GOD

Out of Control,

Out of the Box,

Out of Time

BOOKS BY DON NORI SR.

Breaking Generational Curses

His Manifest Presence

Romancing the Divine

Secrets of the Most Holy Place

Secrets of the Most Holy Place Volume 2

Tales of Brokenness

The Angel and the Judgment

The Love Shack

The Prayer God Loves to Answer

You Can Speak in Tongues

So You Want to Change the World

AVAILABLE FROM DESTINY IMAGE PUBLISHERS

GOD

Out of Control,

Out of the Box,

Out of Time

DON NORI SR.

© Copyright 2011–Don Nori Sr.

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from The Plain English Bible, copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Destiny Image Publishers, Shippensburg, PA 17257. All rights reserved. Scripture marked NIV is from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All emphasis within Scripture is the author’s own. Please note that Destiny Image’s publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some publishers’ styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.

DESTINY IMAGE® PUBLISHERS, INC.

P.O. Box 310, Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310

“Speaking to the Purposes of God for This Generation and for the Generations to Come.”

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Trade Paper ISBN: 978-0-7684-3830-7

E-book ISBN: 978-0-7684-8979-8

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.

1 2 3 4 5 6 / 14 13 12 11

DEDICATION

To hungry believers everywhere, whose passion for Jesus has caused them to be misunderstood and marginalized by those who should know better.

Be of good courage, my fellow impassioned ones, God is vindicating your hunger, restoring your fellowship, and completing His work in you.

CONTENTS

PART I

GOD OUT OF CONTROL

1.   Who Is in Control?

2.   Fasten Your Seatbelt

3.   Life Out of Control

4.   Controlling the Burden of Guilt

5.   The Vision

PART II

GOD OUT OF THE BOX

6.   The Light of the Son

7.   Dwelling Places

8.    Who Hears the Music?

9.    Living Out of Your Box

PART III

GOD OUT OF TIME

10.   The Time Is Always Now

11.   Not So Quiet Anarchy

12.   Out of Time

CONCLUSION

God’s Kingdom Come

WHO IS IN CONTROL?

Congratulations! You are obviously impassioned or at least curious about the question of the Ages that few have ever even thought to ask. Can God be out of control? If it is possible for Him to be out of control, should we live in fear or hope? Of course, this is a new thought for many, so some time to mull this new thought is required.

Has God been out of control in the past? Is there Biblical evidence of God working with apparent unilateral discretion?

There is ample evidence of God apparently out of control, that is, beyond the limited possibilities we can accept as humankind. The Jewish believers were convinced that God would send a King born in riches and true royalty to be their Savior. Instead, God gave them a poor baby wrapped in rags and born in a barn.

When John the Baptist gave a call to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, who would have imagined John’s response to the priests who came forward? “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come? Therefore, you better live like you have repented! You’d better change your ways!” (See Matt. 3.) These priests, rebuked by John, could have accurately responded, “You warned us; that is why we are coming for baptism!” But John was looking for more than an outward sign; he wanted to see a changed life, and he was not going to give those leaders the benefit of the doubt. John the Baptist was out of control! He was acting far differently than our contemporaries, who would have videotaped those leaders and put it on YouTube the same day!

When we say God is out of control, He is doing things more radical than we would allow. The religious masses, stirred by the leaders, wanted Jesus to condemn a prostitute; instead, Jesus forgave and restored her. He was certainly out of control. The establishment wanted to see the Savior respectable and solemn; instead, Jesus made salve out of mud made from spit and packed it onto a blind man’s face. He was out of control! When the disciples gave Jesus a tour of the temple, wanting to let the people see Him as truly Jewish, Jesus was out of control again, in the encounter with the moneychangers. Jesus would not fit into the mold that even the disciples had for Him. The true Savior was to be a conquering King to overthrow Rome; instead, He was nailed to a cross.

Who could have predicted that God would deliver His people with frogs, locusts, and blood-splattered door posts?

Who could have guessed that He would part the sea, rain food on their heads, give them water out of a rock?

Would you have imagined a pillar of smoke and fire, shoes that never wore out, and clothes that grew with the people who wore them? God has always accomplished His will in ways that baffled those who could not see into the Spirit. In all these cases, a mere mortal man had to initiate the situation that resulted in Divine activity far beyond the accepted norms of the established religious system.

God and Man in Tandem

God always uses a man. It is a principle He established since the day He made man to till the Garden. When man fell, everything changed. Not only was the fellowship between God and Man broken, but the Garden was no longer being kept. God’s will for the Garden was halted because of the course the man chose to take. For the most part, the Garden is yet untended, as man continues to establish his own kingdom instead of God’s Kingdom.

Simply changing the name of a church or ministry does not usher in His glorious Kingdom. It will take true cooperation to ever see the manifestation of God’s dream for humanity established on the earth. Just teaching kingdom principles or reading kingdom books does nothing unless there is a genuine change in thought and action. When man takes his hand off the controls and allows God to live His life through them, the world will change and His Kingdom will come.

It is just too easy to believe that we are pawns in the hands of a multi-dimensional Force who moves us around like chess pieces on a game board. With no accountability or responsibility, God’s will is accomplished. Really? Then why do we seek the Lord? Why do the Scriptures tell us nearly a hundred times to seek, obey, and listen to the Lord? God’s plan is accomplished when we simply respond to Him by allowing Him to have His way in our lives, no matter what that means.

There is going to be a drastic transition within His Body as God works in the hearts of men and women so they will say, “Oh Lord, I give You permission to be completely out of my personal control! God, You can have total control! You can change whatever You want to change. You can break down whatever I’ve built up without You. You can rebuild whatever is broken. You can do whatever You want to do in my life. You can have control of my family, career, body, finances, relationships, emotions—all of me. You can have control!”

We are soon not going to recognize the Church that Jesus is building if we have the courage to pray this simple but dynamic prayer. This is the day of all-God. He has taken up residence in the holiest place of all—our hearts. His Spirit is searching to and fro over the earth, looking for those who will not be afraid to allow Him to be out of their personal control.

Who Has the Final Say?

Jesus is taking back the Church He is building. He will remove it from the hands of frightened, angry people to build it Himself. God is consuming the lives of those who will give Him permission. Many just don’t get it. We have the final say. Make no mistake, we decide the course of our lives. We make decisions every day that either lead us to the many dreams He has for us, or lead us in a path of our own choosing.

When Jesus is Lord, in control of your home, your marriage, and your children, your world is strengthened and empowered. When He is Lord of your emotions, your past, and your memories, you are free to grow, and far more than you could possibly see now. When Jesus is in control of the deep places where you need healing and restoration, the joy of the Lord overflows your heart and life.

Jesus wants to be Lord in every aspect of our lives. We know what the word Lord means, and we know how to get around that word. We’ve been getting around it all our lives—rationalizing it, measuring it, analyzing it. But He wants us to allow Him to be out of our control.

Out of My Control?

Who can trust Him to be out of control? What would happen if God really got out of your control? Think about that for a minute. What would change in your home if you let God out of your control? What would change in your family, in your relationships, in your spiritual life? What would change if God were out of your control?

Your life would certainly be different if God were out of your control. The fact that you may be asking yourself these questions is a good signal that your heart is soft and you want to be totally pleasing to Him. It may also mean that you are not letting Him do things that you know He wants to do with you and through you. If He is under your control, He can only do what you allow Him to do.

What is it that you know He wants you to do? What is that nagging thought that comes to mind every now and then that you push away? What is that faded dream that invades your mind every so often? If you allow God out of your control, incredible things will happen. When God gets out of control, God is doing what He wants to do, and every dream He has for you can be fulfilled in your life.

IF YOU ALLOW GOD OUT OF YOUR CONTROL, INCREDIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN.

Do Something

In the “Jesus Freak” days of the early 1960s and ’70s, the Charismatics were strong. There were hundreds of thousands of young people just like me who got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. We would do anything for our Lord, and we did. What did I know? I was saved out of the crazy hippie culture. All I knew is that once I was lost, but then I was found. I was blind, but when Jesus came into my life, I began to see. Everything changed! When I walked into classes at college, God would say, “Do something.” The university I attended at the time was the only one that didn’t allow a homosexual/lesbian club to be established. The Lord showed me and like-minded students who the gay professors were, and I befriended them and told them that Jesus loved them. And for years those kinds of clubs couldn’t get rooted there. It couldn’t happen!

What is it that God wants you to do that you are not doing? Think about what’s being affected by the fact that you are saying no. Who is not getting blessed? What is not being done? What ministry is being hampered? Who doesn’t know the saving grace of their Lord? Think for a minute—something or someone will definitely come to your mind.

But…

You can always tell how close you are to the Lord because the more you are tuned into Him, the less you are the center of your own self-made universe. So my next question is, “What do you get to do because you say no to what God wants you to do?”

Now, the very fact that you know God should tell you that God will never give you an “assignment” where He won’t also give you all the talent, skill, time, and resources to fulfill what He wants you to do.

“But I’m not smart enough to…”

“But I don’t have permission…”

“But I could never do…”

“But I don’t have enough education…”

“But I don’t know how to…”

“But who’s going to believe me…”

“But I don’t know where to start…”

“But my family needs me…”

“But I really don’t have time to…”

“But where’s the money coming from to…”

“But I really don’t want to…”

The Lord Almighty knew even before He placed the thought in your mind that you didn’t have the time, money, confidence, education, etc. to accomplish the task—and that is exactly why He gave it to you. Learning to depend on Him to fulfill your destiny is the point!

Can I let you in on a little secret? I have a degree in elementary education and I have a second degree in environmental science. Until the time the Lord called me into the book publishing business, I had read only college textbooks my entire life. I really had no interest in books and had absolutely no experience in the publishing industry. In fact, nowadays when I write a job description for a position in our company, I don’t even qualify for the job I need to fill!

When I said yes to the Lord and went into business, we had three children and another was on the way. Every month, we were falling in the financial hole by $110. Every month we were getting further behind. And the Lord said, “Do it!” And I said, “OK.” Everybody laughed. Nobody else understood. Cathy and I were virtually alone.

I took out a second mortgage on our home, then I took a third mortgage, then I hocked my oldest kid—no, I didn’t, just joking! But my wife and I had no money, and I had no training, no education in the business, management, or publishing career fields, and certainly no favor among others. All I had was a word from the Lord that said He wanted me to “publish the prophets.” All I had was a deep inner knowledge that God had spoken to me. What I have now, a flourishing company that supports many families and produces Christian books purchased worldwide, I have because God gave me the favor; God opened the doors.

Saying Yes

In the beginning, during our first of many frightening financial situations, there was an African American conference in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, and one of our sales staff was going to go there to sell books. At one point during the planning, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me, “You need to go, you need to go.” But I responded, “I’m not going. I can’t go there. I can’t afford it. I’ve got to stay here and work; I can’t go enjoy a four-day conference just because I’m the publisher.” And the Lord said, “You get your lanky behind up to the Poconos.”

So of course I went to the conference, and I will never forget that one fateful afternoon. The conference was held in a large conference center. All the stuff for sale was set up on the lower basement level. While at the table where our books were displayed, I saw a big black man walking toward me; he was as big as I was at the time. Even though I didn’t know him, I was drawn to him, and as I walked toward him, the Presence began to rise in me. I put my hand on his chest and I prophesied one book out of him; then I prophesied two books out of him; then I prophesied three books out of him, and then I shook his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Don Nori.” And he said, “Hi, I’m T.D. Jakes.”

He was a real gift. We were blessed to publish the first three books he wrote, and they have changed lives the world over. But this is only one story out of many years of building Destiny Image Publishers. This kind of thing happened countless times. It really is true, once someone allows God to be out of their personal control, there is no end as to what He will do.

If you recognize the tendency in your own life to limit the activity of God, the solution is simple and eternal. Simply determine that you will submit to Him more earnestly every day. Repent of denying Him access in your life and thoughts. Then de-clutter your life, watch, and listen. The results will be amazing!

He Knows You Inside Out

He has a dream for you. He is always thinking about you. He knows you by name, He knows where you came from, He knows who you are, He knows your training, He knows your education. He knows everything about you—but most importantly, His eyes were on you when you were intricately being formed in the womb of your mother. He knows your heart’s desire.

He leads us according to the deepest desire of our hearts. He does not deal with us according to our struggle, our confusion, or our doubt. He finds that place of hope and trust and desire deep within, and deals with us according to the real inner motivations we have but are often covered up by the sin and the struggles of life.

While He was weaving you into existence in your mother’s womb, He made you and formed you to experience true adventures with Him, a destiny that is no one else’s. That is how He made you; He designed you to do His will. He designed you to be what you are called to be. He designed you to say yes, to allow Him His perfect dream to unfold for you.

Sometimes we resist Him because certain forms of ministry aren’t “religiously acceptable.” In some circles, if you are not singing in the choir, a Sunday school teacher, a deacon, or a “significant” part of the ministry, then you are not really “serving God.” That is simply not true. I know businessmen and women who are in full-time service to God. As soon as your heart is sold out to Him, you step into His dream for you, whether you are selling cars, working in a factory, teaching children, or own your own business. In other words, “If you have a pulse, you are in full-time ministry to the Lord.”

We are part of one Body—the Church that Jesus is building. Unfortunately, religion and the religious separate people from the Body for various and unconscionable reasons. Religion creates a hierarchy, not God. We are a Kingdom of royal priests; we are a holy nation. That’s who you are. He will provide everything you need. He will provide everything it will take. Whether you are in full-time service in the arts or in politics, whether your full-time calling is raising righteous children or in the marketplace, allowing God out of your control to do what God wants you to do is the most powerful, honorable life to lead.

Are you ready to learn to obey Him, to allow Him out of your moment-by-moment control? He might be asking you to host or lead a Bible study in your home. He might be prompting you to fix dinner for a friend, mow a neighbor’s lawn, or babysit the grandkids. It might be that He’s asking you to spend more time in prayer or with your spouse or children.

I don’t know what He is saying that you may be resisting, but when you realize that He is the One urging you, it is worth taking time to think about what is stopping you. Take time now.

We must understand God’s love for us. We must see that we are very important—dare I say essential—to God’s plan for this planet. The God who dwells in the dimension of His origin breaks through time and space to dwell with us and to show us how to move toward our destiny and move God’s plan forward at the same time, for they are absolutely inseparable.

This issue is not something between me and you; it is something between you and your Lord. Just start believing Him wherever you are. Just say yes, and allow Him control. You will be amazed at the exciting new life that awaits you!

Even the Scriptures talk about what can happen when we are rescued from ourselves. The Lord rescued believers captured in their own religion, in their own self-centered universe. When the Lord took them and brought them back to Zion, the Word says they “were like those who dream.”

When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad (Psalm 126:1-3 NKJV).

When Yahweh gave prosperity back to Jerusalem, it seemed as if we were dreaming. Then we were filled (with) laughter, and we sang happy songs. Then the foreign nations said: “Yahweh has done great things with them!” Yahweh has done great things with us. We are glad (Psalm 126:1-3).

THOSE WHO WANT THE JOY OF THE LORD TO START FLOWING IN THEIR LIVES, NEED TO ALLOW HIM TO BE OUT OF THEIR PERSONAL CONTROL.

If you want the joy of the Lord to return to you, if you want His Presence and power to return to your spirit, if you are wondering why you are not being renewed—yield to the very thing God is saying to you. Obedience brings the joy of the Lord, peace, and fulfillment.

Your unabashed yieldedness will cause God’s next dream for you to begin to happen in another dimension, in a higher place, preparing for it to break through time and space, directly into your life. He takes you to a supernatural place. I can see it right now in my spirit; eternity is always breaking through time and space. He hears your prayers. You are forgiven, guilt free. He is after you. He is chasing you down. He is saying you are going to learn how deep and wide His love is—just like Peter, who said “No” three times. Peter was ready to walk away from his destiny because of his denial of Christ. And yet Jesus went out to him in the midst of his denial. He said to Peter, “Some day you are going to give yourself to Me in the way you are not able to do so now; nevertheless, get in here and follow Me right now.”

God knows your frailty, and He knows your weaknesses. Don’t let guilt rob you of your destiny. Guilt robs you if you allow it. You may be thinking, But I screwed up lots of times, and I don’t allow God to control my life, and I told God “no” lots of times. Nonetheless, the purposes of God are sure, and His plan for you is secure and eternal. All you have to do is turn back to the Lord and say, “Lord, I failed, but I know You forgive me in Jesus’ name.”

Don’t let guilt of the past keep you from your destiny.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for wanting to be in total control of our lives. We open our hearts, minds, spirits, and souls to Your perfect plan and destiny. We repent of trying to control You; we repent of saying “no.” Lord God Almighty, we repent of our arrogance. Touch us at the “no” place in the Name of Jesus. Father, we release favor in the Name of Jesus. We release a way, Lord, that You will open the doors. You will provide what is needed for us to accomplish Your desires for us. We say “yes,” we say “yes,” in Jesus’ name.

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT

Return to your seat and fasten your seatbelt.

Return your seat back and tray table to the upright and locked position.

God is about to go out of control.

Millions are being awakened from their spiritual autopilot flights through life to the passionate power of God’s infinite love. Many are yielding themselves to Him. Become part of this world-changing period in human history. Will you allow your heavenly Father to use you as a catalyst, a conduit to excite and restore God’s original intentions for the earth?

It is not as though He is moving for the first time—or the last time. It is not as though He is angry or frustrated, for He has always stirred the hearts of His people and urged them forward into His wondrous plans. But now it is humanity that has had enough of man-made religion and its restrictions, denials of His Life, and half-truths about His plan for humankind.

Statistics abound about the large numbers of people leaving organized religion[1] and the general disenchantment with all things spiritual as presented by Western religions. In the United States, it seems that secularists, politicians, “political correctness police,” public education, and government have all stepped up the unwarranted persecution of Christianity and Judaism. There seems to be nothing sacred and no limits to the extent many go to denigrate the faith of Jesus Christ and those of His birth culture. These anti-Christ systems are encouraged to continue by the obvious lack of push-back by the religious machines in America—the established mainline denominations and personal kingdom builders that are wavering even on the most fundamental of Christian values and beliefs. I call these groups the religious system, or just the system because they possess many forms of religion and political correctness but nothing to move God’s plan forward in the earth.

Defining the Enemy

Genuine believers, the grassroots movement of quiet anarchy, are quickly dismissed as fringe groups with no real power and no real organization. Little do the masters of deception understand the inner workings of the Holy Spirit that are reminiscent of the times of the apostles and the early church leaders. (You might remember that church—it is the one that Jesus is building even to this day.) These early believers implicitly trusted in the reality of the living God and fellowshipped with Him moment by moment. They were not afraid of those who challenged their faith, ridiculed their practices, and murdered their families. These amazing believers knew and understood that greater was He who was in them than he who was in the world (see 1 John 4:4). They could not be bullied, silenced, or ignored.

But we must certainly understand the enemy. Bunching every group together as the religious system is certainly not my intent. For the real enemy can be put into at least three categories and probably many more. But for this book, we will limit this brief discussion to just three.

First, we are enemies to the work God wants to do within our hearts. We resist the reality of the living God having His way in us, for a variety of reasons. We fear the ridicule of others. We are often not certain that God’s plan is actually better than our own. We somehow think being a follower of Jesus means we are “off balance,” fanatics, or religious freaks who always appear doing stupid things.

Next, we need to recognize the enemy as those who do not understand the work of the Holy Spirit, and who see it as a disruption, a force of personal destruction, or as something that is beyond the control of the leadership. In their heart of hearts, they really do want what is best for God’s people, but they do not realize that with proper teaching, this is it.

Next, the enemy can be found in those who are really all about building their own future, their own name, and their own mark in history. They see themselves as singularly the most important facet of God’s plan for humanity, and as such, feel they can do whatever is needed to keep things moving forward.

Lastly, there are countless men and women in ministry who want nothing more than God’s best for those in their care. They seek, they ask. They explore, and they find. Sometimes it may take a little longer, but their caution is commendable. As long as they’re in a genuine search for His fullness, there is little to complain about. It continues to be vitally important that we do not bunch everyone into one anti-Christ category. Every instance is unique and needs to be fully prayed through. One answer does not satisfy every question.

The Emerging Church

The Church that Jesus is building is the standard against the flood of evil that is merging in the earth today. Whether or not this is the end of the endtimes is a debate for another book, but we must see that right now, on every continent, nature is crying out for the children of God to arise, to emerge, and to take their places among the international power players. Genuine push-back is called for. The stand against the flood of evil and ignorance is found in the Church that Jesus is building. The band of sold-out believers carries the wisdom, love, power, and tenacity to see God’s plan through to its definitive completion.

This Church Jesus is building is from an unlikely lot of genuine, simple believers who believe God, love His appearing, and are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Him. Unlike suicide bombers, empty promises, and impossible unity, these believers live in peaceful adherence to His Word and are the ultimate protectors of life. Just as Jesus did, this Church heals the sick, feeds the masses, loves even the unlovable, and offers the hope of eternal redemption to all humankind. These folks want the freedom to pursue their love without hindrance, whether that hindrance comes from government, the religious machine, or the intelligentsia who claim to be the keepers of truth, science, and philosophy. They simply ooze with the fruit of the Spirit when confronted by their most ardent adversaries.

