Monday, July 31, 2006

The Bulldog From Hell


I was praying early Sunday morning when suddenly, and completely unrelated to what I was praying about, I saw a man standing. This wasn’t too unusual until he turned and I saw that attached to the man’s back, and sticking straight out was a bulldog with very pointed and razor sharp teeth. The bulldog had bitten into the man’s back and had been there for some time feeding on him, weakening him and causing him much suffering.

The man expressed a desire to be healed of the wounds and suffering the bulldog had inflicted on him and had been prayed for repeatedly but without success. I saw good people praying and praying again for the man but the bulldog would not release his grip and continued devouring the man little by little. The man would smile at the people for their attempt and the kind attention they had shown him but the condition did not change and the bulldog kept his sharp teeth clamped into the man’s lower back.

But as I continued to look, I saw something else. From the saliva of the bulldog there was something being injected into the man that was actually providing something for him. It was like a compensating anesthetic but it was also a poison. But in order for the bulldog to get what he wanted, he knew he had to give the man something that the man wanted and needed as well.

The man did not know that the anesthetic being provided was coming from the bulldog who, was actually eating him alive and destroying him. He did not know the two were related. The man had become dependent upon the anesthetic and loved it. But the anesthetic was simply a mask the bulldog provided the man so the bulldog could continue to destroy him.

The Lord showed me that the bulldog was a demonic spirit and in order for the man to be delivered from the bulldog he had to first get delivered from the dependency he had developed in relation to the anesthetic. In other words there were in fact two healings that needed to take place. There is a deliverance from the anesthetic that has to take place before the deliverance from the bulldog itself.

But the man’s dependency on the anesthetic seemed like such a good thing to him. In fact he even thought the anesthetic was a gift being sent to him from God. He thought the results of the anesthetic were a sign of how greatly cherished he was by the Lord when in fact it was a deception. The more he believed it the more the bulldog fed.

Then the Lord showed me the man had wounds to his soul that went all the way back into his childhood and the devouring spirit had exploited these vulnerabilities in him. The deception was in the fact that the evil spirit would seemingly meet the void in the man left over from his childhood experience in order to gain what it really wanted, which was his complete destruction, then the dog would move on to feed on another victim.

In a way, evil spirits are like parasites. Because they have no life within themselves they have to feed off of the life of another host. They are more than happy to grant the illusion of comfort if it means they can devour the life of their host.

Jesus identified the final outcome of the activity of dark spirits when He said, “The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I am come that you might have life and have it in overflowing abundance”, John 10:10.

In contrast to steal, kill and destroy, Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” How fantastic is that? And what a contrast? The blessings that flow from God’s being are pure and they are blessing ONLY to us when they come. They are not part good and part bad. They are not mixed. God’s blessings make rich ONLY and there is no sorrow that sneaks in the door with them.

In the case of this man it seemed that sympathy had been a strong need at some point in his childhood. The affliction the bulldog had caused in the man provided him with all the sympathy he would ever want. The bulldog, even though he was destroying the man, was providing the man deep and genuine fulfillment in his person of something he had lacked.

I saw quite clearly that in at least one key event in his childhood when he needed someone to truly feel with him and acknowledge the pain he was going through, he was told to “buck up” and stop acting like a crybaby. It seemed almost militaristic. It was harsh and unfeeling. It was without love.

The unmet need in this event or maybe many such events opened a huge deficiency in this man into which the enemy was more that willing to step and weave an evil web. It would be hard for the man to give up having his need for sympathy being met now, which was being provided by the very condition the bulldog was creating.

When I saw how things like this can extend from childhood and parenting, I thought about the hell I must have put my own kids through and started covering them in prayer. That is of course, after I repented for all the damage I’m sure I must have done to them. Then the Holy Spirit came and comforted me saying, “Cheer up, very few do a truly great job of raising their children. But, you do have to be careful with them because their pure little spirits are very close to the kingdom of God. Don’t provoke them to the wrath and bitter resentments toward you, or they will lose the courage required to face the challenges of their lives. It can take a long time for them to heal. Some never do.”

Well, that really helped. That’s like saying, “Don’t worry, you’re just another loser in the midst of long line of other losers.” But I did see in those words that it’s not too late. There is still hope to “re-courage” your children, no matter what their age and to pray that Jesus will infuse them with a total abundance of His courage and they will be able to face the world and know they can do all things through Christ who WILL empower them for any and every challenge that appears before them!

No matter what the challenge is, He infuses us with power not just to win but to TRIUMPH COMPLETELY! Listen to the words of an apostle in 2nd Corinthians 2:14, “Now we offer great thanksgiving to God, Who ALWAYS CAUSES US TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST, and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.”

The kind of courage we should impart is outlined in Romans 8:37-39, “In all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERERS through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, or life, or angels, or principalities, or powers, or things present, or things to come, or height, or depth, or any other thing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

O.K., so let’s back to the man and the bulldog. Unmet, genuine needs leave us vulnerable to attacks from a very devious enemy who will give us a sense of comfort while he unwittingly devours our lives. We receive the comfort and can’t imagine the comfort to be evil. This is the power of the deception, because while we think we are being given to, we are actually being stolen from.

Healing sometimes requires that we first be delivered from any seeming comfort that is not flowing out from the Holy Spirit and the Fathers absolute love for us. Sometimes this takes discernment to recognize the false comfort meant to blind us from the true comfort that comes from God. God is our source of all things in life and He is willing to freely give us all we need.

If we find there is a longstanding problem that doesn’t seem to be moving in response to prayer, we should consider carefully if there is something about the thing, or the effects of it, that is actually feeding some long unmet need within us. If it is discovered that the result of having this thing is indeed feeding something unmet in us, then this needs to be healed first. The situation can be healed by taking it before the Lord and in faith submitting to HIS AMPLE POWER to meet that need.

And remember this promise, if the need stems back into your childhood and is related to parenting gaps, “When my mother and father forsake me, THEN THE LORD WILL GATHER ME UP”, Psalms 27:10. God promises to be to you a Father and a Mother and fill in the gaps that may have been left so that we might be strong and powerful people. He welcomes all his children, young children and old children alike, with open arms of His eternal comfort and love. Nestle in, and let God provide the love of a father or a mother you may have missed out on somewhere. He waits to comfort you with open arms.

Randy

Friday, July 28, 2006

Why the devil hates you...


I was praying this morning about the provisions of God. I have two friends and myself who know the Lord wants to prosper them in abundance so they can become major heavy investors in the expansion of God’s kingdom in the earth. But a funny thing keeps happening to each of us as we exercise our faith in that direction.

We each come to the edge of what seems like the promise, only to have the rug pulled out from beneath us. I personally have watched entire industries change almost overnight prohibiting the fulfillment of the promise just when I thought it was about to break. And this is similar to what my two friends have also been through more than once.

When something flies in the face of the word and purposes of God, eventually you have to conclude that the situation has more spiritual involvement than you may be recognizing. In spiritual warfare, the intent of the enemy is to discourage you and cause you to fall into unbelief. By discouragement in the purposes of God in the lives of Jesus followers, they (devils) prolong their days on earth. Why wouldn’t they attack the servant of God?

Now I bet you want the theology behind the last couple of statements, right? I’ll give you the short version. Even though no man knows the day or the hour of Jesus return, I think the scriptures are clear that He will not return physically until all His enemies are actually (not theoretically) brought under His authority. Hebrews 10:12-13 says, “But this man (Jesus) after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From that time onward waiting in excited anticipation UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE HIS FOOTSTOOL.”

So Jesus is waiting in excited anticipation. And what is He waiting for? He is waiting until that point in time when all His enemies are made His footstool. Then, SHAZZAAM! He returns in His physical person along with his holy angels and the dead in Christ to rejoin with us still here on earth. Those who are here on earth will fly like superman and superwoman to meet Him and His entourage in the air (1st Thessalonians 4:13-17). I’ve always wanted to do that. I hope I get to.

1st Corinthians 15:21-26 describes His triumphant return like this, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ will all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s AT HIS COMING. Then the end comes, when He will have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; WHEN HE WILL HAVE PUT DOWN ALL RULE AND AUTHORITY AND POWER. For He must reign till He has put ALL ENEMIES under His feet. The (very) last enemy that will be destroyed is death itself.”

You see the enemies of Jesus Christ are not men or machines or computer nerds creating malicious evil code in some back room somewhere. The enemies of Christ and the enemies of man are spiritual principalities and powers and this battle began when satan thought that he as a creature could overthrow the supremacy of God. He was cast out of heaven to the earth, where he remains to this day along with the host of those spirits, now defiled, that followed with him. The war has always been in the invisible, spiritual realm.

The sooner we realize the spirit realm is where the real action is, the more effective we become. This is one reason why signs and wonders seem to flow much more easily in non-industrialized countries or areas. It is because the people understand the power of the spirit realm. The problem is, most of them have only been exposed to one side of the equation through their shaman’s, witch doctors, warlocks and sorcerers. When Jesus invades they understand the difference between the Spirit of Life and the spirits of death and bondage. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, life as it is in heaven flows forth. Life giving signs and wonders appear due to the alteration in the spirit world.

I venture to say when the curtain gets pulled back on the spirits of the industrialized nations, we will be shocked to realize the evil parasites and leaches that have attached themselves to people. All you have to do to understand what is going on is look at the fruit that is being produced in people. Is it evidence of heaven or is it evidence of hell? Is good the ultimate end result or is evil? Answer those questions and you will understand the spiritual force at work.

Without going too deeply into it, it is imperative we understand God’s purpose in man. If you understand God’s purpose in Adam then you will begin to understand God’s purpose in you. You will also understand why the darkness hates mankind and is intent on destroying him and destroying or incapacitating your relationship of confidence and power with God.

Please follow me on this little tour into the mysteries of God. God created Adam and put him into the Garden of Eden as if Adam were a warrior a beachhead from which he was to subdue the evil that was present in earth. We must understand, man is and always has been the chosen instrument of God in the earth.

Man in harmony with God is a weapon the dark angels fear, and that is why the dark, evil spirits hate man. Man in submission to the limitless power of God signals their demise, because a man filled with God and acting under His power will confront evil with the power to subjugate it beneath the feet of Jesus Christ and under the feet of the followers of Jesus as well who are in powerful union with Him.

