Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

I wrote on the Todd Bentley issue and the Lakeland Revival last week. If you have not read it and desire to do so, it is the previous post to this posting. Since this post relates directly to my previous post, I suggest please that you read it first before proceeding with the below posting.

Greetings friends!

I have had a response to my last posting on the Lakeland Revival that asks some very serious questions as to the validity and value of the complete Bible being the singular and only word of God. The brother brings up such a very important question that begs the need to discuss how the Lord speaks and how we hear what the Lord is trying to communicate to us.

His questions are so important in my mind that rather than posting an answer to his response, I would like to speak to this issue in a new posting.

This brother asks, “I hope I am misreading what you’ve written, but it appears you refer to God speaking outside or apart from the truth already revealed in scripture. I believe the Holy Spirit comes to reveal or quicken Gods truth as revealed in His word. To walk down a path that says God’s revelation to me can supersede scripture is, at the very least, dangerous.”

The main questions are these, “Is the Bible the only way that the Lord speaks to us today?” “Can the Lord speak something to us that is not referred to in the Bible?”

Indeed I agree with the brother in principle. The Bible is the complete word of God as to who he is and how he works. We cannot add to or take away from the word of God. To do so enters into the realm of cultic activity. Indeed that is not at all what I suggest in my writing.

True Kingdom revelation knowledge never supersedes the word of God as it is written. It just violates our understanding of the word as we think of it. The big problem then becomes a wrong conclusion followed quickly by man-made definitions of the scriptures that are in various levels of error; all because of an unwillingness to change.

The key is in our understanding of how the Lord wants us to comprehend the word he has given to us. Perception is everything! As to the word and its revelations, God clearly intended us to be in a state of personal and corporate complete dependence to the Holy Spirit to understand it. Without the Holy Spirit, we are left to conclude what the word means. The result can be nothing but error over time. Such arguments eventually lead to divisions that render the Body of Christ all but ineffective in the world.

Process of Revelation

Simply said, the Father wills a thing. Jesus speaks the thing. And the Holy Spirit makes the thing known and then manifested. The Father willed the Bible. Jesus spoke the Bible. But today the Holy Spirit must actively make the Bible known and manifested in our hearts to have its desired effect. In essence, the Bible is all but meaningless to those who do not (or choose not to) gain a revelation of what it means.

The very first scriptural purpose of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus known by revelation to a dyeing soul. When a lost soul picks up the Bible and reads about Jesus, if the heart is ready for change, that soul gets a revelation that the word is true.

Reading the word alone is not enough. The Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus, coupled with a ready heart is the spark that starts faith. Thus, necessary ingredients to start a person’s faith include the will of the Father over his/her life, the word of Jesus and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. God’s will, God’s word and God’s revelation of it all are required. The key to understanding the first of these two processes is the necessary power of revelation knowledge. Therefore our whole walk of faith starts and grows by revelation knowledge. The word and revelation are inseparable as to Kingdom truth. As scripture says in Col 2:2-4 (copied below) all mysteries of truth are hidden in Christ. This means that there must be a means to have those mysteries revealed.

As to the Bible, the word outlines the principles of God and which cannot change or be changed. The Bible is the complete word of God as to establishing benchmarks of who God is. However the Bible does not define what the Lord is doing in the here and now, besides scriptural prophesies that require revelation knowledge to understand. Interestingly, the last book of the Bible is all prophetic visionary materials, named “The Book of Revelation”.

Just before Jesus went to the cross, he said to the apostles (paraphrased from John 14-16 and Acts 1-2), “I will not leave you as orphans; I will give you the Holy Spirit who will lead you into all truth. When he comes he will make me known and then you will go out to all the ends of the earth and testify about me.” Jesus did not say, “Waite for the Bible to be written in full form, only then will you know what to do.”

Outside of revelation, the Bible remains open for interpretation and manipulation by those who are operating in what they think vise what they have been revealed to. The literal word, coupled with what people think, is the very cause of so many divisions among the Body of Christ. It is for this very reason there are so many denominations of Protestant beliefs.

The Bible does not contain God. This is a critical understanding! It means that God can operate outside of what we think whenever he wants to. He does this regularly. Just because I can’t find the literal word that defines what he has just done does not mean it was not God.

Two key scriptures: The first one says that the Lord is always doing a new thing that requires perception (Isa 43:19). The second scripture says that of the increase of his government and peace there is no end (Isa 9:6-7).

The new thing and increase. This means that there are things being done today that have never happened before. It means that when God does a new thing, it is bigger than what it was yesterday. These are key principles that the Bible cannot speak to in literal terms. These things must come by way of revelation. We have to be made known to what these things are through a trusting faith in the Helper (Holy Spirit) who leads us into all truth.

God did not stop doing new things at the point of completion of the Bible. Therefore what has happened since then and in the days ahead will require prophetic revelation for them to be made known.

A Testemony

When the Lord delivered me of smoking many years ago, he did it supernaturally. I literally felt the demons leaving me on the day that happened. After that day, I was completely released from that addiction, never again to touch cigarettes. What left me were demonic spirits of addiction that had right by my choice of sin.

The Bible outlined my sin. It outlined the rights demons have to take hold of me. It outlined that deliverance was available to me thru repentance. What the Bible did not do for me was to define when, were or how that deliverance would happen. Herein is a key point. The Bible speaks to who God is, but which is incomplete as to what, when, where and how God does it.

The Bible says this in Amos 3:7-8, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets…” This is an unchanging principle of the Lord (as are all declarative statements in the Bible). This makes it clear. What is about to happen must first be revealed to the prophet, spoken to the people and then will come to pass. Because of the completed work of the cross we all can prophesy, we all can hear the voice of the Lord. So this principle has been expanded beyond the choice few to us all. The point is that no one in the Body of Christ is exempt from hearing the voice of the Lord!

This makes clear that what God is about to do in our day is not spoken of anywhere else but thru prophetic release. The reason God makes foreknown what he is about to do by way of prophesy is this: The written word is not enough as to the complete picture of God. The whole picture includes more than just who and what he is.

Scripture also says to not go beyond what is written (1 Co 4:6). In this truth, we check everything to see if it aligns with the word of God. When a prophetic word comes that says something new, we check that it aligns with the principles within the word. Indeed this is true, God never violates his character.

However, everything I have seen of the Holy Spirit, including all the wild and radical experiences I have been privileged to experience have all aligned with the word of God; mainly as written in Acts. I am very careful to check alignment with the word. However that alignment must only be checked by way of Holy Spirit revelation combined with the word, not by what I think or by what I believe the word means.

The Bible is incomplete and meaningless without the revelation power that brings light to what it means for us today. The word becomes a tool to fulfill our own agendas when the Holy Spirit is shut out of this revelation process and purpose to reveal Jesus. The Bible reveals Jesus and the Father. It is not a box that we put them into. The religious box we form is what we think over revelation.

The pride of man’s correctness… it starts wars, divides nations, breeds hatred, destroys families and renders people’s hearts cold and calloused! We need the Holy Spirit to walk in one singular spiritual Kingdom truth as the Body of Christ. No wonder why Jesus made this known with such clear words in John 14-16 to the Apostles. He knew that without revelation knowledge, the flesh and the devil would have the means to silence his word to the nations for generations thru good sounding arguments!

Col 2:2-4 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

The spiritless lifeless religious church gives the world nothing but the written word and their interpretation of it. The power to make the word known to those who are dead is all but gone from the word. In such a way, the world gets nothing but fine-sounding arguments.

The Living Bible

I assure you that when the Holy Spirit manifests the heart of the Father and the word of the Son, the Bible comes alive in ways we can never know outside of this great gift called revelation.

I remember the first time I read the word after having been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I had this continuing ringing in my mind. God was speaking to me his desire… “Read my word.” Over and over again this statement rang in my mind. “Read my word.” My response was, “OK Lord, where do you want me to begin?” All I sensed was that the Holy Spirit was telling me to just pick up the Bible and start to read, and to just trust him.

So I bought one of those red One Year Bibles and I began. Oh my goodness! The word literally exploded before me in such an intimate way! It was one revelation release after another. I still have that Bible from back in 1997. It’s in pieces because the binding gave way; all marked with underlines and exclamations of joy. I devoured the Bible from cover to cover. It was such a deep time between me and the Father, with Jesus and with my beloved Holy Spirit! The Bible came alive to me where before it was all but lifeless in my eyes.

Without the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and upon my heart that year, the Bible would not have come alive to me. I came out of the place of having to conclude into a place of being revealed to. I was gaining the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ as outlined in Col 2:2-4! I came out of independence into a place of dependence. Many of my paradigms shifted because revelation knowledge was shining thru. What I knew got changed. What I did not understand became understood. Much was left unknown, but my relationship with Father God and my Jesus just took off and soared! My faith grew ten-fold (read 1 Cor 12!). My love for the whole of God just exploded that year!

New Things of God

Consider this. If God is always doing a new thing as scripture declares, then what is happening right now in the Kingdom of God must be greater and larger than in the day that the Bible was complete. Though what happens today does not exceed the word of God as to principle, what God is doing in this day does. Such things may not be outlined in scripture except thru prophetic scriptures that might speak to these times. Likewise, God chooses to keep things hidden until he desires to make them known. Even in the word contains understandings yet revealed by the Father. Those words wait the right “Kyros” time for revelation to come forth. Kyros is a Greek word meaning a critical point in time.

Does the Lord operate outside of the Bible, indeed yes. Does the Bible define the existence of dinosaurs? Does the Bible define the expansion of the universe? Does the Bible define the existence of life under the seas? Does the Bible define the makeup of the atom? Did the Bible define who this current President would be? It says that God puts authorities in power but does not say who or how or when.

Prophesy and revelation giftings fills in where the Bible leaves off. Likewise, prophesy and revelation knowledge never conflicts with biblical principle.

However, what God does will not conflict with the word of God as HE defines the word, not as WE define it. The very great mystery that we must all come to terms with is what it means to be a “Living Bible”. Indeed the word is meaningless and dead of its own as exemplified by my testimony above. But when coupled with the Holy Spirit who brings understanding to it, it comes alive in every way. The word and the Spirit speak to me thru the word as I need it for the here and now.

Worldly Strategies

Satan knows the word better than any one of us. He uses the word for his gain. He is a legalist. We sin; he accuses us before the Lord according to the word of God.

