How did you meet Jesus?

“I met him on a bridge…it was the place I was going to leap off of in despair, and He, that man from Nazareth, turned it into the place that I crossed over to the promised land”

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How I Met Jesus…

A while back I began e-mailing a new friend I met while speaking at a conference at a drug and alcohol recovery centre. I started thinking about how many people I have met over the years who I developed an instant connection with, like this woman, and began some great friendships.

So, while e-mailing my new friend, I started thinking how cool it would be if all of the people I’ve met through the years could have met each other, and could somehow participate in the amazing e-mail conversations I’ve been a part of.

So, I prayed, asking Jesus how I could connect with all of the people I’ve met who want to pursue a friendship, and how to be able to SHARE! That is so important to me, how can we share our walk? Because you see, it’s in the walk that I’ve been transformed. It’s in the miles long walk, through muddy trails and rainstorms, and beautiful sunny paths that I have been transformed. In the walk with Jesus Christ.

And the truth is, I want to “walk” with these people that I’ve met, who live in different parts of the world and so we can’t “physically” walk together. God gave me the green light. To invite you, to invite others to join me…in this path that REALLY goes somewhere! To a happy destinty!!

So…this is a place we can share prayers, Bible study, problems, fears, shames, joys, and most of all, a place where we can share the Truth. The truth about who we are, our walk with God, the truth in God’s word, the Bible…and our experiences with the Truth Himself, Jesus Christ.

I’ll share with you my experiences on how I met Jesus, on my walk with Him, on my talks at conferences, and all the things I learn and teach. I’ll share with you my private life which is not a secret, my amazing revelations as I get deeper and deeper in living the Bible’s way of life. The struggles and blessings of taking a purity vow, and my experience in Deliverance from the Power of Satan into the living reality of freedom and redemption through Jesus Christ.

He really is The Man!!

You are more than welcome to respond to me, and send me your own stories/prayers/ideas and I’ll post them here, or you can just read and research without participating.

How I met Jesus:

I had such an awesome recovery and a great life with God for many years sober and clean, helping people and growing in my spiritual life, I got very deep in emotional work with a wonderful mentor who really helped me to get to a place where I could unreservedly ask God to remove from me everything that was sabotoging my willingness to have a Deep and Effective Relationship with God and others – wow!

Some things started happening to me (good and bad) that started to challenge my deepest beliefs and understandings about God – these experiences didn’t change the “Truth” of my experience – that I had been rescued and recovered by an all powerful and loving God as I understood Him at the time, but all the conclusions and assumptions I had developed about God began to be stripped away – when I started SINCERELY asking God:

“Who are you?”

“Who are you really? Show me the Truth. God, what do you want to say to me? Anything at all?”

Through some hardcore rude awakenings, intense spiritual experiences (sometimes walking in the process of not having immediate answers – in the ‘desert’) my entire worldview changed. My entire spiritual and religious beliefs changed. I KNEW things that I never could grasp or believe before.

And the joy and ecstasy of walking with the GREAT ROMANCER is beyond anything I could ever describe to you – it started with this:

Pick a place (out with the trees) or in your favourite chair, and be quiet…feel your hair on your face, the butterflies in your stomach, just BE where you are. DO NOT EMPTY your mind. No. Please don’t! Instead, ask God this, in your own words:

“Dear God, please pray with me right now. Hear me God, and answer me. Please Reveal yourself to me. Who are you? Who are you really? Give me the willingness and the power and the faith to keep asking this question no matter how much it’s going to turn my life and beliefs upside down. I want to know the Truth. You are the Truth, and all Truth comes from you. Please reveal it to me. And I ask you God to protect me from all other influences that will try to seduce me with counterfeit light. I seal my mind shut with the Light of God. I will hear and obey only the voice of God. Amen.”

And if you’re feeling particularily wild and bold, or just plain weary from the world, try what I did:

“Dear God, start a fire inside me. Reach into me and into my life and bypass all of my bullshit, all of my “issues” and bring me to life. Fill me with your fire, and your life God. So much so, that the blaze of your Love consumes every desire that I have until it unifies my desires/will/emotions into a single pure flame of Love for you. Let your Will and only your Will be done in and through me. I call to you, The Father of Jesus Christ to grab hold of me and do with me what you Will. Amen.”

I was hard core anti-Christian, and when I say anti-Christian – I mean that sincerely. I 100% believed it was bullshit – and I couldn’t stand the language, the book, and especially the people!! If anyone even mentioned Jesus’ name in passing, I dismissed them as foolish pheasants, and I would have to leave the room! Strange, because I grew up in a moslem home that respected Christians and I had never had many interactions with them or any negative experiences. But the whole thing infuriated me! I stayed away from them and religion for many recovered spiritual sober years!!

As a newcomer in recovery I had a couple of experiences that made Christians I knew smile, because although I vehemently resisted it, I seemed to have a connection with Jesus. I was watching a movie about him once in 2000 when I was newly sober and struggling to make some hard amends, in the movie’s adaptation of Jesus’ life, an evil tax collector who was considered scum by his village approaches Jesus and asks Him

“Look at me! People hate me, how could I possibly make right what I’ve done, and follow you??”

I was so curious about what this “Jesus” would say – he turns to the man and says:

“It’s simple. Stop. Give back everything. And follow me.”

He pretty much described the entire ‘recovery process’ that I was involved with, in one sentence! Something happened to me inside – a chill that leapt into my throat, but I resisted it, because that experience didn’t match my prejudice!

