Temptation and Jesus

What can you tempt God with when He is a man. Jesus came to earth and His temptation is fascinating really as it gives us understanding of who He was. I would think probably the largest thing you could tempt Jesus with is the desire to be God while being a natural man. In other words in Spirit He is God first and man second but if submitting to temptation He would have been man first and God second.

Look at the temptation of Christ and the devil said, bow down and worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of the earth. It may sound like a stupid thing to say but in reality to our natural man what temptation is not stupid. Temptation is always stupid to someone who has no desires in that area. Jesus was walking on earth as a man and the devil tried to tempt Him to have Godly rule but from carnality which is demonic not form Holy Spirit. Of course we know Jesus did not and ultimately said away with you satan.

But look at the next passage, this comes up in Luke 5. Jesus was casting out demons and they came out crying out “this is the Christ”. Jesus silenced them but you have to ask why do that? I used to think it was blowing his cover but it goes deeper. The devil was having a cheap shot at trying to tempt Jesus again. Had Jesus done the religious thing and fled from temptation He would have been running the rest of eternity. Remember the Holy Spirit led Him into and out the other side of temptation. He won and lived from Holy Spirit in His life. So here are the demons trying to get people to worship Jesus. You can ask what is the problem with that? I see one immediate problem being His carnal man would have loved recognition of being God but He stayed in Holy Spirit and focused on the life before Him. He could have stepped out and allowed people to glorify Him but if it was done in a carnal way all he would have got in return was what the devil offered Him during his wilderness temptation.

Jesus won again but it is so encouraging to see He understands what we go through. He was tempted but never gave in, an awesome man who lived form Holy Spirit default. Now He is in us we can do the same in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not manipulated by the devil when temptation came around. When we are in the Holy Spirit through Christ then like Jesus temptation becomes nothing.

How Jesus did church, baptism etc

So as we journey through the book of Luke some amazing Spirit observances come to the forefront. Really the bible has become a new book and continues to be new. It really is an amazing occurrence that a book we have read so much is constantly alive and changing in the revelatory rhema of what it means to our lives. Probably one of the greatest contrasts of Holy Spirit life in religion we read a verse and gain knowledge of it and understand it hoping something deeper arrives. But in Spirit we read as rhema because a Holy Spirit being is living rhema. As the bible says we are a living epistle known and read by all men. As living epistles the word is in our hearts and what a wonderful act of intimacy to read bible to reveal who we are not what we should be.

But back to our Luke journey. What a fascinating example of true Holy Spirit church to see the life of Jesus. Now in chapter 4 of Luke He flows into and with the new Holy Spirit default in His life. It may be troubling for some to read but Jesus was simply being what we are to be. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit and then was led into temptation by the Holy Spirit to pass through the other side and come out a Holy Spirit defaulted being on this earth. Remember religion has us run from temptation but Holy Spirit leads us into and out the other side of temptation. Then carnality cannot hold us as Holy Spirit men an d women. You see because of this Holy Spirit work his natural or carnal man was living as dead. He now was walking in the Holy Spirit and being true to Himself, true to who the Holy Spirit enlightened and enabled Him to be. It was in this power of the Holy Spirit He goes to the synagogue and as his first act of Spirit He incites the religious. Not to be a trouble maker but to be Holy Spirit life and the first people that will be offended at Holy Spirit life will always be the religious. As it is the religious that seek to be like God, the same sin Adam and Eve fell into. They seek to attain what a Holy Spirit being has already attained. Religion repeats the self righteousness of the Garden of Eden. Eating fruit to be like God. Where Holy Spirit beings are co-joined with Christ and as such are God. If you think that is to create worlds and walk around in white robes with a beard and have people pray to you, there is a distinct possibility you may not be the smartest individual and don’t understand what is going on here.

Jesus tells them of His uniqueness by giving a few examples of how when in Spirit it is because God selects individuals, He predestines. Jesus talks of Elijah and widow and Elisha and Naaman. It was an example of how God selects with no natural logic and it was a slap on the face of religion that teaches we can all follow a knowledge path to God that looks the same. They hated Him and tried to kill him as all religious people today do the same. What they don’t understand they either persecute or isolate from. But always in carnal love which really is hate to the Spirit. If you demonize an individual it excuses treating them like a devil, such is church today with people who differ from the pastor in his attained religious knowledge. But let’s get back on topic.

Jesus then stops demons proclaiming He is the Christ. There are multiple reasons for that I am sure but one was any Spirit being is not looking for earthly recognition they are here to glorify God and His will. A spirit being cannot take credit for a righteous life or act as they are the flow of the Holy Spirit life. Co-joined with Christ how can they take glory to themselves, they are co-joined glory. If any man had the right to take glory it would have been Jesus and He did not. Really it was an extension of why He was led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted. Remember He passed through temptation and this immediately highlights why. If He was religious and had run from temptation he would never have stopped running. The devil again tried to bring His temptation back. A little cheap test by the devil to try and get Him to take glory to his carnal man again. If any deserved it , Jesus did but he knew the futility of carnal recognition and brushed it aside. His default was Holy Spirit now, not carnal recognition. Sure there was aspects of timing and purpose as there is with all Holy Spirited beings. There never is a time on this earth to be exalted by this world system that is carnal and demonic. We are here to be life and as life, Holy Spirit IS.

So the next fascinating Spirit revealing in the life of Jesus again points us to how we are to BE Holy Spirit church. Jesus just went about life and people started to flock to Him for healing and life. In religion I used to think that was because they followed the miracles and I missed the spirit truth, happening here. Jesus did not do miracles He was a miracle. Just as we don’t do miracles we are a miracle and what carnal men will call miracles, Spirit men will call Holy Spirit life. Jesus just lived and people were drawn to the Holy Spirit life in Him. As mentioned previously in writings one obvious revealing in a Holy Spirit being is the fact people are drawn to the person. They have no reason and often stand next to the Spirit person with not a lot to say they just want to be there. Holy Spirit church is such and keeps us real. Paul says to Timothy to test yourself and see if you are in the faith. One great test of Holy Spirit in us is people being drawn to us without us advertising. A Holy Spirit person just lives life and is a fool if they think people are drawn to their charisma , talents or knowledge. People are attracted to life and the bible reveals to us we are life when co-joined with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. Corinthians tells us mortality is swallowed up by life.

