Bye bye, baby crib prayers

The tyrannical news cycle continually screams at us to try to stir up our emotions – fear, anxiety, anger, mercy (even unsanctified mercy), etc.  Many Christians are motivated to pray according to the latest news.  If our prayers commonly follow the media reports, there is very high likelihood that we’re praying from our soulish emotions.  This is just one of the ways that we conform to the patterns of this world (Rms 12:2), which very likely puts the devil in charge of our prayer initiatives.  Why?  Because we’re being led by the latest ruckus that the devil is causing.  He gets to dictate what we pray for and when we pray.  I wonder how happy he is that he gets so much free attention!   

But if we’re going to be led by the Spirit then we must stop being led by our soul.

Soulish prayers are immature prayers… one might even call them ‘baby prayers’.  Babies don’t have the capacity to analyze the bigger picture when something goes wrong in their diaper. 😊 So as paidion sons (baby sons) they ‘cry out’ to daddy for help when the boogeyman rattles his chains.  But mature sons don’t let themselves be distracted by the devil banging his drums for their attention.  They listen to the Voice that is higher.  Mature sons dwell far above the cacophony of banging drums.  They’ve “set their affection on things above… not on things of earth”.  They listen for the higher report… and the higher directives.  This, my friends, is where God is inviting His sons and daughters.  This will qualify us to become huios (mature) sons and daughters who get to rule and reign with Him.

So, what I’m getting down to is that we may have made prayer an act of babies soulishly crying out plaintiff prayers to a god way out there and if he doesn’t answer right away, we cry louder trying to ‘deliver the mail’ across that great distance.  As we mature we realize that we are in Him and He is in us… and thus there is no need for delivering the mail to some far-off hard-of-hearing ears.   Our maturity has taught us how to experientially come into union with God and KNOW His thoughts… and realize that He KNOWS ours.  What a beautiful destination our Father has brought us to.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” – Eph 2:13   

Yea, not just near, but in union with Him, because listen to this: “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” – I Cor 6:17.   We must learn to live in the reality and expression of this union.  This is our inheritance.

Set your attention on things above the banging drums and rattling chains of the devil.  Begin to identify what prayer looks like when you are fully homogenized into union with God.  Consider what it looks like when He’s graduated you out of the baby prayer crib and you find yourself freely and voluntarily conversing with Him as a partner versus a plaintiff.  In this reality, what should your appropriate prayer posture be?  What is appropriate prayer vocabulary now?  How do you describe and define prayer at this level of intimate union?  A biblical conclusion to these questions will begin to define our new M.O.!

Happy graduation!   

–MLH

Resource:  Ascended Life Study Course   (New)
Level 1   New Creation Identity     
Level 2   Our Expanded Inheritance

What if there is no distance between you and God?

Beyond words
Have you ever felt like in an instant you knew something new, ‘in your knower’?  God frequently communicates through what we might call ‘micro-bursts’ of knowing—instant spiritual downloads that completely bypass the need for long paragraphs of words or complex explanations.  This capacity is available to us as well: to move beyond the clunky machinery of language and into the fluid speed of spiritual exchange.  This spirit-to-spirit communication represents the highest form of divine union.  

“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” — 1 Cor 2:10

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
– I Cor 2:14

The 24-inch journey from head to spirit
Every sincere believer must travel the twenty-four-inch journey from the brain down to their spirit, described by Jesus as being in the ‘belly’(Jn 7:38).  This is the seat of our spirit and is the place where our true self resides, untouched by the noise of the world.

Maturity in the faith is marked by learning to be led by the Spirit rather than by fluctuating emotions.  

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” — Rms 8:14

Obliterating separation
When we start our faith journey, many of us view ourselves as fundamentally separate from God.  We act like babies crying out from a distance, hoping to be ‘picked up’ or noticed by a far-off deity.  However, true maturity embraces the staggering realization that there is absolutely no distance, no delay, and no separation between you and the Father.  You are not a distant observer; you are an included participant within the Trinity (I Cor 6:17).

This is not about replacing God, but about being merged into a perfect oneness with Him.  His DNA and His attributes are within our very being.  When we maintain the illusion of distance, we inadvertently stifle our ability to walk in all that Jesus promised.  To walk in power, we must first obliterate the thought that we are ever truly alone.