THE EMERGING CHURCH IS THE WALL AGAINST THE FLOOD OF EVIL.

This Church that Jesus is building, made up of loosely knit groups of God-pleasers, is driven with the inner desire to raise and educate their children as they see fit. They will worship their Lord in spirit and in truth. They are passionate about their faith and claim their allegiance to God as their highest form of worship.

One would have to be quite blind not to recognize the immoral activities of those who claim to be responding to God, but are in reality sent from the deceiver. But this counterfeit should not hinder you from being all you are in Christ. The world will know you by your love, your compassion, and your mercy. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a true forerunner of this kind of genuine believer. His radical, nonviolent resistance set the standard moving forward for all genuine lovers of God. For God is nothing if He is not Love. He is nothing if He is not the Deliverer, Healer, Forgiver, and Gatherer. If we do not learn from Jesus’ example, indeed from Dr. King’s example, we will miss the very call of God that motivates us to be the city on a hill that cannot be hidden (see Matt. 5:14).

There is no question that the same revolution is happening all over again as believers have arisen to say to the world, “Enough is enough!” Many understand that the quiet anarchy sweeping the world is the result of His Spirit stirring in their hearts. No longer can it be claimed that this revolt against established religion is rebellion lodged in the heart of the believer. No longer can it be said that these so-called unruly believers can never be controlled. They know the God out of control and in control of their lives and destinies.

His Spirit cannot be contained. He is out of man and woman’s control. He is at work in the hearts of millions who are hearing the joyful sound, the New Song now echoing through eternity and spilling out in our dimension through those with the courage to sing it. These folks believe their Lord and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit instead of the religious system masters. His Church is arising, and humans will not be able to stop it. Truth is, hungry believers are, well, hungry. They will no longer stay on the sidelines of life at the bequest of those who claim to be the keepers of the religiously holy. No longer will they suffer themselves to remain hungry for the sake of pseudo-submission to an authority structure that uses God’s Holy Word to control, subjugate, and manhandle God’s people.

No Longer Business as Usual

Anyone thinking that it is business as usual for today’s believer is in for a shock. Everything is changing. Be careful what you hold on to; it might be destined for the fire. Be careful that you are not holding on to the things that He wants you to let go of. These are times when His Presence must trump our doctrines and personal theology. Holding on to wood, hay, or stubble will take us precariously close to the fire of His purification. This is not unto death or condemnation; it is just painful as He gently works within us to remove those things that keep us earthbound.

Sometimes we do not realize our predicament! On the one hand, we piously pray for God’s will for our lives; then, on the other hand, we refuse to release the things that are not His will for us. No wonder our lives can be so confusing. Don’t pray for God’s will if you are not prepared to release everything to Him, even our most sacred cows. These come in all forms and descriptions, including ministry, doctrine, a certain way of praying, a method of prophecy, or a denomination.

The Awakening Church

The Church Jesus is building is not asleep; it is a prisoner of the limited mindsets of too many folk. It is a prisoner of those who see her potential and purpose. This religious machine understands that once His Church is freed, it is all over for them. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1 NIV). Humanity desperately seeks freedom; only Jesus can truly give it to us.

No, His Church is not asleep, but she has been lulled to sleep—now she is pulling at the chains of fear, control, and false accusations. Her love and dedication to God are bound by some men and their unholy manipulation of the soft hearts of God’s people. Using out-of-context verses about leadership and submission, these personal kingdom builders have tapped the anointing, gifting, and strength of genuine believers, sucking them into the black hole of personal gain. They have imprisoned the best God has into a false spiritual slavery for their own personal gain.

But something is beginning to change. Something is stirring. Something heavenly and other-worldly is at work that the masters of illusion could not predict and certainly cannot control. Someone has shown up that they did not anticipate. The Lord, whom the genuine of heart seek, is suddenly coming to His temples (to you and me). The chains are falling off these gentle giants, just as they fell off Peter so many years ago. “Get up and do the will of God!” is the cry of the Lord Jesus Himself. And again, just as Peter arose and experienced the supernatural power of deliverance, these simple believers are also experiencing the word of the Lord. (See Acts 12:8-10.) This word is more powerful than the condemning torrents of false leaders and slave masters of the modern church machine.

Also just like Peter, they are being set free. They are being endowed with courage and power the likes of which they have never dreamed. These genuine believers know they are nothing apart from God Almighty. They realize that others could not do what God is asking them to do. They know they are products of God’s mercy and undying love. No longer will His Church be tormented by the fear of being abandoned, condemned for the sin that so easily troubles them or the doubt that gives them pause in the midst of the greatest miracles.

With painful awareness of their weaknesses, the broken live in repentance, carefully allowing the Holy Spirit to search their hearts. They are not afraid of losing their salvation; they are afraid of missing an opportunity God has for them. They understand that their nourishment is doing the will of God, and they don’t want to miss His gentle call to the dinner table.

What has gone before is under the blood of Jesus, long forgiven and forgotten by the Lover of their souls. Tomorrow is an ever-hopeful assurance that He will lead them in paths of righteousness, while today they enjoy the sweet fellowship with the Lord who is ever with them. These believers understand what it means to wrestle with an angel and walk on with a limp that remains to remind them of their frailty before God and their power before others (see Gen. 32:24-32).

They understand that meekness is not weakness, and they walk with a quiet assurance that He is with them always—during the good times and the bad. They are committed to Him and He to them. It is a union that passes on the eternal Seed and produces the Son in their lives. This kind of relationship cannot be taught in school or legislated by rules written by those who have no idea about this kind of dedication and holy devotion.

Out of Our Jurisdiction

This truly spiritual activity concerning the Church that Jesus is building is out of the control of mortals, for the Lord does not consult with man’s hierarchical overseers. The Lord is not responsible to them. He does not need their permission or their counsel. He is building His own Church. This is His realm, His Kingdom—not man’s. For in this place of holy union with God, His Spirit moves freely among His own—He is out from under control of any human. He moves with purpose and assurance. He is motivated by unbridled love and limitless mercy to gather, heal, restore, and strategically place people where they will most benefit the King who has invested everything into their success.

Our union with Him is the result of the complete abandonment of our will to His. Of course this is not a onetime decision. Bible school, ordination, short-term mission trips, or prophetic words do not bring this about. Union happens in the privacy of human experience between God and one of His children—a personal one-on-one relationship experience. These spirit-to-Spirit encounters convince and compel us to yield to Him. Two wills cannot coexist in the same heart. Two kingdoms cannot be built simultaneously. The human heart cannot divide its love between two lovers.

The union process, however, can be faster or slower depending upon our willingness to respond to Him and understand the profound nature of His union with us. He has an eternal, multi-dimensional plan already determined in His heart and He will bring it to pass…if we will let Him.

Can you, for a moment, imagine having the God of all the universe, of every dimension, dreaming a dream personally for you and then you turning it down? Of course, we do it all the time, but only because we have not yet touched the true essence of His divine nature and Presence. You also may never have thought about it in those terms before. We just do not know who we really are, or the destiny He has stored up for those who will allow Him to move freely, no matter what, through their lives.

He welcomes all people to participate with Him in His plan for humanity. But that participation is on His terms, for His purpose, and to build His Kingdom. Nonetheless, some choose to build their own system, kingdom, denomination, or stream; they do so at their own peril and in their own strength. Our Lord is singularly focused on His plan, His Church, and His Kingdom. Those of the true fivefold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers; see Eph. 4:11-13) care little for title or position. Rather, they are impassioned by only one thing: the Lamb slain before the foundations of the earth. Their attention is given to the selfless dedication to the growth and development of His Kingdom, which, by the way, comes without signs to be observed or titles to be touted.

The quiet anarchy among God’s people will not be contained by the rules that religious, political, or even kingdom leaders construct. The sovereign Lordship of Jesus in the lives of His people is a holy relationship, a sanctified communion, a desperately loyal obedience to the Lover of the believer’s soul. Attempts to usurp that union will not be appreciated; no, it will not be tolerated by either the Lord or His people.

Hungry believers will no longer stay on the sidelines of life at the bequest of those who claim to be the keepers of all things holy. No longer will they suffer themselves hungry for the sake of pseudo-submission to an authority structure that uses God’s Holy Word to manipulate God’s people.

Promoting Anarchy

Let me be clear. I am not trying to quell anarchy; I am trying to promote it. True believers need to emerge. I am promoting anarchy among those who understand the word from a spiritual perspective. The truly destructive and rebellious are known by their fruit or fruitlessness. Not only can’t they work with anyone, they can’t build anything when they are the leaders. Nothing I say or don’t say will affect them. They are on a journey of their own, and I refuse to judge that journey. I am not in their shoes and I do not know another’s anointing or calling.

THEY ARE SPIRITUAL TERRORISTS TO THE ORGANIZED CHURCH MACHINES, BUT FREEDOM FIGHTERS FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THAT THEY HAVE BEEN IMPRISONED BY RELIGION.

On the other hand, I will not hold back the truth for the sake of those who will abuse it. One does not hold back water in a garden for fear of the weeds. One does not hold back preaching the Gospel for fear of offense. I trust the Holy Spirit to reach those who need to hear what He is saying to the Church that He is building. In my experience, there are far more people starving for His Word than there are rebels wanting to use the truth as an excuse to get their own way or bring dissent to the church. Keeping the truly hungry from spiritual food has no precedent in the Word and has no place in the Church that Jesus is building.

There is a quiet rebellion, an anarchy rising among the hungry of heart. They are spiritual terrorists to the organized church machines, but freedom fighters for those who know that they have been imprisoned by religion. They are misunderstood, incorrectly condemned, and violently opposed. But all they want is the freedom to serve God.

Thus says the Lord: You are free to serve the Lord!

ENDNOTE

1. The following articles posted are just a few that list statistics regarding the exodus from traditional religious organizations. Dan Harris, “Young Americans Losing Their Religion”; http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7513343&page=1; accessed August 18, 2010. Mitchell McLaughlin, “More People Leaving Organized Religion”; http://www.examiner.com/philosophy-of-religion-inrochester/more-people-leaving-organized-religion; accessed August 18, 2010. Matt Geib, “Why Many Saints Today Are Leaving the Organized Church”; http://bibleanswerstand.org/Matt%20-%202.htm; accessed August 18, 2010.

LIFE OUT OF CONTROL

In 1983 when my wife, Cathy, and I began to publish, we had no idea what kind of path God was going to take us down. We had no idea of the trial and—I was going to say triumph, but the triumph didn’t come until much later, after the trial. But the triumph does come, and then you find out that trial and triumph come together as you really experience and do the will of God.

It was Don and Cathy Nori, two people who had no education or preparation in the publishing industry. My college degrees were not even remotely related to prophetic publishing.

Back in the summer of 1982, I spent four days in the Spirit. And during those few days, the Lord spoke to me, day after day, vision after vision, and He said, “Don Nori, I am looking for a prophet to publish the prophets.” When He said that to me, I honestly looked around wondering who He was talking to. Because in the summer of 1982, I didn’t even know what I was, and sometimes I still don’t know what I am. But it really doesn’t matter who I am; all that matters is that I know who He is. If I stay close enough to Him, I will be able to do a lot of amazing things and experience more than I could ever imagine.

Beyond the Shadow

When God comes in a new way, everything changes; everything is turned upside down. The things you thought you were so sure of, suddenly you question. In fact, when I sit down to read the Word and say to God, “teach me,” most of what He does is unteach me. He unteaches me the things I thought I knew so well.

When I realized that this was a pattern of God’s, I pulled out notebooks full of sermons—some of the best things I ever talked about—and I had to toss them. Whenever you study intellectually and hope that you get it right, it’s different from when you see Him face to face. It’s like trying to figure out what the object is just by looking at the shadow—which is really what the Old Testament is. It is a shadow of the good things to come, so the Scripture says.[1]

Too often we spend our time studying a shadow. We study every angle of the shadow, its shape, size, and composition. We try to determine what is shining on the object that is making the shadow, and what angle it’s shining on it. We try to describe the object having never seen the object, only having seen its shadow. So we make volumes of books and tapes and notes on understanding the shadow.

Then the light fully illuminates the object that was creating the shadow, and the shadow becomes unimportant. All your descriptions and all your understandings of the shadow have no use, for now what you’ve seen by shadow, what you have tried to study by intellect, you now see face to face.

For example, read First Corinthians 13. This is the chapter that most people mistakenly call the “love chapter,” which really is the “Most Holy Place chapter.” Paul, the writer of First Corinthians, says, “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12 NKJV).

A closer look at this Scripture reveals that something happened to Paul between First Corinthians 13 and Second Corinthians 3; because in Second Corinthians 3, Paul does not talk about looking through a dimly lit mirror anymore. In Second Corinthians 3, Paul says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,” (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV), in the face of Jesus. In apostle Paul’s own life, there was a point where what he thought was true was only a stop along the road of discovery and revelation. No longer was he looking through a shadowy mirror, but he was able to see God face to face. Paul got so exasperated with folks because so many people were content to see and study the shadow only. They were happy to lay hold of and control their thoughts and their paradigms; they wanted to make their theology stick even though it was a theology of shadows rather than the theology of the Son, whose cross of redemption cast a shadow over the Old Testament.

The Journey of Discovery

Believers are all on this eternal life journey of discovery. Some, to be sure, are afraid to really know who they are. But the only way we can really experience His glory is by discovering ourselves. We really do need to know who we are. But we are so often unwilling to admit who we are because we have gone to Him so many times for forgiveness. We think we’ve repented too many times, and we think, Oh man, this time I’m really going to get it!

After a while, we come up with scriptural reasons and excuses that justify the things we do—or don’t do. And then we end up building for ourselves a shell of religion, a system where we are white-washed (quite religious) on the outside, but really quite scared little people on the inside. This is when we know neither ourselves nor the Grace of God.

Through grace, the apostle Paul realized who he really was—and who he really wasn’t. It is amazing how, over the years, many Christians have almost made Paul the fourth person of the Trinity. Some have elevated Paul way beyond even his own opinion of himself. Paul says, “I don’t even deserve to be called an apostle” (see 1 Cor. 15:9). Paul did not want to “become too proud”; he confessed a thorn in the flesh and talked about the sin that dwells in him and his struggle to overcome it (see 2 Cor. 11:6-8). He saw himself in a completely different light from how we see him. Paul knew himself and his shortcomings, but he knew even better the grace that the Lord extended to him in his weaknesses.

This is the opposite of the kind of self-justifying system many have created and how we look at ourselves in order to function. We look at ourselves apart from what Jesus did on the cross—thinking wrongly that God will run out of grace. We worry that the blood isn’t going to cover us one more time. Have you ever felt like that? You just can’t go to the Lord one more time to repent. You think He’s tired of hearing you repent for the same sin over and over.

That is how the religious system, or machine, wants you to think. You look white-washed on the outside but you are full of dead bones on the inside and you seem to be the only one who knows it. The real problem is that we don’t know what to do with this “secret,” so we try to explain it away. But many leaders know exactly what they are doing. They know that if you are off balance in your spirit, you will keep coming, keep giving, and keep serving. That is how the system is strengthened. They work hard to keep you down, to make you think that you are too far gone to be forgiven, almost too sinful to be saved, almost too hopeless to be helped. Only the Blood of Jesus cleanses you completely—not the blood of your good works. It is not the sweat of your ministry that washes you white as snow.

Some think that if we serve God more and cover ourselves with the sweat of our works, we will be cleansed. We keep trying to cover ourselves with blood, but that can’t take away sin and it can’t take away guilt. Guilt keeps too many believers from becoming the strong, spiritual warriors they need to be to lead victorious lives and step into the many dreams God has prepared for them. All this begins when you allow God to have the reins of your life, teaching you what man is afraid to reveal.

If no one else will let God out of control, why not be the first around you? You will be shocked at what happens to your life!

ENDNOTE

1. See Numbers 10:29,32; Lamentations 3:38.

CONTROLLING THE BURDEN OF GUILT

This is a book about God out of control, so why are we spending an entire chapter on guilt? It is simple. Guilt is the helium leaking out of a pinhole of a balloon. The helium should make you soar. You are not tied to the ground. You are in a room that limits the possibility of high flight, but you are going nowhere. The problem for many is guilt. We have been trained, indoctrinated, brainwashed from a small child about our sinfulness, our “badness,” our inability to be good or do good.

The more you love God, the more that kind of talk affects you. But the good news is simple. You may need to hear this many times: the Blood of Jesus has cleansed you from your sin. You are indeed free to serve the Lord in every respect and in the way He has planned for you. The Blood continues to cleanse you as you go. So, go change your world!

No More Guilt!

It’s amazing. I still remember when I was 19 years old and I first realized that Jesus loved me as much as I loved Him. I repented of my sin, and the most awesome thing happened—Heaven and hell weren’t even an issue for me anymore. What was the issue was the absolute, incredible freedom from guilt that I experienced. The burden had been so heavy for many years, what a relief when the guilt was removed from my aching back.

Unfortunately, the burden of guilt builds up again over the years if we don’t make a conscious effort to remember God’s grace. The guilt doesn’t return because He hasn’t forgiven us—He has and always will—but because either we or what we have been taught doesn’t free us totally from the sin and the guilt that we carry. So what once was an exciting, liberating experience that we thought would continue from one degree of glory to the next, turns out to be a fading memory on our deteriorating walk with God.

Instead of saying, “I remember when this was so glorious…I remember when that was so exciting,” we think of the present circumstances and how we’ve failed once again to live up to the God under our control. We are captured by a system of religion that cannot let God be God, that cannot let Jesus have His own way in us. The religious systems exist to support themselves, not to support the freedom in Christ that He intended us to have.

We are born again to step into our God-given destiny—not to step into a system of control and legalism that makes us merely oxen slowly pulling the great sledge of religion behind us through every painful step along the way.

If we look for revival or renewal to change the course of Christianity, when it comes it must cut the reins, cut the straps, cut the leather that burdens and weighs on us so heavily. We must be freed so that we can move swiftly forward and do the will of God. If we don’t let that happen, what we have called renewal and revival—the great newness of life that we have experienced—will be captured by this monster, to be controlled and regulated for its own advantage. So that in a few years’ time, what was renewal will not be recognizable anymore, because it has been assimilated into a system of controlled legalism and death.

The universe tends to deterioration; if we are living in the flesh, we are part of what deteriorates. But the new life in Christ that is within us should not deteriorate; it should grow from one degree of glory to the next. When we find ourselves in sin, when we find ourselves caught, we should not run from Him; we should run toward Him.

In the natural, if you sense something wrong with your body and you don’t go to a doctor because you are afraid of what he will find, you may sentence yourself to death. In the natural, we know enough that if there is something inside that is not working right, no matter how frightening it will be or it is, our only hope is to go to a doctor to determine the problem.

Apostle Paul says the same thing. There is something in me that is not of me, there is something in me that is not mine that I don’t like, that I hate, and yet I find myself submitting to it. Paul says our only hope is to run to Him not to run from Him. (See Rom. 7:14-25.) The religious system, on the other hand, is happy that you run from Him, because if you can be kept frightened and guilty, you will continue under their heavy hand of control.

If you are a ministry leader, have you asked yourself lately, Is my ministry setting people free, or am I preparing them to live in guilt so they can be what I have called them to be instead of what He has called them to be? There is only one Lord, and that’s Him, not you. In Christ, there is only the yes of God there, not the maybe or the no. The place of yes is where there is healing, forgiveness, and joy in the Holy Spirit. People by nature are spiritual. They are born with a spirit, with a capacity to know and experience God. Folks are brought to Christ in order to be sent into their God-given destiny, not your ministry-given destiny. Many pastors and leaders confuse the two distinctly different destinies. Do you?

My wife Cathy and I have raised five sons. We did not raise them to stay at home and take out the garbage, mow the lawn, and serve us the rest of their lives. I would have liked that to happen—wash the cars, dishes, windows—but that is not why God gave them to us. He gave them to us to equip them, to prepare them, and to give them confidence and strength so that they could be sent forth into the purposes of their heavenly Father. So they can fulfill their destiny.

One by one our sons grew up and said, “Dad, I want to go to college.” “Dad, I want to get married.” “Dad, I’m going to move out soon.”

Never did I say, “Well, you rebellious little kid! After all that I’ve done for you, are you rebelling against me?” In reality, isn’t that what we raised them for? Didn’t we prepare them for just that day when God would launch them into their own world of discovery and destiny? How foolish to hold our children back, no matter how much it hurts. Believe me, we know the pain of release, but it is coupled with the joy of the launch as well.

It is no different in the spiritual realm. Leaders need to realize that we mature, we grow up and out. We all know that our journey toward our heavenly home is made up of stages and seasons that cause change and retrospection, growth and new experiences.

Sheep and Shepherds

Yet many have made church a black hole. Once you get in, you sometimes only get out molecule by molecule. And it is quite excruciating, isn’t it? Some churches have become black holes when they are intended to be schools.

