Colorful Truths Volume 2 Rick L. King Copyright © March 2012 Rick L. King Published at Smashwords All scripture references are taken from the Authorized King James Bible. All Greek and Hebrew translations are taken from the Online Bible and used by permission. Smashwords License Statement This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. About the Author I have known the Lord for over thirty years. He came into my life when I was not even looking for Him. For years I would get mad at Him as He wasn’t doing things that I figured that He should. He finally was able to get through to me that it was not Him that was causing so many problems. I had to learn that the devil was behind so many things and that I had authority over him. Now I know who to get mad at. God is a good God and wants good for His kids. We have an enemy and for the most part the church just disregards him. He doesn’t go away just because we don’t believe that he exists. The books that I write reflect that we do have an enemy. We do have a God that if we will learn to walk in the Spirit instead of our head and/or flesh, that God will show us things that can change our world. Many articles I write are designed to help people find new freedom in the Spirit that they may follow Jesus. Until we get out of the way with our own ideas and plans, God cannot do what He really wants to do. We have been asking God to come into agreement with us instead of finding His mind and coming into agreement with him. What I write will help others learn to find His mind and find a closer walk with the Holy Spirit. Table of Contents About the Author 1. A Call to Spiritual Arms 2. A Form of Godliness 3. A Pastor or a Puppet? 4. Death Brings Life 5. False Coverings 6. Lay Aside Every Weight 7. Take the Limits Off of God 8. The Servant heart 9. The Straight and Narrow Way 10. Unity Brings God’s Blessing - Part 1 11. Walk in the Spirit 12. Why Should We Ask God to Bless America? 13. Ye Shall Receive Power- A Testimony 1. A Call to Spiritual Arms As Christians, we may or may not like the outcome of the elections and the ones that are now running for office. We do however have a responsibility that maybe we will not take so lightly now. With the world in so much turmoil, we need to learn to come into agreement with the Holy Spirit and allow him to show us his will and how that we should pray. I am reminded of these scriptures: Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 2Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) We are not fighting people; we are in a battle with the enemy. Unless we go into the spirit realm with the Holy Spirit, we are not going to fight effectively. We know the enemy is behind all the problems, and man is affected by him only because we have not learned or are unwilling to fight a spiritual battle with spiritual weapons. For too long we have been fighting with carnal weapons and they have little effect on a spiritual foe. Maybe now we will have a wake-up call and start battling in the spirit. God has given to us authority by His Spirit to deal with the spiritual forces. No matter who became president, the same problems would exist. We must push back the enemy that would influence their mind and the decisions that they will make. God’s Word says: Psalms 33:10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Proverbs 19:21 There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Isn’t everything possible if we would just believe? Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me? Mathew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Maybe we need to just start believing the Lord and become intimate with the Holy Spirit and walk in agreement with what he instructs us. It is time that we take up our weapons of war and pray in the spirit and do battle with the enemy, and possess our land for the Lord. We can sit back and complain or criticize, or we can pray for those in authority over us. We need to quit talking about it, and pray instead. The choice is ours. 2. A Form of Godliness 2Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. The Bible tells us in Luke 6:44 “For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes”. My intent in this article is not to judge or criticize anyone, but to rather cause an awakening within others to look at their walk and see if it is producing good fruit for the kingdom. So much of what I keep seeing in the body of Christ, is people going through the motions but there is neither power nor changes actually happening. There are so many religious spirits in operation that people seem to just go blindly along and keep walking and speaking the Word, yet few things are actually taking place. The church has taught us for years to walk the Word. This is true to some degree but we are missing the power of the Holy Spirit. The Word by itself does produce some things but will not produce what God intends until it is led and anointed by Him. Religion puts us into works. Religion seems to put blinders on us as we are thinking that we are doing the right thing. Works are fleshly actions taken by man trying to walk the Word. This entails much legalism and religious practices. It looks good, yet is the fruit what we want to see? I had wrestled with this in the past often as I was realizing that what I was doing just wasn’t working. There is a real difference between walking the Word by our flesh and walking in the Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and anoint the Word. We know that it takes the anointing to break the yoke. The anointing is sent and controlled by the Lord alone. Yet we see preachers and teachers saying go do this or that and this will be the result. Maybe this has been effective for you, but it has not been for me. So what is missing? What I see is the scripture above about having a form of godliness but denying the power. Until we can understand the difference between our flesh initiating what we do and the Holy Spirit initiating our works, we will never get the true picture of what the Lord really desires. The Lord desires for us to walk in power. The power that comes from only the Holy Spirit is what God wants for us all. The same Holy Spirit that Jesus depended on when He walked in human form on earth is available to all of us. I recently questioned a person about their use of the name of Jesus. This lady often tells the devil in the name of Jesus to go. Yes, there is power in the name of Jesus. You will never get me to say otherwise. Yet, we need to look deeper concerning its use. The Word tells us that: Ro 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Ro 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. I want us to consider this. Some say that because we accept Jesus and are born again that we are always led by the spirit. I whole-heartily disagree. Yes God does work through at times when we are unaware of it happening. But whether we walk by the flesh or in the Spirit is a choice. We are servants to whom we yield our self to obey. Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? The Word also tells us: Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Notice that the passage starts out with the word walk. It is saying that we are to do that. It does not say that we automatically do that. It is a choice on our part. If we choose to walk in the spirit then it says that we won’t fulfill the lusts of our flesh. This is like the scripture that says to whom we yield our self. We can yield to the Spirit or the flesh. We can allow the Spirit or the flesh to rule. It is a choice. So knowing this and that if we are in the flesh we don’t please God, then we need to consider this. We know that the devil knows God’s word. He can speak it through people all the time and does. We can speak the Word while in the flesh also. We are not pleasing the Lord because we are in the flesh. You say, but we are speaking the Word so that must be alright. Sounds good, but there is no fruit and we are not pleasing the Lord. The Word needs to come by the Spirit of God not by our flesh. We are told that we need to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We can be led by our flesh or the Spirit of God. One promotes what we want and the other promotes what God wants. One is