Another time I prayed so deeply for God to show Himself to me, where I least expected it – and soon afterwards I was approached by a very scary dirty homeless man in my city. He was filthy and insane. When I reached into my pocket to get out some money for him, I glanced back at him, and in a split second I saw something, that to this day I have not been able to see again. I saw a man, who was so bright that he looked like he was on fire, his face was almost brilliant gold, his hair was like fire, his eyes were sparkling, exploding blue jewels – this was no imagination or “aura” it was HIM! God! the One! And He was so beautiful, my instant reaction was this urge to fall to my knees, and what pierced my heart and stayed with me long after the experience, was the way He looked at me – like I was the Love of His life, in an instant every defense and fear dropped from me. I saw Him, and I gasped, and then bam, it was gone. It was just the homeless guy!!

For many years I was a seeker. Reading many books, trying many spiritual practices, helping many people get right with God, praying, meditating, seeking, seeking, yet somehow never fully committing to letting God consistently lead me to where HE wanted to take me.

I thought I was having a “novel” experience, transcending tradition and conformity and entering into an adventurous realm of spirituality. I had no idea I was being systematically indoctrinated into a false religion. I literally became a new age guru, go to girl! I was heavily involved in “Conversations with God” “A course in miracles” “Ekhart Tolle”, trance like meditations, etc. I started a meditation group in my home, I practiced Eastern techniques/out of body astral travel/hypnosis/crystals/energy work - you name it! I was fully immersed in the occult, sincerely “looking” for God.

What captured my heart and soul in these books and “practices” were a couple of sentences here and there that were ripped off from the Bible. What I didn’t know, couldn’t know, is that they were mixing the truth with lies. They were taking a couple of kernels of Truth from the Bible (which is what won my trust) and then building an entire FALSE religion around it. Stealing from the Bible and denying the Bible – all in one breath!

I even accepted “Jesus”…as a beautiful teacher, part of the EVERYTHING…I thought people were just too hung up on the “label”, I REFUSED to respect authentic Christianity which to be fair, is not just a different “label”! It’s actually very specific that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Savior! That sin is something very real that we need to be “saved” from and that Good and Evil are Real!

Well – you could just forget it!! Not because I wanted to be a brat – but because in my core, I simply just didn’t believe that! I could grasp that the evils of the world were caused by our “egos”, that Jesus was a part of God’s plan, that we were all “one”….but my own experience that I had recovered without Christ was proof to me that He was NOT the “only way”, which is the basic Christian faith. So I made up my own!

The main thing is this: I SOUGHT HIM. I said (secretly – as I didn’t want anyone to know)

“Jesus: if you are who they (The Bible people) say you are, the ONE – please reveal yourself to me”

Well – let’s just say that the next 2 years were the most incredible, out of this world, painful yet amazing times I’ve had so far. Everything I ever believed was flipped upside down! You see – maybe that’s not necessary for some people, but I needed to SEE with my own eyes and heart what the TRUTH is – and no one could convince me, or read it to me – I had to find out for myself. All of the pain/hurt/disappointment/confusion that I’d experienced were explained and healed! Yes, my recovery had helped alot – but where people had taught me to “just accept what happens without question” or to just “create my own reality” I decided to ask God directly – and he showed me.

He opened my eyes to what is really going on behind the scenes in the world and in the universe – and I came under extreme spiritual attack for it. It was very difficult for me to deal with – because: how do you deal with something that your mind refuses to believe is real? I was so brainwashed by this world that I could not accept my OWN experience. I kept denying, rationalizing, dismissing what was happening to me and others around me!

Accepting The Truth was tough – especially while surrounded by many well meaning people who gave me their “new age” philosophy opinions, which were actually not “new”, but rather repackaged old deception. This deception includes many forms of self-worship, under the cover of more benign terminology of course. Things such as the “law of attraction” “co-creating with God” “creating our own reality” etc. All grossly out of context of the original plan of God to create us in the image and likeness of Himself and Christ! Seemingly harmless and spiritually earnest stuff - yet unveiled it is repackaged satanism. The worship of oneself, and the denial of God as the Supreme Personality of all the heavens and earth, with His own mind and Will!  I was surrounded by these people as well as many more people who were being attracted to my “light” who I didn’t know what to do with, some of who were begging me to perform “exorcism” on them! At that time I was as non believing as you can get about the Bible and everything that goes with it!!!!!!!!!!!

So I had to experience what I had to experience – until I asked Jesus Himself:

“WHO ARE YOU?”

He showed me who He was – and He also showed me how the Devil runs “interference”, to influence me to resist Christ as the Truth, to resist the whole story of the Bible. To resist the centrality of the CROSS and its meaning, to twist and warp the absolute reality of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, to me back then, there was no other “force” other than God, there was no such thing as Evil, everything and everyone was just part of the great “Oneness” right? Maybe my own ego or our collective egos were running interference. Evil was just the absence of light and love right? Evil was just real to people who believed it to be real right? But as for an intelligent, real, diabolical eternal being that exists whether you believe in him or not called the Devil – no such thing right? Oh boy did the idea of a real Satan offend my pretentious new agey mind.

So God SHOWED me. With my own eyes, my own ears and my own experience, interpreted by His Holy Spirit and lining up with the entirety of the Bible,  He showed me, that there are forces at work much greater than myself. That I had been blinded. That I had accepted without question that entrance into the Spirit world and all resulting spiritual experiences and inspiration were of God. Biggest mistake ever made by honest seekers! I had accepted without question that everything I think and feel is mine – so arrogant I was! I could not believe that I could be influenced so subtley. Until He showed me.

The Enemy is an extremely cunning and subtle foe! Insidious and powerful.

But I could not accept the truth about the reality of good and evil, the reality of sin and salvation, the reality of the war on earth against humanity by the Devil and demons, until I experienced it face to face. And began to experience freedom from a bondage I did not know even existed! Despite my disbelief, despite my deepest convictons, it was all true! Despite my “feelings” and the hundreds of people and hundreds of books that supported my rejection of the Bible, it is THE TRUTH. I sincerely set out to prove that the Bible is wrong, and in my sincere and honest research and study, and through God’s grace and wisdom, it has been thoroughly revealed to me, in the deepest part of my cellular existance that the word of God in the entirety of the Holy Scriptures of the Holy Bible is indeed The Truth! Though I was blind and incapable of “seeing” what the Bible simply and clearly spells out – God’s power called Light out of darkness.