“See God, here it is in your word! Here is the sin that Scott committed, now give me the rights you have outlined in your word.” Satan accuses us day and night with God’s word in hand (Rev 12:10). You see, the devil uses the Bible outside of God’s intent. He uses it to his purpose not God’s.

Are we not doing the very same thing if we reject supernatural revelation and interpret the word by our own intelligence? Could it be the very same with the religious lifeless church that rejects the Holy Spirit in its midst? Who defines the Bible if revelation knowledge has not come to reveal the word? The answer is the mind of man over the mind of Christ, and which is what I spoke of in my last writing. This is independence from God. It is a deadly way.

We can quote scriptures all day long and be absolutely right as to the literal meaning of it and be completely wrong as to the heart of the Father for us. This is what Paul was warning the Romans with (Romans 9:30-33) when he warned against works over mercy (by faith). The literal word drives us by what we do. The spiritual revelation of that word drives us by the revelation of who we are in the Father’s eyes.

Those bent on the literal word cry out for judgment. Those bent on gaining the Holy Spirit in their midst cry out in mercy and then find the face of Jesus Christ! Sin has its price, but we are so fast to forget that sin’s price was paid out of mercy and love. Religious people slam the word down on the desk and point the accusing finger to those in error when all the while the word is really pointing the loving finger of truth towards our own hearts.

Please know that I am by no means interested in deviating from the word of God. However, what I speak to is the revealed word, not the literal “logos” written word. “Rhema word”, or revealed word, is what drives the Spirit filled church. It is full of stuff that seems out of line with how the world thinks.

Read John 16:2-3 very closely. Jesus warns of the day that active Spirit filled Christians will be killed by church parishioners (those of the synagogue) who think they are offering a service to God. Jesus said of these killers, “They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.”

Those who cling to the written word alone, outside of revelation knowledge are the ones Jesus speaks of here. They define what they read by their own intelligence. When they see the radical things of the Lord, they come against it because they cannot understand it or define it. They say, “I don’t see that in my Bible.” In time, concern leads to division, division to hate, and then hate leads to violence. For those whose hearts are filled with pride, very great is the danger!

The literal word starts the thing. But the revealed word grows us up. The literal word is open for interpretation, the revealed word is not! The literal word leads to division when defined by the mind of man, but the revealed word establishes one truth and unity in the Holy Spirit.

We have to decide which road to go on. The wide highway that leads to destruction or the narrow winding spiritual road that leads to the Kingdom of God.

One last thought:

The world wants thoughts that can be defended in worldly terms. “If you can’t defend it, then it is either patently untrue or simply without credibility.”

But I cannot defend what is supernaturally given, revealed and activated. I don’t know how or with what worldly terms to do so. When a dead man is raised to life, how am I to explain that? (Mt 10:8) When someone is shaking in the Holy Spirit in a trance like state, how am I to explain that? (Acts 10:10, 11:5 and 22:17) All I am left to do is to steer someone to the word in hopes that they will see it by faith.

The Kingdom of God is pure supernatural existence. It’s all about what is unseen that is important.

I cannot defend God, he must defend himself by revelation. I can read it in the word all day long and never get it. This is why faith is so critical. Ultimately I must ask myself the question, “Am I operating in what I believe or in what I have dependently been shown.” These two ways are completely opposite of each other. They are in enmity with each other!

Therefore faith is critical to see anything of the Kingdom of God. I can’t explain it away by what I think or see in the natural. Nor can I do so with good sounding arguments that fall short of what really is supernatural unseen truth. All I can do is to act with my heart, take on the yoke of the mind of Christ and then respond with faith when the Lord asks me, “Did you see that? Do you believe?”

So long as we walk on the face of this earth in this lifetime, we will always be asked these two questions. God wants to know, is our faith in him or in our own ability to conclude? Therefore the word of God is but a guide to truth and only a very necessary part of the whole of God. It is not a box to place God in. Nor is it a tool to fulfill the agendas of any person.

To all who read these words: May the Lord richly bless you in the fullness of his heart for you and in your faith filled ministry works. I pray the fullness of love and the Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus love for you and the Father’s heart for you just as you are.

With love,

T. Scott Morton

It’s amazing to me how fast the religious are to denounce a sovereign move of God with the very first error they can find to justify their own preconceived viewpoints. Such is the case in rampant form regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival.

One writer says, “I’m sad. I’m disappointed. And I’m angry.” I wonder just when those feelings began? I would guess long before this news of the Bentley’s issue was announced.

Such is the case with so many people in and out of the Body of Christ who have hated this thing from the start. (However, it is to the Body of Christ that I write.) These are people who will not yield the mind to be yoked to the Mind of Christ.

Conclusion Over Revelation

Those who think and conclude without revelation knowledge will always come against any move of God. The mind of Christ and thus the knowledge of the Kingdom of God is by its nature totally supernatural. The minds of people are carnal and worldly by nature and that by cause of the fall. Our minds are in enmity with the knowledge of the Kingdom of God lest we become one in unified dependence to the mind of Christ. The mind of the flesh can be nothing but in enmity with the mind of Christ.

What we think therefore must be in dependant alignment with the mind of Christ. The very first spiritual lesson we learn after salvation must be the very great wisdom and totality of dependence in every area of our walk. The only way to graduate off the baby’s bottle of basic truths into the consumption of rich spiritual foods starts and ends with dependence.

Indeed our walk in this life is filled with experiences of cul-de-sacs and wrong turns that we learn from and grow with. We all make mistakes in our lives. I am here to testify to that! Certainly the vast majority of these mistakes we make are born from events of independent thinking, or better said independent conclusion. “Well I was certain I was going down the right road but now see that my choice was in error.”

Once made known to error, we either turn in humility towards change or we dig in our heals in pride and stay the course. For the humble of heart, they turn in God’s love and mercy and repent, and then they take the revealed correct road and grow. But by its nature, what the Lord reveals of the Kingdom of God is radical and formerly unseen. To accept this kind of change requires trust and faith. It requires a person to be willing to move into what one has yet to see. Faith takes us off the map of what we know into uncharted territory. It is much more comfortable to stick with what one knows. This is the second biggest blocker to change that I see.

The greatest blocker to change I see is pride. There are so many in the Body of Christ who are certain of their rightness. Even when confronted by truth, they do not see it. Independence has given way to pride. Revelation knowledge is all but scoffed at. “I’ll take it to my grave that I am right.” They are the ones who speak the loudest of their rightness. They defend it to the hilt. They have no ears to hear. They’re stuck in what they see, taste, touch, hear and smell. They are stuck in what they have concluded. What a deadly way.

Unyoked thinking results in fleshly error every time. It’s about what we think rather than what God thinks. Those who have to formulate an answer to whatever God does are sure to enter into error, because what is concluded by the mind of man cannot be based in revelation knowledge. Conclusion must follow revelation, not precede it.

The greatest minds in the Body of Christ are the ones who understand the concept of supernatural revelation. No one is perfect at it. But those who are the closest to Kingdom truth understand that it comes by way of revelation knowledge in times of intimacy and relationship. Just reading the Bible is not enough. They understand that what is true in God’s mind so far outweighs what we conclude as truth here on earth. They understand that in order to be right in the Kingdom is to have first heard and then concluded.

But how is one to discern whether the voice they are hearing is that of the Holy Spirit or of the devil and the flesh? The answer is in experience that starts with faith. Those who experience what they read in the Bible are the ones who hunger and thirst for more of the Lord. They are the ones who hear the voice of love and know instantly the difference between the voice of love and light as compared to the voice of hate and darkness. But it takes the experience to even first hear the voice of the Father speaking thru the Son and by way of the Holy Spirit. One must be baptized in the Holy Spirit to know.

We have been hearing the voice of satan from the very beginning. We don’t need the Holy Spirit to hear the voice of the devil. It’s on our TV’s, on the radio, on street signs and in our every day walk on this earth. In the good sounding arguments we hear the voice of the devil.

But when the Holy Spirit has been invited in, we learn quickly to hear the “now” word of Jesus. By the Holy Spirit, the Father’s will is made known. In that moment and only after that moment can we even discern what is right as to the Kingdom of God. Those operating outside of the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit have no means of connection to the Kingdom of God. As such, without the Holy Spirit we speak arguments that can only be of the mind of man or the flesh or worse.

Now, more than ever, the church must come to terms with their religious error and be filled with the Holy Spirit. It does not make us perfect as evidenced by our dear brother Todd Bentley. I would add myself to that list. But what it does do is open our spiritual ears to hear Kingdom truth. It opens our eyes to the lies.

What is being come against in this whole Lakeland Revival issue is not the error of Todd Bentley. I tell you this… what is being come against is the very outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

If the church filled with the Holy Spirit results in great damage to satan’s works, does it not stand to reason that wherever the Holy Spirit is manifesting that satan will come against that with the greatest vigor?

I tell you this, only those moving deep in the Presence of God understand the difference between what is the argument of the world versus the truth of the Kingdom of God. It can be no other way. Jesus died for the release of this kind of revealed knowledge. He said, (paraphrased John 14-16)… “Unless I go, the Holy Spirit will not come. But if I go, he will come. I will not leave you as orphans. I will send the Holy Spirit who will lead you into all truth.” His death on the cross afforded us this great gift. To deny the need for revelation knowledge is to cheapen the cross of Christ!

It is impossible to know the heart of the Father unless you hear it. To read it only starts faith. But then it must mature by way of hearing! Those who operate in the flesh of what they think cannot be hearing from God. Since they fear error, they shut it all out and conclude independently. Key word… independence.

Mental independence is a sin. It is a form of pride. The very same thing that got satan kicked out of Heaven.

If the Holy Spirit is the Helper who leads us into all truth according to John 16, then there is no truth unless we are first revealed to it. This kind of supernatural revelation comes thru times of dependant relationship.

Regarding the Bentley issue, currently we are mostly hearing from all the independent thinkers.

Indeed, God gave me a mind to think with. However, God gave me this mind to first choose to die to it and then use it. True humility starts with the dyeing to self. This dependent way is all about humility. Then and only then can truth be made known and subsequently understood.

Those who reject the supernatural need to hear the voice of God are not hearing from God. Far greater is the danger from those who are not connected to the Holy Spirit than those who are. Don’t listen to their arguments, however good sounding they may be?

Simply said, those who are coming against this Lakeland Revival are those who remain under the law and who do not understand the power of the Cross of Christ that opened the door to grace. They are the ones fast at work placing the emphasis on performance over forgiveness. They are the ones in the business of promoting the mentality of what we do as of higher value than who and what we are.