Here’s some food for thought. In Genesis as God is restoring the earth after satan has been cast down and on the second day God makes/restores the “firmament” separating the waters below from the waters above.

If you follow carefully along in the process you see everything God does, with the exception of the firmament, He looks on and declares it, “That's good!” But then, have you ever noticed and wondered why He does not declare the work of the firmament good when He creates it?

Check it out in Genesis 1:6-8 and compare that to everything else God did in that chapter. Did you notice that God did not declare the work of the firmament good? Was this lack of declaring the firmament good some oversight by God? Not likely. Or, did Moses who wrote Genesis under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost forget to write it down? Again, not likely. Have you ever wondered about things like that?

Well, as you might have guessed, I wondered about it. Then one day while reading in Ephesians I came to chapter 2 verse 2, and the Holy Spirit said, “There is your answer.” As I sat there in stunned amazement I read these words, “Wherein you walked in times past according to the course of this world, ACCORDING TO THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, the spirit that now energizes the children of disobedience.”

The Spirit said, “The firmament was not declared good because there was something in it that was not good.” Then the Lord showed me that AFTER GOD CREATED MAN and gave him dominion over the natural creation, He then commissioned him to SUBDUE the earth and refill it. It was after God created man that He looked back over all He had done and it says, “And God saw EVERYTHING that He had made, and behold, it was VERY GOOD” (Genesis 1:31), and then God was able to rest.

And why was God able to rest? God rested because He had brought forth man, His warrior representative whose mission was to live in union with God and SUBDUE the evil. You see, from the opening of Genesis the Holy Spirit is teaching us, “This is war.”

So at the creation of man. the serpent realized God’s weapon for his destruction had just arrived on planet earth. And as we watch the story unfold we see that Adam sells his birthright (much like Esau) for reasons inconsistent with God’s purpose for him in creation. It appears he did it for Eve, who was supposed to be his warrior princess and be the support for the purpose of God in her husband, Adam.

That wasn’t a good idea on Adams part. But God is merciful and did two things:

  • God drove them from the Garden, because the tree of life was still there. Had they eaten of it too they would have been locked forever in an eternally un-redeemable condition.
  • God promised a DELIVERER/SAVIOR would be sent to redeem mankind from the power of satan AND TO CRUSH THE VERY HEAD OF THE SERPENT under His feet.

Please listen to Hebrews 2:5-11 where it says regarding man and Jesus, “For unto the angels has He not put in subjection the world to come, of which we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, ‘WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM? Or, THE SON OF MAN, that You visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels: You have crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands: YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET’. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left NOTHING that is not put under him. BUT NOW WE SEE NOT YET ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIM. But we see JESUS who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, FOR WHOM ARE ALL THINGS AND BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, in brining MANY SONS UNTO GLORY, to make the Captain of their salvation fulfill His part of the mission by means of sufferings. For both He that MAKES THEM READY TO BE USEFUL and those WHO HAVE BECOME USEFUL ARE ALL OF ONE: for which cause He is not ashame to call them HIS BRETHREN.”

Slow way down and take this in, because if you’re not getting the power of this, you're not understaning the message of the gospel. MAN BECOMES USEFUL IN OVERTHROWING THE EVIL AND RECONNECTING WITH HIS DIVINE ETERNAL PURPOSE BY MEANS OF THE GOSPEL. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, even the smallest human child becomes a powerhouse for the glory of God and a devastating force against the darkness of this world.

Listen to Psalm 8:1-6 tells us, “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! You, Who has set Your glory above even the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and even the suckling child YOU HAVE ORDAINED STRENGTH, BECAUSE OF YOUR ENEMIES, that YOU MIGHT STILL THE ENEMY AND THE AVENGER. When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM OR THE SON OF MAN THAT YOU WOULD VISIT HIM? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; You have PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET."

And as long as we’re having this much fun let me throw in Paul the apostle’s statement from Romans 16:19-20 about thier submission to the Holy Spirit, “YOUR OBEDIENCE has been voiced abroad to all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise concerning that which is good and harmless concerning evil. And the GOD OF PEACE WILL TREAD UPON SATAN UNDER YOUR FEET shortly.”

Now let's listen to the words of Jesus on this topic, “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, AND OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY: and nothing by any means will hurt you. Notwithstanding, this is not the biggest reason to rejoice, that THE SPIRITS ARE SUBJECT TO YOU; but more importantly rejoice, BECAUSE YOUR NAMES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN INTO THE RECORD BOOKS OF HEAVEN” (Luke 10:19-20).

O.K., do you see why all of the forces of hell might want to discourage you and the persistence in the purposes of God? Do you see why they might want to beat you down and destroy your faith and resilience? Do you see why so many who have launched themselves into the cutting edge of God’s purposes are so severely attacked by the darkness? Do you see why the devil wants them out of the race or dead? Do you see why the enemy might be satisfied for you to be just a happy little church attender just so long as you don’t get too enflamed with the power of the Holy Spirit?

You see, it’s O.K. if you go to church and just get a little blessed by the Holy Spirit, maybe get a few goose bumps and a few personal quirky manifestations, but the minute you decide to spread the glory around in the deliverance and healing of others, you have just become a dangerous person. So by discouragement of the purposes of God in the lives of the followers of Jesus, the evil powers prolong their days on earth, because annointed men and women under the leadership of Jesus are the power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirits eternal plan to overthrow the darkness.

The Spirit enflamed believer under the power of Jesus is the greatest threat to darkness that exists in the earth today. There is no secondary plan! This is why there is a lot of, “Don’t give up and quit”, language in the New Testament. In fact the word is constantly saying, “It’s a pressure cooker out there, BUT THE REWARDS ARE WORTH IT!” And, “Hang together. You’re going to need one another.”

Jesus basically said, “If you’re not coming under some kind of attack, then it might just be that you’re not really walking in the power of the kingdom, your not really being very much of a threat. Get with the program buddy!” In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus said it this way, “Blessed are they which are persecuted (meaning to be pursued with an evil intent in mind) for living their lives from the viewpoint of God: for THEIR PORTION IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Blessed are you when men will revile you, and persecute you, and will say all manner of evil against you falsely, FOR MY SAKE. Rejoice and be excessively glad: FOR GREAT IS THE REWARD YOU WILL BE RECEIVING FROM HEAVEN: For in the same way were the prophets persecuted who were before you.”

Let me try and come in for a landing here with a few thoughts from Ephesians regarding the purpose of Jesus even having a people called out from the world and separated to Him. It’s this thing we call “the church”, which unfortunately has come to mean something far from what it was ever intended to mean. The people called the church were meant to be Jesus “brothers and sisters in war”. The church is to exist, and in some believers does exist, as His co-warriors in the epic battle of the ages. I can’t say it’s true for everyone. And I hope every day that I can be among the valiant warriors of Christ. There is no greater cause to which we can give our lives, our gifts, our honor and our fortunes.

Man is and always has been the chosen instrument of God in the earth, and the war isn’t over yet. I feel confident saying that because at this point we don’t see all things in earth brought under His feet. Evil is still screwing up people’s lives. And if you haven’t noticed, Jesus hasn’t returned yet which means He’s still waiting for something. And I don’t have my new immortal body yet and I’m guessing you don’t have yours either.

About church people, Paul said this in Ephesians 1:18-23, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened: that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the excessive greatness of His power toward us who believe, in accord with the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world , but also in that which is to come: and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things TO THE CHURCH (those separated to God), WHICH IS HIS BODY, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.”

Then in Ephesians 3:8-12 & 20-21 the apostle says, “Unto me, who is less than the very least of all saints, has this grace been given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the un-searchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the FELLOWSHIP OF THE MYSTERY, which FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that NOW unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known (revealed and made manifest) by means of THE CHURCH (those separated to God) the many faceted wisdom of God, ACCORDING TO THE ETERNAL PURPOSE WHICH HE PURPOSED IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD: In whom we have BOLDNESS and ACCESS WITH CONFIDENCE by the faith of Him…Now to Him that is able to do excessively abundantly above all that we can ever ask or even think, according to the power that is energizing within us, to Him be glory IN THE CHURCH (those separated to God) by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

Men and women, who have separated themselves out to the service of Jesus, being willing vessels for the power of His Holy Spirit, are the greatest weapons in God’s arsenal. The Father knows it, Jesus knows it, the Holy Spirit knows it and the dark spirits know it and wish to prevent the power being unleashed in us. It is as these separated ones go forward proclaiming by word and deed the glory of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus enemies are brought down under His feet. Man is and always has been the chosen instrument of God in the earth.

If your NOT feeling any heat, then maybe you’re not in the fire. If you ARE feeling the heat then keep on pressing ahead. If you need support to stay in the fight then by all means get support. I didn’t at one point when I should have and got my ass kicked from here to approximately 1,144 Sundays. Not a good choice on my part. Or, as the saying goes in the movie ‘Hook’, “Bad form, Jack!”

Solid companies of warriors watch each other’s backs. Remember Moses needed support from others to help him keep up his work in the heat of battle and because of that support the victory was won. Without it, the victory would have been lost (Exodus 17:8-15). It was there that God revealed Himself as Jehovah-Nissi, meaning “The Almighty God, Your Banner of Victory”.

“Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, (and confirm the feeble knees [Isaiah 35:3]) and make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame (wounded) do not get turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed” (Hebrews 12:12-13). And when Isaiah speaks this same word he adds, “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not: behold YOUR GOD WILL COME WITH VENGEANCE UPON HIS ENEMIES, even God will repay their acts upon them; He WILL come and save you”, (Isaiah 35:3-10).

And finally, remember the word the Lord kept speaking to Joshua over and over as he was about to lead the people into war and possess the promise of God, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, neither be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, He it is that goes with you; HE WILL NOT FAIL YOU, NOR FORSAKE YOU.” (Deuteronomy 31:1-8, Joshua 1:5-7, 9, 10:25).

Man is and always has been the chosen instrument of God in the earth. And you are that instrument. Go forth with a company of fellow warriors of like mind to watch your back and fight with you and you with them. Be strong and of a good courage, because if you engage in the fight, you’re going to need that. If you’re feeling the heat you’re in the fight and God will appear and bring His vengeance upon the spiritual wickedness you fight against.