This was Jesus church. He lived Holy Spirit life by just being Jesus and peoples mortality sensed that life and caused them to seek Him out. A sobering example of Acts church. After Pentecost the example Jesus gave us of Holy Spirit church was made available in greater ways to you and I. As now Jesus went to the Father and intercedes for us. You have to love John 14 and 17 where Jesus talks of us being one with the Father because we are one with Him. Jesus then talks of how it is better that He goes as the comforter will come and lead us into all truth and teach us what He says. The Holy Spirit had already arrived as a dove on Jesus but now as the Holy Spirit entered Jesus they moved as one complete koinonia called the Godhead. Now because of Jesus sacrifice on Calvary we enter the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit enters us. As Jesus fulfilled baptism in the Jordan he then died at Calvary and led us into new life by revealing unless we are baptized into Christ by repentance and remission of sins then we can never have the Holy Spirit baptism through the Holy Spirit entering Him. Do you follow what is happening here the water changed. We still get baptized but now when we enter Christ who fulfilled baptism in the Jordan we are open to the baptism of Pentecost water and the requirement is we what Ephesians 4 translates. Lets “be being filled” I am baptized by being Holy Spirit because I am co-joined with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus Himself from Pentecost.

You and I can only ever be one with God if we are co-joined with Christ. Christ did it all and completed it all that is why when crucified His last words were “IT IS FINISHED” There is nothing left to do. Do we get that? When I enter Christ, IT IS FINISHED! Through Him my baptism is complete but only when I live through Him. He is our hands and feet and eyes and ears. Something that can only happen as we are the living baptism lived in and through Him. As I live inside him and He lives inside me my baptism is fulfilled because it was fulfilled by Him. Now Pentecost is freely available to all men who live in Christ and Christ live sin them. A simple act of surrendering the carnal natural man to a Spirit God to awaken our Spirits that was once dead in sin as the bible says. Now as I enter the Holy Spirit of Pentecost I understand it is not about manifestations as any true Spirit being is a manifestation of life. The bible reveals how from glory to glory He is changing me. Christ in me the hope of glory, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. For one reason when Christ is one with me, I stood in the Jordan with Him and the Holy Spirit flew onto our head as a dove. But only because of Calvary and Pentecost, a testament to the fact there is no time in the Spirit.
The creation of man is complete as now we can be one with the Godhead through the life of Christ in us. Koinonia with the Godhead is new testament church.

Music of heaven is us

A quickish thought for your night. And Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being tempted for 40 days. The arrival of the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus was as we have talked in previous emails a change of eras. Now the first act if the Holy Spirit after arriving as a dove is to lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. My friend as offensive as this is I have to say it. Religion does the contrary, it teaches us to flee from temptation but today lets see this Holy Spirit principle. When the Holy Spirit fills us we no longer flee from what may be a temptation to us. The Holy Spirit leads those He fills toward temptation and through the other side. So religion tries to deny temptation and is in fear of temptation but Spirit beings no longer fear temptation they have a new strength a new resolve in the Spirit and yes they don’t see sin.

Jesus must have missed the intimacy of heaven and His position in heaven. Jesus was hungry and so here the devil tempted him with two things that potentially could have been an issue. Look at the temptation to be God. The devil says worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of this world. This is a great understanding of Spirit life. The devil and our carnality that is aligned with him can never give you power. It creates the illusion of power but as we walk in the Spirit true life is revealed. Jesus lived Spirit just as we live spirit.

It leads me into the next observance of Jesus. We think the church was formed after the day of Pentecost and here was Jesus giving us the first example of new testament church. Everywhere Jesus went he had a rolling church meeting. Now we think people followed him to observe miracles and yes some were like that. Others just followed the crowd maybe. But I submit the primary group of people followed Jesus just because Holy Spirit life was Him, just as it is supposed to be you and me. I am sure they walked in the crowd and talked with each other about the life they were sensing. It must have been a lot like some of what we are starting to see. People drawn to the fire and have no idea why they are there. They walk out on the work they walk out on their commitments and lose interest in the world just because Holy Spirit is there. They don’t know it as that but when they hear the resonance of the Spirit coming from a life that is one with the Spirit they can do nothing but listen to the harmonic music it creates. A music they have never heard before a music that is so enthralling they have cause to be near it and it causes life to come up as the longer they are near it the more beautiful the resonance. Such is Holy Spirit in us.

Such was the example Jesus gave us for Holy Spirit church. When we resonate Spirit by just being revealed the world comes to see. The religious come to see as they always like manifestations of God and just like the religious did with Jesus they will ask dumb questions and try to understand Spirit in their head. I can appreciate the Pharisee’s and the stupid questions they asked as I once aligned with the exact same questions when trying to be religiously smart. The crowd around who were hearing spirit resonance must have thought the Pharisees so dumb with some of the stuff they asked. The religious love Spirit they love being near Jesus the difference is they are not coming to humble themselves they come to take and come to teach and come to set straight. After all when in religion the Spirit is such an enigma.

So too today as we walk Spirit life as Jesus did, the sinners of the world the tax collectors and prostitutes and such hear a sound of peace they have no idea what it is and are drawn to it. The more we cease striving and relax and know He is God the more they come. While at the same time the religious act as the Pharisees and try to control, try to witness for Jesus, try to win the lost etc. They know there is something going on but cannot lay aside their religious identity long enough to hear the harmony. To the religious the music is the words but to a Spirit man the music is life.

