Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

The End of an Era

Only one hour ago, Space Shuttle Atlantis came to a stop on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Port in Florida, sadly (from launch to landing) with not even a word about it from the American President. Be that as it may…

I remember…

On a sweltering hot July 1969 evening in Connecticut, family and I sat glued to the television. No laptop, no Ipad, nothing but my transistor radio and the “color tube”. A moment of inexplicable amazement as Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon.

For the few years that followed, I was no less amazed at the great accomplishments of each Apollo mission. When it became clear that Apollo 17 would be the last, I grieved. What would be next? How could that be topped? And for some years there was stagnation in our space program. But then came the Space Shuttle.

Again, with eyes wide in wonder, I watched Shuttle Columbia complete its first mission, coming to rest only seconds and just feet from that which was calculated. Arguably the greatest flying machine ever built. And now it’s over… again my grieving. But it’s OK.

Considering the technological increases since the design of our Space Shuttle, one can only imagine what we can do next. If American history repeats itself, and I am absolutely confident that we will, we shall once again produce no less than the amazing in space. It just takes patience and a vision, technologically speaking, things we Americans do well.

To our great astronautical engineers at Nasa I say with confidence and hope, “Amaze us again!”

Evidence

By the Cross, the power and the penalty of the law was broken. Discipline is a penalty of the law. Discipline was replaced with repentance followed by unmerited forgiveness. Discipline exacts a price but repentance is free. Now the only thing that remains is an imperfect people made perfect in relationship and love that results in (amongst many other beauties) this wonderful flow of repentance. Perfect love, the very act of Christ’s sacrifice casts out all fear. In this atmosphere, God moves in power. In His power, evidences of Him begin to manifest. Evidence becomes our testimony that overcomes the world.

The only validation of spiritual truth is the evidence of the Kingdom of God manifesting on earth. Where there are no evidences, there error resides.

God is not a God to withhold his loving manifesting Presence from those who earnestly seek him. He is a God to withhold his Presence from those who do not for whatever reason.

When we witness the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, we then can say that we have both the experience of Him and the evidence of the result. The result of the manifestation becomes our word of testimony. A testimony is far more than just a word based in what I have chosen. This is why today’s testimony is so week in today’s world.

The substance of any testimony is the word of truth backed up by evidence. Post Christ’s Cross, the demonstration of the power of the Spirit is the evidence that follows ones faith and which builds faith up. When evidences happen, now I have substance to my testimony.

1Co 2:1-5 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Jn 14:11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

The word alone is not always enough, though some have believed by hearing the word alone. However, evidence plus the word leads to the door called faith for many. John 14:11 would suggest this. Paul is talking about this very issue in 1 Co 2:5 above. In fact, it appears that he gives more attention to the demonstration of the Spirit’s power over the persuasive arguments based upon man’s word alone. Evidence manifests when the supernatural of God occurs. People see the Kingdom of God manifesting on earth as it is in heaven and they believe. Evidence is both proof of God moving in the church, and a tool to gain the lost. It is the very power of Christ’s cross at work on earth as it is in heaven.

Faith without seeing is the better way to believe God. Evidence alone is not always enough. Yet for some, like Peter who needed to see Jesus nailed scared wrists, evidence was enough to spark the flame of faith.

However many today, such as the Pharisees who witnessed the power of God through Jesus but were without faith, still do not receive the truth Whom the experience points to even if the proof is right before them.

Regardless, is it not the better way to minister with the word and the evidence? Evidences always follow real faith, whether evidences are sought after or not. Therefore:

Faith without the experience is dead.

Faith coupled with evidence validates my faith. Evidences solidify my faith and make me want to go in even deeper. Evidences make me hungry for more of God; they increase my hope for the joy of heaven. They make me hungry for more of Jesus in me and around me. Evidences draw me farther and farther away from lifeless ways of talk.

Faith leads to the experiences. When I have a faith for certain Kingdom truths, most certainly I will see them. And so experiences follow faith. This is why faith without experience is dead.

Every Christian walking in faith should consistently be experiencing the supernatural manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. These experiences then become our substantive word of testimony.

If Jesus had not shown Thomas his scars, Thomas might not have been saved.

John 20: 25-29 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he (Thomas) said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

How can anyone argue that one has a solid faith that is not experiencing everything that Jesus did while on earth? Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead. He then said we would be doing even greater things than these. Now a sick person made well in my sight is a great experience indeed!

How can anyone argue that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is only a ministry for some, when the Lord, through the apostles, told us all to wait for the Helper in Acts chapter 1 (Reference also John 14-16)?

John 14:12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

God did not say that he gave some to be evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles, and Spirit filled ministers. No, Jesus made clear in John 14-17 that all must be filled and flowing in the Holy Spirit. Every ministry requires the ongoing manifesting Presence of God. It’s part of what Christ died to gain. It’s why the apostles could not yet understand the deeper things of God. But when the Holy Spirit was poured out on that day, then they understood.

How can we ever reap the reward for Christ’s suffering, the very harvest of souls, lest we be flowing in manifest supernatural power, the very evidence of our faith?

Ac 1:4-8 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.“

Notice that the prerequisite to reaping the harvest is to first receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Evidences occur not by the workings of man, but by the working of the Holy Spirit. The evidences God speaks of are supernatural evidences, not carnal… not cranial.

What does “power” look like? The answer is cancers healed, legs grown back, eyes opened, aids healed, lust and addictions fleeing, life from the dead, and thousands coming to Jesus in but an hours time… evidences, proof, and word of our testimony!

Every experience of God that is supernatural is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. God is on his throne and Jesus is seated by his right side. Now the only part of God that manifests here on earth, post the Cross, is the person of the Holy Spirit. If we reject the Holy Spirit, we reject the Father’s will and the Son’s word. For God wills a thing, Jesus speaks the thing, but the Holy Spirit makes it happen.

God is not a God that he would withhold His Holy Spirit from those who have faith for his works. The Holy Spirit is not a ministry for a few but a principle of effectiveness for us all.

To reject or to limit the Holy Spirit’s actions on earth is to reject God and his desires for his harvest. This is a grievous sin, and which borders on blasphemy.

Webster’s defines blasphemy as the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God. Secondarily it defines blasphemy as irreverence towards something considered sacred or inviolable.

When we place our limited beliefs ahead of God, the very theologies that deny or limit the Holy Spirit’s purpose, do we not exalt our thinking above his thinking; ourselves above him? When we reject what God wants to do in our meetings or for the lost, is that not an act of insult to God? When the Lord desires to pour out his intimate love into the church, yet is stiff armed by a leadership who chooses to go a different way, is this not an irreverence to the Holy Spirit?

When someone has to preach a sermon when there are people in the “audience” on deaths door just waiting to be released from their torment, is this not placing the mind of man before the mind of Christ? And who is the deliverer of the mind of Christ into our churches today but the Holy Spirit of God?

These are very heavy words of warning. What does the word of God say to those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit:

Mt 12:31-32 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

There is mercy that is new every morning for those who truly desire to be aligned with the Father. We are all in error from time to time, and which is why we need each other for exhortation, correction and an occasional rebuke. Scripture is clear on the value of correction. No man is perfect in knowledge, and we need the whole Body to get the whole picture. But we need the Holy Spirit to gain revelation, to give and receive correction and gain right direction.

If my heart is right, I will receive truth, humble myself and repent for error. This is the way of the church, and a right order that God has set in place through the Holy Spirit and the apostles. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

But even the apostles knew that such a right order was fully dependant upon the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

Isa 30:1-2a “Woe to the obstinate children, “declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me…

Wrong order is correction from the mind of man. Right order is correction from the mind of Christ. The mind of man limits and silences, or speaks loudly and wounds… it is based in the law which was done away with at the cross! Right order is hearing then releasing liberty to all.

In such a place even children give a word, even newly saved work miracles, even the one in sin yesterday can raise the dead tomorrow. In such places of right order, those in error receive the rebuke easily. For when the Spirit of the Lord brings conviction, we fall to our knees and repent!

Pr 13:18 He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

Pr 15:12 A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise.

However, dependence upon each other outside of first depending on the Spirit is the wrong way. Certainly, we encourage, we help and we lift up. But the Father, through his Son and by the Holy Spirit is our only means of truth. If we have a correction, it must be of the Spirit, or it does nothing but establish a new bondage.

Jn 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

All truth… Therefore there is no truth that is any truth that is not first revealed.

If I have anything at all to do in the church or in the streets, everything that I do must hinge upon my utter dependence upon the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Anything less cheapens that which Christ died for.

Unless everything I do find its basis in revelation knowledge and manifest power, I am in error. I operate in less than what God wants for me and for the harvest. In such a way I have become part of the church defined as follows:

2Ti 3:5 …having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

If you read the full context of this scripture, “having a form of godliness but denying its power” is lumped in with what seems to be a complete list of significant worldly sins such as slander, lust, hatred and the like. It even sounds as if the Lord is identifying the spiritless church as the root of such error. But when the Spirit falls, the first thing restored into the church is right order… namely His order! Do we not then see how grievous is the error of rejection of the manifest power of God in the church?

If where you are has a form of Godliness but denies its power by use of any lesser argument, as Paul tells Timothy, have nothing to do with them. Unless you have a clear word from the Lord directly or through your covering to stay and let your light shine in such a place, you should move on.

Many people seek peace at the expense of truth. That is “feel good” church. That is not the intent of church, though well being is a goal. Seeking what our ears want to hear over what God knows, like for any reason we place our minds ahead of the Spirit, causes the Spirit to depart.

2 Tim 4: 2-3 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Those that believe Kingdom truth divide from those that will not believe His truth. No one seeks division, but Christ and the power of His cross are a stumbling block to those who are set in lesser ways. What profits a man who seeks peace at the expense of the fullness of His Presence and power?

Mt 10:32-37 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me…

To disown Christ, as defined in the above scripture is to accept any leavened argument that is a lesser definition of Him. That is to say that whatever argument we accept that reduces what Christ did or why He did it, or what He released in the doing is a lesser leavened argument. It is a cheapening of the cross.

Jesus died for our salvation and for those on earth that love him to reap a harvest in power, Christ and the power of his cross!

Therefore, faith without experience is dead… because a lesser argument has been accepted. But where truth resides in power, evidences happen.

As for the church today, the Lord gives a strong warning, and it comes by way of the visionary Zerubbabel. Consider carefully these words from Zechariah:

Zec 3:8-10 “‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. “‘In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”

Zec 4:1-6 Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” He answered, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied. So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

These Zechariah verses make clear the symbolic nature of the visions therein contained, and the ever great need for the power of revelation to make it all known. All of which is pointing to the person of Jesus and prophesying the very foundation and future of the church to come. Who can understand such as this without the Holy Spirit to clarify it. By the mind of people we get a thousand answers to this verse. But by the Mind of Christ, we gain the specific answer Father wants us to know for us today!

Zerubabel’s vision of the gold lampstand was a vision of the church that was to come, today’s church, the seven churches, or seven lights, or seven eyes of God that see the whole earth. The primary response God had to his vision were these words, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

The testimony of Christ’s activities, John 14-16 and Acts 1-5 make clear these unmistakable principles by which the church is to be founded. In grave error are those churches that are founded on anything less.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! Therefore, where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is bondage.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, we do ten times more with ten times less ten times easier. AND we get singularity of truth and singularity of purpose.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, it is about God and not of any person or church or program. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, the radical light of truth overcomes the comfort of dark and hidden falsities. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, the harvest is short at hand, and by a nameless faceless generation of people that do not fear persecution and who go forth as in Nahum 2.

Na 2:3-6 The shields of his soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of pine are brandished. The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning. He summons his picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place. The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

And so, the only validator of spiritual truth is the evidence of the Kingdom of God manifesting on earth. Where there are no evidences, there error resides.

Flee such places of error. Have nothing to do with them unless the Lord clearly tells you otherwise. Do not do so in anger, though they might be angry with you. Do not do so in judgment, though they might judge you. Persecution is possible from those who do not or will not understand. In all things though, love and forgive.

I say this because there are many groups (many “home churches”) who have been formed by those who have been wounded by the religious church, or worse, wounded because they did not hear what they wanted to hear, nor receive the correction that was necessary… Likewise have nothing to do with such as these.