I could see.

I could undertsand.

I could comprehend what was so out of reach before.

That the world view and perception of the Bible is the Truth.

I recovered many years ago from the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction, and all its lying insanity. For a VERY long time, I stayed in that place, afraid that if I truely pursued this relationship with Jesus, I would become one of those people who forgot where they came from. Who became hypocrytes who don’t help their own kind, but by my personal relationship with HIM, I have come to truely understand what ”The Good Samaritan” really means. I through Jesus Christ have also recovered from the world, and its lying insanity. He SAVED me. Literally. I remember how much my perception changed about life in general when I recovered. Multiply that by 10,000 when God recovered me (saved me from Sin and Death) from this world! By the co-operation of my spirit with God’s and his constant light shining on my own mental faculties I still live in this world, and serve its people, and go out for dinner and movies  – but I am recovered from the deception of this world. Evil was de-cloaked. Unveiled. Plain as day!

I had the experience that Jesus Christ of the Bible is the Only way to the Father, not because my belief is “correct” (which it is) but because he is the only one who came to this planet to Die for me to be free. How else could I be so free from just making amends? I paid maybe 5% of the “spiritual debt” yet I experienced 100% of the debt forgiven! How is this possible? I was 6 years recovered and came to a place where nothing I believed “in” could move me forward. 11 years ago (It’ll be 13 years in May, 2013!!) when I recovered from alcoholism and drug addiction, it was He who helped me even in my disbelief, even in my quite loud put downs of him and the Bible- He HEALED ME ANYWAY!!!! He did it on faith, knowing that I would one day come to know that it was Him who healed me, it was him who rescued me. No one but Him could have known that I would one day, turn around COMPLETELY, and become a great champion for his Name! Who could’ve known? The Christians I mocked?

Ya right! I went out of my way to turn shaky Christians away from their Christian walk, I belittled and attacked Christianity as much as I could. I became everything the Bible warns against – and He, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of the Living God, used all of that to bring me to Him. Wow! Bam! Yeehaw! Let’s pause for a moment and feel the power of God in this!

Only God can “convert” a person’s heart by opening their eyes to the truth, I undertsand why people don’t want me to talk about it – because I was ‘allowed’ to have my own experience when I was a ‘non-christian’…when really I was an anti-christian, defending my right to be wrong…and people allowed me to do that – but it NEVER stopped them from sharing the truth.

I couldn’t ignore the fact, that I had never met anyone who was truly ‘clean’ and living a life of power who wasn’t a follower of Jesus Christ. Reading all of the first hand experiences of the people who started the recovery fellowships showed me by their own words how each and every single one of them suffered horribly and could never retain their state of grace when they pursued their own conception of God. I have never met anyone in recovery who had lasting peace, emotional recovery and the Spirit of God dwelling in them who were not SAVED.

It is usually through a deep experience with God, and True repentance (which is what the recovery ‘steps’ really are) that they are set on a path that if they truly follow through with earnestly seeking The Truth about God – always find Jesus.

You can believe in whatever you want – I won’t stop you or argue with you, or refuse you my friendship, but does that mean if I am asked point blank what I believe is the Truth I would deny Him, in the hopes of winning someone over? No. Never. Those games people play are evil. Alot of people have tried doing that to me. They want what I have, they want to work with me, but they don’t really want to change. They don’t follow through with the real work of repentance (Being HONEST, taking inventory, making amends, helping others, seeking God) instead they want to feed off of me, and when they can’t they turn on us and accuse us of trying to convert them! LOL.

You can have what I had before I knew Jesus Christ. I had true repentance, I recovered. I changed. I was healed, and set free from addiction. I had an experience with God, the Father. And I was given hope of something greater to come. That is all we have as non Christians. But people are not satified with that, not for very long. They want the LIGHT that they see in me now. And the Truth is, 100%, that the Light that is in me now, the power and authority that I have, is the Light of Christ. The Son of The Father. The Truth.

100%  no matter who you are, or what you believe, if you consistently ask God to Reveal the Truth to you, unadulterated, you will come to know it!

That is one of the reasons people approach me. When I’m “speaking” I have the authority to speak to you without the Interference. From my own spirit, where God and His Son now live, to yours. You can “sense” the Truth. And the reason why I’m in touch with the Truth, is simply because the false (the interference) has been dispelled, because I pray first and DISMISS all other influences and interference. God has given me self-control. I own my inheritance.

That’s the Truth! That’s my experience that lines up with the Truth! I share this with you, not in the hope you’ll go “wow ya! ok, I’ll believe like this too!” because anything I can talk you into, someone else can talk you out of. But what God “talks you into” – what He REVEALS to you, no one can EVER EVER talk you out of.

I share this with you, to bear witness to you, like a witness would in a court of law. I am just bearing witness to you of what HE Can Do. Of What He Has Done In Me.

I also share this to strengthen those who do believe. To remind you that your problems and struggles may have been partially created by you and some by the Devil, but the Truth is, ALL of your problems can be solved by Jesus. I am here to remind you to keep walking with Him, together. Let’s go!

As well, I share this – because Jesus did something to my heart that cannot be undone. He captured it. He owns it. Not because He has the power to command my devotion (which he could do) but because he exposed His most intimate self to me. He bared his Heart and Spirit to me – and I fell in love with Him. I’m still falling. He invited me into His heart and shows me the world through it. He touched my spirit with such tenderness and understanding, that he COMPLETELY disarmed me. He won me over. He brought me to life. I only thought I knew what being “alive” was. I only thought I knew what “love” was. They were shadows compared to the Love, Power and Light that live in me now, and it’s because of Jesus Christ. I follow Him and share Him, because I recognize his voice. He is my Shepherd. The Good Shepherd.

