0:10 - TODAY: Couple of different things on my heart. Not sure which direction we will go.
➡ 0:20 - PREVIOUSLY: meditating in the word RECAP: When you read the word take it personally. Commune a lot with God - talk to God (as you read). Even with songs I don’t sing “Him”, I sing “You.” Little stuff like that gets it real.
➡ 0:50 - TODAY: Love / Becoming Love. I’ve also got fasting on my heart today.
➡ 1:15 - FUTURE TOPICS: Other topics to cover at some point in the future: intercession - healthy v. unhealthy - baptism of the Holy Spirit - what that really is and the scriptural precedence, so that you can explain it to others - there are so many questions on that subject - “I thought I got the Holy Spirit when I got saved.” - “You get everything when you are born again” - “I thought that was only for back then - we’ve got the word now”.
➡ 2:00 - I’ve got fasting on my heart this morning probably because it can so connect with communion, relating, fellowship with God and coming into a place of revelation.
➡ 2:25 - When we talk about love I am going to use a lot of examples of communing with the Lord, meditating in the word. We’ll look at scriptures on love in the next week or so and we’ll show you what it looks like to commune those with the Lord and when your heart says I know that’s the will of God.
Commune the "Want To" of Your Heart
3:00 - Don't be discouraged by where you are not - You are saved by grace - Share your willingness to be changed with the Lord - Who has ever seen something in the word and known that it’s the will of God but felt far away from it? It’s something that is supposed to be in you in the Lord and you wonder where you missed that.
3:30 - Some people read the word and get so aware of where they are not, instead of where God is calling them. It’s hard for them to read their Bible because they feel like it is in their face. They get discouraged. When this happens the last thing you can do is just bite your lip and do that. You’ll try hard, fail and get more discouraged. No, you are saved by grace through faith. So the best thing you can do is address it by faith to the Lord and share your “want to,” your willingness…
5:10 - Share your “want to”, your willingness with the Lord - Lord I thank You that I'm called to this. And it is so my heart to be in this place right here (impatience). Father, I feel like I am so lacking in the area of patience. I feel like things trouble me, bother me, I get short with people, I get frustrated quickly, I'm like, "Get on with it." And Father, I realize that love and patience go hand in hand. And I thank You, that You are cultivating my heart. It is my desire to be just what You created me to be. And I thank You Father, that it is not my call to be short with people. I realize that is not who You are. And I thank You... You go on and just release faith...
5:50 - Some of us think that it has to be more complicated than faith. It’s not. It’s you saying, “yes” - “wanting to.”
5:55 - Even if you are a long way away from being where He wants you to be, the fact that you "want to" is a huge step in the right direction - I get excited when I see “want to” in people. They think they have a problem and are broken up and weeping. I’m excited that they care so much because I know that is the change in their lives, right there. I get excited when you care. He does too.
6:30 - Some people are messing up on purpose and don’t care. But when someone cares that’s the part that you need to highlight. So that you are not harsh with yourself or others.
7:00 - You are the steward of your own heart. I hold myself accountable. Outside of the word of God and the spirit of God, there’s nobody that disciplines me more than me. I call myself into account in the light of grace.
8:40 - Opening prayer - our hearts aligned to truth
Pure Motives - Twisted Motives
10:00 - Pure motives are really important in the Christian life - Why are you doing what you are doing? - The Christian life is simple. A lot of it is motivation, perspective, the “why” behind your life. Fasting is a huge area in that. Fasting has to do with the why behind your life.
10:25 - A pure motive is important for fasting - Receive His love - Become that love back to God and to others - You can get into works with fasting. Fasting to find favor, when you already have favor. Fasting to please the Lord, when He is already pleased to love you - He created you in His image. He loves that I receive His love. It’s His good pleasure to give me the kingdom. It pleases Him, makes Him feel good to give me who He is. He takes good pleasure in giving me of Himself. Why? Because He created us to be one. That is so intimate. And here we are trying to please Him. You can fast for wrong reasons. You can fast for right reasons.
➡ 11:30 - Scriptural fasting - adds to and increases what we are talking about - communion and knowing God and walking with God.