Jesus showed us how to do new testament church, but who is interested anyway when it is so disorganized and dependant on Spirit. Dear God let us relax and BE spirit. Cease striving and know that I am God!

Another key to beating addiction, religious and other

The greatest trap anyone could fall into with a move of the Holy Spirit is canalizing it. We all understand as God reveals in us and moves by His spirit amazing changes happen. The challenge then becomes to leave Spirit as Spirit. As God reveals in our lives we should just live that spirit consciousness. It is then we obviously will have limited knowledge of what is being revealed through and in us.
If I go beyond that and thirst to obtain knowledge, maybe because it was such a blessing or so life giving or freeing, liberating or … Really in so doing all I am doing is trying to make knowledge I can replicate. If I can replicate my approach or the revealing of life then immediately I have diminished it to my level and made Spirit carnal.

I think we can see modern church as a perfect example of this. God moves by his Holy Spirit and men see this as a validation of who they are and what they are doing. They put patterns in place to try and replicate and teach what had been such a blessing to them. So in a spirit filled church they take a manifestation of Spirit and teach it. So now we have prophecy classes or the right song to bring it back. In more mainstream churches their pattern comes from the fact the word of God became rhema (living) to them at some point. They read a bible passage and came alive so now they chase the manifestation of knowledge. They are control freaks who limit their life to their finite knowledge. The most stupid thing these people arrogantly say is I need a good bible believing church. These folks would be better to say I need a church that derives its self righteousness from its ability to have knowledge. That knowledge may have started good but once I live it as knowledge I am a humanist for Jesus, no matter even if it is the written and inspired word of God. Probably why there are so many doctrines and of course everyone is equally convinced they are right. The problem is their whole default is a fraud and the greatest deception is the one they present themselves.

Both are equally just as wrong, both have been validated by Spirit manifestations the only trouble is the validation is only for themselves and to themselves. When God starts revealing all we can do is allow ourselves to be who He is in us. Now we have no idea what that means as our religious systems and friends have superimposed systems and ideals of righteousness on us. They mostly would say righteousness looks like them and their methods of worship. These methods always involve works to better oneself and therein lies the problem. Any thought of self betterment is based in self righteousness as when the Holy Spirit does a work in us we are better, we are free, we are delivered and we lose desire for the world.

If I struggle with addiction or sin or lust then all that is being revealed is that I am self righteous. OUCH! How can I say such a thing to folks who work so hard to be righteous. They read where the bible says “work out your salvation ” and they read that from the wrong end. To the religious it means work harder at failing while thinking you are winning. To a spirit individual it reads relax and let the Holy Spirit be revealed in who you are. You can never fail or win in Spirit as to think such immediately reduces a move of God to carnality. In Spirit I am “life” the life of Christ and everything that encompasses. A spirit person is complete they don’t win or lose as they are not manifestations they are life. If I look to win I am carnal in default, I must just BE spirit and in that consciousness comes Jesus life and can we ever define such. Every day Jesus life takes new life as life is revealed in me. In what the world calls failure Spirit reveals and is life. Not so I can now win, again if I am that level I am in the wrong default.

Remember in Spirit church I do not prophecy I am prophecy. A spirit person does not have knowledge they are all knowledge, they are just on a journey to discover what that translates to in us. When the Spirit reveals life in you then just sit in the life and relax, cease striving and know that I am God the bible says and what better. God gave us a spirit key right there and He is saying stop trying to be righteous and relax and be righteous. That can never make sense to a carnal defaulted person as it will always have to involve actions to gain identity. A spirit person needs no action for identity they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus as the bible says and have no idea what that means other than relax and righteousness is.

So yes this is disturbing as it reveals the verse in the bible in us that says “nothing good exist in the heart of man.”Nothing good is in any of us independent of what God put there. If we foolishly think the good we see comes from us we reveal our self righteousness that separates us from God. In that self righteousness sin will always follow as sin hides self righteousness. Struggling with sin? The issue is not the sin that religion wants to make it, the struggle is self righteousness. Remember that’s why God took sin away. He totally destroyed sin to a Holy Spirit co-joined being. Religion makes Calvary and Jesus dying on the cross about forgiveness of sin as that keeps us locked into knowledge of sin. Romans in the bible makes it about living lawless. When I live lawless my heart is revealed. If self righteous I will party hard in my new found freedom. If God righteous I will not use this grace as a license to sin as the apostle Paul says.

So to a Spirit filled being, sin no longer exist it is impossible to exist and if I live the knowledge of the sin in my life that does exist, all I am revealing is the self righteous areas of my life where I am in control and probably religious. Religion separates people from God. When it teaches repentance and sanctification it locks or traps people into knowledge of sin that Romans tells us only comes from law. The exact same law Jesus decimated and vaporized on Calvary. Yes the religious will always say “well what about the wrong I do and the bible talking of sin” A Holy Spirit being will just BE revealed Spirit and the sin drops off as the Spirit is revealed in them. They understand the verses in the bible that say things like. Be Holy as I am Holy. To the religious a challenge, to Spirit a statement of identity that a sanctified life flows out of. A spirit identity that causes a Holy Spirit being who entered Calvary to understand I repented and came to Christ now as the Holy Spirit filled me I am repentance. Call my life repentance as Christ is in me and I am in Christ. Cease striving and know that I am God the bible says, remember!

Christians who repent only ever reveal self righteousness. They don’t get Spirit, can’t get Spirit, and won’t get Spirit, as long as they are in a sin default. How can they when the default is all wrong. What I see I worship! See sin, the lack of, or fullness of and all I see is my idol. “BE”, spirit relax and let Holy Spirit life be revealed in me and all I will get is LIFE as I am LIFE.

