Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Manuel

Number 1- The Word of God

Introduction

#1 Faith or believing — #2 Word Confessions

The Lord has told each of us in His word this fact; For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7).

1 Thessalonians 5:23: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cornerstone Scripture:

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Let’s look at two different types of God’s word.

These are the Logos word and the Rhe’ma word.

God’s word is powerful and can bring healing as we speak it out over our lives:

Psalm 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.

Let s start by looking at a definition of the Logo’s word:

From Strong’s Greek Concordance Reference #3056

The Logo’s word could be defined as something that is written especially by the Divine Expression such the words of Jesus Christ, God the Father, or God the Holy Spirit. The logos word is considered to be God’s words as written and included in the modern canon of scriptures that we commonly refer to as the bible.

Vines Expository Dictionary defines the logos word as an expression or thought that embodies an idea or concern.

The scriptures tell us that the bible was written by holy men as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 1:20, 21 No scripture is of any private interpretation, but Scripture was given by the will of God by holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Let’s also consider a definition of the Rhema word: Strong’s Greek concordance reference # 4487. An utterance, spoken word of an individual or a special matter of topic or narration, command, or dispute. More accurately the Rhema word is the God breathed word, God’s living word, or the Word that is inspired by God or the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the (Rhema living Holy Spirit Breathed) word of God.

It is very important that we know the scriptures well. I recommend that new believers always start by reading he first four gospels over and over until these are thoroughly absorbed into their spirit and souls….@@@

God speaks to individuals through the word of God. ( David Taylor ).

The Holy Spirit can also speak to us using a rhema word from the scriptures.

The Holy Spirit can bring one passage of scripture alive to you and the Lord will use it to speak to you Spirit to spirit.

When we speak the word of God it is powerful and alive and it will accomplish what the Lord sends it out to do. It will prosper the thing that it is pointed at!

Hebrews 4:12 The word, (Logos or written word), of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Psalm 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.

We need to remember that our God is a prophetic being!

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

The Lord created mankind to interact with Him. He often visited Adam and even in the Garden and talked with them. The Lord still wished to speak to us today. The problem is not that the Lord is not talking the issue is that most of us are just not listening to Him.

At times we also do not recognize how the Lord of the universe is communicating with us…logos word, rhema word, nature, prophetic encounters, dreams, visions….there are many ways that the Lord can speak to you and we are going to be looking at 11 ways in the next few weeks.

When the Holy Spirit can also speak to us using a rhema word from the scriptures I call these “mile post” scriptures. We never forget those, because the breath of God is upon them.

I want to share a few examples of “mile post” Rhema words from my own experience. This will help you to understand how this may unfold in your life as the Lord speaks to you through the rhema or living word.

* Exodus 33:14 He (God) said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Tanzania missions trip.

* Luke 12:24 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? (Revelation of God’s provision).

* Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Trust in God’s faithfulness and ability to bring the promises that He has birthed in my life to pass).

* Acts 4:29,30 “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, “by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” (Revelation that God would release and perform creative miracles as I prayed in the name of Jesus, Leonard, and Toronto).

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Number 2- The Still Small Voice

Introduction: At this point we are starting to get into a little deeper water. We are starting to study how to be led by the Holy Spirit. We are going to be studying this in much more detail over the next few weeks. This is a crucial part of developing your spiritual senses and honing your ability to hear the voice of God…

Cornerstone Scripture:

Hebrews 5:14 Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

This passage is speaking about learning and feeding upon the weightier matters in the Kingdom of God. Paul spoke of Carnal Christians that still needed to be fed the milk of God’s word. (1Cornthians 3:2) I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.

Elaborate

Let’s look a couple of logos or scriptural examples of this dynamic in Christ’s Kingdom.

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

1 Kings 19:12 After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. (Elijah in the cave).

Job 4:12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it.”

Once we have developed a relationship with the Lord He will speak to us continually.

That is why we need to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The Lord will speak to us at all times, (Brother Lawrence). Many times the Lord will begin to speak to you in the still small voice as you pray and step out to speak a prophetic word of encouragement. In time like this we need to simply listen to the Holy Spirit and repeat what he is telling us. (Botwood, Margret Hawkins).

Really what this boils down to is learning to be led by the Holy Spirit. This is a learning curve and a process that a person can mature into. Basically the Holy Spirit speaks to you in 4 ways…We are going to look at these in detail now.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Define the Still Small Voice

The main way that the Lord can guide us is by His Spirit. Because we are sons and daughters of the Most High God we can expect the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us. After all that is exactly what Jesus said that the Holy Ghost would do for us.

John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

The Holy Spirit speaks to us and tells us revelatory things.

Jesus clearly taught us that the Holy Spirit would guide and teach each of us. But how Does that happen and what does that look like?

Remember that you are created in the very image of almighty God and that the Lord created you the creature to have relationship with Him the Creator.

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

We are triune being just like our triune God. There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There are three parts to the God head.

Likewise we are created in the triune image of God with a spirit a soul and a body.

Jesus said in John 4: 24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” We communicate with God in the spiritual realm, and likewise He also speaks to us using the spiritual realm most of the time.

The Lord speaks to us Spirit to Spirit. We could say that the still small voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us sprit to Spirit.

2 Corinthians 2: 17 tells us that The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

I Thessalonians 5:23 give us even more insight into this mystery of God’s Kingdom; Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul had the revelation that humans are three part beings….Elaborate on this…

We also see that it is possible to be sanctified spirit soul and body. Elaborate on this…

Notice the order… This order is from the inside out.

Your spirit is your inward man. Your spirit is the real you.

I Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Elaborate here.

Your soul is you mind will and emotions.

These are not recreated at the moment of salvation. ….Elaborate on this…

Your flesh is not recreated at the moment of rebirth either. ….Elaborate on this…

Again the most common way that the Lord is going to speak to you is from His Sprit to your spirit.

Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (This is the unction of the Holy Spirit).

God’s Spirit bears witness to our spirit; He talks to us and communicates with us through His spirit in the spiritual realm.

Some folks need a little more teaching on the new birth, salvation, or what most incorrectly call being “born again”. Let’s take a couple of minutes to look at this.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3: 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

This is where the Western church gets the term “born again”, but we for the most part do not use it properly and we do not teach it correctly in most churches.

Elaborate here.

Jesus gives us an much clearer picture, and better definition of the true meaning of being “born again” in John 3:6.

John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Elaborate here.

The Messiah is speaking of a spiritual rebirth. In fact the actual language should not be written as born again, this term should actually be translated as “born from above, or born from the heavenly realms”.

Elaborate on this.

Matthew 6:33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

When we learn to actually seek first the Kingdom of heaven our spirit becomes dominate in terms of perception over our soul and flesh.

This can occur for a few seconds or this can occur for a few minutes, or this can occur for a few days or it can be for eternity.

Enoch… Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Elijah… 2Kings 2:11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

The Messiah…Acts 1:9– Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

I also believe that there have been other saints like this. Those who just loved God so much and were so close to the Lord that he just took them home to heaven to be with Him.

Most people are not Spirit led in our next lesson we are going to study the 3^rd way that God is speaking today, being led by God’s Spirit

Recap

Hebrews 5:14 Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson # 3- Being Led By The Spirit

Introduction

In our last lesson on the word of God and learning to hear the still small voice of God we touched on the subject of exercising our spiritual senses and learning to be led by our regenerated or “born from above” spirit. As we progress in these teachings we will begin to weave several principles from Christ’s Kingdom together as they are important to all eleven ways that the Lord is speaking to us today.

In this lesson we are going to go into some detail about being led by the Spirit of God. This is perhaps the most common and most important way that the Holy Spirit guides and leads us each day.