But whatever you do, do not stay in places of willful dryness. To do so is like a tree planted in the desert that bears no fruit. It’s like putting on a yoke of chains. In time, it takes on the nature of its surroundings. In time, it dies in lifelessness. No water, no River, no fruit.

Jesus did nothing but what the Father willed. The Holy Spirit did/does nothing but what Jesus speaks. Therefore we should do nothing but what the Holy Spirit brings. And remember, as goes the leader, so goes the church.

We have a choice and a responsibility between ourselves and no one else but the Father as to where we plant our roots. He alone knows the hunger and need of our hearts. Therefore plant your roots by the River of God. If your not already there, find a place that seeks the Face of God in great worship. Find a place who clearly believes in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit of God. Do not fear that which is unseen. Overcome the arguments of the mind that is in enmity with God. The mind must be yoked to the mind of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Find a place where that is the focus. Plant your roots there.

Persevere! Gain and then put on the manifest Presence of love and joy! Then go ahead and reap your harvest in power.

Fear in the Church

Prov 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…

I Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…

God must be understood in the context both the Old and the New Testament. Any understanding of who God is and what is important to God must include the fullness of both. However the greater weight applies to the effect of the Cross of Christ. Every truth of the Old Testament carries forward unchanged yet made complete by the New.

The truth and the power of the cross trumps the result of the Old Testament. Who God is never changes. But what God does always increases. And by revelation, we understand it.

Father loved us as much before the cross as He had after the cross. But the cross perfects everything that was imperfect of the Old Testament. Everything of the Old Testament points forward to the cross. Everything of the New Testament points to the completed work of the cross.

Therefore to take that which was of the Old Testament and NOT filter it through the cross results in erroneous theologies. Jesus came to change not a word that had been written. He came to fulfill it.

Fear the Lord

This concept of fearing the Lord is one of the most important concepts in the Bible. But to do so by leaning on Old Testament word alone will result in a theology of an “unapproachable” God.

So it was that the Old Testament High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies but once per year. But when “it was finished” on the cross, the curtain that separated the inner rooms to the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant, the place of the very Presence of God was torn from the top down. An act of God signifying that for us who believe, even we can walk right in to His very Presence without fear… without fear of being utterly destroyed because of our sins.

The cross did away with the imperfect sacrifices of the Old Testament, none of which were good enough to cleans us of our sin.

Before the cross, everyone had very good reason to fear God with extreme fear. But now, we who have been made righteous even in our failings have no reason to fear Father in that way. Christ paid the full price.

However, we fear God just the same. We know He alone holds our destiny in our hands. But this gripping fear is not what is in Father’s heart when he speaks of it. The fear Father speaks of through His Son Jesus and by the Holy Spirit is directly tied to love. Along with the revelation of wisdom, fear and love are forever tied together.

Old Testament Fear

In most of the Old Testament, the context of the term “to fear the Lord” was desired to mean to obey the Lord in trembling fear, even in sacrificial ways, and at all cost. The concept was to agree that God was the absolute authority who should be always and immediately obeyed. The issue was that if I truly would fear the Lord, I would obey Him… knowing that if I do not, I might very well be utterly destroyed where I stand! If I fear Him I am subject to Him. If I err, I am in great danger. And when He shows up in a pillar of fire, I fall to my face in shaking fear for my life. All of this was absolutely true in the Old Testament for all, believers or not.

Yet even then there were those who understood that Father God was more interested in our hearts than in raw obedience. Moses and David for example. Still, the price for sin was death. The law was made known and all were dead in sin because all were in sin. They had good reason to fear this perfect God who hated sin.

Look at some scriptures:

Deut 6:12 …so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

1 Sam 12:24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

1 Chron 16:25 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

2 Chron 26:5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

Psalm 2:11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.

Psalm 25:12 Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

Isaiah 8:13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.

Isaiah 33:6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

Praise God, then came Jesus Christ!

New Testament Fear

For the sake of the love of our Father, Jesus came into the world and eliminated our cost for sin. In so doing, He took away every reason for us who are in Christ to fear anything.

Just for fun, next time you read the Bible, do a word search on the word fear. Now read each of these verses and replace the word fear with love. You will most likely notice that it fits perfectly. This is the key.

Old Testament fear was replaced by love. The cross consummated Father’s love for us perfectly. Before the cross we had good reason to fear. But the fullness of fear is not in the cowering but in the intimacy that Father so deeply wants. He loves us so much. So much so that He HAD to make a way of perfect sacrifice so that we could enter in to His very Presence and love on Him as He desires. This is why Jesus died on the cross. That love would override our just consequence.

When the law was made known, sin was made known. We all died. But when the cross was made known, we all were restored to life, even in our sin. What a magnificent act of love. Perfect love (the cross and the power of the cross) casts out fear. Fear no longer has the right to grip us. Now the only thing that remains is faith hope and love.

Being subject to the Lord God almighty is a good and right thing indeed. I myself truly fear the Lord in this way. He is God and I am not. But, the cart needs to be placed before the horse. The problem is that the church is so good at ministering the command to fear the Lord but not very good at understanding the root of that fear which is love.

Love Must Come First

This very issue is the root of most woes in today’s church. There is so much worldly fear in the church. Intrusion by false prophets and teachers, unbalanced people out of line and general manifestations of the flesh and of the devil in the church are just a few issues leadership fears about. But we are so busy trying to control these things without an understanding that God is in fact the God of His church. I see such a fear in today’s church of the manifestation of the enemy within, that the fear that is being taught in the church is not the fear based upon love, but a fear based upon manipulation and control that is, in itself, fear based.

Fear causes church leadership to feel as though they need to step in and prevent what they presume to be error. When this is done outside the clear prompting of the Holy Spirit, this results in man in control of the church over God. And then God leaves. Selfless love results in a release of the reigns over to the Holy Spirit, by which fear has no hold. Then Father can do whatever He wants, however radical that thing might be.

Types of Fear

There are two types of fear. There is a Kingdom fear that is based in love. In such a fear, I understand who the Lord is and of His love for me. Then, because of His greatness and Holiness, I obey with sacrificial obedience. That is right Kingdom fear.

Then there is a worldly fear that is based upon judgment and condemnation and works. Worldly fear is gripping fear. It is evil all the way around. It is a fear that controls and manipulates. It’s a fear that shuts us down. It is the very basis behind religious thinking, and the tool by which the Spiritless churches have silenced the radical things of God, such as healing the sick, casting out demons and raising of the dead. And we all deal with this kind of fear.

These two types of fear could not be farther apart in definition and meaning.

Yet, much of today’s the church operates in so much of the human mind that there is a lack of revelation of the difference between these two fears both in understanding and in operation of them within church walls. The church then applies measures of the intent and meaning of worldly fear when it talks about Kingdom fear. This should never be.

There is an explanation for this failure and it mainly rests upon the fact that the church is reliant upon the human mind rather than the supernatural mind of Christ. The mind of man is as nothing. The mind of Christ should be everything. But how then do we gain the mind of Christ but by the manifestation of the Counselor who brings us all Kingdom truth; this Kingdom truth that is the mind of Christ?

Jesus Christ is the full and complete revelation of the heart of the Father towards mankind. In Him resides all truth by the direction of Father God. In John 1, Jesus was the Word made flesh! Therefore in Him resides all revelation of right love and of right fear. But now He sits at the right hand of the Father. He is not here.

Jesus told the Apostles in John 14-17 in essence, “I’ve got to go now. I’ve completed what I came here to do. And where I am going, you cannot follow. But I will not leave you as orphans. I will give you another Counselor (the Holy Spirit) who will lead you into all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will take what is mine and make it known to you.”

Therefore today we are left only with the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and upon us to gain the mind of Christ which is the will of the Father. Without the Spirit’s manifestations, we are left to our own thinking. And this is the very root of our problems.

Perfect Love

1 John 4:18 Perfect love cast out all fear!

If perfect love casts out all fear, then what is manifesting in our churches if we are not moving in the revelation and power of perfect love? The quick answer is… fear.

Therefore, love is the key to the destruction of all ungodly fear. Perfect love is manifested in the church by the supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are all supposed to be experiencing the Holy of Holies, innermost room experience! It’s what Jesus died for. It’s why the curtain was ripped apart! They first understood this on the day of Pentecost, and which is why 3000 souls got saved that day!

A church without the full manifestation of the Presence within her walls cannot be devoid of all worldly fear. This is the main reason the church is so duped by so many false teachings. The Spirit is all but out of most of today’s churches.

If the Spirit of God is out of the church then the church is left with nothing but the simple and comparatively minuscule mind of man to adjudge all knowledge. In such a case, it is impossible to hit the right mark of truth in Kingdom issues. The Spirit is absolutely mandatory for the church in the days ahead. And the Spirit will reveal Christ in His full measure in the church. In that day, right love will manifest right fear and the church will move out in power under a right understanding of who they are in the eye of the Father.

Right fear leads the church into a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit, that leads them into a profound humility which will result in a radical boldness that has no fear. Wrong fear leads to a prideful group that clings to the words of a person, who claim humility but who are afraid to do anything. Right fear is powerful. Wrong fear is powerless.

True, or perfect love casts out all fear. True love is a Kingdom supply. It exists in pure form only in the heavenly realms. We need the Deliverer to give us the supply of this true love that we so desperately need. Therefore we need to be renewed day by day by the mind of Christ (2Co 4:16, 1Co 2:16). The Holy Spirit is He who brings it. He brings to us from the mind of Christ (John 14:26, 15:26). Perfect love has a name, it is Jesus Christ. Perfect love is found in the act of self-death, as exemplified by Christ.

Everything about fearing the Lord is absolutely founded in first being loved by Him, then loving Him back with my “fear”.

Here is the key issue that so many churches today miss… Right Kingdom fear is completely based in love, not in hard legalistic fear based obedience.

The problem is that fear is far more ministered into the church than love is. Or in many circles fear is ministered as a first priority over the understanding (or better said, lack of understanding) of Kingdom love.

Here are some of the catch phrases in places where this error exists:

“First you must obey, then you can understand what love is.”

“You will understand God’s love when you gain an understanding of His judgments.”

“Sometimes love will be nowhere to be found, will you obey in that day?”

“You can’t base your faith on feelings.”

This is absolutely opposite of what the Lord wants. He wants our obedience to be based upon an understanding of who we are in His eyes… fully loved and fully accepted even in our flaws. He wants our fear and love of Him to be based solely upon this right knowledge of love. The love must come first, then obedience manifests from a love that results in fear of His greatness.

Many attempt to establish ungodly fear thru the mentality of trials and tribulations. They quote such scriptures as 2Th 1:4 that we must be able to endure trials and tribulations. If we are so based upon experiences and feelings we will fall.

But let’s take a closer look at this particular scripture in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Pay close attention to the highlighted scriptures in bold:

II Th 1:2-12 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 3, Paul praised these people for there ever increasing love. Notice that Paul says, “Therefore …we boast about your …trials”. Their trials were boasted of in context with the love that manifested first. For it is true that trials will result in failure without the faith, hope and love that precedes these experiences. I say that love is the root of all things right in the church, not fear. Fear follows love, and which is never a fear that shuts the church down.

In verse 11, Paul exhorts the Thessalonian church that it is by the power of the Lord that every good purpose and every good act is made able. This is critical. The problem is that most churches are operating powerless. They are commanding obedience and fear outside of the power who makes it all happen, outside of the power who sheds light on all truth, outside of the power who opens the heavens to bring Kingdom truth and love into the world. This power is the Holy Spirit.

Here’s is a circle of progression:

No love, no Jesus. No Jesus, no Holy Spirit. No Holy Spirit, no power. No power, no understanding or wisdom. No understanding or wisdom, no effectiveness. No effectiveness, no reaping. No reaping, no love.

In such places like this there might be a mega church with lots of money. There might be great programs and seeker sensitive ideas. There might be good sounding arguments and wise sounding ways. In such places there might be heavy handed discipleship. But in the end, they will be made known for who they are. They will be the places where the love of most has grown cold (Ma 24:12). They will be places that speak what sound good but lead to spiritual death (Col 2:14). They will be places that seem to be the right way but in the end lead to death (Prov 14:12). And they will be places that speak to their people’s itching ears what they want to hear (2Tim 4:3).