When in carnality as a default I will always be competitive. It is what we call eros love. Erotic comes from this love and is all about lust and selfish desires being fulfilled. Inside religion eros is active and always causing us to compete with ourselves and others for recognition, validation and position. It is under the covering of agape love we discover Sspirit. Agape is not about doing it is about being and there is no self gratification in agape love. It is unconditional giving and agape is not a conscious state it is all about just being “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus” If I try and be tat righteousness all I am revealing is masked eros, greedy and self flagellating love.
So to finish if my business my gifts my life is about doing I am exhibiting eros but if I am co-joined with Christ I can relax and let God show me who I truly am. Now it is about gifting called life.

ADDICTION to drugs, sex, alcohol etc some tips on freedom

In over 30 years of working with people from all walks of life I wanted to write a few observations about addiction.
One week here in the Boston area we had 9 drug addicts come and receive Christ. It was within a month they were all back to their life of drugs and despair. It started me to think what are we missing, if the power of God is so real why is it these people choose to walk away from it?

Now there is a lot written on this blog on some of this but I do want to highlight a few positives to help. It was with a man I had the privilege of praying with that God showed me the road to deliverance in a new way. This man had struggled with adultery, pornography or let’s just say sex. He later told me he could never say he was truly free. He had been in churches for over 30 years and had suffered much by the religious who meant well and wanted him free. He had confessed in front of church group, he had accountability partners and fasted and prayed and lots more but still the struggle defined him in some way.
Now when I prayed with this man I had no idea of any of this but I prayed he would be filled with the Holy Spirit however God wanted that to happen and look like. A few days later the power of God fell on this man while driving in his car and his life was changed forever. It was months later he came and told me of his struggles and with joy expressed for the first time in his life he could say he was truly free. Now 2 years later he has remained free. So what is the difference?

Many today enter Jesus as a fix and when the high runs out so do they. An addicts mentality is for the next bit of pleasure and for a time church life can satisfy this urge. Ultimately the struggle continues or it mutates and condemnation, guilt and isolation follows.
So the difference was in the surrender, yielding and opening to the Holy Spirit. Then as this man lived from the Spirit default the control of lust did not drive his life anymore. I invite you to read other entries on this blog in relation to sin and how God does not see sin once we enter Christ and He enters us.

Friend your answer does not lie in religion it is in surrendering your self righteous life to Jesus as you allow His Holy Spirit to get your attention and live from that default. Forget about religion telling you formulas of freedom and making promises they can’t keep. It is only as you allow Jesus to romance you through His Holy Spirit that life truly follows. Sounds hard but it could never be more simple. Just be true to the Jesus in you and forget learning to be good. You can’t learn or earn freedom it has to be given and entered.

Understanding GIFTED people, MUSICIANS, BUSINESSMEN etc

To have a gift in our lives we are aware of is an amazing experience. Often we then spend a lifetime building around our gift and if honest trying to understand how to see increase. I am certain that if honest inside gifted people is a sense there is more but they are restricted then by their own affections. Any truly gifted person knows the gift is limitless and the frustration that can follow as they try and reach for the limitless. Often we find they try and fail and give up.

I have seen the trap many fall into is firstly thinking the gift is all about them. Now they may use the gift for others but deep inside there is a pride because they know they are different from others they know they stand out in this area and that confidence usually brings a perceived arrogance and pride toward life. To others they are seen as prideful and arrogant but to themselves they are just being true to themselves and when you are good at something others will always see that confidence as pride and arrogance. Really is it arrogance and I do want to talk on that a little.

In understanding the frustration gifted people face you must see they always turn to counterfeit stimulants they hope will fulfill the inner emptiness they try to deny is there but always lies in the shadows. I remember speaking with a famous musician in his home about his gift. At 5 years old he was able to play guitar and as we spoke about his gift he listened intently knowing the words we spoke were life and truth. You see like many that have a recognized gift they try to find increase in all sorts of ways, drugs, sex, religion, eastern religion, control, philanthropic works, money, etc. Without except when headed down these paths frustrations will always follow. The gift is not allowed to breathe in their life and they fail to understand the above mentioned and other actions limit the expression. Sure they gets moments of pleasure and feel good moments in these counterfeit actions but there is a better way.

Really a gifted person never wants to lose their gift and can even be in fear of such. When I say give the gift back they think you have lost the plot. I can say this the tighter you hold it the more it will consume the life in you. When you give it back it always returns with limitless life. As long as I am in control it can only go as far as I can take it. When I co-join with Christ it goes as far as God can take it. But what does that mean?

So how does a gifted person see release into the limitless of the gift and the beginning of the answer lies in understanding the source. The bible tells us “every good gift comes down from above” Now that does not mean I go to church to understand my gift. It means the gift in your life is a revealing of God wanting to get your attention. God has gifted you and in what could be seen as romance he is wanting to get that individuals attention long enough for them to understand they matter to God. Unfortunately many run off to religious systems looking for answers and usually don’t find them. Religious systems have built humanistic patterns they think please God and actually repulse him. Sure they do good works but we are not talking about that we are talking about gifts being released into the limitless in our lives. So let’s not wander from the topic at hand.

Funny when you think about it almost every famous musician has had a run with religion, they found good people doing good things but not the limitless in the gift. Religion often tells them they must use the gift for God and miss the fact we must “ DO from our BE not Be from our DO” Religion is “mortality” and the Holy Spirit revealed in us is “life”. Musicians understand this more than most. You can teach music but not the gift in music. The music gifted see music as life it is not what they do it’s who they are. So for a church or a man to tell them they must use it for God it is complete ignorance. They can never “be from their do”. Any truly spiritual person sent to come along side a gifted person should only ever reveal life not teach knowledge. Come on now you gifted musicians reading this, when you see God in the gift you can then let God bring you to those gifted in revealing Holy Spirit life in you.