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
— 1 Cor 6:17

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” — Jn 15:5

Operating in Divine union
Operating from a place of union affords us unprecedented access to the ‘omni’ attributes of God… His Omniscience – all knowledge… His Omnipresence – everywhere… and His Omnipotence – matchless power.  As we marinate in this reality of oneness, our prayer life becomes less of a formal plaintiff petition to a distant king and more of a constant, seamless spiritual exchange between two who are one.

We must graduate from just being consumers who always take from the Kingdom.  We must acknowledge our life-giving spirits to become the co-reigners with God who release our influence into the earth.  When we embrace our union, we stop trying to reach God, and we start living from the place where we already dwell with Him.

“He has made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” – Eph 2:6

Sum it up
Maybe the greatest hurdle in the believer’s life is the perception of distance from God.  When we grow out of the ‘baby mindset’ of separation and into the revelation of our literal union with Christ, we transition from laborious effort to effortless flow.  We are invited to live spirit-to-spirit.  This union isn’t just a theological concept; it is a poignant reality that empowers us to govern, manifest signs, and bear fruit that remains.  This year, we’re going to obliterate thoughts of distance and move towards walking in ‘spirit-to-spirit’ transfer, which will revolutionize our natural experience.  Do I hear an AMEN!!

–MLH

View a related 35-minute video by MLH: https://youtu.be/Iy5ZgyI3KEg?si=BGVOrSbpa4BIBpY1

Resource:  Ascended Life Study Course   (New)
Level 1   New Creation Identity     
Level 2   Our Expanded Inheritance

A clean sweep and all Heaven breaks loose

Stories to Inspire

The Spirit realm is big!  And Holy Spirit is even bigger.  And He’s a great leader: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (Jn 16:13).  This makes for exhilarating vistas expanding out in all directions.

Who knew that our effectiveness wasn’t limited to just our earthly physicality?  Our belief system used to limit our effectiveness to only what we could do while in our physical body.  But what happens when we get liberated from the confines of this body into the expansiveness of Holy Spirit’s realms!?  What happens when we are untethered from the natural laws of physics and find ourselves able to travel and function with Holy Spirit wherever He goes?  I tell you what happens!  Christian life just takes a quantum leap into “life and life more abundantly”!  Thank you, Jesus, for that quote!

Brian Nickens found himself in a Holy Spirit assignment, partnering with an angel to set the stage for a God-encounter for his whole group.  So cool!  More, Lord!
____________________________

A clean sweep and all Heaven breaks loose

“On a Monday night I was lying in bed reading a book by Praying Medic entitled, ‘Traveling in the Spirit Made Simple’.  I fell asleep but really ‘fell’ into the Spirit realm.  I found myself in the upper room of the church where I was going to teach a bible class the very next evening.”

“I was aware that there was a dark cloud or haze in the room.  An angel in the corner instructed me to remove the haze.  We were both hovering above the floor.  The angel further instructed me to use hand motions to ‘sweep’ the haze (which was fear, doubt and shame, etc) into the center of the room.  The haze responded to my ‘sweeping’ motions and collected in the middle of the room in the form of a ball.”

“The angel then instructed me to remove the ball of haze from the room.  It was now like a balloon floating about 3 feet off the ground.  As the angel ‘stood’ behind me, I pushed the ball out into the hall, down the stairwell and passed the security.  As I opened the front door and pushed it out the entrance of the church building, it got sucked out into the atmosphere.  The angel then said to go back to the upper room and release joy, peace, love, and the power of God in the room.  So back in the room, I began joyfully spinning and releasing just as I was instructed.”

“When the encounter ended, I found myself back in my bedroom covered in sweat.”

“The next night when a first-time visitor from Jamaica walked into the bible study… she raised her fist in the air, shouted “Glory! The Presence of God is in the room!”  As more people arrived, they seemed to automatically get ushered into an unusual encounter with God.  For the next 30-40 minutes, people were overcome with the power of God and were beside themselves with various manifestations.  This lasted about 40 minutes.  Word got out around the building that “God was in the room” and other people in the building, including security, came to join in the experience.”