anointed and powerful and the other is just dead works. When we trust in self to do and be in control we are actually in rebellion against the Lord. For sake of length to this article I will not write all about this but you can read Isaiah 30 and 31 and see what I am referring to. Isaiah says that we are rebellious children that take counsel but not of His Spirit. He goes on to say that we trust in the Egyptians (men) or horses (flesh) instead of His Spirit. He calls that rebellion. Why so you may ask? It becomes a control issue. When we are in control we are actually making self to be like God just as the devil did when he was booted from Heaven. Our control says that we know best and are making our self a god. We are calling God a liar saying we know best. We seem to have this backwards theology that God is here to answer all of our requests to please us. That is far from truth. We should be pleasing Him. We please Him by only doing what Jesus did, the surrender of our will and desire so the will and desire of the Lord could be done. We don’t teach this much anymore because people will get unhappy that they have to die to self to live. The Spirit is the giver of life, not our flesh. Mathew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Now because of all of what I have said, it becomes more obvious as to why when we are in the flesh it cannot please the Lord. Our flesh in control is our agreement with the enemy. Do we really think that the Lord will anoint and empower what we want if comes then from our flesh? God watches over His Word to perform it. He is obligated to do what He says that He will do, not what we think He should do. Hopefully we can now understand the difference between the flesh and the spirit. In order for us to be empowered by His Spirit we must do what Jesus did. He gave up His will to do the Father’s will alone. Have we done that? Is finding out the will of God more important than our will and what we want? We find the will of God by spending time with Him in worship, prayer and intercession. We draw near to the Lord. We desire to hear His voice more than anything else. We desire to please Him alone no matter the cost. We desire for Him to lead and guide us by His Spirit more than anything else. This is surrender and dying to self. It is us desiring to know what He wants and when He wants it. It is all about being obedient to His voice and His voice alone. What God leads He empowers. It becomes then totally only about Him and not us. We can never take any credit as we learn that it is His power alone working through us. We know that we didn’t come up with the idea nor did we ever know how to make it work. As I said earlier, so many have been duped by the enemy and are walking around doing this and that and being religious and there is no power or good fruit coming forth, because they are being led by their flesh instead of the Holy Spirit. If we want power and good fruit it must come only by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead. Zechariah 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord Don’t be among those that the Lord speaks to and says in Mathew 7:23, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. It is our choice. We are either be led by our flesh and religious, or we are led by the Holy Spirit and experience His power. 3. A Pastor or a Puppet? Have you ever been in a church where the Deacons or the church board seem to be the ones running the pulpit? Is the pastor told what He can and cannot do? When I see this, I get very concerned. A Pastor has a great responsibility for the sheep. He is supposed to hear from the Lord and share with the flock what the Holy Spirit is saying. When others play God over him and tell him he may do this or that, the church has a real problem. We should not limit or restrict him from doing what the Holy Spirit tells him to do as this is where we change and become more Christ like. I guess we need to answer some questions as a body. 1. Is the pastor the pastor because God placed him there? 2. Can we trust God to work through this pastor? 3. Do we desire what God wants for this body? 4. Are we willing to give up our control so that the Holy Spirit can do as He wishes? 5. Who is our Lord? If we cannot trust the pastor to hear from and say what the Lord desires, then why do we have him/her as the pastor? If we are playing church and in control then all we want is a puppet to do what we think should be done. We want to rule the person so we will never have to come face to face with what God is saying to us. Are we scared to know the truth? Are we full of self-righteousness and pride? Church leaders beware. The time is coming that He will have His person in the pulpit regardless of whether we agree or not. There are too many hurting people that go to a church in hopes of help, who are disillusioned as they hear a watered down word with no power. God is going to have His church. I guess we must decide if we want a puppet or a pastor in the pulpit. We better get ready for a pastor that is anointed with the Holy Ghost and fire. The time is coming soon I believe that the church will be drastically changed. Jesus wants to be Lord of His church instead of man lording over others what they desire to do or see. If you cannot trust the pastor that you have to do what the Holy Spirit desires, then why is he there in the first place? Can you take the chains off your pastor and let him do what He senses the Lord wanting to do? Is it not time to turn the pastors loose? You may be surprised at what God has given you in this person and what the Holy Spirit will do. Guess you will never know until you allow God to be God. 4. Death Brings Life Death comes in two ways. We get older and die physically. Those who follow Jesus will also die to their flesh during being alive. We get saved and have a new nature. Salvation brings a new driving force within us that will cause us to desire the spiritual things over the natural things. Though this is a process, we must die to live. A seed must be planted in the ground and die, in order for it to live and bear fruit. Just like the seed, we must die to live. As we die to self the more the Spirit of God is able to be in control. It is like a balancing scale as one side goes down the other raises up. The more that we die or go down the more the Holy Spirit is in control. We are to be led by the spirit. We are to walk in the spirit. We can’t do this if we are in control. We must give up all of our control and let Him be Lord of all. Mathew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Contrary to much teaching that is going around today, we must lose our life to find it. We are told by the world and even in many churches that so many worldly things will bring to us life. We are told that having a job, money, position, a nice house or car, vacations to faraway places, are what life is about. This is so far from the truth. All these creature comforts are one day going to all pass away. We can’t take these to Heaven either. Sure they make our flesh feel good and build our pride and ego, but they are but a substitute for the real. These are all just a deception of the enemy to keep our focus on all the wrong things. We must become single-minded and focus on what does He want alone. We are told in: Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. It is the spirit alone that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Maybe it seems that way from a worldly perspective, yet we are not to be of this world. Scripture says that we are in this world but not of it. We are a spirit being just like God is, and we are living in a fleshly body. The flesh is not who we really are. Our spirit is the real us. John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. The cares of this world and riches are deceitful. They keep our focus on “things” rather than on God and the things of the spirit. Many people have no concept of the walk in the Spirit. They may have gotten saved but they are still so alive in their flesh. They have not tasted the things of the spirit yet. I am not condemning anyone especially as people can only walk in what they know or have been taught. They can’t do what they don’t know. Many churches do not even tell