12:20 - Seeking the affirmation of men is not a pure motive of love - It shows you haven't fully received His love - There’s a lot in Mat. 6 about motives. Don't sound a trumpet...etc. Motive: to be seen by men - drawing attention to yourself - you need affirmation, approval. It means you don’t see yourself clear and you need men to affirm you, establish you.
13:15 - Before Christ we all had a desperate need for love - Don't try to draw that love from men but from God - How can you believe who receive honor from one another… John 5:44 If you’re in a rat race to receive honor, esteem by people, how can you believe? You’ll never pay the price of faith because of what men think. What people think is the priority of your life. Drawing identify from affirmation, approval. And if that is not coming in a steady stream then you really don’t feel good about yourself - more desperate - more insecure. Now you need it even more. We all lived this way before Christ.
14:50 - Unfortunately, we don’t make the switch after Christ. We still receive rejection from men. We don’t understand who we have become.
15:40 - How do you talk about the signs / blessings without soaking up the glory for yourself? How do you share those testimonies? -
Be affirmed in God - Don't draw affirmation through the way God uses you - ...without drawing attention to myself or feeling affirmed through that. - Be established in your communion with God. Affirmed in ministry - it’s healthy when you aren’t looking for that and you’re doing what you are doing for His name’s sake and for people - when your heart is sincere to bless others and you’re not doing it to be noticed, to derive identity. Some people serve in a ministry to fit in - to draw attention and have people acknowledge that. When you have that kind of motive in ministry it opens the door to be hurt, let down, feel unappreciated. It’s impossible for me to feel unappreciated because I am not doing it to be appreciated. How did I get that way? I am in love. He’s amazing. Acknowledging Him opens you up for Him to work through you all the more.
20:35 - You can be driven by what people think even though you are anointed. People pleasing. Just stop now and get a grip.
21:00 - Our motives became twisted through the fall - When we are born again our motives need to change - We’ve got motives that are twisted. Became twisted at the fall. Not created that way. He made us in His image, to be love, to be pure. So Christian living - is more than manifesting, being filled with the Spirit - it’s all about living from the right place.
21:20 - Purity - The gospel brings you back to purity - a pure foundation. The pure in heart shall see God. Purity - a safe place - everything I am doing is for the right reason. How do you get to that place? Communion, praying...
21:40 - You get pure motives through communion with God - How do you get to that place? Communion with God.
21:50 - Father, I have a tendency to feel selfish, to feel needed, to feel like I need people to approve me. And the truth is You love me. You've accepted me. You approve of me. I don't need to gain anything from men. I have gained everything from You. Father, you are the one refining and redefining my heart and You're the one that is making all things new. Father, form me in love. Purify my heart even more. Cause me to be just like You because I'm Your boy and You live in me. Yay for You, God.
22:50 - We haven't been taught to pray that way. Prayer reduced to… [an example of false humility prayer]. False humility - "It's a wonder you even consider me Lord. I am so selfish. But somehow you put up with me and love me. I don't get it because you know how wretched I can be..." Focused on who you are apart from Him. I don’t want to ever see myself apart from Him. I want to see myself in Him.
23:50 - Thanks for this ministry - What an honor to be in this ministry Lord. And what an honor that You would even flow through me. It's so beautiful that You would speak through my mouth into the life of another and encourage them and impart something to them through me. Because You made me for this. You saw this for me before anyone knew me. Thank You for bringing me home. And thank You for being so awesome in Your love and awesome in Your mercy and awesome in Your forgiveness. Thank You that You never changed Your mind about me and You made me awesome in You.
24:40 - Communing realigns your heart even though there is a tendency to be selfish. You are addressing it through prayer, through faith - and grace comes and molds and shapes - leaving a masterpiece.
25:15 - Purity - Cut ties with what you're not - Father I've got the temptation to do this. But when I look at Christ, I realize that I wasn't made this way. This is not my lot in life. This isn't how You made me and who I am because I don't see it in Jesus' heart and I don't see Him struggling in this area. And I thank You that I don't have to struggle either because I am Your son. And Father, I am so willing to become love. And I thank You that You are manifesting Yourself to me and You are causing me to become love - to know love - to look through love and to be love. God, I am in. I am saying yes and I am running to the finish line. You are my helper, what can man do to me?... That's prayer. That's intimacy.