These are the churches that we are warned about regarding Jesus end time warnings in Mathew chapter 24! But it from these same churches that the Spirit filled churches are accused of being “feel good ministries” that are devoid of right discipleship. They say that they are the ones that Jesus speaks of in Mathew Chapter 24. And Jesus was accused of being possessed by the devil by the Pharisees.

These are hard words!

Please understand though… as you read my words, it would be easy to say that I was once wounded by churches such as this. Maybe you might think I have someone to forgive in my history. I completely understand that what I write herein is direct and to many controversial. However, I write from a broken heart towards my Father in heaven. I grieve for the billions of lost who remain lost because of a dead and lifeless church! I am so completely convinced that there is so much more that church can be but is not because of the pride of man’s thinking. I speak not from personal woundedness, but because I am completely convinced, and by way of revelation that Father wants so much more for the sacrifice He made by giving us His Son!

Accusations to Come

We as the Spirit filled, Spirit lead church must understand that accusations will come heavily in the days ahead and more so from the religious church than from the world. But as the scripture says, it will be where the fruit is that will be where the truth is. Also, there will be no substitute for faith in these last days. The enemy will mimic everything God does to discredit God’s true things, and scripture says miracles included.

The bottom line is this… Where is the love? Where is the experience of His Presence? Where are the signs, miracles and wonders happening? Where is it that leadership has given up the right to control the church? Where is it that Jesus thru His Holy Spirit is leading His meetings? Where is it that perfect love resides unto the reaping of fresh new souls? Where is it that church parishioners are coming and staying?

It is in those places that the Lord will build His End Time church. It is in those places that perfect love will reside and flow freely, for perfect love will have cast out fear.

It is in those places that each member of the church will be encouraged for the valuable part of the Body that they are, and fully released into their calls, one talent, two talent and five talent people included! They each will be released into the fullness of their call by a leadership that is so dead to themselves that fear based manipulation, control and condescending leadership or discipleship will be devoid. That is where love will reside. That is the End Time church.

Conclusion

God’s fear is love based. The worlds fear is authority based.

Right authority exercised in the church is ministered fully from the place of His love rather than from a condescending authority. Right authority in the church then is servant based. It is served into the church rather than condescended into the church. True obedience in all things then is rightly manifested when love abounds in the church and when a leadership understands that they are servants underneath the Body rather than overseers looking down to the Body. Servant leadership is easily spoken of but rarely rightly exercised outside of the Spirit filled church.

Consider it this way. If I love my Father, I want to do what He wants me to do. Therefore, it is love that motivates my godly fear, not legalism, not ungodly fear or any manipulation of man or the church.

If I love someone enough, I would be willing to die for Him. That is sacrificial. It is what Jesus did for all of mankind. It should be the root of all I am or ever will be for my King!

If I am commanded to obey someone without an understanding that I am loved by that someone, that is law. It is legalism. It is worldly fear based management. Sadly it is where most of today’s church stands.

There are two motivators to obedience. My obedience is based upon either Kingdom love based fear or worldly manipulative fear. Two extreme examples are Christ for mankind and Hitler for Germany. Needless to say, we are not under the weight of such heinous leaderships as Hitler, but the root of such fear based leadership is the same, man in control rather than God in control.

I want to know what Father God wants of me, and starting with His most important commands down to the least of them. So, if I fear the Lord and desire to obey Him, as my proof of that fear, what is His most important command? If I desire to obey Him, what is most important to His desire?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart…

And the second is like it, to love your neighbor.

The point I am making is that the root of Kingdom fear is not in a gripping fear that says “He is so high and we are just peons that are so low.” True fear of the Lord is in fact a manifestation of love to Him based upon what is most important to Him, which is love.

The full revelation of Kingdom fear will only happen when people step down from their high-perceived notion of having to be in control of the church. When that happens, when a leadership dies to themselves fully, this is the beginning for the Spirit to come and to minister in any church.

In a place where people are in control, Christ is just so far away. He seems so distant. That is true and it is for a reason! The Lord will not be grieved.

If we want Him to come, we must get out of His way. If we want Him to minister, we must give Him the reigns. If we want to be the End Time church He is calling us to be, we must stop manipulating out of fear and start loving fearlessly. We must learn to stop fearing the enemy who is but a pitiful God created devil when God comes on the scene. If God in Spirit, is in control of the church, if we are each truly led by the Spirit in the manifestation of His Presence then what do we have to fear?

On March 4,1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke the following words in his first inaugural address:

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Many have hear the first part of this quote, but the key is found in the next line…. nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. THAT is the kind of fear that must be done away with in our churches. The result of it is paralysis, a state of ineffectiveness… the very state of ineffectiveness that the Spiritless church resides in today. By doing so, we transform the church from one that is in retreat into one that advances radically!

Rom 8:14-17 …those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs– heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

We are heirs, not servants… lovers, not judgers… sons and daughters, not slaves.

Then comes the Holy Spirit to a leadership who are willing to take the chance and let go of the reigns. Love enters the room, not love as we know it…Perfect love enters the room. The people become undone!

John 14:15 “If you love me, (then) you will obey what I command…

Revelation love must come first.

John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And (then) I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth.

In love, God’s plan for us is then made able to be complete. Obedience then falls in line easily, and fear just falls in line with truth. The Spirit is poured out and then we go and do as He would have us go and do.

Let’s put the cart before the horse and love Him first. In so doing this End Time cart will then be able to move forward in love to do what Jesus Christ died for in power.

I Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love…

Knowing Who You Are

I Jn 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us…

Can you say without any doubt in your mind that you are saved and going to heaven? If the answer is yes, that is wonderful. For those who are in Christ, we must be certain of our hope for eternity. Certainly this is an all-important revealed understanding of who we are in Jesus Christ. This certain knowledge establishes our hope and which is the basis by which all other revelation is made able to flow.

However, this is the first and most basic understanding of our right standing with the Lord for our eternal future. It is the first step in knowing who we are in Christ. What about who we are here on earth? There is more that we need to know about our right standing that is so very important and that sustains us until we go home to heaven.

This next important question must be asked, “Do you believe that you are loved by the Father just as you are?” This is the harder question.

Because love is the very key to everything about our Lord, there is a battle that constantly is waged in our mind to get us to question the Father’s love for us on the personal level.

There is a voice in our minds that constantly tries to get us to focus on our failings and past failures. As we consider these accusations, if we can’t get over the facts of our errors, the next accusation becomes, “How can God love me in this way? He must be disappointed in me.” We then tend to filter all we spiritually hear thru the mill of these internal accusations. What results is a lower view of ourselves than what the Father’s view of us is. The end result is a ship that is floating adrift, dead in the water and ineffective in the here and now. We argue, “How can God use me when I am such a flawed person?”

There is a war going on within the mind to try to get us to disagree with what the Father thinks of us. We are way to cerebral about this relationship with our loving Father. Our minds are getting in the way of His revelation love that must not be mentally understood but spiritually experienced. Father God, yes your Father who is a perfect Dad, wants you, His son or daughter to know who you are in His loving eyes.

Every word that is spoken in the word of God about you is absolute truth. If you accepted Jesus in your heart from your heart, let there be no doubt that you are forever going to be in eternal glory with the Father. Never doubt the word of salvation? Cling to that hope with all your might? For that is the beginning of effectiveness in this life, your hope based upon your faith.

But as to love, you must know that you are truly loved in a way that cannot be explained with human words, nor understood with the logic of the mind. In fact even if one could use words to describe it, even if it is heard, the fullness of understanding is impossible of our own mental ability. What I am speaking of here is the absolute necessity for revelation knowledge. I can read a thing a thousand times, but until the Spirit of the Lord comes upon me to reveal the thing, I can never understand it to the fullest.

All revelation knowledge is spiritual and supernaturally imparted. It comes by way of an experience of outpouring. He invisibly comes to me and installs it into me. It is not of my own doing, nor is it of any particular intelligence of mine to comprehend. There is no understanding of the Kingdom unless God comes to me and makes it known to me.

Knowing the word of God is not knowing Him at all unless He completes it in the experience of Him.

The Bible reveals God, it does not contain Him. Without the power of God, the word is nothing but writing. God never violates His word, He just violates our understanding of the word. (Bill Johnson)

God is all about love, not condemnation. Not only does He want us to know this but He wants us to know it experientially. It really cannot be known unless we experience it. He really cannot be known unless we experience Him.

You are loved with a perfect love, an everlasting love. On earth there is no such thing as perfect love besides that which He pours out. Mankind can only begin to attain to such a kind of love. But in heaven, the air is made of it. The waters flow with it. The fires burn with it. His heart beats by it. In all these things, He loves you. And He wants you to know it! He wants you to know it not only in the written word but far more so by revelation. He wants you to know who you are in the here and now. He wants to come upon you so that you will be made known to His heart of love for you as a father would love his children. This is relationship that leads to intimacy.

He wants you to know that Christ’s sacrifice was absolute. His sacrifice was sufficient for any mistake you have ever made or will ever make. He wants you to know that your penalties are all taken care of. There is nothing left now but grace given love. The power of the law and of death is broken over you. There is now no condemnation for you who are in Christ.

He wants you to know that He loves you just as you are right now.

Look what the word of God says about you:

Ps 103:17-18 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children– with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

Gen 17:7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Jer 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

John 15:13-14 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

John 16:27 …the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

1Thes 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you…

I Jn 4:10-13 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

I Jn 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

1 Pet 1:9 For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1Thes 5:5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

Eph 2:19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…

Gal 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Gal 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…

1 Cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

If “we love because He first loved us”, then how can we love at all if we are not first revealed to His love for us? How then can we pour out this perfect love if He is not continually pouring it in to us first?

His love then is an experience that we must constantly be coming back to. As for me, I can never get enough of Him!

His love is a covenant promise to you that was secured the day you received Christ in your heart. He loved you even before you were in Him! He waited for you patiently because He foreknew you would love Him.

At every turn He was there for you. At every turn He will be there for you. He longs to pour out His Spirit upon you so that you would be fully revealed to His heart of love for you. He wants you to be certain and secure in the revelation knowledge of His love for you.

The Lord knows your needs. He knows you better than you know you. He knows we are a needy people. He made us to be needy! Like a baby needs the touch of coddling, Father God wants us to come into His breast and be coddled. Like a child needs hugs and kisses daily, He wants us to know that He wants to hug and kiss us with His Spirit.

He knows the things we struggle with in this world. He knows just what we need. His heart breaks when our heart breaks and rejoices when we are in joy. But when we sense the need to be touched He wants us to turn to Him and not the world. He wants us to know that we have the right to turn to Him. He wants us to desire to turn to Him.

He sees us as we are going to be and leads us towards that destiny in love. He does not see us in our failings because He sees us thru the veil of Jesus shed blood and sees us righteous and white as snow, even in our daily errors. He sees us already righteous, not being made righteous, though that is happening. He sees us not in sin any more because we who are in Christ have been made dead to sin. Now the only thing that remains is His mercy empowered by grace over us, which is completely sufficient.

So let’s go back to the first two questions that were asked in the beginning of this writing. We asked, “Are you certain of your salvation? We then asked, “Do you know that He loves you as you are?” Both these questions are asking the larger question, “Do you know who you are?” And so I ask you now to ask yourself this question, do you really know who you are? Do you really know of His love for you as you are? Do you really believe that He loves you unconditionally? And if you think that you know who you are, do you truly believe it?

I am convinced that a great majority of the Body of Christ does not know who they are in the light of the eyes of the Father. This was certainly my personal testimony until the day I experienced the Father’s love in His manifest Presence in 1997. In one minute of His Presence, I knew that I knew, He loves me! He really REALLY loves me! I was deeply healed of the stronghold mentality of un-loveliness in that first experience in His Presence!

Today, there is a very serious reason for this lack of understanding of who we are in Christ. The Holy Spirit is not manifesting in our churches. We are not experiencing the Father’s love in order to know of it. There are some churches who are receiving the Spirit again, such as the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. And the numbers of these kinds of places of His revealed love are rapidly on the rise in this very hour, and which is great news. But still, they are truly few and far between. Even many who say they are moving in the Spirit are not.

John 14:16-20 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

It takes the day of His coming for us to realize these truths. If the Holy Spirit is the Councilor who leads us into all truth, then how can we gain any truth without Him in the day of His coming?