Unfortunately, it is also perhaps the most misunderstood and least employed way to communicate with the Lord. So let look at the dynamics of being led by God’s Spirit as we press deeper into the mysteries of God’s word and Kingdom.

Cornerstone Scripture

Romans 8:7-14 Read

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

If you are not reborn of the Spirit or “born again” you are not a child of God, and if you are not a child of God you cannot be led by God’s Spirit because you are not His.

The scriptures tell us that when we are saved or born again that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that the Spirit of God indwells us.

1 Corinthians 3: 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Most people fall into the category of being “carnal minded” or “flesh ruled”. This is certainly true of those who do have a relationship with the Lord. However it is also true for many believers in the body of Christ.

The Apostle Paul called these types of Christians “carnal Christians”.

1Cornthians 3:1-3 Brethren, I could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

In other words these Christians were under the influence of their undegenerated minds, and they were ruled by the appetites of their bodies. Of course this leads a person to commit sin, and sin puts a wall between humans and God. Sin greatly inhibits our ability to hear Gods voice when He is seeking to speak to us.

In other words, we need to grow up. We need to advance beyond the “babyhood” stage of Christianity. We need to mature and grow up. We need to move beyond feeding upon milk and begin to feed upon the meat of the word of God.

That is the goal of these teachings; to help those saints who are hungry to learn more about the hidden mysteries and the fine points of Christ’s Kingdom.

This is the goal of these teachings. We base this goal on:

Ephesians 4:12-15 Our desire is to; equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ-

We hope to help folks mature and to grow in the power of the Holy Spirit and into the very image of Christ Jesus. You could say that that is the mission statement for this teaching series and outreach ministry.

Let me ask you a question? Would you want to be friendly with a person who did not please you and who seemed to repel you? Most likely you would not.

God is no different. Proverbs 6 tells us that our God hates evil and sin. When we allow or tolerate sin in our life’s we are in a way building a wall that hinders our relationship with the Lord. Just like we don’t like to talk to folks that grieve us, neither is the Lord enthusiastic about talking to us openly when we are repelling His Spirit with sin. I am going to leave this topic, but we will pick it up later in a future teaching. So for now, I want you to invest sometime as you pray and to ask the Holy Spirit if you have any issues that are hindering your relationship with the Lord. If he shows you something, just repent; it’s just that easy to set things strait with God.

What we need to do is to seek to have our minds and souls transformed into a “Christ-like” character.

So as you are hearing these teachings you are starting the process of regenerating your mind. As you are renewing you mind, you are starting an important part of the process of maturing. Remember that we need to feed our spirit with God’s word every day.

Ephesians 4:23 encourages us to: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

Elaborate

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

In other words, as we have our minds renewed, (this is our soul), and we will grow in our ability to prove Gods will for our lives.

The word translated as prove in this passage of scripture is the Greek Word dokimazo, dok-im-ad’-zo (ST GR # 1381) and it can mean: to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve:–allow, discern, examine, or to try. Another way of saying this is to hear and understand clearly.

We need to hear and to understand God’s will for our lives clearly.

2 Peter 1:10 2-10 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, (Here Peter is describing and speaking of having our soul in subjection to our spirits.) 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.

Jesus cleansed us of our sins and healed (saved or sozoed- saved) our spirits by shedding His holy blood.

We can wash or cleanse our spirits, soul, and body by the washing of water by the word of God. As you study God’s word it is like steam cleaning your soul, mind, will, and emotions.

So again we want to progress from foundational principles to the weightier matters of God’s Word and Kingdom as we progress in these teachings. We will eventually begin to study how to minister in the power gifts of the spirit, including the working of miracles, and the gifts of healings.

We will seek to learn more about the revelatory gifts of the spirit such as the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom, and also the gift of prophesy and discerning of spirits.

We will also seek to learn more about dreams, visions, trances, and angelic visitations and angelic ministry too as we progress and add to our scriptural foundation.

However, it all starts with the word of God. You must build your faith on the cornerstone of Christ’s Word, and upon the rock of Jesus Christ’s example.

It all starts with developing your ability to hear God’s voice clearly; and building and developing a detailed, and in depth knowledge of the canon of scripture.

This all starts by learning to be led by God’s Spirit.

That is exactly what we are going to do with these first several lessons and then we will start to move into the weightier matters and seek to dig out some of the hidden mysteries of Christ’s Kingdom found in Gods anointed word.

Hebrews 5:14 Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The implication of this passage is that God will release the weightier matters, or hidden mysteries of His Kingdom of those who seek and learn to exercise their spiritual senses.

Elaborate on Spiritual senses.

Exercising your ability to hear God’s voice is like taking a spelling test in school. You need to be diligent. You need to practice diligence, dedication and perseverance.

Examples:

LA Airport Bus

MCI Airport Kansas City.

Hotel Room in Rome.

Let’s begin to search the scriptures for God’s revealed truth about the subject of human beings being created in God’s image as three part beings. This will help us to understand how it is possible for the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us. This will help us to see that we were created for God to communicate with us. God speaks directly with our spirits by His Spirit.

Does the bible really speak about this?

Are you really a three part being?

Is our soul really different from our spirit? Most Christians just assume that they are the same. When someone is born again we get excited and tell our friends that a “soul was saved”, but actually that is incorrect. Actually, it was a person’s spirit that was saved or “born from above”.

Your soul is not saved at the confession of faith in Christ. It is your spirit that is reborn.

You may be thinking, OK Kevin, where does it say that in the scripture that my soul and my spirit are two separate things?

Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

This is a good place to start! If the soul and spirit were the same then the spirit and power of God’s word could not divide them!

Elaborate on this.

Walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit

Because I did not fully realize that there was a difference in the voice of my spirit and the voice of my soul I missed it a lot. It took some time for me to begin to mature in understanding how to hear God’s voice clearly. It was a process.

I am still learning about this dynamic of Christ’s Kingdom.

This kept me from walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit for about five years. I did not understand that my undegenerated soul could speak to my spirit just like the Holy Spirit could speak to me through my spirit man.

If you can grasp this concept it can really revolutionize your life and ability to hear the Lord clearly.

There would be times when thoughts would come into my mind, and these were not always good thoughts. I just assumed that these thoughts were from the devil. This was upsetting to me. So I tried to “battle the devil”. We need not battle him, because he is a defeated foe. The only battle we are called upon to fight is the good fight of faith. So don’t waste your time and energy battling the enemy. He is toast.

Elaborate on our triumphant in Jesus Christ.

1Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Fight the good fight of faith – That is the only spiritual battle that you are called to fight and the only war that you are called to wage in the scriptures.

However, I discovered later that these thoughts were being generated from within my soul. You see you soul needs to be sanctified, or washed and cleansed just like your body does if it is dirty. Jesus Christ saved our spirits at the moment of salvation…but our souls often need more work.

Analogy of restoring a car Pastor Alan’s Model A

At times I would confuse the voice of my soul with the voice of the Holy Spirit and this would get me into trouble. Many people who become born again come to the Lord with a soul that was involved in sinful activities. Their soul is unclean, and immoral. Your soul is still undegenerated even after salvation. Soul = (mind will and emotions).

Your soul is not transformed instantly when you confess Christ as savoir, but your spirit is. We need to get our soul in line with God’s word and with God’s kingdom. That is why so many Christians struggle with sin issues for years. They don’t realize that it is their responsibility to work on their souls to get them cleaned up and sanctified. They never mature in Christ’s Kingdom. They allow their flesh to dominate them and their actions.

They remain carnal, baby, or immature Christians their whole lives.