26:25 - Potential in the seed - “What if you are wrong? What if it’s not true? And you’ve given your whole life.” - What if I’m not wrong? And you haven’t given your life. If I am wrong, I’ve done nothing but good and helped a lot of people. What if you are a seed that remained a seed - abiding alone. It never died so it never sprouted. In the seed is the potential of what could have been. There are forests in that seed. Unless the seed falls to the ground and dies it will just stay a potential - and after a while it will be “what could have been.” And never be a legacy - destiny. [Example]
29:25 - (Before Jesus) What sprouted and grew was contrary to truth. We were born again.
30:00 - Participant's comment - seeking approval. You have my approval.
31:00 - We've got to die to self to really live like He designed us to live - It is impossible to seek God sincerely through communion and transformation without the seed falling to the ground and dying. God will father those areas of your life. He’ll make it known to you. Hidden needs in our lives for attention, affirmation - a motive outside of truth and purity.
32:35 - You can’t rise above your motive. Live pure. <--- First message Holy Spirit gave me. Your motive is your ceiling. The “why” behind your life determines how high you fly and where you fly.
Need for Appreciation vs. Pure Motive of Love
33:05 - Need for appreciation - We still have tendencies of the fall. We still need affirmation. We still get low in our identity and need to be cheered on.
33:40 - Motivation in encouraging others - from love not to just keep a program functioning smoothly. What if I am encouraging you but by doing that I am keeping alive something that needs to die - your need for appreciation.
34:30 - Don't minister for the sake of the appreciation it will bring - Feeling unappreciated - If I am in a ministry and feeling unappreciated, I need to get a better grip on why I am in the ministry. If I’m in the ministry for you to appreciate me, I am a let down waiting to happen. I don’t do what I do, for you to thank me. I do what I do because I love you and Jesus is Lord. It’s who we are not just what we do. Instead of accommodating the need for appreciation, let’s change the motive of our heart.
35:20 - People leave churches over this - feeling under appreciated. No one said thank you. Are you doing this for appreciation or because of love? Accommodating that with appreciation is not the answer. Let's change the motive of our hearts.
36:05 - We ought to all be in this for the same reason - one mind, one heart, one Spirit. We’re all in this to become love - look like Jesus - to live from the place where He flows.
36:20 - One mind - Pure motive of love - doesn't mean we have to agree on every technicality or doctrine. But that we are all in this to become love. Woke up today - one more day to look like my Father. If that's the motive behind our lives, these other points of disagreement will not be a problem. So along the way we need to encourage one another.
37:10 - Insecurity - driven by what other people think. You’ve got to change motives, not just “medicate” / accommodate / enable those feelings. There shouldn’t be a push to make sure people working with you in ministry feel appreciated. It should be real appreciation. Appreciation should be a given. Should be genuine. The last thing I need is a “thank you.” Don’t enable twisted motives (needing appreciation) which will eventually be their downfall.
39:10 - Find your affirmation in the Lord. Don't draw affirmation from how God is using you.
39:40 - It all goes back to motivation - what makes you tick. Get yourself pure before the Lord - that what you do is for His name sake and for others. That’s the mindset of Christ - what made Him tick and took Him to the cross - let that same mindset be in you - Phil. 2. It's an amazing, humble, yielded, servant hearted thing.
➡ 41:20 - We are talking about motives but having trouble getting to fasting but Matt. 6 talks about this.
Stewardship to Stand in Identity - Dual Nature?
41:30 - Matthew 6 - v.1 - Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. -
Stand firm in the truth of who you are regardless of old feelings or thought patterns - It's outside trying to get back in - Take heed - my responsibility to look into my heart to be sure… (Steward of your own heart). We don’t have a dual nature but we have tendencies from the training / upbringing we get. Renewing of mind - transformation. Our minds need to be restored back to truth. Pulls and tugs of the devil. Old feelings / impulses comes out of nowhere.
43:30 - Ministry crazed - The biggest mistake we make is believing that that is who we still are - you need deliverance, you need help, somebody to get you all the way free. You're selling out and saying, “Because I experienced it, it’s me.” It is so not you. It is outside trying to get back in. But when I say it’s me, I’m surrendering my identity - giving myself over. Now you are getting prayer for something you are not (not who you are) and don’t even want. We need to teach this: it's outside trying to get in.