“When the unusual encounter finally subsided, I recounted to those in the room what had happened with me the night before.  With Holy Spirit’s leadership and an angel’s assistance, I had cleaned the room, and released the powerful Presence of God to usher us all into a Heavenly experience that we’ll not easily forget.” – BN/CA

Hello, I am __________ !

Who are you?  Can you confidently answer that question?  

They say: “Anything worth having, is worth fighting for.”  Of course, this can apply to many areas of our lives.  But, if there is anything worth fighting or contending for, it has to be my own identity!  So… who am I?

I think you would enjoy reading through some of my discoveries in my personal journey of ‘finding Me’ in; Finding the Treasure called You and How’s Your Heart? and In Search of the Real Me.  

In our quest to find and walk in our true identity, we realize that most ‘voices’ around us do not feed us the whole truth, so it’s a constant battle to corral our mind and dispossess it of ‘stinking thinking’.  Paul the apostle, describes this battleground like this:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, – II Cor 10:4-5

In the past, the devil has had us focus on the ‘cardinal’ sins; murder, adultery, etc.  Actually, these are worthy considerations, but there are issues and influences which are more subtle, yet even more detrimental to our futures.  And those things can creep up on us and take one ‘nibble’ at a time until a serious compromise has occurred.  

The saying is: “You are what you eat”.  Therefore, it’s vital that we ‘eat the right diet’ if we’re going to have the mind of Christ (I Cor 2:16).  Ultimately, He is the only One who can define me and give me my identity.

Here are just a few ways that I purposefully push myself in pursuit of identifying and cultivating my identity…

~ marinate in what the Word of God says regarding my true identity
~ have frequent God encounters where He speaks value & identity to me
~ listen to my personal playlist of special heart songs that tenderize my heart
~ don’t listen to ’empty’ music or talk radio
~ subscribe to select videos, blogs and podcasts
~ glean from others who currently experience God in fresh ways
~ surround myself with as many of my ‘on-ramps‘ as possible
~ share my ‘on-ramp’ stories as often as I can
~ share about my true identity as often as possible
~ this kind of sharing often yields another God-encounter
~ pursue those who will remind me of my true identity
~ associate with those who inspire the real me
~ strive to live from my heart more than my head
~ don’t allow negative thoughts to lead me… or determine my decisions
~ commit to do something that I’ve never done, each time I’m ‘front and center’

Most of these points are basic wisdom issues… but it’s surprising how our society disregards wisdom, in favor of trend, comfort and instant gratification. 

As I become confident in my own identity and get ‘comfortable in my own skin’, this eradicates insecurity and vulnerability to the fear of man.  It frees up my heart to hear from Holy Spirit because I’m not tyrannized by fear.  I can initiate more quickly, with more boldness and with more authority of ownership in whatever is before me.  And that is an exciting and liberating way to live life! 

Knowing who you are, makes you able to confidently say, “Hello, I am _______!”

–MLH

A quick look at grace, works and growth

Some quick thoughts on grace, works and growth.

Is it OK to say the words grace and works in the same sentence?  But aren’t they antithetical to each other?  Let’s take a cursory look at the difference between grace and works and make a few distinctions.  By definition, Works are not allowed when receiving true Grace.  But also by definition, in order to Grow in God some kind of works will be manifested.  So how do we differentiate between when to apply Grace and Works? 

Grace – (‘works’ not allowed in these areas – only believe)

Salvation
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done…” – Titus 3:5
“By grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves…” – Eph 2:8

Right standing w God
“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent”  – John 6:29
“I’m convinced that nothing…. will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Rms 8:38-39

Value in God’s eyes
(Even) “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” – Rom 5:8

Then Paul gives the Galatians a stern rebuke of trying to mix Grace with Works.  Ouch!

“Are you so foolish?  After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” – Gal 3:3

So then, what about Works?

