy out through living the life of Christ’s love. We release that life of love within death itself to bind and defeat the enemy. It was the life of love Jesus gave toward the soldier that bound the enemy. The power of love that came out of Jesus that destroyed the demonic force that was controlling the soldier was more powerful than anything in the universe. It even caused some soldiers who were watching to question why they were doing this evil to Him. They started understanding the true power of love that flowed out of the life of Jesus Christ. I also understood how giving life and love, changes people. This is the very same loving power that bound Satan while Jesus hung on the cross.

The Life of Christ Judges all Things

The Spirit of the Lord took me to Golgotha’s cross. My eyes beheld the bloody beaten body of Jesus as He hung in excruciating pain bleeding to death. His appearance and the pain that He suffered were too much for me to bear. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit was I able to watch this scene. As I looked upon Jesus, I became aware of the demonic horde that surrounded Him. The atmosphere began to turn dark as Satan’s domain jeered and mocked Him. We can get a clearer understanding of the myriad of voices Jesus heard and experienced in the spirit by listening to the mockery of the thief, the rulers, and soldiers: “Then one of the criminals who was hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us’” (Luke 23:39). They were all being influenced and controlled by this dark spiritual horde that had surrounded Jesus at the cross. The demons were mocking Jesus in the spirit and through natural resources such as man.

God took David into the future in Psalms 22 where he watched Jesus as He hung on the cross. David experienced this same demonic horde at the cross. In Psalms 22:12-13, David said,

Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion.

David clearly saw not only the people mocking Jesus with their mouths, but He also saw the demonic horde that was controlling the people compelling them to speak blasphemous words toward God. Jesus could see these two dimensions as well. He understood that man did not know what he was doing—even though they intentionally killed him. There He was, the King, bleeding to death and judging the world by giving His life, even while being tormented by the enemy. His life itself was judging between good and evil. He pierced the darkness with His light of love. It was separating the goats from the sheep. This you can see in the hearts of the two thieves. One heart manifested mockery and rebellion toward Jesus. The other thief’s heart manifested righteousness, asking for mercy and to enter into Jesus’ kingdom. One thief was taken into the kingdom of heaven’s light, while the other one went to the kingdom of darkness. They went to the place where their hearts dwelled. It says in Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So it is with every man facing the life of Christ. God does not condemn man; He condemns sin. Man’s own heart, whether it is in sin or righteousness, will judge him when He stands before God’s throne. Jesus’ emanating life will cause man’s heart to manifest. Man’s heart manifested its darkness, which it had been carrying for years when Jesus came upon the earth and preached the good news and righteousness. But Christ preached the good news so man could recognize his sin, repent, and enter into freedom.  John 15:22-25 tells us the following,

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, “They hated Me without a cause.”

Man’s sin was exposed so that he could be free from death, but some chose death instead of life because they loved darkness more than light. This caused men to hate Jesus without a just reason. When man comes before the throne of grace, he will be sent to the dimensional heights or dark depths where his heart dwelled upon the earth—either in darkness or light.

Grace

Man has been given the grace to walk in righteousness through the giving of the life of Jesus Christ. We now have grace to live a godly life through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Man will not be able to go to the throne of grace and say, “I just didn’t have the grace to walk in righteousness.” That statement is an offense to the cross. It is basically saying that the cross was not enough. Man goes toward darkness or light, based on the path that he chose while here on the earth. We can’t live life in a lowly one-dimensional state and expect to receive a blessing from a higher realm. We are either hot or cold. The path invested will be the path that man will travel when he crosses over to the other life. I believe these paths are also dimensional according to the areas of truth or what we know and understand about God’s ways compared to our ignorance of God. I believe man will receive different dimensions of condemnation or darkness and different areas of life and glory with God according to how much we surrendered our lives or hearts to love Him. We can see this judgment of the life of Christ working on the cross with the two thieves in the following Scriptures,

“There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left” (Luke 23:32-33).

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:38-43).

While Christ’s life was hanging in the balance upon the cross, he was judging the hearts of mankind. One man’s heart was blessed. He manifested righteousness, by recognizing Jesus and his own sin. He even covered Jesus by rebuking the other criminal, trying to convince him to see who Jesus was. He then asked Jesus for mercy and was received into paradise. The other thief was cursed. He manifested darkness and self-righteousness, preventing him from recognizing Jesus and so he mocked Him. He plunged headlong into eternal darkness. This event is a shadow of what Jesus said in,

Matthew 25:31-46,“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jesus hung between two thieves; naked and exposed on the cross, before the world He had created. Only one of the men was convicted by his sin. He chose to cover Jesus by rebuking the other thief that was accusing and insulting the Lord, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?” When Jesus was a prisoner, nailed to the cross, He took on the sickness of sin; one man chose to love him. He recognized Jesus’ true identity and told the world Jesus was innocent, and He had done no wrong. The other thief rejected Him. Jesus was thirsty, not for water, but for righteousness.  The one man gave his life to Jesus, by admitting his own sin and asking God to help and save him. The other thief despised God and died in his sin.