44:55 - The devil is looking for an opportune time. The devil comes back to just see where you are - gives you a same old thought pattern or temptation or grey you out a little. Now you feel like you did before you were saved. Did I get saved? But it’s not you.
46:00 - Stand firm in truth of your identity - Rise up in truth -Father, I thank You that You have so transformed my life. I so thank You that I am so delivered and so free. There was a time when I felt what I just started to feel coming over me, I would have been crushed for days. I thank You that nothing can crush me now. Because You are the One who lifted me up and raised me up and I am born again and I am free and I am untouchable because You're my God...
46:25 - That sure beats calling for prayer. Don’t need prayer. Need to realize the truth of your identity. Change the way you think to change what you experience. Or you are never going to live by faith / truth. You are going to eat the fruit of your experience instead of eating the fruit of His finished work.
Dual Nature? - No
47:10 - What do you mean when you say we don’t have a “dual nature”? Not even the flesh and the spirit?
The old man died - You are not sin waiting to happen - You have died. The old man is dead - crucified. The new man is put on - he has come - he is raised in the likeness of the resurrection - new creation - Rom. 6:4-5. A lot of people believe they are sin waiting to happen. Sin is inherent in me, burried in me and just waiting to raise its ugly head. If you accept that you give in to the power of sin. Don’t present your members to sin (Rom. 6:13) as if you are bound to serve it. You are not a slave to sin. Don’t you be afraid to declare that you live by the Spirit - that you are righteous in the sight of God - that you are born again. To be born again, something is dead. Something has to die so that something can live. i'm not sin waiting to happen.
49:00 - One of the big mistakes we make in the church - We think that because we have the ability to sin, it’s our identity. What crushes and silences your ability to sin is giving your members unto righteousness for its fruit unto holiness - Rom. 6:22.
49:20 - You are freed from sin - You have the ability to sin but it is not who you are - Romans 6. It doesn’t mean I can’t commit an act of sin if I yield myself to that. But can I give myself continually to God? And keep giving myself to God and actually grow in a stronghold of righteousness to where the things that used to drive me and eat my lunch and be a given in the way of the flesh are no longer. And what was weak is now strong.
49:50 - Objection: The Bible says the flesh is weak - Watch and pray... because the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. Matt 26:41 “See there brother, Jesus knows the flesh is weak.” Watch and pray. What is He saying? If you watch and pray you are going to live out of the spirit, by the strength of the Spirit and you are going to crush the weakness of the flesh.
50:35 - We identify ourselves with the fall instead of the resurrection. We identify ourselves with sin instead of the image of God. Christ is the redemption of man. He brings us back to that root value - the image of God. He has washed away sin.
50:50 - Objection: “Yeah, brother but we all sin. What, are you saying you are perfect?” That mindset is what keeps man bound in the flesh. Why don’t we rejoice in hearing of righteousness instead of affirming and qualifying sin. Most of the time when that question is asked, that person is living in the consciousness of sin. The Bible says IF I sin, not when. I don't have an appointment with sin. I'm not sinning while I'm breathing. And even if I sin, I have an advocate. Why does the Bible say this? The last thing a Christian is supposed to be doing is even thinking about sin. He is supposed to be thinking “right with God.” I want Jesus - I want to manifest Him - I’m in this thing.
52:20 - I’m a train going down the track of righteousness and I’m not slowing down. If, along that way, I sin, just know you have an advocate - you’re not under the law, you are under grace - just keep trucking and let Me love you and make you what I have called you to be. But don’t you stop running.
53:00 - You can get to a place where you can’t even relate to your past self - It’s called transformation. You can see things for how they really are. That's what the gospel is all about - shining light in the darkness so I can see things for the way they really are.
54:05 - I was not made for sin but for your image. I’m free - Thank You that I am so not made for sin. I am so not made for the flesh. I am so made for Your glory. I am so made for Your righteousness. You knew what You were doing when You made me. Because You made me in Your image. And Christ Jesus, You paid the price to redeem me back to that truth. And You are in me and I am in You. And I thank You that there isn't anything stopping me now. The truth is here. I am free. I'll never be sold cheap again. I'll never be a puppet on a string. I'll never be ruled by a task master because I have a Father and He is in heaven... I talk that way. I think that way. I pray that way.