As a result and continuation of my conversion, I am always being put in a position to help people come to know that Jesus really does want them for Himself, that he can heal anything. That His friendship is the most incredible and satisfying gift that will rock their world!

I teach people about Deliverance – from all the oppression and slavery that Satan inflicts on them, that are hidden behind dysfunction, addiction, all kinds of disorders, and “new age” spirituality.

I teach people what I learned the hard way with my own blood sweat and tears mixed in with Jesus’ – that the Bible in its original languages, in its entirety, interpreted and applied by the Holy Spirit of God living inside a born again follower of Christ – is the most dangerous weapon against the forces of darkness and hell that a believer has!

He disarmed them and made a spectacle of them -

I am living proof of that – and so could you be!

I really look forward to hearing about your thoughts and experiences on
your walk with Jesus Christ.

Love

Your sister and friend                                                                                                                       Layla                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (Ishiswomen Blog Creator)

P.S I will only post things from you that you give me specific permission to share openly on this blog. To send me your material, or if you need to share with me privately, e-mail me at ishiwoman@hotmail.com

To connect with other women and men, and to see what we are up to as a Deliverance and Street Ministry Outeach Church Group, please visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/?react=AQDcLM1rjQ2ywWTi#!/pages/Church-Of-The-Royal-Love/265949530135463?sk=wall

For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.

What if God has something to say to you? Are you listening? I’m not talking about trancing out for 45 minutes listening to musical chimes kind of listening either! Is your heart honest, obedient and willing? ….are you listening? Are you able to hear – or are your excuses and “progress rather than perfection” anthem drowning out the voice of God?

The scary thing about excuses – is that after a time you will believe them yourself…and you will be lost at sea inside your own self. The compass of truth that God has given everyone – our conscience, has been seared that’s true…we need the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in us that’s true…but God cannot and will not restore to you what he knows in His heart you refuse to accept.

So many people come to me wanting evidence and confirmation that they have been forgiven – desperate to believe that God can and has released them from their debts (sometimes it’s to secretly let themselves off the hook to keep sinning). But often they are like Simon…more interested in debating what God should and should not forgive, all in an attempt to hide their own sin, rather than fall at his feet asking forgiveness.

What’s at the heart of this? The heart of it is their refusal to admit what REALLY needs to be forgiven! Oh sure, they’ll list to me all kinds of nasty things…woeful sins..lusts…stealing…anger…etc. etc. and yet they walk away with their pride and their SIN fully intact. They have invited Jesus over for dinner to discuss confession and forgiveness in theory….but they know nothing of what it means to weep at his feet.

I don’t mean this as a demand for an emotional repentance or physical sign of remorse. I mean this in the sense of the level of HONESTY and sincerity.

God will not forgive or heal or remove what you deny, what you cling to. But he will use many different ways to get your attention. Are you listening? Are you sure? Can you hear and see and feel all the ways you hide from him? All the ways you control what you confess and what you keep to yourself…the subtle ways in which you try to save face.

God FORGAVE me much and so I LOVE much….and…I loved Him much before I knew I was forgiven…that is what he means by “your faith has saved you”….I told him and showed him everything. And I am willing to show him everything. I don’t care what it costs me, I don’t care if I lose “face”, I don’t care if it makes me look weak, I don’t care if people think less of me, I don’t care if it makes me vulnerable, I don’t care. All I really care about is what God has given me. The 100% ABSOLUTE confirmation that I AM FORGIVEN. No shame, no guilt, no openings to give Satan a foothold to work on me…..Jesus Christ has forgiven me MUCH….it is the ONLY reason why I Love much.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.”

“A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. “You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:39-50)

The Holy Spirit: Breath of God By Gordon Robertson

Who is the Holy Spirit? How should we approach Him? What are His attributes? What does the Bible say about Him?

Let’s start off with the introduction of the Holy Spirit. It’s found right in the first chapter of Genesis in the second verse: “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” At the very beginning of Genesis, you have God’s Word, Jesus; you have God the Father; and you have the Holy Spirit: the Trinity all represented in creation.

The interesting part of this is the Hebrew word for spirit. We almost get a little spooky talking about the Holy Ghost, but the Hebrew word behind spirit is ruach, and it means “air in motion.” It is the same word for “breath.” It also means “life.” By resemblance to breath and air in motion, it means ”spirit.” That’s where we get the translation, and the Hebrew word contains all those different meanings. If we just leave it with our English word “spirit,” we’re not getting the full attributes of what the Bible is trying to describe. It’s trying to describe that there’s a breath involved.

Going back to that first chapter in Genesis, if the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep, and then God said, “Let there be light,” when you speak, it’s through your breath that the words take form. Just imagine that: God speaking, His breath comes out, and there you have the Word of God, ”Let there be light.” That is where the Gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” They are all separate, but at the same time, they are all one, just as when you breathe and you speak, your words can be one with you.

Let’s take this into the New Testament because we have almost the same thing where Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. He says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:608, NKJV).

Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, and He’s saying it is like wind. When you get into the Greek behind that, the Greek word is pneuma, which again means “a current of air,” “breath,” or a “breeze, ” and again by analogy, “a spirit.” So both the Hebrew and the Greek word are talking about breath. It’s talking about wind.

Back in Creation, back in Genesis, you’ve got how we were made. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:6-7, NKJV). Some translations call that “a living soul.” It’s from the breath of God that we actually get our life. And so now you get the linkage of how we were created. How we were created in the image of God is because of our breath, and it is because of the breath of God coming into us.