Jesus said, “…on that day you will realize”, or said another way, “on the day that the Spirit is poured out in Pentecost, you will then understand the intimacy of my love and the Father’s heart. You will understand what it means that I am in you and you are in me. You will see what you otherwise could not see without the Holy Spirit’s revelation.” So then it is all about the experience.

How sad it is that church leaders would argue against experience! They don’t understand that they are literally closing the door in the face of those who would seek the Father’s love in the experience. They kill the church with such an argument. They fear the radical manifestations of His manifest Presence because they fear what they do not understand or have never seen. They fear that people are seeking the experience and not the love or seeking the experience but unwilling to do the work. They don’t understand that it is by the experience that one is able to see love or is able to do any good Kingdom work!

Oh how we must gain the experience of Him, and not as we think the experience should be.

It is a known scientific fact that if a baby is left in a room without the experience of the love of the mother, that baby will die for lack of touch. So it is with our spirit, soul and body. If the Holy Spirit is not ministering to us with the experiential touch of the Father, we will be rendered spiritually lifeless for lack of love. We need this touch. We need the breath of God ministering His love over our being. We need the experience of Him! It’s like waters poured out in a dry and barren land. It’s like life being restored upon dead dry bones!

Not only do we need to feel His touch, but we need it again and again. I can testify to this fact personally. I have been to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship many times as of this writing. Very simply, I can’t get enough of Him! Wherever the Spirit is showing up, it is there that I want to be!

But with each visitation to Toronto, I walked into the room with a lower understanding of my standing in the eyes of my Father. I did not know or even sense this degraded condition until I was revealed once again to the Father’s love in His manifest Presence.

How insidious is this flawed condition of the mind of man! We don’t know what we need! We think we do but we don’t know. But He knows!

Each experience of His Presence renews my mind. It links my mind with the mind of Christ so that He can download good Kingdom stuff into me. But unless we be filled with the Spirit again and again in the experience of His love, unless we are consistently flowing in the revelation knowledge of the Father by the Son thru the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, we will go dry in revelation knowledge. The result then becomes man made ways.

Just as the glow of the Presence diminished over time upon the face of Moses, so it is with revelation knowledge, it diminishes over time. This is what is meant by scripture that we be renewed of the mind day by day. It’s not by reading the word daily, though that is good. It is by pressing in to intimate relationship.

Whenever I had experienced the Father’s love in His Presence anew, I was once again renewed into the spiritual revelation knowledge of His love for me. I was reminded once again of who I am. Each fresh new visit with the Spirit re-revealed the Father’s heart of love for me. I needed that. I need that. We all need that! And we need it again and again and again. This is what Pentecost was all about. Oh how sad that the Spirit has been rejected in the church! How effective has been the plan of the enemy of God to bring about this sad bone-dry condition!

With each new visit into His Presence over the last many years I became renewed that He loves me. I became renewed that He was for me and not against me. I was renewed into His love.

2 Cor 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

How do we not loose heart? We do not loose heart by going back in again and again to be daily renewed inwardly. And because our renewal is spiritual and not natural, we fix our eyes not on the ways of man for renewal but on what is unseen, that is the Holy Spirit. This is critical!

Titus 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior…

We need Jesus revealed and the renewal of the Spirit. The fullness of the revelation of Christ requires the power of the Spirit to make Him known. One without the other is either religion or foolishness. The both together is our means to all truth.

In John 14-18 (in my opinion the four most important chapters in the Bible)… Before Jesus left the disciples on earth, He told them that He would not leave them as orphans, that He would appear to them again thru the Holy Spirit. He said to wait for the Spirit. And when the Spirit comes upon them, they would then go out and save the world. The Spirit had to appear to the men, women and children in the upper room before they could do anything. And so it must be today!

We need the radical experience of the Holy Spirit right in the middle of our church services today if we are ever going to do anything of God’s Kingdom worth. On the personal level, we need this reoccurring renewal experience in order to understand who we are in the Father’s eyes. It is in the knowing of who we are that sets our feet in motion. Without this revelation we become bogged down in condemnation and fear that stills our feet.

If this scripture in Titus is true, then the manifestation of inward renewal by the Spirit is a must for salvation. Though we know that this references the indwelling of the Spirit that marks us for salvation, we forget that we need the renewal day by day of the Spirit that manifests upon us for the equipping and revelation of the Saints unto effectiveness in the world. We need both. We need the one time “marking” of the Spirits that leads to salvation, which the church is very good at understanding. However, we need the ongoing experience of renewal thru the infilling of the Spirit upon us day by day to be effective before we go to Heaven. It is of this second work of the Spirit the church greatly misses, and of which we desperately need.

John 14:16-18 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

The Holy Spirit with AND In…

The Spirit in us is for our eternal home and became available when the inner court curtain was ripped in two as Jesus carried our sins on the cross. Our spirits went from death to life and our hope was established on the day of our regeneration. But the Spirit upon us is for our equipping of truth, the renewing of our minds and our power anointing in the here and now and for the reaping of this harvest.

If we are ever going to know who we are in Jesus, we need the ongoing revelation of the Holy Spirit manifesting upon us, in our homes, in our churches, and on these dry bones.

Renewal is where it is at in the days ahead. It will be the signature of God’s End Time Church. It is the ongoing events of experiencing God unto the renewing of our minds and our hearts. In this we do not faint, but press on in the full knowledge of His loving heart that is for us and not against us.

But now there are so many who just don’t know who they are. So many are locked in legalism and religious ways of their yesterdays. Or, they see God as one who is just looking for a reason to strike with lightning at their failures save for Jesus who stands in the gap. Or maybe it is unhealed wounds from broken relationships or rejection from bad church experiences. For others it might be addictions and dependencies that beset them from the truth. Or it might be a fear of man or of failures. Or maybe a theology that this Holy Holy Holy God is untouchable by mere man, and that we should cower at His feet and await come what may.

All these things require experiential love of the Father to debunk these false notions. Father God is waiting for a church that will seek His face with a desire for intimacy. Not out of duty, not out of works, not out of misplaced fear but out of love and a thirst for more of Him. In this way, we will all be revealed to who we are. Then we will be able to bring others with us.

Father God and His Bridegroom Son want us to know that His love for us has nothing to do with what we can do for Him. His love for us is unconditional save for faith.

There are no works we can do, however good sounding or good intentioned that will gain us any more love from Him than what He already holds for us right now.

No amount of praise or worship, no amount of reading the word nor any amount of good works of any kind will cause the Father to love us any more than He does right now. Those things follow the revealed knowledge of His love!

I want to love Him when I know He loves me. I want to read His word when I know He is for me. I want to go out and do when I know He loves them like this as well!

We are fully loved already, even in our flaws. His is a perfect love, and He wants to express it to His Bride, the church, by way of His Holy Spirit. Will we agree and come into the inner court of His love, or will we remain locked in our yesterdays, in our fears, and without loves revelation?

There is a point of balance that exists in the revelation of my flawed state which lies somewhere between self condemnation to the left and His love for me to the right. The only way for me to reconcile this issue in my mind is to disengage the mind and then yoke it to the mind of Christ. By this we become revealed to His point of truth by the Holy Spirit. God’s definition of balance is not how man would think of balance. In the world, balance is compromise. But, His balance is always radical and usually opposed to our thinking. I tell you that you are far more to the right of this balance than you might think you are. Your are so loved! Therefore be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then go in again and again.

It’s time to know who we are. It’s time to sit at His feet and simply wait, just like those at Pentecost waited… wait until He comes with His love and His touch. We need Him to come! He wants to come. He is simply waiting for a people who will wait for Him. Will we give Him the time?

I am but a flawed imperfect man full of sin and error and the best I can hope for is to die to myself so that He can truly live in me. My death to self is what I seek. But the revelation knowledge of a love that is so wonderful, so strong and so complete, reveals to me that even in my flawed state, I am rendered guiltless and fully loved. I want to know this love that died for me so that I could walk in the gift of no condemnation. I want to know of His heart that beats just for me. I want to be drawn into His heart in the deep deep spiritual place of His wonderful Holy Presence in as often as He would draw me in.

I am so in love with Him because I now know that He first loved me.

I know who I am now. But I need to be reminded of it again and again. Enough is never enough for this lovesick warrior. How about you?

Here are some wonderful words of encouragement from a song by Bryan Adams:

Sound The Bugle

Sound the bugle now – play it just for me
As the seasons change – remember how I used to be
Now I can’t go on – I can’t even start
I’ve got nothing left – just an empty heart

I’m a soldier – wounded so I must give up the fight
There’s nothing more for me – lead me away…
Or leave me lying here

Sound the bugle now – tell them I don’t care
There’s not a road I know – that leads to anywhere
Without a light I fear that I will – stumble in the dark
Lay right down – decide not to go on

Then from on high – somewhere in the distance
There’s a voice that calls – remember who your are
If you lose yourself – your courage soon will follow
So be strong tonight – remember who you are

Ya you’re a soldier now – fighting in a battle
To be free once more…
Ya that’s worth fighting for

This is the word of the Lord in this hour and He stands at the ready to back it up with power! “Know who your are! Remember who you are! I love you just as you are. Because “I AM” you are!”

T. Scott Morton

Hearts Revealed
(And Right Leadership in the Church)

John 16:13-14 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

When Jesus was here walking on earth, he was all about the business of revealing hearts. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He knew whose hearts were hungry and whose hearts were cold. His Presence offended most of those whose hearts were cold.

Today, the Holy Spirit is being restored back into churches that will receive Him. The gospel is being restored in unison with the Power of the Cross, as it should have been since the first church. The Word is beginning to be revealed by the manifestation of the Presence of the Lord who is the Holy Spirit, and Whom is necessary for revelation to attain to its’ fullest.

He, the Holy Spirit, the power that lowered Christ to Mary, the power that raised Christ from the dead and the power that restored Christ back to the right hand of the Father, is manifesting the Word of the Son and the Glory of the Father to those willing to invite Him.

Jesus declared that the Spirit would not act on His own. He would speak only what He hears from Jesus. The Spirit would reveal the very heart of the Father thru the word of the Son in power. Jesus said that signs and wonders would follow those that believed and that these powerful things would testify to Him and the Father.

So as the Spirit is being restored into the church today, the Spirit is expressing the heart of the Father by way of the mind of Christ and by the power of the cross. This is right progression of revelation. Not to limit God here in any way. But generally speaking…

The Father wills a thing, the Son speaks the thing and the Spirit reveals it.

When the Holy Spirit moves in the church in power, it is Jesus who is being revealed in power, but when Jesus is revealed, the will of the Father is also made known. The bridegroom is made ready for the bride. The Father heart of God is made known to us, His sons and daughters. This is a beautiful dance of communication that happens thru an intimacy that is expressed from Father to us, from us to Father, and then back to us again. It’s a wonderful beautiful circle of love that starts with Him.

It is all about the heart when the Spirit falls.

In the days Jesus walked on earth, His Presence was either received or hated. But when He did the miracles, those who hated Him hated Him all the more. His miracles not only released those in bondage, they tested those who witnessed them.

This is a key understanding. The Father is always in the business of testing the witnesses to see if faith and love is there. He is testing the faithless and the faithful. He is wooing the faithless and lovingly examining the faithful. So long as we are on this earth we will be tested by the Father. In all things, will we or will we not believe? In all things is it about Him or is it about me? For it is so, in the economy of the Lord, all things require faith first, based upon a dependency upon Father God. Every single thing that is spiritual requires faith first if we are going to see it.

So it is today and will forever be in the church in days ahead. As the power of the cross manifests, church parishioners and church leadership will be tested of the heart. Among many testings, the most important test of all is to see who is in control of the church and of the church meetings. Those that follow will be tested to see if they believe. Those that lead will also be tested for faith but even more to see who it is that is in control. The Lord wants to know who is leading the meetings, the Lord thru the Holy Spirit, or leadership and the agendas of the soul, however good sounding.

The Father knows our motivations, every single one. He looks past the mind into the heart for what motivates us. Therefore we must be pure of heart. We must bring our minds into submission to His will. We must not come into agreement with anything of this world, however good sounding. We must die to self. We must know who we are in His unlimited perfect love. We must agree with Him and submit.

We must be willing to receive a new wineskin every day. We must be forever willing to be shifted into a new thing. The Lord is forever doing a new thing. We must not be focused on the old thing. We must not be looking backwards but forwards if we are ever going to be able to see the new thing.

It’s what we come into agreement with that counts.