Sometimes the thoughts and intents of our hearts are sinful.

The enemy will return at an opportune time to tempt you. Temptations: drugs and sexual immorality.

Matthew 12: 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.44 “Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 “Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Elaborate on Generational sins, Familiar Spirits, and Generational curses.

My heart confession: “Lord I ask that you bless her indeed”. I still needed deliverance.

This was true of me…Elaborate on This.

A Learning Curve

This process of sanctification or walking in holiness is a progression. It takes some time and it also takes discipline. When I say sanctification and holiness I am talking about getting your soul, (mind, will, and emotions) renewed and regenerated by God’s word and the Holy Spirit. It is a process to bring your flesh under control on your regenerated spirit man.

The key to walking out this process successfully is to seek the Kingdom of God first. It comes as we study God’s word. It comes as we invest time with the Lord in prayer. It comes as we begin to move into a place of “waiting” or “meditative” prayer; that just means investing time in God’s presence. When we position ourselves in the presence of the God the Holy Spirit can minister to us in that place.

(We will look at this subject in great detail later). However, I want you to see that this is a process.

The Holy Spirit will never violate what the cannon of scriptures say. So if you are hearing a voice that is telling you, for example, to commit adultery, that is not your regenerated spirit. Your un-regenerated spirit does not have the nature of God, or the Holy Spirit of God in it. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to sin.

Therefore this is either you flesh, or your soul speaking to you telling you to commit sin. And, yes it could be the devil.

Elaborate on Generational sins, Familiar Spirits, and Generational curses.

Your flesh will want to keep right on doing the sinful things that brought it pleasure before you were saved. So that is why we need to bring our flesh into subjection to our regenerated spirits. The Apostle Paul talked about this practice in

1Cornthians 9:27 I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Elaborate I discipline my body and bring it into subjection (speak to your body)!

We need to institute this scriptural principle and Kingdom practice in our own lives. We need to bring our flesh or bodies into subjection to our regenerated spirit.

Let me give you another example.

When I was a new believer I was experiencing a lot of visions and trances. Well, I just thought that everyone who knew Jesus was supposed to have them. There was a local evangelist that was seeking to help me. Some people thought that I was a little “too far out there”. So a pastor had asked this evangelist to try to “reel me in”. Really they just wanted to put out my fire so that he could control me, but another is a different matter.

Well, in the course of time, the evangelist’s wife mentioned to me that she wished that she could have visions and trances the way that I was experiencing them then. So I prayed about that. I heard a voice telling me that if I laid hands upon her and prayed for her that she would begin to have visions and trances. I did not know what impartation was back then. This voice was most likely my own soul. But, I wanted to be used by God to pray for people.

Well, I told the evangelist and his wife this and they absolutely did not want me to pray for them, much less lay hands upon them. The local pastor had told them that through his “gift of discernment” that he knew that I was demon possessed. So they were afraid of me, and they did not want me to pray for them.

1John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

On a side note there is no such thing as the gift of discernment. We will look at this in more detail in future lessons on the gifts of the spirits. Scripturally the Holy Spirit gave men the gift of discerning of spirits, there is no gift of discernment in the scripture. Discernment without love can be sinful, if it leads to judgment without love and scriptural practices.

One day they had invited me over for some beans and cornbread. Well, we were praying and I just put my hand on the woman’s shoulder and prayed for her to begin to have trances and visions. Well, the result was that the evangelist got really mad at me, and that did a whole lot of damage to our relationship. I did not honor his wishes. I did not use wisdom. I was led by my soul and carnal mind, though I thought that I was hearing from the Holy Spirit. I missed it. (I was in the flesh).

I should have been obedient to respect their wishes but I was young and just thought that I knew it all. I missed it there. I got the voice of my soul confused with the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of it was not joy, peace and love! It was the fruit of the flesh, strife and contention.

So we need to learn how to differentiate between the voice of the Holy Spirit, our flesh, and our soul. Sometimes we can learn from experiences like this, what some call the hard way! But we don’t have to learn the hard way.

Let’s recap some basic scriptural principles that can help you.

Spirit- Remember that we are created in the image of God with three parts. It is with our spirit that we contact the spiritual realm. God speaks to us most of the time Sprit to spirit. The Lord speaks to our regenerated spirit in various ways…we will be looking at many of these in the coming lessons. Our conscience is an element of your regenerated spirit.

The Holy Spirit that indwells within you speaks to us through our regenerated spirits.

Soul- Your soul, (mind, will, and emotions) communicates with the intellectual realm. Your intellect lives within your soul. When you first begin to hear the voice of the Lord it is easy to confuse your soul with the Holy Spirit.

As I have said sometimes as we are maturing and growing in our ability to hear God’s voice we can confuse the voice of the Holy Spirit with the voice of our soul, intellect, or mind.

Elaborate This is a learning curve and we never stop learning.

Body– your body is the part of our being that interacts or touches the temporal or earthly realm. Your body has appetites. These are given to you by God, however, if we do not keep our bodies in check or in submission to our regenerated spirit, our bodies can cause us to sin and will separate us from the Lord.

Elaborate on this

We are all driven by basic carnal desires and needs…hungry, anger, sadness, sexual desires…

I am sorry if that offends you, but God created you with a sexual nature and sexual desires. These are not evil, they are holy when practiced in a covenant relationship.

Exercising Our Spiritual Senses

We can exercise our spiritual senses just like we exercise our bodies.

When Hebrews 5:14 tells us to exercise our spiritual senses and the Spirit of God through His word is informing us that the fruit of exercising our spiritual senses will be the ability to discern or to understand the difference between both good and evil, or our own soul and the Holy Spirit.

In other words we will, through reason of use, come to the place that we can easily tell the difference in the voice of the devil, the voice of our spirit, the voice of our carnal desires, the voice of our flesh, and the voice of the Holy Spirit.

We can easily tell the difference in the voice of our soul and the Holy Spirit.

We can easily tell the difference in the voice and desires of our flesh and the Holy Spirit.

In other words we will grow in our ability to hear the voice of God clearly all the time!

Getting Your Soul Saved

I want you to understand that getting your soul saved is a whole different proposition than getting your spirit saved or what we call “salvation” or “being born again” in the western church. Not everyone understands this basic kingdom principle.

Let’s look at this fact in the truth of God’s word.

James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

We need to understand that James is speaking to Christians in this scripture. Preceding this verse in the first chapter of James the Apostle James addresses this letter or epistle to “my brothers”, so he is writing to believers in Jesus, or Christians.

So, why is he telling saints who have already been saved to receive or to listen and study Gods word which is capable of “saving their souls?”

The reason is that just because a person has made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and has been “saved” or “born again” they still have a personal responsibility to get their soul “saved” or brought in line with God’s word, and Christ’s Kingdom. This passage is NOT talking about the new birth; no this is talking about sanctification and learning to keep your soul in subjection to your regenerated and reborn spirit. This deals with the maturing in Christ and learning to walk in holiness.

James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

In verse 3 James tells us that we should be aware or; know that the testing of your faith produces patience. You could not have faith unless you were already born again or saved! James is advising born again Christians to get their souls saved!

Remember that your soul is much different than your spirit! Your soul is your mind, will, and emotions. That is why so many Christians struggle with sin and other personal issues, they never realize that they need to get their soul saved! That is a personal responsibility that God had placed upon each believer. These are basic foundational principles, but they are mostly overlooked in many churches.

God has given you all the power and authority that you need to get your soul saved. You were given that authority when Jesus died upon the cross, was buried in that unused grave and rose after three days as the triumphant King of kings and Lord of lords.