When unbelievers come to church, we are to fill them, feed them, bless them, encourage them, teach them, empower them, and free them of guilt. We must do everything we can because we don’t know how long we are going to have them. When their train comes in, their bags are packed. So as long as we have them, we must give everything we have to give them—everything God has for them. They are His—not mine, not yours. We are all the sheep of His pasture.

I was attending a pastor’s conference a few years ago, and at one point we all went to prayer. A pastor said, “Lord, we come here together before You as shepherds…,” and he prayed about how we were shepherds and on and on and on. All of a sudden, the Spirit of the Lord rose within me, and I said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘You might be shepherds before My people, but when you stand in My Presence, you are sheep.’”

At times we place ourselves in a position that causes us to think that God’s Kingdom depends on us to survive. Guess what? It doesn’t. It doesn’t depend on us for survival. We have the awesome privilege of being used by God within His Kingdom. We have the awesome privilege of imparting wisdom and hearing the Word of the Lord, but He is the ultimate Shepherd and Ruler of His Kingdom—on earth and in Heaven.

The Tradition Smasher

Minister before the Lord, bring others in, turn them over to their Lord, and then set them free. Sometimes after we lead someone to the Lord, we spend the rest of our lives dealing with them—becoming their priests. There is a big difference between teaching someone the fundamental doctrines about Christ and being someone’s priest—controlling someone and telling the person what God says.

For example, I’ve performed many, many marriages. I’ve joined men and women together in holy matrimony, but I have yet to be invited into the honeymoon suite. I’ve yet to be invited beyond the wedding ceremony, except to attend in the reception celebration.

The great high priest Melchizedek knew how to introduce someone to his Lord and then get out of the way and let the Lord and His people come into union. They don’t need as much help as we think they do, if you hear what I am saying. That’s why I’ve never been invited along on the honeymoon; they don’t need the help you may think they need.

Every person stands before God as a priest; he or she doesn’t need anyone else to stand between. The times we are living in require the ability to totally rethink and allow the Holy Spirit to reformulate our thoughts. We need to understand that when the Holy Spirit comes like this, He comes as a paradigm smasher. He comes as a doctrine smasher. He comes as a tradition smasher so that our concepts of the Son, based on studying the shadow, are done away with—because the Son has come and has fulfilled His destiny. What sense is it to embrace the doctrines of the shadow when we are standing before the face of the Son?

Be Ready

You need to be ready as God secures His throne within your heart. You need to be ready because He will come with all His glory. You know the shadow isn’t nearly as exciting as the actual person. Have you already experienced His Presence? Think about that for a moment. To prepare for His coming, don’t hold on to things that you know He wants to take away. Allow Him to free you from the heavy burdens you are carrying unnecessarily.

We need to be free to let God be God (out of control) and teach us who He really is. When we let Him teach us, we will see Him for who He really is. Am I talking against doctrine? The Bible is the infallible Word of God. Amen! The foundation of everything we believe is in His Holy Word. Everything that happens is checked by His written and Holy Spirit inspired Word; it has to be in line with this Word and has to follow this Word.

My question is, by whose scrutiny? Whose scrutiny? Doctrines of old dead men? Doctrines of theologians who lived hundreds of years ago? Whose scrutiny? God will never violate His Word. But He will violate what I think about His Word seven days a week. Just as soon as we think we have it down pat, He comes along and He does something we don’t believe could ever be done.

We say, “God, I don’t believe that happened.”

He says, “Well, I really don’t care what you believe. I’m not going to change because you don’t believe Me.”

It is like the time when I was driving home with my three-year-old one night and he said, “An angel came and talked to me last night, Dad.”

“He did? What did he tell you to do? What did he say to you?”

Donald said, “Well, he told me he wanted me to pray like you and Mom do.”

Hmmm, I thought, Gee, this kid is only three years old. Is he even saved? What’s that mean, he wants you to pray like mom and dad.

So I said, “What did you do?”

“Ah, I just started praying like you and Mom. Then the angel told me He was Jesus and came right inside of me.”

So I said, “Can you talk like that now?” When he started praying in tongues, the whole car filled with the Presence of God.

How can somebody get filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues at the age of three? I thought there was an order to these things. So was it demonic because it wasn’t my order? Or do I have to change my idea of what is demonic?

That’s like people who say supernatural healing is not for today; some even go so far as to say that if you get healed it is of the devil. Well, if I pray in the name of Jesus and somebody gets healed, is that God or the devil? The reality is, when I lay my hands on somebody and I pray in the name of Jesus, then Jesus heals the person. If I can pray in the name of Jesus and the devil does the healing, everyone is in big trouble!

Supernatural Reality

Our traditions, doctrines, and paradigms must take second place to reality.

Reality supersedes our minds. Our spirits are in fellowship with God. But unless our minds are trained both to listen to and understand what is happening, it will profit us very little. We will be doomed to a life far below our potential unless we can overcome our trained response to dismiss anything that is beyond the accepted norm. They appear to add stability to a culture, but do nothing to advance our knowledge of God and our fellowship in the Spirit.

If the world is going to be won for Christ, we have to do things we have never done. And the only way to do things you have never done is to see things you have never seen. If we are locked into what we see, then we allow God to only move inside what we see—small, restrictive areas that our finite mind can imagine. We are forever limited to what we can accomplish. The day we have the courage to see things we have never seen and then have the courage to do things we have never done, that is when we can change the world for Him.

But of course that starts with you and me, doesn’t it? God wants to show us things we have never seen about ourselves so we can do things we have never done, so we can experience things we have never experienced. That is the foundational issue of renewal. That is why God is not interested in renewal—He is interested in the permanent restoration of His glory among His people; and I agree.

When permanent restoration of His glory is established, then refreshing renewal and revival are continual experiences for believers. Breathing in air, taking a deep breath, brings new life, fresh oxygen. Every inhalation brings life, new hope, and possibilities. Every inhalation of air brings life to each part of my body—to my blood, my brain, and my understanding. Every inhalation brings with it the continuation of existence.

So why get so excited about breathing? It is because religion only breathes once or twice a century. The religious system took a breath in 1904,[1] and we have talked about it for a hundred years until the church is ready to drop over. Then we will talk about it for another hundred years. What God is looking for is the permanent restoration of the normal lifestyle of the church that is a living, breathing Body inhaling and exhaling hundreds of times a day instead of several times a century. Amen!

THE BREATH OF GOD DELIVERS TO OUR SPIRITUAL BODY, TO HIS BODY THE CHURCH, THE SAME KIND OF STRENGTH AND NEWNESS THAT OUR NATURAL BREATH BRINGS TO US.

That is what we should be looking for. Then we will see the Church Jesus is building emerge from the religious system and consequently growing from one degree of glory to the next. We must breathe in His life as often and as normally as our bodies breathe. And that breath of God delivers to our spiritual body, to His Body the Church, the same kind of strength and newness that our natural breath brings to us.

It is the natural order of spiritual life that we go from one degree of glory to the next, breathing in the breath of God—living in the state of revelation, living enraptured in His love, living and enjoying His Presence. We love His Presence whether He heals us or not—no matter what happens. The issue is, if you are breathing the breath of God and there is the fellowship, strength, and peace about what He wants to plant in us as His Church, then you will see the world come to Jesus wholeheartedly. God wants us to let Him be God, to let Him out of our control.

Out of Our Control

God wants us to let Him out of our control, but that is what we are really afraid of, isn’t it? We are afraid of Him being out of control. We have to be in control; we don’t want God in control. We know that when God is out of control, He makes eye salve with dust and spittle and then rubs it in someone’s eyes. He calls the scribes and Pharisees a brood of vipers. That is out of control.

When God is out of control, He turns water into wine. When God is out of control, He brings the dead back to life. When God is out of control, He turns over the tables of the gamblers. When God is out of control, He feeds thousands with a boy’s lunch. He forgives a friend who denied Him three times. He dips bread and drinks from the cup with one who would betray Him. He forgives the people who are about to nail Him to the cross. When God is out of control, He forgives the thieves dying on either side of Him.

What we really are afraid of is God being out of control, that is, out of our control. Who wants to be embarrassed when God does things out of the ordinary! But I pray, God, please be out of control in my life—be out of my control. God, be out of my control so that I can experience everything You want for me. Maybe that is your prayer as well?

So as the Presence of the Lord begins to transcend the heavenlies and you experience renewal and revival, His Presence gets stronger and stronger and stronger in you. The key is to say: “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord. You are out of my control; You can do what You want. You can change my thoughts; You can change my belief system. You can change my tradition; You can change my doctrine. You can do whatever You want to do, for I want You permanently restored. I want Your place permanently restored in the earth.”

If Heaven was the issue, Jesus’ prayer would have been much different. He didn’t say, “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Keep us all good until we get there.”

No, He says, “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.” While we are waiting for the day when we will be raptured out of the earth, He is waiting for the day when His people will say, “Live within me, Lord Jesus; I want to experience Your Presence.” He is appearing to nations every day; He wants us to recognize His appearing in us, through us, every day. He wants us to see Him and let His Presence grow and grow and grow in us. Then we will let go and say, “Yes, Lord, You have control; do Your thing. Not my will, but Your will be done. Here I am. Take me and use me—do what You want to do in me!”

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus. Father, in Jesus’ name we come to You with great anticipation. Father, we say yes to You. Come, Lord, come into our hearts, come into our family, come into our work, come into our churches, come into our worship, come into our community, come into our nation. Come, Lord Jesus. Help us see what we can’t see, show us things we have been unwilling to see. Father, break through our paradigms and let us step beyond ourselves and into You. Draw us to You, Lord, and give us the confidence to trust You to say yes to You. We will be careful to give glory, Lord, and we will be careful to give You control day by day as Your Presence grows within us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

ENDNOTE

1. The Welsh Revival was the largest of its kind; 1904-1905.

THE VISION

What would you think happened if you turned on the television and all the newscasters were frantically reporting God out of control? How about headlines in the newspaper: GOD OUT OF CONTROL. What? you might think, I thought God was always in control. Isn’t that what they say when something bad happens? “Don’t worry, God’s in control.” Yikes! If He’s out of control, what does that mean?!

I had a vision one day that I’d like to share with you.

There are huge campfires dotting the landscape in the blackness of the night. People are gathering together at each fire in varying numbers. Occasionally, a log is taken from an existing fire and carried triumphantly to an area of darkness where a new fire is started. Grand celebrations are easily recognizable as more and more people come to the fires.

Soon, groups of people move from fire to fire, enjoying the unique experience. More and more people gather, walking out of the darkness into the light of the fires. The leaders are more confident than ever that their fires are sure to be a center and an oasis for the weary sojourner for years to come.

But just when the celebration and excitement seem to be at the peak, something very strange and unexpected begins to happen. It starts quite insignificantly at first, and nearly everyone remains oblivious to what is slowly appearing on the eastern horizon.

Some do notice, however, and begin moving slowly, in great wonder and amazement, toward this brightness. Then it becomes more and more apparent, and more people notice the rising of the Son. Without a moment’s hesitation, people begin moving away from the fires and walking toward the rising Son.

Leaders of the fire groups become frantic. The light of their fires, once the only beacon of hope throughout a dismal and hopeless night, fades in the coming Sonlight. They command more firewood for the fires in a desperate and hopeless attempt to save the fires and the hope they had offered. But the people continue to move away from the fires, not because the fires were not good in the desperation of the night, but now, now something they know is beyond the fire is coming.

The Son is rising. The Son is pouring His warmth, His light, His peace over the darkness. Now the people are seeing like they have never seen before. They move with growing joy toward the light of the rising Son. Frightened men waving burning sticks and shouting slanderous accusations at them are only to be pitied. For the Son is rising upon them as well. The Son is pouring His hope in their lives as well.

But alas, they are too concerned about the fading importance of their own fires. These are too concerned about their place in the religion, in humankind’s history. To be sure, many people fight the urge deep in their hearts to go to the Son, choosing instead to be part of the last and fading memory of a system that had served its purpose and had gathered its ashes in a heap—one last monument to those who valued the position of man before the purpose of God.

But the Son continues to rise, and people gather again to talk of the Lord and marvel over the mercy and love of God. But their gathering this time is a gathering around the Light of His manifest Presence and not the light of human effort and religious tradition. In these new gatherings, He is the focus, He is the Sum, and He is the Substance. Nothing else matters, and nothing else is given the time of day. His people are consumed in the awe of His life and of His Presence.

Micah saw this time coming when he says:

In the last days, this is what is going to happen: the hill upon which Yahweh’s temple stands will become the most important of all hills. It will be raised above the (other) hills. (Various) peoples will flow to it (Micah 4:1).

The only Church that the nations will flow to is the Church He is building.

Many nations will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Always-Present One, and to the temple of the God of Jacob! Then God will teach us from His ways. And, we will live by His paths.” (His) teachings will go forth from Zion. The Word of Yahweh (will go out) from Jerusalem (Micah 4:2).

God is saying to us now, “I am about to wrestle the Church out of the hands of angry, frustrated men. I alone will build My Church (My people), and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (see Matt. 16:18).

Trusting the Holy Spirit Again

The people the Lord uses have no personal agenda, no selfish ambition, and no craving for glory. They want Him and Him alone. They want to move forward His agenda, be motivated by His ambition, and give Him all the glory. This is truly being Christ-like.

We must confess that we don’t know how to do it! We don’t know, yet many of us hold onto the ever fading fires of man’s best attempts to control God’s activity, instead of rejoicing at the release of His glory. Doctrines of fear have been developed that keep people in church and under control, keeping the Holy Spirit out of the church.

The legalistic world of the early scribes and Pharisees has become the world of contemporary theologians. More pastors have degrees from human institutions than spirits filled with supernatural revelations from God Almighty.

Many no longer trust the Holy Spirit. That is why new believers are locked up in restrictive church rules and regulations, policies and plans. New believers are sometimes encouraged to extinguish the burning fire of the Holy Spirit within them because it’s just not acceptable, or it’s too frightening to deal with within a controlled church environment.

But God is establishing a new order—an Order of Melchizedek, the Priesthood of the Believer. It has been taught, but few believed it and fewer walk in the awesome possibilities of this multi-dimensional priesthood. But it means believing in a God out of control. It means we can’t be afraid to allow:

God out of control in our churches, homes, careers, and relationships.

We must return to that born-again day when the Holy Spirit came alive in us. We must learn to trust the Holy Spirit again. We too often forget the purpose and power of what it actually means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here is a brief list of some of the highlights of His work in the hearts of all those who love Him. The Holy Spirit:

1. Has the power to overcome our humanity to lead and direct us.

…greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4 KJV).

2. Understands our needs.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26 KJV).

3. Has our good at the top of His mind and heart.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 NASB).

4. Reveals Jesus to us every day.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you (John 14:26 NASB).

Not as Easy as It Sounds

Does living life through the Holy Spirit seem way too radical? If you are like most people, the thought of God really out of your control is exhilarating as well as frightening. But not half so frightening as to those who have responsibility for you!

How would pastors react if the congregation would really follow what they believed God was saying to them? Would pastors encourage their flock to “leave their nets” and follow Jesus wherever He led them? Would pastors feel that folks who walked in open revelation can be a help to the local congregation? Would they remember the times in the past when these so-called malcontents caused them trouble, and prohibit the things some are experiencing?

I say to the pastors and ministry leaders: “Be encouragers. Be helpers. Back away from what the religious machine is selling today! Let Jesus build His own Church! When your flock understands that you have their best interests at heart, they will follow your counsel…as long as it is genuine counsel with their best interests really at heart. Otherwise, I promise you that they will see through you.”

To parents I say: “Don’t teach children religion! Teach your children how to accept correction and instruction directly from the Lord, by example. Show them that you, too, are corrected and guided by God. Show them the way through the Word and through your everyday actions. Listen to them. Listen to their concerns, frustrations, and fears. They will not lose their salvation because they question everything you have taught. When you make room for them to question, you open their hearts to begin to hear your non-condemning answers as well as your fears, frustration, and uncertainties.”

I advise young people to let God out of control! Let Him show you things you never saw. Open your heart, mind, and spirit, and absorb all that He eagerly wants to share with you. In addition to incredible vision, He will show you things about yourself as well. This part of your walk with God is every bit as important as the vision He gives you.

Allow God to release you into your destiny. There are more things to do for the Lord than sing in the choir or be a missionary.

God has released—to your generation, to you—talents and abilities that will make room for you in the highest levels of the culture. You may be called to serve Him in journalism, television, the theater, politics, education, business, medicine, industry, or in countless other areas. He has released unprecedented creativity and new ways of thinking that will change the world with a tenth of the work that we are now doing. For now, these things are locked in the dimensions we cannot touch alone. We need to release our spirit to His Spirit and experience the flow of all things awesome coming into the dimension of time and space.

Let Him out of control to do it!

Jesus Wants

The religious system of today is no different from the religious system of biblical days. As mentioned previously, “they” were expecting a ruler, a warrior, a high priest with judgmental and dictatorial authority. Instead, Jesus came as a forgiving Savior and humble Servant. Now He sits with God-given authority and will return in power and majesty. Until then:

- Jesus wants to build His own Church! He knows what it needs from foundation to roof.

- Jesus wants us to seek the Presence of God through the Holy Spirit. But we think we need the personal approval of pastors, bishops, and ministry leaders.

- Jesus wants us to have new hearts. We think we need a new building.

- Jesus wants us to let loose the power of the Holy Spirit. We think we need to control people and the spiritual climate.

- Jesus wants unity of the Spirit. We think that by controlling revival we are preserving the unity of the church.

- Jesus wants only good things for us. We are afraid of what would happen if God got out of control in our lives, families, careers, circumstances, and homes.

- Jesus wants to build His Church. We say, “But what would happen to my church?” That is the problem, my friend—it isn’t your church. If God gets out of control in the church you attend or pastor, it will be rebuilt the way He wants it to be built. Remember, the gates of hell won’t prevail against His Church. The church under His control will grow, prosper, be a place of safety, healing, fulfillment, and sending.

We can experience the fullness of God in our generation, but we need God to be out of control—out of our control!

Psalm 98:1 says, “Sing a new song to Yahweh, because He has done wonderful things. By His right (hand) and holy arm, He has won the victory.” He did not need our help to get the victory then, and He does not need our help now. What He needs is for us to get out of the way and allow Him to totally reign in our lives.

I encourage you to take time to prayerfully reflect on the following Scripture passages. Allow God to reveal His truths for you through them.

So, the life which I now live is not really me—it is Christ living in me! I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God. He is the One who loved me; He sacrificed Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

(A Psalm of David.) Sit at My right (side) until I put your enemies under your control. Yahweh will make you King in Jerusalem over all nations. And, you will rule over your enemies (Psalm 110:1-2).

Surely God will soon save those who revere Him. (And) (His) splendor will dwell in our land. Constant love and truth will meet together. Righteousness and peace will kiss. Truth will spring up from the ground. And, righteousness will look down from the sky. Yes, Yahweh will give (His) goodness. And, our land will produce its crops. Righteousness will go ahead of God and will prepare the way for Him (Psalm 85:9-13).

THE LIGHT OF THE SON

God cannot be contained by churches, man-made boxes, books, or even human thoughts. Trying to contain God is like trying to keep water in a sieve. God is bigger than you or I can imagine—He cannot be contained in any box that we assign to Him.

His Spirit is free-flowing—everywhere at all times. For us to see in the Spirit is to see eternity on earth. For us to walk in the Spirit is to experience eternity on earth. For us to live it on earth is when His Kingdom comes on earth as it is in Heaven, as Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:10.

The morning of all-God is about to rise upon us.

Like the vision shared in the previous chapter, the Son is rising and the people are leaving the shadows and moving toward the Son.

We can only experience the Son if we open our minds and spirits to accept the Holy Spirit’s activity in the earth today.

For instance, in biblical times, the inner spirit of the people began awakening as the revelation of who God really is was opened to them by the power of the Holy Spirit. After speaking with Jesus, the woman at the well says in John 4:29, “Come, see a Man who told me everything I’ve ever done. He must be the Messiah!”

The blind man healed by Jesus says, “‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshiped Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world so that there can be a judgment day, so that the people who cannot see may see and those who think they can see may become blind’” (John 9:38-39).

When Jesus asks Peter, “But who do you say I am?” The correct response, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” was Holy Spirit inspired.

Many times, in the Bible, the Holy Spirit makes Himself known to those who had open spirits, to those who realized that He didn’t live inside four walls, in dusty old books, or only within the minds of the theologian.

There are a growing number of people today who are awakening to the fact that they can no longer keep God contained. For them—hopefully you and me—it is too hard to keep stuffing God back into the little box where He used to fit so tidily and compactly—there where He stayed until they needed Him to confirm their plans, decisions, and choices.

The Holy Spirit is very good at exposing our motives and deep desires—if you release Him from your control. You must be willing to step away from small-minded and weak-spirited people who cast only shadows of the Son and keep you from the Son Himself.