people what is available in God. They teach the flesh doing things. The problem is this will never satisfy a person or bring real life to them. This will never prepare them for eternity. Many have never really tasted of the Lord. They have had a form of godliness but have denied the power thereof. The real issue is that for the most part, people have a worldly temporal viewpoint instead of a heavenly eternal one. People live as though their life here on earth and what they do here or accomplish is the real life. The problem is this kingdom built by man will not last. It will die just like us. God on the other hand has us on this earth as preparation for eternity. We are to rule and reign with Him in eternity. Our life here on earth is to draw near to Him, become like Him, learn that the best thing we could ever have is Him. We learn to die to self and resist the devil as we learn that neither is the right way to go. Heaven will be a real shock I think to so many as it will be so foreign to them. If we learn here on earth the things of the Spirit, it will be more of a natural transition as we learned to live in the spirit here. Dying to self is no fun. Paul said that he died daily. I understand what he meant. I have learned that what I want or desire really is not important. We get so much prosperity teaching these days but it only satisfies the flesh. We can’t serve God and mammon though many ministries seem to be doing this. Seems it is not so much about the power of God, it is more about money so they can do the things that they want to do. Too bad that much is just works and doesn’t impress the Lord at all. He will ask us;”but did you do my will?” God’s perfect will is that we lose our life in Him. His will is that it becomes not about me or my wants or desires, but it becomes only about what He wants or desires. I chuckle sadly many times when I hear people pray. So many are asking God to come into agreement with what they think or want instead of spending time with the Lord in prayer, praise, and warfare, and finding out what he wants and then coming into agreement with Him. The church for the most part has this so backwards. Who is serving whom? We are to be serving Him, Jesus himself gave up his own will to do the will of the Father. He did what He saw the Father do and spoke what He heard the Father say. In other words, He walked by the spirit. He was led by the Holy Spirit. He did not do the things that He wanted. He was obedient even unto death. Jesus was crucified on the cross but do you realize that His flesh was crucified before that? He died to self so that he could fulfill being the example of what is expected of us. We are told Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. According to the above passages we are to be crucified with Christ and it should be only Christ living in and through us. If we are Christ’s'’, then our flesh with its lusts and passions are crucified. We can be saved but until we totally surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to lead, rule, and reign, we are not really Christ’s. He is not Lord of all of us, just part. We are still living to please self. We are still trying to build our own kingdom. In Heaven there is but one kingdom and it is God’s. Our kingdoms will not be there. Satan tried that already and got evicted. When we try this we are walking in agreement with the devil instead of God. Hard to look at it that way yet it is the truth. We are following the same path as the devil did when what we want is more important that what God wants. It makes us lord instead of Jesus being our Lord. We know that we are on the correct path when our heart cries out for God’s kingdom, power, and will, and the things of this world are not even desired any more. We can then be assured that we are walking by our spirit man instead of our fleshly carnal man. We will want to see His Kingdom established instead of our own. We will be as Jesus when he says, “Not my will but thine be done”. Can we honestly say that this is our deepest desire? If not then we have some dying to do so that we may find true life in Him. 5. False Coverings Words from the Holy Spirit through intercession Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. During intercession I kept hearing the words “false coverings”. I saw a cover being pulled back to expose all that was underneath. Many individuals, churches, and ministries are walking with this covering and do not even know it. Many are walking in darkness and do not even know that they are. I believe that the Holy Spirit is pulling back the covering and exposing what has been hidden. Our cry must be for truth. Our cry must be for God, to expose everything that is hidden and covered up, to the light of His truth. The body of Christ is to be a light. This light should be so bright that the ones in darkness may catch a glimmer of it and be drawn to it. Unfortunately this light has not been very bright. It in many places has not been much brighter than the darkness. The people in darkness have not been able to see the light of Jesus so they must walk in their darkness as they cannot find the light. As our cry is to walk in spirit and truth, and to worship in spirit and in truth, this light will become brighter. As the Holy Spirit reveals the things that have been covered then our lights will shine brightly. For the world to change, for people to change, they must see the light. We are the light, or should be if Jesus dwells within us. May all of our hearts cry out for the Holy Spirit to uncover all the things hidden by this false covering, so that our lights may shine brightly that others are drawn to Jesus. 6. Lay Aside Every Weight The Holy Spirit has had me on this subject for months it seems. I believe that He is attempting to free His people up from all the weights that they are carrying so that they will be able to be filled with only Him and do the things that He desires. Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Weight-Greek a mass (as bending or bulging by its load), i.e. burden (hindrance):— weight. In our walk with the Lord we get many opportunities to become weighted down. These weights come in many forms, yet the real effect is the same. We become weighted down which makes us ineffective and can sidetrack us from our real mission and purpose. The real problem is that weights are so easily accepted. We must understand what the weights are and how they weight us down. Weights are designed with one purpose, to keep us from drawing near to the Lord. The weights get our focus on things that really do not matter or that the Lord has not asked of us to carry. Weights can be burdens, thoughts, strongholds in our mind, or even a demon spirit. We are told that Mathew 11:30, For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. A yoke is something that is a burden or bondage. It is something that we are encumbered by. If we read this correctly, God’s yoke and burden is light. Anything then that is not light is not of the Lord. It then is a false burden, something that will weight us down that we should not be carrying. I have learned that a false burden can become a stronghold in our mind. It seems so right, but is actually not of the Lord. I remember a gal at a prayer meeting once that was crying her heart out for a person. It seemed on the surface that this was right, yet the Holy Spirit told me to take authority over a spirit of false burden. I thought that was strange as I had never heard of that before. I was obedient and wouldn’t you know that gal stopped crying. The burden was false and was a demonic spirit. Jesus said that we are to cast ALL of our cares upon Him. When we carry them, He can’t. If He doesn’t carry them, then He cannot intervene in whatever is needed. It becomes us in control instead of Him. A good example of this is an offense. When we get offended at someone we allow unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, etc., to come in and weight us down. We must learn to deal with these things immediately and not allow the enemy to get an advantage in our lives. These will cause our focus to go from on the Lord to on the person. The Holy Spirit once told me that what others do is not my concern; I am to just do what He shows me and leave the rest to Him. How can I be focused correctly and find what He wants, if I am always looking at what others do wrong? I can’t! So, we must not allow an offense to take root in us if we are going to go and follow the Lord. Another area that seems to so easily beset us is circumstances. It seems that there are always circumstances that we face that just seem to hold us back or cause us concern. A prime example is money. When we don’t seem to have enough money to cover our bills or a need that we have, our tendency is to focus on the lack. The problem is that we are not walking in faith. We are walking in what we see. God honors faith. It takes faith to please Him. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. If we are going to walk by faith, then we must look beyond what we see in the natural. We stand by faith and trust in what God says regardless of circumstances. The Holy Spirit once told me that “circumstances were not the problem. Circumstances will change once we change as they are only circumstances because of the way that we view them”. We can see them as an obstacle or an opportunity for God to work in our lives. Learning to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and just do what He shows us will bring victory in our lives. Mathew says that we are to seek first the kingdom and to not take thought of tomorrow. We are to be content with food and clothing. Mathew 7:14 says, Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. True life comes as we learn to lay down the weights and keep our focus only on what the Holy Spirit shows or tells us to do. We cannot take on the cares of this world, or any of the many problems that seem to come at us constantly. We must take on God’s yoke and burden alone and keep our eyes fixed on Him. Any other focus will cause us to enter into the end of the scripture in Mathew 7:14, few that be that find it. 7. Take the Limits Off of God Last night I had a dream. I saw in this dream a place where water was gushing out. I then saw a person putting a valve and then a pipe on the water. I knew the water was being controlled and regulated. The pipe was to allow the water to go where the person desired. When I awoke, I saw this again and spoke to a friend about what I seen. As I was explaining the dream I saw a gusher of oil where the ground had been broken through. Man then placed a valve on the oil to control it. Does an abundance of oil and water have a lot of value? These are controlled in the natural because of money for some. God said that in the last days that He would pour out of Spirit upon all flesh. All flesh to me means man did not regulate this. The water and oil I believe were symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Prayer and warfare have broken through the barriers in the spirit realm and God is pouring out His spirit as He said that He would. We unfortunately in many places are still trying to place a valve on the flow so that we can regulate or decide when or where the flow will be allowed to go. Many churches say that we do not do these things in our church. It is just like Jesus when he healed the man on the Sabbath day. Man tried to dictate when healing could take place. The Holy Spirit is working through people in this day mightily. If they are limited or regulated, then they become like an explosion ready to go off. I think sometimes that we see moves of God all at once, instead of consistent. When the limits are taken off of God, the Holy Spirit can flow through people. We are not God, so we should never start telling God when, where, and how the Holy Spirit should flow. We need to take our control off of the Holy Spirit and just surrender to Him and allow Him to take us where He decides. It should never be our decision. It should be only His. If we will take the limits off, we will experience a mighty move of God. 8. The Servant Heart Today we seem to hear of the constant budget crunch not only in our government, but also in the church. There is just seemingly not enough money to go around. I once was employed at a state agency and what I experienced was appalling. Needless to say, I resigned. Elected officials in government and leadership in the church have much in common. The government is comprised of elected people to represent or be a servant to the ones that elected them. Their salaries are paid by the taxpayer. The church leaders are the same in that the ones who tithe are paying their salaries. Whether tax or tithe, salaries are paid by the people who are represented. Being that all government employees and church leaders are actually to be servants to the people, then they should not be living a higher standard of living than the ones that they are serving. Where in all the earth is a servant paid or in possession of more than the one that he or she is serving? Somehow our concept of servant hood has been lost. Government officials and some church leaders are paid exorbitant salaries, stay in the best 5 star places, eat the finest of foods, and live in expensive houses, when the people they represent are barely making ends meet. Some of church leadership is driving fancy expensive cars and has often a large salary. Some ministries I have heard of are even in the process of building a several million-dollar home for them self. This reminds me of the cult in eastern Oregon years ago. The leader had everything though the followers had little. The odd thing is, people wonder why the general population is against raising taxes, or giving to some of the well-known ministries. Why would they want to? Why even would they want to vote? They must choose between which will steal from them the least. Has leadership forgotten what it is like to give their hard-earned money to people that say they are using it for one thing, but are using much of it on themselves or on programs that help the few but leave much of the needy without? Is not it time for accountability in government and the church? I picture not only the church but also the government as a body. Each member has a job to do with the expertise that they have been given. Each limb is important. If the head or leadership ignores their feet, wouldn’t it be difficult to walk? One foot may have the finest shoe, yet the other has a ragged old tennis shoe. This makes walking difficult. When we take from the poor so that we may continue to eat fancy foods, there is something mighty wrong with our hearts. If you eliminate the poor, then what will you do without all the taxes that they pay or the self-sacrificing gifts that they donate? Would it not be smarter to help raise their standard of living so that they can pay more taxes or have more to donate or tithe? I have often considered that the body must walk together. When one member suffers, the whole body suffers. The government or the church should be living just as the people that they represent. As the body prospers, each member prospers. As the body must live on rice in tough times, then all members should live on rice. The servant is not above his master. For the most part it seems we have something backwards. Leadership in government or the in the churches are servants, not masters. If they do not possess a servant heart, then they are not ready to be in leadership at all. Until we learn to serve one another and put the needs of others above our own, we are going to have many problems on the roads up ahead. Though I have no idea what these people make, I do know that they are far better off than I have ever been, financially anyway. Maybe all should consider driving a Ford instead of a Lincoln, living in a modest home instead of a expensive estate, and maybe eating more hamburgers than gourmet foods. This money saved would allow money to go the others that need it more, or would allow for fewer taxes to have to be paid. Shouldn’t there be a little more equality in government and in ministries? For a ministry to say that they want the money to reach souls, while wearing diamond rings, there is something very wrong with this picture. If they need money, they should first sell all they have then give to the poor, then follow Jesus. How can anyone in government or ministry say they love people and lavish them self with such expensive things then have the audacity to ask for money? Is it not time to get back to a servant heart and serve the people that have entrusted you with their money? We hear God Bless America a lot these days, yet I think we need to be saying, God help and forgive America instead. 