Romans 12:2 sheds more revelatory light on this subject: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Again your mind is not “saved” at the moment that you are “born again”. Your mind is an element of your soul. Your mind powers your soul; your soul is propelled by the intellect of your mind. This scripture tells us that we need to do something about our minds.

We need to renew our minds. We need to transform our minds by washing it with God’s word. Our minds are the guiding force of our souls.

Many Christians live their lives without renewing their minds. They are what Paul called “carnal Christians” and as a carnal Christian you are rarely led by God’s Holy Spirit.

As a carnal Christian you are led by your undegenerated mind, or led by your soul, and when you are led by your mind, will, and emotions, you are not allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct your steps. These are body ruled Christians.

That is why so many in the church suffer and fall away from the Lord. They backslide because they have an ungodly mindset in which they believe that; “God is sovereign and it is up to Him to change my life and circumstances. I prayed to become a Christian, but God must not like me because I am still the same. The word of God must not be true.”

The truth is that these kinds of precious people have never understood the truth and power of God’s word. They fail to take the responsibly for transforming their minds with God’s words. Like many people they believe that the soul is saved at the moment of salvation and that God is just going to change everything about them. But this ungodly belief is due in part to unscriptural teaching in many churches and denominations. We teach a partial gospel.

People are not always taught or told that they need to do something with their minds. They are not told how to bring their flesh into subjection to their spirits. They may get some help if they study the word of But, but many people make very little progress along these lines.

We don’t share the reality and the real truth of God’s word and the requirements necessary to grow and mature in God’s Kingdom. So many Christians just remain babies in Christ. They never mature and grow in wisdom and stature with God. They live their lives being ruled by their soul and intellect. They are carnal Christians, and they never develop the ability to hear the voice of God to any substantial degree. So they suffer and that is not God’s perfect will for them.

Their flesh and intellect dominate them and they are really not able to hear the voice of the Lord clearly, and if you cannot her God you cannot really be led by the Spirit of God.

They never develop a discipline that enables them to study God’s word for them self. So they are never transformed by the renewing of their mind. Or we could say that they never get their soul renewed or saved, so they miss out on the benefits of living in Christ’s Kingdom. The blessings that Jesus Christ bought for them on the cross are never realized in their lives.

Again, the scriptures tell us that we need to get our soul saved by reading and studying Gods word. Some of you hearing this are starting the process of saving your souls just as James 1:21 advises you; Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

You could say that this scripture is telling you to; “Bring your flesh and soul into submission to your regenerated spirit so they you will have the anointing and ability from the Holy Spirit to save your own soul.”

Psalm 23:3 also illustrates this dynamic or attribute of the Holy Spirit: God restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Our souls can be damaged therefore they need to be restored. And God will lead us!

In closing this lesson on being led by the Spirit I want to encourage you that it is your responsibility to get your soul saved!

Conclusion…

Romans 8:14- For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

3 part beings

We can hear God through the Holy Spirit through our regenerated Spirits. This can be a learning curve or process…

God is speaking to us all the time and we can increase our ability to hear Him clearly.

Studying God’s word and medative prayer….it is a process

Intro to next lesson…the internal witness of the Holy Spirit.

Faith comes by hearing.

Prayer

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson # 3- Being Led By The Spirit ~ Part Two

Introduction

In our last two lessons we have looked at hearing the voice of God through:

The cannon of Scripture, (The Logos and the Rhema word).

The still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

I was going to share about the internal witness of the Holy spirit this week, but I am going to change gears and continue to foucs on being led by the Holy Spirit…@@

We touched on the subject of exercising our spiritual senses and learning to be led by our regenerated or “born from above” spirit.

Again as we progress in these teachings we will begin to weave several principles from Christ’s Kingdom together as they are important to all eleven ways that the Lord is speaking to us today.

In our last lesson we looked in detail about being led by the Spirit of God. This is perhaps the most common and most important way that the Holy Spirit guides and leads us each day.

I shared with you last session that being led by the Spirit is perhaps the most misunderstood and least employed way to communicate with the Lord.

Along this line the Spirit of God has led me to revisit our last lesson, and we are going to have Dr. Steven Richardson share from the depths of his well of knowledge and wisdom on this subject.

About Steve….

Romans 13:7

Before I invite Steve to share with us I want to recap a bit and lay a foundation for him to add on to.

Cornerstone Scripture

Romans 8:7-14 Read

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

I also want to encourage you to remember that learning to be led by the Spirit of God is a learning curve….it is a process.

Last meeting we touched on

1Cornthians 9:27 I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Elaborate I discipline my body and bring it into subjection (speak to your body)!

Last meeting we touched on Exercising Our Spiritual Senses

We can exercise our spiritual senses just like we exercise our bodies.

We can easily tell the difference in the voice of our soul and the Holy Spirit.

We can easily tell the difference in the voice and desires of our flesh and the Holy Spirit.

In other words we will grow in our ability to hear the voice of God clearly all the time!

Last meeting we touched on Getting Your Soul Saved or regenerated.

Perhaps Steve will touch on this…some call this sanctification or walking in Holiness

James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

After Dr. Steve to come up I want to share something that the Lord convicted into my heart about these lessons.

Perhaps some you don’t really feel the need to discipline yourselves to hear the voice of God clearly.

I believe that the Lord would have me to touch on why this is absolutely critical to waling in total victory and triumph.

There are amazing blessings that come from hearing God’s voice. There are also curses that will come upon people who do not hear the Lord’s voice.

I want to share a brief passage from the book; “Blessing or Curse, You can choose” by Derek Prince.

I am going to read to you from Chapter 4; titles “Moses list of blessings and curses”. Derek Prince has put what I would like for you to see in a very clear and distinct way, and we can all benefit from his teachings on hearing the voice of God in this book. I highly recommend that you also but this book study it carefully.

Let me quote Deuteronomy 28:1 & 2 first:

Deuteronomy 28:1, 2- “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey (listen by listening….@@@@@)the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

Amplified: listen diligently to the voice of the Lord

Read from Page 40-43

What I want for you to focus on here is the benefits or the blessings that come from hearing God’s voice and learning to be obedient to the Spirit of god as He leads you in your everyday life…@@@@

Exodus 19:5,6 ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. (The Body of Christ and the nation of Israel)”

Remember the Messiah promised us that we would hear his voice clearly!

John 10:27, 28 – “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

Mark 12:29- “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

The blessing of Exodus 15:26 “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” Jehova Rapha (NKJV)

Actually it is really quite simple:

You cannot be obedient to the Lord if you cannot hear His voice. The consequences of this are severe, and unchanging…..

Praise God for Calvary!

1. Learn to recognize the voice of God and listen by listening…..@@@ God is merciful and gracious. This is a learning curve…@@@

2. Bring your flesh into subjection to your spirit and learn to become obedient to the Holy Spirit that indwells with in you….

Prayer

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson # 4- The Inward Witness Of The Holy Spirit

Homework? Did anyone receive a logos/Rhema scripture from last meetings?

Prayer

If you can allow this message to absorb or infuse into your spirit soul and body it can revolutionize your life. It can revolutionize your ability to be led by God’s Spirit and therefore transform your life.

Elaborate

Cornerstone Scripture:

Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

What does it look like when our spirit bears witness with the Holy Spirit?

A. Testimony: Ministry Invitation to Italy.

B. Dr. Wallace Ketwoa

Let’s look at some other characteristics of the inward witness

John 16: 13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will speak to us with guidance. This guidance will not always take the form of a still small voice. The Holy Spirit’s direction will take the form of guidance. When this happens the leadings of the Holy Spirit can be very subtle.