Two Natures Of Man

One man’s nature represented sheep, and the other, goats. Sheep represent men and women who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and humble themselves and follow Him. Goats represent those that choose to rebel against God’s loving Son. There is a principle that I learned in studying goats and sheep. When sheep recognize that the shepherd is no longer a threat, they are no longer fearful. Eventually they will even start to follow him. When you place your hand upon their head, they will allow you to pet them. When a sheep is about to be slaughtered by his master, the sheep will allow the shepherd’s hand to tilt its neck upward while he draws the knife to put it to death. This is a profound picture of trust between not only Jesus and His Father, but also with the thief and Jesus.

Even though the thief was being put to death, he had enough trust in his heart toward Jesus to ask Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. He recognized the Shepherd’s voice while on the cross, so he trusted God, even though he was about to be slaughtered as well. Goats are somewhat opposite of sheep.

One of the natures of a goat is to rebel against its master. When a shepherd places his hand upon a goat’s head, it will automatically push against it. At times, if you turn your back upon them they are more likely to charge at you, using their heads and horns to cause physical damage. This is what was what was occurring at the cross with the thief who mocked Jesus. The power of God’s love, which was emanating through Jesus, was touching the minds of the two men. One mind wanted forgiveness, life and redemption, the other did not. One humbled himself before God, the other blasphemed Him. One chose eternal life, the other death. Even so, the life that was hanging on the cross was being offered up to save both parties, but one took that offer, and the other refused it.

Sodom And Gomorrah

Most of the time when there is destruction, it is not always God doing it on His own. The last thing that God wants to do is destroy man. Nevertheless, at times, destruction comes from God because man brings it on himself by allowing sin to fill up the cup of his life to a tipping point. Sin can attract poverty, death, darkness, and destruction upon oneself. The more sin there is, the more death and destruction. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, the more people sin in one concentrated area, the greater the destruction. (see Genesis 18:16-33; 19:1- 25). God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because most of the people in that city had entered into such sin that death and perversion were the rulers of that city.

“Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20-21).

The people had come to the point of drawing the destruction of God to themselves. We see Abraham being a type and shadow of Jesus, who interceded for those who lived in the city.  He asked God if He would destroy Sodom if any righteous people were there. God then said he would not destroy it if he found righteous people within the city.

Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place (Genesis 18:22-33).”

We can see by God’s response to Abraham that He didn’t want to destroy the city or the people. He is always looking to save. God sent two angels to get a righteous family out before the fire and brimstone fell and destroyed the city. This is a perfect shadow of when Jesus was sent by our loving Father to save man from destruction. Just like Jesus was sent so was Abraham sent by God to Sodom to save a group of people who would believe in him and not perish but be given life.

Chapter Eleven

True Love

Jesus was, is and always will be Love in the flesh, for Love is God. God’s Love came down and walked the earth finding men whose lives were lost and in dire need of healing. He saved them from the destruction that awaited them. Every day Love (Jesus) would seek the Father to see whom He could give life too. Daily He laid down His life for others so that they too could have true life and happiness with God. He still does this today for us. His love will always find a way to touch the ones who seem to be untouchable. The New Testament tells us that every day is a new day and opportunity to show His loving kindness toward man. Lamentations 3:22-23 reveals that God’s love never ceases and it is new every morning, The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is you faithfulness.

Titus 3:4-7 also tells us,

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The Whipping

I was praying one morning and suddenly my spirit was taken to the scene of the whipping of Jesus.  I could not believe I was actually there.  Of course then I remembered everything God does is eternal. Everything He has done, is doing, and will do, will always be. At this point I could smell carnality and death in the air, a long with the perverted adrenaline that was emanating from the soldier’s spirit. They were standing around Jesus laughing and I could see demons upon all soldiers, encouraging them to torture Jesus beyond what they had ever performed upon any other human. The air seemed to have absolutely no hope in it for Jesus. He was seemingly trapped to the point He couldn’t do anything to save Himself.  All the energy was drained from His body. Jesus’ mind seemed to be worn out from the emotional accusations and the beating He had taken in the face from a garrison of soldiers before.  His face was swollen and seemingly mangled.  His jaw was completely out of joint and the wonderful image he had as a man before was without form, to the point where you could not recognize if it was Jesus or not.