Now wasn’t this fun?

Randy

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Discerning of spirits


For several weeks now the Holy Spirit has been prompting me with thoughts regarding the “discernment of spirits”. I am convinced that being a successful warrior in Christ requires the ability to analyze spiritual activity and know how to act accordingly. Between the ascension of Jesus into heaven, which took place shortly after His resurrection from the dead, and His triumphant return, which will mark the end of this present age, we - meaning He and His followers, are at war.

To be more correct I should say that the war between the spirits of heaven and those of hell began even before the opening of the Book of Genesis. This war between the spirits is seen in the purpose of God creating man, and God destroying man in the flood except for Noah who walked with God (and his sons), God calling Abraham, God choosing the nation of Israel, and God anointing Jesus as the Messiah-Savior-Lord who has all authority in heaven and in earth, and God choosing those who follow Jesus to act in earth as His personal liaison.

We are at war, and this war of spirits will continue until all enemies and things contrary to the express nature of God and heaven are brought under the feet of Jesus, just as it so clearly says in 1st Corinthians 15:24-28, “Then will come the end, when He will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; WHEN HE WILL HAVE PUT DOWN ALL OPPOSING RULE AND ALL AUTHORITY AND POWER. FOR HE MUST REIGN UNTIL HE HAS PUT ALL ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET. The final enemy to be completely annihilated will be death itself. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says, ‘All things are put under Him’ it is manifest that He is excepted, which put all things under Him. And when all things have been subdued unto Him, then will the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”

That is an incredibly powerful scripture thought, but the apostle Paul is merely echoing the prophet Daniel when he prophesied of Jesus, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingdom that which will not be destroyed…And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, will be given to the people of he saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey Him”, (Daniel 7:13-14, 27).

It has been, and always will be about God’s kingdom in the earth. Jesus came preaching and demonstrating the kingdom of God and basically saying, “You can relax now. The new kingdom has arrived. This is what all of the prior messages from God to man have been about.” But in declaring the invasion of God’s kingdom in earth Jesus also demonstrated to us the power of His reign in contrast to that of the spirits of hell.

Please hear me carefully on what I am about to say. If we do not “get” this point, then we do not “get” the point of God’s eternal purpose in the universe, and we do not “get” God’s eternal purpose in mankind, and we do not “get” the point of God’s eternal purpose in Jesus and we do not even begin to “get” the entire point of Christianity and the point of being “born again” and living a life under the constant influence of the HOLY SPIRIT of God. This is because God’s eternal purpose, His only begotten Son and Supreme Lord of all things Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit immersed life, which is to be lived by all followers of Jesus, has very little to do with things AS THEY ARE SEEN in the natural realm but everything to do with things as they known to be IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM.

Everything in life is spirit and it is the delight of the spiritual enemies of mankind’s salvation to take our eyes off of this fact. DARK FORCES HOPE WE WILL JUST ACCEPT CIRCUMSTANCE AS IT IS and let them continue to feed on the souls of men, like leeches and parasites sucking the life from their host. There is nothing that passes through the visible world that is not first the byproduct of the spiritual world. As Paul the apostle taught the Corinthians (2nd Corinthians 4:17-18), “For our light affliction, which lasts only a moment, works for us a far more excessive and eternal weight of glory; WHILE WE LOOK NOT ON THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN: BUT ON THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN: for the things we see ARE MERELY TEMPORARY (and passing); but THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN ARE ETERNAL.”

And why was Paul’s focus on the unseen? Because he perceived that in the unseen and spiritual realm true reality exists. This is why, when writing to the Jesus followers living in Ephesus, he said, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (supernatural) places”, (Ephesians 6:12). Paul recognized that until every enemy of Christ is brought into submission to Him, we are in a conflict of supernatural warfare. But the conflict is not between flesh and blood but between Spirit and spirits, and the power to change what is seen in this temporary realm lies in the enforcement of the power of the ASCENDED LORD, JESUS against the wicked spirits who work their works against men and women. Here is what we need to understand: ALTER THE SPIRIT OF A THING AND YOU ALTER THE SUBSEQUENT REALITY OF A THING.

Whatever is not of Christ is clearly anti-Christ, and this is why the warriors of Christ must learn to keenly exercise discernment of spirits. The word Christ (meaning the “ANOINTED ONE”) is a term rich in association with the Holy Spirit. The power that Jesus demonstrated as a flesh and blood man, warring against spiritual evil under the guidance of His Father, was because He was ANNOINTED with the HOLY SPIRIT. Here is what Jesus said of Himself as he read from the writings of the prophet Isaiah about Him, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has ANOINTED ME to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’…And He began to say to them, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears’…” (Luke 4:18-21).

Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to visit Cornelius house and preach the gospel “officially” to the Gentiles. In his message to them he said, “The word which God sent to Israel, preaching peace (harmonization) by Jesus Christ - He is Lord of all: That word I say, you know, which was openly proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; HOW GOD ANNOINTED JESUS OF NAZARETH WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND POWER: Who went about doing good, AND HEALING ALL THAT WERE OPRESSED OF THE DEVIL; FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM”, (Acts 10:36-38).

In other words, the ANNOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT upon Jesus put Him on a collision course with spirits of the devil and the result was, the power of the Holy Spirit demolished the influence and bondage of the evil spirits, working their destruction on people’s lives. What this scripture does is further illustrate that the conflict is between spirits, the Holy and the evil, and if you alter the spirit of a thing you alter all subsequent reality, which is precisely what Jesus did. Whenever Jesus, the Anointed One of God, came on the scene there was a collision between the two spiritual worlds and Jesus, of course, prevailed because there is none greater than God.

John the apostle taught us that it is in the power of the believer to examine spirit forces and determine whether or not they are from God. He said, “Beloved, do not give credibility to every spirit, but examine the spirits to determine whether they are of God: because many false spiritual oracles are gone out into the world”, (1st John 4:1). John goes on to state that the measuring stick of spirit activity is Jesus Christ. There is no other measuring stick, which God has ordained.

What we see in Jesus is the purity of the Holy Spirit in action. What we see in Jesus is the fullness of God in a bodily form, bringing the present reality of what is true in heaven, into the changeable dimension of earth. Paul in Colossians 2:8-10 says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and empty deceits, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, AND NOT AFTER CHRIST. FOR IN HIM DWELLS ALL THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. And YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, which is THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER.”

So Jesus is the standard of measure for all we encounter. If what we encounter meets the Jesus measure, we can trust it is of God. On the other hand, if upon examination we find it does not meet the witness of the life of Jesus, the thing is NOT OF GOD and we can assume another spirit is at work behind the scenes. Whenever such a situation is encountered then, it is the prerogative of the Holy Spirit anointed follower of Jesus to TAKE CONTROL of the situation, ENGAGE IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE against the unclean spirit(s) in the name and authorization of the ASCENDED LORD, JESUS. As Jesus co-warriors we may or even must conduct warfare against them until the very spirit of the situation is altered from one of evil and unclean to that which is purely and completely of the Lord, Jesus.

It is a clash of kingdoms. It is a clash of spirits. The one being the goodness of the Holy Spirit of God radiating forth all of the full blessings of heaven, and the other being the foul and death enhancing spirits of the devil, binding, destroying and doing the antithesis to creation of all that is of heaven. Jesus is the thesis and all else is the antithesis.

Whatever we find that does NOT reflect the kingdom of heaven is fair game for warfare! Spiritual warfare by us is an attack with the intent of bruising, spoiling and subjugation of an unclean spirit under the feet of Jesus. And Jesus is waiting still in heaven to rejoin us until all enemies are under this subjugation including finally death itself. Just prior to Jesus returning there will be a set of His co-warriors that simple become immortals, whose bodies change from corruptible to incorruptible. They will look death itself in the eye and will prevail against it and receive new supernatural bodies from God. (Extra! Extra! Read about it in 1st Corinthians 15:12-58).

Whatever is not a reflection of good is a reflection of evil. Whatever is not a reflection of what we would expect if Jesus were present in the very moment is a reflection of an anti-Christ spirit. And regarding this whole dynamic Jesus said, “You’re either FOR Me or AGAINST Me.” So, whatever is not a reflection OF the Spirit of Jesus is a reflection CONTRARY to and AGAINST it. It needs to be made to submit under the power of Jesus and crushed under His feet.

This is the thing John said about the “trying of the spirits”. It centers on the reality of what would be true if Jesus were actually present right here in the moment with you. The fact is that Jesus has risen from the dead and is seated on the throne of the universe and has poured out the Holy Spirit on those who surrender to Him and by that HE IS PRESENT WHEREVER ONE OF HIS SURRENDERED CO-WARRIORS IS PRESENT. Listen again to the apostle John, “Beloved believe not every spirit but examine the spirits whether they are of God: because many false spiritual oracles are gone out into the world. By this will you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses (agrees with, speaks in harmony with) that Jesus Christ IS (present tense, in the moment) come in the flesh IS OF GOD: And every spirit that does not confess (agree with, speak in harmony with) that Jesus Christ IS (present tense, in the moment) come in the flesh is NOT OF GOD: and this is that spirit of anti-Christ, which you have heard would come and even now is already in the world” (1st John 4:1-4).

In a light glimpse and foundational understanding, this is what the “discernment of spirits” is all about. There is more to it and some of Jesus co-warriors become highly proficient at the use of this weapon, being very helpful to the Body of Christ. But the bottom line is the Holy Spirit works within those who are aware and listening to Him in order to draw comparisons between what we are witnessing in earthly situations and what we know to be the truth from the view of Christ as He sits upon the throne of heaven itself, waiting there until ALL OF SPIRITUAL DISORDER AND DISCORD is brought under the order of HIS THRONE of absolute love, forgiveness, healing and blessing.

Let me try and close this down with this thought from the apostle Paul to Jesus followers at Ephesus, “For this very reason, after I heard of your faith in the LORD JESUS, and love to all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the Father of glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may KNOW THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING, and what the RICHES OF THE GLORY OF HIS INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS, And what is the EXCESSIVE GREATNESS OF HIS POWER TO US who believe, according to the working of HIS MIGHTY POWER, which He wrought in Christ when He RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, AND SET HIM AT HIS OWN RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES, FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER AND MIGHT AND DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED, NOT ONLY IN THIS WORLD BUT ALSO IN THAT WHICH IS TO COME: And has put ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET, and gave Him to BE THE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY, THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLS ALL IN ALL”, (Ephesians 1:15-23).