It’s not about what we do that makes us the right Christian for the job. It’s about what’s in our heart coupled with what is in God’s heart. My goodness, if I were charged for every sinful error I made, I’d long ago been dead and in hell.

I wonder when was the last time any of these critical writers committed a sin? Notice they are the ones casting the first stones at Todd.

I wonder how flawless John the Baptist was? I wonder how flawless was Moses? I wonder how flawless was Mary, the mother of Jesus was (who thought her son was nuts prior to the Cross)? I wonder how flawless Saul of Tarsus was while he was ordering the killing of Christians. I wonder why God chose to use Paul anyway? Even after Paul’s conversion, he spoke of himself like this (paraphrased):

“I keep on doing the things I should not and don’t do the things I should. What a wretched man I AM.” How sinless do you think Paul was?

Don’t buy in to the arguments of those whose real motivation is to disqualify what they do not “understand.” Don’t believe the words of those who cannot control what they cannot put their finger on?

Rest assured, God will always challenge his people by the unknown manifestation. I have seen it time and again. God does something radical and then always asks the question, “Well then Mr. Smarty-pants, what do you think about that?”

God can show up in a rock if he wants to. He did that with Moses in the desert. It’s not about any man. Yes there is the chain of authority to which Jesus adhered and which is part and critical of normal church life. Indeed it is true that as goes the leader, so goes a church. But the leader is not the church. Jesus is the church. The Father is the church. And the Holy Spirit validates the church.

Those who put their trust in Todd Bentley (or any leader for that matter), who would accuse Todd with judgments… they are the ones who are wrong, and for the very same reason. They place their trust in man over God.

We live under grace not the law. Anyone who passes judgment on Todd is doing so under the law and is out of line. There is no one on earth yet adjudged. Therefore, who is any person to do so?

Revival Remains

I have read in many commentaries that say, “Lakeland WAS…” as if it’s all over and woe is us. No, Lakeland IS. It is not about a place, not about a church and not about any person. In all these ridiculous “commentaries” I have read about Todd in the last few days, there has been a connecting of the success of this revival to Todd (a person). Ultimately, it has nothing to do with Todd. Todd was willing. Todd was… and remains a vessel that God can use. But Todd is no bigger, no better nor is he more holy than any mature Spirit filled Christian in the Body of Christ. God just up and chose Todd to start this thing.

Does anyone think that God was not fully aware of Todd’s marriage issues before revival was birthed back in April?

Maybe God is trying to tell us something in all of this? I have a feeling I know what that little something might be. God will not give his glory to any person.

Those who discount the Lakeland revival, or say “it’s ended” because of the error of a person have lost focus on Who revival is. Revival has just begun!

What was started in Lakeland has spread and will continue to spread to the nameless faceless people who understand that when we meet, we do so to meet with God, not to please people.

What is being exposed here is not the sin or error of Todd Bentley, but the great error of those who believe that God comes only to and only thru the greatest and most holy people. Meanwhile, just now, the religious are bent on shackling God’s Presence by way of the flesh or demonic influence thru this instance. They are fast at work disqualifying this revival thru good sounding arguments not because of what has transpired between Todd and his wife, though that is the basis of the argument, but because of what the Holy Spirit is doing that they cannot define.

Consider this. If where the Spirit of the Lord there is liberty, then what resides in a place where the Spirit of the Lord is not? The answer is… bondage. Now if this is true, then the primary strategy of the devil is to put out the fire of God’s Presence wherever it rises up. This is the very history of revival all thru the years. The fire starts. Someone makes a mistake. The fire gets put out. You can go down for generations of revivals and find the same results… the same old tried and true satanic fleshly tactic.

The Holy Spirit will not show up to those who do not believe. Get the world to disbelieve by way of accusation and good sounding arguments and the fire dies because people stop believing. That’s the strategy in a nutshell.

To those who bring judgments, anger and criticism, I must ask this question. Just who are they working for if they are bringing criticism and judgment to this or any validated revival? When so many people have been healed, delivered and raised from the dead, confirmed, who is being criticized when one brings judgments and accusations? I can answer with this… it is not Todd.

Who was it that healed these many thousands of people? Again I can answer… it was not Todd. His faith and obedience to the Father was certainly a key, but it was not Todd who performed the healing.

We’re warned in the Bible and must be warned once again to be wise as to what is right and wrong in the days ahead. But I submit to you that were the error resides is not in where the spiritual hungry seekers traffic as the religious critics would suggest. The error is found with the religious Spiritless church, where the Holy Spirit does not reside. And great is that religious error!

Revival is here and here to stay. But revival is going to be about the Presence of God and nothing else. God just will not give his glory to any person, not to Todd, not to Paul, not to Moses nor any person. From the least of these to the heights of leadership, God get’s all the glory. Personally in my life, I want him to have it. Anyone who fears the Lord understands… the Lord and creator of all things deserves it! I know this for certain… Todd knew this well. He asked for no glory. He took no glory. People glorified him.

Now as to the furtherance of revival I am not worried at all except for where faith dies. It is my prayer that anyone who reads this would remain in faith for the radical experiences of the Lord.

As for Todd and his dear wife, I pray with brotherly love and heartfelt concern and compassion that they can make this work. I will also pray that the meddling of the loud masses will not work to prevent the healing they both need. With all my heart and love to these two dear servants of Christ!

With profound respect to Todd and the deepest heart of love to all who poured their hearts out in loving submission at Lakeland and who now fight for revival and the open manifestations of the Holy Spirit in their midst,

T. Scott Morton

I have found many times that what the Lord leads me to speak to is born from many years of wrestling with it in my own life. What I speak to here is indeed an issue I constantly go before the Lord with. He is always working on my prideful and cold heart! So as I write, know that I am speaking to myself as much as I am speaking to you. With that in mind… read on!

Whatever I think that is not in alignment with what the Spirit says to the churches combined with the revealed word of God (Bible) becomes the cause and substance of spiritual blindness.

Everything I have concluded outside of revelation knowledge is done so in independence rather than dependant revelation.

This is sin.

When I follow a theology that has not been given by the Holy Spirit, the devil gains a right against me to blind me to deeper Spirit given truths that God is trying to give me. A wall has been placed in my outer man (soul). I become unable to see deeper truth even if it stands right before me. What I am able to spiritually see becomes limited by what I think.

This is the primary tool and strategy of Satan, to dupe the world into false theologies by conclusion rather than revelation. Good sounding arguments born from the pride of what I think rather than revelation words that are born out of intimacy with the Heavenly Father thru Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

What is real in Heaven is absolute. In most cases it is absolutely contrary to what is “real” to the world. Heaven and Hell are absolute. Salvation and damnation are absolutes. The Bible is absolute in its literal “logos” written word. But to understand these absolutes in the fullest measure requires revelation knowledge born from a state of complete dependence. There is no other way to gain deep truth but by revelation knowledge that is expressly given by the Holy Spirit, “the Counselor who leads us into all truth.” (NIV)

Humility leads to a mind yoked in deep submission to the mind of Christ. Therefore the right way to use my mind is to first put on the yoke of the mind of Christ, and then to gain what he knows thru intimacy with him.

God gave me a mind to use. However the right way he intended for me to use it is to be in submission to him first! I must first die to my mind and then use it. The only way to be truly in submission is to start with a heart of humility. This is a lesson I am constantly learning!

Whatever I conclude must first be revealed to me. Not by voices in my head but by The Voice of The Word, namely the Holy Spirit who speaks the word into my being. There are NO other ways to truth.

Good sounding arguments are like an insidious disease. They come on subtly and hidden, and are almost unnoticed. Independent of the mind of Christ, they sound good but are devoid of any value as to the Kingdom of God. If I cling to what I know, before I recognize it such arguments become lethal and blinding.

Oh for the ongoing manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our churches that would shed light upon the lies of good sounding arguments! How great would the church become in manifest power and reaping if this were so! The only thing standing in the way of such power is the lack of willingness to die to self in manifest humility!

In the Kingdom of God, there is no way to gain revelation knowledge but thru the ones who are humble of heart. They are the ones who hear from the Lord. They are the ones who gain the deep most intimate things from the Throne Room of God. They are the ones who will move in mighty exploits here on earth!

There is something about the humble people of the Lord that draws the heart of the Father near. Humility is the means by which I gain entry into the inner courts of God. I am nothing so he can be everything to me and then thru me! This is plainly written in the Scriptures of the Bible.

Isa 66:2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

Dan 10:12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.

Zeph 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the LORD’s anger.

Luke 1:52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:5b-7 All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

The only road to truth and Kingdom knowledge is the road of selflessness and humility, in as much as we are able. The Lord says this again and again, “…lower and lower still.” We must become less and lower in humility so that He can be made known through us.

Ultimately, the road to salvation starts with humility. For it is true that one cannot see the need for a Savior unless one agrees to the need for him! Humility says I am a person in need. Then humility allows my heart to have faith. The result is a true love that is born from humility. True love is selfless. Therefore, true love requires true humility. If I am to love my Savior like I do, I must love him selflessly.

Even in marriage, success can be summed up in one word… selflessness. Those who have great marriages understand this truth.

The world hates this humility argument, because it sounds weak and helpless. It sounds like the way of slavery. But the truth is that humility leads to great liberty, not just for the ones who operate in it but also for the ones who receive love from it. True humility leads to an eternity in Heaven and a release to be used of on earth. And therefore, selflessness is the way to truth. Any other way is good sounding and deadly.

It is better to give than to receive. This starts with humility.

Humility leads to a selfless love that establishes a measure of intimacy by which we come to know our lover deeply. And so humility leads to love, which leads to intimacy that leads to revelation. Revelation leads to a desire to give to my lover my all. And so as to the Kingdom of God, love results in the reaping of a harvest of souls in manifesting power.

Therefore, humility leads us into power and great effectiveness. It is not weakness as the world would say, but humility is power that overcomes the lies of this world and that establishes the way by which the Kingdom of God manifests on earth.

Col 2:2-4 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

Rom 1:16-28 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

Since humility leads to the revelation of what is Kingdom truth, the lack of humility leads to a depravity of the mind. In whatever measure we lack humility is the measure we are unable to see and move in the deep things of God for his purposes. The Holy Spirit awaits the humble of heart to come and express supernatural Kingdom truth by supernatural Kingdom revelation.

John 16:13-14 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.