The spiritual dynamics of this aspect of the Holy Spirits guidance are really simple, but can be difficult for us to understand with our carnal minds.

Again, learning to be led by God’s Spirit can be a learning curve. Understanding how to be led by the Spirit’s inward witness is often a process and as we exercise our spiritual senses we become more adept at allowing the Spirit of the Lord guide us by the inward witness.

We need to remember that God is faithful to help us to understand spiritual things, and to understand how to be led by His Spirit and He will help us to grow in the ability to hear His voice.

The inward witness is the ability to recognize when the Holy Spirit is communicating to you directly Spirit to spirit. This can be a knowing.

Elaborate on the inner witness.

Led By The Spirit ( A type of the inward witness)

We can be led by the Holy Spirit today.

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness…

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

These two scriptures illustrate the Lord modeling the scriptural principle of

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

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

We have a better covenant with the Lord and as such we can be led by the Spirit. This was not possible under the old covenant of Moses or the Law of Moses.

Elaborate

A Check in Your Spirit (A type of the inward witness)

1John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. NKJV

Chrisma: from 5548; an unguent or smearing, i.e. (figuratively) the special endowment (“chrism”) of the Holy Spirit:–anointing, unction.

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. (KJV)

And you have the Spirit from the Holy One and you all have knowledge. (Basic English)

As for you, you have an anointing from the holy One and have perfect knowledge. (WNT)

The unction of the Holy Spirit can guide you and also keep you from error.

I John 2: 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

We can receive an inward witness or unction of the Holy Spirit that resides within us that will teach us, guide us, and lead us in a subtle ways.

At times this can take the form of a “check in our spirit”. There are times when things just don’t feel right, and we know that there is something that is not correct or in line with God’s word and His kingdom. We just have perfect knowledge, or spiritual knowledge or a spiritual knowing that something is wrong. Site an example….

Prayer

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson # 5- The Inward Voice Of The Holy Spirit

Prayer

This is a type of the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

We have touched on the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in our second lesson of the eleven ways that God is speaking to His people today. In this lesson we are going to touch on the reality of the inward voice of the Holy Spirit.

There is a subtle difference in the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and the inward voice of the Holy Spirit. I want to examine these in the scripture. This will help us to have a better understanding and appreciation that God through His Spirit can speak to us in both of these ways. First let’s review the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and then let’s compare it to the inward voice of the Holy Spirit.

Read 1 Kings 19.

Cornerstone Scripture: 1 Kings 19: 12, 13 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

the inward voice of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.

In this passage of scripture Paul refers to how his conscience bears witness with the Holy Spirit. For years I have overlooked the significants of this passage.

Elaborate.

Earlier we looked at how we are created as three part beings with a spirit a soul and a body. In Romans 9:1 Paul reveals more of his revelation and understanding about our spiritual nature.

Paul tells us that his conscience bears witness with the Holy Spirit. What this phrase reveals is that Paul has through reason of use and by submitting his soul to the Holy Spirit he has refined his soul and brought it into submission to the Spirit of God.

In other words Paul soul had been regenerated or sanctified at this point. When Paul had his soul under control of the Holy Spirit that indwelled him he was able to live and minister in harmony with the Holy Ghost freely.

This dynamic is also available to you and I as well. Our conscience as we have learned is a part of our soul. (mind, will and emotions).

As we bring out soul into submission to the Holy Spirit our soul will begin the process of being transformed into the very image of Jesus. This of course is the role and mission of the Holy Spirit.

We could say that our soul becomes mature, or it becomes sanctified. As this process unfolds our soul, (your conscience a driving force of your soul) will recognize the subtle and gentle leadings of the Holy Spirit).

We could also say that your conscience is the voice of your spirit man.

As we grow and mature in the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to transform our soul, and mind, our conscience will also be transformed and our conscience will begin to dialog with the Holy Spirit who will guide us and lead us.

Once we grow and mature in this area of the Lord’s kingdom our conscience can become a “safe guide”.

Our conscience will work in symphony wit the Holy Spirit to lead ot guide us in God’s perfect will for each of us.

We could say that our conscience is the voice of our spirit. And when our spirit is renewed and transformed by the Holy Spirit our conscience will echo the desires and guiding force of the Holy Spirit.

We could say that your conscience is voice of our soul as well. As such your soul will speak to your spirit and your regenerated spirit will speak to you soul. This is especially true in term of our decision making process and that is how the Holy Spirit can guide us by the inward voice of the Holy Spirit as Paul refers to in in Romans 9:1.

When our soul is considering a sinful behavior our reborn, born from above spirit, or regenerated spirit man will speak to our soul through the inward voice of the Holy Spirit. This may take the form of a supernatural knowing or knowledge that an act is sinful and therefore unacceptable to your new reborn spirit man.

The world calls this your conscience. Really this demonstrates that God’s character and nature is within each human being even if there are not serving God or have no knowledge of Christ Jesus. We were created by the creator with Christ’s DNA…

As we seek to mature and grow into the image of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit we will see this process will play out in our spirit, soul and body.

Our regenerated spirits are in constant communication with the Holy Spirit. He is always seeking to guide us and to lead us. However, at times we ignore the part of our soul that we call the conscience when that part of our soul seeks to keep us in right relationship the Holy Spirit.

The Dull Heart

When we fail to listen the inward witness of the Holy Spirit we begin to wax cold and dull in our love and relationship with the Lord.

God will not strive with us forever.

Genesis 6:3 The LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh.

Psalm 103:9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.

Isaiah 6:10 “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”

Mark 4:11, 12 He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, “so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.'”

Luke 8:10

John 12:40

Acts 28:26

We need to understand that our spirit speaks the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit speaks to us too on a daily basis. However, if we refuse or ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit we will eventually find that our hearts will wax cold and our ears and eyes will also grow dull of hearing.

Why is this important?

Elaborate.

Testimony of Wade School

Every believer has the Holy Spirit inside.

2 Corinthians 6: 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

We need to recognize the difference in the Holy Spirit that dwells within us and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Conclusion: Seek to increase your daily ability to recognize the inner witness of the Holy Spirit and the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. Begin to exercise your spiritual senses by reason of use according to Hebrews 5:14.

Example Delivery date of the books from publisher

Line upon line…..as the Holy spirit leads you in one act that will lead or open the door to another and then another that will eventually revolutionize your life and circumstances.

Jesus led into the wilderness by Holy Spirit:

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness

Matthew 17: Peter James and John

Seer Gift Impartation

Prayer

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson # 6- The Authoritative Voice Of the Holy Spirit

Prayer

Cornerstone Scripture:

Ephesians 5:18 Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.

Every believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling within them. However there is a big difference in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Infillings of the Holy Spirit.

There are different levels of the infillings of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit indwells us at the moment of salvation. This is a grace gift.

1Cornthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1Cornthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3 part being

3 part God

3 types of infillings or baptisms

There are three basic ways that “Baptism” is used in the Word.

1Cornthians 12:13 – For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free– and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (NKJ)

Read 1 Corinthians 10:4….

The rock was Christ and He is still our rock today, Jesus is still the only source of living water!

Quickly let me touch on 3 types of scriptural baptism: (all of these types of baptisms or infillings of the Holy Spirit are the result of Christ’s finished work on Calvary.

We can go from glory to glory, and grow from level ot level and increase in our ability to hear the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit.

Three types of baptism

1. This is a “Spiritual” baptism that occurs at the moment of salvation.

Who is baptized? – a new believer…Who does the baptizing The Holy Spirit.

New believers are baptized into The Body of Christ and the Kingdom of heaven.