It is all about spiritual warfare and will be until every disorder of spirit is brought under the heavenly goodness of the order of Jesus. Every warrior of Jesus needs to enmesh themselves in the continual flow of the Holy Spirit and examine the activity of spirit around him or hers self, whether it be events within your own life or events in others. Behind these events is spirit of some sort or another. Whatever events do not match what we know to be true in heaven, we may go to war against in the spiritual realm until the offending spirit of the thing is altered to reflect the Holy Spirit and the throne of Jesus.

Paul taught the Corinthians to become spiritually minded about all of the events of life. He said in 1st Corinthians 2:9-16, “But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, not ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us BY HIS SPIRIT: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, even the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man, save the spirit of man that is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God certainly knows them. Now we have received, not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are FREELY GIVEN TO US OF GOD. Which things we speak, not in the words which mans wisdom teaches, but which the HOLY GHOST teaches; COMPARING SPIRITUAL THINGS WITH SPIRITUAL. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual JUDGES (tries, weighs and examines) ALL THINGS yet he himself is judged of no man. For who has known the MIND OF THE LORD, that he may instruct (literally means to “be knit together or united with”) Him? BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.”

Wow! I think my hair (or what’s left of it) is on fire.

Randy

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Tracking the Results of Your Battles


Yesterday morning (Saturday) I woke up with a "Prayer Track Form" staring back at me in a vision. Once I had finished some time with my face buried in the “chair of prayer”, I went to my office and created the form as I remembered it to be. There were some unique things about the form and I will try to explain them, but over all, the form was given me for a purpose and I believe it represents a shift to action in “the plan” that Jesus and I are working on.

Let me clarify that last statement because “the plan” is all Jesus. I get to have fun being a big part of implementing “the plan”. It’s like a partnership as He provides His plan as well as His power for implementation and I provide a living sacrifice for the Holy Spirit to work through.

As for me, I wouldn’t have it or want it any other way. I have seen more than once in my life what happens when I “go it on my own” and it isn’t a pretty sight. I think also when you have given your word to God and made certain commitments to Him regarding your life and what you intend to do with it in relation to Him, you had better plan on keeping your promise.

It’s a funny thing about God and words and commitments and vows we make before Him. I use the word funny, but really, it’s not so funny. It is VERY serious business with God. So, when you say certain things to God about what you intend to do with your life in relation to Him, He took you at your word. From that point forward in the eternal purposes of God, the entire context of your life will only work in relation to those words.

I’m speaking mostly of myself here. Maybe you have found your experience to be different. Maybe you have found that you can withdraw the promises you’ve made to God about the investment of your whole life in Him and He is letting you do that and it means nothing. It’s like sitting down at the negotiating table with Him and you place a vow on the table, then when you think God is distracted you quickly reach up and take the bargaining chip back again, thinking He didn’t notice.

If you think that’s true then in all honesty I say to you, “You’re an idiot.” But as they say, it takes one to know one (is there a scripture for that somewhere?). I’ve spent a lot of time in the last long number of years trying a million things, looking for that place where the spigot of God’s blessings will rain down on me. I even thought I got close a couple of times and then without any explanation the whole world literally altered it’s course to bring me back to square one. If you’ve ever read the book of Jonah, then you know what I’m talking about.

So what is square one? For me it is the fact that many years ago I gave my whole life to God in a vow to serve Him with every conscious thought and every breath of my life. And what did God do? He said, “Awesome! Let’s go!” and took me at my word. That vow is the defining context of my life. It is there and only there where the “spigot of God” exists for me.

Now as long as we’re on the subject, here’s something interesting. In 1971 at 19 years of age, after a FULL YEAR of being saved, my wife and I were being sent out from our church as part of a three-person team to start a work for Jesus in The Dalles, Oregon. Just prior to departure we had prophets visit the church for a time of fasting, prayer and the laying on of hands and prophecy just like in Acts 13:1-3, 1st Timothy 1:18, and in 1st Timothy 4:14-15 (so read them). Here is one of the words from God one of the prophets spoke over me:

“And even of strong character and of strong will are you, even to the point that when I lassoed you, you did set your feet against Me. But I kept dealing with you, breaking down the resistance. And you surrendered and said, ‘Yes, Lord. I can’t go my way; I submit, I submit.’ And again, even after you did submit to Me in the areas of your life that I began to deal with you, did you not rise up again and set your feet. But, Oh, you have had a desire down within your heart to really know my ways. And I have brought you this far by My Spirit and My grace, and I will work you over, and cause you not to set your feet against Me, but to set your feet against the forces of evil, and against those that would be destructive to the kingdom of God. You will be of strong character and of strong will for the Lord your God.”

The funny thing is, I’ve never really felt like I was resisting the Lord. In fact I’ve always thought I was quite sensitive to the Holy Spirit and hearing quite clearly. But history over the past 36 years has proven JESUS TO BE CORRECT, and Randy to be wrong. You see, I’ve often been quite quick to “hear”, often being way ahead of the curve on what the Spirit is saying to the churches, but not so quick to actually “do”.

What can I say? So maybe I’m a slow learner, but once I finally do “get it”, then I’ve “got it “ and nothing will stand in my way. And you have to know that just as the first part of that word from the prophets is true then the second part is also true; “And I have brought you this far by My Spirit and My grace, and I will work you over, and cause you not to set your feet against Me, BUT TO SET YOUR FEET AGAINST THE FORCES OF EVIL, AND AGAINST THOSE THAT WOULD BE DESTRUCTIVE TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. You will be of strong character and of strong will for the Lord your God.”

I realize I started out discussing the Prayer Request Form Jesus gave me a vision of, but sometimes as I get started writing or talking, the Spirit starts opening thoughts in a direction and I just try to go with it. This is one of those cases and it always means there is someone, or two or more that will be exposed to this who needs to hear this specific thing the Holy Spirit wants to say. In this particular instance I believe there are at least 4 or 5 people who need to:

1). Remember your lifetime vow of service to the Lord. You can try a lot of things but nothing else is really going to work out for you. God took you at your word so go back to your square one commitment and begin again from there. Jesus will meet you there with open arms and He will even redeem the time that has been lost.

Regarding making a vow to God, Deuteronomy 23:21-23 has this to say, “When you will vow a vow to the LORD your God, you will not slack to pay it: for without a doubt the LORD your God WILL REQUIRE IT OF YOU; and if you don’t perform on it, it will be looked upon as sin in you. But then again, if you don’t make a vow, it won’t be looked upon as sin in you. However, the thing that has gone out of your lips you will keep and perform; it will be like a freewill offering, according as you have vowed unto the LORD your God, which you have promised with your mouth.”

And this is for someone specific – Do not believe the voices that tell you it’s too late. Those voices are not the voice of Jesus speaking to you. Go back to where you left off with Jesus and He will meet you there.

If you need help with this I urge you to contact me. There are many warriors who have been severely wounded in the battle over the last few decades. No one has reached out to you to heal you because of the ignorance and the fear of the church, but Jesus is doing right now on His own what the church refused to do.

And many of these warriors will come to Jesus “outside the camp” and will be healed and to whom much is forgiven will much love flow and much power and a work of God will take place by these healed warriors because they know what it is to be brought back from the dead and they will love their Healer like no man has dared love Him before. In the next six months to a year (maybe more), if you are looking for Jesus there is one place you will easily find Him, healing and cleaning up His wounded soldiers most likely outside the camp.

If you know any wounded warriors from past spiritual battles please send them my way. I need them for the harvest and so does Jesus.

2). Remember the word or words of the Lord that have been spoken to you. Like Paul admonished Timothy, meditate on those things and give yourself wholly to them because your profiting in life and in God is directly related to them. These things are like a special ground of meeting between you and Jesus. Pay attention. Don’t back off. Hold your ground and the glory of the Lord WILL appear to you. I say that because the enemy will lie to you and attempt to get you to give up the ground God has ordained for you to walk in. There will be attempts to discourage you and intimidate you. But remember this, the gifts and the callings of God ARE WITHOUT REPENTENCE (Romans 11:29), meaning He doesn’t give and then take back. You were chosen for a purpose and that purpose never dies. Those gifts and callings in you may indeed be just smoldering somewhere deep under the surface but I promise you, blow on those embers along with allowing the Holy Spirit’s breath in you and they will begin to burst back into brilliant flame. It may come in stages and most likely will, but rest assured it will come back to fullness and even more.

O.K. – now we can go on to the Prayer Track Form. Essentially the Lord gave me a tracking device with the ability to record the miracles He is planning to do. When I woke up and saw the form looking back at me and the things to record on it I also had the impression that I should begin something like a prayer notebook. This will become a history of the works of God, like a “book of remembrance” of His mighty deeds.

Something like this can be of great use in advancing the kingdom of God through spiritual warfare because it not only allows you to track prayers and answers along with unique ways they were answered, but also those things the Lord showed you about the situation while you were praying about it. I realized that eventually if a new situation came up with similarities to a previous one I can go back and review any keys to victory from the first incident that may be applicable to the second.

Of course, rule #1 in any prayer is to listen to the what the Spirit is saying regarding that need and how to approach it. But by the same token, there are keys or weapons the Lord gives in dealing with a thing that the experienced warrior learns to apply with skill over and over again. Faith begets faith and experience begets efficiency. I can see where a tool such as this could also become a great training tool and that’s what I’m committed to. And there are at least two other reasons for the Lord giving me this form, but I’m going to keep those reasons a secret right now.

I’m sure the Prayer Track Form will go through revisions as it gets put in to use, but if you are interested in having a copy of your own please email me a request for one. Get a notebook, print some off and go to work recording victories. If nothing else it will serve as a great book of faith for you to refer back to whenever you need to see the acts of God in your own life.