Works – necessary in these areas

Growth
“Add to your faith virtue….” – I Pet 1:5
“Earnestly desire the best gifts…” – I Cor 12:31
“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling…” – Phil 2:12
“But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” – I Cor 15:10 NIV
“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” – Phil 3:12
“But strong meat is for them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” – Heb 5:14

Service to mankind
Help a neighbor get his ox out of the ditch – Matt 12:11
Good Samaritan – Lk 10:25-37

Work spares us from natural consequences
If I don’t receive money (by our brain, brawn or grace) to pay the bills, I will reap the consequences
If I don’t exercise the fruits of righteousness, I reap the consequences in life issues

Grow in favor
“Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man” – Lk 2:52

And then to top it off James says, 

“Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.“ – Jms 2:17-18

James says that our works will give evidence of our faith (the Grace that we walk in) and that if we don’t have any applicable evidence, then our faith (Grace) may be dead.  O boy!

Sum it up
So both are valid, and they function hand in hand… but within their respective scope.  Here’s a quote…

“Everything we NEED in God is FREE.  But everything we WANT in God we must appropriate.”- Bill Johnson

The takeaway: Grace for salvation and sonship is free, but works give evidence of our grace and are necessary for growth.

— MLH

Discerning the Lord’s Body (Part 3 of 3)

In Part 1 we looked at a few problems with the traditional perspectives of the familiar communion passage found in I Cor 11:29-30.

In Part 2 we talked about Johnny, one of my spiritual sons, as he spent a significant amount of time with another part of the body of Christ in his very early years of walking with the Lord… which was vital to Johnny’s growth and maturity in Christ. 

In Part 3, we’ll unpack this communion passage and focus on the various parts of the body of Christ… and we’ll examine the contribution each part has to the whole.  First, let’s revisit the passage:

“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” – I Cor 11:29-30 (NJKV)

Let me paraphrase this same passage in the (MEV) Mark’s Expanded Version.  🙂

Anyone who participates in this meal without a high regard for and a functioning relationship with the rest of the larger body of Christ is guilty of not honoring Jesus’ whole body.  Are you honoring and relating to the myriad giftings and strengths of His many-membered body?  If you think you… or anyone… can skate through life without needing the rest of the body of Christ, it will be to your own detriment.  You will cut yourself off from the blessing and life-flow that comes from those other parts.  In fact, this reduced life-flow may leave you vulnerable, weak, sick or even spiritually asleep.

What about Johnny?
If I had kept Johnny in our revival-themed church, it’s likely that he wouldn’t have gotten the foundational Bible teachings that he needed to build everything else on.  He might have even been confused when trying to make sense of Holy Spirit activity in his unenlightened and ambiguous framework of the rest of Scripture.  This could have left him vulnerable to discouragement or disillusionment… potentially stunting his growth… or even worse. 

How would you respond?
Suppose you have a new believer in your congregation.  Suppose you discern that their motivational gifting is prophetic.  But your congregation has a strong emphasis and grace for evangelism.  With this mismatch, your new convert may end up frustrated… or frustrate you… as they grow up.  If his prophetic leanings are not nurtured by your group, then your new convert could be stunted in their prophetic growth.

But you’ve discerned their prophetic motivational gifting, and you affirm and ground them in basics of the Word of God.  And then you begin to convey how advantageous it would be for him to be ‘under’ the influence of mature prophetic gifts and anointings.  With his agreement, you send him to ‘Uncle’s’ prophetic church.  While there, his prophetic gift has a much greater likelihood of maturating at a maximum rate.

Because you steered your new convert into an environment that nurtured his gifting, he’s not weak, sick or sleeping in his growth or gifting.  Not only is your new convert strong, but the body of Christ now has another healthy prophetic voice equipped, vetted and endorsed to bless the body of Christ.

Now, just plug-in the gifting of any member of the body of Christ and see if the strengths of your congregation are matched for that person.  Then assess the strengths of other congregations to see if they are a match for that person.  I think you understand the dynamic at work here.

But actually, that part is easy!  As you can probably foresee, the bigger problem is that a leader or mentor has to be very secure in order to ‘lend’ their son/daughter to be trained in another part of the body of Christ.  Can we do it?  Are we secure enough?  Do we know our strengths and weaknesses?  Do we know what graces the other groups have to offer?

