STANDING IN THE MIDST OF A STORM.

TO DAY I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT STANDING IN THE MIDST OF A STORM.

This picture is from Jpeg. Pasavign deviantart.com

 Kings 4: 12-26  ¹² And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.¹³ And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
¹⁴ And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
¹⁵ And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.
¹⁶ And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
¹⁷ And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
¹⁸ And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.
¹⁹ And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
²⁰ And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
²¹ And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
²² And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.
²³ And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.
²⁴ Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.
²⁵ So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:
²⁶ Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well:

                       

This scripture reminds  me of many storms that come our way, and how we have to stand and not look at the circumstances or facts but look at the word which is the truth or the heart of the matter.  I know you have heard about faith, and you might say I'm a believer but I just can't seem to get the word to work for me. I have been believing God for my healing and nothing has happened. Or you may have been believing for some one else's healing and you have seen no change.  The thing that you have to do is consider what the word has said, and not look at the facts.
Their are a few points I would like to bring out :
1. There will always be storms in life, but they do not come from God.  They come from your enemy who wants to kill, steal and destroy you, he wants to destroy your faith.  When the storm comes the enemy is targeting your faith,  he wants to destroy it, and keep you from moving into your son ship and operating in the dominion that God has given you as a believer.
(A.) The storm is designed to paralyze you physically, emotionally and psychologically. It makes you feel like you can do nothing and you feel helpless.

(B). Consider the doors you may have personally given the enemy access to by your negative thoughts, vision, and/or negative words.  The Bible says "You shall have what you say."  Let's not help the enemy oppress us by using our negative words.

Just in case you were wondering about who sent the storm, let me remind you about Jesus when he rebuked the storm when he was at sea with the disciples.  He would not have been able to rebuke the  storm if he did not know the word. As the son of man in the flesh he had power.  In other words, God was not sending the storm to test Jesus faith nor does he send them to test you faith.  Just like he rebuked it,you should not hesitate to rebuke the storms that come into your life.

(C). Believe in God (the Word) so shall you be established.  Believe his prophets so shall you prosper.  Many people miss it because they feel that their situation is too difficult for the Word.  They believe the Word is true until they are faced with a situation where they have to personally trust that the Word will work in their lives.

(1) Mental assent agrees that the Bible is a revelation, that it comes from God, and that every word is true, and yet when the crisis comes it does not work."  I want to expound on this; our psychological mindset keeps us from believing the truth.  It only allows us to receive facts which are not true.  These facts call us to have an emotional breakdown in our faith, which brings about confusion in our thinking.
(2) The enemy uses this to cause us to doubt the word that is in us. We use false reasoning to justify why there is no victory.  The emeny wants to keep you from resting in the Word of God by giving you false evidence that seems real. This causes us to operate in sense knowledge instead of faith.
Dr. Kenyon said in his book " Real faith in the Word says, If God said it is true, it is . He said,  By His stripes I am healed, that means if he said it, I am healed. If He says that God shall supply every need of mine, he will do it.
So quietly I rest on His Word, irrespective of evidence that would satisfy the Senses.   Real faith is built on the Word.  It is untarnished  by Sense Knowledge."   Lets look back at our orignal scripture.

In 2 Kings 4:18-20 The shunammite woman didn't know what to do at first,  when the storm of sickness came, the Bible only say that she sat her son on her knees until noon, and he then died. It made no mentioning of prayer, nor did she cry out for help.
It was like she was paralyzed as what to do. She did not know how to handle the strong wind that brought death. What she did know was that the presence of God was in the man of God's room. And that's where she placed her son until he could get to him. The facts had risen up to destroy her faith, but in the midst of all that,  she began to confess the truth. "It is well",  she began to confess as she was going to the man of God.  Either she was going to return with him, or he was going to do something to raise her son!
In her storm she knew that the man of God had the power of life, for God did miracles through him. The man of God did not see or know what troubles she had, and when he asked her, " is it well?" She said, "yes," it is well.  But when she got closer and she knew he didn't perceive what was happening, she caught hold of his feet, and she pulled on the man of God spirit.  As he prepared to intercede for her, he went back to her house and raised her son. He spoke life to him! the facts said that he was dead.

When the storm is coming there is no way you can gage the magnitude of it. You can't allow paralyze your thing.
  Philippians 4:8 say " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things." what this scripture will help you do is focus on what God has said in the storm you are in. It will help you to pull down strong holds that will try to attach it self to your mind.  What the enemy wants to do is give you a picture of a bad situation that is out of control. He will mess with your imagination  trying to get you in fear and doubt what you are believing for.