Cooperating With the Holy Spirit

When you understand what is already at work in your spirit, then you can begin to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. And when you cooperate with the Holy Spirit, God has His way. The Holy Spirit has one job—to magnify Jesus. To show Him to the nations. You cannot show Jesus to the nations unless the Holy Spirit teaches you how. Yes, you can lead or attend Bible studies. Yes, you can testify to His goodness. But Jesus Himself told us that the Holy Spirit was coming to reveal Jesus to the world (see Eph. 3:5). Therefore, you only need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit—not battle Him, but cooperate with Him.

We all have God in our own private little box. We know what we want Him to do and we know what we do not want Him to do. When God does something we do not want Him to do, we get angry. We say, “This is not God. I don’t like this.” It is only because God got out of the small box we made for Him. The best thing we can do is throw away the box, the boundaries, the restrictions, the preconceived ideas, and let God be whatever He wants to be, go wherever He wants to go, and do whatever He wants to do.

The Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible is the final Word on life. The Bible is the final Word on God’s activity in the earth. God will never do anything that goes against His Word. Do you agree with that? God will never go against His Word, but He will always go against what we think His Word says.

GOD WILL NEVER GO AGAINST HIS WORD, BUT HE WILL ALWAYS GO AGAINST WHAT WE THINK HIS WORD SAYS.

God will not do anything that goes against His Holy Word. But God will always go against what we think His Holy Word says. Want to read that again? God will never go against His Word, but He will always go against what I think His Word says. I am a mere human being. I am not the final word. I do not have the final answer on God’s Word. There is only One who has the final answer, and that is the One who is the final answer—the Lord Jesus. He is the un-containable final answer.

If God is going to do what He wants to do to advance His Kingdom on earth, He needs people who will let Him be God. He needs people who will not tell Him what to do, counsel Him, or advise Him. He needs people who will receive counsel and advice from Him. We do not give Him direction; He wants to give us direction.

Too many times, we go to prayer and have a list of instructions or demands for God. “Dear God, I want You to do this for me, and I want You to do that for my sister. And I want to call Your attention to this friend’s problem and I need You to give him this particular answer. Please do all this for me today, or at least by tomorrow night.”

How often have you spent your prayer time telling God what needs to be done and how to do it? We act as though we can advise God, when He already knows the need and the circumstances; after all, that is why He sent His Son, Jesus. That is why His Presence is at work to will and to work His good pleasure in us. He is at work to accomplish His purpose in us. A purpose that is much bigger than we are, with a plan much more exciting than we could ever figure in our own finite minds.

That is how big God is. Do you agree that it is time to give God what He needs to work His miracles, heal the sick, and to move in our churches, lives, families, relationships, schools, government, and workplaces? There are many ways that we have tried to chain God down. We have chained Him down with our traditions. We have chained Him down with our doctrines. We have chained Him down with our fears. We have chained Him down with our own negative preconceived concepts.

But soon there will be a people with courage, a people who will let God be bigger than they ever thought He was. These are the people God is looking for. This is the future for the saints of God. People who will not spend their lives deciding what God can’t do, but instead, a people who will always be looking for things God wants to do—and helping Him to accomplish His plans—will rule the world.

Many years ago, I heard the Holy Spirit say something deep in my heart: “Be wary or be watchful to anyone who says ‘God can’t’ or ‘God won’t’ or ‘God doesn’t.’” I’ve been sure to remember those words, because there are people who want you to stuff Him back into their little corner of the world—even if you are on a direct mission from God. These type of people will not see God’s glory. This is not a judgment against them; it is simply a fact.

If you limit what God can do in your life, you will limit what you experience. That is why the Scripture says, “No eye has ever seen this and no ear has ever heard this. No human being has ever imagined this. But this is what God prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9; see Isa. 64:4). God reveals these things by His Spirit. A people of Spirit will be able to see more than their five senses can detect. A people of Spirit will proceed and discern things greater than the five senses will ever touch.

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2:10 NASB).

Be certain to read the entire thought in the Scripture above. The Holy Spirit even searches the depths of God and will make these depths known to those who listen for them. It is certain that even our imagination cannot come up with the things that God has deep in His heart. Nonetheless, we can know them if we listen to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to speak louder than the limiting voices that shout to us all the time. Great adventures and fulfillment await those who will have courage to step out of their thought box.

God is looking for a people of Spirit, spiritual perception, and obedience.

A Living, Holy God

Paul says that he didn’t come to Corinth to preach to the people with “fancy words” or big tales to tell. He said he came with only one subject—Jesus Christ—and that his message was “backed up by the Spirit and real power.” Why? So that your trust would not depend upon human wisdom, but upon God’s power! (See 1 Cor. 2:4-5.)

Jesus said these signs of power and wisdom will follow them who believe. He sends the supernatural to confirm what we say with our mouths. Our faith is not a lifeless philosophy. We do not rely on our own strength and wisdom for our relationship with God Almighty. Our faith is not with a book; our relationship is not with a set of ideas. Our faith is based on a living Lord who lives today, who talks today, and who moves today. Our faith is in a God who wants to express Himself through sincere people—like you and me.

When the angels came down to announce the birth of Jesus, they declared, “Emmanuel, God with us.” Not “God visiting us,” not “God passing through,” but “God with us.” He has come to earth to stay, to live—in us! That one fact makes our faith different from any other faith in that our God is a living God who is with us, constantly in communication, constantly teaching us with words that cannot be discerned or constrained by our five senses. He can only be discerned by the Spirit. He can only be discerned by yielding ourselves to Him so that we can perceive and understand the will of God. He will be discerned through a people who understand that their own wisdom cannot bring about the purpose of God. Only by listening to the wisdom of God can we bring His purpose through time and space onto this planet He created for us.

This is the God we serve. One who lives and moves and has His being in you and me. The anchor of our faith is not the Bible, as important as the Bible is. It is the Living Word of God. Our whole life is based on the Bible, but I do not worship the Bible. I worship the Word who ever lives.

Many believers use their faith in Jesus as merely a ticket to get to Heaven. To them, that is all Christianity is. But that is the very beginning of what Christianity is all about. Eternal life in Heaven is only the very tip of the iceberg. God sent His only Son to earth to redeem for Himself a people who, as the prophet said, “…shall be Mine in the day that I count up My jewels” (see Mal. 3:17).

The prophet Jeremiah looked far into the new covenant and said:

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah [a covenant which cannot be broken] …I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV).

God is looking for a people who will be His, a people who will not involve themselves in vain and petty arguments. These people will not stand on the street corner arguing with other Christians about what God can do and what God can’t do. There is no time for that—let those who need to argue, argue with themselves.

You need to do the will of God. You need to hear the voice of the Lord and begin to do what God tells you to do. For surely we are living in a day when we must hear the voice of the Lord. The church system has been doing the same things over and over again, generation after generation. We struggle week by week and day by day sometimes just to maintain what we have. There is something wrong with this type of Christianity; there is something wrong with this way of life. We are supposed to be changing the world; instead, we are struggling just to keep ourselves, our ministry, and our churches afloat.

If we are unwilling to see new things on God’s heart, we will never do new things. I have prayed all over the world, saying, “Lord, let me see things I have never seen that I may do things I have never done.” What kind of a witness are we to the world when we spend our lifetimes huddling in small groups, afraid of the world? We are no threat to the kingdom of darkness in that limited space we are occupying.

We live in the real world that requires contact with the real God. When we are in contact with the real God, then the world begins to change. The same is true for you and me. Are we not the Body of Christ; are we not His Body here on earth? Whose hand does God have to lay on the sick if He does not have my hand, your hand? Will a hand come down out of the clouds? Whose hand does He have to use? He has our hands, but if we draw our hands back, He has no hands at all.

And if we spend time using our hands to point accusingly or judgmentally at our brothers and sisters, He has no hands at all.

Whose voice does He have if He does not have our voices? The heavens are bulging with the Presence and the power of God. The heavens are pregnant with God’s purposes. What is in Heaven will not get into the earth until we say yes to God and allow Him to say to us things we have never heard so that we can do things we have never done. This is what will change the world.

World Changers

Jesus said, “I only do what I see My Father in Heaven doing” (see John 5:19).

Jesus healed a man who was paralyzed on the Sabbath. He told the paralyzed man, “You are healed, stand up and take up your bed and go home.” Oh, the religious leaders were very upset; they didn’t like that Jesus healed someone on their holy Sabbath day, nor did they appreciate that Jesus commanded the healed man to work, to carry his bed home. So they went to Jesus and they argued with Him. Jesus said, “Look, I only do what I see My Father in Heaven doing. If you do not like the fact that this man was healed on the Sabbath, do not argue with Me; I only do what I see My Father doing. Go argue with Him. I just did what He said to do.” (See John 5:18-23.)

Sometimes we are afraid of doing what God tells us to do because we will offend the religious establishment. We are too often more afraid of offending the religious establishment than we are afraid of disobeying our Lord.

Do you remember when the blind man came to Jesus and Jesus made a salve for him to put on his eyes? Do you remember what He used to make the salve? He picked up some dirt from the ground and spit into His hand. Doesn’t seem very spiritual, does it? Seems real religious, doesn’t it? I think Jesus saw something He had never seen before, and He was about to do something that certainly hadn’t been done before. So Jesus mixes this salve—spit and dirt—and walks over to the blind man.

I can hear Peter now saying something like, “Um, Jesus, come here a minute. You’re going to put muddy spit in the guy’s eye? Are You sure…are You really sure? This doesn’t seem right, and it sure isn’t normal.”

After putting the salve on the man’s eyes, Jesus tells him, “Go wash in the pool; you are going to see.” This healing got Jesus in big trouble; nobody liked what Jesus did. But again, Jesus was only doing what He saw His Father in Heaven doing. (See John 9:5-22.)

Every time you listen to the Holy Spirit, you will disrupt the religious system. Every time you listen to God, the system will not like it; nonetheless, when you say yes to God, yes to allowing Him to be out of control, yes to giving Him the freedom to do something out of your mental box—somebody will be healed, even you!

Jesus went into the temple and overturned the tables. Then He grabbed the money boxes and emptied them. Then He opened the cages of the turtledoves and let them fly away. These were not the politically correct things to do. Again, Jesus was doing only what He saw His Father in Heaven doing.

Every time you do what God tells you to do, you deliver a message to this planet that God is alive, that He is intricately involved in the lives of mere mortal men. The Lord does not want you to live out your life like many other generations of believers. He doesn’t want you to merely survive. He wants you to storm the gates of the enemy and carry His Presence to your friends, neighbors, schools, community, state, and nation. I have no doubt you can do just that!

Many people think they don’t hear from God. I contend that everyone hears God, but they just don’t want to do what He is prompting them to do. Have you heard God speaking to you about His plan for you? The problem isn’t hearing it; the problem is doing it.

Finally Out of Your Box!

God wants to take up residence inside you. All the excuses you have used previously need to be laid aside. You want to go beyond the shadows and beyond the box you live in and try to force your Lord into. You may go to meetings and conferences and church groups waiting for God to do something. You, like most folks, want God to do something for you. And you may pray, “Move, God, move by Your Holy Spirit. Do it, Lord. Move, move….” Do you recognize those prayers? And yet God has already been talking to you. While you are sending up desperate prayers, God is looking at you from within your heart, saying, “Move, John! Do something, Mary! Do what I’ve called you to do. Do it, just do it!”

God has already spoken to you; He has already given you a commission, but something prevents you from changing your world. Something holds you back from doing what you know God told you to do. If you don’t follow through, then another generation will pass with nothing happening. Your children will struggle with the same things you struggle with. Your children will carry the same burdens that you carry.

In your generation and your hands is the ability to change your corner of the world and possibly your nation. You have the most awesome God-given opportunity to improve the lives of your family, to mend relationships, to save souls, and to make changes in the lives of people you may never even meet. God is ready to break out all over your nation, but He is waiting for you. He is not waiting for the pastors; they are already doing what they are supposed to do. God is not waiting for the great international evangelist to sweep in and do his or her thing. He is waiting for you.

He is waiting for the Body of Christ to stand up and do what it is supposed to do. Jesus says in Scripture, “When I am lifted high above the earth, I will attract everyone to Me” (see John 12:32). If the Body of Christ won’t stand up, where is Christ? He is so low, no one can see Him—we must give Him control—lift Him high—give Him the freedom in us to stretch His influence worldwide through you.

If you are lying down on the floor and you tell your body, “Get up!” and you make no effort to move, it doesn’t matter how much you want to stand up, your head is still on the floor with the rest of your body. Jesus says, “When I am lifted high above the earth, I will attract everyone to Me.” All the Body of Christ has to do is stand up. Standing up is simply doing what you are called to do. When the Body does what it is supposed to do, the Head is lifted up and all are drawn to the Head.

Marketplace Ministry

Many have believed that if you are going to serve the Lord, there are only a few full-time career fields available to explore—becoming a preacher, missionary, or Christian counselor; or possibly, depending on the size of the church, a worship team member, Sunday school teacher, or part of the ministry administrative staff.

But this definition of serving the Lord was made by people who did not understand the work of the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer, you are in full-time ministry. Whether you draw your salary from the church or from another place of employment, you are in full-time service for the Kingdom. That means God could send you to the media. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing all the complaints about how bad television shows are. We need to go into the industry and change it from the inside. I’m tired of hearing about the liberal newspaper articles that don’t reflect the majority of the population’s views. Who is going to go into the newspaper industry and change things? Who is going to go into the schools and school boards and change the curriculum and policies from the inside? Who is going to go into the places of government and stop the corruption?

God wants to send you to every corner of your community and nation. The desire in you is probably so strong, but you don’t think it is “spiritual enough,” so you aren’t sure it’s what God wants you to do. I have no doubt that if you have a strong desire, the outcome will be for His glory and the betterment of your family, community, state, or nation.

Don’t worry if your desire isn’t for being part of your church’s wedding ceremony committee; don’t be concerned if your desire isn’t delivering meals to shut-ins—God knows where your talents and skills are and where they can best be used. Your desire is exactly what God wants you to do. Sometimes our best young people end up working solely in the church system, when in reality, God has gifted them with the ability to change nations. They are stuck in the smallness of someone’s box when the world is where they are desperately needed. Our traditions and our fears keep us from hearing things that are truly revolutionary.

Just Do It!

Have you ever seen the quip that says:

Dear Lord, so far today I’m doing fine. It’s a good day! I haven’t gotten angry at anybody. I haven’t cheated. I haven’t lied. I haven’t lusted. I haven’t argued with my spouse. I haven’t even yelled at the kids or the dog. But Lord, I’m about to crawl out of bed, and I’m going to need Your help more than ever before!

Do you feel like that sometimes? Remembering that His mercies are new every morning is always a good thing. God didn’t send His Son to save you because you were perfect; He came to save you because you needed salvation. You cannot get saved yourself, and you cannot stay saved yourself. If you could, Jesus wouldn’t have had to come.

But we are like the Galatian church. We begin with the Spirit, but we end up in the flesh. We put ourselves under a law that condemns us instead of living under the grace that redeems us. You are saved by His grace, and you stay saved by that same grace. Your very existence is because of the grace of God. His Mercy is strong in your life—no matter who agrees with you and who does not. It matters not who blesses you or who curses you. If you sense God’s favor, receive it and walk in it.

But you are just like Peter after he denied Jesus. Peter ran out and went fishing after he realized what he did. Do you ever feel like running away from reality to go fishing? You fail and you want to run; you sin and you want to run away from God.

Well, Jesus catches up to Peter and says, “What are you thinking, what are you doing out here, Peter?”

Peter says, “I guess I really don’t love You like I thought I did.”

Jesus says, “Get back into town and do what I told you to do.”

“But You don’t understand. I failed. I failed!”

“Get back into town and do what I told you to do.”

“But Jesus, I don’t love You. I thought I loved You, but I don’t love You. I let You down THREE times!”

“Peter, I want to tell you something. You are the only one who didn’t know that. I knew that all along, and I still love you, and I still want you to serve Me. I still gave you destiny. The day is going to come when you will love Me so much that you will give your life for Me. In the meantime, get into town and do what I called you to do.” (See John 21:6-19.)

WHEN GOD FORGIVES YOUR SINS, HE DOES NOT REMIND YOU ABOUT THEM—EVER.

Do you know that after you are born again and repent of your sin, there are only two who remember your sins? Do you know who those two are? You and the devil. When God forgives your sins, He does not remind you about them—ever. But the enemy knows the debilitating power of a guilty conscience. If he can keep you feeling guilty, he can take away your desire to do what God wants you to do. You will live your life with a vision you will never fulfill. Always remember, you are free from guilt and shame because the grace of God covers you—go do what you are called to do.

When God told me 26 years ago, “I want you to be a publisher,” there were already 400 publishers in the United States. More than once I doubted myself and my ability to follow through. But God said, “Be a publisher.” By His grace and mercy, our books are now in 16,000 bookstores worldwide and in nearly 100 languages. It is not because I am so smart. It is not because I know so many people. It is because my wife and I obeyed Him. Everyone laughed at us because we had no experience, four children, and little money. I went to publisher after publisher looking for advice, and they laughed at me.

So I went home, got on my face, and prayed, “God, nobody will help me.”

God said, “I’m going to help you. I’m going to teach you. I’m going to educate you. I’m going to provide the finances. I’m going to give you the relationships. I’m going to open the doors. I’m going to give you the favor. I’m going to bring it to pass, because I’m the One who called you to do it. And He who began a good work in you is able to bring it to completion.”

Dreams Will Change the World

I don’t care how old you are or how young you are, God has dreamed a dream for you and you are dreaming it right now as you are reading. You know what God is saying to you. He is your God just like He is my God. Jesus turned a world upside down with only 12 men.

You have a big God; don’t shrink back in fear—believe what God is saying to you. Don’t be afraid to dream it again. Don’t push it down—let it come up and bubble over you. Let it come to the surface of your heart. Take a moment to think about it. You are not too old. You are not too poor. You are not uneducated. If He called you, if it is burning in your heart, God will bring it to pass. You have received a word from God; and if it is burning in your heart, you have what you need.

Now I would like to conclude by praying with you in three ways:

First, “Lord, forgive me for pushing down the dream You have given me to dream.”

Second, “Lord, I am willing to do it. I won’t push it down anymore.”

Third, we are going to release the power of the Holy Spirit within you to bring this thing to pass.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for the dream You have given me. I repent of holding it down. I repent of resisting it. I repent of not believing You. I repent of being afraid of it. Please forgive me. And Lord Jesus, I am willing to do what You have called me to do. I will do what You want me to do. I won’t push it down anymore. I won’t hold it down anymore. I will think about it. I will meditate on it. I will allow You to instruct me. I will allow You to teach me. I will allow You to lead me. I want to do what You have called me to do. And now, Lord, fill me afresh by Your Holy Spirit. Empower me, Lord, to do what You have called me to do. I release my spirit to Your Spirit. My soul to Your Spirit. I release my all to You. Fill me and empower me. And most of all, Lord, I promise to give You all of me, to work Your miracles, healings, and love in my life and in the lives of my family. God, please fill up every nook and cranny of our beings with the Light of Your manifest Presence. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

DWELLING PLACES

By now you know that God must be out of your control and He must be out of your personal thought box so you can fulfill the dreams He designed for you.

You also know by now that this is the only way to serve the Lord to the fullest. You must stretch beyond the comfort zone you have become accustomed to and move into God’s supernatural reality.

You have learned that there are many ways, places, and careers in which you can serve the Lord while at the same time accomplishing your calling—moving toward achieving His dreams and yours.

But I haven’t mentioned yet the fact that you can’t hear what the Lord is saying when you are too concerned about yourself. The most important things that God will say to you, He will say when you are outside of your box, just beyond your personal area of comfort where real faith is needed. When we have the courage to step outside, we accept the responsibility of hearing things from God we have never heard. Staying inside our box restricts our movement and His creativity. Outside, we can see the world as God sees it and feel the love and compassion for the world that He feels. But we actually do more than just feel it—we are motivated by it. This is the point where His feelings become our passion. It is here that everything changes.

We’ve discussed how essential it is to allow God out of your control. Now we’ll discuss how you can hear Him more clearly when you are outside of your personal belief systems.

What you are about to read can change your life—if you are willing to consider changing the way you think and believe.

Spiritual Worship

God has always looked for and wanted spiritual people. He has always wanted people who would dwell with Him in the dimension of His origin, in the realm of the Holy Spirit. He would bring us to a place of dwelling in the Spirit, if we allow Him.[1]

When Jesus met the woman at the well, He had an amazing conversation with someone who had just come to the well for water. The woman asked Jesus where they should be worshiping. “Do we worship in the mountains, or do we worship in Jerusalem?” Jesus said in neither place, and then added:

…But the time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the true, spiritual way. The Father is searching for this kind of people to worship Him. God is spirit. The people who worship God must worship Him in the true way and with the right spirit (John 4:16-24).

God is looking for worshipers. He is looking for people who will dwell in the Spirit. God is Spirit and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. We cannot worship our doctrines. We cannot worship our traditions. We cannot worship our habits, denominations, or Bibles, regardless of the translation!