In the church that God is now building, leadership must examine their hearts deeply. We must understand what is meant by the word that says:

Prov 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

The Lord is saying something very important thru this word. It applies as much to the church as it does to the world. Actually, I would argue that this scripture is more important for the church. Simply put, there are two ways of going, the way of our mind or the way of His mind. Or better said, by the “natural” mind of man or by the “spiritual” mind of Christ. It is of the way of our own minds that this scripture references.

Though God gave us a mind to be used. The fullness of His intent is that we first die to our mind before we use our mind. The problem is that even with the best of intentions, fear tends to force us to go with what seems right to a man. Or, with the worst of intentions, it would be pride that motivates man by the mind of man.

There is such wisdom in the letting go of our minds and allowing God to have full control. When God is given the reigns of our minds, the anointing comes. Then we are able to lead easily as the Father wants. It is a trusting, an act of faith. It means stepping out of the natural and into the spiritual.

Ezekiel chapter 37 references a vision of the restoration of many dry bones of many dead returning to life; the valley of dry bones suddenly rattling together, being revived from death to life.

The dead and lifeless church that is emerging from the bed of dry bones must be spiritual in the days ahead. In such a church, if Jesus truly reigns, then we must give Him our reigns!

The only way for this kind of church to emerge is that the Holy Spirit be fully restored into the church. The only way for the Spirit to be restored into the church is that man be out of the way of Jesus and that we willfully give Him all our reigns. This is critical.

What is it that causes man to choose in ungodly ways but by fear or pride? Really pride is rooted in fear, the fear of being accepted, or a fear of being rejected. Both fear and pride are erroneous. But perfect love casts out fear.

I Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

And the Deliverer of perfect love is the Holy Spirit, the “Councilor” who leads us into all truth.

John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

In fact the very spirit (Holy Spirit) of renewal is the testimony of the Father heart of God and the revelation of the bridegroom Son. It’s all about perfect love! Therefore we need His Presence desperately in order to overcome in anything.

The mentality that it is about what I do that overcomes is coming to an end in God’s End Time Church. No man is able to overcome a greater power than himself! Therefore we must be living in the power of the Almighty by way of the Holy Spirit in order to overcome the power of the ruler of this world!

Lest the church be operating in the power of the cross in the days ahead, it is destined for ineffectiveness, lost and without direction in the ocean of failure.

It’s time for the word to be coupled with the power of the cross! It’s time for the gospel of the Lord to be rightly yoked to and with the power of the cross. The word in and of itself is nothing but a bunch of written words lest it be backed with power, signs miracles and wonders as the scripture attests.

The Offense

Any offendability that remains in us must die. That is to say that whatever happens to us will absolutely require that we never take up an offense. In order for this to come to pass, the flesh must be absolutely held in submission. I must be dead to myself. I must know in my inner man that it is not me or my mind that controls anything. A leadership that flows in this way will be able to hear anything from anyone any time, and without fear or vexation. Then whatever is said from whomever it comes can be dealt with in righteousness and in love.

An offense bids love. And love casts out the offense.

The taking up of an offense is an act of ungodly defense. Being offended means that I must defend a position of my own power. It places the mind of man above the will of the Father.

To become offended means to be vexed or to become resentful. It is a state of feeling of indignant displeasure or persistent ill will at something regarded as a wrong, insult, or injury. It is to take up an insult.

Here are a few scriptures that speak to us regarding the offense:

Prov 19:11 A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

Matt 13:57-58 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

To take up an offense is to be lacking in faith. It is a way of man that must be in control rather than releasing God to control. To not be offendable is an act of maturity that says that Father is my justice and that He is the one who will bring about right change in His timing. Here Jesus says that a prophet is without honor in his home town.

I would add that most the martyred prophets throughout the ages were killed because the word they brought fell upon offendable ears. They did not want to hear what the prophets had to say. So they were put to death for even bringing such a word to light.

This brings up a very important issue. The church will need to hear from the prophetic people within her walls and from the apostolic and prophetic people outside her walls to whom the church submits. The Word says that the Lord does nothing without first speaking it though His servants the prophets. But the prophetic word always announces the need to come out of one way into a new way. Will we have ears to hear the words that will come, or will we be offended by those words that come.

The Bible is the word of God that defines who God is, what He does and how He does it. Likewise it has deep meaning within the words that speak to our state and future state. BUT since the scripture says that God is always doing a new thing, we must hear of it through the word of the prophetic voices.

There are so many values and purposes for prophetic words. But in general, we must know that prophecy is as important as the word. But prophecy MUST align with the word of God. A good way to think of it is that the Bible defines God, it does not contain God. Therefore we need both, by which prophesy is in submission to the revealed word.

We can see then that offenses silence the prophetic flow. If the prophetic flow is silenced, then how can anything new happen in the church?

John 6:60-61 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?

Much of the word to come will not be comfortable feel good words! What is going to come will be every form of correction that will cut out that which has been keeping the church in spiritual death for generations.

In this hour of culling, much hard word will come. If the hard word is not received, it will continue to come until it is received, or the Lord will move on. This is not an easy thing. He is bringing about great changes in the days ahead that will so kill us that it truly will be nothing of us and everything of Him!

And for those who are dead and those who are about to die, this is a joyous thing! For those who have ears to hear and for those who will give up the right to be offended, it will be so worth it!

Prov 18:19 An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.

The boxes we keep our God in through religious ways and un-yielded minds are what is being spoken of here. The power that keeps those boxes in place is the offendable will.

Matt 15:12-14 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Being offendable puts a man in the same class as the Pharisees who are blinded to truth. Oh how strong a warning is such a word as this! I must let go of my need to be right in order to let Him be right through me.

Prov 17:9-10 He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool.

You see “perfect love” is so powerful! It is so warming. It has a way of establishing a change without the sting of anger or hate. It takes away the blinders. It crushes fear. Perfect love is selfless. It means that I can operate completely outside of my needs and serve others. Perfect love overcomes every offense. It is what the church is supposed to be operating in.

Perfect love takes the work of the flesh or the devil out of discipline and discipleship. Perfect love is a way of going that allows God to minister a correction thru me rather than from me. It takes me completely out of the picture. The Spirit is given reign to establish a change. Correction is ten times easier to give and ten times easier to receive.

How we respond then is key. Do we respond to an event or issue from a state of offendedness or do we respond with encouragement and love. There is a huge difference and of which is easily recognizable by even the most casual of observers.

The receipt of a correction or rebuke becomes easy when we are unoffendable. I am made able to grow and hear things I would never be able to hear when my soul is no longer offendable.

We are entering a day in which the Lord will bring volumes of correction and protection into the church. He will use “iron to sharpen iron” so that the church will always be on the cutting edge of the Lord’s new thing. He will forever be bringing correction and steering into a church leadership in order to see who is in control and if the church is willing to turn into the new thing. With each new thing that comes, it requires a stretching and a willingness to be moved into something that we have never seen before. This will happen in the church almost on a daily basis in the last day church.

How then will we ever be able to see the new thing if we have an offendable spirit? How will we ever be able to move from glory to glory if we do not have eyes to see and ears to hear? The bottom line of it is this, if we are offendable, we can only be but blinded to the new thing. Because the new thing of the Lord will always come in the form of a test to see if we are in His way! This is so important!

I hear the Lord saying in this hour, and as clear as a bell, “Time to die to everything you hold dear! Time to die to what you think is right and let me show you what is right. Time to give up your right to be right.”

This is a hard word. But I would respectfully ask, and in as kind a way as I know how, that if these are offensive thoughts of which I speak, my point is confirmed. Anything that is offensive in the days ahead will block the church from growth. For whatever offense is taken, it will be in the same measure that growth will be missed.

Perfect Love Casts out Fear

The manifestation of the Holy Spirit is first and foremost a manifestation of perfect love, or Kingdom love. It’s like a little bit of heaven coming down into our rooms. The air is thick and weighty, and the Presence is felt in the form of love and joy in the Holy Spirit.

But the very Spirit that heals the heart is the very thing that is rejected by a heart that is manipulated by fear. The Holy Spirit is all about the new thing. Fear turns us away from the new thing and binds us to the old thing. Fear holds on to the familiar. Fear causes us to look backwards and not move forward. Fear is a key strategy of the flesh and the devil. Fear keeps the fire out. That is exactly what the devil is after. Fear is the basis behind religion.

So long as we reside in the old ways, that which casts out all fear is left out of our meetings. The result can only be what is left, talent, charisma and the mind of man.

As goes the leader, so goes the followers. As goes the leader, so goes the church. In the days ahead, the Lord will examine our thoughts and intentions continuously, in particular, church leadership. There is no fear in this testing though. He will look into and test our hearts. However, if we fail this test, the warning here applies:

Lk 1:51 He (The Lord) has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

No man can avoid this examination. And God’s examination manifests in the form of a test. Not only are we tested, but we also must test all things. But, how then can we possibly attain the right mark of truth in any testing (either testing or being tested) if the Holy Spirit is not freely flowing revelation into that place? How can one rightly test a thing if one is not being ministered to by the Holy Spirit in power?

Consider these passages:

Deut 13:1-4 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere.

Exod 15:24-25 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them.

Rev 2:2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

1Thes 5:19-22 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophesies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

We are tested so that we can rightly test. It stands then that if we are not willing to be tested, how then can we rightly test another?

The question then stands, are we testing from our minds or are we testing from the mind of Christ? Without the Holy Spirit flowing within the walls of the church or the walls of our hearts, our judgments can only be but flawed. This too is important. If we are testing from our minds, we are certain to eventually silence what which is a right work of the Lord thru people. What seems too radical is then silenced, when in fact it was a God thing. This, I am certain is the very reason previous revival fires have been put out.

For how can we possibly know what is “good”, as in 1 Thes 5:21 above, if we do not have the mind of Christ? What is “good” must be Kingdom good, not mentally good. Here is a key scripture:

1 Cor 2:14-16 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

And how can we have the mind of Christ if we are not being continuously filled with the manifest Presence of the Lord? How can we possibly know the right way if our minds are not being renewed day by day?

A place without the fullness of His Presence is like an archer that is blinded. His chance of hitting the center mark of spiritual truth is slim to none. But when the Spirit falls, when we experience Him, the blinders are taken off, we see clearly and are now supernaturally anointed to hit the center mark of truth easily.

There is no understanding worth anything without the fullness of the Spirit’s revelation to make known what is right. As far as I am concerned, I don’t want to even make the slightest move if the Spirit does not confirm it, not by my mind but by the Spirit who lives in me and rests upon me. So must it be in the church.

Jesus was always in the business of offending the wise and the prideful. He was always in the business of checking the condition of people’s hearts. When the people saw the spiritually radical, they either said, “this is God”, or they said, “this is not God”, even worse, Jesus was accused of being a demoniac. They either agreed then submitted to Jesus’ headship and control. Or, they willfully rejected what they were witnessing with words of accusation based upon a good sounding argument. These arguments were false declarations based upon the condition of their hearts within. They were mental arguments based upon what was seen rather than what was unseen.

We can expect many arguments in the days ahead that sound logically flawless but which are spiritually foolish.

Today, as the Spirit is being released to those who have eyes to see, the Lord is once again checking the hearts of those who are witnessing it. Once again we are beginning to witness that which has been previously unseen. The radical things of the Lord are being systematically restored into certain church meetings. Once again, through these heretofore unseen things, the Lord is testing the hearts of the witnesses, but very particularly, leadership. The Lord is asking the ultimate question, “Will this be your thing, or will this be my thing? Will you be like the control driven Pharisees and reject the witness of the power of the cross? Or, will you give me control so that you will be first hand participants in this great End Time move?”

I believe the Lord saying to the End Time church, “Everything beyond this point is spiritual, and will only be understood in the Sprit.”

There are some church leaders who would say, “We have no agendas here, so keep yours at home please.” In many cases, what is really being said is, “Don’t bring your agenda here because our agenda is what we are doing.”

However it is not the agendas of the followership that the Lord is looking at. It is the agendas of the leadership that the Father is scrutinizing. It is the agendas of those who are in places of responsibility that are at issue because of the principle of authority.

Followers do not lead the church, leadership does. Power is released through right flowing authority. If those in authority are not in line with the ultimate authority of the Holy Spirit in the church, there is no power in the church. The Spirit becomes grieved, then leaves. The church is left to rely on the talents of man rather than the anointing of God. The spirit of excellence takes over, and then it is nothing but a show of talent and charisma.