(A.) Your  thinking has to be in line with the word of God! One must not wavering!  Wavering makes one unstable in your thinking. Wavering is a indication of of uncertainty and instability.  Wavering causes one to fear and fear is devastating .  You will panic and you faith wont work for you.
In this next scripture you see what panic does and what it will do to you in a storm.  The Holy Spirit will teach you what the Spirit will do if you will trust the word in you.  The evil one made the disciples believe that they had no authority, that they were still religious in their thinking.  Jesus knew that he had given them power and authority.  He knew he had power over the weather.  He was not worried about the weather forecast.   He was training the disciples to know the power of God that was  in them.
They had been with Jesus for a while and they knew what kind of power he had. He was also teaching them that they had the same power that heven had.  Their sense knowledge took over instead of their faith.
 Let's look at   Mark 4:35-41 " And the same day, when the even was come, he said unto them Let us pass over unto the other side.  And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship.  And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow : and they awake him and say unto him,  Master, crest though not that we perish.  And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  And he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no  faith. "
We will talk about this on our next blog.

    



AN IMPORTANT KEY TO SONSHIP PART II

On our last session we talked about;  

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF SON SHIP! 

 Today we are exploring Authority, one of the keys to sonship.  I want to show you another side of who you are and the power and authority that lies in every believer.  

Let's start in the book of Genesis in 1:26, and 27  It says  "and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.   So God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female created he them."

In these two verses we see who we are as sons of God. When you look at this verse you see that you were created in the image of God. The word in Hebrew for create is bara; which means to create, shape, fashion.  We were originally fashioned in the image of God not birthed.  To be birthed you have to come from a womb.   Man was fashioned or made in the image and likeness of God. God is spirit and so is man.  He gave him power as a spirit being, to have dominion over the earth.

1.  Man was given a body to have authority in the earth and a spirit to have authority in the spirit world.
The late Charles Capps talks about this in his book Authority in Three Worlds.
 A. The fact that God formed Adam from the spirit made him a son of God.
 B.  He put his very image and likeness in him and gave him power in the earth.

2. Adam had  direct access to God and the heavens. He gave man dominion over the earth, his assignment was to rule and conquer everything in the earth.  Adam did not have to use physical strength but his words had power. He was created just like his father God, and he was given wisdom by the father. Just look at what he did.  He named all the animals in the earth.
 A. In Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.  ⁹ And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?   ¹⁰ And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 
¹¹ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
In this scripture we where Adam was in direct communication with God. It was not just a voice walk in the garden but God was their.
He had access to him.
B. the fact that Adam hid himself from God present,let you know he could see God in a face to face relationship.
C. He know after his eyes were open to sin that he could not look on God in a face to face way anymore and live.
 
3. I want you to see something in the Word that God has done.  He has given us the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father has sent in Jesus name,  His job is to teach you all things and to bring all things to your remembrance. I want  to stop and look at the word teach here  in the Greek it is Didasko; either from daio or dao. To know or teach, to instruct by word of  mouth.  Didakos had inherent in the calculation of the increase in understanding of the student. The  student hears for the purpose of  understanding and  to learn.  When you look at what the  job of the Spirit, it is to teach you in a supernatural way, that gives you divine understanding  of what is in God's mind. 
A.   This was because of sin which broke the mans original knowledge in the spirit.   God has given knowledge back  too man through the birth of the Holy Ghost in us. There is more that I will share on this matter at a later time.

4. I want to deal with the key of speech as a son of God.   In the book of Matthew 8:5-10 and Luke 7:2-10 we have an account of  the centurion. In these accounts Jesus is teaching a principle about knowledge of authority. The centurion had a knowledge of authority.  He understood that when a word is spoken from a position of  authority, it must be performed according to the decree.  That is the power of your words, when you know you have authority you act on it by saying what you want to happen. When you understand this you have and the ability decree a thing. You are now walking in sonship in the Kingdom.

A. Our problem is in the receiving it , and understanding how to apply it.  It's like when you are going to the doctor he gives you a prescription and he tells you to take this pill three or four times a day and you will recover. We do what the doctor says because we believe him. But because it was written in the Bible,and we did not hear God say it physically our senses take over.   Our body and our mind takes over and what happen, is we are controled by our through's our emotion's and feelings.

B. We fail to get what has already been paid for us.  The reason is because of our mind our thought process has to be changed we have to do it by the Word of God. Romans 12:2 talks about being transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Our mind is the third strongest weapon we have outside of our words.  You ask the question what do you mean by this statement!
It simple when a person make up their mind about a certain thing or situation they will do it, or they will not do it. Your mind will control a lot of what you believe until you start operating out of your spirit. That is one of the jobs of the Holy Ghost, but we have to walk after the spirit this something we must chose to do.
 C. That is where our mind come into play, we must not let the thought of our feeling and the thought of the enemy take hold of us. You see this play out when Jesus was tempted for forty days and nights in the wilderness.
    I want you to go back to Genesis 1 : 26 when God made man he made him as a son, not just a man  or creature God put his image, which is a spirit which in the likeness of him. God even gave him a God mindedness where he could think the Father thoughts. But the devil knew he could not deal with Adam in his mind . But  the woman who had not heard what God told the man heard he knew that he could deceive her,  So he used the wisest  creature on earth to deceive her,the serpain and she would get to the man. That is how the devil attacked the man thinking.
 D.When you go to Genesis 3:6 you see where the woman's perception was changed about fruit. She thought that it would be good to eat, it appealed to her perception and it was pleasant to her senses to the point she lusted for it her spiritual appetite was deceived by a false desire. Adm who knew what God had said allowed her words to trap him into questing what God had said. Satin was able to make a suggestion through Eve due to the fact he had deceived her. It was a mind game for her to work on Adam to get him to give in, the moment he had a question about what God had said the could take him down. He did not know how he was as a son, nor did he know his authority.
I'm going to stop here because I want you digest this and look for part 3.