We must worship in Spirit because we are not worshiping a thing; we are worshiping a Person. We are not even worshiping worship; we are worshiping the living God. He goes from nation and town to nation and town, looking for spiritual worshipers. He is looking for people who are not satisfied with things as they are, as we see them in time and space. He will meet those who yearn for more of Him, for more of His fellowship, and quite frankly, who are looking for union with their Creator.

We have choices. We decide where we are going to live—in the flesh or in His Spirit. If we live in the flesh, the Scripture says “we must die.” The flesh and the law are the same. If you live in the flesh, you are living under the law; and if you live under the law, you must die, because no one is justified by the law. If we could do what the law required, Jesus would not have had to come. Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law.

I can’t understand why we keep going back to the law. Do not touch, do not taste, do not do this, do not do that. You must dress like this, you are not allowed to dress like that. Some wear makeup, some cannot wear makeup. Some can wear jewelry, and some cannot wear jewelry. Some wear coverings, and some wear long sleeves. These are all the laws: rules by which we are told we must live if we want the fullness of God’s love and salvation. But, shall I say it again? We are not justified by the law. He is not interested in how we look on the outside; He is interested how we look on the inside. We think that if we fix ourselves up on the outside, we make God happy. But He wants to shine through us from the inside out. He wants to live His life through us. We must say no to the things of the flesh; we must say no to the law to allow the Spirit of the Lord to have His way. He says,“…I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed” (Ps. 132:17 NASB).

Spiritual Recognition

The Book of Romans says something very important about learning how to live in the Spirit. The Scripture says that His Spirit bears witness with my spirit. His Spirit touches my spirit and convinces me that I am His son (see Rom. 8:5-16).

We did an experiment once at home, where I had gathered three men together. They each had one of their children with them. We blindfolded the children so they couldn’t see. Without saying anything, each man hugged all three children separately, and then we asked each child, “Who is your father?” Each child identified his own father.

“How did you know which man was your father?”

One little boy said, “I know what he smells like.” Another little boy said, “When he hugs me, he tickles me in my side.” The boys knew who their fathers were because they had spent time with their fathers. They had touched, hugged, and spent time playing and watching television together. (Sorry if television watching offends some of you.)

We get to know our heavenly Father by spending time with Him. When we worship Him, it is a very important relational time together. Many people think of worship as just the time of singing before the “real” church service begins. But it is far more important than that to God, and far more necessary for us. Believers need focused, uninterrupted worship on a regular basis—not with someone interrupting every five minutes to share a Scripture, and not always in the church building. This time of uninterrupted worship allows your spirit to get used to your Daddy’s Spirit. You are preparing a dwelling space for Him in your spirit.

During these times of focused, uninterrupted worship, you will come to know what your Father smells like. You will come to know how He feels when He wraps His arms around you. You will learn the sound of His heart, to recognize His voice and learn His ways.

The Bible tells us about the Living Word. It describes the Living Word to me, but my relationship is with Someone who is alive. I know people who have studied the Bible from cover to cover, but they don’t know Jesus. So what good does a book of knowledge do them? It does them no good, because they do not have a relationship with the God of the Word.

He is calling us up into the Spirit realm. He will strive with us until we live in spiritual relationship with Him—lifting up our voices with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, constantly aware of His nearness (see Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16).

The Scripture says we have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received the Spirit which is from God (see 1 Cor. 2:12). Through our spirits is the only way we will understand what has been given to us. These are the things given to us by the Holy Spirit—peace that passes understanding, love for our enemies, compassion for others, and joy unspeakable, just to name a few of the supernatural, spiritual gifts from God. We accept these gifts not using human, fleshly wisdom, but through what we are taught by the Holy Spirit.

Seeing, hearing, receiving, and accepting things in the Spirit means we have opened our box of neatly stored beliefs and we are allowing Him into our lives in a very personal and dynamic way.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 NASB).

God wants you to understand that you can recognize things born of His Spirit. Every time you say yes to God and no to sin, you become more spiritual. Every time you say yes to God, the Holy Spirit lifts you closer to Him. But every time you say yes to the flesh, the flesh pulls you deeper away from the Spirit of God.

Follow me for a minute. If my fellowship is with the law, there is no power to lift me closer to Jesus. But my relationship is not with the law; it is with the living God who constantly is at work to draw me closer to Him so I can live with Him in the Spirit.

The Real Deal

Every government of the world has currency experts. These currency experts have a very important job—looking for counterfeit money. They spend many hours a week studying real money so they can detect fake money. The government has learned something that many Christians still haven’t learned. The more time you spend in the Presence of God, the easier it will be for you to recognize the counterfeit, because you know what the real Presence of God feels like.

The Lord will also teach us how to tell the Holy Spirit from other spirits. We learn that two ways.

One way is by spending time in His Presence in worship. You should always live in an attitude of worship. This is not a spooky or weird thing. It is simply knowing that He is in you; that you have given Him a place in your heart and life. This naturally causes you to watch your tongue, be quick to forgive and quick to give, love and respond to God in a moment’s notice, allowing Him to speak to you, lead and direct you. Let Him draw you up out of your fears, out of your confusion, so that you can experience His loving and forgiving Presence.

The second way you learn to walk in His Spirit is by saying no to the flesh. I know I’ve mentioned this numerous times already, but we have got this idea so messed up that I need to say it again. We are too concerned about ourselves, too worried about sinning, too alarmed about going to hell. That is a terrible way to live. This should be our motivation to live a pure life—not so we don’t go to hell—but so we can get closer to Jesus!

YOUR MOTIVATION TO LIVE A PURE LIFE SHOULD BE TO GET CLOSER TO JESUS!

The more time you spend in worship and the more you practice saying no to sin, the more you experience the awareness of the Presence of Jesus. Then you will hear Him say things that you could never imagine Him saying to you before. When He says things that you have never heard, you will do things that you have never done.

When God first spoke to me about starting a publishing company, I was working at a newspaper, pastoring a church, and raising my children. My wife, Cathy, and I had a very happy life. We were very content. Financially, it was very difficult, but we were happy. Then God came in and said something we never expected Him to say: “I want you to publish books, publish the prophets.” I have to admit that what He said was very frightening, I didn’t really know what He meant.

So I went to my wife. “Cathy, God spoke to me.”

She said, “I know, because God spoke to me too.”

The Lord had already spoken to her and told her, “Whatever Don says, I want you to do, because I’ve already spoken to him.”

So our very calm world was turned upside down because we said yes to God. Everything had been in order and working fine, except the living God had different plans. If you want to live in your own little box and you want to live under the law, you will never have to worry about God upsetting your world. But if you want to follow the Lord and serve a living God, get ready to hear the Lord! Get ready to hear Him say things to you that you have never heard. It is the most exciting way to live! I am here to testify that it is the most exciting thing you can ever do. There is nothing more exciting than saying yes to your Lord and then watching Him make things happen.

Hearing Him

God wants to talk to you. It will most likely be outside what you expect. At first, what He says to you might not be as major as becoming a book publisher. That is certainly not what He started talking to me about! For me, He started with little things like get to work on time and do the dishes for Cathy, change the diaper, etc. Yes, learning to say yes really does prepare for you bigger things! So the good news is that He starts with smaller things. But He wants you to begin to hear Him every day. He wants you to expect Him to speak to you. He has so much that He wants to say to you!

The Psalmist says that the heavens are declaring the glory of the Lord. Day by day pours forth speech, and night by night His voice can be heard (see Ps. 19:1-3). God has a lot to say because He has a lot for us to do, many adventures to go on. Are you ready to take the risk of allowing God to be out of control in your life?

If you aren’t ready, you will keep doing the same things year after year and nothing will happen, nothing will change. You will continue to have the same financial problems, relationship issues, family conflicts, career crises, and sense of being generally unfulfilled. It is time to give yourself to the Spirit of the Lord. It is time to understand that your fellowship is not with the law—it is with the living Lord who wants to interact with you day by day.

When you go before the Lord in prayer about this step in faith you are taking, think about the power that will flow from the spiritual dimension and how it will rest in you and then flow through you, bringing it into time and space.

There are rivers of living water flowing from your innermost being—this is what both Jesus and Isaiah promised (see John 7:38; Isa. 58:11). Out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water; rivers of life, of power, of love, of hope, holiness, and compassion; and rivers of revelation because you serve a living God who wants to impart His life to you.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we praise Your holy name and give You all the glory for what You have done and want to do in us. We give You our thought box, our belief systems, and all that is within us. We want to live in Your Spirit. Please say new things to us—we are willing and eager to hear. We are listening for Your voice, and we are ready to hear what You have to say. In the precious name of Jesus, amen.

ENDNOTE

1. See Isaiah 57:15; Ezekiel 3:12; Ephesians 2:22; Colossians 3:16; John 14:17; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14.

WHO HEARS THE MUSIC?

Those who dance are thought quite mad by those who do not hear the music. –Bert Thompson

Discernment: the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.[1] That is the world’s definition of the word that many believers use but often don’t understand. In allowing God to be out of control in our lives and knowing that we need to move out of our limited thought box to accomplish His will for us, we must be certain that He is the One directing our steps. This is not as foreboding as it may sound—come along, as I explain.

Spiritual discernment is the ability to distinguish between spirits or among spirits. It is the ability to see into the spirit realm, beyond the five senses, discovering God’s will, the motivation behind a situation, and the spirit that controls a person’s actions, emotions, or desires. Discernment separates soul from spirit. It allows us to see the flesh and its motivations separately from a person’s spirit and his or her motivations, as well as to discern the activity of God among men. This discernment will allow us to sense the motivations of others before we judge. This is what living outside the box of our own limitations is all about. We discern the spirit before we pass judgment.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were quick to judge Jesus as demonic, because He spoke, loved, healed, and taught far from the norm of what was accepted as correct. Because they judged according to their preconceived thought patterns, their box, they did not discern the Spirit and missed the Son of God they had been waiting for! When Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, it was the first indication that true discernment was working among mere mortals.

Spiritual discernment is the ability to see God where humankind cannot. It sees the unseen and recognizes what moves about by the wind of the Spirit.

What is really going on is not just what we observe with the five senses. What is really going on is what is happening in the realm of the spirit, the dimension of His origin. We humans merely respond to activity that is taking place in another dimension. If we do not see this, we are doomed to be the slaves of the activity of another dimension. Those who deny the reality of spirit will not have the advantage of communicating, learning, and discovering the real forces and the beings that are among us.

It is real discernment of spirit that gives us the edge over those who are unaware of other realities. When you can see, you can judge; when you can judge, you have the power to choose. When you have the power to choose, you are master of your own destiny.

It becomes your decision alone as to whom you will believe, whom you will trust, and who has authority over you. It is this kind of freedom that the religious systems don’t want you to have. They don’t want you out of their control. When you are under God’s control, you are out of their control. Being out of their control makes you a free spirit and the enemy of the religious system.

BEING OUT OF THEIR CONTROL MAKES YOU A FREE SPIRIT AND THE ENEMY OF THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM.

Nonetheless, we are made to obey the Lord Jesus over man. If we are not spiritual, we will never understand who He really is and His destiny for our lives. Having discernment as a natural part of our lives helps us understand the forces at play and how to respond to them.

But if we are not aware of what is happening around us, dimensionally speaking, we are sure to fall into the trap of mistaking the desires, passions, and emotions of this spirit realm to be ours. But, you may say, don’t we want the feelings and desires and emotions of God to be ours? Most certainly, I respond. But it is also essential that we can discern the difference between what is coming from God, and what is coming from other places, like ourselves, others, or the enemy of our souls.

Beyond the Senses

Discernment does not begin with what we see or hear. Discernment of the Holy Spirit goes to the deepest part of who we really are. We are not like the animal species that have only the five senses alone to attempt to understand the world around them.

What we are connected with through the five senses is controlled, motivated, and understood by spiritual or multi-dimensional activity. This realm of spirit cannot be discerned by anything that is natural. The five senses cannot see into another dimension. The five senses cannot discern the spirit realm. The five senses, however, can observe the activity in this realm; and therefore, we conclude that there are forces, undetectable by earthly means, controlling or at least influencing what we actually see.

The science of physics requires physical evidence to admit the existence of a substance. It does not allow for other-dimensional causality. It assumes, rather, takes as its primary tenet, that there is no connection between the natural and the spiritual. Indeed, it declares that if something cannot be explained, examined, measured, and understood by the five senses, it does not exist at all. Therefore, anything other than this physical realm, according to scientific principles and law, does not exist.

God’s message is alive and active. It is sharper than any sword with two sharp edges. It can slice between the soul and the spirit or between the joints and bone marrow. It can tell the difference between the desires and the intentions of the human mind (Hebrews 4:12).

On the other hand, quantum physics suggests that the seen can indeed be motivated by the unseen; that if something occurs in this reality that cannot be explained by examination using the five senses, there is a good probability that it is affected by a force from another dimension or reality.

I am captivated by the way science seems to be increasingly dissatisfied with the explanations that have been widely accepted for many years. Among the most genuine of true researchers are those with the willingness to find truth rather than to find support for a particular theory. This is what separated Albert Einstein from other physicists. His passion was for truth and reality. He was driven to find the truth regardless of what it meant to old and established theories and accepted truth. This was especially true when it came to his own research.

Einstein often talked about his basic philosophy of research. He was passionate about going into his lab every day with the mind of a beginner. He knew that discovery, although most fulfilling, was also the greatest enemy he had to deal with. Unlike other researchers, discovery was never the end of the story for him. Further research could easily find his discoveries not the answer at all, but simply another turn in the road toward even greater understanding and more profound truth.

In today’s laboratories, make no mistake, cronyism is alive and well in the scientific community. Many spend their lives trying to shore up the un-shoreable and prove the un-provable. This common close-mindedness results in limited advancements in some of the most crucial areas of research.

But before we are too hard on these modern-day scientists, we need to realize that religious cronyism is even more rampant—and eternally even more damning. The religious systems are absolutely determined to shore up some of the oldest traditions of the church machines. Thus, the hungry, the searching, and those who experience the invisible every day, are left on their own.

In truth, this probably is a good thing. It gives a new generation of believers the freedom they would not have otherwise. The God of all realities is revealing Himself to those who are willing to explore what others have never seen, experienced, speculated about, or imagined.

…Come up here! I will show you things that must happen later (Revelation 4:1).

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24 NKJV).

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25 NKJV).

…Live by following the Spirit. Then you won’t do the selfish and evil things that you want in your human nature (Galatians 5:16).

What has been born from men is human. And what has been born from the Spirit is spiritual (John 3:6).

The Spirit is life-giving; physical things are not worth very much. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life… (John 6:63).

I can easily fill up the rest of this book with verses that command us to live, walk, and manifest the Spirit. But let these be sufficient to establish the need to become spiritual people. If we, as believers, are not spiritual, we are no different from anyone else. We have lost our advantage. We have lost the essence of our faith, which is based on a spiritual relationship with Jesus. It sounds too ridiculous to even have to say this. How can one have a spiritual relationship without being spiritual? Rather impossible, to be sure.

How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance (Psalm 89:15 NASB).

But spiritual relationship is far more than having a cup of coffee with the Lord first thing in the morning while you read a devotional. It is actually a union with Him that causes all things spiritual to pour into our spirits. After all, “All of the treasures and hidden wisdom are found in Christ” (Col. 2:3). How does this wealth of wisdom come into us if we are not spiritual? John tells us, “You don’t need anyone to teach you” (1 John 2:27). The Spirit Himself teaches us about all things pertaining to life and godliness. The Spirit keeps us in touch with the world, both natural and spiritual.

The Invisible Connection

Discernment then, becomes a way of life. It is the foundation of our lives and our faith. The decisions we make, the alliances we construct, and the relationships we develop are all foundationally determined by the wealth of information we absorb from the five senses and the spirit. When you hear people say that “something doesn’t feel right,” or they feel uncomfortable in a certain situation, or even when they sense something wrong with a song, movie, or television show that cannot be understood, it is usually the result of some kind of spiritual connection, whether or not they consider themselves spiritual.

The connection we have with the invisible is a connection built into us by the Lord Jesus Himself. We are created with the ability to fellowship, communicate, discern, and discover in the Spirit. This connection is intended by God to be a normal part of living. For those who are tuned to this realm, life can be far more meaningful and certain.

Why then is this connection of spirit so maligned? Why does almost every part of society feel a need to deny and dispel the possibility of its existence?

It is somewhat easy to understand why this occurs in the secular media and in the government. So much harm is done to folks through those who falsely represent the Lord and all He stands for. Christians have killed, stolen, lied, cheated, and done irreparable harm to so many and in so many ways, all in the name of Jesus. The spiritual has a history of brokenness and abuse. As ill-advised as it may be, exploiting it in the news and through legislation is their only apparent method of trying to control it.

But what others have done before is not my concern, nor does it hinder me. For I am convinced that the fruit of the Spirit can, will, and does win over even the most skeptical. I cannot control another man’s actions, but I can control mine. My joy, my passion, my deepest desire is for the love of God through me to inspire those around me so that their thoughts, preconceived notions, and belief in God are brought to the point of surrender to His loving mercy and grace.

Who Is Connected?

Who is connected to the spiritual realm? Every believer is connected. It is amazing to me that so many believers do not know about this invisible spiritual connection. They do not seem to understand that their activities are a reflection of the God they claim to serve, whether or not they are actually allowing Jesus to live His life through them. Like it or not, our conduct reflects the Lord we have living within us.

Like it our not, we are judged by our actions, attitudes, and reactions to everything around us. Like it or not, folks around us only see what we do and only hear what we say. We are judged by what others see of us. When we get this, we begin to understand that yielding to our already existing Spirit connection will be the most powerful way to display, give, and truly experience God’s love.

Who Knows What Jesus Would Do?

One thing is certain, the Church Jesus is building accurately represents Him and all He stands for—His Presence permeates those who yield to Him. Those who mimic the truly spiritual will not be able to stand with the congregation of those who are true lights to the world. His light shining from the believer cannot be faked. It cannot be imputed. The hidden personal ambitions of humankind or its personal, religious mega machines cannot fool the one who is yielding to the Spirit within and the discernment that is part of that very real, spiritual union.

When the Church Jesus is building becomes more and more visible, discernment will become a cornerstone of Her success and the tool of the Spirit that the believer will use to detect the imposters among the true believers.

The craze that asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” is indicative of the believer’s inability to know what to do in a particular situation. But the solution is not an intellectual evaluation. The connection we have between our spirit and His Spirit is certainly the key that will bring resolve to the most difficult of situations. Learning the power of rest and yielding to Him allows His Presence to ooze through us in a most profound way. His healing Presence flowing through us to the world cannot even be compared to the religious attempts to offer spiritual answers.

Most believers do not understand why discernment is not taught. If discernment is taught, it is taught in a limited context instead of in the full scope God intended from the beginning. Without the spirit of discernment at work in the believer, charlatan leaders and wolves can work among the sheep completely undetected. They can do anything they want and no one will know. They can teach their own brand of Christianity, one that keeps the flock unfulfilled, anemic, guilty, and poor.

True discernment is the assurance that the ones you follow have your best interest at heart and are truly responding to the Spirit of the Lord in all they do. Keeping the flock unaware of their activities allows them to live undetected as they milk the flock and build their personal empires.

WITHOUT THE SPIRIT OF DISCERNMENT, CHARLATAN LEADERS AND WOLVES CAN WORK AMONG THE SHEEP COMPLETELY UNDETECTED.

The church system attendee is basically incapable of keeping a spiritual eye on those who lead them. Because we have replaced true discernment with the five senses, we are incapable of true discernment. As mentioned previously, the five senses cannot discern the realms of the invisible.

Discernment Hindered

What can hinder true discernment? Tradition, religion, and pain are three of the major reasons we cannot discern. Of course there are many other reasons too, but because this book is not specifically about discernment, I will not delve too deeply into this subtopic. Watch for my next book.

It is amazing how shallow many of us live. We depend on tradition, customs, and familiarity to lull us into a lifestyle that is comfortable and nonthreatening. In this comfort zone, we tend not to question things that don’t seem “quite right.” We dismiss sermons that leave us “wondering.” And we “assume” that what has worked for years will keep on working. We seem to miss the reality that what we think is working, is really a failure in the most extreme sense of the word. We have all but decided that to discern between right and wrong, following His voice, is just too risky.

Can’t Be Shallow Disciples

Sometimes we assume the first feeling we have about a circumstance, person, or relationship is the correct one. We believe that the most forceful opinion is the correct one, and that pain is really the leading of the Holy Spirit. So we submit to the feelings and senses of the natural without the advantage of testing these feelings in the spiritual. But time in His Presence, whether in worship, prayer, or meditation, helps us learn how to yield and ultimately discern the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.

The religious machines of today are so enmeshed in society. This hinders discernment in that their policies and procedures seem to keep things moving along nicely. After all, there are social events, Bible studies, special speakers, and a slew of programs to entertain the church members. What’s to discern about all that? you may wonder. Refusing to discern the motives and personal agendas of the religious machines leads to a diet of milk and tickled ears—not meat and armor (see Heb. 5:13; Acts 28:17; Rom. 13:12). This is not to say that churches function in this fashion, but you should examine the ones to whom you entrust your life and your family’s spiritual health.