Gal 1:10-12 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

To please people seeks to be seen and heard in order to gain something on earth for selfish purpose. But to please the Lord is selfless and rooted in love. It seeks to give rather than receive. It seeks the Kingdom of God over the Kingdom of this world to gain what is unseen over what is seen.

We must constantly revisit this need to go lower and lower of self with a heart of humility. In doing so, we will love the lost with a great love they can feel. In doing so we will gain a great harvest for Jesus Christ.

“Lord humble my heart, because I choose this lower way of self. I love you Father! I love you Jesus and I love you Holy Spirit! This day I choose to go even lower still so that you may be more greatly seen thru me. To you be all the glory and all the praise! Amen.”

“Why did you not believe?”

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. He was seriously trying to grasp in his own thinking and in his own mind the answers to who Jesus was and how one can be saved.

Consider the difference between conclusion and revelation.

This Nicodemus was incapable of hearing as God defined hearing. Hearing and seeing the Kingdom of God is a supernatural ability. To see and understand the things of the Kingdom of God requires Kingdom knowledge. Kingdom knowledge comes only by way of Kingdom revelation.

Kingdom revelation comes only by the manifest Presence of the Holy Spirit who comes and brings such knowledge. Only those “born of the Spirit” can understand it. Only those who move 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 moves in the Spirit. They understand what Jesus meant when He spoke of the Spirit’s goings and comings.

The only way to gain spiritual Kingdom truth is to be revealed to it by the Holy Spirit. I cannot conclude Kingdom knowledge by my 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! All Kingdom truth comes by way of revelation knowledge. We can’t figure it out. Therefore we must cease trying to figure God out in our own thinking and let the Revealer of mysteries bring us the truth that He wants us to understand.

If the Holy Spirit is the one who brings all truth, then there is no Heavenly Kingdom truth that is any truth at all that has not first been revealed.

One can read the Bible all day long and get nothing out of it. One can ask questions all day long, get good worldly answers, and never gain God’s key point of value. In such a case is what Jesus means when He says:

Mark 8:18a “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?”

Only by the Holy Spirit of God thru a humble heart will we gain spiritual truth expressed in spiritual terms!

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. Who can understand it by the mind of man alone? It’s up there and we’re down here. What is real up there is so vastly in excess and so greatly 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.

We cannot understand by what we think. We understand by dependence. We can only understand by what we are revealed to by faith. Understanding does not bring faith. Faith brings understanding.

I can read the word of God all day long and still completely miss what God is trying to say to me. Even the devil knows the word of God. Rather, it is by a dependent faith 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.

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. 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 Biblical exploits. Stories that will be told throughout the ages will come from people such as this!

How then will we answer the question that is even now being asked, “Do you believe?” 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? Or, will we continue in our own thinking and own dead religious meaningless ways? Will we interpret the sign of the time with our own independent thinking or by dependent revelation?

God says, “Will it be you alone, 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 would most likely be, “No, you were told. You just did not have ears to hear.”

By faith, we have ears to hear. But like Nicodemus, those that try to figure it out in the mind, cannot hear. Understanding follows faith.

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 is the 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 but they had no ears to hear!

Regarding the church, and this is the heart of what I am hoping to write:

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 and millions of souls in a month.

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! HA!

How quick we are to criticize what we do not understand. But who can understand the Kingdom of God with natural eyes?

But when the Spirit falls, we will be confronted and tested with this question: “Do you believe this? Do you believe I am doing a radical work or do you just see the offensiveness of one who is drunk on the new wine of God?”

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. Oh how critical are our choices in this life!

But God has asked us to yoke our minds to the mind of Christ. He has called us into a forever state of dependence upon his Holy Spirit. In this way, we connect our natural minds to the supernatural mind of Christ. It is only then that we can see supernatural things. It is a complete dependence. 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 is it 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. There is no humility in independence.

Why then do we have to figure it out? If I have the answers, I have put God into the little tiny box of my religious mind. 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 might presume.

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 experiences. We then have testimonies that we can speak before the spiritually hungry and thirsty. They receive it in the same way I got it… namely revelation knowledge by the Spirit.

We start to overcome the world so that Jesus can have the 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 is the revealer of all mysteries. So how then will we respond when the Father asks us, “Why did you not believe?”

Today, there stands before us an “eternal” choice. What stands before us is a harvest of one or a harvest of a thousand. What stands before us today is a hospital of dieing people or an empty hospital. What stands before us are spirits of death going around making a mockery of God, or these same demonic spirits 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 this world, or the riches of the knowledge of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.

Stands before us today is our choice. Will we believe in faith for these radical ways or question in doubt and judgment?

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

How great is the loss when our disbelief results in little 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.

Consider the story of 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, Jesus was crying for a different, far more serious reason. I believe Jesus was crying because this dead Lazarus was symbolic of the dead lifeless 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. 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.

I wonder how many church leaders today are crying out right now that Jesus would come and restore their dead churches? How I hope for this brokenness of self so that Father can have the church he desires!

How recognizable is the smell of death to those who hunger for life!

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 again 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.

Now today the choice is ours. 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 be made known to 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 and God is not, what scenario is the devil more likely to be in control of… God’s meetings or ours?) If God created satan, then what of anything he might try to do should we fear? Perfect love casts out fear, and perfect love is supernatural. And if Perfect Love is manifesting in the room, what devil can stand in that place?

Now then, we all will be asked this question, “Will you believe?” Should we not reconcile ourselves to this now rather that in Heaven when it will be too late?

2 Cor 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

How then will we choose? Will it be in selfless dependent heartfelt faith or by the independent intellectual arguments of a worldly mind?

5/7/08

Well now I am totally wrecked once again! HA! It’s a good thing to be wrecked! It is so good this wonderful feeling of “nothingness”! I have once again come to the end of myself! HA!! I have once again come to the end of what I think, simply because what I have just experienced is outside my capacity to think! And I realize again that I cannot figure out or define what God does among those who believe for the radical. I am just wrecked! All I am left to say is, “Come Lord Jesus, come!”

As I write, it is Wednesday, May 7th, 2008. My wife, daughter and I have just returned from Lakeland, Florida and the Todd Bentley/Fresh Fire Revival. We spent four days on the road and the weekend in place just hungry for more of the Lord. We knew this Revival was a wonderful outpouring from the Lord. When we got there, we dove right in. The Spirit met us in power. We saw wonderful healings and radical miracles like body parts growing back, the dead being raised (2 by that date) and gold teeth being installed supernaturally. Even my dear mother-in-law was deeply touched by the Holy Spirit. She had gold dust manifest on her body as she was being prayed for. It was just awesome! We were rendered wasted on the ground time and time again in a state of drunkenness in the Holy Spirit. We met people from revivals all around the world.

We had divine appointments again and again on each of the three days we were there. We received and gave out as the Lord lead.

David Vaughn from Wales, England was with us. My old revivalist friend, Jim Samuelson from Fargo, North Dakota was with us. Many revivalists from around America and around the world were in attendance this last weekend. We were prophesied over by some of the most anointed prophets in the world. Every single word was a confirmation and an increase of former words we have received. The Spirit was moving so strongly in the place that we were on the floor as much as we were in our seats!

David Vaughn regularly tested my level of offendability in the flesh! Indeed David carries a mantle of the Welsh Revival upon him. As he laid hands on us, as did so many people in each meeting, we went deeper and deeper in the Holy Spirit and in the love of the Father. Jesus was magnified to great heights! Meanwhile we fell lower and lower of self under the weighty revelation that God is God and we are not.

Now the Spirit of the Lord has been moving in power around the world for many years. Since the end of World War II, there have been certain outpourings of the Holy Spirit that have been preparatory for these end times. Though there have been great revivals before then, there seems to have been a shift to end time purpose since the end of WW II. World War II was the war of the ages and which was a manifestation of the natural that came forth because of the great spiritual battle that was going on in the Heavenlies. Somehow I think that the enemy was being served notice back then that the end times were close at hand.

I have been in this outpouring of the Spirit since 1997. But this particular release of God’s Spirit in Lakeland has come with a purpose far greater than just a few Godly people getting healed, delivered and blasted in God’s manifesting love! No, we were getting set up to be sent out! This manifestation is the great outpouring that has been prophesied for years that would reap a great end time harvest.

A Vision

End vision.

Indeed we do not know the day or hour of Christ second coming, but we can and should know the season of it. Without a doubt, we are in the season of the end times.

Now it stands to reason that if by the power of the Holy Spirit a great harvest will be reaped, we must know that every accusation, effort, strategy, tactic and plan of satan will come against such outpourings to prevent them from coming to pass. For it is true that by the power of the cross we can see thousands of souls won in a day, so it is that this power is what the enemy of God would come against the most.

Now even at these Lakeland meetings, I saw people who were clearly offended at the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that were happening before their very eyes. I was shocked to see how most received, but some rejected what they were seeing as a work of man’s flesh. This greatly saddened me.

Lord! Let it never be said of me that I got in the way of God to stop others from pressing in to deep relationship and fullness with the Father!

Now this must be spoken of, and in a word of knowledge and prophetic sort of way!

A Prophetic Word

If the Spirit filled church will love the spiritless church then many will be saved. In such a way, many dry places will be filled. But if the Spirit filled church responds in anger, the divide will become great.

God will forever be checking the condition of our hearts to see if we will become less so that God can be great among us. And so we who are going deep in the Lord must know and be willing to take the slap and respond in love. Do not be surprised by judgments, accusations and offenses taken up by those who call themselves people of God. We must remember, it is not the mind that makes us people of God, it is our hearts. By our hearts, we know what is true. So it is that by our hearts, do we respond.

Rom 12:17-21 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let no one steal your joy because they accuse you of error. Let no one pull you down because of condescending judgment. Be submitted to your church leadership who are themselves submitted to the Holy Spirit of God. But do not allow the spoken or written words of those who pass judgment against Revival hold you back from the radical stuff God is now calling you into.

End Word

Taking Ungodly Offense

In John 6, Jesus was speaking to the disciples regarding the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. They did not understand the teaching because they needed the revelation of what this radical teaching meant. When revelation is missing, the mind takes over. When the mind takes over, interpretation error is sure to follow.

John 6:60-64 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? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.

Revelation does not require the mind, it requires the heart. God shoots right past the mind to check the condition of the heart. Then and only then does God bring revelation knowledge. The results are mental judgments against anything that one does not believe.

Where the spiritless church is concerned, these mental judgments arise from man’s interpretation of the literal “logos” written word.

Man has fallen into the trap of taking on the responsibilities of God to judge the church.