God is doing away with “excellence” based upon talent. He is replacing it with spiritual excellence based upon anointing born from self-death and non-offendability. It is not talent that breaks the heavy yoke, it is the anointing that breaks the heavy yoke.

It is not willful error in the followership that damages a church Body, and which is why right discipleship is so important. Among other purposes, discipleship teaches the followers how to overcome, then how to lead. But when people are released into leadership, it is then that these people become responsible over those they now lead. It is the willful sin of a leadership that does damage in a church or ministry. When the harvest is reaped, there will be tons of sin in the church! It’s not sin in the church followers that the Lord is so much concerned about. More so it is the sin within a leadership that grieves the Holy Spirit in a church or ministry. Consider the case of Moses who for one sin was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.

But, many right-hearted leaders are in fear of making a mistake that grieves the Spirit. They tend to be walking on eggshells for fear of making a mistake. The main question that must be asked is this; is their heart truly desireful to see His will come to pass in the meetings? If the answer is yes, then this work of doing what is right becomes so easy. There is no fear in it when the Father’s heart is revealed. It truly is a childlike way of going.

The Lord does not charge anyone for error that they are not willful in.

Sin is not sin unless it is known and which is why the law was given. It is when we act willfully against the known will of the Father thru the Spirit that we endanger ourselves and those that we lead. We simply just listen to the leadership of the Spirit and obey it in our meetings.

We do not fear what man might think when the Spirit manifests in power. Operating in renewal is far more simple than many are making it.

To fear what people might thing when the Spirit falls, for whatever reason, must be addressed in leadership and done away with. For many will be offended when the Spirit falls in power. The devil and the flesh are radically displaced when that happens. It is inevitable that some, even many will leave the church when the Spirit falls. Of the many reasons the Spirit is so needed in the church, this is indeed one of the greatest.

The manifestation the Holy Spirit will offend many. This is inevitable. This is because He comes to test our hearts and offend the flesh. Right order in the church or ministry will not look like what the world or the mind of man thinks it should look like. Therefore we must not fear what people might thing or express when the Spirit falls. One thing is for certain, revival will be come against every time it appears.

What is in our hearts? Is it anxiety or fear of loosing people? Are we worried what people might think of our decisions? Is it a fear of missing the tithe or running late in a meeting? Did we prepare all week for a message and are sure it is a burning word for the hour?

Are we willing to let all of these things go if the Lord, by His Holy Spirit says so?

In every revival that ever was, I am certain in my mind of this, the fires were put out by willful disobedience of a leader to the known desire and direction of the Holy Spirit. There came a point in time when enough was enough. The Spirit said to go one way, the leader willfully went another way. Then renewal was over.

I heard it said best in Toronto by the Pastor of that great revival, John Arnott. Right in the middle of a preaching, he stopped. There were people “ho-hoing” on one side of the room. Some were laughing uncontrollably in another area. There were certain people crying under the influence of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

Right in the middle of his sermon, Pastor Arnott stopped. He said this (paraphrased), “You know, some of you here might be a bit concerned about all this noise while I am preaching. You might be wondering why I don’t intervene and tell these people to become silent. You might be wondering why I don’t use my authority as pastor to stop what might appear to you as interruptive. Well… I know that some of this might be of the flesh. But if God is in this house, then who is in charge here, me or God? If I go over there and stop that person from laughing, I might be getting in the way of the Lord. Who is God in this house? And if God is God in this house, of what concern is the devil or the flesh? My God is bigger than the devil. I don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit. So I will not get in the way besides what the Spirit has led me to do.”

This alone is the very reason revival has lasted now since 1994 at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. It will be the way that the Spirit remains in His End Time church in the days ahead. It just simply is all about a leadership who will not be in the way of the Holy Spirit when He manifests in a place, however radical that manifestation might be. Combine that with solid intercession and the devil will have no foothold in a place where the Spirit is manifesting in power.

I am absolutely convinced that the Father never intended for the Spirit to leave the church after the event of Pentecost. Though it is true that church business changed in the afterglow of each revival in history, that result was always the spiritual result of the Spirit’s outpouring. It was never a move of the Lord besides the desire for Him to love on His bride and be loved on by His bride.

We tend to think that each outpouring preceded a move of God. It is the only way the mind of man could possibly explain such outpourings. I believe that each outpouring was simply based upon a hungry and thirsty leader who wanted more of the Lord. The result of revival was a church changed. Oh how much the church has forfeited in the lack of His Presence in the church!

So the key is right-hearted leadership. But what of the leadership and how do they gain wisdom for the days ahead? The answer is found in the fullness of release to the apostolic and prophetic ministry over a church. I see this as absolutely critical in this reformation of the church today. The Spirit is waiting for the fullness of the structure of the apostolic to be prepared for the coming harvest. As the Spirit is being poured out, the apostles must be ready. How quickly the fires will be put out if there are no apostles to lead the churches into the future. We can clearly see the propagation of the first church thru the right leadership and teaching of the Apostle Paul.

Particularly as the Spirit is being poured out in the world, now more than ever, leadership must come under right apostolic order. For without this right order, a church has no correction, wisdom, fresh understanding nor the prophetic word rightly ministered into leadership. This is important in this hour.

Truly the church is in a state of new reform. In fact this apostolic reform includes the full release of three functions, the intercessory, the prophetic, and the apostolic. All three working hand in hand will be critical to the church in the days ahead. The church without these things flowing over and through them will be in danger of missing or failing in the move of the Lord that is at hand.

As has always been the way of Jesus all thru the years since the cross, every single heart in leadership has been constantly tested to see who it is that would be in control. When they failed the test over time (and I am convinced, only after their hearts were clearly willfully in opposition to His direction), the Spirit up and left.

I am also convinced, the Lord does not charge for error that was not heart generated. If a leader’s heart is for His manifest Presence, but makes error in judgment as to His direction, there is great mercy. It is when a leader willfully goes against a known direction of the Lord that there is great danger.

Lk 2:34-35 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

The Lord is carrying a sharp double-edged sward in His hand right now and He stands before all disciples and all leadership of Spirit filled churches and He is saying, “Are you willing to have your soul pierced too? Will you really give this to me, lock, stock and barrel? Or are you going to remain comfortable in your yesterdays?”

We must know that whatever we operate in of yesterday becomes as a swampy salty bog whose stagnant lifeless waters we drink. The Lord wants us forever drinking the new wine of our tomorrows. Lest we understand this issue, we won’t even get out of the starting block of what the Lord has in store for us in the days ahead.

If we judge this End Time move of the Lord by anything that we have experienced in the past, we will miss the bigger thing, the “ever increasing” of the Lord that lies just ahead.

The crossroad is here now and the Lord says we will have to choose our direction, to the left or to the right. The road to the left is a glittery highway with enticing road signs that say, “Church Size, Fame, Ministry, T.V., Wealth, and yes Excellence.” The road to the right is a narrow one-lane road with no signs. It looks dangerous to me, but I know that this is the road that Jesus is leading us down.

Ec 10:2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.

He says, “This road to the right is the road of My End Time Church. It is the road of My Presence, the road of My demonstrated power, the road of effectiveness, the road to the nations. But there are only two prerequisites to go down this road. You must seek My face like never before and you must die. You must die to all you are holding on to, all agendas, all ministries, all religious ways and all your yesterdays.”

This is the only way for the End Time Church to succeed in the days ahead, all of which will be centered around the perfect love of the Father that heals all wounds.

Now the only thing that remains are right choices born from a willing heart. We are told that in these last days the love of most will grow cold and that many brothers will be deceived by good sounding arguments. This is why we need the Kingdom on earth, the manifestation of His Presence, the release of perfect love, the experience that changes us! If the Spirit is the Councilor who leads us into all truth, how then can the church ever be fully revealed to love? How will the church ever know His way? If this then is truly based upon right choices of leadership, how weighty then are their decisions!

A church leadership is not accountable to the church Body. If they are, they are destined to be the church on the left, a place that speaks to their parishioners itching ears what they want to hear, and a seeker friendly place.

The church is a part of a Kingdom by which there is no democracy.

But a leadership who truly is accountable to apostolic coverage who themselves are attached to the voice of the Father is the place in which the Spirit will do great and wonderful things in the days ahead. The enemy and the flesh will be displaced from the church, healing, deliverance and the raising of the dead will happen in power. Theirs will be the residence of His glory and the residence of a love that will change our nation and the nations of the world. Theirs will be the harvest.

Now that which remains if faith, hope and love. Faith starts it, hope matures it, and love binds it all together. Faith in every spiritual Kingdom thing, hope that sustains our walk, and revelation love which is the power behind it all. These three things happen when we let go, and then when the Spirit comes. Save for our letting go and His Spirit’s continuous coming, we will be like a ship without wind in our sails, foundering on the sea of ineffectiveness.

T. Scott Morton

Performance

Flashing glittery stage full of light,
anticipation, spectators’ expectant delight.
Music now flowing, perfection now showing.
Or speaking a word, articulately going.

Perfection and excellence in clear view,
all while sitting idle in my pew.
No threat of sacrificial need.
No way to express my call or deed.

Comfortably hidden in the front,
or just as so in the back.
Flesh unchallenged, His Face long since gone.
My thirst bone dry, in such lack.

“We do everything with excellence”, I hear them say.
When it’s over, pat their backs and just walk away.
Walk away from the call that’s so dear,
“I wanted to love My Bride in there!”

Locked out of His own church from His deeper touch,
by people unwilling to die to what they hold fast.
Or unwilling due to fear of the unseen,
or might it be loves lost, long since past?

People starving at the expense of man’s pride.
Walking wounded, a leprous divide.
Few salvations, little change, nor evidence inside.
But then comes one with guts to turn the tide!

“I’m not sticking to the old dead ways.
See, I’ve had this vision of a River, coming neigh!
Flowing mighty from the throne of God!
Now I see, now I know, it’s time to die!

A lover that’s come to a personal end,
stands up to say, “I’m going to relinquish command.
Suddenly I see, it’s been all about me,
I repent, Oh Lord, so the blind can now see.”

The threshing floor is ready.
His knife’s in His hand.
He beckons us in.
He calls us to stand.

On the south side of change, it’s so hard to make.
But on the north side, when done, “that wasn’t so hard to take”.
Then suddenly is realized what we have missed.
We grieve then rejoice in this newfound fullness.

Filtering rooftops coming off the churches of this nation,
leadership has given up the reigns!
Now they’re connected to the Cornerstone foundation,
the Spirit released to bring rains.

Praise once horizontal,
suddenly shifted,
becomes worship now vertical,
intimately lifted!

Love now revealing.
People enter healing.
Power’s releasing.
Miracles unceasing.

Untimely devotion this self-death notion.
But is there ever a good time to die?
But do it we must and now is the time,
if His Eagle is ever to fly.

What once was the norm has now been discarded,
The offendable long since gone.
And performance along with it, sent out with the trash,
Father’s Church has now moved on.

T. Scott Morton

Small Narrow Door

(A Poem)

 

It’s been a while since I have been posting. Some radical changes have been happening in my life. My wife Ginger and I have taken a new position in China. All I can tell you is that this is wonderful and exciting what has been happening, however challenging and revealing. I am so thankful to Father that He has been so merciful in our lives and willing to let us go forth like this.

Just now however, I sense the renewal of the call to hear and to write.

Some 12 years ago, I experienced the Revival in Toronto. It is from that place that a fire within me was stoked, and which still burns. Though the fire was ignited years earlier, I am so grateful for the faithfulness of John and Carol Arnott at Toronto. Only in Heaven will we find out how far reaching and strategically important for the worldwide Body of Christ this revival was and remains to be!

As for me, my life was changed supernaturally. And while I am so grateful to Father God for willing it, to Jesus Christ for speaking it and to the Holy Spirit for bringing it, I honor the Arnotts’ for their faithfulness to see it through. They are my modern day heroes. This poem speaks to this event in my life.

Enjoy,

Scott

 

Small Narrow Door 4/29/04

 

Apprehended, loved, now changed by the Son.

Salvation complete, now we are one.

Rejoice in this newfound road I am on.

Death to life, my soul is now won.

 

Searching seeking, to church I go,

an honest attempt to mature and to grow.