When we give the gift back to its source it returns to us in limitless ways. It requires letting Holy Spirit be revealed in us. It is understanding in a limited way that God is romancing us and in our uniqueness we must respond. If we don’t respond we live mortality in the gift. If we foolishly hold the gift then the gift holds us. If we release it the gift God is in releases us.

Let me give another example. I have a friend who is an incredibly gifted businessman. He was a venture capitalist and ran big business and was very successful. He knew his gift was all about him and even when doing philanthropic work there was a deep knowing it was about him and his quest for life in his gift. It was not until he saw the Holy Spirit in his gift that true release came. He surrendered his gift and truly control of his life to a limitless God and his gift took off. The business he now does is astounding to any outside the gift and he is paid massive amounts of money by people to teach them how to make money. He sits in front of top level executives and students to teach. But as musicians know the true music is not in getting a music lesson it is in “life” and understanding where your gift is revealed. I will never be another no matter how much I admire them and are taught by them. I must discover my gift that often has been buried by trying to be someone else’s gift. Only those who feel the music actually hear it. After his talks people come up to him and are touched they just don’t know why. As they try and approach the gift through their heads all they get is limits. You can teach music but not how to have music as life. You can teach business but not how to have business as life. To a head person they just don’t get that. But all we can say is “DO from your BE don’t Be from your DO”

Now only a gifted person can understand what I am about to say. Gifted people cannot teach their gift they have to be true to the gift, true to themselves and true to God. This is Holy Spirit church and we won’t get into why that is right now other than to say. The modern churches take the gifts men get and try to teach them to others. It is an apostate empty and lifeless way of increase. God’s love that reveals these gifts must be approached through the Holy Spirit of God and then amazing things happen. Holy Spirit is not knowledge He is life and when I release my life to Him I am giving my gift back and now I am co-joined with Him the bible tells me. It was Jesus that gifted us with true life and as I enter that life not as knowledge but as life itself then amazing things happen.

So understanding the source is external to oneself is the first step and we can call that giving the gift back to where it came from. This all may sound complex but really it could never be more simple. The first step is understanding God is in the gift and if honest we have no idea what that means. That’s the point!

Miracles and the science of

Miracles are just overpowering in their magnitude. Can you even begin to explain a miracle? I remember the first deaf ear that opened when Lara and I prayed. It was an 11 year old boy and I think I was the most astounded person and unbelieving person in the room when it happened. I also was the one praying! It was after the ear opened I was reflecting on the miracle and realized I have no way to explain it. It happened beyond my words, beyond anything that depended on me other than I just prayed and from inside my Sspirit, the Holy Spirit moved. It was the exact same Holy Spirit who had fed and housed my family. He had fed me when there was no hope of food, He had housed me when we were homeless and from within I began to know where His peace lay. From that peace I knew to be my Sspirit conjoined with Him I prayed and life came.

So here before I get to my point can I ask you a series of questions.
1. Do miracles exist to you?
2. Have you ever been near one that happened?
3. Can you explain how the miracle happened, you know the science of the miracle?
4. If someone saw the miracle and wanted to have it happen again what is the procedure to make sure it will always happen, can you guarantee it will work again?

OK so these questions are largely not answerable. It’s like trying to explain what the wind looks like and how to make it blow. Really any who have been part of a true miracle know all they have to do is turn up and relax. So here is the punch line.
Do you understand that after Pentecost in the bible when we are co-joined with the Godhead we no longer can call these miracle happenings isolated incidents. We can’t call them miracles as now in Sspirit life we are the miracle. Christ in us and us in Christ. Now we don’t see miracles we are miracles and when asked to explain Spirit life we are faced with the same challenges you faced earlier answering those questions.
People have studied the bible and examined every place a miracle happened. They then attempt to replicate such. We find people going on 40 days fasts to be like Jesus and others setting up patterns of worship and prayer and denial to see miracles. Oh sure they even see miracles at times and that is what validates their efforts. Really its just like people when examining the Sspirit life in the bible. They read where it has manifest and attempt to replicate it. Would we not do well to relax and let the wind blow and where it goes and comes from nobody knows.
I guess the problem is we have made a life of validating ourselves to God and ourselves looking for miracles and ministry. We missed it folks we are the miracle when we worship in Spirit and truth. So what a natural religious person would call miracles a Spirit Pentecost koinonia believer calls life. Sound arrogant and self righteous. It better or all we have is religious warm and fuzzy feelings.

Water Baptism revisited

This morning I was reading Matthew 3 and it struck me again how we often gloss over parts of a verse as they just don’t seem to pop out at us. Maybe its common language or our focus has been on other things but here I am again reading about baptism and something popped out that we already know but in a new way.
“I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
There is so much going on here but let’s stick to the main points.
Firstly- John himself states “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Did you notice he states he baptizes with water but one coming after him Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. I love how the bible then goes on to describe how that fire will separate. Fire is one of those things try and describe it to someone who has never seen it. Thus try and describe the fire inside us when the Holy Spirit ignites us and purifies us.
Secondly- John did not want to baptize Jesus. His words were “I need to be baptized by you”
Thirdly – This is the key verse to the whole passage. Jesus said “it is proper to do this to fulfill all righteousness” What exactly did he mean by that. I know we would say he needs to be baptized as we all do and it fulfills righteousness in Him. I would suggest we read it another way. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness the bible tell us. The law was fulfilled in Christ, baptism was fulfilled in Christ and as Jesus said hanging on the cross “IT IS FINISHED” He completed all requirements. Think about it for a moment.
Until someone lived perfect before the law the law could never be completed. How can someone say I fulfilled it when they sin. Jesus never sinned and completed the law in himself. He paid the price and now had the right to make new terms. Such terms could only be fulfilled in the one who was above the law and that was Jesus.
So the progression of the bible reveals to us baptism was fulfilled and I love the next part.
Fourthly- At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