These are the people who are quick to quote:

1 Thess 5:21-22 Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

They neglect the revelation of the scripture that precedes it:

1 Thess 5:19-22 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything . Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

Today’s church has so divorced itself of the manifestation of the supernatural that it rejects the restoration of, or any manifestation of the supernatural.

We should know that there is power in passing judgment. But that power only applies to the world. In the Kingdom of God, the only one with the power to pass judgment is God Almighty. Whatever judgments man might pass against the church is powerless against the church so long as the church remains in the Spirit of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, we must not make any judgment, lest we gain the punishment due the world. But we must love, allowing the Father to judge.

Woe be it to those who pass judgment against the real moves of God! Here are many scriptures that directly speak to this issue:

James 4:11-12 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Rom 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written:

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

Oh my goodness, let it never be said of me that I have placed a stumbling block at the feet of those who are doing the radical stuff of God! And Father forgive me for ever speaking a word of presumptive judgment against anyone who has moved in the radical of the Lord!

A Warning

Those who are passing judgments against what is a real and true move of God must be warned. If the Spirit of the Lord manifests in power to bring healing, wonders and strange manifestations of drunkenness and seeming disorder to the people of God, who is it that one comes against if one passes judgments against such things? The answer is the Holy Spirit. The result of such a judgment is to accuse the Holy Spirit of bringing a false manifestation, or, to accuse that which actually is of the Holy Spirit as not being of the Holy Spirit. That is a form of blasphemy. One definition of blasphemy is this: “The act of insulting or showing contempt for God.” Merriam-Webster

People who publicly pass judgment against a true move of the Lord are showing a form of contempt. Contempt is defined as: “A willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a… judge.” Merriam-Webster

Jesus spoke a fearful and powerful word of warning in the following:

Matt 12:30-32 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 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.

It might be argued that a person is acting in what he or she thinks is right, not knowing the truth. Thus in not knowing, they are not responsible for their own actions. But I say to you that people who persecute do so in the pride of the flesh. Those that persecute, in most cases, do so from a place of inner woundedness. They judge from a place of presumption. If they knew God, they would never do such a thing. If they knew God, they would know the truth. See John 16:1-4 below…

These are the people who warn us about the “strange teachings” talked about in Hebrew 13. But they do not include the context and revelation of the scripture that speaks only to false teachings of the full and basic Gospel of Christ.

Heb 13:7-10 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

If we are to imitate the faith of those who went before us, are we not to do what Jesus did? Are we not to be like the twelve Apostles? Are we not to manifest the same things that came to these Apostles at Pentecost? Are we not to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead? Are we not supposed to be seeing 3000 souls save in a day, as was the product of Pentecost? I tell you this; I will imitate the faith of Todd Bentley way before I imitate the faith of the religious.

We must remember the words of Jesus Christ, as written in John 16. These will be the people we are warned about:

John 16:1-4 “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

That’s how far an offense will take a person. It starts with disbelief. It then manifests into a judgment. The judgment manifests into hatred. Hatred manifests into murder. This is how the Saints become martyred.

Of these things, the Body of Christ should have no part. We must know that the hatred leveled against us must be answered with love, lest we fall into the snare of the trap of strife and division. The devil is always in the business of tempting the Body of Christ to fall into this trap.

If I am nothing and He is everything, whenever an offense comes my way, it is not my offense. It’s not my offense to be offended about. It deflects off of me to the One who is everything. If God truly owns all of me, it is He that has the right to be offended, not me. True humility means that all I am is his. Therefore I have no right to carry an offense. It’s not my offense.

As such, when we commit an act of offense to someone of the Kingdom of God, in reality, we commit it against God. The Lord says that all the vengeance is his.

Todd Bentley and many other apostolic leaders who are moving in the radical of the Lord are stewards of the mysteries of God. It is of these people that God writes:

1 Cor 4:1-5 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

These men, women and yes children will be people who do not deny the power of Jesus Cross. It is the revelation and manifestation of this very power that the religious come against the most. But look at how God considers those who deny the power of Christ’s Cross:

2 Tim 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

The denial of the power of the Cross is lumped in here with a large list of great sins! The scripture is clear… have nothing to do with them.

If we deny the power of the Cross, we deny the Chief Cornerstone of the Church. We deny Christ directly.

Isa 28:16-18 and 20-22 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

…The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon —
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.
Now stop your mocking,
or your chains will become heavier…

So now all that is left for us to do is to get wrecked and stay wrecked! In as much as we become less, God will show us great things and move us into great exploits. But as much as we operate in the flesh of our being, we will not see it. And the result will be the pride of our self-defined certainty. What manifests then is judgment. May we never fall into that trap.

1 Cor 3:18-23 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come — all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Zech 4:6 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.

This, therefore, is the strategy of the devil. He desires that we get tripped up by others accusations and enter into strife with them.

James 3:13-18 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

1 Cor 3:3 For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Have nothing to do with the Spiritless false accusations that are sure to come in the days ahead. Love those who bring them, but do not receive such strife. And above all, do not come into agreement with man made cranial arguments that cheapen the Cross that usually end with, “I don’t see that in my Bible.”

I know this is a lengthy word. But please take the time to read this. If you are limited in time, please go to the last paragraph for the current word.

We are on the edge of a long ago promised outpouring of the Spirit and I sense the Lord saying, “Here it comes… are you ready.”

It’s April 23rd, 2008. I am up in Anchorage, Alaska on business and again the Lord is giving me a word regarding Revival in America from this place. Today and for the last few days the weather has been clear but hazy. The news this morning said that the cause of this period of haze is a series of fires and dust clouds to our west in Russia and China. As the smoke of many fires are reaching Alaska and having a visible effect, so it is that the fires of Revival in America that are just about to happen are about to circle the globe and have an unmistakable effect. Before I speak what the Lord is setting in my heart we must revisit a word the Lord gave me years ago…

The following is an excerpt of a word I gave to a key national apostolic leader in February of 2002. Included in this word is a series of words I got from 1998 until 2002. I know this is lengthy (about 2 pages) but it all is very important to this word today. Here is that word cut and pasted below:

About two years prior to this last Presidential election (early 1998), in a prayer group meeting at Shady Grove Church in the DFW area, and in the presence of many witnesses, the Lord gave me a clear word. He said, “George W. Bush will be the next President of the United States. But you will need to pray for him unceasingly.” (This was about a year and a half prior to the date he announced that he would run.)

God said, that we needed to pray very hard about this until it would come to pass. Little did I know of the spiritual battles that were to come regarding his election! It would become obvious why God said to pray.

I took this to heart and prayed for him nearly every day during this period of time. But I remember asking the Lord, “Why George Bush? What, Lord, is so important about this man?” I knew that he was a man of God, but sensed that there was more to this man’s call than just that he was a man of faith… much more. I just didn’t get an answer until the summer prior to his election, over a year later.

Two prophetic visions happened that summer (2000) of great importance. I spoke these visions as often as I could to anyone that would hear.

1) An all time record drought hit the central part of America in the summer of 2000 just prior to the Presidential election. The Lord was speaking to us through that event though I sensed that few people heard what He was trying to say.

As an airline pilot, I use satellite images to know where bad weather is. When you “loop” these images together on a computer, you can see the motion of the clouds across the nation. The Lord showed me a vision in my sleep of what seemed to be a presentation of these satellite images looped together. It would replay again and again. Then I saw the hand of the Lord with His pointing finger pointed drawing a circle around this drought region of the United States. It market out the central middle States in a large oval circle. His hand went around and around, and He was saying, “Pray for the rain, pray for the rain, pray for the spiritual rain.” The area that was affected by this drought included mainly Texas, the north west corner of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, the lower western half of Missouri, Kansas and then upward into the Dakota’s. This was the area that the Lord was circling in my vision. Though it seemed that the upper most segment went up into Canada.

I sensed the Lord saying that this is an important strategic area for revival to be nurtured and birthed. I believe this still stands today (2002).

2) Then a wonderful event happened in August of that election year. I was flying from Salt Lake City to Boise Idaho. It was a late evening flight, to arrive around 9 pm. I was a passenger. The Lord put a strong call on my heart to pray for George Bush. I interceded the entire flight. My head was in my hands almost all of the flight as I was praying.

In that time (late summer 2000), you might remember that there were many wild fires burning out of control in the northwest United States. That too was a prophetic vision in the Lord.

As we were descending into Boise, I took my head out of my hands and looked out my window into the pitch black into an incredible sight! There before my eyes was a forest fire only 10,000 or so feet below. It was magnificent! Flames were leaping hundreds of feet into the air. Thousands of acres of forest were on fire. As a pilot for 20 years, I had seen hundreds of fires from the air, but not that was so magnificent as this one.

Then the Lord spoke into my spirit as clearly as I had ever heard, and in so doing, He answered my long-term question, “Why George Bush”?

This is what He said, “This is why I want this godly man in the office of President. Because I am going to bring the fires of revival to this nation such as what has never been seen before. No work of man or the devil will be able to put this fire out!”

Now I knew, this would be a battle that must be won in intercession and by only a few.

The election debacle was over (beginning of 2001). But the Lord spoke to my heart the power and importance of intercession in the days ahead. He said, “See, the minority has voted this President into office. Likewise it will be the minority of the church Body that will be enough to stir Me into action. I will give you a new effectiveness in a new season”

My wife and I spent New Years Eve 2000/2001 in our home. We could easily notice that all the hype of the previous years millennial changeover was nonexistent this New Year. Somehow this New Years Eve seemed very subdued. It was true that 1999/2000 was a hyped change of the millennium. But that was a false change of seasons. The true change of millennium, the true change of season occurred 2000/2001, as it is true that this millennium actually began New Years Day 2001.

The Lord caused something very unique to happen that night for me. My wife and I decided to stay up and watch a pay per view movie off of our Satellite system. We had no control of the time the movie showed. We decided to see the movie “The Patriot”. It’s the first time I had seen it. But I noticed that this movie was scheduled to end 6 minutes after midnight. I told my wife that I had a good “time hack” on my watch, I would watch for midnight and inform her of midnight when it occurred.

Now as we were watching this movie, I was enthralled by it! The movie progressed from one patriot’s defeat to the next at the hand of the enemy British Red Coats. It was one step forward two steps back all through the movie, that is until the end. All through the movie I got the sense of how impossible it was going to be for these patriots to defeat the tyranny of the Red Coats. Then came the final battle between the key characters, Mel Gibson and the Red Coat leader. The battle scene was intense.