Counseling Involving Hurts from the Past - Theophostic Ministry
55:20 - What about “theophostic” ministry”? There is something in your past that makes you think this way. It doesn’t fit in with what I preach. I point people to truth, not a “root”. If I point to a root, I’m going to point to a root in God - who you really are. Rejection / hurt happens all the time as we are growing up - not so much individual events. Everybody has had a rough ride - hell and back stories. It’s not about where we’ve been and what we’ve done. It’s about where He’s been and what He’s done that has revealed the truth about me so that I could put the old man off and put the new man on.
58:00 - I don’t have to go through 1000 closet doors and roll 50 stones - find ghosts and skeletons and memories. Understanding the gospel makes all of that null and void.
58:20 - It does not matter that my dad never said I love you, growing up and was an alcoholic and cursed me and said I’d be nothing. It has nothing to do with me, now that Christ has come. So by taking this long road of discovery of the past, I’m teaching myself to live sensual, circumstantial and experiential instead of by faith through Christ’s finished work. And now I have to take life as it comes instead of the gospel as it is. It's a big problem.
59:30 - We’re actually teaching people how not to believe the finished work of Christ. We’re teaching people to live by how they feel. We’re letting “the way that seems right” be laced through the gospel. Teaching people to always look to their past instead of looking up. When are you ever just free? I’m only free if I feel free - WRONG! You're always a person with a problem. That technique keeps you self-focused, self-conscious, me, and feelings. [Example conversations]
101:35 - What they are saying is... I’m in this position. I need your help. It has to have something to do with this (my story). Why do we minister to that? What does any of that have to do with the good news. Why are you trying to get to God through the eye of the needle of your past - when God came to you in the midst? God came to you and snatched you out of the darkness. Why do you need so delivered? Colossians says that you HAVE BEEN delivered from the power of darkness (Col. 1:13). Then why don’t we seem free? Because we look through the mindset of darkness. We're still looking in darkness to find freedom.
103:00 - Five year search to find the truth on these things.
103:45 - Ministry crazed - We think that we have to play detective. You run the risk of letting your identity be wrapped around the ministry you are in. You’ll be defensive of your ministry. Your whole world is around ministering to these people and playing detective and surfacing stuff.
104:15 - Five year search - interviewed counselors and people who went through these ministries.
104:35 - Keys in dark sanctuary - Left keys in sanctuary - door creaks - needed WD-40 - Tales of the Crypt - sister takes Dan’s bedroom. [root of problem? NO]
106:00 - We are not teaching TRANSFORMATION of life and change of heart. I don't need ministry to get that issue of bitterness out of me.
106:50 - Gospel teaches you to live free from fear. When you are selfless, you are fearless because you have nothing to lose you’ve gained everything.
107:10 - Keys (cont.) - I would have locked myself out - door creaks - feeling of fear / flashback of fear felt as a child in the attic.
Counseling Involving Hurts from the Past - Inner Healing
111:25 - Follow the leading of Holy Spirit - Don't go looking for problems on your own - Inner healing - There’s a level of “inner healing” I agree with. When Holy Spirit points to a problem, I flush it out and kill it. I follow Him. But I don’t take Him to where I want to go, looking for a problem. I don’t take Him anywhere - especially into your past. But if Holy Spirit takes me into your past, I'll go there and deal with whatever He wants done.
112:15 - They would have a field day analyzing me - [example of analysis]. You’re teaching me that if I feel something, it is who I am - if I experience something, it is who I am. And if I’m not feeling good, I don’t have the capacity to be good. And we are on a search to feel better, instead of believe better.
113:15 - Keys (cont.) - fear .
115:05 - Ministries when there is no natural knowledge of the root event - I just got a vision that this happened to you when you were one. And that’s why you act the way you act. You’ve got permission to be the way you were. If that happened to you, you would be this way too. Don’t judge me. The gospel is bigger than that. Old things have passed away. If so, then why do we have so much territory to look in. Behold all things are new.
116:15 - Keys (cont.) - discerning of spirits - most of the time the devil stays hidden - sometimes the Holy Spirit will expose what is going on - demon in daughter’s room.