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF SON SHIP! PART 1

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Today we will discuss powerful keys which must be understood and used to unlock the mysteries of son ship.
St John 1:12 says "But as many as received him (Jesus) to them he gave the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name." Romans 10:9 says "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are a child of God. As you obey the
Word of God daily, you will begin to master the skills necessary to become a son.

What then is the significance of becoming a son of God?  What is my assignment as a son?  What are the benefits of son ship? What does the process of becoming a son actually look like? What are three keys that will help me unlock the mysteries of son ship?

In today's post I will provide a brief answer to these questions. Over the next few weeks we will discuss each of these areas in more detail.

1. The significance of son ship is that you become mature enough to handle the power of God, doing the works of Jesus and exercising His dominion and authority in the Earth. All of these works are done to give God and God alone the glory.  Romans 8:19 speaks about how the whole earth groans and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.  People are in dire need of the demonstration of the power of God in their lives.  Sons, where are you? It is as if the whole earth is experiencing birth pangs, waiting on the sons of God to stand up and take their rightful place; going throughout the earth preaching good news, binding up the brokenhearted, setting  captives free, healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out devils.
2. My assignment as a son is to do the works of Jesus.  Acts 10:38 says "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power: who went about doing good and healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him."  Mark 16:17, 18b says "And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ...they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. As we meditate on the Scriptures, we gain the confidence to work these miracles just as Jesus did.
3. The benefits of son ship include our ability to possess the inheritance we have as heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ. As sons, we understand how to access and allocate Heavenly resources for the benefit of the Kingdom of God. Heavenly resources are unlimited and include according to II Peter 1:3, ALL things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue.  My brothers, we must refuse lack in every area of our lives and in the communities we have been called to serve.  Just don't tolerate it!!! Why should we lack any good thing when God has already provided everything we need?  Stay tuned; we will talk about this more in an upcoming post.
4. The process of becoming a son involves my willingness to allow Jesus to become Lord in every area of my life.  It requires me to crucify the desires of my flesh and to instead allow the character of God to become highly developed in my life.  The process requires patience, humility, the ability to forgive and the grace to love unconditionally.  It teaches me to be a warrior and to understand the powerful weapons of our warfare.  II Corinthians 10:4 says " For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds:".
5. Three keys that will help us unlock the mysteries of Son Ship are:   

• Sons receive the mind of Christ from their study and meditation of the Word of God. Romans 12: 1-2 talks about us presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God which is our reasonable worship (service). We are also instructed to not be conformed to the ways of the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Sons learn to think and subsequently act like Christ.  In 2015 let's develop the mindset of Christ to a greater extent.
• Sons know the voice of God because they know the Word of God! Sons know the will of God because they know the Word of God.  His Word is His Will! Sons are able to pray and decree from a heart of faith KNOWING THAT THE WORD IS ALWAYS WORKING.  Hebrews 1:3 says "he upholds all things by the word of his power."  This is why we don't have to pray "If it be thy will....." When tempted to doubt, sons understand that as they hear and meditate on the Word, faith is increased and doubt is driven out of their hearts. The voice of God gives sons supernatural wisdom and insight into issues they face always leading them to victory.  Some have referred to this as "inside information".
• Sons are led by the Spirit of God.  Romans 8:14 says " For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."   What is the Ho;y Spirit illuminating to you as you pray and study the Bible?  Are you taking note of the still small voice?  Are you paying attention to the gentle nudges of  Holy Spirit?  He is the third person of the Trinity and has been sent into the Earth to teach us all things.  As you learn the voice of a dear friend, you will also learn the voice of Holy Spirit.  Sons learn how to appreciate and host Holy Spirit.  

Galatians 4: 1-4 talks about how a child is no different from a servant or slave. He/she is under tutors and governors until the appropriate time.  Son Ship supersedes gender.  To go from a child of God to a son of God takes a willingness to be processed. While the training may appear grievous, the outcome is glorious.

I Corinthians 13:11 says " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

The process of going from a child to a son is a journey that I pray you will decide to embark upon.  Many of you are already sons and desire to continue to grow in grace like our Savior.  As we journey together, we will grow in grace, in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man! Until next time....