What a beautiful confirmation of fulfillment and the statement of John saying Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus fulfills baptism and the Holy Spirit comes down from above as dove. The celebration of heaven as baptism was finally fulfilled in Christ.
Jesus was finally completing why He came and only He understood the importance of what was going on here. Only the God head knew that within baptism lies completed life. Jesus was the resurrection and the life. He was transitioning mankind into eternity with Him. Johns words were finally fulfilled right before his eyes.
SUMMARY- It always puzzled me why Jesus was baptized when he knew no sin. I always explained it away by saying he was showing us we need to do the same. Today I see even clearer the deception of such and the truth of such. Why do we have so much trouble reading the words of these great men. John clearly told us his baptism was going away and Jesus clearly tells us he is fulfilling baptism in water. The Holy Spirit arrives as John said He would and right in that water a new era began. It did not begin at Pentecost it began with baptism being fulfilled in Christ.
It is so subtle but so powerful and there is no better description of Holy Ghost life than that. I am enthralled by the scene here. Such an enormous change in life. The passing of one era to another and so subtly. As men we look at the day of Pentecost and love it. We have a natural attraction to it as men because of the visible deposit of power and manifestations. It to us has become a pivotal time but we are missing the key here. When we see the subtle baptism change and arrival of the holy Spirit we understand we too must be baptized into Christ like John said. With the holy Spirit and fire. When we climb into Christ and He into us the baptism is eternal.
Again as men we follow the manifestations instead of the lifestyle. We think we need water baptism and can we suggest that as the new testament progresses it become increasingly unclear if baptism in water is water of the Jordan or Holy Spirit water. Jesus knew the change man needed time to transition into the change. When I climb into the water with Jesus the Holy Spirit alights as a dove on our heads and now we never leave the water and as Ephesians 4 says I am now be being filled. I am baptized daily in Holy Spirit water that brings life.

Romance at its best - Marriage, church, life ROMANCE how do they all feed each other

It probably would be diligent to write a small article on romance. We have written so much and talk almost daily with people about God romance. One of the things that comes through so clearly is that many have never experienced true romance. So let’s discover a few facts and give some examples about romance.

But lets start by starting with a potentially inflammatory statement. Our relationship with our married partner is a DIRECT reflection of our relationship with God. How the romance is in our marriage is a direct reflection of our romance with the Spirit of God. Sound weird read on and you will understand a little maybe.

Firstly romance is not anything that can be taught or understood. If we understand romance then we have never had it. If we demand romance from anyone then we have no idea what romance is. If we crave romance we have missed it. Romance just flows when we allow life itself to ignite us in undiscovered love. Also if romance needs anything sexual to survive then it is not romance.

So we can never understand romance I think it is a movement of God through His holy Spirit to bring people together as an example of what He is to us and what church should be. Romance is completely about me while not being about me in the slightest. It is in true romance I can never say my needs are not being met as there is no psychopathic tinge in romance. It is completely about the other person and at the same time is completely about me. Not as a conscious act but rather as a flow of romantic love from within.

Romance gives no heed to consequences of time location or action. Inside romance we feel invincible and truly the love found inside romance is invincible. The Hollywood version of romance is completely psychopathic and greedy. It could not be more about me and my needs being met. Yes of course we want to meet the partners needs but only if my needs are being recognized. If I see me in the relationship I do not have romance I have infatuation. Infatuation is a greedy self motivated lust of desire that will always gravitate to the sexual as ultimately any lust based relationship will. Romance blossoms its best without sexual areas being involved. If sex is mistaken to add romance the romance is not present. Sexual areas do not bring romance but rather the contrary, so if sex is introduced at the wrong time it degenerates romance and makes it impossible to exist short of an act of God. Notice I said at the wrong time. Romance draws together and marriage is the height of romance. The marriage the bible says causes the two to become one flesh. Romance leading to marriage merges two individuals into one. The still are very much individual but are one. As marriage unifies as one, sexual union brings together to seal that union of intimacy. If romance is not allowed to mature into marriage then problems occur. If sex is used outside of marriage to try and bring union it tears apart it can never unite as those acting in such fail to grasp the spiritual side of intercourse. Sex outside of marriage is always about instant gratification for self at someone elses expense. Is it any wonder sex is such a powerful tool of control and manipulation. In the wrong context outside of romantic marriage all it will bring is guilt, fear, shame, self consciousness, everything that is the opposite to romance. Sex outside of marriage brings a quick counterfeit feeling of romance but in reality rapes the individual of romance.

Probably the best example is my wife and I. When we first discovered each other we were delirious with romance. A young couple oblivious to the world around. Now sexual areas at no time motivated us as we both married as virgins. In those early days we would wake early to go swimming. At 6am my now wife would drive to my house and pick me up and we would exercise together. Then often we would go home get cleaned up and spend the day together. Maybe for 6 or 7 hours we would go with other friends riding motorbikes in the mountains or whatever it was. She would go home and after dinner we would talk for hours on the phone. One day her father asked rather frustrated “what can you talk about?” you just spent 7 hours with him and now another 3 on the phone”

I remember the day clearly when I knew I was to marry Lara. I watched her get in her car to drive home and could not bear it. For us marriage was not to fulfill sexual desires it was not to meet any personal needs. There was not a second of fear or a doubtful wondering if she was the one. Lara was 18 and I was 22 and I knew I wanted to wake up next to Lara and have her so close she would be me and I would be her. To be away from each other overnight was to be away for eternity it seemed. Now in over 25 years of marriage we are virtually never away from each other. One friend commented he has never met a couple like us if we are away from each other for longer than an hour we are calling as we miss each other so. We married as we complete each other in romance. We have traveled the world together, cried together, laughed together and loved together and we still do, thanks to Jesus in our lives.