Obedience to Him, even when we don’t want to obey, also grants us the sense of His Presence that we can learn to rely on in times of decision. Truth is, one of the only times we truly grow in Christ is when we are willing to obey in very difficult times. The Word of God, the living Word of God, will separate our natural arguments and fleshy stubbornness from the work of the Holy Spirit deep in our hearts. At the end of the day, understanding His prompting from our own fleshy tendencies is the best hope we have of living successful and fruitful lives in our Lord Jesus.

THE LIVING WORD OF GOD SEPARATES OUR NATURAL ARGUMENTS AND FLESHY STUBBORNNESS FROM THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT DEEP IN OUR HEARTS.

Pain is the catalyst of memories we want to forget. But these memories skew our thinking and cloud our discernment. These memories keep us in our past. They keep us mourning events that are long gone. Pain prevents us from seeing the present and the future with hope or certainty. It often gives us a negative view of God and causes us not to trust Him as we should.

Suffering cannot be underestimated. The circumstances that try our faith and cause us to sometimes question the heart of what we believe are times to be embraced, as they teach us His nearness and faithfulness. Suffering provides the opportunity to face the facts without blame or excuse, fear or uncertainty. Suffering can force us to see things within us that are not so pleasant, but that will harm us if allowed to continue to live in our hearts. We should not run from suffering; it produces a brokenness that will change our lives forever. It produces a maturity and humility that a thousand Bible studies will never produce in our lives.

Pain is a horrible taskmaster. It reminds you of wrongs done to you and locks you into the past while not allowing you a clear and correct view of all that God has for you.

The most effective in God’s plan are those who will grow in discernment and who will have the courage to question what does not seem right. These folks should have the courage to be the wall that prevents religion from crushing the beautiful thing God wants to do. You know what is right. You know what you have experienced. You know how God has touched you. For you there is no argument. You must make your stand. Yet, even making a stand apart from mercy, all the other fruit of the spirit merely disqualifies you as a messenger.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for Your mercy. We thank You for Your love. And Jesus, we commit ourselves to grow in discernment, to quit acting like mere mortals and start acting like the spiritual men and women You have made us. In Jesus’ name we commit ourselves to be spiritual people—to come up hither out of the flesh and dwell in the Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.

ENDNOTE

1. “Discernment,” TheFreeDictionary.com, www.thefree dictionary.com/discernment; accessed August 21, 2010.

LIVING OUT OF YOUR BOX

The Holy Spirit often wants to do things different from our order of church service, our order of worship, our order of life.

God is showing Himself in a powerful way. God is coming into our churches and He won’t care what is in His way—procedures, policies, programs—He will be out of control.

Be careful that you are not holding on to the wrong thing, because if you are, you will go down with the religious system He is dismantling. There is nothing sacred in our buildings, there is nothing sacred in our order of service or in how we worship. The only sacred thing is His manifest Presence.

His Manifest Presence

When His manifest Presence is evidenced in the church, not much else matters. When God is in the house, all the focus is on Him.

I was in Kentucky for meetings. I was supposed to teach six times to various audiences. The first morning, I taught the pastors to get ready for God to move in. I remember telling them, “When God is in the house, you don’t even have to preach.” Not preach? Will we backslide? Will the people be confused? they wondered. I responded to their questions by telling them again to “Get ready!” Little did I know that very night the Presence of God would explode into that same auditorium.

That evening, His Presence was so mighty that there was never one word spoken from the microphone. No one said, “Welcome to the service.” No one said, “Don Nori is here.” No one took an offering. No one led worship—but the worship of the Lord arose in the building. I looked at the pastor and he could hardly stand up.

I said, “Pastor, I don’t think I should preach tonight.”

He looked at me and said, “You’re not preaching tonight?”

I said, “Pastor, when the Man is in the house, this man has got nothing to say.”

We watched people cry out to God. We watched children get saved with no one leading them to the Lord. It was a glorious time!

We also saw pastors who came into the back of the church to see what would happen. They were amazed as their wives began to dance and shout in the Presence of God. By the end of the night, everybody was dancing and singing. People started to leave after four hours, and nobody said one word from the microphone. This happened four nights in a row.

I went there to preach and I couldn’t preach. But who wants to hear me when God is in the house? Of course, there are times when we need to teach; but over the past several hundred years, we have made no time for Him to be heard and felt. We have made time for our preaching and our order of worship, but we have made no time for Him.

The Lord is taking His Church back to Himself. Jesus said, “I’ll build My own church and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it.” Pastors just need to be His assistants. We just need to do what He says to do. In fact, Jesus is the One who started it all. He is the One who said, “Whatever I see My Father in Heaven doing, that is what I will do” (see John 5:19). So if I don’t see my Father in Heaven doing it, I’m not going to do it.

When Jesus was at the pool of Bethesda, there were hundreds of sick people there. Jesus only saw His Father healing one, so that’s the only one He healed. Then He walked away from the pool of Bethesda, leaving hundreds of people still sick (see John 5:1-9). Why did He do that? I have no idea. He is God; and He does what He wants to do. Jesus saw His Father healing only that one person. God will have likewise obedient folks. He is looking for people who will love Him enough to do only what He says to do whether somebody else likes it or not. We are not here to please others; we’ve got to do what God says to do. It can be difficult for ministries today to only pray for one with everyone else sick. But this is our pattern from our Lord. Do only what we see our Father doing, nothing more, nothing less.

Some ridicule the Roman Catholics because they keep God in a box in the front of the church. Well, I contend that we Charismatics are just a little craftier than they are. Our box is in our minds, and we know better than to put it where everybody can see it. We keep our God box where no one can see it. You must be very, very concerned about anybody who says, “God didn’t, can’t, won’t, hasn’t, etc.,” anything that limits God. He is an ever-expanding God—not constrained by space or time—except when His children restrict His creativity by not believing.

Spiritual Push-Back

There will be men and women who will stand in the gap, saying, “Wait, we will not let you limit God anymore. We have seen Him and we have heard Him.” The apostle John said, “That which we have seen and heard and handled of the good Word, this is what we declare to you” (see 1 John 1:3).

We have this same passion as John did! I don’t declare theory. I don’t declare theology. I’m talking to you about what I have experienced. I’m talking to you about what I have personally experienced and touched of God. I no longer shrink back in silence because someone tries to tell me I am wrong, or ridicules me for my faith. I know who I believe. I know what He has done for me and through me. The evidence I have is my life. I am a changed man. I have seen many miracles and continue to see many miracles in my life and in the lives I am responsible for.

This is called spiritual push-back. Instead of simply falling silent at the accusations of those who do not believe, I will stand my ground. I no longer argue with the blind who try to tell me what a rainbow looks like. In the love and compassion of our Lord, I will now freely declare and even argue with those to whom I am led to be a witness. I will lift my voice without fear.

But there need to be men and women worldwide who will rise up and once and for all push back those who are resisting the Lord and attempting to discredit the work of the cross. Right now, there are many who are ready to rise up and resist the anti-Holy Spirit activity and dark conversation of carnal people.

There have been reports about how the Holy Spirit is moving anew and afresh in places all around the world. We also hear about the opposition to these moves of God. It is important that we understand the difference between what God wants to do and what man wants to do. God will do what He wants to do without our permission. He does not need to ask our opinion. He only asks for our cooperation. Discerning gatekeepers of the Church Jesus is building determine what gets into their church and what gets into the city. If the pastors see something they do not like, it does not get in. But if the pastor sees something that is of the Lord, then the blessing of God falls. When something unusual happens, it is important that the people have a discerning spirit to know what is from the Lord. The church that will change the world is the church that hears from the Lord. We must have a spirit that can touch the Spirit of God. We must have a spirit that can discern what is happening in the spiritual realm, so that as God moves, we can agree and say, “Yes, this is something that God is doing.”

If a pastor cannot discern the move of God, or if he is fearful of God out of his control, he will simply close the spiritual gate to the city, as much as it is in his sphere of influence to do so. It is imperative that God’s people begin to hear, proclaim, and encourage the genuine work of the Lord among humankind.

The months and the years ahead are going to be extremely challenging. We are going to need God’s Presence and power more than we have ever needed it before. The level of power we have had in the past will not withstand the onslaught the enemy will bring us. But God’s power is not the problem; He will send as much power as we need to overcome the enemy. The problem is never God’s power; the problem is our ability to let God show Himself in new ways. The problem is whether we have the ability to say yes to the Lord even when it goes against the traditions we have experienced, the things we believe, or the effects this divine activity might have on our lives personally.

THE PROBLEM IS NEVER GOD’S POWER; THE PROBLEM IS OUR ABILITY TO LET GOD SHOW HIMSELF IN NEW WAYS.

We spend too much of our time being controlled by carnal, angry people who have never experienced the Presence of God. They come speaking in apparent authority, and many are fooled by their words. Many believers are tossed in the waves of an angry sea. They do not know where they are going. They do not know where they came from, and they do not know what is stirring the sea. Knowing the Lord and having spiritual sensitivity will give you strength and assurance to not allow yourself to be persuaded only by the words of others, but rather to be persuaded by the spirit of discernment in their hearts. This is the beginning of spiritual push-back.

I have urgency in my spirit that may cause me to say some alarming things. I write them to you out of love and compassion for His children. God wants our hearts open and ready so that whenever He does what He is about to do, there will be people prepared and ready to say yes to Him, releasing Him from our control and allowing Him to do things on our behalf that are not a part of the box of tradition, religion, pain, and past. Ultimately, our goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to destroy this box completely. Of course it is a process, but it is a process that, if allowed to continue, will certainly lead you into the glorious liberty of His children.

While confused men and women argue among themselves in the corner, the Kingdom of the living God will rise up and do the will of God.

I am not interested in arguments anymore. Jesus said, “You will know My disciples by their fruit” (see John 15:8). Matthew says that every good tree bears good fruit, but bad trees bear bad fruit (see Matt. 12:33). A good tree can’t produce bad fruit any more than a bad tree can produce good fruit. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Don’t look at what they say; look at what they are producing.” Anybody can sit in the seat of the scornful, and criticize and rebuke and find fault. But it takes men and women of courage, who will not listen to those voices, but who will give themselves to the Spirit of the Lord and examine the fruit, to determine the will of God and determine His activity.

In the Name of Jesus

Living with God out of control and out of the box means recognizing and experiencing the new and exciting activity of God on this planet. You will begin to see healing through the Holy Spirit and redemptive revelation in Christ Jesus. Living with God out of control and out of the box means that we no longer live in a self-made box placed in a self-contained sealed room where we keep God under our control. In fact, the Bible says that we are looking for a city made without hands whose builder and maker is God (see Heb. 11:10). We need to be willing to see things that have not been seen before. Let’s not be satisfied with things as they have always been. We must look for the city made without hands, one we have not seen before. We must look for the love of God in ways we have never experienced.

Everything begins to change as soon as I open to hear His voice. For instance, any time I pray a prayer in the name of Jesus, is there anyone else who can answer that prayer? When you pray in the name of Jesus, who answers the prayer? Can the devil answer the prayer prayed in Jesus’ name? No! So if my brother is sick and I lay my hand upon him and pray in the name of Jesus, and he is healed, could the devil have healed him?

If I cannot trust the name of Jesus, we are all in big trouble. I cannot then trust Him for anything. When I pray in Jesus’ name, I am praying in the power and the authority of the Son of God. Can the enemy push Jesus aside and answer that prayer? What a ridiculous question!

So, to the question, “Who heals in Jesus’ name?” Only Jesus, my friend, only Jesus.

Now, this little example probably helped you in clarifying some questions concerning His authority. Your box just got messed with! God is a tad more out of your control than He was a few moments ago. The Lord can and will do this kind of revelation for you as often as you are open.

When we live with God out of our mental box, we will discover a whole new world of God’s amazing activity on the earth.

Out of the Box—Into Christ

Paul demonstrated God’s life in power, not just in words—we must do the same. Listen to the apostle Paul:

And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:4-9).

Verse 9 is worth another read: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” If there are things we have not seen, if there are things we have not heard, if there are things that have never entered into our hearts before, then there are new things. There are things we have never experienced. If we are going to go on in the things God wants to do, we have to trust Him that there are things we have not experienced before that we will begin to experience.

If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we always have had. I don’t know about you, but I am not satisfied with what I have always had. Are you satisfied that there are only 50 to 100 people in most churches? Are you satisfied that there are so few people being healed? I am not satisfied, but we continue to do the same things we have always done.

God is showing us His way, which is really not a new way: it is through His eternal Word. We just haven’t seen it before. The Bible is the Word of God, and believers don’t want to do anything to violate His Word. But, as mentioned previously, He will violate what we think His Word says. He will always challenge our doctrines, He will always challenge our traditions, He will always challenge the way we have always done things, because He has no respect for our old traditions or for a religion that denies the power of God.

Believers are so fearful of heresy that they do not want to risk hearing anything different than what they have always heard. But those who are tired of things as usual will certainly change the world.

So Who Changes the World, Really?

It is not the intellect that changes the world. If intelligence could change the world, we would have a perfect world. There are many very intelligent people in every country worldwide, but intelligence does not change the world for His glory.

Discernment is simple—it is grown in you during the time you spend in His Presence. The more time you spend in God’s Presence, the more discernment you have, because you learn how His Presence feels. You learn how His Presence moves and how He thinks.

Please understand that the world and the religious system wants you to believe your five senses more than it wants you to believe the Holy Spirit. It wants you to trust reason more than it wants you to trust His Presence.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we commit ourselves to worshiping You. Whether we are worshiping in church, or whether we are in our car or at home or at work, wherever we can put worship music on, we will put it on and worship the Lord. We commit to continually inviting Your presence into our lives and continually saying yes to the work of the Holy Spirit. Lord, we have said yes to the devil long enough, and to our own flesh long enough. Please help us to say yes to Jesus, to You, and to the Holy Spirit each and every time You present Yourself to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

10

THE TIME IS ALWAYS NOW

When God is out of our control in our lives, our ride is exciting and our world changes in the most unusual ways. Our world does not become religious as we become spiritual; it becomes Christian, or aware of the needs and the solutions. We become more compassionate, more merciful, more caring, more giving, and more like Jesus in every way. But even the Christ-centered heart is not time-centered, for our Lord is out of time. He has His primary existence in the dimension that is not under the rules of our dimension. Our earthly realm is under the tyranny of time, space, and distance. Those who begin to see the work of the Lord beyond our own realm will be the world changers that will never be stopped. For these dimensionally-aware folks will perceive, understand, and accept the operation and intervention of God as He sees fit. Our intercession facilitates the work of God among us by simply agreeing with His plan, even when we do not know what that plan is.

Many will call this irresponsible blind faith. They are partially correct. It is blind faith, but not irresponsible. Who can we really trust if we cannot trust Him? Who knows what He knows and who can see what He sees? Who can be trusted to have our best interests at heart if not Him? Of course, that is simple. There is no one who even begins to compare to our Lord. But this answer may not be so obvious to those who do not know Him. It may not be so obvious to those who have had a wrong image of God instilled in them in the past. Rebuilding a truthful, loving relationship with Jesus back into the hearts of everyone is the necessary first step to trusting Him by believing what we cannot see for ourselves.

Discerning Time in Timelessness

This initially sounds like so much double-talk. How can time be understood where there is no time? Yet, we do this all the time every time we pray. When we pray, we believe the words we have either spoken or prayed silently are instantly heard by a God who is able to be everywhere at the same time. Not only is He hearing the prayers of millions in countless languages at the same time, we believe that our prayer sets off a series of events that will eventually result in an answered prayer. We do not even consider the multi-dimensional physics involved in the processes that result in God hearing and then answering our prayers. Let us take this a step further. When we pray for a missionary in India or a student away at college, we believe that He instantly sends help to those we have prayed for, without thought to time, space, or meeting the material needs we have prayed for.

My question is simple. If we believe in prayer, why do we stop at that relatively elementary use of dimensional physics? Why not put the fullness of all dimensional realities to work for the purposes of God in this dimension, as He obviously intended? Did He not move in the miraculous? Did He not raise the dead, heal the sick, walk through walls, and materialize enough food for thousands of people? Wasn’t Phillip supernaturally transported, Elijah taken in a chariot, Peter freed from prison by an angel, and Israel fed by manna from Heaven? The whole of Scripture oozes with the multi-dimensional realities of our universe, yet we choose to limit what God can and will do among us.

Not only have we controlled God’s actions and thoughts, but we have denied the reality of the full nature and intent of the salvation He purchased for us. God exists in all realities. He is the Lord in all realities. He is outside of time and space, and He dwells in us as well…dare I say, at the same time?

Even the prophets of old understood that what they heard in the realm of spirit did not necessarily translate into an immediate event. Consider:

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12 NASB).

These ancients understood what it meant to look into the dimension of timelessness, interpreting what they saw from the reference of the spirit realm, and not their own. These prophets saw that the application of their timeless vision had to have the correct placement into this realm in order to have it properly understood. They understood that truth is dimensional. True discernment must be used in interpreting the things of the Spirit. However, when we do not understand or we reject that truth has multi-dimensional attributes, we will argue about everything. When we don’t get it that the dimension of spirit has different rules, we will always miss the appropriate truth according to the rules of engagement for this realm. The results of this way of thinking will be divisiveness, strife, and powerlessness.

The purposes of God for us do not include defending our personal doctrinal positions as though we are defending Christianity itself. He is bigger than our understanding and more compassionate toward us, as He sees us in search for truth and life. We need to allow the Lord who indwells us to ooze through our lives so we can show the same kindness to others that He shows to us in our own search for truth, reality, and union with God.

Our true existence is multi-dimensional. Our true identity is spiritual, and our true fellowship with Him is found in the dimension in which He has His roots; those roots are not in time and space. We must determine in our hearts that we will no longer “naturalize” what is spiritual. We should not be dedicated to making a supernatural faith into a philosophy that is easily understood and predictable by the natural mind. The mystery of the spiritual needs to be accepted by spiritual faith, understood by spiritual minds, and acted upon in a way that causes the eternal to transcend the dimensions to establish His Kingdom on earth. In short, instead of dumbing down the spiritual, we need to lift our eyes to Him, who will expand our understanding and our experience with Him.

God’s Too Grand Plan?

God’s grand plan may seem too overwhelming. There is no way we can individually fulfill His plan for the world, or so we believe. Sometimes we get tired of hearing about God’s plan; there are just too many other things to do. There are too many problems, too many troubles. It’s hard enough to live day by day, let alone think about changing the world. We don’t even have time to think about God’s plan, let alone do something about it.

But thank the Lord that He has time to think about His plans for the world—and for you and for me. Thank God that He is not too busy to use us. He is not too busy to bring us to wholeness so that we can be part of what He wants to do.

God wants to be out of our control. He wants us to say yes so that He can do what He wants to do. We do not have to be afraid of God out of control, because He knows exactly what He wants to do. He wants us to stop telling Him what to do, and He wants to start telling us what to do. He does not live for us—we live for Him.

Jesus tells us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and everything we need will be taken care of (see Matt. 6:33). But that is not what religion teaches us. Religion teaches us that God lives for us. Religion teaches us that God is waiting on us like a server in a restaurant. He’s got a white towel over His arm, asking, “What can I do for you today?” No, no, no! We are His servants; we wait upon Him. We trust Him to take care of all our needs so we can do His work.

The most sorry, boring, unfulfilled life is a life centered on yourself. It is an amazing thing: the more you do things to try to please yourself, the less satisfied you are. The harder you work to please yourself, the more you want. That is because you were not made to serve yourself. You were made to serve the Lord. You were made to do what He wants you to do.

You were not made to be self-centered, but that is what religion teaches you—to be self-centered. And for all that you have been taught and all the time you spend worrying about yourself and all the time you spend being concerned about your needs, you are no better off. You are no happier. This is because your greatest joy will come when you learn to serve the Lord and to do the things that please Him.

THE MOST SORRY, BORING, UNFULFILLED LIFE IS A LIFE CENTERED ON YOURSELF.

Turning from our me-centered way of thinking takes a radical change of mind. We are used to thinking about ourselves. We live inside our own worries. We live inside our own problems. We live inside our own fear. We live inside our own anger. We live inside our own tradition, religion, and doctrines. We feel comfortable and safe within the mental thought box we have built for ourselves over the years.

You need to be careful not to be offended at the thought of limiting God’s activity in your life. It is the natural tendency of humanity to limit, even to deny what we cannot understand, what we fear, or what we don’t like. But I have good news for you. If He can help me begin to step out of the limitations of my little world, He can do so for anyone. Really. You have no idea (and I am not going to tell) what I have struggled with in my own journey of discovery and fulfillment. When I think about it, I don’t know if I want to laugh or cry. Believe that you are not alone in your struggle, in your search, or in your hunger for more of Him and the union that will bring ultimate fulfillment.

You have to admit, as I did and still do, that we have created a nice, cozy world where we think we control the activity and the timing of everything. We are afraid to come out because we don’t know what life will be like outside. We live our entire lives inside the world we have created for ourselves.