Meanwhile I was looking at my watch, only seconds to midnight. I informed my wife of the countdown. But then, just as Mel Gibson thrust the final victorious blow into the enemy in slow motion cinematography, my watch struck exact midnight! This was, to the second, the very turning point of this movie.

Now from this exact point in the movie, until the end six minutes later, the patriots were now victorious, the battle won, the Nation was now officially unshackled from evil, and they became a nation. There battles were won easily from that point forward.

As the movie closed, the Spirit was all over me! The Lord said, “I have released a new season of effectiveness into the intercessors of the church from this moment. I am turning up the heat. You will do much more with much less in much less time, and in power in the spiritual realms. The intercessors will be much more effective because the season has just changed.”

Then the Lord led me to scriptures. Among many I read that night, this was the most important. My bible just fell open to it when I first opened my bible!

Nahum 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.

The river gate is about to be thrown open! We are these soldiers clad in scarlet red! We are His picked troops! We are the ones that stumble along the way (which is the flesh and which is O.K.)! The palace represents the strongholds of the enemy during this season of revival! It is going to come down.

End word of 2002

So there it was in a long word given a key leader in February of 2002. Today, April 23, 2008. I remember that word and know full well that the Revival I heard about has yet to come to pass. Until now.

We have just a few months before this President must leave office. Is it not just like the Lord to wait the fullness of his timing to bring to pass what he has promised? Is it not like the Lord to cause us to wait until the last second to see a thing come to pass? Is it not like the Father to examine our hearts before he sees a thing through? Are we not tested in these times so that when the fires come we do not burn out?

Now I sense it as strong as ever. The Spirit of the Lord is hovering over America to bring this thing to pass just as he said it would back in the summer of 2000. Revival is coming to America, just as the Lord had said it would. Only it will not come in the way that we would expect. The Lord said to me that the doors that open this year are not where we expect them to be and not what we expect them to be. We must be fully dependant on the Holy Spirit to even understand what the Father is about to do.

Here it comes! We are only days away from the fullness of it. Either I heard in error or the Lord is about to complete what he has started.

There are fires that have already started. But these fires are small and which are “starter fires.” But the Lord is saying that there will burn from America many fires of Revival that will affect the whole world. The smoke of many fires will be very visible and very obvious. The unbelieving world will be confronted with a mighty Jesus as he walked this earth, in signs miracles and wonders. The unbelieving world will have a great opportunity to see real Christianity. They will be forced to make a choice. No work of the enemy will be able to put these fires out. Every provision to see this thing come to pass will happen supernaturally. We will go for want for nothing in these days of joy. Though unbelieving America will deal with measures of suffering economically, the church that is filled with the Holy Spirit will not. Everything needed to take these fires to the nations will be provided for supernaturally. There will be many very wealthy Spirit filled Christians in the short days ahead. Here we go! Are you ready?

Isa 55:1&6 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost… Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

My dear mother and her husband live in a wonderful and remote area of America, a small town in Oregon named Medford. Though a rapidly growing city, Medford remains fairly remote in terms of visitation. It’s kind of like Vermont. It’s just hard to get there and not normally a place one would visit.

Every time I step off the airplane in Medford though, I feel such a blessing of God’s presence. I sense God’s supernatural blessing up and down the I-5 corridor of Oregon, even as far south as Redding, California, three hours to the south. I hope to retire in Medford some day.

My family and I do our best to visit mom and my stepfather at least once per year. During one visit in 2005, we decided to drive to the Pacific Coast of Oregon. From Medford, that drive is about two and a half hours.

It’s a magnificent drive! Winding curvy country roads that follow rapid mountain rivers, giving way to vistas of gorgeous small farms, rolling hills, horses, crops, vineyards and mountain scenes that will take your breath away. We turn and wind our way across the Oregon state boarder into the northwest corner of California where Highway 199 meets the coastal Highway 101.

Sometimes there is ocean fog as you approach the coast. Other times it’s cloudy and rainy. Rarely is it absolutely clear on the coast of Oregon and California. This day, the crisp clear and hot summer morning gave way to a twenty-five degree temperature drop and low-level fog.

Very soon the drive came to a California State Park named The Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Just before the 199 meets the 101 is this unique state park that is filled with ancient redwood trees.

We planned to stop here for a few hours to visit these magnificent trees. As it was, we were right on the edge of heat and chill, between crystal clear sun and cold low-level fog. It was gorgeous. Just a few miles from the Pacific coastline, the contrast was very visible, very physical. This midday, there were few people there.

The park consisted of the Smith River, a winding mountain to ocean flow that emanates from the western California/Oregon hills. There is a lengthy walkway bridge spanning across this slow flowing segment of the river. And of coarse, the huge redwood trees on the south side of the river. I stood absolutely amazed at the sight.

From the north bank of the river looking towards the south bank of redwoods, I could see these trees climb hundreds of feet into the air. As I walked across the river’s bridge, looking down into the waters I saw millions of rocks clearly visible on the bottom. All were perfectly smooth and uniformly rounded, tumbled by years of flowing and sometimes furious motion. Here, in the slow flow of this river’s end, the rocks were resting motionless. These rocks were perfect and individually unique. Not one rock was the same that was moving with the flow of this river. I imagined myself as one of these rocks.

As I looked from my stand on the bridge at the middle of the Smith River, I looked up at these magnificent trees. These trees had been there for hundreds and some for thousands of years. I read on the park placard that there were some trees there and still alive for well over 2000 years. These trees had been drinking from the waters of this unchanging unshifting river for hundreds, even thousands of years! Some of these trees were there since before Christ’s work on the Cross.

That afternoon, my dear stepfather spoke to me a personal story, an event that happened to him one day at this very same park many years ago. I have his permission to share this with you. Dave is a great man of God and a dear beloved friend and father.

He said that many years ago as he stood within this very same grove of redwoods, suddenly he felt the unmistakable presence of the Lord come upon him. For but a short few minutes, he was overwhelmed with love. He had never felt this before. He says it was very intimate. He never again felt such a presence of joy in this same way. But it greatly impacted his life.

Having experienced the manifest presence of the Lord in my life, I know generally what he was feeling, though his experience was very personal and uniquely profound to him. I do not presume to know what he specifically personally felt. All I know is this, he was made known, by manifest revelation, to the Father heart of God for him that day. And he was changed for a lifetime in that experience. He knew that he knew, he was loved by God.

As I thought of his experience later, it is no wonder to me that this happened in this park.

It was time to leave this Holy place. Now I was standing on the north bank of the Smith River. I looked one last time at these magnificent trees before departing for the ocean. Then Lord spoke something deep into my heart. “There are some rivers that never change.”

As I though about that day in the weeks ahead, the Lord began to reveal many things to me about rivers.

The Unchanging River

In Oregon, as it is in much of the Pacific Northwest, geographically there are mountains and hills that press up against the Pacific Ocean. Historically and for thousands of years, these mountains would fill with winter snows and then empty through a series of rivers into the Pacific Ocean.

The Rogue River is the classic example. The Rogue runs through Medford and eventually winds it’s way to the Pacific. This river is mighty and which is where American athletes train in whitewater activities to prepare for the Olympics. It rushes through mountain valleys in paths that have not changed for thousands of years. It channels the flow of fresh winter melt waters to the sea.

The key point is, these rivers have not changed their coarse in thousands of years. Some rivers are unchanging. They never geographically shift position. They represent the River of God that does not change. They represent the very word of God which when spoken does not change and which cannot change.

Heb 6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.

Heb 6:18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.

Nu 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

1Sa 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”

Mal 3:6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Jas 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

When the Lord speaks a thing, it cannot change lest the Lord be a liar. We who drink of these Rivers are shaped by these Rivers, we are nourished by them. They produce the substance of life by which everything of the Kingdom of God is formed. The Word. Jesus! Love!

It’s no wonder that my stepfather felt the presence of God in that very place of the redwoods! For the very word of God is the very dwelling place of God. The Father wills the word, Jesus speaks the word, and the Holy Spirit manifests the word. These words emanate from the throne room of the Kingdom of God. What a Holy place, that place of the unchanging River of God, where the spires have grown for thousands of years!

But the word only defines God. It establishes the principles of God. It establishes the laws of God. It tells of what is true and what is false. It speaks of who God is. It defines The Way. It makes a way. It is The Way.

However, the word alone is incomplete as to the whole of God’s plan. The word does not define what God is actually doing now. It defines who God is.

As I read the Bible, I find words that define who and what God is. I also find prophetic words that speak to the future of what God is doing and will do in the days ahead.

The River that never changes speaks to the unchanging nature of God, of who and what he is. But there is a River that is forever changing that prophetically speaks to what God is doing and will do in the days ahead.

The Ever-Changing River

My work has me flying over these United States almost daily. I see rivers from the air as I fly. One obvious river I see from the air is the Mississippi River. This river is unlike the Rogue River. From the air, one can clearly see, the Mississippi River is constantly changing, constantly moving and shifting geographic position. It winds and turns through soft and pliable lands that willingly give way! Though slowly and sometimes unnoticeable, this river always shifts. Those who live by this river understand what I am talking about!

When the river has made a change, and you can see this from the air very well, an area of swamp is left behind. This area where the river used to be has become a swamp of stagnant mostly lifeless waters. Though life is there, it is devoid of the fresh waters of the edge of the river. The waters edge has moved to a new place. The old place of where the river used to be is where you will find these stagnant waters.

This ever-changing River represents the manifesting presence of God that defines what God is doing right now and in the days to come. This is “The River of God.” This is the Holy Spirit. It winds and turns through lands, and is always shifting. One day the edge of the River is here, next it is there. Where this River changes to is the new thing of God. Where the River changes from is the old thing of God that is no more!

Where the River is today is what the Lord is doing today. Where the River used to be is what the Lord did yesterday. Where it will be tomorrow is what the Lord is doing tomorrow, and which is always a greater thing, an increasing thing!

Though God does not change when he verbalizes a thing, he is always increasing and doing a new thing that has never been done before. This is a critical understanding for us who are doing God’s business in this world!

The River that is ever changing is God moving from glory to glory. The people who move in these new things are moving from faith to faith!

Those who live on the edge of this ever-changing River are a people filled with the Holy Spirit constantly shifting from the old thing into the new. This River represents the increase of God’s government, the new thing, and change. It is the River that forms in the wasteland and which wells up in the desert. It is very supernatural.