9. The Straight and Narrow Way For years I had wondered what this scripture really meant, but I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed to me what is meant by it. I always wondered why few found the straight and narrow way. Mathew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. The scripture doesn’t say that it is impossible to find, but yet few do find. Why is this? I believe now that it is in the area of our focus and the distractions that we allow to take our minds off God’s thoughts. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, we are told to cast down imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. I believe that when our thoughts are exalted, then we are not allowing God’s thoughts to rule our lives. It is so easy to start thinking on things that really do not matter as they are usually out of our ability and control anyway. When we do this we are actually trusting in our ability and wisdom rather than in God’s. We are told in Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee”. We then can be whatever we think. We can be what we think, or we can be what God thinks depending on whose mind that is ruling us. We are told in Philippians 2:5 to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. If we “let” God’s mind be in us then we become what God thinks. So often though we find ourselves in this scripture: “Mr 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful”. In other words we allow thoughts concerning the cares of this world or various problems to rule our thoughts. When we do this we are on a lateral plane rather than a vertical one. Our unity with the Holy Spirit and what He says is hindered because we have exalted other things and choked out God’s words to us. I really believe that to walk the straight and narrow means that we do not allow distractions to take our minds away from listening and following the Holy Spirit. We become single-minded. Jesus was our example. He laid down his will to do the will of the Father alone. He acted and spoke only as the Holy Spirit revealed to him his Father’s will. The word says that he was tempted just as we are, but he did not sin. He learned to keep his focus on only the Father and his will alone. We are bombarded with distractions of many kinds. They are designed to do one main thing; take our focus off of the straight and narrow way. We get offended at someone and our focus then becomes about what a person is doing or has done wrong. We become hurt and now are unable to pray in love for the person. We get our focus on finances and worry and fret over how we are going to do this or that that we think we should do. We get our focus on what the enemy is doing and get worried or fearful. There are so many opportunities that we all deal with to distract us. Everything is designed to do one main thing; to get us out of communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit so we’ll not have God’s knowledge and power. Somehow the revelation must come to all of us. It is only about him and his will not ours. We so often ask God to come into agreement with us, instead of our coming into agreement with him. If we can only train our self on what to think on, we can become what God desires us to become. The straight and narrow to me means that we are walking with the mind of Christ alone. This is why so few find it. Most people I know allow so many things to rule their thoughts, that they do not have an intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Their mind is working overtime on things that are led by flesh and not by the Holy Spirit. I like what Pat Robertson said in a teaching he once had, “No mind of your own in the matter”. If we could just learn to do that, we would find that we can walk the straight and narrow way and be one of the few that find it. 10. Unity Brings God’s Blessings Psalms 133: 1 A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore The Lord says 3 things here. 1. If we dwell together in unity....He will send the: 2. The precious ointment….the anointing: then 3. God commanded the blessing God says that if we will dwell in unity, that it is like the ointment upon the head that ran down Aaron’s beard. The ointment is the anointing. Unity will bring anointing. So let’s back up a little. What does it take to bring unity? Unity only comes by the spirit. Let’s face it, we all have different ideas of what we want or would like to see. These are our fleshly desires. When God desires something it would be rather insane to say that in a group that are dwelling together that He would tell each one to go a different direction. God is not the author of confusion. Everyone in a different direction will promote disharmony and confusion. If every person is desirous of only the Holy Spirit’s will, then God would give each a similar direction or desire. Unity comes only by the spirit. Going backwards a little more the question then is, “how do we get into the spirit and hear His voice?” First we need to get to the point that we desire HIM first and foremost. We want His will more than our own. Our will and agenda we have learned are fruitless and is just dead religious works. The Holy Spirit recently told me: “if you want me, I’ll come, if you will praise me, I’ll come”. For me personally I have found that the best way is to spend time with the Lord. I have learned to praise and worship Him no matter what. God inhabits praise. I have learned that spending time praying in the spirit (tongues) will bring me into the spirit realm and out of my flesh. We are told to build our self up on our most holy faith, praying in the spirit. Praying in the spirit builds up our spirit man instead of our flesh or carnal nature. If we learn to do this we will find that we tap into God’s knowledge and plans. We must go where He is instead of asking Him to come down where we are. God is a spirit. His ways are spiritual, not carnal. He even speaks of carnality when He says that they that are in the flesh (their carnal mind) cannot please Him. Bottom line is that if we will pray in the spirit, God will talk to us and the end result will be unity with the ones that are doing the same. Going backwards some more is that we must be filled with the spirit. Unless we are filled the only thing that we can draw from is the flesh, which as I said earlier does not please God. We need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in other tongues. This is our prayer language. This, when we use it, releases God’s ability in us. It takes us out of “I” and it becomes “HIM”. We surrender as Jesus did when He said I came not to do my will, but the will of the Father that sent me. We desire to bring God’s kingdom and any idea of establishing our own kingdom is no longer considered. This is when we can pray in the spirit and press in till we hear and get answers and direction from the Lord. As leadership comes into unity and walking in the same direction to promote God’s plan and purpose, then this must trickle into the congregation. If leadership then promotes works by the flesh, then disunity in the body will be the result. If the primary focus and instruction is for the body to listen and obey, then the full body of Christ will be the result. Even though there is a leg, arm, foot, finger, etc, all will be in harmony as each will either hear from the Lord or their spirit will bear witness to truth. All will work together to fulfill what God has told them to do. The church will become a mighty force of power bringing and ushering in the will and purposes that God intended for that particular body. Scripture says that a house divided cannot stand. A unified body is a real key in bringing God’s presence and purposes. Leadership can be in unity and the body in disarray or vice versa. If we can all surrender to God’s will and make it the only priority, then I firmly believe that we will experience a very powerful, anointed church. God said in Psalms 133:1-3, that because