Back to the communion passage
Now, isn’t this more in keeping with our understanding of the heart of our Savior?  His body is quite diverse and graced and expresses itself in myriad ways.  So He invites us to His table and entreats us to enjoy the benefits of His powerful blood which was shed on the Cross, while we honor and receive the benefits of different parts of His body functioning together in mutual love and harmony. 

When we look at verses just before and just after I Cor 11:29-30, we find that Paul is poignantly focused on their lack of consideration for each other when they come together to eat… “one being drunk already before the others have arrived… and there is no food left for the hungry latecomer.” (my paraphrase).  There was no regard for others in the body of Christ.  Paul says, “Judge yourself”.  In other words, realize the problem you are creating… and exercise self-control.  If you don’t, some will go hungry… and you will create factions or divisions in the body of Christ.  These factions diminish the potential life-flow across the body of Christ.

Paul is clearly addressing the lack of self-control and the resulting potential harm or factions.  Taken in context, the disturbing communion ‘caution-phrases’, are clearly admonitions for us to relate honorably with other members of the body of Christ.  Without this honoring and relating, by our own volition, we make our hearts, souls, and giftings susceptible to weakness or even ‘sleeping’.

I feel comfortable saying that the judgment referenced in this passage occurs as a result of our own preclusion from the life-flow and blessing of God that we could have received from Him through the broader body of Christ.

What’s the take-away?
Obviously, whenever God speaks a thing in Scripture, He can have multiple layers of meanings and many applications.  But the emphasis of this particular series focuses on our need to honor the full body of Christ so that we escape the sad consequences and lack of wholeness that results when we create and practice division in the body of Christ.  Let the reader understand.  

Jesus, Your body is wonderful and beautiful!  And we love Your Communion Table!  Thank You!

— MLH

Everything after their kind

Every living thing (plant, animal and human) begets after its own kind.  This is a law of natural science.  The source determines the fruit.  In fact, God stated it clearly

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. -Gen 1:24

And this is true in the Spirit realm, also.  Our goal must be to differentiate between our soul and our spirit, knowing that each one of them beget after their own kind.  Our objective is to learn to live ‘in-sync’ WITH and live FROM our spirit.

Premise, pathway and goal
A huge belief that governs over all of my serious discourses, is to try to ‘live, move and have my being’ in the Spirit.  This is my premise, my pathway and my goal.

1.   If I converse around mental / brainwave exchanges, then I beget the fruit of my brain which is: knowledge, data and basic truth, etc.  

2.   If I converse in and from my spirit man, I will beget the fruit of my spirit: spiritual life and Heavenly power, etc.

One begets knowledge and truth, the other begets spirit and life.  Which will I choose?

Simply put

Body begets body – physical impact, offspring, etc
Soul begets soul – basic data and truth & soulish emotions
Spirit begets spirit – spiritual life-giving impartation

Any time we gather as a corporate expression of the body of Christ, we want to learn to discern our thoughts and impressions.  Where are they from?  Are they from our soul or from our spirit.  Does what I’m sharing have the power to impart and awaken life?  Or is it just facts and data?  Believers actually have the ability to GIVE life, as we choose to activate in this mode.  In this regard, we are like our elder brother Jesus (the last Adam), who was/is a life-giving spirit.  This is very different from the first Adam who was only a living soul.

“The first man, Adam, became a living soul.  The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” – I Cor 15:45

We ACTUALLY have the ability to GIVE LIFE!  Learning to live this way will be a life quest and a years-long learning project because most of us haven’t been trained to live from our spirit.  Most of the world and most of the church teaches us about our physical behaviors and our mental thoughts.  These of course, are reflective of our body and soul.  Even though religion references our spirit and that it is ‘saved’, we haven’t been taught about connecting and communicating with our spirit.  This is a big frontier.

We want to do things for much more than just earthly impact.  We’re reaching for spiritual and eternal impact.  Imparting spiritual life from our spirits is very much in line with several passages in Scripture:

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.  And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” – I Cor 2:12-13

This skill requires a disciplined effort from each of us, as we learn to differentiate between the sources of our thoughts and inspirations.  Are our inspirations soul or spirit originated?  And then we must use discernment as to when and how to share those thoughts and inspirations.  Finally, the reason we want to learn how to ‘live, move and have our being’ in and from our spirit is because this skill must become first nature in order to live and rule in the Heavenlies!