But one hour a week of the old do they show,

only to find out what man might know.

 

Somehow I sense there is more to be shown,

and seek of the Lord that His wisdom be known.

Hungry and thirsty, I sense there is more.

Only Lord, point me now to that small narrow door?

 

The word says much more than I currently see.

Lord, I know there is more that the Body can be.

Not satisfied with this age old status quo,

I press on to find His fresh waters flow.

 

But then came the word of Toronto’s fire.

My heart skips a beat, an ignition of desire.

Plans now are made and my bags I pack.

But, so much unseen is holding me back.

 

Desire overcoming the fear of the unknown.

Lord if this is you let your face be shown?

Love welling up, the moment now here.

I’ve found that small door! Now I know He is near!

 

In I walk with my bags still in hand.

Confounded in His Presence I now stand.

The weight of His Presence all over my heart.

Revelation, the new thing, my beings’ fresh start.

 

Oh years of religion, of the law man has shown,

released in this moment of love, revealed, before unknown.

Healed and delivered from years of my shame,

in that moment and power of Jesus Holy Name!

 

Now my spirit controls and my soul’s in submission.

Upright way of going, this joyous condition.

It’s to home I go and for them will I show,

to start fires of His own wherever I go.

 

Now I knew in my heart,

there was so much more.

Now I know, now I’m known,

I’ll never return thru that small narrow door.

 

T. Scott Morton

1 Aug 2010

I am an American who travels on business to Frankfurt very regularly (from Ft Worth, Texas). I was privileged to be with a dear group of Spirit filled believers on Sunday, August 1st. The Holy Spirit was VERY resident in that meeting and I got a download from the Lord regarding Germany. For those who love Germany as do I, read on!

As the service started in worship, I heard and felt beachfront ocean waves gently washing over the church. Everyone was there, just quietly and gently being washed. I sensed the Lord was doing this to the Spirit filled church and also over Germany as a nation. Then I literally smelled the fragrance of oil. I have smelled this many times in the past, but for me it has been a very long time since I last caught this smell. It was an oil of joy and of healing. It was an oil of renewal. The waves represented the fresh waters of healing. Many people were just sitting there letting the waves crash over and then falling into a state of deep healing joy. I knew in my heart that the call over the Spirit filled German Church was very prophetic and revelatory that would result in waves of healing, first for the church body, then for the country and then from Germany towards the nations, in particular… Israel.

I sensed the Lord saying, “Can the course of a nation be changed by just a few people? Indeed yes it has and yes it can.” I saw that many within the German Church have been praying for the destiny of Germany for years. I heard the Lord say, “I have heard your prayers and now I am going to respond.” I also sensed the Lord saying to the intercessors, “Don’t stop and don’t give up now.” I sensed the Lord saying that this was a kyros point in time that a move of the Lord would be coming upon Germany. It is a move of great revelation, of right spiritual authority and leadership, of which is a geographic and generational promise over this land. This move will see old and ancient greatly fortified walls within Germany come crashing down. I saw intercessors in the Spirit filled German Church speaking to the walls and then seeing them crash down. Many walls in place since even the days just after the Risen Christ… and written on these walls: “Old Religious Limitations”, “Old Strategies” and “The Mind of Man.”

I saw a few intercessors in the church that have been wounded in the past being healed and reset on the watchmen’s walls with new and fresh authority and anointing. The current and fresh anointing breaks the current heavy yokes. I saw many old yokes falling off easily.

And the Lord says, “Behold I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?” And, “Of the increase of the Lord, there is no end. The old thing cannot contain the new thing. The old wineskin cannot contain the new wine… “

Regarding Germany, I saw that the enemy has OBVIOUSLY been hard at work perverting its’ geographic and national Godly call, namely spiritual authority to lead this region into spiritual life giving truth, supernatural power and harvest reaping.

Whatever the enemy means for bad, God turns for far greater good, always. The bad of World War II was very bad and a total perversion of Germany’s leadership authority into the world. In God’s timing “the bad” was just yesterday. But there is now about to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Spirit filled church in Germany that will see many churches come out of religious bondage easily. The far greater good that so many have been asking God for is about to happen, first for the church, then for the nation, then for Israel and then for the nations.

The German Holy Spirit filled Church will be moving in healing (a constant fresh flow of new wine…) that will see people healed of illnesses, of mental issues, of deliverance and even the raising of the dead. Pride will turn into humility under the revelation that the Presence will bring. It will be a sign to many who are hungry for real church. Many will come from religious backgrounds and will be healed of demonic religious spirits. Through intercession and declarations that arise out from times of worship intimacy the German Church will see many of them come down… all this within the context of love and non-judgment. They will see and feel the love and be changed.

Can just a few people change the course of a nation? In Acts, in the upper room, just a handful of men women and children got BLASTED in the Holy Spirit. The result was 3000 souls saved in a matter of hours. Synergistic supernatural Spirit filled authority results in masses changed by just a few in a very short time… So it will be with the German Spirit filled church.

What will it look like? I guarantee you it WILL offend the natural senses. Revival is coming to Germany and it will shake the natural with the supernatural. It will invade and then forcibly displace darkness and the darkness will hate it. And the first place one can expect an attack is through forms of judgment and cranial carnal arguments and conclusions from anyone not directly connected to the Revelator, the Holy Spirit. These are the religious spirits that we have been fighting since the completed work of the cross. They’re coming down in Germany, forcibly!

To all who will lead this in Germany, hear this from my heart of humility? So many times I have seen the fires of revival come and just as quickly depart simply because of the offendabilities of leadership when the Spirit does radical things in the meeting.

As goes the Father, so goes Jesus. As goes Jesus, so goes the Holy Spirit. As goes the Holy Spirit so it is that the church leadership is supposed to go! Thence, as goes the leader, so goes the church.

Unfortunately, it has been this connection between the Holy Spirit and church leadership that has been so sadly missing. The church has suffered as a result. It is this disconnect between the Holy Spirit and church leadership that religious spirits primarily target.

In Spirit filled churches across Germany, people will be laid out in the Spirit in waves of joy and healing that, at times, will look like chaos. I have seen it time and again. What seems crazy in the natural is God doing wonders in the spiritual. Leadership then has a choice. “Do I stop what I do not understand, or do I let God help me in this matter?” Too many times what leadership thinks is demonic is really leadership stepping right in the way of God and the one being healed! How grievous is this error!

But as Jesus chose to be the chief cornerstone of the foundation of the church (not the chief joist of the roof…), so it is with those who lead. They link together with Him by the Holy Spirit to be the foundation that holds the church up to God and who then say, “This meeting is yours Holy Spirit. You have your way God. We will not get in your way and we trust you to show us what is evil and what is good.”

John and Carol Arnott of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship know this well, and which is why revival is still strong there. And from that place, thousands of amazing ministries have been launched with millions of souls saved as a result. Whole nations have been changed by the faithfulness of John and Carol Arnott. They are absolute heros of the faith to me!

The religious church leadership cranially chooses to be the coverage or the roof over the church. They filter what goes up to God and filter what God sends down by way of the mind rather than by revelation. When the Holy Spirit is not in control, or worse… blocked, in time He departs. God forever is in the business of offending the offendable. Why? Dependence…

The mind is the battlefield, and so must be yoked to the mind of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Utter and complete dependence and “lower still” for all in any authority… this is the key to revival longevity, and which is critical knowledge for the German Church in the short days ahead! It’s much easier than so many have made it. By the Spirit you will do ten times more, ten times faster, ten times easier…

The Holy Spirit is about to make a move in the Church of Germany. God is looking for a people who will be able to handle the anointing flow. Out of that flow will be healing to the nations, first and foremost, to Israel. You will see it. There will be casting out demons and raising the dead. So it will also be with the least of those in these meetings. Ministries of the prophetic, intercession, revelation knowledge, healing and teams of missionaries will go forth into Germany, into Israel and then certain nations.

For those in leadership in the German Spirit filled Church, I pray that the Spirit of expectation and encouragement will be all over you and all who are on your leadership team. May you be continuously filled and then refilled again in the Holy Spirit to the welling up of eternal testimonies that will go down in the Kingdom annals of the ages as some of the greatest moves of God in human history.

With love and with all humility in Jesus Christ,

T. Scott Morton
tscottmorton@hotmail.com

Worldwide Revival Connected to Israel 4/24/10

We are in a time of great worldwide upheaval in which the Lord is going to be moving supernaturally to prosecute His worldwide end time plan. We are moving into the days where the supernatural of God will no longer be a curiosity; it will be a necessity for Kingdom success.

Intercession

Col 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

These are the days of the restoration of intercession and the watchmen who will move in it. But these watchmen will no longer be operating in the natural; they will be operating in the spiritual. Intercession is shifting form agenda based utterances to “agendaless” utterances that will come directly from the Throne Room by way of the Holy Spirit and angels. These watchmen’s walls have been decimated for hundreds of years. But now the Lord is restoring the wall and calling the watchmen who are covered in Scarlett Red to step up to stand the post. Hand in hand, they are stepping up… one by one, helping each other to step up into position. I see a circle of intercessors hand in hand facing outward and listening then praying. Listening then praying… listening then praying… listening then praying. I see intercessors being healed and then stepping up to their post with joy in the Holy Spirit.

I see intercessors meeting with absolutely no agenda. I see them entering into worship and just having a love fest with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit and angels start to show up. I see people being downloaded into. I see them starting to prophesy the freshly received word. Then I see into the second heaven GREAT damage happening… a sudden great release of God’s great power against His enemies that originated from the mouths of the intercessors. Doors opening and doors closing, doors opening and doors closing, doors opening and doors closing. The opening doors are God’s power, anointing and provision. The closing doors are being slammed in the face of the enemy, preventing him from doing what he has planned.

Gone are the days of intercession based in the thoughts of people, or by “procedure”, or by agenda, or “in order”, all of which are policies of man. 24 hour intercession will be meaningless unless the Lord is given total reign of the meetings. Works of the flesh will have no weight in Kingdom business. The old way will not suffice for the new thing that is about to come to pass.

Israel

There is a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and works of angels that will result in a great harvest that is just a short time away. The coming revival in the world is directly connected to what happens and what is coming in Israel.

Whatever happens to the Jewish people has direct effect on what happens to all of God’s beloved humanity in the world. What happens in the world therefore is directly effected by what happens in Israel. As such, I am convinced that God is bringing revival into Israel; a restoration of “First Church” manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s Presence, of powerful healings and deliverances and even the raising of the dead.

But for the rest of the world, the fullest measure of what the Lord will do in this coming revival will not come to pass until the Jews have moved in revival. Currently God is beginning to pour out His Spirit among Gentiles (and certain for-running Messianic Jews) around the world. This is a beginning that will result in what the Lord will do in the restoration of the Jewish people to their rightful place of leadership in the world.

This starts with the Gentiles, gets respectfully and lovingly served to the Jews, then the full power of it will be poured out into the world for the purpose of this end time revival. I believe that stage one has begun, revival among Gentiles and certain for-running Messianic Jews around the world.

Stage two is next, in which the Lord will minister the fullness of reconciliation between Gentile and Jew, by which the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out in Israel and among Jews around the world. This includes the restoration of the Jews to their neighboring brothers and sisters in Egypt and Assyria (the former Assyria of Iraq and the region around it.) Reference the last part of Isaiah 19.

Stage three is the harvest of unprecedented proportions. Signs, miracles and wonders will happen in such a way that even the most casual of observers will have no choice but to say, “That had to be God!”

This brings me back to intercession, which in these days is critical. How we cover our spiritual leaders in the coming days will be of paramount importance. Intercession needs to be interwoven within all things inside and outside of ministries and congregations.

This scriptural word says it all in regards to the Jews:

Rom 11:11-12 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring.

This last sentence is not just a statement from Paul of a truth, which it is. It is an unchanging and eternal principle of the Lord. It is true, forever and ever. Whatever happens to the Jews affects the world always. When they are cursed, the world is cursed; when they are blessed the world is blessed. When peace happens in Israel, it will affect the world order dramatically and radically. When the Jews get the truth about Yeshua Jesus Christ, there will be a resultant synergistic increase of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit such as what the world has never seen. For us who have experienced revivals of the past, look out! What is coming will be no less than amazing.