120:00 - Wrong motive for prayer - fear. Devil wants to put fear into you - make you pray because of feeling vulnerable to attack.
120:50 - Lady walking down our street (like a zombie) - those kids never let me rest - demonic spirits - my husband lets them there - you can have peace at your house.
127:55 - Keys (cont.) - "See, Dan, they are outside trying to get in."
129:00 - Many of these people would want to take me into a room and heal that little boy (who had the Tales of the Crypt fears). But that little boy died the day I got born again. I need to change my perspective not go fishing (for causes of fear from my past). Outside, trying to get in.
➡ 129:45 - We didn’t get to fasting but we sure got to motives. Fasting - Isaiah 58
130:50 - We give natural knowledge so much power because we are psychological people instead of faith people. We make things have to matter because of natural knowledge. Human sentiment - human need.
131:25 - hypothetical - 80 yr old man comes to office - former neighbor - took advantage of kids - Do you know Jesus? Thank God you are born again. If natural knowledge about the past can mess you up so bad, why are we digging around in the past so much? Why aren’t we just living by truth that makes us free. Continue in the word, not continue in yesterday. You'll know the truth and the truth will make you free.
136:35 - BREAK
Counseling Involving Hurts from the Past - Not a Complex Method - Follow the Spirit
136:40 - We've made healing too complex - It's simple, healing can happen because of the finished work of Christ (not because we have explored and cleaned up the past) - People want to be technical / complex - and have all sorts of reasons why God can’t move - why people can’t be healed. I’m encouraging us back to simplicity. It’s the finished work of Christ. You never see Jesus telling people that He can’t heal them because they are holding on to their past - or unforgiveness in your heart - or a generational curse. If you are going to tell someone they are cursed be strong enough in the Spirit to get them free.
137:50 - We’ve become diagnostic Christians. We’ll diagnose people and leave them with the problem. We’re talking spiritual, without manifesting Truth.
139:25 - What do you mean when you say that Holy Spirit “points something out”?
Follow the Spirit - Don't make it a method - Seeing them at young ages and certain things happening. I didn’t ask to go there. It just popped up. What is this? Leads to dramatic solution. Problem is we take a gift of the Spirit and turn it into a method and try and apply it to all situations. We are called to follow Him - not Him following us.
140:30 - Grown man - see boy 12 yrs old - on streets of NYC - mother abandoned him - heroin addict
141:10 - That kind of situation carries complications. I understand the principle of going back. But the clearer you preach the gospel, the better hope they have of getting free because the truth makes you free. Your mom was hurting. It’s no reflection on your value. You’re worth the blood of the Son of God. Jesus is Lord and knows who you are. Your mom couldn’t see clear.
141:45 - Obstacle to intimacy with God: We say, “I can’t receive God’s love because I was never loved.” That’s the biggest lie on the earth. No wonder we were never loved. Man fell out of love when he ate from the tree and became selfish. Our parents did their best but they could say, “I love you” and yet let you know that they had had enough of you (discipline). This way is “the way that seems right to man” - and leads to death.
142:40 - You don't have to go looking for "roots" - But sometimes the Spirit will reveal things that lead to freedom - So in some of these situations I get this knowledge. Why do I get that knowledge? Because the Spirit saw fit to come and break a stronghold of believing without me searching and looking. Not about ministry and manifestations. It’s all about Jesus and the finished work of Christ and the message He has brought and the transformation it brings. Everything needs to flow through the eye of that needle (that perspective).
Twisted Motives & Strange Manifestations
144:00 - Manifestations are not always a move of God - Manifestations - wrong motives - strange manifestations not always a move of God. The Bible talks about “strange fire”. Ministering out of a wrong motive.
145:30 - Man prayed for Dan during a meeting - Dan learned obey Jesus - the Lord said, “Stop him now” - authority in a meeting - You don’t need to understand before you obey
150:25 - You’d be surprised what attaches to motivations - insecurities, hurt, unforgiveness, pain - living wounded.
150:55 - Meeting (continued) - address this - obey - evil spirit cast out - things got clear again
155:30 - 1 Corinthians 3 - see below.