Comparing Two Rivers

In the River that never changes I am like the rock tumbled and perfected in the word of God until I am formed into the likeness of Christ, God’s desire for my life. I go from rushing waters to sudden still waters. And the waters of this River are full of life-giving truth.

As the waters become still like the Smith River that morning, like the motionless rock in the unchanging River, I wait quietly and patiently for the next word that deepens my knowledge of Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Under the weight of the knowledge of who my God is, I find myself hungry and thirsty for the knowledge of what God is doing. I want to be a part of it. I want to be on the edge of it. I want to be like the tree planted by the edge of the River drinking the fresh renewing waters of what God is doing now and tomorrow.

I have drunk deep of the waters of the River that never changes. Now I want to drink of the waters of the River that brings supernatural life to my members! When I drink of the waters of the ever-changing River, my tree is made able to produce fruit that brings healing to the nations.

We must be drinkers of both Rivers! The River that never changes speaks to my Salvation and my home in Heaven. But the River that always changes speaks to my life here on earth. These shifting waters make me able to do great exploits for my Father and my King in the here and now! You cannot have one without the other. Both are necessary to be effective in the fullest measure.

The waters of the unchanging River set my foundation. The waters of the ever-changing River set my feet in motion to reap a harvest.

Unchanging waters reveal and establish the base. Ever-changing waters reveal and then activate!

What we have experienced of God yesterday is never meant to be the basis for how we do things today. We build upon our yesterdays, we do not make our yesterdays our limit.

We cling to the unchanging word of God that defines him. Then we add to it the good of what God did yesterday as a basis to add upon for our tomorrows. We always seek the new thing of God in faith and with a willingness to be once again surprised with something that has never happened before. We couple our new experiences to the unchanging word and the inheritance of past revivals and build upon them. Only in this way will we succeed in the fullness of God’s call for his church.

There is a time to wait on the Lord in the unchanging River. But that is not to be mistaken for our call to forever be uprooting our tree and moving to the edge of where the ever-changing River has moved to. There is a vast and total difference between stagnant waters and still waters; one brings life, the other is lifeless.

I sense the clear direction of the Lord from time to time to uproot my tree and move from where the edge used to be to the new place of the new edge of this River. I know that if I stay where the banks used to be, I have lost the fresh waters of the new thing of God. I have become comfortable in the old thing. I have lost faith for the new thing.

But the shift of this River is subtle and which is discernable only over time and by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t look like it until you suddenly notice that the banks of the River have moved.

Isa 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

How valuable is the knowledge of the Kingdom of God! By the Holy Spirit we are made known of the new things of God. The Holy Spirit is “the Helper who leads us into all truth.” The NIV Bible calls him the “Counselor” who leads us into all truth.

A Vision

One night, I had a vision. This is what I saw:

I saw a large grove of oak trees. They were all dieing. These trees were all standing in an area of swampy bog. They were drinking stagnant waters. The River had changed position but these trees did not perceive it. They stayed put. They would not move.

Now there were young trees and old trees. They were all dieing. The Lord told me, “These trees are drinking from the waters of their yesterdays.”

Next thing I knew, there was a man standing tall on the top of a hill. He was yelling. “The River is not there any more! The River has changed! It’s over here! Come over here so that you may live!”

Sadly only a few trees uprooted and moved. End vision.

I will not be like the oak tree that is dieing in the stagnant still swamp waters of where the ever-changing River used to be. Such a way is the basis for religious theological man made thinking. Whenever we define God by what he did yesterday we limit God to yesterdays ways. It causes us to disbelieve for the new thing. The results are religious shackles that limit our walk.

After contemplating this vision, the Lord brought to my mind this scripture:

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.

Jesus knew that it was more important to first heal this man of spiritual blindness before healing him of his natural blindness. So, he was given this vision of walking trees. How great was this vision! Are we not like these trees that must uproot ourselves from time to time and move to the new place of the ever-changing River of God? Would that not look like people who are trees walking around?

We are all like trees who need the nourishment of these fresh waters to live. We need the fresh waters of the Holy Spirit to know and to do what the Father wants of us, within the context of what He is doing now and tomorrow. Therefore we must be living on the edge of this ever-changing River of God. This is an ongoing act we must make. We must uproot and move to the new place of the ever-changing River that we might drink the fresh new waters of revelation and supernatural power.

Ezek 47:1-12 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in– a river that no one could cross. He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds– like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

Unmistakably there is reference to both spiritual Rivers I speak of in this Ezekiel passage. We are the trees, the Body of Christ. We must be living on the edge of these fresh waters lest we die of thirst!

Matt 13:52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Simply said, the old treasures are found in the River that never changes, and which are invaluable. The new treasures are found in the ever-changing River and which are also invaluable. We need both!

To drink of the ever-changing River requires a leap of faith. For it is true that whatever is new has never happened before. It requires revelation. It requires intimacy and humility. Brothers and sisters, we need both Rivers to succeed in our Kingdom call.

Lastly, consider these applicable scriptures:

Zech 9:10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Ps 72:8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

(Notice that the word “River” is capitalized in the above two scriptures in the New King James and NIV versions…)

Gen 2:9-10 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground– trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden…

Rev 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Even in Heaven we will be living by the River of God! How important is the understanding of it for us today, here on earth! From the beginning of creation to the end of time and beyond, there will always be the River of God bringing life to wherever it flows.

Even in this life, a few days without water bring death. How much more then should we who are born of the Spirit be filled with the spiritual waters of God that bring life to places of death on this earth? All around the world, people who do not know the love of God are dying of thirst! Shouldn’t we be the ones who bring them the waters of life that change? Were we not commissioned from Jesus Christ before he returned to Heaven to do this very thing?

Acts 1:8 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.”

May we all be heavy drinkers of the waters of life from both Rivers so that we might reap a great harvest, a reward to Jesus for his sufferings.

Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Heb 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith activates the Kingdom of God on earth. Faith activates miracles. They will not be seen or understood without it.

Acts 14:9-10 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

We know that faith is absolutely mandatory in order to believe in God. Because God has not manifest himself clearly in the ordinary world in an obvious way, if one believes in God, it must be from a position of faith. So faith is mandatory to believe in God. This is the first step that leads to any and all things of the Lord and His Kingdom. All things of the Kingdom of God start and finish through faith. Faith is the very doorway to all things God.

Faith is something one expresses, not thinks. Yes there is a conscious decision to first believe, but the fullness of faith is independent of what I have concluded. Because faith believes in what is unseen, conclusion can have no part in faith. Conclusion is based upon what I have figured out in the mind. The expression of faith comes first from the choice to have faith, and then by the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit. It is one part mental and ninety-nine parts supernatural.

Rom 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Now wait a minute… Am I not the one who is supposed to well up faith in my soul? Yes, initially. You are required to first choose faith in any issue. Once God sees that faith, He comes to you and gives you the far greater gift of faith. You have to take the first step and choose faith. But your faith is tiny in comparison to the faith you will need to succeed in Kingdom issues in this world. God comes to those with faith as small as a mustard seed and gives them the gift of faith that moves the mountain. This small mustard seed is as big an amount of faith that we are humanly able to muster. But then comes the Holy Spirit who gives faith as a gift. Hence faith as small as a mustard seed can in fact move the mountain.

Matt 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

1 Cor 12:7-9 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit…

The above scripture denotes the progression of faith. I start with my “small as a mustard seed faith”, Jesus comes in the Spirit and gives me the 1 Corinthians 12 gift of faith that I could never have of my own. I then speak to the mountain in my faith and God moves the mountain by our supernaturally given faith.

I can testify to an event of instantaneous and radical increase of faith that I personally experienced.

In a weeklong conference with a group of Argentinean revival leaders back in 1997, the Holy Spirit came in such power as to see us all on the floor time and again in the Spirit. It was a dear experience in my memory. When we left, while in the car going home, I told my wife, “You know, I clearly feel a huge increase in faith!”  And this was clearly proven so. I left that conference with what felt like a ten fold increase in faith. I believed that I not only knew that I was able, but had a new found desired to go out and do Kingdom exploits on behalf of my Jesus. I knew that I now had something I never had before. And it was a gift I could never muster on my own. I can say, to this day, I have never been the same.

Faith starts with my choice. He then comes with volumes more when He sees my heart of basic faith. The result is the manifestation of God’s Kingdom on earth. Through my heart that was found by Him willing, I then was made able by Him to do what I previously could not do of my own accord.

I know this is a basic discussion regarding faith. But what I see the church failing in is the supernatural part of faith. It is the supernatural given faith that great exploits are made possible. By such a faith, healings happen, deliverance happens and thousands of souls can be won in a day. This is what seems to be missing in the vast majority of today’s church. We desperately need this greater mature level of supernatural faith if we are going to succeed as the church of Jesus Christ in the days to come!

In part, faith is designed to be a shield that protects us from falling into a worldly mindset. The stronger ones faith, the greater is the ability to operate with Kingdom ability in this world.

Faith is the essence required for God’s manifesting Presence. It is the key by which we operate in the power moves of God. Like anything of God, all things require faith first. If faith leads to salvation, then faith also leads to the Presence of the Holy Spirit and the miracles that ensue.

1 Pet 1:5 ..who through faith are shielded by God’s power…

It is a requirement therefore that we live by faith in order to gain power. If we are ever to succeed in our earthly Kingdom call, the fullness of supernatural faith is a must. This faith leads to a power that both protects and enables.

1Pet 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Our faith is tested by fire, by every kind of trial. These tests result in an ability to operate in such power as to be able to walk right down the valley of the shadow of death laughing and dancing in the face of every evil thing.

Faith results in salvation. It then results in revelation, intimacy, followed by power. All these things testify Christ to an unbelieving word. How can I ever reap a harvest if I am not performing Kingdom acts of supernatural power to an unbelieving world? From just speaking of Christ to raising the dead, all these things require faith to activate them.

The measure that we are made able to live a dual citizenship, with one foot one earth and the other foot in the Kingdom while on earth, is directly proportionate to ones level of faith.

A person with great faith is a deadly dangerous agent to contend with in the eyes of Satan. Faith results to a particular authority that when exercised in it’s fullest, will see the enemy flee in seven ways.

Jesus reveals himself by the Holy Spirit. We then, having not seen, must make a choice to believe and have faith. Everything of the Kingdom of God is revealed by faith. Without faith, I cannot not see the thing even if it stands right before me. Faith therefore is the very key to spiritual maturity. As it is in the world, so it is in Kingdom business that the highest callings and releases are given to “those who know.” Only there is no comparison of the wisdom of the world to the revealed wisdom of the Kingdom of God. Who would give an infant a task of leadership?