there was unity, He sent the anointing, and then He commanded the blessings. Blessings will come if we do things God’s way and not ours. While praying in intercession I saw in the Spirit the ointment being poured out upon the church. It started at the roof and ran down just like it did from Aaron’s beard down his garments. The ointment was poured out from the roof to the foundation of the church. The Holy Spirit told me that unity in leadership brings an anointing. Unity in the whole body brings His Glory. God said that “there” He commanded the blessing. The “there” is wherever a body is in unity. Though we are each a different part with different anointing and call, together in unity God will command His blessings. No wonder the enemy has endeavored to bring disunity in the body. He knows what God will do when we all come together with only God’s agenda and all are pressing in for His will alone. We can go forward if we all are on the same train going the same direction. We have heard the statement; "divide and conquer". If the enemy succeeds in dividing us, we will lose. God desires to give us a battle plan for our city. If He gave us the plan when we were in disunity, if would cause division and strife. If He brings us together in unity first, then when He gives the plan, we can go forward together. Think of it this way. Scripture says that we are all members of the same body (Romans 12:4-13). Together we are literally (spiritually speaking) the body of Christ. If all the parts but one try to go forward and one hand tries to hold on to something and won’t let go, then the body is unable to walk. The body wrestles to get the hand free so it can go forward. How much wrestling do we experience when we know that God has said or led something that seems impossible to do because others don’t want to go the same direction? It causes a wrestling in our spirit. It causes us to cry out to the Lord in prayer and intercession as we must break the stronghold to succeed in what God has called us to do. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. The strongholds are thoughts or imaginations in a person’s mind. Once the imaginations are cast down, they may walk in God’s knowledge. The hand holding on is because of a stronghold or a thought that is against God’s knowledge or will. The stronghold keeps one captive or bound to that thought. The thought is in opposition to God’s Word so the enemy has spoken something to a person that they have accepted as truth, but in actuality is just a lie of the enemy. Until this stronghold is pulled down, unity cannot exist, unless the person is no longer a part of the group. Mark 3:25, and if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 11. Walk in the Spirit As Christians, we have a struggle that is ongoing. We have two natures. One is spiritual, the other is fleshly. This study is written to hopefully help others find some understanding of what our battle really is and how to come out a winner in Jesus. The Body, Soul, and Spirit In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, we learn that we are a body, a soul, and a spirit. The body, our outer fleshly covering, without a mind or spirit is just a dead corpse. The body in itself does nothing but house the mind and spirit. The seat of all emotions, will, passions, intellect is the mind or our soul. Our spirit is where the divine things of God are manifest and live. The Flesh Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Online Bible: Flesh - the flesh, denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God Strong’s: Flesh-or as the symbol of what is external, or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties [physically or morally] and passions), or (specifically) a human being (as such):—carnal(-ly, +- ly minded), flesh([-ly]). Galatians 5: 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition’s, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If we allow the works of the flesh or our carnal sensual mind to rule, we will not have the fruit of the Spirit manifesting through us. The kingdom of God is the fruit of the Spirit in us operating. It is the power of God over the flesh (our carnal mind) and the demons that try to control and tempt us to sin. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. I have heard man talk about the flesh in such loose terms that they have not grasped what the Lord is telling us. The flesh by definition means ruled by externals, or the senses, or by the carnal mind. The mind is external of the spirit. It is separate from the spirit. Its function is to not be a place full of thoughts; it is a place of decision as to what to yield too. The Word says that they that are Christ’s’ have crucified the flesh or better said have put to death the carnal mind with its lusts and passions. The Apostle Paul said that the carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7) and they that walk this way cannot please Him (Romans 8:8). Yet on the other side he does say that they that walk in the Spirit find life and peace (Romans 8:6). Our true life only comes as we yield to our spiritual nature. Yielding to our carnal nature displeases the Lord and brings death to us spiritually. The Enemy We know that the enemy always attacks the mind. He desires that we as Christians walk by our senses or carnal mind. Did he not attack Eve in the garden through her senses? She knew what was correct, yet she allowed the enemy to attack her through her carnal sensual nature. The fruit “looked” good. She lusted after those things, which are seen in the natural. She was ruled by her carnal nature. She pushed aside her spiritual nature when she chose to yield to the serpent’s suggestion (Genesis 2). We are told that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12). Why is this so? Well if the serpent had not tempted Eve in the first place, she would not have sinned. The suggestion to go against the Lord came from the devil, not her. If we go to the root cause of the problems we face, we will find that the devil is behind them all. Sin is of the Devil (1 John 3:8). If the devil did not ever suggest to us to do or crave or want this or that, we would sin? If our mind is crucified, then we must have a mind of something or someone that we yield to otherwise we would be vegetables. It would be Christ if we yielded to Him, or it would be the devil if we yielded to him. We are told to “let this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus”. Let implies a choice. If we have to choose then what do we choose from? There is our carnal mind, the mind of Christ, and the mind of the devil. Peter rebuked Jesus in disagreement when Jesus said that He would go to the cross and then would be raised the third day. Jesus said “Get thee behind thee satan thou savourest not the things that be of God but they that be of man. (Mathew16:21-23). Peter was walking in his carnal mind in agreement with the devil or Jesus would not have rebuked the devil. Man has two natures, spiritual and carnal. God said that to be spiritually minded is life, to be carnally minded is death (Romans 8:6). The only way to win over the carnal mind is to yield to the spiritual mind. The whole idea of faith that God said that we must have to please Him, is that we walk by things which are unseen, not seen. It is very apparent then as to why the enemy wants us to be carnally minded and attacks us in those areas. When we yield to them, we will not possess the real life that God wants for us as life only comes as we please God in faith and walk by our spiritual nature. What is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Since sin is of the devil and this sin takes us from walking in faith, then when we do sin our faith is killed and we please the devil and not the Lord. Satan works on our carnal nature. He cannot enter into our godly spiritual nature, so all he can do is draw us away from it through temptations. Just like the serpent worked on Eve in the Garden of Eden, he works on us the same way. Satan has many spirits in this world that have one objective, to kill steal and destroy (John 8:32). As we act out these carnal sensual impulses we open ourselves up for demonic spirits to come into us and control us in the areas that we