If we have a lot of religious doctrine and tradition keeping us company in there, it is easy to blame the smallness of our minds on what we believe God has said. We can easily justify living in our own world, because of the way we have limited God. As a consequence, we may struggle from day to day worrying about things that don’t really matter.

You were born for a reason and that reason is outside your cramped, little world. It is outside of that little box we have made for ourselves. The Psalmist saw beyond his confining mental box to explore the vastness of the Lord—the un-inhibiting vastness that God wants us to enjoy and be blessed by.

With our natural minds, we will never understand all that God has prepared for us. But by His Spirit, we can understand it, we can see it, and we can experience it. God wants to break into our little worlds. He wants us to step into the timelessness of eternity while we are still on earth. He wants to show us why we were born—and He wants to do it now. We do not have to spend the rest of our lives worrying about our own condition. We must trust our condition to the Lord so that we can go and do His Will.

Refocus Everything

It would be very foolish and very unusual in most families if the children were not sure if they would be taken care of. Years ago, when I came home from work in the evening, my children never asked me, “Are you going to feed us today? Are we going to have enough to eat? Daddy, are we going to have a bed to sleep in tonight?” No, this didn’t happen. Why? Because our children knew the love of their parents. They knew that we would take care of them.

In reality, when I came home in the evening, my children ran to me, asking, “Daddy, what are we going to do tonight? Can we play ball together? Can we go for a walk in the woods? Can we take a horse ride?” They were not worried about having clothes to wear. They were not worried about where they would sleep. They knew that, as our children, they would be taken care of. They only wanted to be with me, to do what I was doing, go where I was going, because they loved me and wanted to be with me.

It should be the same way between us and our Lord. Jesus says to seek Him, come to Him, be with Him. Everything we need will be provided by Him. Don’t worry about those earthly needs. Trust those needs to Him. He will take care of us.

We simply need to refocus all our doctrines, troubles, and worries. These will always keep us earthbound. They will always blind us from the reality of the eternal dimensions of His origin. No wonder Paul encouraged us to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is” (Col. 3:1 NASB), and again he exhorted us to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col 3:16 KJV). A Christcentered life really means a Spirit-centered life, for “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24 NASB).

No Matter What

God’s perfect plan for us is out of our control, out of our box, and out of our time.

Religion teaches that we must seek and seek and seek and seek but we never really find. But Jesus teaches something different:

So, I tell you, continue asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. You will receive, if you will always ask. You will find, if you keep looking. And the door will open for you, if you continue knocking (Luke 11:9-10).

It is a far different picture that Jesus paints. Seek and you will find. There is an end to our search. But remember that our destiny will not be within our self-made world. The discovery is outside our control in every way, outside ourselves, outside our needs and our personal desires. It is one thing to let God out of our control, out of our thought box, and out of time, but it is a completely different thing for us to do the same as well.

You Are the Connection Between Dimensions

The only hands on earth that God has are your hands. The only eyes He has are yours. The only smile He has is your smile. The only hug that God has is your hug. The only hope that people have is the hope that you bring them. If folks come to understand the reality of the eternal as well as God’s love for them, it will be because folks like you are allowing God to shine through you from His dimension into ours. In a real way, you are the window into the Spirit for those around you.

The Holy Spirit is always calling to us. The Words of the Lord come from the realm of eternity where there is no time. Therefore these Words, spoken once out of the dimension of His origin, ring across the expanse of time into our point of existence, whenever that may be. So the Words spoken through Isaiah, “With His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5) are heard for the first time every time we are tuned into the spirit realm. If we are always tuned into Him, then the Word is always being spoken now.

Many years ago, I heard the Word of the Lord “come alive” in John 4:24: “God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Every time I hear that verse today, it causes my spirit to leap, for I am hearing it as it breaks through our dimension. It is therefore “alive.” Many use that term to indicate that there is an anointing on the verse, or God “quickened” it to us. In reality, His Words are always alive, always anointed, always being quickened. For when we experience this phenomenon, we are merely hearing the Words coming out from His mouth the moment He speaks them; because in His dimension, He has just spoken them. It has to be a “fresh word” because it has just been spoken. Now, when I read this verse a year from now, it is as though it was just spoken, because it was. No wonder the Name of the Lord is the great I AM. In relation to our dimension, there is not past or future; there is only now. Our relationship is always current, always now. The Scriptures exhort us, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3:15). It is because there is no tomorrow. There is no “I will get around to it.” When you hear the Word tomorrow, it will be the same, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Talk about needing the mind of Christ! How can we ever learn to think in non-linear terms without the mind of Christ who has an eternity of non-linear existence! The fullest understanding and experience of our salvation can only unfold as we remove all the limitations of our minds as they are imprisoned in this reality.

Step Into Christ, Step Into Eternity

The Holy Spirit is always calling to mankind. He is always calling us to come out of ourselves and into Him—out of our personal, earthbound issues and into His Spirit. Pentecostal people have a great advantage over others in that we believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. We can experience God in a yieldedness that cannot be had any other way. But we have turned our Pentecostal experience into a legalism that is worse than any other. We have traded our power for popularity, our compassion for complacency, and turned our commission into commonplace religion.

The religious system turns our focus from the Source of all things eternal to all things fleshy, temporal, and legal. We are more concerned that our arms are covered than we are about using them to help His children—than about hearing the Spirit of the Lord. Sometimes we are more concerned about having a suit and tie on than we are about being touched by Him. We worry about covering our heads but don’t care about having our hearts covered with His Presence. Our precious faith has turned into a pointless deathtrap, where the concern is not what we can do but what we shouldn’t do. (See Matt. 5:17; Rom. 13:8.)

Instead of being a life-giving fountain of glorious love, we have turned our faith into a list of rules and regulations that make us wonder if we are even saved. Do you have the courage to step out of that bondage and become the glorious witness of His Spirit that we are intended to be?

The city set on a hill that cannot be hidden is a city that explodes with the brilliance of His manifest Presence and the love of Jesus (see Matt. 5:14). That is the city that the nations will run to. They are not going to run to a list of rules and regulations—they are already condemned, they are already living in death, they are already burdened with guilt and fear—they don’t have to come to Christ to experience more of it. They need to come to Christ to be freed from the pain and the suffering that the world has put on them. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, and we should not come under again a yoke of bondage. Eternity is pregnant with the life-giving flow of His Spirit. The world awaits those who will buck the tide of commercial religion and simply be the light of the world.

Many nations, including “Christian” nations, live in incredible darkness with only a few centers of His glorious light. You are one of those lights. God wants to take you out of your comfort zone and free you from the bondage of religion so you can become the beacon of glorious light that people will run to. If people are not running to our light, there are only two reasons why:

1. The Gospel is not true; the Bible is not true. When the prophet said the nations will run to our light, that is simply not true.

or

2. We are not the light that we think we are.

Which reason do you think is correct?

I know God has revealed His plan in your heart. I know His deep love for you. I’m really not telling you anything that you don’t already have in your heart. I just want to pop the cork so the spiritual champagne can fizz out all over the nations.

But it will take courage, honesty, and persistence to drink of the intoxicating Holy Spirit and His supernatural blessings. It will take courage to change what needs to be changed, to risk being something and someone different. It will take courage to attempt things that have never been done and to hear things that you have never heard. It will take courage to see things you have never seen, and it will take honesty to admit that, “I’m not the light that I know I should be. Yes, I have to change. I know there is something more than I am currently experiencing.”

And it will take persistence to realize that, every day you wake up, your confession must be simple; after all, His mercies are new every morning. This is a new day, this is a new way to serve Him. Whatever you did yesterday, the Lord forgives you. Today you are free; today you will serve the Lord.

But many of us wake up with fear; many of us wake up with great uncertainty. Even though we repent of our sin and our slate is wiped clean, we continue to dwell on the offenses, holding on to guilt after He has forgiven us. This ought not be so. He totally takes away our sin—we cannot hold on to the guilt. We need to give it up so we can go on and serve Him. His mercies are new every morning when we remember to live with an attitude of sincere repentance.

The time is now to climb out of your self-made box full of religious bondage, guilt, and fear. The Word of the Lord is for today—open wide your heart, your mind, and your dreams, and live totally for Him. Risk hearing what God is saying and then risk doing it.

There is no doubt that allowing eternity to pour into your life will make you different than those around you. But there is also no doubt that that kind of surrender to Him will allow you to live in and experience things that most people around you never even dream about.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your love, thank You for Your Word, thank You for Your care. Lord Jesus, we confess that we live in a confining space and time that we have made for ourselves, and we repent of it. We do not want to live self-centered lives—we want to live Christ-centered lives. We repent of letting our fear, sorrow, bitterness, tradition, and our religion keep us from becoming all that You want us to be. And now, Lord Jesus, thank You for forgiving me, and I will step out of that box and out of the confining realm of space and time with no regrets. I pray not my will but Your will be done. Open my ears, open my eyes, and open my heart so that I can hear things that are being spoken from Heaven—then give me the courage to do what I see You doing. All to Your glory in Jesus’ name, amen.

“I only do what I see my Father in Heaven doing” (see John 5:19).

11

NOT SO QUIET ANARCHY

I already talked briefly about anarchy, but I’d like to delve into this topic a little more seriously.

Anarchy used to be quiet. There was a time when disenchantment with the accepted religious system of the day was looked upon as pure heresy, rebellion, and even immaturity. Certainly it was not the demeanor or way of life for those who truly loved God, for the “true believers” understood the necessity of leadership, denominations, doctrines, and dogmas. After all, it was not the average believer’s duty, place, or responsibility to examine, question, or rethink the things that were espoused from the pulpit and in the Sunday school classes.

What was taught was considered incontrovertible, as the teachers and church leaders were considered the authorities. They were learned, trained, anointed, and called. Somewhere along the way, the priesthood of the believer was replaced by the clergy-laity mentality that effectively stripped believers of their authority, their calling, and in many cases, their dignity. The “work of the ministry” was relegated to those few who had been trained and recognized by a greater power and given opportunity by those who could trust their loyalty as well as their compliance with the rules of engagement of that particular group.

The religious system was the king of the church world. It was solely in control of all spiritual philosophy and thought. The leaders wrote the books and set the rules. They put their Protestant imprimatur on all who touted the religious line, keeping them firmly entrenched as the authority of all things spiritual.

But today the stirring of the hearts of those hungry for the Presence cannot be contained. Their passion and their experience is tearing down long-established bastions of dominance, much like the Internet and cable television have challenged and minimized the effectiveness of traditional network television and news. Once you have experienced the eternal, it is impossible to go back to what was. It is difficult, I dare say almost impossible, to endure the earthly, trouble-centered lifestyle that is promoted and reinforced by those who understand the results of folks seeing the Lord for themselves. The Reformation occurred when common folk began reading the Bible for themselves. As they read God’s Word for the first time, their eyes were opened to the possibilities and promises that the Bible holds for humanity. What they read shocked them, for the words of the Bible belies everything they had been told for centuries. God became reachable, attainable, and personal. These folks could no longer be restrained, controlled, or marginalized. They were on the move. Eventually, the Word moved them, and the most incredible human advancement in history took place.

Another Reformation is on the horizon, also to be led by those who have seen the Lord, who have experienced His Presence in a way that belies what they had been taught for centuries. They have found the reality of His Presence to be loving, forgiving, gathering, and powerful. These folks will not be held back. They will be on the move. For now, religious leaders scoff at their apparent irreverence, intellectuals marginalize their experiences, and the philosophers dismiss them as so many charlatans. But these folks are none of the above. Their experience with God cannot be denied. They have been captured by the very essence of eternity and cannot live without the living water that is always flowing into this dimension. They will not yield. Their arrival on the world stage during this critical time in history cannot be minimized. They are the true anarchists of these days. They are also the most dangerous, for their motivation is other-worldly.

Their passion is for a Kingdom made without hands, whose builder and maker is God. Their cue has come from the Spirit, but their example has come from Christ, who never lifted a finger against His opponents. He even rebuked His own disciple when they tried to fight for Him. “My kingdom is not of the world” (John 18:36). He rebuked them, “Don’t you think that at My call, My Father who is in heaven would send a hundred legions of angels to protect Me?” (see Matt. 26:53). Yes, our example is Jesus, and our inspiration is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who changed a nation, albeit a world, with nonviolent persistence, and open, unashamed proclamation of the Gospel.

Those who do not fear this new generation of believer because of their commitment to nonviolence have learned little from history and nothing from those who they are convinced are their enemy. The violent do not inherit the earth; they fall at the edge of the sword. The meek inherit the earth (see Matt. 5:5).

The revolution that is happening, quite openly now, is not just a spiritual event. It is evident in all walks of life, in all cultures, and among all people who truly want life abundantly. For sure, some revolutions, not part of God’s army, are counterproductive to God’s purposes in the earth, but they exemplify the end of patience for millions, maybe billions of people around the world. I see the need for a truly spiritual uprising of those who hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to His Church.

Challenged

Lately I have been challenged to the core of my being by God’s promptings. I am challenged to no longer bow to the intellectuals, theologians, scientists, or the media who cover discontent for the sake of conformity, deny truth for the sake of the established order of things, and who disregard the experiences of so many for the sake of their established half-truths, old theories, and broken systems. Those who have seen the unseen and have questioned the status quo must continue to let their voices be heard, for they are not alone. They are also probably not in the minority.

This explosion of spiritual hunger is not a matter of class, race, age, gender, or any such qualifier. Neither is it political, as the ramification of all of what God is doing transcends what we have been told to believe and convinced to be right for decades. This hunger is above the thought and greed of humankind, as well as fears and personal lusts for power and fame. God is rising; all His enemies are being scattered (see Num. 10:35; Ps. 68:1). It is certain that most will list these enemies of God in the United States as socialism, liberalism, atheism, political correctness, Hollywood, etc.

But there is another subset of God’s enemies that most believers in Jesus have not considered—none-theless harbor in their hearts. The partial list of these hidden enemies include hate, fear, envy, rebellion against God, self-centeredness, pride, anger, and bigotry, as well as lusts of all kinds. These enemies, as long as they are un-confessed, hide in many of us who call on the Lord. It is far easier to recount the cultural enemies of our Lord Jesus than it is to admit that we personally and intimately harbor the deepest enemies of His will. These hidden enemies of the Lord are the most diabolical, as they conduct a sort of guerrilla warfare, striking quickly and the running for cover where no one would expect them to lie in wait. As they are un-confessed, they have safe harbor within and can wreak havoc on a scale that we cannot imagine. For we are all more influential than we can imagine.

The outward enemies that are part of the social ills of our society have no footing when the hearts of those who call on Jesus Lord actually allow Him to live His life through them. For the enemies of the Lord cannot withstand His power, love, and determination. But these spiritual attributes are weakened in our hearts as we live in the realm of uncertainty concerning God’s purposes for us.

IT IS FAR EASIER TO RECOUNT THE CULTURAL ENEMIES OF OUR LORD THAN IT IS TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE PERSONALLY AND INTIMATELY HARBOR THE DEEPEST ENEMIES OF HIS WILL.

Let God Arise

The rising of the Lord Jesus will scatter all enemies of God, even the ones living in us. We must be ready for this. We must allow the Lord to expose these things in us, and we need to be willing to confess their presence in our lives. How can we expect to wield the banner of truth around the world when we cannot wield it in ourselves? How can we expect to live a life that is Christ and Spirit-centered when we are constantly side tracked by the enemies that dwell within us? How can we live in the Spirit when we are blinded by the flesh?

This is not to say that we are perfect, or that a one-time confession and repentance will end the struggle. I am painfully aware of my own personal shortcomings, and I spend ample time in prayer as a result of them. I do not hide them, make excuses for them, or try to convince myself that the evils within are not really enemies. I confess them, repent of them, take full responsibility for their existence in me, and ask God for the strength to bring their influence in my life to an end.

This process is like taking an antibiotic for an infection. One dose usually does not do the trick, but a daily regimen of medicine will ultimately kill off the infection. Daily prayer and repentance will also rid our lives of the enemies within. This is how it should be. True disciples of Jesus allow the Holy Spirit to police their souls so they can live in union with our Lord. It is His free, genuine, and honest reign within our hearts that ensures the union with God that we so desperately desire in our lives.

Stirred by God, Not by Man

The people of God are being stirred by a force that cannot be contained, constrained, or eliminated by the church system that has little to do with the Church that Jesus is building. Historically, as the Holy Spirit moved in the earth, the religious system was able to suck this new Life into the black hole of lifeless, lightless, and worthless religion.

But now something is happening for which the religious machine is not prepared. “And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple” (Mal. 3:1 NKJV). This temple is not like the brick and mortar monument monstrosities we have built to honor old religious icons. The temple referred to in this Scripture verse is all those who have allowed Him to dwell in their hearts. We are the temples of the Lord. He is coming, not yet in the clouds, not yet with a shout, not yet cracking the earth in Jerusalem, but He is coming quickly, nonetheless! He is appearing to the nations through His people everywhere. He is showing Himself mighty, lovely, compassionate, and powerful to a desperate world. He is suddenly appearing in a people through whom there is no hesitation for obedience, no second guessing to His leading, and no doubt of His power and certainty to complete His plan in the earth.

His Appearing

His appearing is in the midst of, but not part of, the religious system whose goal is to corral, control, and manipulate those who are hearing the joyful sound. These folks are no longer controllable. They are no longer intimidated, no longer babes in Christ. They hear the sound of His voice and gladly take personal responsibility for obeying His commands. These people are out of the jurisdiction of mere mortals and under the authority of the King of kings and Lord of lords. That makes these people uncontrollable by the religious system. It makes them “loose cannons” in the eyes of personal kingdom builders. Of course they are! Their mere presence is an indictment against the human-centered machines that care only for their own continuation from one generation to the next. From the view of the Father, however, they are not loose cannons; they are those for whom “the world is not worthy” (see Heb. 11:38). They carry the light of the glory of God as lamps to a darkened and desperate world.

Religion’s Ominous Black Hole

You have probably noticed how every vibrant activity of God is ultimately consumed into the control and stifling death grip of the religious system. It is amazing to watch how seemingly unstoppable movements are quelled in almost a moment’s time. Great revelation, apparently unlimited healing, and abundant Words of the Lord seem to disappear almost as quickly as they began. The spiritual quicksand of the church system cannot allow the genuine to flourish for very long. And it should never be confused with the Church that Jesus Himself is building. The genuine always signals the destruction of the imposter, the fake, and the machine itself.

No wonder true discernment is rarely taught. If true discernment would be allowed to thrive in the assembly of the believer, the counterfeit would most certainly become evident. It is unlikely that the purveyors of the deception will ever teach the scammed how to recognize them.

These premeditated deceivers prey on the softness of those who love God most purely. Who wants to be a rebel? Who wants to be thought of as one who questions the Lord or His “anointed” leaders? The religious machinists love to quote, “Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm” (1 Chron. 16:22). But they fail to recognize the true priesthood of every believer (see 1 Pet. 2:5-9). They do not understand that every believer is anointed by God. They should be careful not to “touch” or abuse God’s people.

To deceive, mislead, control, use, intimidate, or otherwise abuse the believer is touching God’s anointed, and the warning of the Scriptures is directed as much to them as it is directed to all others in the church. As long as believers are considered second class citizens in God’s Kingdom, these leaders will always have their way, and the purest of all that God does will be absorbed into the bottomless pit of religion’s darkest black hole. Stifling the genuine flow of the Holy Spirit with restrictions, warnings, and grave examples of misuse, the reality of God’s activity is lost amid the flurry of these fearful accusations and half-truths.

The Center Issue

This is the center issue—the reality and constant flow of the Holy Spirit is sought out and contained by the machines of religion. It is clear that the past revivals that showed so much promise and offered the most hope for the world were absorbed by the system. It is as though humankind cannot resist hanging his name on something that God is doing. He cannot resist building a monument to his anointing, his revelation, and his ministry. This need for self-exultation and personal promotion creates a fleshy black hole into which all things fresh and vibrant are sucked, never to be seen again. As the years pass, all that remains of the greatness of His manifestation in the earth is a memory, a book, a testimony, and a palatable list of reasons as to why the Presence did not linger. Usually, it is the fault of the attendees, the community, or the devil. Rarely do we examine ourselves as the culprits for the ending of God’s visible, tangible activity in a particular place at a particular time.

The Lord can conduct His own revivals. He is perfectly capable of building His own Church and gathering His own assemblies. He can heal at His own command. He can deliver a demoniac driven by the power of His own love, and can heal and restore the broken through His own compassion. We neither need to stir the emotions nor twist the truth. He is God. He knows what He is doing. Are there those among us who will truly allow Him to live His life exclusively through them, devoid of personal aspirations and hidden desires? These are truly the people who will be used by Him and released to nations with a magnitude that cannot be equaled by books, satellite dishes, or the Internet. These will have the Holy Spirit as their marketing agent. God knows these humble ones are saying what He wants to be said, and He provides the megaphone in hundreds of different ways.