This takes place at salvation when a new believer is taken out of the kingdom of darkness and “baptized” into the Body of Christ and translated in to Christ’s Kingdom of Light.

That is what I was talking about in 1Co 3:16, 1Co 6:19 and 1 Cor 12:13

Let me quickly touch on the next scriptural type of baptism…

2. Water Baptism

Acts 8:36-38 – Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

Sprinkled, dunked, or immersed?

Father, Son, Holy Spirit?

Mikveh and the Jewish custom of ritual cleansing, (completely submerged, representing total cleansing).

Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism. The word “mikveh”, as used in the Hebrew Bible, literally means a “collection” – generally, a collection of water.^[3]

Several biblical regulations specify that full immersion in water is required to regain ritual purity after ritually impure incidents have occurred. Most forms of impurity can be nullified through immersion in any natural collection of water. Some, such as a Zav, however require “living water,”^[4] such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing as opposed to rainwater which must be stationary in order to purify. The mikveh is designed to simplify this requirement, by providing a bathing facility that remains in ritual contact with a natural source of water.

This is what we usually think of pertaining to baptism, water baptism.

Who is being baptized? – a believer

Who is doing the baptizing? – a believer

Baptized into/with what? – water

This is an event for those who have accepted Jesus.

Matt 3:11 – “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

It is certain that John the Baptist preached and practiced total immersion.

Chalk verse stone theology.

This is a quote of John the Baptist speaking of a “spiritual” baptism. A believer Is baptized by Jesus into the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now let’s focus on the third type of scriptural baptism for a few minutes…

3. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Power!

God can choose to speak to us through the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but in my opinion the baptism of the Holy Spirit sure helps us to hear the voice of the Lord more clearly!

Acts 1:8: you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Sphere of influence).

Sent verse went.

Acts 2: 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Let’s focus on Jesus for a moment in reference to baptism.

Jesus was baptized with both water and with the Holy Spirit and Power without measure!

John 3:34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. (Jesus had been filled with the Spirit and had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost)

Read from Luke 4:

Luke 4:14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.

What I want for you to see is that this promise in God’s word that tells us that we can develop and mature in the various levels of the anointing of the Holy Spirit just like Jesus modeled for us and just like Jesus did.

In order to hear the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit you need to be pickled in the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, in a relationship with the Holy Spirit, you need to be a friend of the Holy Spirit….The actual word is baptismo which means to be completely saturated.

We can grow into a more complete, comprehensive, perfect and personal and intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. And as we nurture our relationship with the precious person of the Holy Spirit He will seek to speak to us more intimately and will share secrets and hidden treasures from Christ’s Kingdom with us. He will at times speak to us in the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit.

Communion is a very important key to developing your ability to encounter, recognize and heat the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit.

Communion is simply developing your relationship with the person of the Holy Spirit.

Although, God can speak to you at any time through the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit as He wills. He is sovereign!

It has been my experience that when the Lord chooses to speak to us through the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit it is usually in a time and situation where the Lord is seeking to impart very important and life changing revelation to a person.

2Cornthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

1. Communion or koinonia

Koinonia, koy-nohn-ee’-ah, is defined in Strong’s Greek concordance #2842 as; to have partnership with, to have (literal) participation with, or to experience (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction: Or to have communication with, or to communicate back and forth freely, to have communion, or, fellowship and or friendship with another person.

Elaborate on how communion with the Holy Spirit will ultimately lead to the heavens being ripped or rend over a person’s life.

2. A testimony of intimacy and communion with God.

Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada on, Thursday, November 29th, 2001. That morning the Holy Spirit invited me to go for a walk with Him in the cool of the day. That experience is described in great detail in Chapter 5 of Dancing with Angels: How to Work With Angels In Your Life.

Learning and growing in the ability to recognize the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit can be a process. This process can be accelerated by pressing in to a season of intimacy and communion with the Holy Spirit.

Elaborate on Koinonia in relationship to the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit….

The fruit or blessing of Koinonia and ability to her the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit:

Divine direction
To release healing and salvation
To release revival (Argentine/Jamaica)
To release miracles, signs, and wonders
To release or manifest Christ’s Kingdom in our sphere of influence.
To rend or rip open the heavens over our lives/Open heavens. (KC come up here)

Let’s look at a few biblical examples of the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit… and then I want to share a few personal example of the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit

Acts 28:25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, voice of the Holy Spirit

Acts 10: 19 While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you.

Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, (practiced Koinonia)the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Personal examples

The Holy Ghost talks-

Beucellicelli

Daisy’s little cabin

Prayer closet Feb 2010 about TV appearance

Murchison Falls Uganda

Feb 2009 about Italy and book

I Corinthians 14: 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages (or voices) in the world, and none of them is without significance.

There are a lot of voices in the world! We need to learn to test the voices that we hear.

1John 4:1- Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Acts 1:16- “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus;

(David was in relationship with the Holy Spirit…he had been anointed…the had communion with the Spirit of God, and that is one reason why David was able to hear the Holy Spirit speak clearly and then to relate those revelations to the children of God)

Acts 28:25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers…

Recap what the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit is by definition.

A few Keys to learning how to hear the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit.

1. We need to learn to develop a relationship with the person of the Holy Spirit.

2. Speaking to Him every moment of every day.

3. Remind the Lord that the Holy Spirit is supposed to speak to us and guide us.

4. (John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come).

5. Clearly we are expected to hear the Holy Spirit speak in this hour. Jesus promised us this blessing…we can grow in our ability to hear the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit.

6. However, sometimes we simply need to ask the Lord to open this realm to us.

Let’s do that now:

Prayer

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today – A Quick Recap.

Lesson Seven & Lesson Eight (These include the audible voice of God, but are not limited to the audible voice of God)

Prayer

Briefly Recap

Number 1- The Word of God

Number 2- The Still Small Voice

Number 3- Being Led By The Spirit

Number 4- The Inward Witness Of The Holy Spirit

Number 5- Voice Of The Holy Spirit

Number 6- The Authoritative Voice Of The Holy Spirit

Notes:

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson 7- The Authoritative Voice Of The Son

Cornerstone Scripture:

Psalm 95: 7- 9; For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice:

(This passage reveals to us that God is clearly speak to you and I today. The question is are we listening)?

8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

In the eyes of the Lord refusing to listen to His voice and leadings in our lives is as the sin of rebellion.

9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.

Do you remember what I shared with you in the two lessons about being led by the spirit? I assigned a homework assignment to you to read Derek Princes book; Blessing or Cruse You Choose…Remember when we refuse or rebel against hearing Gods voice we come under a curse!

Ok…So in this dispensation we know that the Lord is speaking to us every day, and many times He will speak to us through the voice of the Son, Jesus Christ.

There are times when the person of the Godhead speaks to us in the voice of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Turn to John 10

John 10:16 “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Here the Messiah speaks of the Jew and the gentiles coming together as one.

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

John 21:18-22 “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”

19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”

22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

We need to learn to hear the voice of the Savior for ourselves.

It is a very dangerous dynamic to allow another man, or woman, no matter how anointed, or no matter what ministry office they may seem to hold, to hear God on your behalf.

Allowing others to hear God for you and not cultivating your own ability to hear God’s voice clearly for yourself is, in my opinion, one of the greatest weaknesses and one of the greatest dangers to God’s people today.

Many of God’s people are addicted to the prophets, or other charismatic Christian leaders. They just can’t seem to hear God for themselves… If you cannot hear someone it is impossible to establish a personal relationship with them. And if you can’t hear God you are actually placing yourself under an ancient curse. This is serious business.