The same thing happens when we are born of the Spirit. When we are re-born, it is from the breath of God. In the Gospel of John, where He is giving to His disciples the Holy Spirit, just as God breathed on Adam and gave him the breath of life, Jesus breathed on His disciples in John chapter 20: “‘Peace to you! As the Father sent me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:21-22, NKJV).

The Holy Spirit, the breath of God. When you get into that kind of analogy,  you now understand better what the attributes are. It’s no longer something  spooky, but it’s something very close to you. It’s as close to you as your very breath. The Bible says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” I love the current praise song that says “You are the air I breathe,  Your holy Presence in me.” We can literally breathe in the Presence of God  and be filled with the Holy Spirit with our breath.

Jesus didn’t just breathe on the disciples 2,000 years ago. Every time we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, it is God’s breath on us. Just imagine     that. It is not a one-time thing. I think Christians today have gotten into the baptism of the Holy Spirit as some kind of one event. We have got that in Acts chapter 2, but we fail to look forward to Acts chapter 4 where they get baptized in the Holy Spirit again. It says very clearly in Acts chapter 4 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit as they were in a prayer meeting:  ”After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they  were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly.” So it is not just in Acts chapter 2; it is also in Acts chapter 4. This means  we can be filled with the Spirit continually.

I was at a tremendous meeting in February with John and Carol Arnot from  the Toronto Fellowship. They asked me to speak. I started speaking at 8:00.  I was tired going into it, but I just got energized, filled with the Holy Spirit during that. At that time, it went from 8:00 until midnight. If you can imagine that: four hours. At the end of it I was absolutely energized. I was so filled with the Holy Spirit it seemed like anything was possible. The next day, I was driving into the studio, and I was praying on my way in. I was kind of grumbling and complaining and saying, “Lord God, why can’t that sort of go with me all the time?” And God spoke to me very clearly, “Why do you get out of the river?” I thought about that. I said, “Well, why do I?”

We don’t have to. We don’t have to walk around as if there are some moments when we’re filled with the Spirit and other moments when  we’re not. We can be continually filled with His Presence. It all has to do with how we think about it. If we actually think that in Him we live and move and have our being, that our very breath as we breathe in, we can be filled with God Almighty. Just imagine how that will transform your life! The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event. It can be a continuous  thing for all who believe.

I want you to take that thought with you through the day, through the month, through the year. I think Christians now more than ever need to be filled  with the Holy Spirit, need to be filled with His authority, really need to have the power of God working in their lives. We live in perilous times. It is not a time for us to take off the Armor of God and go relax. We need to be fully armed, fully prepared with the Holy Spirit.

Let me conclude with this. It’s the conclusion that is found in the 150^th Psalm. It’s the very last word in Psalms. It’s the very last Psalm. There are a 150 of them, and here’s the very end of it. It says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the  Lord!”

Let your breath praise the Lord today!

Baptized in the name of Dr. Bob??

If it was once or twice I’d probably just let it go….this foolish trend that some of you have in trying to trace your “lineage” of sponsorship and create some kind of a spiritual family tree of how close of a descendant you are to the founders or to your current recovery celebrity! Foolish blind peasant thinking!!!!! Do you not understand that the Holy Spirit of God cannot be controlled or manipulated by any human construct!! Is your mind really this unregenerate – still?? Do you really think that God follows your way of thinking? Have you learned nothing of the fact that Christ did not come into this world to fit into your system of hierarchy – he came to DESTROY it – “God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.” for He alone is the only one standing before God on your behalf. Stop acting like a peasant hoping your distant relation to the Prince or Duke will grant you some esteem and power – the KING Himself has chosen you – the peasants of this world - to be His royal people – start acting like it!

“I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”

Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise

and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.’

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:10-31

Put On The Whole Armour Of God, And Lay Hold Of Divine Strength, Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, The Mighty Sword Of The Scriptures, Watchfulness And Prayer.

Thank you God for persisting in getting our attention to “test” every spirit we are presented with…to be like the Bereans who were open minded to Paul’s message…but tested every word he said by studying the scriptures daily. Amen!

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits  whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1-6

“And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.” Acts 17:11

“The undeceived and dis-possessed believer also becomes intensely practical. He finds that God is “practical.” The devil is practical, and man must be practical to join with the One against the other. The believer sees that one of the ways in which the Son of God destroys the work of the devil, is through the instrumentality of prayer, and that he must now live a prayer-life, since prayer is the mightiest weapon against the foe.

Through his undeceiving, the undeceived believer has been made conscious of the actual force which the powers of darkness bring to bear upon and against his tripartite being, and thus learns that all the strength of his redeemed, renewed, and liberated powers–mental, spiritual and physical–must be set against them in order that he may keep at liberty. In the experience he has gone through, he has become more and more conscious of his own spirit, and the need of using it in strength, purity, and power against them.

He has also discovered that in the perpetual war which the deceiving spirits wage against him, neither time, place, nor season, are exempt from their attacks. Therefore, wherever he is, whatever he does, whatever state he is in, he must wage equally persistent war upon them. If he finds himself in keen suffering and anguish, he knows that it is “the hour and power of darkness”; and learns by the suffering they cause that they are unmerciful, as well as evil; intensely evil; nothing but evil; aiming at nothing but evil, and with all the power they are able to wield, endeavouring to draw him into evil, doggedly, silently, persistently, wickedly, always at work; actuated by undying hatred and malice against the human race. Enemies they are, and will be. What they are they were, and what they were, they are still – evil, and evil only. Thus he learns and knows that he must resist them and, that the fight to keep his spirit strong, pure and buoyant for victory over them needs all the force of his being, in the power of God, to enable him to be victorious.