So the elements of the "Prayer Track Form" go like this:
  • The date you first started praying about an issue
  • The person(s) the request is for
  • The specific issues you are praying about
  • The name or attribute of God or element of heaven associated with the solution
  • Impressions, leadings, visions or words felt while praying about this
  • Any specific actions directed by the Holy Spirit
  • Solutions received either partial or full solutions along with the closing date

There is room for comments and thoughts under most catagories and a partial solution should be continued until the full solution is received. But the purpose of the form is to track the results of the battles you are engaged in and the amazing things you learn in the process. It will be an adventure!

Randy

Thursday, July 20, 2006


With regard to the Jesus School of Spiritual Warfare, the last few days the Holy Spirit has impressed on me a series of thoughts over and over again. These thoughts are inter-related and have to do with the release of the power of God in demonstrations of His glory. It is my firm belief that the people of God need to get off of programs and into actual training and mentoring Gods flock in real life demonstrations of His awesome miracle power.

I’ve had the privilege the last few days of working with a good friend of mine, Randy Solvang. We’ve had many conversations about the things of God and it’s been a lot of fun. One of the things we’ve discussed is our children and what impact spending their early lives in church has had on them. I keep coming back to the thought of how vitally important it is that our children know the infinite power of God, and grow up seeing that infinite power revealed again and again as God intervenes in lives, pouring out His incredible, undying love.

Not only is it important for them to see His miracles, but it is equally important for them to be taught and trained in being a conduit for His miracles as well. I believe the Christian life is about this very thing. It is all about people acting in concert with the infinite power of the universe and demonstrating the beauties of heaven to the world.

I am so entirely sold on this truth that I am willing to go so far as to say any contrary theology is a doctrine of the devil. A doctrine of devils leads people to disbelieve in an all-powerful present Jesus. A doctrine of devils would paint a picture of an anemic, powerless Jesus, Who is unable to act in triumphant miraculous demonstrations in the real life circumstance of real life people. A doctrine of devils would undermine faith and teach that the miraculous power of the ascended Jesus is for another time, either in the past or sometime in the future, but never for today and never for right now with the people you are rubbing shoulders with at this very moment. A doctrine of devils may be either overt (being taught publicly), or covert (being an inner voice of influence within a person).

Paul the apostle gave a powerful warning to Timothy, his son in the faith, regarding the last days and the perils that would attack the people of God. In 2nd Timothy 3:5 the apostle warns of those, “Having a form of godliness, BUT DENYING THE POWER OF GOD, from such turn away.” This is in line with the last days warning Paul again gave Timothy in his first letter when Paul said in chapter four, “Now the Spirit speaks with extreme emphasis, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, GIVING HEED TO SEDUCING SPIRITS, AND DOCTRINES OF DEVILS; speaking lies in hypocrisy…If you remind the brothers of these things, you will be a good attendant of Jesus Christ, NOURISHED UP IN THE WORDS OF FAITH AND OF GOOD DOCTRINE…” Paul’s admonition was so serious that he warned Timothy to turn away from that which undermines the expressed and present tense power of God.

The doctrines of God on the other hand ALWAYS INCLUDE the demonstrations of His infinite power. In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas were in Paphos when they encountered a sorcerer who withstood them. In verses 9-12 we read, “Then Saul, (who is also called Paul) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, ‘Oh, full of all subtlety and mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is on you and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.’ And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, BELIEVED, BEING ASTONISHED AT THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.”

Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth when an evil spirit became agitated by His presence. Take note that evil spirits are always agitated at the presence of Jesus, and for good reason. It is because in the power of His presence their power is under direct threat and attack. This is because they have no power before Jesus. The evil spirit begins to speak out and in Mark 1:25-27 it says, “And Jesus rebuked him (the evil spirit) saying, ‘Hold your peace, and come out of him.’ And when the unclean spirit had torn the man, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed insomuch that they questioned among themselves saying, ‘WHAT THING IS THIS? WHAT NEW DOCTRINE IS THIS? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, AND THEY OBEY HIM.”

Listen to Jesus speak about the doctrine and teachings of God and the works of God in John 14:10-14, “…THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, HE DOES THE WORKS. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me: OR ELSE BELIEVE ME FOR THE VERY WORKS SAKE. Listen very carefully to what I am about to say to you. He that believes on me, THE WORKS THAT I DO SHALL HE DO ALSO; and GREATER WORKS than these will he do; because I go to My Father. And what ever you will ask IN MY NAME, THAT WILL I DO, that the Father may BE GLORIFIED in the Son. If you will ask anything IN MY NAME, I will do it.”

The true doctrine of the Lord will ALWAYS promote the absolute supremacy of His power and not just in some ethereal sense. Whatever person, or teaching or voice inside of you that would encourage you to deny or doubt the present tense power of the Supreme and Ascended Lord Jesus Christ is to be rejected. Jesus said to His disciples, “ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. Therefore you GO and TEACH all nations…”, (Matthew 28:18-19). And in Mark 16:15-20, “And He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel (promulgate the doctrine of the supremacy of Jesus) to every creature…And these signs will follow them that believe…And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, AND CONFIRMING THE WORD WITH SIGNS FOLLOWNG.”

And Luke tells us JESUS THE ALL POWERFUL told His disciples, “And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry in he city of Jerusalem, UNTIL YOU ARE ENDUED (clothed, saturated) WITH POWER FROM ON HIGH”, (Luke 24:49).

The doctrine of Jesus spoke of the centrality of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. We are to be and seek to be continuously clothed upon, saturated with and immersed or baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit IS Jesus and the Holy Spirit IS the Father. AND THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO US TO CREATE A MERGING OF JESUS (THE ALL POWERFUL LORD) AND THE BELIEVER! “You will receive POWER (dunamis in the Greek language and is also used to describe ‘mighty works’) after the Holy Spirit comes upon you”, Jesus said.

Everything I am saying here is elementary Christianity. But it is the heart and soul of what it means when it is said, “JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!” But the message doesn’t seem to be getting through because of the hardness of our hearts. Hardness of the heart prevents the penetration of the seeds of truth. It is as if the seed is sown but when it reaches us it simply bounces off of us. The power of God is not unleashed upon the earth because we have not believed with all our hearts that “JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!”

After demolishing death by His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven and became the supreme and only true power in heaven and in earth. This is in fact what the term LORD actually expresses. In His life, death, resurrection and ascension to the pinnacle of all power in the universe He is now the single authority in all matters existing in heaven and in earth. And what a great authority He is! When you look into the face of Jesus you are looking into the face of sole and supreme power in the entire universe.

But power is not released because we do not believe this truth. It comes to us and bounces off. Our hearts are impenetrable by this truth because our belief system has been tampered with by the influence of doctrines of devils.

Instead of believing the word from God, which declares to all creation, “JESUS CHRIST IS LORD”, we instead believe in the power of our circumstance. We believe in the authority of bank accounts, the authority of sickness, the authority of diseases, the authority of broken bones, the authority of a fear, the authority of broken homes or whatever hindrance or unbelief in His supreme power the doctrines of devils lie to us about.

The Holy Spirit all the while is calling us to look into the face of the highest truth of all and that is, “JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!” It is the beautiful face of Jesus. This is the Jesus who revealed the glories of heaven to us in His earthly ministry. This is the Jesus who fed the hungry with supernatural provisions, who healed the sick, who cast out debilitating evil spirits, who made the lame to walk and the blind to see, who instantaneously healed the sores and rotting flesh of lepers and brought souls of dead bodies back into life again. This same Jesus is now the supreme power in the entire universe.

The Christian life is an invitation to live life on a higher plain. It is a life whose base of existence is by the Holy Spirit clothing us with the very person of Jesus. It is a call to abandon the beliefs of this world and the doctrine of devils that would undermine the power of the TRUE AUTHORITY OVER ALL THINGS, THE ASCENDED LORD, JESUS. Our invitation is to become world changers by submitting to the power of His Holy Spirit.

Please listen. It is time to have another mind, which is the meaning of the word “repentance”. This morning the Lord spoke to me and said, “Accepting the Lordship and supremacy of Jesus is the first step in repentance.” As a Christian, the Spirit calls us to think different and to view the world from the eyes of the eternal Spirit of God. It is an invitation to live life from the viewpoint of the supremacy of Jesus over all things in heaven and in earth.

Listen to this, “For those who are after the flesh (things of the physical realm) do MIND the things of the flesh; but those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally MINDED is to traffic with death (dead things); but to be spiritually minded is to traffic with life and peace”, Romans 8:5-6.

And for good measure, check out this in Colossians 3:1, “If you then are risen with Christ, SEEK THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST SITS ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. SET YOUR AFFECTION ON THINGS ABOVE, NOT ON THINGS ON THE EARTH.” It is about our viewpoint. What do we believe to be true? Do we believe in the absolute power of the ASCENDED LORD, JESUS or is our view point under the influence of dark spirit voices who seek to undermine the truth of the all powerful Jesus? Who will you believe?

I’m going to close with this, but I’m not done with this topic:

Ephesians 2:4-9, “Even when we were dead in sins, He made us alive together with Christ, (by grace are you saved); And has raised us up together, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS: That in the ages to come He might show the excessive riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you are saved through faith; and that is not of yourselves: (even that) is the gift of God: None of this is because of your own works, so that no man can ever boast of his own power.”

We are called to act with Jesus in this present life from His very throne in which we are united inseperably with Him. The believer in Christ is the literal extension of Jesus, the Lord. We are His very flesh and blood. We are the very authorized ambassadors of Christ on earth. Our point of operation is the very throne of Jesus.

The invasion from heaven into earth has begun and we are the invaders! We are putting down by means of spiritual warfare all things that deny the supremacy of Jesus over all things. Whatever are the realities of heaven become the realities of earth. We are God's chosen vessels to bring the brilliance and blessings of the Supreme Lord into the dimness of earth. Death is swallowed up in life. For those who believe, heaven has already begun. The Christian life is one of boldly revealing the new Ruling Authority over all things, the Supremacy of Jesus.

Randy

Monday, July 17, 2006


This last weekend was a pretty amazing weekend for me. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was a spiritual attack but yet fantastic lessons from the Holy Spirit. I like being in the Jesus School of Spiritual Warfare. There is never a dull moment and you know if you are in the thik of the fight something good is coming from God.

The first attack was an unexpected personal attack. It was an attack that was calculated to get me to doubt the incredible things the Lord has been doing in me and to doubt what I know to be the re-awakening and furthering of His gifts and callings.