The Lord revealed to me how celebrity Christianity was bordering on idol worship in a powerful dream, and I don’t have time to unpack that here tonight, but it is truth. The body of Christ is suffering from an affliction and I call it celebrity Christianity, but it is actually a form of witchcraft, and we need to realize this and to overcome it!

Michael Sullivan’s vision of grass or weed

Again, idol worship in the body of Christ and it is also a form of Witchcraft…we need to realize this error and work to overcome it. How? By repenting…but at last, that is whole other message, and though a good one, allow me to get back to the task at hand, but I hope that you will pray and seek the Lord’s heart about these things.

Let’s Look at Jesus Christ’s Mindset on this subject:

Philippians 2: 5-13 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, (Jesus did not seek to exalt Himself at any time), taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 ¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

We cannot allow others to hear God and to work out our own salvation and relationship with the Lord. This is a very dangerous thing. Don’t do it, and if you are, Stop!

Let’s move on!

John 5: 24-30 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word (voice) and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

25 “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

26 “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, (Zoe- The God kind of life…@@@).

Whenever we hear Jesus voice we grow in a greater dimension and understand of the Zoe, or god kind of life. We become overcomers!

27 “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 “and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

30 “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Why do you need to hear Gods voice?

Because only by grooming and honing your ability to hear the voice of the Lord can you know how to receive and step into the resurrection of life of the Messiah, (Zoe: God Kind of Life) And for those who refuse to hear Gods voice, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. That is called sheol or hell folks.

Now this last passage speaks of the Father & the Son speaking to everyone who has ever lived.

I want to move quickly tonight let me cover the eight way that God is speaking today.

Conclusion about the voice of the Messiah speaking to us today.

My prayer times…God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit…I speak to all three, and you can too….

March 25^th, 2001…Jesus spoke to me in the Authoritative Voice Of The Son

Matthew 28: 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Jeremiah 29: 11-14 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Jesus is still speaking to His sheep today. And the Lord can speak to you through the authoritative voice of the Son…expect it and begin to develop and groom your spirit to hear the voice of the son of the Living God!

Prayer

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today

Lesson 8 – The Voice Of The Father

Cornerstone Scriptures

Luke 3: 21-23 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.

22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (This is the authoritative voice of the Father)!

23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age.

(An important note here is the Jesus only began His ministry after the heavens opened and also after the Father spoke, and after He was filled with the Holy Spirit).

This is an important passage of scripture as it parabolically ends millennia’s or thousands of years of the human race not hearing the voice of the Father.

As a consequence of the fall of Adam the Father had been silent.

Genesis 3:8, 9 And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called (spoke to him as a man speaks to a friend) to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Read from Genesis 3.

Part of the curse of the Lord upon the human race was separation from God the Father. We will look at this in more detail in a moment. (Verse 17: Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.)

Matthew 17 1-9 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

Let me take a side bar at this point….Here we see Peter, James and John and they are “greatly Afraid”…Why? One reason was because of their Jewish heritage.

This is indicative of many Jewish people today. Not necessarily Messianic Believers, but most other Jewish people are still greatly afraid to hear God’s voice. They don’t believe that God will speak to them. They do not believe that God wants to speak to them.

Many Jewish people today are just like Peter, James and John here in this passage, and are “greatly afraid” to hear the voice of God. This is a great tragedy in my opinion…the Lord so desperately loves the Jewish people.

Speaking of Israel and the Jewish people God says:

Zechariah 2: 8 For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. 9 “For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.

United Nations Vote…please pray!

My friend and waiter…asked others…none that I have talked to believe that God will talk to them today….This is a strong hold and it has very deep roots…Let’s look at it briefly because this is the outworking of the curse of Genesis 3.

Let’s examine the rots of the curse, Genealogy of Jesus and the Jewish people in Matthew chapter one.

Exodus 19: 9-11 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. 10 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.

11 “And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

(These passages of scripture are indicative of God’s heart for His chosen people and also for the modern day engrafted bride of Christ. We need ot remember that as Christians we serve and love a Hebrew or Jewish Messiah or God. We are all His people; Greek, gentile and Jew alike). God loves us all!

Therefore it is possible that this same strong hold, the same generational curse, will seek to keep you and I from hearing the voice of the Father.

Exodus 19: 18-20 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly (This is indicative of times when God speaks over the earth even today).19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered (or spoke to) him by voice. 20 Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

(Now I am not going to major on this dynamic, but let me touch on it for another moment before we move on, because this scriptural principle is very important and just may help someone who is hearing this overcome a demonic stronghold or generational curse that seeks to hinder you from hearing the voice of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit clearly.)

Deuteronomy 5:22-25 “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

The authoritative voice of the Father spoke to them all!

23 “So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.24 “And you said: ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.

Quickly go to Deuteronomy 4: 24-33

Look again: We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.

(Now watch this very carefully in verse 25…)

25 ‘Now, therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die.

Remember Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration? They were terrified when they heard the authoritative voice of God the Father!

This was a common doctrine and belief of the Jewish people of this time and the tradition continues even unto this day.

This passage speaks of a total humanistic fear or hearing the voice of God personally.

This passage also is a perfect illustration of a word curse that was set in motion over an entire people group. You see, the very thing that God created the human race for was to have relationship with. The Lord desperately desires to speak to you and I, to talk to us, and it is very clear that the God of the universe seeks to speak and to have communion, and relationship with the apple of His eye, the Jewish people.

Yet in this passage we see the leaders of the nation of children of Israel reject hearing Gods voice. They set in motion a word cruse that is still active today. That is why if you ask any average Jewish person the question “does God talk to His people today?”, many times they are shocked and astounded that anyone would even consider the possibility. They most often answer “of course not”.

I believe that many people with Jewish heritage may have this strong hold or ungodly belief actively working in their lives. The ungodly belief that says: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die.

Kathy’s unknown Jewish heritage. Many people have hidden Jewish roots.

Again that is what happened in Matthew 17. The Messiah came to break the curse off of His chosen people. Jesus came to break the curse of not being able to hear the voice of God from you and I too!

The Apostle Paul, and the early church understood this dynamic and they helped the Jewish culture to overcome the ungodly fear of hearing God for oneself. However, this strong hold and generational curse is still active in the church today to a great degree.

This curse or stronghold is just more concealed or unspoken. It is a hidden stronghold, and we need to shine the Light of the truth or the gospel on this strategy of the enemy so that we can help people overcome it and break the curse so that they can begin to hear the voice of God clearly…let do that now, OK?

Look at Paul’s (and the early churches) mindset and understanding of this dynamic and His writings to help the Hebrews overcome this ungodly belief that if they heard God speak to them they would surely die.

Read from Hebrews 3:

Hebrews 3: 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. This passage is speaking about the same encounter that we looked at in Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 5 that set the curse in motion. These scriptures are shining the light of God’s anointed word on the issue and giving us a way to overcome the strongholds and be set free and hear God speak to us clearly!

10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'” 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

Hebrews 4: 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

Look at this: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”. This is talking about rebellion against God by refusing to hear His voice!

Hebrews 12: 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. 18 ¶ For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,

19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

This is the exact same series of events that launched and propelled the generational curse of not hearing Gods voice into existence that we saw in Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 5. This stuff is very important!

Look at the next verse 22…

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Read on to verse 29.

We are going to get into this in future lessons. What it looks like to be a royal priest after the order of Mecelzidec….@@@@ Thank God that we have a new and better covenant! Let’s look at this dynamic quickly before we close tonight!

Turn to Romans 6.

Romans 6: 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

(There is grace to hear the voice of the Lord today thanks to Jesus).

Romans 8: 14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 ¶ and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Abba- the language here speaks of friendship and relationship, not of the terrifying experience that the people of god had on Mt Sinai.