Yes we still need to allow romance as it can be so easy to allow life to turn into a labor of love busy working for each other missing the fact romance needs to stay fertile. Now with seven kids and the crazy busy life that follows it can be easy to be so tired and distracted we could fail to stop and enjoy the trees and birds together. But does this same problem not present itself to us with God. I am certain as the bible talks about Jesus returning it says He is returning for His bride. That bride is not made up of denominations who have been separated from each other and God through knowledge that causes division. That bride is united in romantic movement and just as Lara and I had to be together such is Christ and His bride. One day He will look and say I cant bear to be away from this complete bride, come and be with Me. Jesus will not return for the motive to condemn and destroy. He came the bible says that we may have life abundantly. Nothing better than romance to feel alive.

So I am certain people reading this will say I missed it or I don’t have romance or it was not like that for me. But praise God all is not lost. Romance is still alive it just waits for us to enter. We don’t feel worthy we feel inadequate and have no idea what to do or how to respond and here is the heart of it. There is no correct way to respond to romance. To try and be romantic kills romance. Just be you and respond. Let me assure you romance begins and ends in Jesus. The day of Pentecost in the bible was about romance and man made it about religion and set up church. Men who have no idea of true romance bring people in to churches every Sunday and give people knowledge of love devoid of romance. In the book of Acts the God romance caused people to meet daily in each other’s homes. But can we teach romance? ABSOLUTLY NOT! If I teach romance all I have is Hollywood replacing romance with infatuation and lust. Romance begins by responding to the romantic wooing of God Himself towards you. Yes those wooing are there we just fail to see them as such. Yes true Holy Spirit inspired church is me being me. As I live romance sin drops from my life struggles with this world disappear and LOVE is romantic love is not a labor of love. Just be you and let Jesus love you by being with Him in thought deed and presence. Not inside a church building but in life. Let God romance blossom around your life and watch life become true life.

Let me give you an example. When I first noticed Lara I would wait for her to come out from the place she worked and I would bump into her to offer her a ride home. At that time we were just meeting and she would say no. She was oblivious to romance but as time went on she noticed me and romance blossomed. My wooing penetrated her life and romance sparked. So to it is with God He constantly is wooing us and we are oblivious to it. In church they turn the manifestations that are wooings into lust and infatuation to market God and miss the romance of the wooing. In life we all get gifts and the bible says every good gift comes down from above. Gifts in our life are God wooing us and how foolish we are when we turn these gifts into self righteous greed. Like a business person with a gift for business thinking he or she has skill and not seeing the skill comes from God wanting to get his or her attention. God wants to gift our lives and have us live in the gifts but we must enter the romance and then as we enter romance with God, romance will flow right through our lives into our marriages or potential marriages. Romance begins with God and is fulfilled in Him. Is it any wonder the attacks on marriage and relationships are so rampant. The world motivated by demonic culture wants to steal intimacy as inside intimacy is security and peace . The peace of God!

So no matter what mistakes we have made, no matter if we have never had romance. I can assure you right now God has romanced you and when you respond to Him romantic natural life will follow. God is crazy about you just the way you are! Problem is we don’t see how that can ever be. Just relax talk to Jesus and let life BE!

Many times people end up with a concept of marriage that is more like a partnership. They are married by name but partners in life. Their family is often run as a business with decisions being made that are like business decisions. They make decisions based on knowledge of an end result. I guess in such a situation a lot can be achieved but it is always at the expense of intimacy and romance. You see when romance is present anything is possible and I like how the bible talks about this when talking of synergy. It says if one can put a thousand to flight two can put ten thousand to flight.

It is inside romance I don’t want independence it is inside romance I make myself totally vulnerable and not by a conscious act but rather by a merging of two people into one. If I expose my weakness then inside romantic marriage I expose my partners weakness as while having total individuality I have no individuality. This really is the nearest description or manifestation we will ever see of the Godhead on earth and truly what we are when in Holy Spirit church. People go to places of worship to try and fabricate intimacy or fertilize intimacy as they crave it but in reality it is only as we understand Pentecost and what happened there that we realize “I am church” and all who enter romance with God merge together to become what the bible calls the bride of Christ. If that bride is not romantically inspired through the pure and unadulterated love of God then it is a harlot bride a counterfeit from true God intimacy. What a travesty that our man created systems attempt to replace romantic intimacy. I would call such another Jesus. The bible talks about people following another Jesus and through romantic Jesus love we can catch a glimpse that a Jesus of taught love is a fraud for Spirit life.

The Godhead comprising of God the father God the son and God the Holy Spirit are three total individuals who have no individuality as they submit identity to each other they are each other. They are married in a spiritual way man can never understand in his head. Is it any wonder God said he hates divorce as God knows the broken intimacy is suffered from the abuse of the world devoid of romance. Is it any wonder people struggle to grasp Holy Spirit church from Acts in the bible when their natural marriage has issues with being partnerships rather than marriages. They run separate bank accounts and separate lives to maintain independence. In such a case there are always trust issues from the past and a complete lack of romantic love. It may have begun with romance and may still have flashes of it but the romance will always be subject to self. Sounds a lot like modern day religion, always having a motive and can never get enough. God romances us and we add it to the partnership we have with God. The manifestations are about validation and justification of self not romantic intimacy. Such people will never understand statements like "We do not prophecy we are prophecy" manifestations are not about actions they are about identity. They will always "be from their do" not "do from their BE" Just like in natural marriage we chase manifestations of love craving for romance and miss the fact it is not what we do it is who we are. Romance is not what we do it is who we are, we just need distractions of carnality removed so we can relax and BE. We don't remove the distractions by religious works we just allow romantic distraction. In marriage just be distracted and let romance have life, remember romance is not about sex it is about "being."

So yes life has a way of stealing intimate romance but in reality only if we let it. As I worship God like the bible say in spirit and in truth it is not about a conscious act once or twice a week it is a flow of romance and let me say this when romance flows it spreads to ever area of your life and every relationship. Granted many relationships are scared of what they sense in you as they cannot categorize it according to the systems of this world and cannot control it. The romance born of God in the spirit of a person is the fulfillment of the bible verse that describes believers in saying “in honor preferring one another” Not as a religious act but as a flow of who we are.