Nevertheless something extraordinary began to take place, even though it was excruciating to watch.  As they drug and positioned Jesus to be beaten, his body looked like an old worn out cloth.  As I stood by the soldier that had the whip, I looked in his eyes and started to feel for him, for he truly didn’t know what he was doing.  He was  controlled by a demonic power that was governing him from above his head.  As he began with the first blow of the whip, the hook - like object penetrated Jesus’ flesh, the soldier pulled back the whip, causing Jesus’ skin and muscle to tear away from His body.  Suddenly, something extraordinary happened!  A beam of beautiful golden white light shot out of the area that had been torn, as though there was light hidden within Jesus’ body.  This beam of light was the glory and love of God!

Something wonderful happened within my consciousness as I was beholding the Lord of glory.  I suddenly found myself back in time in the wilderness where the children of Israel journeyed. I found myself standing near the rock in the wilderness and watched Moses strike the rock and water came out to bring provision to His people who were thirsty and in contention, tempting the Lord their God, asking, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?”

Exodus 17:5-7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

I began having understanding of what the Father was allowing to happen to His Son.  The Father was letting Israel use the “Law of Moses” to strike the rock (Jesus) in order for his rebellious people to have the provision they needed so they may escape from the spiritual wilderness and bondage they had been in for years.  This had been the rock or the stone that the builders had rejected but yet it was being used to be the cornerstone of “Life.” It was truly the Father who could have made all this to be accomplished.  Even though Jesus was going through great pain and rejection, it was marvelous in the Lord’s eyes. In Matthew 21:22 it says,

The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes?

What a wonderful sight, to see Jesus literally fulfilling all scripture. Even though they struck Him, God released provision for His people. Setting them free through His Son Jesus Christ - the “Rock” Himself.

As the light shown out of Jesus upon the soldier and I, instantly I became heavily convicted, yet feeling loved at the same time.  The light was also shining upon the demon that was controlling the soldier, and it began to bind the demonic power over the soldier.  It caused the demon to rage and rile in torment.  The second this happened, the soldier stood still for a moment and a demonic glaze was falling from his eyes, as though he was almost awakened and thinking, “What am I doing?” When the demon saw that the man was awakening out of the demonic control, he began to panic, the spirit released more rage and accusation toward Jesus in the man’s mind.  Suddenly, the soldier’s eyes became glazed over again with deception, and his face contorted with rage and formed the same image as the demon.  He then began to whip Jesus uncontrollably, causing more flesh and muscle to be torn from Jesus’ body. Jesus was in excruciating pain, yet still letting the soldier have his way in beating him.  I had not seen such love and light in all my life during this time of torture. The more flesh that was torn from Jesus’ body, the more light, glory, and love was being unveiled within the Spirit.  In the distance, what looked like a dark cloud coming were demons rushing in from everywhere to partner with the demon to cause the soldier to destroy Jesus.  Behind the demonic horde was “The Accuser of the Brethren” himself. The demonic horde thought that if they tortured Jesus more or killed Him, there would be victory. But there was a deep secret that they didn’t understand.  The word of God says in 1Corinthians 2: 7-9,

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

If the rulers of the world had known the revelation, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of Glory.  In 1Peter 1:13-14, Peter describes the body being a tent that he was shortly going to take off. This being a revelation the Lord revealed to Peter. The demonic horde didn’t realize that they were being used to tear the old veil or tent off that was housing God within His son.  They were basically letting God out instead of extinguishing Him.  Death does not put an end to things, but it is the beginning of eternal life, whether it is eternal life of damnation or eternal life of freedom.  At this point with Jesus, if the enemy kills the body, they will release the fullness of God within. Before the crucifixion was over, Jesus was marred beyond the image of any man, but oddly enough He was looking more like His Father in the Spirit.  He was shining bright as the sun, exposing everything that had been hidden for thousands of years. Even though mangled and marred, Jesus had the demons in uproar and panicking because the glory that was emanating out of His body was starting to bind the whole horde.  In the natural view of the scene, it was grotesque, excruciating, bloody, and wicked, but in the Spirit it was the most beautiful yet fearful thing I think I have ever beheld with my eyes. The demons couldn’t understand, the more they tortured Him, the greater the glory that would manifest.  The enemy was not aware they were being used as a blacksmith to form and release the greatest weapon of all time.  The enemy still has this same delusional mentality today. The enemy is torturing and tormenting men and women today, but doesn’t realize they are forming the greatest weapons of all time on the earth, the true glorious body of Christ, the great army of God.  Remember, man is the image and glory of God on the earth as God is in heaven.  Man will be glorious on earth as the Son of God is in heaven.