“Our minds cannot be our ‘tour-guide’ through the Heavenlies.” – Bill Johnson

Think of it, co-governing with God in the Heavenlies will require much more than just our mental capacities!  So, we call our spirit up to full height and full attention and fully authorize it to lead us into the Heavenlies (under Holy Spirit’s lead, of course).  Happy spirit sailing!

Activation
Try this prayer to ‘Align our triune self’ (click here and here).  Then speak to our spirit, acknowledge it, bless it, called it up to attention and full height, and commission it into its proper leadership position over our soul and body (under Holy Spirit, of course).  It’s amazing how our spirit begins to stir and respond when we acknowledge Heaven’s proper order for our triune being.  The Spirit of God and our spirit begin to resonate in harmony with each other and spill over into our soul.  Actually, this Song of Solomon passage describes it pretty well.

“My beloved reached into me to unlock my heart.  The core of my very being trembled at his touch.  How my soul melted when he spoke to me!  My spirit arose to open for more of his touch.  As I surrendered to him, I began to sense his fragrance, the fragrance of his suffering love!  It was the sense of myrrh flowing all through me!” – SoS 5:4-5 TPT

We’re learning.  We’re learning how to become Jesus’ ecclesia – which is those who know how to speak from our spirit and by the Spirit of God and thus become confident and effective ruling ones.

O boy!  This is exciting.

— MLH

Bob Jones video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gmg5MuB2_4 (start at 3:45mins

The Merger

Continuing the theme of untethering from this world…

The history of God

The Bible is an account of 1) God’s history with man 2) the history of man with God and 3) the history of man with man.  It is NOT the totality of the HISTORY OF GOD.  Actually, we only know fragments of the history of God outside of time and the earth paradigm.  The Bible is fairly silent on God, pre-time and pre-world and pre-creation.  While He enjoys working in our physical realm, He is primarily above and beyond our temporal realm.  I believe that as we move into this newly emerging age of learning to live in the Heavenlies, God longs to unveil the ‘beyond time’ eternal realm to us.

In short, He is inviting us into understanding the eternal realm, experiencing the eternal realm and learning to govern from the eternal realm.  If we thought our current world was big, we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!

Let’s begin

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing IN the heavenly places in Christ” – Eph 1:3

I like to remind us that we are blessed with “spiritual blessings IN the Heavenly places”.  1) Where do you have to be to experience these spiritual blessings?  2) How many different places or realms are there in the Heavenlies?  3) How many places are you familiar with?  4) How many places are you skilled to govern from?  You see, this very familiar verse in Ephesians actually implies so much more than we ever realized.  It opens up a vast and mostly unexplored and un-understood part of our inheritance.

A teaser

In the ‘seen realm’, we are governed by time, space, gravity, laws of physics, etc.  Humans have had millennia to discover and understand many of these tangible-world realities.  But have you ever asked, “What entities govern and influence the unseen realms?”

Is it possible that the Heavenly governing influences may be Heavenly Virtues… (Truth, Wisdom, Love, Joy, Peace, Gentleness, Meekness, Temperance, Kindness, Humility, Patience, Hope, Justice, Prudence, Gratitude) etc?  Selah!  Consider: IF these virtues were to govern over Heavenly realms with their influences, would you be a good ‘citizen’ in each of their realms?  Could you ‘commute’ through these realms and receive the spiritual blessings in these realms… and then begin to govern over earth from these realms?  

Well for sure, the Heavenly realms are governed by things and entities that are ethereal, non-physical and not bound by earthly paradigms.  In fact, Jesus said,

“The kingdom of God does NOT come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” – Lk 17:20-21

“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” – Jn 3:12

It’s time to untether

It seems to me that we have been tethered way too firmly to this natural world.  In fact, many of us probably can’t engage the Heavenly realm without imposing some kind of natural world restricting ‘law’ over it.  For instance, we might say, “That can’t happen because of some law of physics.”, or “I don’t know anyone who has done that before”, etc.  And it is just this type of thinking that will prevent us from fully entering the Heavenly places.  So, what does Paul say about this?