Counseling Involving Hurts from the Past - No Memory of the "Incident"
155:50 - Beware of being told of something for which you have no natural remembrance - If someone tells you of something that happened to you when you were one and you have no natural knowledge of it and it was not happy information, I promise you, that is not Jesus. Jesus is not putting up hurdles on the track of your identity - if old things are passed away, He is not disclosing old information that you had no knowledge of and tempting you with having to handle that now. He’s life and life more abundantly. He made it as if you never sinned, so why wouldn’t He make it as if you were never sinned against - or never been in the world of sin? If He takes away the effects of your sin, why wouldn’t He take away the effects of sin against you? Jesus is not taking you back like that... [Example stories]
157:40 - I examined this stuff - 5 year study - took time to interview people - even those helped. How has this been born out in the fruit of your life? Not saying that no one has been helped or that this is of the devil. But we’re putting our identity in limbo, trying to get there through senses and we’re not increasing faith. We’re making it complicated, blocking the free flow of the Spirit through wrong understanding.
159:25 - Are you saying that Jesus takes away sin and the effects of sin? Yes. His blood was shed to forgive the acts of sin. His body was given to remove the effects of sin. That’s why His body had to be so brutally beaten. Because when sin got done with us, we didn’t look anything like His image. So Jesus came and lost His appearance so that we could get our identity back. He became what we were so that we could become what He is - a son.
Perspective on Hurts
200:25 - Effects of sin against you are changed through a changed perspective - Die too yourself - They have nothing left to hurt - Bullying - How are the effects of sin against you changed? The gospel changes your eye - your perspective. I see that the bully is just as lost as I’ve ever been. That’s why he was the way he was. He was a hurting young man and that hurt was breeding onto me like a cancer and producing the effects of his fallen nature. I realize he is worth the blood of Jesus. I have a heart for him because if he knew who he was or if he knew who I was he would never have lived the way he did. I hope he has changed. What he did to me is null and void because I died to myself. He has nothing now to offend. I see through a whole different eye. He’s not alive for me, I am alive for him. I didn’t come to be served but to serve.
204:10 - Religion says, die for your God. No, God died for His man. Not just incorporating Jesus in but the transformation of life. Making my eye brand new. God has changed me. The bully has nothing to touch, hurt or push anymore. Why? Because I love him now.
205:15 - Cry for people not because of them - We need a change of perspective - A change of the understanding that allows it to be so painful - It reveals how in trouble people are. They are not trouble to me, but in trouble. Why is it so easy to cry because of people instead of crying for people? Because we are in it for ourselves to some degree. It’s how people are affecting us instead of how we love them. If God were an ounce that way He would have never sent His Son. Love takes no account of a suffered wrong. Why? Because it doesn’t seek its own.
206:20 - Isaiah 53:4 He bore not just our sins but also what was done to us. It’s not a mystical breathing of God's Spirit on us so that we don't hurt any more. No, it’s a change of perspective - if He doesn’t change the eye I am looking through, more pain is coming. Changing the eye - the understanding that allows it to be so painful.
207:45 - You overcome the world through a changed perspective - In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33 Why do we ever have a trial then? Why is there adversity? He said I’ll be with you in trouble not keep you from trouble. “If you have overcome the world why do I have trouble?” People get mad at God. If you say that you love me, why am I going through this? That’s a very self-centered mindset - subpoenaing God - judging Him guilty. It’s a lack of understanding that even allows us to think that way. What’s He talking about? He has changed my perspective on life - by coming and living the truth in love.
209:00 - Jesus loved despite injustice - He wasn't changed by injustice - If anybody had a reason to be broken, rejected, hurt - it would have been Jesus. Who was ever treated more unjustly than Jesus - Son of God in the flesh? Who was ever more holy, pure than Jesus? But He was persecuted, blasphemed against, mocked, gossiped about and ultimately killed for what He wasn’t. You would think He would be broken and bruised - needing ministry.
209:50 - If it were us, we would need ministry. If somebody calls our good, bad, we are toast. We would fight to defend our good name.
210:30 - Participant comment - wounds and bruises
211:30 - How is it that you are no longer carrying old hurts. My perspective is changed - transformed from self to love.