The Veil

Something else strange began to happen, as I watched the soldier rip Jesus’ flesh, the veil itself in the temple was starting to stretch tight to the point of tearing from top to bottom.  I find it fascinating that in Hebrews 10:19 -22 it refers to Jesus’ flesh as the veil.  It says,

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

This confirms to us even more that Jesus truly fulfilled all scripture for us so that we may come boldly before the throne of grace.  It also reveals a revelation that trials were originally purposed to let God out within man. As it was with Jesus’ life so it shall be with us.

During this incident, I began to understand that when the enemy comes against man, it’s truly not as bad as we have been programmed to think, even though it can be hard and painful.  In actuality, trials can be an appointed time when God comes out of heaven and reveals Himself in our situation and releases supernatural strength within for us to stand and walk through the trial with a peace that passes all understanding.  You may say “How can we have peace during our storm?” The answer is, once you have God’s understanding of what is truly happening, you can begin to rest and endure, knowing that your storm is being allowed to carrier you to your next glorious phase of life.  You can also posture your mind to be looking for God during your trial instead of focusing on the trial itself.  You can praise God with understanding during your trial, for you know that your situation has been orchestrated for you to have a visitation of God in a way you have never seen Him before. Trials and dungeons of life are like magnets that draw heaven within our situation, and then suddenly we get to see God face to face.  As was for Jesus, His cross was His doorway to heaven.  The cross is still the doorway for us today. Even our dungeons and trials are the hidden doorways to experience God.  The way man’s mind has been taught in this world is to focus on the trial and see it as a negative situation. This is the enemies’ work in our minds, for the enemy knows that if we see our trial through the attitude of fear, we will miss the visitation of God.  Fear blinds a man from seeing God within his trial. But if we begin to truly understand that our trials are doorways that God is opening, then our attitude will change into joy that will help us endure the pain and enter into the presence and promises of God for our lives. I believe that Jesus couldn’t have made it through the door of His crucifixion without having this type understanding in his heart.  It says in Hebrews 12:1-2,

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We have to remember that the cross wasn’t just the only trial for Jesus. He faced a trial daily. However, every time Jesus would find Himself in a dangerous situation, the power to heal or to perform a miracle would come upon Him and all would see the glory of the Lord, including His enemies. As he approached closer to His destiny (the cross) the greater the trials or persecution would occur.  This clearly shows us that the greater the purpose, the greater the trial.  This type of scenario would happen with many of the generals of faith in the Bible.

Dungeons And Doorways

Let’s look at Paul and Silas’ situation in Acts 16:16-34 and compare it with what we are talking about and how it relates to our life.  Paul and Silas are headed to the temple to pray, they are headed toward their goal or destination. Suddenly a girl with a spirit of divination comes and basically mocks them for days.  We have had the same types of situations happen in our lives. We start heading toward our destiny or goal, and the enemy will either mock us in our minds, telling us that we will never be able to do it, or he will use people in our lives to persecute or discourage us in what we are pursuing.  However, after a few days, Paul got a bit frustrated and commanded the spirit to come out of the girl. This is a great picture of the love of God for Paul. It shows us that God will allow mocking and persecution to come to awaken the power and authority that He has invested. We then find ourselves rising up to confront every situation head on.  You never know what God has placed within you until you are in a pressurized impossible situation.  This moment with Paul was tormenting, yet it was also used to show everyone the authority and glory of God to a community.  After Paul’s authority rose up and performed this wonderful miracle for the girl, it caused the community to rise up in such a way, that the people had them beaten, thrown into the inner depth of the prison, and their feet put in stocks.  At this point, if we were in this situation, most of us would have thought, “God, I can’t believe you are letting this happen! I was on the road to purpose and even performed a miracle. I was walking in the light and in power, now I am thrown off my purpose and in darkness!” Evidently Paul and Silas didn’t see their situation that way. They saw it as God giving them an opportunity to bring the Kingdom to men that are in complete darkness, and would have never seen the light of day.  They were about to meet a people that would have never come to church because of their bondage and their deserving sentence or judgment they have been given because of their sins or wrong doings.  Paul and Silas understand that they are there for a visitation, not damnation.  In pitch darkness they began praying and singing hymns and the prisoners that are in darkness start to hear and listen to a sound that they have not heard in decades.  Paul and Silas understand this dungeon that they have been placed in is a doorway of opportunity for God to come with His entire kingdom to set captives free. Think about it, who could have ever reached to those prisoners in the dark dungeons of prison?  No one. God has prisoned Paul and Silas with others to bring freedom to a people that would have never had an opportunity to be free.  As they start to sing with sincerity of heart, the earth shakes, the prison doors open, and everyone’s chains fall off.  This is such a romantic story, for when God came to worship with Paul and Silas, everyone benefited of God’s visitation. Everyone is loosed from his or her bondage.  Can you imagine the pandemonium of joy in that dark dungeon!  It went from doom and gloom to gladness and joy. The jailer ended up coming and bowing down to Paul and Silas asking what he must do to be saved.  When Paul and Silas were on track toward their destiny, God placed them exactly where they needed to go, to the darkest prison, to open wide the prison doors.