yield our members too. We are a servant to what we yield too (Romans 6:16). The key here is the word control. Satan is out to control us. When we sin, we have acted out a suggestion that the enemy suggested to our mind. At the beginning, it didn’t control us. Yet if we continually yield to this thought and act upon it, it becomes sin and if we continue in it, we may get to the place that it controls us. Once it controls us we have allowed a demon spirit to enter us in that area of control. God always gives to us a choice. Satan always is out to control us. Faith We are told that whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). We cannot have faith to please God by walking by our carnal mind as it comes by the Spirit. Faith is one of the fruit of the Spirit. The word says that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them, as they are foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). Faith to the carnal Christian is foolishness. Faith has us believe things which are not seen (Hebrews 11:1) and usually will make no sense to our carnal mind. Many try to drum up faith out of their carnality. Since faith comes by the spirit then they are unable to hold on and believe for things. God’s faith in your spirit is a knowing faith. You don’t have to work it up, you just have to yield to and agree with it. There is a major difference between the two. One is unsettled and the other is totally settled in us. How do we win? So how do we walk in the spirit? We must crucify or put to death these carnal desires. It is not our job so to speak to crucify our flesh. It is our job to yield to the Holy Spirit and be obedient to His words. As we do what He says, then little by little we gain victory. Often times most will try to fix themselves. Flesh has no power over flesh. It is not what we do that brings the change; it is what the Holy Spirit does as we yield to Him in obedience. If man could change self, he would never need a Savior or deliverer. There is only one way to do that. As we yield to the spirit man in us, the carnal nature dies out. If we allow our carnal nature to rule, our spiritual man dies out. What do we allow? Anything that we feed, so to speak, gains strength. As we feed our spirit man by doing things that draw us into the spirit, our spirit man gains power over the carnal nature. Likewise if we feed our carnal nature, it also gains power over our spiritual nature. God told us to not use our freedom for an occasion to the flesh (Galatians 5:13). Our freedom still gives us the ability to choose. God says don’t choose the carnal mind with this freedom as He knows that it will take us back into bondage. It gets down to whom we will allow to be Lord. Who do we choose to rule our thoughts and actions? When we walk in the spirit, we still have a freedom of choice, though when we walk in our carnal mind we open a door for satan to attack and to rule, which takes away our ability to choose. We are told in Ephesians 6:12 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. We war only against our mind, as we must cast down the imaginations that are keeping us from obedience to Christ. These imaginations are thoughts that have become a stronghold within our mind. These thoughts are untrue thoughts that oppose Gods Word or will for us. Once we learn to deal with the imaginations, the wrong thoughts already within our mind, we also must deal with the source of the wrong thoughts. When we war against the root cause of the problems, then the problems will go. Most people try to war against the problems by their fleshly strength. They find that they cannot win that way. We are in a spiritual battle not a carnal one. We must use the weapons that are spiritual not carnal. (2 Corinthians 10:4). The only way to win is to become a spiritual Christian instead of a carnal Christian. You must determine that you are going to walk by the spirit of God and not by your carnal mind. You must start doing those things that draw you into the spirit and into God’s presence. Here are some keys. 1. Be baptized in the Holy Ghost with speaking in tongues- Why? If you will read Jude 1:20, you will see that when we pray in the Holy Ghost (tongues), we will enter into our most holy faith. Faith pleases God. God rewards faith. Miracles happen when we walk in faith. 2. Spend time in prayer- as you commune with the Lord He will commune with you. We are told to draw near to God and then he will draw near to us (James 4:8). If you will develop your prayer times with God, He will teach you how to pray and what to pray for. Even when you do not know how to pray, the Holy Ghost will pray through you if you allow Him to (Romans 8:26:27). The Holy Ghost will teach you all things (John 14:26). 3. Praise and worship- God inhabits praise. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). This is worship out of our spirit not out of our head. God is a spirit. To commune with God we must get on His level, a spiritual level. 4. Seek deliverance- all the areas in your life that have controlled you may very well have a demonic spirit attached to them. If you cannot control something you think or do, see someone that knows the deliverance ministry for help. God can bring deliverance with you and He alone, but He has anointed many in this area that know how to deal with the enemy, so you can be set free. 5. Study the Word- the Word is truth. When you know the truth you get set free. The enemy has suggested many things to us that we have accepted as truth because we did not know what God said about it. These lies may have become a stronghold in our mind that needs to be removed. Truth is the beginning. The devil hates truth, so at times you may find a struggle deep within as the demon spirit gets angry and worried as he knows his time is short. Truth is truth, regardless of how that you feel inside about it. 6. Cast down imaginations- (2 Corinthians 10:5) imaginations are thoughts, that are against the Lord. If you would research the word imaginations you would find that it goes all the way back to the Ten Commandments in that we are to have no other god before God. These imaginations are lies that we believe and walk in that are not the truth of God. As we bring our thought life into obedience to Christ, we have new freedom to yield to things of the Holy Spirit. Our thoughts in obedience to Christ mean that we are walking in His mind which is only to do the will of God the Father, not our own will. 7. Learn to listen- listen to the still small voice in your spirit. You must gain a sensitivity to listening to your spirit. The inward voice, instead of the outward voices, you will find the Holy Spirit speaking to you often. He will teach, lead and guide you into all truth. Use the Word as a judge of what you hear. The Holy Spirit will not go against the written Word of God. He will tell you to do things that are not spelled out in the Word letter by letter, yet the unction’s will not oppose the Word. 8. Come out from among them- be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17). The things that feed the carnal nature you will find will have less interest to you as you walk in the spirit. Television shows with the sex and violence, and all the demonic influence will no longer interest you. You will find that you find life in the things of the spirit instead of the carnal nature. You will find the greatest joy and peace that you have ever known. You cannot serve two masters; you must hate one and cleave to the other Mathew 6:24). You will desire willingly to serve the things of the spirit once you know how beautiful that they are. The Mind of Christ So what is the mind of Christ? Jesus said that He came not to do His will but to do the will of the Father that sent Him (John 5:30). He gave up His own mind. He laid down His life to do God’s will, not only in going to the cross when He suffered physical death, but also when He walked on earth. He said that He spoke and did what He saw the Father do (John 8:38). He laid down His life to do the will of God. If then we are Christ’s and have the same mind as He did in us, then we lay down our wills and own mind to do the will of God. The will of God comes through our walk in the spirit. Even though people do religious