I was knocked out flat for about four hours as I listened to the wrong spirit and what was being communicated to me. But as I mulled it over and talked to Jesus, He made me stop and begin to consider the fruit of what was raining down on me. As the Holy Spirit gently brought me along I began to realize this was an attack from hell. I was being filled with discouragement, doubting my relationship with Jesus, doubting the restoring work and power He was infusing me, doubting His gifts and callings.

And then the Lord gave me a view of things stretching way back for years and years. He showed me that this thing, this voice, had subtly torn at me almost daily since I was in my teens. Every time I began to move ahead it was there, undermining, eating away at faith and confidence, causing self doubt and doubt in what the Spirit was leading me to do. And it had become such a constant background noise that in a very real sense it had become invisible to me.

The exciting thing was that this incident (that was meant to drag me down and into despair), through the ministry of the Holy Spirit now became a major exposure of a long time evil. Now that the cockroach has been exposed, I can see it for what it is. I am aware when that spirit is attempting to dish it’s dirt on me and I am free to reject it’s message and embrace the words of the Holy Spirit about who He has made me to be.

Like Joseph in Genesis 50:20, I can say to the evil, “But as for you, you thought evil against me: but God meant it unto good…”

The second amazing thing that happened came about by means of a financial crisis. I woke up Saturday morning and realized I needed some cash and I needed it right away. So, I decided a yard sale would be a good idea. I knew we had a lot of stuff, and I never felt particularly attached to any of it, until I started thinking about selling it. There was my guitar, and my monkey clock and books and tools and as it turned out, quite a list. But I knew what needed to be done so I committed it all to the Lord and started setting up my yard sale.

What was so great was the more of my items I put out, the freer I felt. I soon realized how attached I had become to things and how much I had allowed my things to identify me. But I also began to realize as people started buying my items how little I actually needed. I soon realized that I don’t really need anything. That all I really want and all I really need in life is the person and power of Jesus Christ and that my treasures were not treasures at all. The only things of value are those things that can be and are employed in the service of God and His kingdom because His kingdom is what I live for.

Paul said it this way, “But whatever things represented gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes, without any doubt, I count all things but loss for the highest excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as pile of poop, that I may win Christ”, Philippians 3:7-8.

And then as Saturday progressed, this freedom also progressed to encompass everything. If a person is a servant of Christ, then this is an important truth. It is important because the supremacy of Jesus will reign in all things pertaining to life, but along with that come His rewards. Things, relationships and even gifts God has already given us pale in their importance to knowing Jesus and walking in the Holy Spirit. The value of all things holds no value in the light of Jesus.

God gave Abraham a gift. It was his son Isaac who in fact was the very fulfillment of one of God’s great promises to Abraham. But one day God asked Abraham to take his gift, Isaac, and offer up his own son to Him. Even Abraham’s own son, his gift from God, the very thing God had promised him was not going to come between Abraham and his God, he loved God that much.
In all these things, I realized that the only thing that has any meaning in life is walking and living in Jesus. All else pales, nothing else matters. No thing, no person, no reputation, no persona we’ve taken on, because it all pales compared to Jesus and walking in His Spirit.

And finally, there is one other thing that happened just this morning. The yard sale brought in some cash but not really enough. What I realized is there is obviously a block in the spiritual arena preventing God’s provision to me, so I prayed.

Then the Lord spoke to me and I heard Him say, “Jesus carried heaven to earth.” As I stood thinking about that, the next thing I heard was, “There is no difference between Jesus and heaven.” Then the third time I heard the Lord speak I had a paradigm shift, “You are in Christ. Heaven for you has already started.”

Then the word came from Ephesians 2:6-8, “And (God) has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come He might show the excessive riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

This was huge and I’m still processing it. But I realized that it’s true. Heaven has already started for me and as Jesus carried heaven to earth, and there is no difference between Jesus and heaven, then there is no difference between the disciple of Jesus who is here on earth now because the connection is that tight. Heaven has already started. We are seated with Christ in supernatural places right now. This is the message of the gospel of God’s kingdom.

So I stood in my back yard and said, “So, there is no lack of provision in heaven, and I am in heaven right now! That means there is not lack of provision for me.” Then as I’m standing taking this in for the next 5 minutes, Elaine steps out of the door and hands me the phone. It’s a good friend of mine, Randy Solvang. He’s building a house and needs some help for the next couple of weeks. Oh yeah, and he’s paying money.

You might think that’s coincidence, but that just means you don’t know yet about the mysteries of God. What I’ve just outlined above are three major illustrations of spiritual warfare in action and God bringing the triumph. But the biggest gem of all is to begin to grasp that the kingdom of heaven has already started for you if you are a believer in Jesus. Wherever you are, the power of Jesus and heaven is in all of its fullness.

“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth…” Luke 11:2.

OH! I almost forgot. I got to keep the Monkey Clock!

Randy

Friday, July 14, 2006


“Distribution becomes the key.” Those are the exact words the Holy Spirit spoke to me as I was waking up this morning. I don’t know why, but this seems to be one of God’s favorite times to drop a word on me. It’s right at that point where I’m walking up the trail from wherever I was in the middle of the night, but have not quite reached that place where I’m actually awake yet. Then, Boom! The Holy Spirit speaks and my eyes are wide open.

“Distribution becomes the key.” This confused me. I jumped out of bed, quickly did my jump out of bed in the morning things, and headed to my “chair of prayer” where I bury my face before the Lord and things usually get clearer. All the while my mind was racing as I tried to figure out what this meant because it was so clearly spoken.

Before I got to the “chair of prayer” I had already come up with a ton of possibilities. I thought, “Maybe this has something to do with business. Maybe God is going to give me a product to distribute in some massive way and by it He will fulfill a promise of abundant provision to me.” I think it’s a great idea and could be true, but that wasn’t the point.

I thought about it in the context of multiplication and mentoring others in either a business or spiritual practice. God knows there is a crying need for that among people with gifts. “Maybe God wants me to train others in what He’s teaching me and multiply the power of it.” I thought. It’s probably true, but that wasn’t the point either.

I guess my mind was already filled with too many things because the “chair of prayer” didn’t help me focus things much. That is except for the fact that I came away knowing “Distribution becomes the key” still had something to do with spiritual warfare. I knew the Lord wasn’t done teaching me about being a warrior in disrupting spiritual oppressions of darkness in people’s lives.

I was reminded again, EVERYTHING IN LIFE IS SPIRIT and what we see on the screen of reality is simply the product of what is at work behind the scenes in the invisible, spiritual world. The activity of the Holy Spirit of God at work in a person’s life creates one kind of result, and dark spirits at work in a person’s life produces another kind of result. It all comes down to what “broadcast station” our own spirit is tuned into and only through Jesus can we tune into the Holy Spirit’s radio broadcast.

Jesus is the secret decoder for the Holy Spirit signal. Without installing the Jesus translator system as the central receiver in your life, the Holy Spirit is clearly speaking to you, but you don’t have a chance in hell of hearing what He would like to say within your own heart. As a side note, this is why God has chosen the “foolishness of preaching” to bring people to Jesus. The initial preaching of the gospel to people AS AN OUTSIDE VOICE is letting people know the decoder is available to them as a gift of grace so they to can begin to unscramble the things the Holy Spirit has for them. It’s really a great station with sounds that will blow your mind. It’s like listening in on heaven itself!

So, not having any clarity on what the Holy Spirit was actually trying to say to me, I walked around all morning repeating to myself, “Distribution becomes the key” and turning it over and over in my mind. “What does that mean?” I kept asking. “Distribution becomes the key.”

Then, as I was walking around muttering to myself, I remembered the word “distribute” was used in the New Testament and thought there might be some clue there. That was kind of a “duh!” moment. The Bible is like the Holy Spirit’s autobiography. Quite often keys to what He is saying can be found in its words because what He has said throughout the ages is what He is still saying today. His central message to man has always remained the same throughout the ages, its just that it gets updated and defined specifically for us as we moment by moment tune in and listen to Him speaking. As we commune with Him in our spirits, He applies the words of eternity to each and every moment of our lives.

“Distribution becomes the key”, I said and opened my copy of Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words to the word “Distribute”. It says there are three words translated into the English word for distribute, but I didn’t have to go far to find the one the Spirit wanted me to find. The first word I came to is the Greek word “diadidomi” (die-ah-did-o-me). It actually comes from two separate words that paint a great picture. The first word is “dia”, and means “through”. The second word is the word “didomi”, and means “to give”. The idea is not just giving or distributing, but to give THROUGH another and to transmit a thing to one person by means of another person giving it to them.

Wow, that’s cool! And it is precisely the way Jesus works. He ascended on high and gave gifts to men. Then He tells us, “Freely you have received, freely give”, (Matthew 10:8). The kingdom of God is this way. Jesus gives through those to whom He has already given. To some are given spiritual things of one nature or another to give, and to some are given material things and other gifts but they are given to each person in His kingdom for the purpose of distribution to others.

But it is imperative that we do give what we have been given, because whatever gift(s) we have received from God, if we don’t disperse it to those in need (those who the Lord brings into our paths) the purposes of God are not forwarded by us. The flow becomes blocked and the bottom line is, people’s lives are not impacted by the kingdom of God to the measure they could have and should have been. “Freely you have received, freely give.”

Jesus ascended up on high and the treasures of heaven that He pours out on earth are done so by pouring them into men and women. It is when these men and women surrender their souls to Jesus, and continue to do so daily to His Spirit, that these great gifts flow out through them. As surrendered souls pour out their gifts into the lives of others the very glory of God is revealed in the earth, and men praise God and believe in Him.

This is the point of Jesus teaching about taking up your cross every day you live. Jesus explains it in Luke 9:23-26, “And He said to them all, ‘If any man will come after me, let Him put aside his own purposes, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow Me. For whoever will cling desperately to his own life will find that he has actually lost it: but whoever will lose his own life for My sake will discover he has actually saved it. For what advantage has a man actually gained if he procures everything in the entire world and yet is void of his own purpose, and in the end is cast away as worthless? For whoever is ashamed and turns away from Me and My words (to him), the Son of Man will likewise be ashamed and turn away from him, when He appears in His own glory, and in His Father’s glory, and that of the holy angels.”