It will take believers who are radically committed to Him to ever begin to reverse this centuries-old fleshy control of the real believer. At some point, there will be those who hear the song of the Lord and dance to His glorious Song, refusing the dance of the religious systems. Courage is rising in the Church that Jesus is building, courage and resolve to be pleasing to Him alone. There is determination to hear and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit in spite of those who cry foul. The enemies of His Presence will not go away easily; in fact, I don’t really think they will go away at all. For there will be those who do not hear the Song of the Lord and never will. They are content with the rote ritualism of the Sunday morning patterns. Nonetheless, the Lord is singing a New Song. It is being sung by the Lord Himself. It began before the earth was formed and broke into time and space when Jesus mightily rose from the dead 2,000 years ago. This Song is still being sung and is still heard today, as it is the Song now in the dimension of His origin and in all realities that exist. God bless those with ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church that Jesus is building.

In this age of ever-expanding technology, God’s people will use all available electronic means to the best of their abilities and their financial limitations. But their ultimate trust will be in the Lord, who can and does whatever He wants, with or without our cooperation, with or without technical gadgetry.

Responsible for What We Hear

As God arises in His Church, those who hear the joyful sound will certainly find themselves in a precarious situation. They will begin to see their discernment developing and growing in maturity. As it does, it is essential that those who are hearing the Lord learn the foundational tenets of true discernment—as mentioned several times previously. The separation of soul and spirit will be the saving element of this new way of walking and living. For as discernment grows, wisdom, mercy, love, compassion, and patience must also grow. For the discernment we experience is Jesus Himself. One cannot grow in true discernment without experiencing growth in these other crucial areas as well. Remember, His disciples are known by their fruit, not by their knowledge. The saints of the earth walk in the fruit of the Spirit and manifest the gifts of the Spirit as they are needed. But true force within is always Him, always the fruit of the Spirit.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, we come to You proclaiming anarchy against the religious government that usurped Your authority decades ago. We want out from under the traditions, procedures, and programs that keep Your plans for us and Your Church in bondage. We want to cooperate with You, Lord, and with Your help will take steps to change religious mindsets into lifestyles of freedom. Help us to continually tune into the Spirit, not the natural, that we may truly live the multidimensional lives You intend us to live. In Your name, amen.

12

OUT OF TIME

God and eternity cannot and will not be locked into time. We cannot force them to be or to do something in our dimension—that can be done only by agreeing with the Divine. Therefore, we cannot force God to work our plan, our desire, or our schedule apart from His plan. His promise is to bring about His plan in the earth. The promise is to build His Kingdom, not ours. Our sweaty attempts to convince others that we are in the will of God—if they will only finance it for us—do not impress the Lord, nor does it work to our favor. These antics resist and restrict God’s true purpose, as they sidetrack the saints of God to fleshly, temporal pursuits of a kingdom that we cannot recognize as His.

Who will cry out in faith: Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done—now, on this planet—as it is in Heaven. When someone cries out to Him in this way, His eternal plan that has awaited the obedience of humanity can flow into time and space, bringing about the will of God in all the earth. His Kingdom comes when we open the doors of this dimension and invite Him into our hearts, not as Savior alone, but as Ruler and Lord and King.

So, who will believe the Lord? Who will say yes? Will you? This simple word unlocks the angelic forces of eternity and releases them to do God’s will on the planet.

Intercession out of Time

An intercessor is the link between dimensions. Intercession makes the intercessor a conduit or pipeline of God’s purposes and His Presence.

The intercessor is key; the intercessor lays aside his or her will to ask for God’s will, no matter what it is. The true intercessor does not need to be convinced that God’s way is best. He does not try to change God or counsel Him. He does not try to interpret what he sees or steer the Holy Spirit in a particular direction. The genuine intercessor simply yields to God’s will, as a garden hose yields to the water that flows through it.

Our intercession pours the essence of the timelessness of eternity into the dimension that is ruled by time, space, and the laws of nature. The spirit of intercession has the faith to agree with God’s plan that is held in eternity. Intercessors become one with their passionate desire to accomplish that for which they exist.

Intercession’s faith is a faith to move the mountains of earth and circumstance if the intercessor sees them moved in eternity. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven—it is as good as done. There is no doubt and there is no apprehension. The intercessor fully understands that nothing at all can happen here in this realm if it has not already happened there, in the timelessness of eternity.

The intercessor does not control what is seen in the time-lessness of eternity and does not beg for what is seen. But if the intercessor does see it, it is already done. The intercessor’s union of faith and prayer cries out to the Lord with a sound of confidence, declaring, “Amen, so be it! Thy Kingdom come! Let what You have already done in eternity be manifest in time and space among us.”

WE EXIST FOR HIM AND FOR HIS PLEASURE.

Our omnipotent God will not be limited by our human limitations. He will not be controlled by our smallness. He does not exist for us, as some still vehemently assert. We exist for Him and for His pleasure. One instantaneous glimpse into eternity ends the question of His vastness in a moment of time.

Our puny whining about what we need and what we want is so embarrassing when seen in the context of a God who lives outside of time. He is all-consuming, all-powerful, all-loving, all-encompassing, and single-minded toward His own children. We spend so much time listing our needs to Him, when all the while He is whispering gently into our spirits, “Seek first My kingdom and My righteousness, and I will give you everything you need for your journey into My Presence” (see Matt. 6:33).

When we say yes to Him, He takes care of the rest. He takes care of double-mindedness, faithlessness, sin, and pain. When we give ourselves to Him, His righteousness, and His plan, all else follows accordingly and correctly. It is no longer a worry for us. We live in Him, and He takes care of Himself. He simply wants us to say yes to Him, even in our confusion, uncertainty, and pain. Agreeing with Him, even when we do not understand what we are agreeing to, allows God to change our minds and our desires. Foolish intellectuals and philosophers renounce the notion of blind obedience, but they need to be in control. They are among those too proud to admit their personal neediness. I am not afraid to admit that I need Him; I am nothing without Him; I have no strength, no hope, and no future in my own right. I don’t care what that makes me look like, because I am not looking at me. I am looking at the nations and the needs I see in front of me.

Our Knight in Shining Armor

He wants us to be like the young maiden whose heart is filled with love and devotion to her Knight in shining armor. She sees Him coming from the sunrise, riding His white horse. Her heart is consumed with desire at His appearing for her. She has no idea where He has come from, and she does not know where they will go together, but she knows that she will be with Him, and that is all that matters. She trusts Him implicitly, and gladly surrenders to the Lover of her soul.

Of course, the crowning moment is when she is swept off her feet by Him, to be with Him always. She feels the power of His arm around her waist as He lifts her effortlessly onto His horse while He rides by—the steed never losing a step as she’s gently placed in front of her Savior. The maiden feels His arm tightly around her, protecting her, as the wind blows through her hair and He whispers words of love and devotion in her ear.

She listens carefully to His kind words, words of destiny together. She is not thinking about dinner or concerned about chores or business. She is not thinking about what she is wearing, what others are thinking, or even where they will live. Her only focus is on being with the Lover of her soul. She knows only that the deepest desire of her heart has been fulfilled when He gathered her to Himself for all eternity. What else could she possibly need? What does she have to ask for? For what is she worried? No, these are not her concerns as they ride into the sunset. She was swept into His arms in the moment of His desire and her hope. Now she awaits the fulfillment of their union.

Jesus is ready and willing and able to sweep you into His arms and whisper gentle, loving words into your ear. He desires to fulfill your destiny—riding with you, encouraging you, helping you all along the way. You can experience Heaven on earth as you ride into the sunset with His arm around your waist, protecting you all the way. Life in the realm of all-God, the realm of spirit, the dimension of His origin, is far more than mere mortals can imagine, but that life awaits all who desire Him.

Peter was swept into this earthly eternity of God when he saw what no one there could see, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Matt. 16:16).

Our destiny is held for us until we can say yes. He draws us to Himself with the plea, “Come hither…” (Josh. 3:9).

God is Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth (see John 4:24).

Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is (see Col. 3:1).

Why do you seek the living among the dead? (see Luke 24:5).

I go to prepare a place for you (see John 14:2-3).

The Timelessness of Eternity

The power and fulfillment of the Christian is out of time. To dwell in the timelessness of eternity is to experience Christ as He is—risen and seated within the torn veil of the Most Holy Place. To be there is to go effortlessly and to easily do the bidding of the Master. It is to be escorted by angels as you deliver “so great a salvation” wherever He shall take you. It is truly the realm of the yes of God.

Eternity waits for us to agree with what He has already determined, to do what He has already decided in His infinite wisdom. As soon as we agree with Him who abides outside time, we begin to experience the fullness of what He has planned for us on earth.

The power of eternity begins to draw us up into the realm of timelessness and power, the realm of knowledge and wisdom, the realm of eternal desire and perfect love.

God, who dwells in all dimensions, moves freely and at His leisure. God can do in a moment what it would take us a lifetime to do. Relationships can blossom overnight with the witness of the Spirit between folks. It has happened in my life and ministry more times than I can count. The time it should take for relationships and opportunities to develop collapses to almost nothing when the Holy Spirit is given free rein to connect you.

Giving God control of your life jettisons you into the supernatural dimension of His origin—beyond what your five senses could ever imagine.

Since He lives outside time, His plan is held for us outside of time, waiting for us to agree with Him. His plans are not necessarily dated, as though He is waiting for a certain amount of time to pass. At whatever point in time we respond to Him, at whatever point in time we are ready, God’s will is done. His Presence floods into this dimension of time and space when we allow Him to come through us. His appearing is when we yield ourselves to His appearing within us. He is always shining, always calling, always drawing the nations to Himself through us. For He appears to the world when He appears in us. Even if our world is smaller than another person’s world, our responsibility is for His appearing in our world, in our personal sphere of influence, no matter how big or how small.

Our simple yes response to the Lord unlocks the angelic forces of other dimensions and releases them to do God’s will in this dimension and on this planet.

One Kingdom, His Kingdom

No, eternity cannot be forced or contrived into time and space. It cannot be convinced to respond to our personal whining and selfish prayers. If we are going to build our own personal kingdoms, we will get no help from Him. There is only one Kingdom that He is interested in—His. The kingdoms of men and women can only be built through the sweat of the carnal heart. Fear, legalism, and the threat of lingering condemnation are the motivational tools of man-made kingdoms. Love, joy, hope, and freedom are the work of the Holy Spirit and are the tools our Lord uses in building His Kingdom.

The plan of the Father is for us to enter into His work, His labor, and His victory. Our earthly dimension is not the creative dimension; ours is the realm where the Creator displays His creativity. When He pours His creativity through His people, the whole world sees it.

Please indulge me as I repeat this crucial secret to colaboring with our Lord Jesus. It is an important secret about tapping into eternity to see His will, not our will, be done: Intercessors do not initiate, they fulfill. We do not direct the Almighty; we are the directed. We are not to be served by Him; rather, we serve Him.

There, in His dimension, we begin to know as we are known, to experience as He has experienced, to accomplish what has been on His heart, awaiting everyday people like you and me to say yes.

God exists in a dimension where time is not an issue. In the dimension of eternity, everything IS. There is no past or future; everything IS.

Although we don’t naturally live in that dimension, the door to that dimension is open and ready for you. Ask and you will receive!

Prayer: Almighty God, we want to be people who live in Your dimension of origin. We want to abandon ourselves to You, run after You, listen for Your voice, be addicted to obedience to You, respond to all Your bidding. Give us the strength, mercy, and grace to become Your servants, Your warriors, Your children. We want to be those who see Your will done in us and through us. We love You and praise Your holy name. Amen.

CONCLUSION:

GOD’S KINGDOM COME

Where is the Kingdom of God and how can it be experienced every day?

I have some very good news for you. Living the Kingdom life is not as difficult as some have made it. The Kingdom of God is not as elusive as the spiritual elitists describe it. It is not reserved for the few, the gifted, the wealthy, or even the well-networked.

The rule and reign of the King in the hearts of His people is open to all. His Blood does not discriminate between denominations, ethnic origin, doctrine, or popularity. God is looking for the broken, hungry, weak, and the determined. He is looking for you. His arms are open wide toward you. Heaven is open over you, in you, and through you.

There is nothing that you can do to secure the “stuff” of the Kingdom in your heart. This stuff cannot be imitated, faked, bought, or passed on by religious cronyism. It is earned in the secret place of fire, heartache, travail, and quiet anarchy against a system of religion that tries to destroy all that is genuine in the lives of believers.

God’s Kingdom is vastly different from the average religious hierarchy. In His Kingdom, believers are free to grow, experiment, discover, and experience all the goodness and all the possibilities that have been purchased by Jesus on the cross.

The Kingdom cannot be constructed, organized by humankind, or controlled by the system. It is a spiritual, Christ-centered, other-worldly state of living. Once you discover the Kingdom, you are out of humankind’s control and held to the responsibility of true Lordship.

This truly is the essence of God’s Kingdom in the earth. It is a state of being where the subjects of the Kingdom walk in quiet submission to the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. The quiet anarchy among God’s people will not be contained by the rules that even “kingdom leaders” construct. Dimensional truths cannot be mixed any more than water mixes with oil. The sovereign Lordship of Jesus in the lives of His people is a holy relationship, a sanctified communion, a desperately loyal obedience to the Lover of the believer’s soul. Any attempt to usurp that union will not be appreciated either by the Lord or by His people. The tired excuses to keep the believer “in line” will no longer work. Intimidation, condemnation, accusations of rebellion, immaturity, or insurrection will no longer sway those who have discovered this place of gentle union with God.

Rules of Engagement

The rules of the Kingdom will pose a problem to the religious system, for the Kingdom of God does not require the man-made legalistic controls imposed so carelessly and haphazardly on God’s people. Those who proclaim the Kingdom had better prepare themselves for a true other-dimensional download of the proper function of His Kingdom. You cannot “do the Kingdom” like you “do church.” Both phrases are anathema before God, anyway. We should understand that both are holy dynamics born of the Spirit of God. They can only be built and governed by those who are truly spiritually minded and free from the defects of fleshy rules and controls. It may be that if this were truly understood, fewer folks would be so excited about proclaiming it. Remember, if you proclaim any kingdom and it is a real Kingdom, the King will undoubtedly show up at some point to claim what is His. Make sure you have not chiseled your name on the door of His palace.

True Love

Love will be the rule of the day. Mercy will reign in the heart. No condescending religious bigotry will be spoken among these people. For they allow Him to be the true Gatherer through them. They do not just have a doctrine of the believer’s priesthood; they live it every day. These folk understand that, just as they are under the kingship of Jesus, so are those around them. They respect another’s walk with God as they believe others will respect their walk with God.

True Kingdom subjects do not see themselves as better than anyone else. They do not act as though their lives are more important or more critical to God’s plan than anyone else’s.

This lifestyle of conscious awareness of His Presence is indeed unique. It is an incredible combination of brokenness and power, weakness and resolve, doubt and confidence, fear and assurance. His Presence reflects absolute dependence on Him and absolute certainty of His life pulsing through believers’ veins. It is exhilarating and frightful, natural and very much supernatural, meek but with unlimited power.

Make no mistake, this place of Lordship is not the place for the arrogant, weak, self-indulgent, angry, personal kingdom builder, or for the opportunist. It is not for the user, deceiver, or for the show person. This place in Christ cannot be faked. It cannot be mimicked. The “WWJD” bracelets come off as Jesus Himself is allowed to flow freely through the broken lives of those who yield to Him and Him alone. Mere mortals fade to the background as the Lord Himself takes center stage in the believer’s everyday life experience.

Out of the Church Jesus is building flows the Kingdom folks who have been made in the crucible human experience. They have not run from the school of the Holy Spirit where everything about Jesus is ultimately learned and understood. It is in the flesh that they have learned to allow the Presence to flow even through the most incredible storms. It is during those times that the wise discover that the Seed is most surely planted in the hearts of those who have allowed Him to plow deeply into their once small and comforting thought boxes where they hid from Him.

The supernatural soon becomes something of a lifestyle instead of an event to be remembered. Its otherworldly activity goes far beyond falling feathers and pixy dust. It is the moment-by-moment groan of the Holy Spirit deep within that transfers our will to His, our mind to the mind of Christ; and replaces our purposes with His dream for us. This is true union with God. It has nothing to do with the sensuous adjectives so freely thrown around by so many.

Union and Risk

Our true intimacy is simply the laying down of our wills to His; the point of trust where we lay bare our own hearts’ desires, relinquishing our plans and our futures to Him who has dreamed a dream that only He and the angels He sends can fulfill for us. These are the dreams that are germinated in the Most Holy Place, our hearts, where union creates a new reality, and hope is turned into experience.

He does not play games with us. He wants us to experience Him. He wants union. We have direct access. I am on the same search as you, and I intend to find Him—but these are primer steps for now. Be patient.

It is time to risk. It is time to trust the inner instinct of the Holy Spirit rather than the tired doctrines and the worn fear tactics of those who are more interested in control than they are in the coming and establishment of His Kingdom in the earth. For His Kingdom has no denominational shingle hanging in front of it. It has no personal fingerprints and absolutely no odor of human effort or striving. It is His Kingdom, and He is personally building it.

In business, I tell my staff that if we work for wealth, we achieve neither wealth nor destiny. But if we work to build the Kingdom, we acquire both wealth and destiny. At the end of the day, prosperity is a matter of obedience to Him, not the striving after riches, claiming the cattle on a thousand hills, starting a down-line marketing scheme, or guilting it out of genuine believers who only want to be pleasing to their Lord. Success in His Kingdom is a series of right decisions every day. It is putting your hand to the work in front of you and believing Him to multiply the work you do in His name.

In the same way, if we build the Kingdom for the sake of our church or ministry, we actually build neither. A single-focused person accomplishes and fulfills his or her destiny. Someone who needs his own name on what he does is destined to fail. The Kingdom of God is a sanctified, holy Kingdom. It is built on love, compassion, honor, and respect for all, whether or not all are believers as we define a believer. There is respect for all human life and all human need.

God’s Kingdom is simply a selfless, earthly manifestation of His will on earth as it is in Heaven. As He is, so are we in this earth. As He is where? As He is where He already rules in Heaven and in the earth. His Kingdom is a reflection of who He is, what He loves, how He forgives, and those He gathers, protects, builds, and redeems. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 NKJV). He does not departmentalize the term all. He simply says all.

Jesus is the ultimate Gatherer, the forever Healer, the eternal Forgiver, the loving Builder, the determined Restorer, the complete Lover. When He walked the earth, He was the ultimate conduit of all things eternal, all things other-dimensional. Now we are His Body, we are the ultimate conduit of all that is supernatural, all that is spiritual. If we are expecting anything else, or if we are taught anything else, we are not learning about His Kingdom. Rather, we are being captured into a self-centered spiritual harem of those who gather according to popularity, outer beauty, personal gifts, ministry usefulness, self-gratification, and fleshy validation.

The Kingdom is simply made up of those who obey the King. He is always first, always in touch with His people, and always leading in paths of righteousness. The Church Jesus is building is made up of those who call only Him “Lord.” They respond to Him first, and cannot be dissuaded from His voice no matter what the consequences.

Therefore, one of the biggest secrets of the Kingdom involves the purpose of true Kingdom leadership. When the fivefold correctly teaches, prepares, and disciples the believer, the believer is discipled into Christ; not into a group, stream, river, denomination, or whatever one chooses to call his organization. The true fivefold leader understands that the ultimate responsibility of the believer is directly to the King.

There will absolutely come a time when the believer is turned over to the King as a prepared disciple, ready and willing for every good work. The disciple then responds to the King as his or her ultimate authority. When this concept frightens a leader, that leader is probably not the leader he or she should be in the Church Jesus is building or in the Kingdom of God. Just as a boot camp sergeant prepares soldiers to be turned over to another, so ministry leaders should be preparing disciples to be turned over to the King for His personal use and fulfillment of destiny in the life of the believer.

When we are willing to allow the eternal to flow, when He is out of our control, out of our box, and freely flowing out of time in us, we will gather, love, deliver, train, and empower with the very power of the age to come.

Come Lord Jesus! Come in me and through me. Pour Your life-giving sustenance through me to the hungry and thirsty world. In Jesus’ name!

MORE ABOUT DON NORI SR.

Don Nori Sr. is the founder of Destiny Image Publishers and MercyPlace Ministries. MercyPlace is a nonprofit renewal and revival ministry focused on bringing Jesus to a world that desperately needs Him. Visit www. mercyplace.com.

To order copies of this book or messages preached by Don Nori Sr., visit www.destinyimage.com.

To contact Don Nori Sr. regarding a speaking engagement, please email him at publisher@destinyimage.com or contact his assistant at 717-532-3040 extension 124.

Table of Contents

PART I

G OD O UT OF C ONTROL

1.   Who Is in Control?

2.   Fasten Your Seatbelt

3.   Life Out of Control

4.   Controlling the Burden of Guilt

5.   The Vision

PART II

G OD O UT OF THE B OX

6.   The Light of the Son

7.   Dwelling Places

8.    Who Hears the Music?

9.    Living Out of Your Box

PART III

G OD O UT OF T IME

10.   The Time Is Always Now

11.   Not So Quiet Anarchy

12.   Out of Time

CONCLUSION

God’s Kingdom Come