What a shame we turn romance into sex as it steals intimacy and pollutes us with a fear of intimacy. Romance in a married relationship has a physical dimension for sure but Holy Spirit romance is both horizontal to man and vertical to God. Nothing weird about it, what is born of God is pure and not according to this world. It is church and as mentioned we see why the believers in the book of Acts met daily as the romantic God blew them away with romantic love they had to come together to bask in who He is in them and who they are in each other through the Spirit of God. The bible called this manifestation of church KOINONIA!

Its not bipolar - liberated life in the Spirit

The twice dead. In Jude there is a passage that speaks of the twice dead. For a while we just could not grasp what this passage was referring to and then it came to life. You see without Christ we are dead in sin. That part is easy for us all to grasp but the next death maybe not so easy. So lets build a background before talking about it.

We have had so much of religious teaching puffing up our heads many times we can only see through rose colored glasses as they say. We tend to think of salvation as like having a procedure done at the doctor and once it is done we are all finished. We arrogantly think we did or do something to find Jesus Christ and totally miss the fact He finds us. Many pray a sinners prayers and now their spiritual journey takes on new meaning but lets look at something else that may be offensive to our views on becoming a Christian and it comes back to the psychopathic carnal or natural man.

Many become Christians with a whats in it for me mentality and if we are honest never progress from there. We think I found God and He will help me, guide me , …me, …..me,…..me, etc and it is in this psycopathic me life many often fail to change defaults. They mistaken the manifestations of God around their life as validation of who they are and fail to grasp all the manifestations are is a romantic God wooing us into a new spirit default. A default that was bought to us at Pentecost and should now be who we are when he comes to us. You see most all of us have had a lifetime of romantic wooing form God and we more often than not fail to understand such. Many times we turn these wooings into religion of self righteous works. Of course as medical science tells us a psychopath can never see they are that way and only with a spirit default coming alive in us can we ever see how “me” centered I am. Now we can serve and do so many great and noble things they may even put us in the newspaper for our wonderful deeds but as long as there is a root in the carnal natural man all we are doing is validating ourselves to ourselves. Or validating our Jesus to ourselves. Another Jesus!

Such we have all been or currently are. These people have a knowledge of Christ and have even received Christ into their lives maybe. But lets be real unless there is a total abandonment of life we can never enter new life. As long as I think I have something of value in me all I am is showing is how far I am from Christ. Now we delude ourselves into thinking after Christ I am doing this for Him but let me tell you God DOES NOT NEED IT - YOU DO!!!! If that’s how you think. We want to pay the bills and serve Jesus and all He wants is us to BE. A BE that can only come from the great “I AM”. You see koinonia is a love feast. As Sspirit brethren dwell together in unity it commands a blessing a blessing of life like no other time.

As people receive Jesus and work for Jesus and strive to validate themselves to themselves they think their actions in some way have value and these people are blemishes at our love feasts, eating with us without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.

They are twice dead as they saw Jesus as a conscious decision and never allowed their default to be changed. Maybe Jesus never came to them they came to him and as long as I came to him I have control and are psychopathic. I may have been wooed and romanced but unless I surrender and allow Sspirit life to BE all I have is carnal psychopathic religion trying to use and manipulate God to validate myself.

For example there was a young man here who was romantically wooed by Jesus. He had no prior knowledge of Christ and as he was living a dirty life of cheating and sin Jesus came to him without him even looking for Jesus or knowing he was lost. Of course after this amazing spiritual experience the immediate thing he did was turn up at a local spirit filled church preaching revival and repentance, running prophetic schools and healing schools etc. Now we watch this man as he dies again, by the grace of God may that slow death be reversed and we hold out trust it will. As religion superimposes a religion of knowledge and works the romantic wooing of Christ takes the back burner for a program of getting ones self sanctified. Each time we see him we see he is progressively dying being absorbed by shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
Dying a death to romance and following a labor of love. They learn Sspirit by schools of the prophetic and learn how to heal by healing schools and in so doing are in danger of being twice dead. As their leaders feed only themselves subtly these Christians lives become about self for Jesus. This validates actions based in self that are horrendous and odious to God and others in Sspirit. As true worshippers only ever can worship in spirit and truth.

They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Our natural instincts are from a psychopathic carnal man what a shame many today live the second death. So this morning a man called me with some statistics he heard form Brazil. It stated that there is a 750% increase in people leaving church. They still love Jesus but refuse to be part of the system. These my friend are once dead not twice as they refuse to drink the cool aid poison of religious death. One local pastor recently stood and whipped the people stating people still love Jesus but refuse to come to church. Such pastors and leaders, men and women are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.

The twice dead feed themselves and as walking zombies they feast on the souls of other men. Ezekiel refers to these religious prophets as soul hunters. They give death where there should be life and life where there should be death. They give life to a God of knowledge and kill Pentecost Sspirit life. Foolishly to such Pentecost becomes about manifestations and knowledge disguising the fact Pentecost is about lifestyle change. It is about koinonia, about being part of the Godhead. Something a carnal believer will always struggle with as it just wont fit into their head. Is it any wonder the churches are full and God allowed it for no other reason maybe than to frustrate the plans of men. As people sit in pews the carnal vomit of knowledge that is spewed into our ears serves to do nothing but cause 750% of people to up and leave. In leaving they are being found by Sspirit church something that is a total enigma to the religious leaders of today who masterfully learned in their bible schools about the bible and have seminars to equip on the things of the Spirit. They love to showcase the gifts of the spirit in their lives or their gift of knowledge and persecute the 750% as in their eyes they are lost. Please let me stay lost if that is the case and dear God let it be 751% with me and 752% with you.