“Do NOT conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Rms 12:2

There is a clear charge here, to disengage… untether… from this world’s patterns and paradigms.  In fact, Paul continues by saying the requirement to be transformed (transfigured – Greek metamorphoo) is that we MUST get a new mind about the Heavenlies.  And to take it even further, we can’t even begin to ‘test’ and approve the Heavenly realms, UNTIL we have a new mind and get transformed.  O boy!  If we have real aspirations of moving into the Heavenlies, we’re gonna have to get serious.  Here’s a simple yet jarring take-away from Romans 12:2.

“Transfiguration is the evidence of the fully renewed mind.” – Bill Johnson

I haven’t transfigured.. YET!  Sadly, I only know of less than a handful of people who have transfigured.  Now, this news could either be discouraging… or inspiring to you.  But I love hearing the stark truth about a matter, because now I know what I have to do.  I have to find a personal pathway that leads to untethering from this world!

That pathway is in my crosshairs.  And it’s exhilarating!  It is more consuming to me than many other things.  But here is the good news, our Father wants us to find our home in His Heavenly places much more than we want to.  Thank You, Father!!

The merger 

I feel confident that this new emerging age will be hallmarked by an unprecedented ‘merging’ of man with God.  God wants to bring man into His world… His ‘home’.  And the truth be known, this was also our home before we were conceived and born into this world.  So, in reality, we are returning to the realm of our pre-existence before earth.  It may be like a most welcome reunion with our pre-Adamic selves… only better!  O boy!  Can you get your mind around this?  

IF this is true

I believe Father desires to unlock powerful latent capacities that already reside within our spirit.  In our near future, believers across the world will begin experiencing Heavenly realities that will eclipse even the best spiritual experiences in the Bible and in modern history.  And all of this is to be experienced while we are fully alive, in these natural bodies!  (Jesus validated this mode in Jn 3:13)  Learning to live in our Father’s world will be wondrous and without comparison to anything in our current paradigm.  

Can you feel the merger, yet?

–MLH

Companion Scriptures:  Jn 3:13, Jn 17:24, Rev 4:1, I Jn 3:2, II Pet 1:19, Job 38:4, Lk 15:1-7, Heb 6:1-3

For further reading, check out my friend Ron Jones’ book, entitled: The Merger 

She can cry if she wants to

Stories to Inspire #46

One of our many new frontiers in Heavenly realities has been in sending spiritual text messages.  Yes, this sounds ‘new agey’, but even if new agers do it, remember, the devil never invented anything.  Rather, he is a counterfeiter of something that God created.  Jesus acknowledged that there are wrong ways of entering the spiritual realms… and He said that if we do it the wrong way we are a thief and a robber (Jn 10:1).  So, it is our aim to find the Godly way of moving into these new frontiers.  Jesus gave us specific instructions and parameters:

“I am the Door.  If any man enters he will be saved, and he shall go in and out and find pasture.”  – John 10:9

So what is the safe way?  Hear from Him and then do it through HIM!!!

So how do you send a spiritual text?  Of course, everything is by faith, just like when we pray for the sick or when we prophesy… or even when we get saved!  But it boils down to engaging our spirit with God’s Spirit.

1) Ask Holy Spirit what He wants ‘sent’
2) Get ‘in touch’ with your spirit
3) From your spirit ‘send’ that impression to its intended focus

The only thing left, is to believe, and then later, check in with the person you sent the ‘text’ to.  We will no doubt have to grow in this… grow in hearing… grow in faith… just like a little child.

O boy!!!  God is opening a LARGE door to the Heavenlies… larger than we ever realized.  This next story ended with a surprising outcome and a happy heart.

“He’s blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings IN the Heavenly places.” – Eph 1:3

________________________________________

She can cry if she wants to

Taking my que from Jesus who “knew their thoughts”, I engaged my spirit to send a ‘spiritual text’ to a fellow ascended life leader.  We had given each other special permission to engage in this exercise.  As I asked Holy Spirit what I should ‘send’, and out of the blue I heard the phrase, ‘She can cry if she wants to’.  That was so different that I thought it must be the Lord.