Side Note And Final Word - Revelation of Jesus Through Paul And Silas

As I was reading the passage of Paul and Silas in Acts 16: 16- 30, I found myself suddenly being transported by the word of God to Golgotha, where Jesus was hanging on the cross.  I watched Him give up His spirit to the Father, and instantly I found my spirit being taken out of my body. Like lightening, I was being shot down into the deep darkness of Sheol with Jesus. I realized Jesus was descending into deep darkness to take away the power of death, hell and the grave from Satan.  As I watched Him walk into the inner chamber of darkness, He was shining like the sun and singing psalms and hymns to God just as Paul and Silas were doing in the inner chambers of prison.  Jesus was so excited! The power that was radiating from Him was far beyond any power I had ever seen or experienced. It was loosening chains, opening prison doors, and releasing those who had been waiting upon Him. They all started praising Him and glorifying God.  At the same time this was going on, I could hear the graves opening on top of the ground.  Suddenly, the “Jailer”, Satan and his kingdom came forth. They bowed at the King’s feet, and Satan handed over the keys that had held God’s people in darkness.  What a scene! Truly every knee bowed and every tongue confessed that He was Lord. God had kept His word even as far back as when Ezekiel had prophesied in Ezekiel 37:12-14,

“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’”

They came out of the graves into their own literal land and were seen by many. They then were taken to the promised land of heaven where God had prepared a place for them. They knew then He was the Lord!

Understanding Of Dark Situations

This is a great story to give us understanding about our walk today.  Often times we are headed toward our destiny and we have made our plans, but we have forgotten, God orders our steps.  At times we will feel like we have been dragged into a terrible situation while on our journey and think that the situation we are in is not God. However, on the contrary, we are at times right in the middle of the Lord’s will for our life.  Or we may find ourselves surrounded by people that are in bondage and living in darkness and the enemy tries to tell us that we have backslid against God, but I beg to differ.  God positioned us in that dark place to release His Light and goodness in such a way; all are freed from bondage and nudged closer to Christ.  The situations God drags us into are not to put us in bondage, but to transform darkness to light by the nature of Jesus, just as God did in the beginning.  The dark places are where God wants to release light, power, and His presence. Once released from within us, God Himself is drawn into the natural atmosphere and is felt or seen by those that have never experienced Christ.  This is what the Father did to His own Son.  He would place Jesus in dark and dangerous situations; surrounded by His enemies, and the Spirit would become inspired within Him to perform a miracle, or deliver someone from bondage, or feed five thousand people, including His enemies.  Remember, the Father allowed Jesus to be dragged to the darkest place in history, the crucifixion, all of hell was there thinking they were about to take over, when suddenly, the glory of God was revealed in its fullness, bound the enemy, and set men and women free from sin and death.

Now that our minds have been enlightened, we can understand why Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18,

“So rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.”

Now that we can see God’s will in our situation, it should cause us to want to praise Him and give thanks to Him for allowing us to be in our current position.

In closing, I encourage you this day, do not let your Light stay in a confined sterile safe environment. For you were not designed to keep your Light in Light. Let me say it in another way – You were not designed to release your Light in Light.  You were created to release Light in darkness.  As Jesus was the true Light of the world, so are we.  In other words, you were not designed to show your Light to those who believe, but to those who are stumbling in darkness and are without Light. Your true nature is to be placed in darkness so that the Light and Love that God gave you can shine before men so that your works can be seen and they glorify the Father in heaven. Get happy! “Light” it up when you are placed into darkness, for as it was the nature of Jesus, so it is with your nature as well.

Scriptures were taken from New American Standard Bible and the New King James Bible.

Contact email address: www.livingvineminitries.org

Table of Contents

Forward

Introduction

Chapter One The Revelation of Jesus’ Love

Chapter Two Your Heart’s Treasure

Chapter Three Events We Don’t Understand

Chapter Four His Love Is Better Than Wine

Chapter Five Blowing on the Knee

Chapter Six Redeeming Love

Chapter Seven “Saving” People

Chapter Eight The Grumpy Man

Chapter Ten The Cross Experience

Chapter Eleven True Love