The Magnum Opus of One

Recently, in something I had to write for school I wrote something along these lines: my idea of spirituality is not practicing religious actions that are devoid of life, but staying attuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and doing what that voice says to do. What the Holy Spirit tells one to do, and the reasons for it, may not be for someone else. Each of us is walking out our own intimate relationship with God.

However, there's a point to walking out your salvation. The point is about more than generating the blessings that are for me and mine alone. The point is to have the will of God done on the earth period. "Thy kingdom come (inside of us) thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Remember, Jesus told us through David in Psalm 110: 1 to "make the enemies of God his footstool." Well why?

So he can return to the earth. He's not coming back until the Gospel is preached to the entire Globe, and until his enemies are made his footstool....meaning some of us Believer's need to start actually BELIEVING God, and exercising our authority. AUTHORITY and DOMINION, TO RULE AND TO REIGN, that's why we were created. The Earth was God's present to us.

It amazes me, how many "believers," do not in actuality believe that the ENTIRE word of God is true. It amazes me how you believe you've heard the voice of God, (with that childlike faith...or that faith of a musterdseed) and the minute you share it with other "believers," they tell you "Oh no you can't believe that..." and then give you some doctrinal reason as to why, as if God is bound by doctrine! Check out what Jesus said to the Pharisees....

Listen, just because YOU don't have the faith to believe what someone else has the faith to believe, doesn't mean you should go dousing their belief with your doubt.

As a believer, who was not raised in the "church," or in a Christian family..it is so clear to me, the difference between spirituality and religious behavior. Spirituality is alive. Religion is manmade and dead.

I hear more Christians talking about what God wont and cant do, then what he can. It's almost like they subconsciously have a box around God, and have limited his power, based on what they can comprehend.....by claiming to know what is too big a feat feat for him! PREPOSTEROUS! In my imagination I can see God now with a doorpost for those people that reads, "HATERS!"

Marilyn Hickey wrote a book called the Names of God. She listed and described certain characteristics of God, Jehovah Gmolah, the God of Recompenses, Jehovah Shalom, the God of Peace, etc. The point is that there is a name and/or description for each attribute of God that fits OUR NEED. That was not meant to limit God's ability, it was meant to make his nature comprehendable to us, in the sense that He can become whatever we need him to be: recompenser, husband, protector, miracle-maker, etc.

The Word of God says that the "Earth and all of creation is waiting on the Sons of God to manifest/" (Romans 8: 18-23) Well guess what a child of God and a Son of God are not the same thing. A Son of God is full grown, mature, able to use the keys of Heaven to unlock his or her inheritance...not a child still sipping "on the milk of the Word."

The lesson for the Son of God to learn is to do the following: Keep your mouth shut when you are talking to immature unbelieving believers, lest they quench your faith with their doubt.

It is better to walk alone with God, protecting the planted seed of the Word that he has planted, and is growing, until that seed manifest as the intended fruit, then to walk in the "counsel of the ungodly," even if they do attend church....ahem...and allow the enemy to do what he does best, "steal the Word."

Some people want to get churchified, some people actually want to do what Jesus said and become the Word. Some people want God to fit into their box. Other people want God to take them out of their box, and into the truth. For some people, Jesus is their bumper sticker, fish pin saviour, but not their Lord.

The last time I checked Christianity wasn't a fashion statement, it was the "way, the truth, and the life."



Candace

Competitive Servants?

As the Holy Spirit, has been preparing me and you for our specific calling(s) in Christ, one aspect of revelation or "taking off the veil" has to do with revealing the nature of different spirits that attach themselves to members of Christ's body.

Recently, he's been revealing to to me the spirit of "competitiveness," or "competition," operating in the body, and warning me not to operate in that spirit, when the time comes for me to walk fully in my calling, once the Father releases me, from my "baby" training stages.

The Spirit of competition be bound in Jesus name! It has no place, operating in the Body of Christ. Can one be a servant and a competitor at the same time, within the body? Operating in competition with other persons, or even harboring an attitude of jealousy or envy, suggests that one is operating in pride versus humility, -which could possibly mean delay in one's ministry blossoming. Ding-Dong Candace- this is no accident. Pride operating within full-time ministry is dangerous? Hmmm...We also know that pride comes before a fall.

The celebrity factor, in ministerial efforts should not come to anyone as a surprise. After all, Satan fell to his demise, because he was operating in pride... It is as a great teacher of mine says, "delusional thinking," when you are waiting for Father God to bless a certain something, while operating in a spirit that he perhaps detests.

I'm not sure if we are always aware of what spirit we are operating under, but when pressing forth not in ministry, but in one's consecration to God, the Holy Spirit has promised to reveal the "truth to us." It seems consecration should be the full-time effort! So being, honest with ourselves, seems to be half of our agreement to co-labour with Christ, in terms of dealing with the Holy Spirit re: consecration?

The Father said, "Be ye Holy as I am Holy," so it must be possible. Do most of us, operate in lasciviousness, or laziness, attempting to also be released to minister at the same time?

The Father promises that if we will "seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness," all of these things will be added unto you." No, I'm not saying that you do not do the work, the physical labour that God has told you to do to manifest what he's called you to co-labour with him in...what I allude to is.....if you're running around, breaking a sweat for years at a time, and there has been little to no growth in one's ministry, perhaps Father is sending you a correction. The point, perhaps is not to go chasing after building a ministry, but to chase after God, and allow him to "open doors that no man can shut?"

Dr. Shine of Save the Seed Ministry put it perfectly. "Servanthood is the way into the Spirit," not a celebrity spirit posing as a servant. No doubt, we all, myself included want to have meaning, and value, and self worth, and accomplishment- yet the truth remains, this should not be rooted in our works...but in our righteousness. Our works must be a reflection of our God, and the state of our heart attitude towards Him.