In the discovery of the wickedness and hatred of the supernatural powers of evil against him, the believer learns he is not fighting against the intelligence of one supernatural being, but against principalities and powers, with vast resources at their command, and that IF HE STANDS VICTORIOUS AGAINST THEIR WILES, HE HAS CONQUERED, NOT ONLY ONE EVIL SPIRIT, BUT ALL HELL. He finds that the powers of darkness will not allow one single believer to be victor over them, until they as a whole (Ephes. 6: 12) have failed to conquer him. Hence their onslaught on him who elects to be victorious over them all, in vital union with the Victor Lord, Who put them to open shame through His death on the Cross of Calvary.

The believer is called to triumph over all the powers of darkness, but to reach the goal he must put on the whole armour of God, and lay hold of Divine strength, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, the mighty sword of the Scriptures, watchfulness and prayer. This armour, and the weapons belonging to it, will enable him to “stand against all” the wiles of Satan. If he stands, all heaven sees it; if he is defeated, all hell knows it. If he triumphs, the hosts of darkness are not only conquered, but discouraged, and rendered less effective in their schemes. The believer who would overcome such a disciplined and pertinacious foe, will never dare put his armour by, or give himself to careless work, for he finds that the foe is as tenacious and desirous to conquer as he himself is. But he who fully knows the foe and the warfare, and its eternal issues, finds his joy in the joy of war against an enemy devastating the earth, and the joy of victory, as a foretaste of the future triumph with the Lord Christ over all His foes. (Heb. 10: 13; 1 Cor. 15: 25, 26).

It is essential to study the powers of darkness from the point of view of their depraved nature. To be conquered, or to lose a point, is torment to them, for the fallen nature, both of men and angels, rebels against confessing itself vanquished. In the days of Christ, to be driven out of their hiding places, commanded to go, and thus be deprived of rest, was to demons “torment” before their time (see Matt. 8:29). They are being thus tormented by any truth made known about them to-day. The truth concerning them and their workings, with its consequent liberation of men from their power, is disturbing their rest at the present time, and what happened when Christ was on earth, will happen again when the casting out of evil spirits will become a recognized part of all Christian and ministerial activity. The Gospels record how Satan and his minions objected to Christ’s presence on earth, for He moved about as the Victor, and they were shown to be the vanquished ones.” - Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 11

Slain in the “Spirit”? Drunk in the “Spirit”?….or deceived by spirits?

Probably one of the most important things a believer needs to know about the workings of Christ versus demons in “beautiful” spiritual experiences:

“The period of danger is, as already shown in Chapter 3, at the time of seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, when much has been said by others about manifestations of God to the consciousness, or some “coming upon” of the Spirit, felt by the senses. This is the opportunity for the watching spirits.

What believer is there that does not long for the “conscious” presence of God, and would not give up all to obtain it? How difficult it is to walk by “faith,” when passing through the dark places of life! If the “conscious presence” is to be obtained by the Baptism of the Spirit, and there can be supernatural effects upon the senses, so that God is really felt to be at hand – then who would not be tempted to seek it? It looks to be an absolutely necessary equipment for service, and it appears from the Bible story of Pentecost, as if the believers then must have had this conscious presence, felt by them physically and actually.

Here lies the danger point which first opens the door to Satan. The working upon the senses in the religious realm, has long been Satan’s special mode of deceiving men throughout the whole world, of which he is the god and prince. He knows how to soothe, and move, and work upon the senses in every possible way, and, in every form of religion ever known, deceiving unregenerate men with the form of godliness whilst denying the power. Among the truly converted, and even sanctified believers, the senses are still his way of approach. Let the soul admit a craving for beautiful emotions, happy feelings, overwhelming joy, and the conception that manifestations, or “signs,” are necessary to prove the presence of God, especially in the Baptism of the Spirit, and the way is open for Satan’s lying spirits to deceive.

The Lord said, on the eve of His Cross, concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit to the believer, “I will . . manifest Myself unto him” (John 14: 21), but He did not say how He would fulfil His promise. To the woman at the well He said “God is spirit,” and “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The manifestation of Christ is, therefore, to the spirit, and not in the realm of the senses, or animal soul. Hence the craving for sense-manifestation opens the door to deceiving spirits to counterfeit the real presence of Christ; but the consent and co-operation of the will to their control must be obtained, and this they seek to get under the guise of an “angel of light”; as a messenger of God apparently clothed with light, not darkness, for light is the very nature and character of God.

The basis of this deception of the believer is his ignorance of the principles on which God works in man, and the true conditions for His manifested presence in the man’s spirit; and his ignorance of the conditions upon which evil spirits work, in a passive surrender  of the will, mind and body to supernatural power. In his ignorance of the true working of God, the believer expects Him to move on the physical being, so that He is manifested to the senses, and to use his faculties apart from him, as a proof of His presence and “control,” whereas God only moves in, and through the man himself by the active co-operation of his will–the will being the ego, or centre of the man. Neither does God use the faculties of the man apart from conjunction with the man, i.e., through his will. Not instead of the man, but with him (2 Cor. 6: 1).”

- Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 5

Walking In The Dust Of Jesus

Walking In The Dust Of Jesus
By Layla Nadda
Friday, April 5, 2013

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:9-21)

Hold on one second!! Is Paul saying I get to throw burning hot coals on my “enemy’s” head?? On a bad day I may want to sign up for that – or in the past I’d have used that statement to hold something against the Bible, or just try and ignore it – thinking I’m doing God a favor by overlooking some harsh statement!

But what is the truth here? With our individualism, secularism, materialism, and biblical and cultural illiteracy I am surprised that we can read and understand the Bible at all! No – textbooks and research and a PhD in Jewish culture are not necessary to accept Christ as Savior and be filled with the Holy Spirit that WILL open the scriptures for us to understand and give us the power to live according to God’s laws. But so much of our difficulty in understanding and delays in living God’s Way of life, not only come from ignorance of the cultural context of scripture – but comes from our cultural self-centeredness to not even wonder about these things – it does not even occur to us that we are not to just ”apply” Christ and biblical morality to our lives – but to instead fit ourselves according to God’s plan! What does this mean – should I trade the subway train I take to work for a camel ride? No. It means being willing to cross the cultural gulf through whatever means I have available.