things they can be doing them out of their carnal nature and not by the spirit. Those are the religious ones that Jesus will say to, “I never knew you”. He says this, as their works did not originate from the Spirit; they originated from the carnal mind. Jesus even on the Cross said, “Not my will but thine be done”, (Luke 22:42). This shows that Jesus still had a carnal mind, He just chose to not let it rule Him. He allowed the will of His Father to rule. 12. Why Should We Ask God to Bless America That’s a strange title of an article to some, but let me explain. We ask God to bless America all the time, yet we are asking something that is contrary to God. God has blessed America with much grace. Grace is something that we do not deserve. We don’t deserve His grace. America has pushed God out of almost everything. You can’t even find God in many churches. People are living for self. People are serving idols and the flesh. People don’t pursue God but instead pursue sin. Yet we ask God to bless us. Since when does God bless the flesh? When does God bless idolatry? When does God bless our pursuit of money so that we can build a kingdom for self? The Word says that they, which are in the flesh, cannot please God. Is God going to bless something that does not please him? We ask God to bless America when it promotes sin. It murders babies. It has a government that that has forgotten that they are a servant to the people not a ruler over them. It has made prayer a no-no in schools. It has promoted homosexuality and all kinds of perverse acts. Here is a shocking statement. God does not bless sin. If we truly want God to bless America then we must learn to do those things, which are pleasing in His sight. We must repent of all the sin and evil that we constantly do. We must turn our backs on the devil and cry out to God to save, have mercy on, and deliver us. We must learn to put God first and His will alone in our church and lives. We must seek first His kingdom and righteousness. We must turn from our wicked ways and cry out to Him. We must seek His will over ours. We must learn that he that loses his life will find it. We must learn to take care of the orphans and widows and the poor. There are so many reasons why asking God to bless us is ludicrous. If we really want God to bless us then we need to humble our self, pray, seek His face, seek His will, and allow Him to run our lives. We must surrender and repent and allow the Holy Spirit to bring about in our lives and in this country the will and plans of God. It will cost us something to have God’s blessing. Government will have to get into unity. Churches will have to allow the Holy Spirit to run things instead of men, women, or the devil. We may have to do without all of the creature comforts that we so lavish upon self. Does this sound harsh? I don’t mean it to be but I see the foolishness of asking God to bless things that he is against. I so look forward to the day when he does what he said that he would do. He said in the last days that he would pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. Oh the repentance that will happen on that day. Atheists will get their eyes opened when God presence comes all over them. I bet they won’t deny God at that time. Just because a person has not experienced God does not mean that He does not exist. Just because we have no knowledge of God does not mean that he is not real. If he were not real, this man would have been dead many years ago. I had to get to the end of me to find something that I did not know existed. I found a God that loved me. I found a God that healed me. I found a God that kept me from committing suicide. I found a God that is powerful and would take care of me if I would serve Him. I found a God that took away my fears and cleansed me from so many things that were bad for me. Yes, I desire for God to bless America. Yet, until we do things His way and desire to please Him we won’t truly get what we ask for. Let’s turn our hearts toward Him and give Him a reason to want to bless us. God, forgive us and cleanse us of all our unrighteousness so that we may ask for, expect, and walk in your blessings once again. 13. Ye Shall Receive Power My Testimony of being filled with the Holy Ghost Shortly after I was saved, I went to a meeting where things happened that I really questioned. The power of God fell, and everyone was slain in the spirit, except me. I thought this is weird. I don’t even believe this kind of thing. Sound like you maybe? Well, later at another meeting this is what happened to me. It changed my life forever. It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me outside of salvation. I went to a Women’s Aglow meeting with the lady that led me to the Lord. I was standing with my arms up worshipping the Lord, and all the sudden my legs turned to rubber. I could hardly stand up. I was concerned that something was wrong with me so I asked a lady what I should do. She suggested that I go up for prayer. I did. The lady that was praying for people asked me if I knew several scriptures. I said no as I was a new kid. She said let’s just pray then. The last thing I remember was her touching my forehead as she anointed me with oil. I woke up twenty minutes later on the floor, drunk in the spirit. I tried to walk for four hours, but just staggered as a drunken man. The power of God was so strong I could hardly stand up. I didn't even really believe in this kind of thing. I went home finally and was lying on the couch. All the sudden I was speaking in tongues. I haven't stopped since. I had a major encounter with the Holy Ghost. I received power. I have experienced this power in prayer and intercession ever since. While doing this, the Holy Spirit shows me what to pray for according to His will. I have learned that it is not about me, but about Him alone. His will, not mine. About a year later, the Lord sent me to a little Baptist church. This particular church was very dead, as the pastor seemed to preach from newspapers. I met a guy there and became good friends. One day he came over and we prayed. God filled him with the Holy Spirit. He told me that he knew there was more, and he had been waiting for this for twenty-five years. Wow…what a blessing that I got to take part in. Some scripture references: Acts 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Acts 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Luke 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power After receiving the infilling, the Holy Spirit has allowed me to be a part of miracles. I have seen an ankle instantly go from swollen to normal. I have experienced praying for a gal over the telephone where God did a miracle. She had lumps in her breasts and was to have surgery. I was told to expect a miracle by the Holy Spirit. The next day I was told that all of the lumps were gone. The doctor was amazed and cancelled the surgery. This is just a small amount of things that I was allowed to be a part of. The kingdom of God definitely comes upon you when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit. You come as a little child and just believe. God is no respecter of persons. This is for everyone that asks. It will take you from being religious, into a relationship with the Holy Ghost that you never dreamed possible. It makes being a Christian a joy. If you are able, you can check out the Women’s Aglow, or the Full Gospel Businessmen Organizations. They usually can help you to receive. Books presently available on Smashwords by this author: The Warrior Poet Releasing God’s Power in You Pupper Tales Colorful Truths Series Can We Have the Mind of Christ? The Chicken The Fruit of the Spirit Our Free Gift Victory Over the Flesh Do Miracles Still Happen? Minister to Me Peace in the Storm Colorful Truths Volume 1 & 2 New Life Series Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Ministry In Poem Series A total of 18 volumes Please go to Smashwords and check for new releases or how to sample and view or purchase. Thanks for allowing me to share with you what the Holy Spirit has shared with me. May you be as blessed reading these as I was by the Lord in writing them. Rick https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/believer