God indeed is clear about his intentions for us to be great, to allow HIM to radiate THROUGH US. The law of least effort, in the natural sense doesn't seem too farfetched. Could it be true, that your outward ministry will grow or bloom according to the level in which you press in the spirit?...."prospering as one's soul prospers?" Hmmmmmm.......

Born Again

To be honest, when I turned 29, something in me shifted.

The fact that I turn 30 next year, is certainly part of it, but that in and of itself is an allegory or is symbolic of what has occurred thus far.

The end result of that shift has been my rebirth in Christ, a conscious decision to welcome God and his way of doing and being into my life in the practical sense, meaning being OBEDIENT, or attempting to walk out AUTHENTIC Christianity.

No doubt-walking the walk is a process, but it's a process that can be successful because Jesus said so. He left us the ultimate teacher, comforter, and healer- the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the person to help us consecrate ourselves. I certainly welcome the consecration process now, because I realize two things, that: a) God offers everything that he does out of his LOVE for us. The world's way of doing and being is designed to kill us nice and early. Deuteronomy 30:19 says "I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live."b) Holiness, or having submitted to Christ is POWER unlocked. James 4: 7 says, "Submit to God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him) and he will flee you."

I spent my twenties hurting. My childhood and adolescence spat me out into adulthood at the age of 18, and I left my original environment bleeding emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

I was in so much pain, that rather than face it, I tried to hide it even from myself. I went looking for love from men, from people, when I had no clue what love was or how to give it to myself. I spent many a night crying out to God from the depths of my soul, in anger and desperation. No one had ever told me or prepared me for the life that was within me. If I could say one thing to parents, it would be you haven't done your job as a parent, if you have only taught your children to deal with the life that exists outside of them, i.e., job, education, etc. We have to teach our children how to deal with their inner man. Proverbs 4: 23 says, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilence and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life." People who don't know how to manage their hearts, grow up to be people who don't know how to manage the hearts of others. They grow up to be criminals, and all the things that you don't want your child to become.

So, I thought my inner life was something I just had to "handle," or "manage," but I couldn't. I spent my twenties, going through experiences that literally brought me to where I am now: my knees, and the welcomed birth of not only the new me, but the true me: child of light, daughter of the Most High God, disciple of Jesus Christ, overcomer, more than a conqueror, HEPZIBAH, the one in whom he delights!

Walking with the Lord means many things, but one thing that is most beautiful to me is the realization that walking with the Lord, means FREEDOM, not BONDAGE. Do I want to be free? YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES.

Do you?

The Big Picture

"I have been crucified with Christ(in Him I have shared His crucifixion);it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah)lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20.
So....when I got saved, I died right?
I accepted the Lord's gift of life in exchange for my own.
You know what? I do believe that, sincerely. And if I'm a walking vessel filled with God's Holy Spirit I really am God's daughter.
Do we in the Body of Christ grasp how supernatural we really are? An elder at my church has coined the phrase, "we are naturally supernatural, and supernaturally natural."We didnt feel anything when we died, and so the unrenewed mind wrongly assumed that the person that previously occupied the body was still alive, and still in control? Makes faith sense to me.
God supernaturally injected us with His Holy Spirit, but because the flesh couldn't feel it using the five senses, the unrenewed mind told the body the lie that she or he was the same old she or he.
Could this be why the Word instructs the believer, in Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by it's new ideals and it's new attitude) so that you may prove for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the ting which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you).
Well, what does the Father mean when he says "do not be conformed to this age? lol
He makes it sound like we were sent here in time, from eternity once we became born again. yes, I believe that, because the Bible does say IN THE PRESENT TENSE that we are seated where? Well in Ephesians 2 vs. 6, it says: "And he raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him in the heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Yes, I believe that as well.
.......seems to me like we are simply passing through the earth realm for a temporary lifetime, for the purposes of spreading the gospel, and doing ultimately what all of us Believers have a mandate from Heaven to do...to make Jesus enemies his footstool, so that He can return to the earth.
Isn't the whole point of our walk with God, to become mature Sons and Daughters of Zion who are equipped by faith to carry out the execution of taking back an assigned territory from the enemy, whether it's in your family, work environment, or in the secular world, for example in my case: the tel-e-vision or "tell a vision."
It goes without saying that we walk in love, and we don't go around beating people over the head with the truth, but loving them unconditionally and praying God's word over them, calling them what God says they are, until it manifests!
Hebrews 11:1
"Now FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses).
And so if we have the faith to receive the gift of salvation, and then the faith to consecrate and learn and become our new identity in Christ, by renewing our minds to the truth, we are then ready to do the exploits of the Kingdom- to walk out our callings with great success, to fulfill the scripture that says in Psalm 2 vs 8, "Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession." Why would God to that?
"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it." Psalm 24:1
If everything in the Earth belongs to God, then it makes perfect sense that our mandate as Sons and Daughters is to TAKE BACK what the enemy stole which can include many things, people, marriages, buildings being used for secular purposes, the government, you name it!
It's up to each of us to be sensitive what the Holy Spirit has instructed us to do. God said he's not coming back UNTIL we make his enemies his footstool! Matthew 22:44 says "The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, til I make your enemies your foootstool." Hebrews 10:13 says, "Then to wit until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet."
So we have alot of work to do! lol. An enemy of God in my opinion can be alot of things, a concept, an ungodly law, etc.
I don't know about you but I am looking forward to walking out my conversion process.
Now that I've got the big picture, it's onto receiving my identity in Christ, by first taking the time to recieve his LOVE.........

C.G. Carson