Heb 5:12-6:1 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God…

Spiritual maturity is directly linked to faith. Any faith we gain as a gift from God is entirely dependant on the faith we first choose to have. God then chooses what measure of divine faith to give us as He chooses.

If where the Holy Spirit is there is freedom, then where there is faith there is freedom. This is because all things of the Holy Spirit require faith first. Faith therefore is prerequisite to freedom, as God defines freedom. Hence the lack of faith is a form of spiritual bondage.

Hindrances to faith are pride, fear, sin issues, and past wounds. Many people are unable to see or hear because of issues blocking their ability to do so. Faith therefore requires that we come to the end of ourselves. The result of this self-death is the choice to become dependant upon God in all things. Faith wells up from this revelation of and subsequent agreement with the concept of dependency. Independence results in spiritual death. Independence results in spiritual immaturity. Independence stiff-arms God in lieu of what I think or conclude. Independence blocks faith.

God accepts that people vary in faith. In a word, I call it “mercy.”

Faith is a product of grace. Grace is the power of God that manifests mercy. Mercy is the difference between perfection and our broken state. Since no man or woman is perfect, and because of the completed work of Jesus cross, there is mercy.

And so, where faith is concerned, people vary in faith levels. Though this is not perfectly desired, it is accepted by Father God because of the gift of mercy that was established through the completed work of the cross. The result is that we are each used according to our faith.

No man should be judged for lack of faith, just encouraged to go deeper through the word expressed and, by the Spirit, the word revealed.

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

And so all faith starts by hearing. May it be that we all have ears to hear so that we can enter into spiritual maturity and effectiveness in the reaping of this great End Time harvest of souls.

Here are some other relevant scriptures regarding faith:

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

Faith starts with me, and is then perfected by Him.

Acts 15:9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

Rom 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Rom 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

So now these questions remain. What will you choose to have faith in? How deep do you want to go? What radical things do you want to do for the Kingdom that you know you cannot do on your own? What offering will you have to present to the Father when you go home? How big a reward do you want to give to Jesus for his sufferings?

It all starts and finishes by faith.

T. Scott Morton

Familiarity leads to a redundancy that breeds a reliance on performance. This in turn, leads to a prideful way of independent religious excellence. If the heart of religious lifelessness is “order”, it’s blood is “familiarity”.

Familiarity causes us to look backwards at what worked in the past to copy and then recreate it. This is a deadly way in regards to the Kingdom of God because the Kingdom is always advancing into the new thing. By it’s nature, every new thing of God is unfamiliar simply because we’ve never seen it before. Spiritual perception followed by our first choice to act upon it overcomes familiarity.

2 Cor 3:17-18  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Isa 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

A key strategy of the enemy of God is perverted familiarity. (I define perversion as an overall falsification of a particular truth.)

God placed in our soul a need for familiarity so that we would cling to the things that are true and important. Problem is that in our flesh, we experience ungodly things that we also tend to cling to. Herein lies the strategy of our enemy. It’s the ungodly stuff that wars against our soul and which draws us away from what is important in the Kingdom of God. A primary tool the devil uses to do that is familiarity. This is such an important strategy to the devil that he assigns demons specifically to deal in familiarity towards humanity.

Lev 19:31 ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. (NKJ)

This reference to familiar spirits in the King James Bible references demonic spirits who are familiar with what is going on; in essence, “demons that know”. Is not familiarity, in its most simple form, a knowing?

My key point is that God is moving us from what we know into what we don’t know by faith. If we get stuck in what we know, we become unable to gain anything new or unknown.

For the Spirit filled Christian, familiarity is only valuable as it pertains to the principles of God that never change. In “being familiar” with them, I stay out of trouble. By this familiar knowledge, I know who my Father, my Savior and my beloved Holy Spirit are. But as to the “current events” of God, what God is doing now and tomorrow, familiarity tends to cause me to turn towards yesterday’s familiar experiences and reject the new things he is doing.

The new thing of God always flies in the face of familiarity. God does this for many reasons, not the least of which is this: In a word, trust. Or better said, faith.

He tests us. Will it be about us and what we know, or will it be about God and what he knows? So long as we remain here on earth, we must know, God will always put our faith and trust to the test. He does this by presenting us with the choice to accept or reject the unknown radical new thing of God. He brings new things in ways that offend our flesh.

What really is being offended is our sense of familiarity to what has been.

We must know this: Living on the cutting edge of God means that we will offend the “wise.” We will offend the norm. And so, we must be as devoid of self and our own offendability as possible so as to withstand the attacks that will most certainly come.

Truly the wise people of God are those filled with the Holy Spirit who understand the Kingdom need to be totally dependent. For the wisdom of the Kingdom of God is not concluded, it is given by way of revelation. All wisdom therefore is given not figured out. Independence blocks reception of knowledge from any source other than one’s own mind.

Those who move in the new thing of God thrive on the daily given manna of revelation knowledge. As it was in the desert, so it is with us. The manna that comes only lasts so long as to see the new thing come to pass. Then it goes bad. We become dependent for tomorrows manna tomorrow. When it comes tomorrow, we gain the new thing for tomorrow. God works in this way so that we will be forever dependant upon his means rather than our means, his thinking rather than our thinking.

Deut 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Everything of the Kingdom of God is made known by the Holy Spirit, it cannot be concluded by the mind of man. So, the more we yoke our minds to the mind of Christ, the less effective the spirit of familiarity is against us. The more we listen and hear in times of intimacy and love with the Father, the more we know and move in the new thing of God.

As to the Kingdom of God, the renewing of the mind can only happen by revelation in the Holy Spirit. It cannot happen by anything we can do, either cranial or physical.

Whatever we are certain of in our minds, we defend to the hilt. And so the mind that is independent not only gets in the way of God, but over time becomes a wall to change.

True Godly wisdom and control in the church happens when people give up the reigns of control to Jesus in trust and in faith of the Holy Spirits manifesting Presence. The result is the manifestation of right order and right knowledge. We protect the church by hearing, not thinking (i.e. thinking is supposed to happen after the hearing!). We know what is out of line by revelation, not conclusion. We grow the church by a firm supporting Foundation (capitalization intended…), not by a filtering intellectual coverage. I see a picture of the church to come… it has no roof!

What we become familiar to in the world and in the flesh, we cling to. But were the Kingdom of God is concerned, what we experience is what we are supposed to cling to, only in so much as to prepare us for the next new thing. We are then supposed to build upon yesterday’s thing and grow. Familiarity kills inheritance! Paul understood this when he spoke the following words:

1 Cor 3:10-19 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight…

Paul was saying that all wisdom of any value comes from the foundation who is Christ by way of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and upon us. What I, or the world thinks is meaningless, unless it is born out of revelation knowledge. What I build on my foundation, I will be charged for. Will I build upon my foundation what I or the world thinks? Or will I build upon my foundation while under the yoke of the mind of Christ, of what the Father thinks? The only way for me to rightly build is by revelation lest what I build fail under the test.

Familiarity causes me to rely on me. It turns me inward rather than outward. It causes me to look backward rather than forward. It is a warped perverted way of thinking.

Familiarity is an easy and very comfortable way. But we are not to become comfortable in our faith. Earth is only a tiny portion of the whole of the Kingdom of God. What we live in here on earth is very limited indeed.

Faith is the very essence of growth. But, we grow into ever-increasing maturity by way of an ever-increasing faith.

Faith says that there is more than what I see. I then experience up to what my faith allows. As I think with limited faith, I am incapable of seeing or thinking greater than the level of faith I am in. Therefore, my faith level must always be willing to experience the radical new thing of God. Then, with each new experience, my faith moves up.

But then God comes with revival. Revival is chock full of things that we have never seen before. Among so many other things, revival is designed to increase our faith.

I have faith, and then I have experiences. But without faith, I am incapable of witnessing the experience even if it happens right before my eyes. Faith is the substance of spiritual vision.

Experiences increase my faith if I am willing to allow it. Experiences become my new word of testimony. I have received the new thing that is supposed to become the substance of the inheritance that I am to give to the next generation.

I have a new testimony. That testimony, spoken to those who yet see, builds new faith for those who have ears to hear. They then move up! The result is the ever-increasing Kingdom of God manifested on earth as it is in Heaven.

Ever-increasing! This is what the Christian life is all about. The comfort of familiarity is the bane of ever-increasing.

This Christian earthly life is a “forever becoming.” This means that we are not complete or “done” until we are home in Heaven with God. We are forever learning, seeking, and growing. In this earthly life we are always moving in the flow of God’s Presence for the purpose of the flow of God’s plan made manifest on earth. It is a fluid thing. If we stay in yesterday’s thing, we have gotten out of the River and onto the banks and have become motionless. Familiarity renders me spiritually motionless.

If I rely on what has become familiar to me, I signify to myself that “I have become.” I don’t need further growth because I am happy in what I have and know right now. It is a form of pride that says I need no more. Depending on familiar knowledge and familiar experience is a form of pride that shunts growth. It starts honestly but finishes pridefully.

Jack Hayford once said, “Nothing is more limiting than the self-imposed boundaries we clamp around our own lives when we require God to fit into our expectations.” 

In reality, familiarity is the material we build our boxes with.

Familiarity blinds me to anything that does not fit the mold of what I know or have experienced. Familiarity is based in fear of the unknown. But perfect love casts out fear. One can also say therefore that perfect love causes us to trust God for the new thing.

So, true growth is found in the ever-increasing nature of God. It is found off the map of what I know. I take what I know of God or have become familiar with of God and I apply it to the supernatural unknown of what God is doing or is about to do. In so doing I position myself on the very edge of God’s wonderful current plan. I trust him. I wait for him. And, when the new thing happens, however good or bad in this world, I rejoice and move into the new thing easily! I am not offended when the world comes down around me. The radical new thing does not offend me because I trust in faith that God is much bigger than my flesh or the devil.

Therefore, we must learn to overcome our need to steer towards what we know of in the world and move towards what we don’t know of the Kingdom of God.

Right order is both embracing the knowledge of the unchanging principles of God and seeking the radical new thing that God wants us to move into for the future.

Simply said, familiarity is deadly as to our spiritual growth and effectiveness in our call here on earth. And so we must identify the insidious presence of familiarity and cast it out, then trust in faith as God does mighty and wonderful acts in our day.

T. Scott Morton