Many years ago my mother used to tease me that my “watered down” knowledge of our Arab culture was that of a pheasant visiting a King’s palace for the first time! How was she able to preserve our Arab heritage and way of life and customs and morality into my very DNA? She didn’t give me a book. She didn’t send to “Arabic” class or seem to teach me anything. She simply lived that way of life. It is who she is. “I walked in her dust”. A term that comes from Jewish discipleship. Men who walked so closely in their Rabbi’s way of life, that the Rabbi’s dust kicked up from their daily walk would cover the disciple walking with him!

I ate my mother’s food, I listened to her stories – told through her understanding, I was raised in her interpretation of her Arabic culture – and it is now as much a part of me living in downtown Toronto, Canada as if I had stayed in Damascus, Syria. She crossed and covered the gulf for me. She was my bridge.

Interestingly enough – she as a Palestinian Muslim woman who had never studied Jesus Christ or read a single book about Him – seemed to know so much more about Him than I did at the time, as I was studying and reading and researching!! It was like she knew His family, like he was a distant relative rather than an ideology! Many of the biblical customs and morality that stumped me and my friends; she waved away the confusion and explained in 5 minutes in between sips of tea!

I began to see that the difficulty and struggle for so many “westernized” Christians to live according to God’s word comes from this gulf that needs to be bridged.

I am not suggesting taking a sabbatical to live in Jerusalem or living in a tent to “feel” closer to Jesus – I am also not suggesting reducing the word of God to cultural context only. The Bible has a historical framework. Its characters are real people that lived in verifiable locations during historical events. It also reveals God’s eternal plan of redeeming the fallen human race.  It is the account of God’s action in the world and his purpose with all creation.

My point is that whatever gets lost in ‘translation’ that seems to put Christ in such a dusty dry box for so many people won’t be fixed only by focusing on your singular, individual experience and understanding of Christ, but it will also not be fixed by taking a crash course in biblical culture! The REAL solution is to allow the Holy Spirit to do His job! He is the Bridge, the Teacher, The Comforter, The Helper…He is the one who will lead you into all knowledge and understanding! He will be able to help you not only learn and apply what it means to place coals on your enemies’ heads – but He will progressively change us into His likeness that His life may be lived in and through us.

Paul says that if we give food and drink to our enemies, we shall be heaping “coals of fire on their heads.” To us this doesn’t sound like forgiveness, but like taking vengeance.

In the Bible lands almost everything is carried on the head – water jars, baskets of fruit, vegetables, fish or any other article. Those carrying the burden rarely touch it with the hands, and they walk through crowded streets and lanes with perfect ease. In many homes the only fire they have is kept in a brazier, which they use for simple cooking as well as for warmth. They plan to always keep it burning. If it should go out, some member of the family will take the brazier to a neighbor’s house to borrow fire.

Then she will lift the brazier to her head and start for home. If her neighbor is a generous woman, she will heap the brazier full of coals. To feed an enemy and give him drink was like heaping the empty brazier with live coals – which meant food, warmth and almost life itself to the person or home needing it, and was the symbol of finest generosity. – B.M. Bowen, Strange Scriptures that Perplex the Western Mind

We, Westerners, usually picture vengeance when we think of pouring hot coals on someone’s heads. The Semites pictured something completely different … We, Westerners, must break some of our traditions, if we are to ever come to a deep understanding of the God of the Bible. It is full of beautiful pictures like this one. – Gary Amirault, Tentmaker

“It’s hard not to wonder if the early Jerusalem church might have had a few advantages in understanding Jesus that can help us as disciples today. In the first chapters in Acts we read of their amazing passion — their Spirit-filled prayers, their joyful gatherings, their loving generosity, and their dynamic witness to their neighbors. Until a few years ago, it never occurred to me that the first believers of the infant Jerusalem church in Acts were all observant Jews, men and women who continued to study the Torah and worship in the Temple, even after they came to faith in Christ. In fact, for the first half of Acts, the rapidly expanding church was almost entirely Jewish. It was only after God pushed Peter out of his comfort zone to witness to the Gentile centurion Cornelius that the church considered the possibility that the gospel was for Gentiles too (Acts 10).

We Christians often neglect this as we retell the stories of the early believers’ joyful fellowship. We assume that the remarkable success of the Jerusalem church came from the fact that believers were freshly filled with the Holy Spirit. But Paul’s Gentile church at Corinth had experienced the same outpouring, yet it struggled with immaturity, division, and sexual immorality. Why the difference? As wonderful as it was that the Corinthians found Christ, most had come out of a pagan reality, and their lives had not been saturated by the Scriptures that Jesus read, our Old Testament. They lacked the Torah’s training in moral laws that Christ built upon. They had a lot of catching up to do. Moreover, while the Gentiles worshiped Jesus as their Savior and God, the Jewish believers also knew him as their rabbi. As Jesus’ disciples, they knew their obligation was to memorize his words and live according to his halakha, his interpretation of how God’s Word teaches us to live.” – AR

Holy Spirit

Do not cast me from your presence or take your HOLY SPIRIT from me (Psalm 51:11).And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised HOLY SPIRIT, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God`s possession – to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14). And do not grieve the HOLY SPIRIT of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

 

Power of the Most High

The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the POWER OF THE MOST HIGH will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God’ (Luke 1:35).

 

Spirit of   Adoption

You did not receive a spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but a SPIRIT OF ADOPTION through which we cry out, “Abba!” (that is, “Father”) (Romans 8:15 – New American Bible).

 

Spirit of Christ

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the SPIRIT OF CHRIST in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow (1 Peter 1:10-11).