Satan knows this, and which is why he is so hard at work against Israel and Israel’s brothers to manifest judgment and hate. But through intercession, this will change!

The Jewish people have always been God’s sounding board. His love and judgment have always been expressed thru these people. What affects them, affects the whole world. God’s word, when established NEVER changes.

If we are loved, they are loved all the more.

If we are judged, they are judged all the more.

If we are scattered, they have been scattered.

If we are blessed, they have been blessed all the more.

If we Gentiles are getting the Spirit of God, and rest assured in this, so will they! And in greater measure than what we have ever seen.

I see a slingshot effect coming. We Gentiles are accelerating. We will grab the hands of our Jewish brothers and thrust them ahead of us. They will then grab our hands and bring us up to full speed in what is about to be released from the heavenlies.

These are exceptional days of the Lord. For now, and in preparation, let us, by way of the Holy Spirit inspect our thinking in regards to the Jewish people, repent and be reconciled, Gentile to Jew. For the intercessors, it’s time to drop all agenda’s, wait upon God, be renewed in full, speak the prophetic word and then watch God do His thing!

Bad things are coming to the world, real bad things. But how much greater are those things of the Kingdom of God that will result. I see the Spirit filled believers, Jews and Gentiles hand in hand dancing through the valley of the shadow of death in a form of perfect love that casts out fear, in total joy, singing and dancing but with great resolve. And the result will be a magnificent harvest of souls; the reward for Jesus suffering that He so much deserves.

Respectfully submitted,

T. Scott Morton
tscottmorton@hotmail.com

John 3:1-12 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

Here was a man, this Nicodemus, who was trying to figure it out. He was thinking. Nothing wrong with thinking, but he was thinking with an earthly mindset which was incapable of understanding heavenly things. He was seriously trying to grasp with his own mental ability the answers to who Jesus was and how one can be reborn.

Conclusion or Revelation

Nicodemus was incapable of hearing as God defined hearing. Hearing and seeing the Kingdom of God is a supernatural ability, not a natural ability. To see and understand the things of the Kingdom of God requires Kingdom knowledge through the revealed Word. Kingdom knowledge only comes by way of Kingdom revelation.

Kingdom revelation comes only by the manifest Presence of the Holy Spirit who comes and brings such knowledge. The Holy Spirit testifies revelation of the Word, who is Jesus. Only those born of the Spirit and baptized into the Spirit can understand it. Only those moving in the manifest Presence can comprehend Kingdom stuff. This is why Jesus speaks of the Spirit before making this statement. Everyone born of the Spirit must move in the Spirit.

The only way to gain spiritual Kingdom truth is to be revealed to it by the Holy Spirit. I cannot conclude Kingdom knowledge by reason, I must be revealed to it.

John 16:13-15 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

The definition of “all” is all! What then does this say of anything that is concluded outside of revelation? If the Holy Spirit is the one who brings all truth, then there is no truth of any Kingdom value at all that has not first been revealed. This is a critical understanding for the days we are in.

We must cease trying to figure God out in our own thinking and let the Revealer of mysteries bring us the truth that Father wants us to understand and that Jesus speaks.

One can read the Bible all day long and gain nothing. One can ask questions all day long, get good answers, and never gain God’s key point of value. One can even see the miraculous of God and reject it. In such cases is what God means when He says,

Deut 29:2-4 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.

So it was with Israel, so it is with all who love the Lord today. We must be given the ability to understand Kingdom truth.

Dan 2:26-29 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these: “As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen.

The Kingdom of God is a mystery. The Holy Spirit is the great revealer of it. And Jesus’ complete work of the cross made the way for us to gain it.

Who can understand it of the human mind? It’s up there and we’re down here. What is real up there is so vastly in excess or superior to what we know down here. But Christ died on the cross so that we would be given the Holy Spirit, the Councilor who would lead us into all truth.

Understanding does not bring faith. Faith brings understanding. The mind, rightly used must first be in submission, and then comes revelation. This is what Christ meant when He said to take on the yoke whose burden is easy. Revelation knowledge leads to an understanding that Kingdom things are easy…

Matt 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I can read the word of God and still completely miss what God is trying to say to me. Even the devil knows the word of God. Rather, it is by faith and revelation that I can understand what the Lord wants me to know. It is by faith I can heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead. It is by faith that we can see thousands of souls saved in a day. It is by faith that we gain revelation of the Kingdom of God and then move in it. None of these things happen by the works or effort of the human mind.

It is by faith that we give God control of our meetings. It is by faith that we let Him lead without fear of the enemy or the flesh and without fear of loosing control. It is by faith that we fall to the floor in His Presence and receive. It is by faith that the joy of the Spirit is released in a place.

But now I hear the Lord saying it again and again, “Why do you not believe?” Today, He speaks this same question to church leadership. Is it not true that the church can only go as far as a leadership has faith?

Faith in works is a dead faith. Faith without works is a dead faith.

Rom 10:17-18 …faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

1 Cor 2:10-16 …but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The word revealed results in a faith that justifies outside of works. It is from this position that faith results in amazing deeds! Everything depends on revelation knowledge and then agreement with it.

Right faith, in alignment with God’s radical ways and supernatural truths, is the only way to reap a supernatural reward. These are the radical men and woman of God that are being forged in this hour. It is a leadership like this that will lead their people into amazing exploits. Stories that will be told throughout the ages will come from a people such as this!

Will we believe for the radical harvest? Will we believe for the sick made well, that demons will flee, and that dead people will come to life? Will we believe that we need the Presence to do these things so that Jesus gains great glory? Or, will we continue in our own thinking and our own dead religious meaningless ways? Will we interpret the sign of the time with our own thinking or by revelation?

God says, “Will it be us apart, or us together? Do you believe?”

For many who are in Heaven and all who are in hell, the answer to this very question will most likely be answered as follows: “I didn’t know. No one told me.”

God’s answer might be, “No, you were told. You just did not have ears to hear.”

For those in hell, how tragic is this error!

But for those in Heaven who did not have ears to hear beyond their salvation, how great was that loss as well! Yes, they had a faith that gained them a home with the Father. But they had no ears to hear the deeper things of God. They never graduated off the baby’s bottle. They did not understand that they could have reaped a great harvest. How great is the loss when God wanted them to go deep into the radical things of the Holy Spirit when they had no ears to hear!

Now here we are on earth, between Heaven and Hell. In a period of time that is as short as a grain of sand is small. It is our hour. It is our time. How will we respond? Will we lay it all down, or will we proceed in the pride of our own thinking?

So What Does it Look Like?

Here is a prophetic word that I know is true and correct:

Miracles are coming, healings are coming, and joy is coming. The dead will be raised, and for those who believe, they will see thousands of souls saved in a day. But what does that all look like? What does the Kingdom of God look like with our natural eyes? No one can see the Holy Spirit. No one can see a cancer or a demon come out of a person. No one can see the inner workings of the Spirit in a dead body that causes it to come back to life! All we see are a people drunk on the new wine of the Holy Spirit! Consider Peter’s response to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost:

Acts 2:14-17 “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

But then we will be confronted with the question, especially those in leadership positions: “Well, what do you think about this manifestation? Do you believe this is me? Do you believe I am doing a radical work or do you just see the outward offensiveness of one who seems drunk?”

God is always in the business of testing our senses and offendability. He is always one to use those most unlikely to be used and to do other than what we might think! But He does this for a very important reason. Among many other issues, Father is checking the leadership to see who is in control.

We have a fleshly brain in our natural body, given to us as a part of our soul. God gave it to us to be used for His purpose. We have been given a freedom to think as we see fit and choose as we see fit. And God never violates this liberty. Oh how critical our choices in this life are! By our choice, we can either invite the Holy Spirit or reject Him.

But God has asked us to yoke our minds to the mind of Christ. We connect our natural minds to the supernatural mind of Christ. It is only then that we can see supernatural things. It is a state of complete dependence. It is a way of doing without an agenda and without the need to be in control. Independence is a deadly lifeless way!

Mark 8:22-25 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

There is such wisdom in this scripture! Jesus saw fit to open this man’s spiritual vision before healing him of natural blindness. How much more important it is for us to be revealed to supernatural Kingdom things rather than to base what we know upon what we see in the natural!

God has called us into a state of complete dependency. Independence is what got Lucifer kicked out of heaven. For the very root of independence is pride.

Why then do we have to figure it out? If I have the answers, I have put God into the little tiny box of religious fleshly conclusion. I have based my conclusions on earthly experiences of what I see, taste, touch, hear and smell… or in the vain imagination of what I presume.

Revelation is of the Spirit through my spirit and then into my brain. That is upright man. Earthly knowledge is of the flesh through my flesh and of my brain, and that is man out of order. Therefore earthly conclusions have no connection to the spirit and thus His Holy Spirit.

We are supposed to be supernatural beings. When we give our minds over to Christ, He starts to show us wonderful things supernaturally. We then gain supernatural revelations and experiences. We then have testimonies that we can speak before the spiritually hungry and thirsty that release power. They receive it in the same way I got it… namely revelation knowledge through the Spirit.

We start to overcome the world so that Jesus can have His harvest; the reward for His sufferings. We start to see miracles, healings and radical understanding that so far exceed the smallness of what we think! God gains glory in ways that we can never muster of ourselves.

God is the revealer of all mysteries.

So then how will we respond to Father God when He asks us, “Why did you not believe?”

Today, there stands before us a choice. God never overrides our right to freely choose. What is before us today is a harvest of one or a harvest of thousands, a hospital of dieing people or an empty hospital, and demonic spirits of death going around making a mockery of God or them fleeing from our cities in seven directions under the power of God’s Presence. What stands before us today is despair or joy…. division or peace…..anger or love….. fear or hope. We have a choice today to live in the poverty of the intellect of the world, or the riches of the knowledge of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Stands before you is your choice, will you believe in faith for these radical ways or question in doubt?

How great is the loss when we in the church silence the supernaturally radical for form of worldly protectionism and order.

How great is the loss when our disbelief results in little real Kingdom understanding and little earthly fruit. How great is the loss when our failure to listen and trust in the supernatural results in a tiny harvest.

How great is the loss when our failure as a church to hear the deep things of God means that many who might have been saved languish in hell as a result.

A Last Thought Regarding Lazarus.

When Jesus was crying at the tomb of Lazarus, I am convinced he was not crying for Lazarus. Jesus was about to restore Lazarus back to life. So for Jesus, there was no loss regarding this Lazarus whom He was about to restore. No, I think Jesus was crying for a different, far more serious reason. I believe Jesus was crying because this dead Lazarus was symbolic of the dead church all down through the ages.

John 11:38-40 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Jesus restored Lazarus because many wanted him to be alive, not the least of whom was Jesus Himself. They grieved over their loss. Lazarus’ work on earth, though, was yet to be done. But Jesus grieved over the far greater loss that He foreknew. I believe that Jesus was crying for all the lost souls all through the years that could have been saved that were not because of generations of dead, Spiritless, lifeless, religious and ineffective church. “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

This is a heavy word. But now is the time to die to everything we hold dear… to all that holds us back. Now is the time to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. It is NEVER too late.

Now is the time to do away with the age old religious chains whose name is engraved on every link…. “OUR YESTERDAYS.” Now is the time to be made hungry and thirsty again for the fresh waters of life that satisfy our thirst and then their thirst.

You know we must be filled first before others can be filled.

We have nothing to fear if the Holy Spirit is leading our meetings. Then we will know where to steer the church God has given us. Then we will know where the attacks are coming from. Then we will gain the anointing power to be used of by God to do great exploits.

There will be thousands of arguments against letting go. The devil is fast at work against the Spirit filled church because he knows that these are God’s greatest weapons against him. Every good sounding argument will be leveled against the radical ways of the Spirit. But just how big is the devil anyway against the power and fierce zeal of our God?

If God is really in control of our meetings, by what power can the devil override God? (Likewise if we are in control of our meetings but God is not, which scenario is the devil more likely to be in control of… God’s meetings or ours?) If God created satan, what of anything might the devil try to do that we should fear? Perfect love casts out fear, and perfect love is supernatural.

Should we not reconcile ourselves to this issue now rather that in Heaven when it will be too late? The final question is this: “Will you choose to have faith for this new thing?”

Submitted with heartfelt humility and love,

T Scott Morton
tscottmorton.wordpress.com
tscottmorton@hotmail.com