212:20 - Hurts - They just don't understand who they are - Much less who you are - When people say they were hurt, Todd says, I know how you are feeling and I know they did that but let me ask you a question… If they were filled with Holy Spirit and walking in the love of God, would they have said the things they said and done the things they did? No. Well see, you’re problem isn’t flesh and blood, your war is not flesh and blood. Those people you are mad at, you could cry for because there are things they don’t see and don’t know. It’s not even who they are. So if it is not who they are, how can they treat you for who you are?
213:15 - Example - husband not loving wife - husbands v. wives - self-reinforcing, self-centeredness. You can be a product of somebody's lack (dry cup) or the product of what Christ revealed.
216:05 - Why are you so hurt? - Because of your perspective - We need a change of perspective - Go buttonless - Why are you so touchy? Hurtable? Because you are not seeing through love.
216:20 - Pastor Don - Let’s pray that you go buttonless. Her focus is what’s wrong with her husband instead of the heart she is living from. She’s living from: change my husband for my sake. The whole world revolves around you and if things are not going your way, you are not ok. No, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus. Anything else is religious tradition. It’s the form of God without the power of God - which means a transformed life - the power of godliness. Not dunamis - dead raising power.
217:45 - Power of godliness - not resurrection type power but the power of a transformed life. They accept pain, hurt, bitterness, fault finding, focusing on wrong - as if we were mere men instead of His children. We focus on the wrong to make us right.
➡ 218:40 - Fasting was a good idea for a topic but not today. Right now I am backing up to some of this counseling involving the past.
All Things are Yours - The Past is Not Lord
218:55 - 1 Corinthians 3 - v.18 - Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. -
Don't have a grid for these problems - a perspective that accommodates these problems - You’re not going to identify me because of what we have observed / experienced in fallen man. Mail - over 40. That is human experience apart from the finished work.
221:00 - I don't believe in degeneration. Running / expectation that knees will wear out. You are giving yourself permission to fall apart. Running with no pain. We're always waiting for the pain.
223:15 - Hunting deer - cliff - demon possessed - exertion that seems impossible for age
225:05 - I don’t have a grid for certain things (landing strip) - so I don’t experience them.
225:30 - Hunting - Jesus helps me - hunting turkeys
228:30 - Bill Johnson - Are you kidding? I love animals... right next to the mashed potatoes.
229:00 - Asking Holy Spirit, hearing. Will change your life. You live with Him.
230:00 - v.18 - a fool - conversion of knowledge - a 180 flip from the way that seems right to man. People that are wise in this age need to become a fool. You need to become a fool because that is not My wisdom. We’re not conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of our mind - the spirit of our minds.
230:40 - v.19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. -
230:50 - v.20 - And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. - Paul is writing to give God the glory as the SOURCE of all / life / wisdom - because at the beginning of the chapter there was sectarianism going on. I’m of Paul. I’m of Apollos. I’m of Cephas. And he’s saying, “No, we are all of Christ.” Comparisons today - examples.
231:40 - v.21 - Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; - All things are yours. Why boast in men when God has given you the kingdom. Get your eyes on the kingdom.
231:50 - v.22 - Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; - all are yours - what an amazing list. You are God’s.
233:10 - Don't let the past keep you from what God provides - You gave the past to Him - What is not on that list? What is not yours? The past. Why? Because He remembers it no more - He washed it away. Why would He remind you of yesterday when He wiped it off the chalkboard? We have present and things to come.
Don't Let the Past Separate You from God
233:40 - Romans 8 - v.35-37 - Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. - Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Why are they more than conquerors? Because truth is holding us. Our perspective has changed. We know what is true now.
234:35 - v.38 - For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, - a more extensive list than 1 Cor. 3 (above)
235:10 - What can keep us from the love of God? Nothing, except what is not on the list - the past. The past can absolutely keep you from receiving the love of God. If you are dwelling there you are not being loved by Him. You are finding reasons you are not lovable, loving, lovely etc. It is the only thing that can cause you to struggle in receiving His love - looking over your shoulder - the past. Letting anything else matter now that Christ has come.
237:00 - Live by faith - Not by how you feel because of the past - Now do you see why the just shall live by faith? We have to be careful not to teach people to live by how they feel instead of what they believe.
237:30 - Drinking water in the outdoors - not talking about testing God.
239:10 - Closing prayer - pick me up, daddy.