The underlying current of shame and turning away is fear. At one time Adam and Eve were naked and NOT ashamed and then at another time they were naked AND ashamed. When God came to speak with Adam he said to God, “I heard your voice (words) in the garden and I was afraid…”, Genesis 1:23, 3:8-10. That fact that people fear to surrender to Jesus appears to be an issue in life. Why are we afraid to follow through on His words? Jesus acquaints this with being ashamed of Him and His words. Could it be that the standard by which we examine God’s guidance is that of the mortal world and not the standard God measures by? In the fall, Adam had adopted a new standard for measuring things and they were not those of heaven.

“But the world says I should act this way.” Oh, really? And what do the words of Jesus say? “But the world says this should be the way I live.” Oh, really? And what measure of value is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about? “But my friend said this and all the wise people of the world say this is the acceptable way.” Oh, really? So you will accept that and be ashamed of the purposes of Jesus? “But my dad, my mom, my brother, my sister, my….” Yes, I see what you’re getting at.

We make our choices don’t we? What does it profit a man if he were to gain the entire world, but in doing so he rejects the eternal purposes of God in his soul? “A certain ruler came to Jesus and asked Him saying, ‘Good Master, what should I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? For there is none good except for One and that is God. You know the commandments…’ And he (the ruler) said, ‘I have kept all of these since I was a boy.’ Now when Jesus heard these things He said to him, ‘And yet there is still one thing you lack: sell everything you have and DISTRIBUTE (diadidomi) it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come, FOLLOW ME.’ And when he heard this he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich”, Luke 18:18-23.

You see it was God’s intention in this mans life to give through (distribute – diadidomi) him into the lives of others, in this case to the poor. The wealth that had come to him was not intended to be a stopping place but a distribution point. How many of the poor wept and went hungry every night because this one man was not passing on the gifts of God that were sent him? How many people are NOT affected by God’s love and power if I do not pass on the gift of God he has distributed to me? “Freely you have received freely give”

The Holy Spirit said, “Distribution becomes the key.” It becomes the key to impacting the world for the kingdom of God. It becomes the key to overthrowing the reign of spirits of darkness as they blind people and bind people. But a gift undistributed has no power to accomplish anything in the lives of others.

The words are interesting to me because it doesn’t say, “Distribution IS the key”, but “Distribution BECOMES the key”. Why is that? It is because the distribution of what we’ve been given leads to a much bigger reality. By the distribution of our spiritual gifts, ministries and what we’ve received of the Lord, we engage in spiritual warfare. By distributing these things we literally become spiritual warfare in action.

The distribution of our gifts openly challenges the darkness and prevails against it because our gifts flow out of the very throne of Jesus who is the seat of supreme power in all heaven and earth and things under the earth. These gifts we have been given from the throne of God are a greater power than darkness. These are gifts of light and light trumps darkness at every turn.

The defeat of the enemy leads to the spoiling of the enemy. The spoiling of spiritually wicked forces leads to an even greater distribution back to the people of God. Listen carefully to Jesus on the subject of what happens when a evil spiritual force is overcome:

“And He (Jesus) was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spoke; and the people wondered. But some of them said, ‘He casts out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. And others, putting Him to a test, wanted Him to show a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your own sons cast them out? Let them be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, NO DOUBT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME UPON YOU. When a strong man armed guards his house, his goods are safe: When SOMEONE STRONGER than he comes down on him and overcomes him, he takes away from him ALL HIS ARMOR that he had trusted in, AND DIVIDES (distribute – diadidomi) HIS SPOILS’”, Luke 11:14-22.

In discussing spiritual warfare Jesus tells us several things:
  1. Overcoming darkness is the revealing of the kingdom of God for which we are to pray – “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, AS IN HEAVEN, SO IN EARTH” Luke 11:1-2. His followers are to be the usurpers of darkness.
  2. Jesus and His followers ARE THE SOMEONE STRONGER. The apostle John says of spiritual warfare, “GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU than he that is in the world”, 1st John 4:1
  3. The GREATER OVERCOMES THE LESSER. James said, “Submit yourselves to God, apply pressure against the devil, AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU”, James 4:7
  4. The VICTOR BECOMES THE POSSESSOR of his enemies ARMAMENTS (powers of war).
  5. The VICTOR BECOMES THE POSSESSOR of all the SPOILS of the enemy.

In overcoming the enemy in a matter, there is a taking and a distribution of all the spoils that were stolen by that unclean spirit. Distribution of our gifts into the lives of others is an act of war and it leads to the enemy being defeated by the greater power of Christ within us, which in turn leads to decimation of the powers and the spoils of that evil force. So, as the Holy Spirit said, “Distribution BECOMES the key”.

Finally, Paul writes to Timothy regarding the gift that was imparted to him by the laying on of hands and prophecy: “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. Meditate on these things; GIVE YOURSELF WHOLLY TO THEM; that your profiting may appear to all”, 1st Timothy 4:14-15.

And in reference to the same, in 1st Timothy 1:17-19 he says, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. This charge (mandate) I commit to you, my son Timothy, according to the prophecies (words from the Holy Spirit) that were spoken previously before on you, that you by them, MIGHT WAR A GOOD WARFARE.”

Jesus ascended on high and from the highest place of power and authority in the universe, gave gifts to men. Sometimes these gifts come by way of impartation through the hands of others, sometimes by a direct word of prophecy spoken over us, sometimes by the revelation of the Holy Spirit within us, but the fact remains, Jesus gives supernatural powers to those who follow Him. And these supernatural powers are given for the sole purpose of distribution to others in as many ways we can imagine. To use these gifts is to tear down spiritual wickedness and engage in warfare. As we stand against the evil, believing in and employing the pressure of these powers, the evil succumbs and flees before us because a greater power is present in us. We take the enemy’s armaments captive, and God takes of the spoils and makes a further distribution from them. It doesn’t get much better than this. As a good friend of mine Bob McGee says, “All this, and heaven too!”

“For this reason I want you to remember to stir up (fan to flaming brilliance) the gift of God, which is in you by the putting on of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”, (Paul to Timothy, 2nd Timothy 1:6-7).

Randy

Thursday, July 13, 2006


My brother Sean was over last night. We were discussing a situation he is involved in and going around and around it looking at possible solutions. We were hard pressed to find any one thing or even two things or ten things that seemed like adequate solutions. In the middle of it he received a phone call and it sounded like the situation had just upped itself a notch on the scale of un-solvability.

While Sean was on the phone I took the opportunity to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for advice. I suppose I should have done that in the beginning but the conversation between us got rolling and we found ourselves attempting to find solutions from our own intelligence (or lack thereof as the case may be). As I prayed the Holy Spirit began to give me a different view of the situation. Remember the Holy Spirit is referred to often as a dove in scripture, so I guess you could say I started to get in on “a bird’s eye view” of what was happening.

What I was shown was the spiritual view of the situation and the actions and reactions of the people involved. A thing I’ve been taught over the last number of months is that everything in life is spirit. It’s either the Holy Spirit or something else, but it is all spirit nonetheless.

What we see on the screen of life is simply the visible manifestation of invisible things working behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. So, the Holy Spirit basically said, “Contrast what you know about Me and the fruit of My activities at work and what you are witnessing among these people.”

It became very clear at that point the spirits at work and influencing the situation were demonic. What a great lesson to learn! What a simple way to for the Holy Spirit to teach at least an initial understanding of Jesus gift of discernment of spirits. So when Sean was done on the phone we talked about this and in light of what the Holy Spirit was showing it was clear to both of us what was going on.

Before we concluded, we prayed and invited God right then and there to enter into the situation and turn on the lights, exposing the cockroaches of demon spirits so they can be seen and dealt with and people’s lives could be delivered and healed by Jesus. I think we both felt the power of the Holy Spirit, like He was pretty jazzed to jump into the middle of this thing and show the world His stuff. I really believe God just loves to get into the middle of these things and show the power of salvation. Often He is just waiting for our invitation.

Under the authority of the ASCENDED LORD, JESUS, we bound the spirits and called the judgment of God down upon them in rebuke to their damaging, hateful operations on these people. But there was one thing we realized and that was because of what we just did by the Spirit of God, the situation would likely get worse before it got better.

This happens because the pressure and presence of God moving into a situation will first expose and bring to the surface the working of the evil spirits. Without a hiding place they will be seen clearly for what they are. As they are uncovered it will get much more ugly before it gets more beautiful (by the way, for those who care, I just realized there is a thought in this regarding Adam and Eve before the fall being naked and not ashamed and then being naked and ashamed, but that’s spinning off on a different topic – of sorts). God is going to bring the light of judgment and shame on these spirits. The whole Biblical picture of what happens to an enemy in defeat is they are carried away in bondage and paraded naked before all. Defeat means maximum humiliation and a total spoiling of the enemy.

My point is this. Jesus is moving those who are following Him into a level of spiritual warfare in which the authority they move in will be phenomenal. With the ASCENSION OF THE LORD, JESUS CHRIST to the pinnacle of all universal power, those under His authority will exercise His authority over evil spirits in a direct, confrontational and victorious way.

This authority, and faith in His authority in them, will empower them and encourage them to command the evil spirits. As the followers exercise this command in the name of THE ASCENDED LORD, JESUS these spirits will obey their command. They have no choice because Jesus authority is supreme.

I leave you with this from Mark 1:27, “And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He COMMANDS EVEN THE UNCLEAN (EVIL) SPIRITS, AND THEY OBEY HIM.”

Jesus is still doing the same today but from His position of total power in all the universe. That’s heavy. That’s authority. That’s power. He commands the evil spirits and they obey Him. The same power Jesus exercised on earth then is the same power He exercises against the darkness now, the only difference is now He does so through those who follow Him. Jesus ascended on high, and gave His gifts to men.

Randy

Wednesday, July 12, 2006


It's 4:30 in the morning. I’ve been awake for a while now. There has been super heavy spiritual activity since 1:36 a.m. It's at that time I woke up to some intense activity, like waking up to the sound of a battle. There was shouting and noise. Messages were trying to come to me but I was not receiving them. I don’t know if that makes sense or not. Things were coming and the spirit of revelation would be there but as soon as I saw the thing it was gone.