 

Spirit of Counsel

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the SPIRIT OF COUNSEL and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).

 

Spirit of the   Father

But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER speaking through you (Matthew 10:19-20).

 

Spirit of Fire

Our God is a CONSUMING FIRE (Hebrews 12:29).He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with FIRE (Luke 3:16).

 

Spirit of Glory

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the SPIRIT OF GLORY and of God rests on you   (1 Peter 4:14).

 

Spirit of God

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the SPIRIT OF GOD was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2).

 

Spirit of Grace and Supplication

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION (Zech.   12:10).

 

Spirit of   Holiness

…regarding His son, who as to His human nature was a descendant of David,…and who through the SPIRIT OF HOLINESS was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:3-4).

 

Spirit of   Judgment

The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a SPIRIT OF JUDGEMENT and a Spirit of Fire (Isaiah 4:4).

 

Spirit of   Knowledge

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –   the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of   power, the SPIRIT OF KNOWLEDGE and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).

 

Spirit of Life

Therefore, there is now no condemnation   for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of   the SPIRIT OF LIFE set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).

 

Spirit of Power

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him-   the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the SPIRIT Of COUNSEL AND OF   POWER, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).You will receive power when the Holy   Spirit comes upon you (Acts 1:8).

 

Spirit of   Prophecy

At this I fell at his feet to worship   him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and   with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the   testimony of Jesus is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY” (Revelations 19:10).

 

Spirit of Sonship

For you did not receive a spirit that   makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the SPIRIT OF SONSHIP. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans   8:15).

 

Spirit of the Fear of the Lord

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –   the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of   power, the SPIRIT OF KNOWLEDGE AND OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD (Isaiah 11:2).

 

Spirit of the Son

Because you are sons, God sent the SPIRIT   OF HIS SON into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father”   (Galatians 4:6).

 

Spirit of the Sovereign Lord

The SPIRIT OF THE SOVEREIGN LORD is on   me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has   sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives   and release for the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1).

 

Spirit of Truth

But when he, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, comes,   he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak   only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).

 

Spirit of   Understanding

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –   the SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND OF UNDERSTANDING, the Spirit of counsel and of   power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).

 

Spirit of Wisdom

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –   the SPIRIT OF WISDOM and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of   power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).

 

Willing Spirit

Do not cast me from your presence or take   your Holy Spirit from me, restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant   me a WILLING SPIRIT to sustain me (Psalm 51:12).

http://dailygoodies.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/heaping-coals-of-fire-a-figure-of-speech/

Many Paths…To A Dead End By Mariah Greenberg Roncetti

With all due respect, Truth is one, and the path is one, and we should be wary of the path we choose, and not choose it according to what feels right to us. If you went to an airport and asked to go to Rome and they said “jump on any plane and it will get you to Rome!” you would know inherently that would be untrue. So how, when it comes to God can we say that the paths which all are 100% completely different narratives would take us to the same place, when the “places” each teacher, philosopher or Religion speak about are all so different? Is God so fickle? So whatever my interpretation is, is truth?

That’s so convenient, because if I feel that way then I will inherently create God as I want Him to be, as opposed to how He is. This will remove my accountability and subsequently His holiness. The Bible says that we are not to lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)  and that indeed human wisdom is like a leaf blowing in the wind, and is quite meaningless. (1 Cor 1:25) For example, Hindus believe in Pantheism, up to 300 million deities alone, then Buddha comes and diverts from Hinduism and creates Buddhism, and tells us that our soul is to be reincarnated up to 357 times to reach “enlightenment”, yet Buddha says we can do this on our own will and strength, thus taking us back to SELF.

Jesus says we cannot do it alone and that He is The Vine, The Bread, The Living water, that life without Him spells death. (John 15:5, John 6:35, John 4:14) All these teachers were mere humans on the quest for truth, but Jesus Christ was not a man searching for truth, He claimed to BE truth, and as He said to Pontius Pilate “My Kingdom is not of this world”.  (John 14:6, John 18:36) Jesus spoke truth that included ALL people (Galatians 3:28) but the truth itself was exclusive, this is why He said the gate is narrow and FEW enter by it. (Matt 7:13) Powerful words, a sword that cuts to the core of our humanity and false notions, it’s challenging. This is why He was dragged to the Cross…because either Jesus was a mad man or He is exactly who He says He is…and if he Resurrected, then how can all paths be the same?

Jesus says our soul is here one time and will be judged once. (Hebrews 9:27) Mohammad says that Jesus was a prophet and God “hid him from the Cross” thus denying that Jesus died for our sins . Allah and The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not the same God. Allah is an impersonal force  that commands followers to  pray X amount of times a day and do many “works” to go to the afterlife, and believe me, Mohammad had no idea where he stood with Allah at the end of his life. Jesus says that works alone are not enough and that it’s His death on the cross that saves us, so that we know EXACTLY where we stand with God at all times. This creates an eternal comfort that no other philosophy, religion or person has brought to this world. So how, can there be one truth and many paths? This is not to say that we are not to love one another despite our different paths…but to say they are all the same would be indeed to discount the absolute truths claimed by them all.

The Holy Bible is God’s narrative, filled with hundreds of fulfilled prophecies that lead straight to Jesus and God says in Deuteronomy that we will know He is speaking because He will tell us what the future holds…no other book, the Vedas, Buddhism, Paganism, New Ageism, The Gnostics, The Qu’ran, speak into the future, at all. The Holy Bible does with 100% flawless Precision, and no other book would DARE present something like The Book of Revelation. That being said, we are called to choose our Narrative of God and to do so wisely…either we exist in Karma or we exist in Grace. Because I am such a sinner by nature and have been my entire life, I needed the grace. My soul was sick and Christ was the remedy.

Mariah Greenberg Roncetti