So, I engaged my spirit and by faith, ‘sent the text’.   The next day I called my friend and asked if he had received my ‘text’.  He said he had completely forgotten about our project.  So I told him my experience and what I ‘sent’.  He said, “You know, yesterday I was counseling a married couple when the lady began to cry.  When this happened, the thought came into my mind, “She can cry if she wants to.”

When he told me the account of the previous day, we were both surprised and inspired.  I suggested that it might be good to tell the lady that the Lord was with her and endorsed her tender time during that counseling session.  Later, my friend told the lady and she exclaimed, “That 60s song was very special to me in an earlier time of my life when I was going through difficult times.”  The song is, ‘It’s My Party’ – by Leslie Gore (1963) 

It was amazing how God let the lady know that He was with her in her early life experiences… AND He comforted her in the current struggles.  

Don’t you just love the innovative and wonderful ways of God!! – MH/MO

–MLH

Also published here: https://www.alc.one/storiestoinspire 

Moving beyond revival

I believe that we’re beginning to see the shifting of the mindset of our religious culture… let me explain.

‘Revival’ has been the best thing since sliced bread for millennia.  People have revisited a previous time in their lives and ‘re-dug’ an old well of spiritual experience.  By definition, ‘RE-vival’ is ‘re-doing’ something from the past.  Fortunately, in the midst of a revival time, God usually gives some new facet or expression beyond the past… such as, shaking, falling, laughing, gold dust… etc.  But still the central essence of most of our past revivals is still a ’re-capturing’ of a spiritual ‘aliveness’ that we once had.

Of course, we all highly appreciate any and all of the milestone God-filled experiences that we’ve had in the past.  No regrets or disparaging, here!  

We love revival
Of course, we still love revival.  Revival is better than not being revived!!!  😊  In fact, I am going to attend a Rodney Howard Browne revival meeting here in KC.  And I’m excited about it!!!  I’ve had several POWERFUL experiences 20-30 years ago in RHB’s meetings … and I’m eager to ‘enter into’ the experiences in that same environment again.  It was precious to me then… and I’m confident it will be this time.

Recently, I attended several John & Carol Arnott (from Toronto Christian Fellowship) meetings here in KC… and LOVED it.  I voluntarily took a ‘courtesy drop’ (no apologies from me) and genuinely laughed my guts out.  It was just like I remembered in the powerful wells of revival 20-30 years ago.  Even though my recent experience was very satisfying, it wasn’t as life-giving to me as I now experience in ascended life.  But it was still life giving… and it reinforced and validated my experiences that I had back in the day.  Thank You, Father!

A couple of things about God

1. His character and nature do not change
     “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” – Heb 13:8
2. But His emphasis definitely changes over time
     “Behold, I am doing a new thing” – Is 43:19

God’s love has constantly overarched and undergirded everything He has done since before time.  But He has unveiled many different emphasis to His people throughout the ages.  Think: 10 Cmdts., Moses Tab., David’s Tab., Solomon’s Temple, OT laws, NT grace, Pentecost, etc….

Don’t take me wrongly, there is definitely merit in revisiting the old… especially IF that is all we have!  We value revival and affirm its value in people’s lives, while knowing that there is something better… and we’re happy to present that ‘better’ to those who have ears to hear.

The value and reward of moving ahead is much more life-giving as compared to reliving the old.  I suppose revival may feel more safe and attractive to some because it has produced life in the past.  And moving into something new may seem scary because it is unknown to our mind and uncommon in religious circles.

Beyond revival
So for now, we’re reaching (and believe) for something that is radically different in essence and expression.  We believe that it’s possible to experience 1) freedom from laws of earth-bound physics and 2) be awakened to spiritual realities found the “Heavenly places” and 3) transfiguration and 4) immortality… to name just a few possibilities.  All of these are a part of our full inheritance as ‘new creation’ (new kainos) sons of God. 

The objectives just mentioned, are radically different from what we’ve typically known as the hallmarks of ‘revival’.  But they are Scripturally solid and well within the inheritance of the sons of God.

So, moving ahead into the NEW is where I’ve set my sights

–MLH