It was intense activity, very intense and it was heavy throughout the whole room. At one point Elaine started talking in her sleep. She said something like, “Oh, I see. It’s like the kingdom and He’s the queen…I mean the King.” That was weird.

I lay there half awake and half asleep and this thing kept raging on. I kept trying to focus on what the thought was that kept trying to make its way to me. I started praying in the Spirit softly and then it crystallized. The word that came through was, “The ASCENDED LORD, JESUS.” And that was enough. It shook in my understanding.

I understood then the power of the Lord. Jesus is ascended and because He has ascended to the right hand of God, He has been given ALL power in heaven and in earth, not just SOME power but ALL power. My faith suddenly began to soar. I realized when I act under His command through relationship with the Holy Spirit, I am acting in the person and authority of THE ASCENDED LORD, JESUS, the highest point of power in all the universe.

This is the school of spiritual warfare I felt the Lord said He would begin giving me lessons in. In my conversation with Mike Ward the other day, this is one of the things we touched on, so the seed had already been planted in me. But now I saw it graphically and it was like two lessons came together. The first lesson had to do with speaking and commanding things to come forth when you knew God has already authorized them for you. I wrote about that yesterday.

But now in lesson two, I was seeing graphically the power that was and is at work in the earth to uproot, cast down and destroy darkness. In any warfare, success comes from the proper application of superior power and or tactics in defeating, destroying and spoiling an enemy. I was seeing that there is no greater power in heaven or in earth than the ASCENDED LORD, JESUS, as He declared to His followers after He did ascend, “ALL POWER is given to ME in heaven and in earth”, Matthew 28:18, and that becomes the basis of our faith and power in the earth to overthrow the effects of the fall of man.

Did I not know this already? Yes I did and no I didn’t. In a way my faith has been in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and His triumph over death and all things related to death. But in this word the Lord was adjusting the focal point of my faith, past the triumph of the resurrection and onto the triumph of Jesus ASCENSION, for in the ascension resides Jesus absolute, infinite power.

I saw for me, this is a critical point in being schooled for warfare against darkness. JESUS ASCENCION TO THE THRONE OF ALL (INFINITE) POWER IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH, AND MY FAITH IN THAT REALITY IS A PIVOTAL POINT OF BELIEF. And why is this pivotal? It is pivotal precisely because it has to do with the application of Jesus total, absolute power over all things in heaven and in earth in and through me (and you).

As I lay there taking this in, the word of the Lord came to me saying, “He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and He gave gifts to men. He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers.” As these words came, there was powerful impact in them. These words ignited in me as the Lord showed me specific things about His purpose in me but more importantly about the method through which He engages and treads down spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Jesus crushes the powers of spiritual darkness through an army of warrior men, women and children acting under His authority.

I saw that under the exercise of Jesus total supremacy in His ascension, He gives gifts, or authority to men. When a believer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is “authorized” by the Spirit in an area or in a thing, the power of that authority leads directly back to THE ONE who is ALL POWER. In other words, those operating under His command are authorized with the full authority and power of all of heaven, that being Jesus Christ Himself. The word of the Lord is the authorization of the Lord for the individual act out in power against the darkness.

As in a military structure, soldiers work under a system of command. Along with any directive from headquarters comes the full authority to command forces as well as resources on the field of battle. This is exactly the same structure alive within the command of Jesus Christ. Among the servants of God, there is a time to wait upon the word of the Lord for a situation and there is a time then to leverage the power granted and move with the authority of that command and deploy it’s power into the spiritual realm.

I’m struggling to put into words the picture I’ve been given of this. The word of the Lord makes us the fully authorized representative of the person of Jesus in the same way that an ambassador acts in the full faith and power of the country he or she represents. When a soldier or an ambassador receives an order from their command, the full faith and power of that command stands behind the given order, so the ambassador speaks, and the soldier acts knowing the full power of their government is backing them. In the case of the ASCENDED LORD, JESUS the fullness of infinite power backs those whom He authorizes by an inclination, a witness in their spirit, a dream, a vision, a word, etc.

The awesome power of authority is illustrated perfectly by the centurion that came to Jesus at Capernaum. Matthew records the incident in chapter 8 and verses 5-13 of his gospel, “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching Him and saying, ’Lord, my servant lies at home sick from the palsy and is under extreme torment.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ The centurion then answered said, ‘Lord, I’m really not worthy to have you come under my roof: but if you will simply issue a command, my servant will be healed. For (like You) I am a man who is under authority, and in turn I have soldiers who are under me: and I command this man to go, and he goes and I command another to come to me and he does so; and I tell my servant, do this thing and he does what I say.’ WHEN JESUS HEARD IT HE MARVELLED and said to them that followed him, ‘Listen carefully to what I am about to say, because I HAVE NOT FOUND FAITH OF THIS MAGNITUDE anywhere in all of Israel’…And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go your way; and because you have believed, it will be done to you.’ AND THE SERVANT WAS HEALED IN THAT VERY SAME HOUR.”

It is critical to get this picture. Successful warfare brought against the very real dark spirit personalities depends upon it.
  1. The centurion came with a request.
  2. He received from Jesus the assurance of it being done when Jesus gave the word, “I will come and heal him.”
  3. The centurion understood the way authority and power works and knew Jesus could simply speak the command because the Fathers authorization to heal was already given.
  4. Jesus pointed out to all that this understanding is the working of faith on at a high level magnitude.
  5. The authorized healing took place by Jesus, under the authority of the Father commanding it to be so.

This is the same way the Kingdom of God works now. Jesus the King determines the plan of battle and He commits the fullness of all the resources of His realm to the success of the campaign. So He sends out instructions by a messenger, the Holy Spirit, to the leaders, generals and soldiers who have placed themselves in the field of battle. Those orders are both the authorization and guarantee of the full provision required to obliterate an enemy strong hold.

But He puts the word into us, and once we receive the authorization WE command the situation to be as THE LORD has declared it to be. We see a need. We go to the Lord with it. He sends the “GO” signal by the messenger, the Holy Spirit. WE NO LONGER NEED TO GO GET FURTHER APPROVAL (instruction maybe, but approval no) BUT WE ARE NOW AUTHORIZED TO COMMAND THE SITUATION TO CONFORM TO THAT WORD THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN ISSUED.And we are authorized to command these things to do so IN THE NAME (AUTHORITY) OF THE ASCENDED LORD, JESUS.

It’s not our authority. It’s not by our might, but it is by HIS AUTHORITY AND HIS MIGHT and all other forces must bow down to the supreme authority by which we speak. We don’t beg the darkness to relinquish its hold, nor do we beg the heavens to offer some provision. But rather, by the authority already given us from the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, we have been given power TO COMMAND these things to be so!

This was what the centurion understood! When you act under authority, the authority you act under becomes the very authority you act with. Acting under that power becomes the power you act in. The power you exercise is the precise power given when the decree of the higher power was sent you! And if that power is the highest power in the universe then no power can resist or stand against that power!

Paul writes to the Philippians, “For this reason God also has HIGHLY EXALTED HIM and given Him A NAME that is ABOVE EVERY NAME: that at THE NAME OF JESUS every knee should bow, of things IN HEAVEN, and things IN EARTH, and things UNDER THE EARTH; And that EVERY TONGUE should confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”

Listen to David as he goes out to do battle against all odds in facing the giant Goliath: “And when the Philistine (Goliath) looked about and saw David he disdained him: for he saw he was but a youth…and the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with (shepherds) staves?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me and I will give your flesh to the fowl of the air and the beasts of the field.’ Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: BUT I COME TO YOU IN THE NAME (authority) OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF THE ARMIES OF ISRAEL, WHOM YOU HAVE DEFIED. This day will the LORD deliver you into my hand…THAT ALL THE EARTH MAY KNOW THAT THERE IS A GOD IN ISRAEL’.”

David, not even a man but a simple dirty faced boy, a nothing and a nobody, goes out against this giant of a man who daily comes up and terrifies Saul and all the armies of Israel. Goliath challenges, and taunts and threatens and curses them by his gods. He threatens to tear David apart and kill him, making his carcass food for the fowl of the air and the beasts of the earth. But David has something not even a force like Goliath can do anything about. It’s not David’s shepherd tools because they are nothing against the intimidator. And it’s not even his sling or the five smooth stones from the brook. The power of David is in the fact that he came out against Goliath under the authority of God.

And we see David defying Goliath to his face! “You come with your sword and your spear and your shield”, David says. “But I come in the name – under the power and authorization of – the LORD OF HOSTS! And ALL THE ASSEMBLY WILL KNOW that the LORD doesn’t save with sword or spear.” And Goliath is enraged and attacks but David holds his ground, slings his stones in the name of the LORD and evil is decimated and decapitated that day.

One dirty little boy acting under the authorization of the LORD of HOSTS put to flight an entire army of evil spirits. It is THE ASCENDED LORD, JESUS, sitting right now on His throne of supreme power over all things Who, by the word of His Spirit sends authorization to His people to command spiritual forces on His behalf.

Finally, Psalm 68 is a Psalm of spiritual warfare. Everyone should read it and know that it applies prophetically to the Messiah, Jesus Christ and those under His command. It says:

“Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let those who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so will they be driven away: as wax melts before fire, so let the wicked (wickedness) perish at the presence of God…the Lord gave the word and great was the army of those that proclaimed it. Kings of armies did flee apace…the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai in the holy place…You have ascended on high, you have led captivity captive: You have received gifts for men…Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation…He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. But God will wound the head of His enemies…The Lord said…I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That YOUR foot may be dipped in the blood of your enemies, and the tongue of your dogs in the same…Your God has commanded your strength: strengthen, O’ God, that which You have wrought for us…Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter the people that delight in warring against us…Sing unto God you kingdoms of the earth; O’ sing praises to the Lord…To Him that rides on the heavens of heavens, which were of old: look, He sends out His voice, and it is a mighty voice…O’ God, you are terrible out of Your holy places: the God of Israel IS HE THAT GIVES STRENGTH AND POWER TO HIS PEOPLE. Blessed be God.

The word of the Lord and the witness of the Holy Spirit is the authorization for you to act! Command all things to conform to the word and will of THE ASCENDED LORD, JESUS and they must. Keep coming against the enemy stronghold with this and they must bow to the name of the Lord Jesus.

Randy