Remember where we started?

Psalm 95: 7- 9; For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice:

8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

Remember: (This passage reveals to us that God is clearly speak to you and I today. The question is are we listening)?

Listen it is truly a fearful thing to hear the authoritative voice of the Father! But that does not stop the fact that at times God can speak to us in this way!

In the second book of the trilogy of The Reality of Angelic Ministry Today I share an experience where I actually heard the authoritative voice of the Father! If you would like to read about that you can find in chapter 14; anointed to reign as priests and prophets. If you don’t have the book you can listen to a message about this incident by getting in in cd or Mp3 from off of our resource center on the King of Glory Web Page.

Briefly….@@@

This is the hour that we are living in…free access to the heavenly realm….

Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

Conclusion: God can still speak to us today through the authoritative voice of the Father and the authoritative voice of the Son today. These are very special kisses from the Lord.

Revelation 4 (Read from this passage)

Close in prayer

Breaking generational curse and all agreement with demonic strongholds that we cannot hear God!

Next time we will begin to get into some more mystical ways that the Lord communicates with us today…starting with spiritual perception and then moving on to signs and wonders, dreams, trances, and visions. Then we will move on to gifts of the spirit, like the gift of prophesy…

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today Lessons # 9, 10, 11

Introduction

Recap

Lesson # 1 – The Word of God

Lesson # 2 – The Still Small Voice

Lesson # 3 – Being Led By The Spirit

Lesson # 4 – The Inward Witness Of The Holy Spirit

Lesson # 5 – The Inward Voice Of The Holy Spirit

Lesson # 6 – The Authoritative Voice Of the Holy Spirit

Lesson # 7 – The Authoritative Voice Of The Son

Lesson # 8 – The Authoritative Voice Of The Father

Tonight we are going to look at number the # 9 way that the Lord is speaking to his people today. Lesson # 9 – Dreams

Later we will look at the # 9 way that the Lord is speaking to his people today

Lesson # 10 – Trances & Visions

Lesson # 11 – The Gift of Prophesy, Spiritual Gifts, & Signs and Wonders

Prayer

Cornerstone Scripture:

Job 33: 14 – For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, 16 Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction.

Eleven Ways God is Speaking to You Today Lessons # 10, # 11

Introduction

Recap

We are going to cover a lot of ground quickly in this lesson. Later we will back track and revisit these 3 ways that God is speaking to His people today.

Lesson # 10 – Trances & Visions

Lesson # 11 – The Gift of Prophesy, Spiritual Gifts, & Signs and Wonders

Prayer

Cornerstone Scriptures:

Trances

Acts 10: 9, 10 The next day, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.

Visions

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Dreams, trances, and visions are all aspects of the anointing or gift of prophesy. They are revelatory gifts that the Lord uses to speak very important truths to His people and friends. So, again, dreams, trances, visions and the gift of prophesy are all ways that the Lord is speaking to each of us today.

Prophetic words can come in many forms, and they are not always prophetic words per se, at times God will release prophetic experiences into our lives to help us to comprehend spiritual truths from Christ’s Kingdom.

Read Acts 10:1-20

Open heaven in Bluefield Va. In 2002, still garnering additional revelation from that experience and am still learning more about the truth of open heavens in the Kingdom of god and what they mean to you and I.

Let’s look at a couple of definitions.

Trance: an altered state of mind, ordisplacement of the mind, or the cessation of intellectual processes, or a state of ecstasy or trance.

* a state of rapture or exaltation in which somebody loses normal consciousness

* the state of apparent semi consciousness that a person can enter. Trances can be from God or from the occult.

Often the Lord will place an individual into a trance or trancelike state to speak to them spirit to spirit.

Remember what we have learned from our study of 1Thessalonians 5:23: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At times God can use dreams, trances, visions, and prophesy to help initiate or propel the process of sanctification in our lives.

________________________________________________________________

Visions: a revelation, expectation by dream:–vision. An image or series of images seen in a dream or trance, often interpreted as having religious, revelatory, or prophetic significance. The ability to anticipate or for tell possible future events and developments. God will also use visions to help us to walk according to His perfect will for us.

I want to look at a couple of quick examples of visions, and then we will look at trances, but we will be outlining characteristics and kingdom dynamics of each as we cover theses scriptures.

Trances and visions are similar yet they have different characteristics.

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (1^st mention). Rich reward or supernatural reward of bounty.

We need to remember that just like in a dream, as we learned last lesson, prophetic promises given to us in a vision can be powerful and life changing. In fact, usually when the Lord chooses to speak to an individual using traces and visions that reason is usually extremely important and often life changing. Visions can also be vital in maintaining our lives in the perfect will of God.

Let’s look at one more scriptural reference quickly before we move on.

2Chronicles 26:1-5 Now all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father. 2 He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers. 3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem.

4 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done. 5 He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

Zechariah was a seer prophet. Seers see visions.

____________________________________________________________________

Acts 22:6-20 is a great passage of scripture that can help us to understand both visions and trances.

Testimony of a trance/ Visitation of Jesus on Nov 25^th, 2001.

Testimony of a vision/ Jamaica 2011.

Trances & Visions

The Lord is accelerating the release of visions and trances today. ( Joel 2).

As you position yourself and seek the draw closer to Jesus you can expect to benefit from both trances and visions.

Many people are being commissioned into their callings as the Lord releases trances and visions to His people.

An essential aspect of understanding how to interpret or activate the revelations that God gives us through trances and visions is obedience. We need to understand the role that obedience plays as events unfold after having a trance of vision.

As you seek to hear the Lord’s voice He will begin to add to the ways that He speaks to you and the language that He speaks to you in will expand and grow.

Here is one example.

-Nature, birds, rainbows, and butterflies.

Mini trances and visions and the word of knowledge, prophesy, and the power gifts, of faith, miracles, and healings.

Conclusion about trances and visions

#11 The Gift of Prophesy, Spiritual Gifts, & Signs and Wonders

Amos 3:8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

Prophesy is a very important and in-depth subject and we are going to begin to look at it in great detail as we begin to study the gifts of the spirit.

Prophesy is one of the most misunderstood and misused gifts of the spirit in the body of Christ.

Did you know that you are prophesying every time that you open your mount and speak? Amos 3:8

Matthew 12:36, 37 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

When we speak we prophesy! We are created in the very image of God and there for we have been given the same privileges

Genesis 1:26, 27 Then God <‘elohiym> said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” :27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Psalm 8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

5 For thou hast made him a little <m@`at> lower <chacer> than the angels <‘elohiym>, and hast crowned <`atar> him with glory <kabowd> and honour <hadar>..

Hebrew: <‘elohiym>, gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the form) like or in the image of the supreme God; also used of applied as a magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative, as in example of someone or something with exceedingly supreme supernatural power:–angels, great judges, or mighty ones.

Actually that is a pretty good use of the word ‘elohiym , for you and I, mighty ones.

1Cornthians 12: 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy.

Greek word 4394. profhteia propheteia, prof-ay-ti’-ah meaning; (“prophecy”); prediction (scriptural or inspired):–prophecy, prophesying. An inspired speaker; by extension, a poet:–prophet. Inspired man

3 Types of prophets:

1 Samuel 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

1. Seer Prophet Chozen

Seer in Hebrew – har ra’ah, raw-aw’- a to see, literally or figuratively to discern, to experience, gaze, take heed, and fully, look (on, one another, one on another, one upon another, out, up, upon), to gaze into another realm, or to see visions.

2. The Word prophet-

1 Samuel 10:6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

Hebrew naba’, naw-baw’ (Naba Prophet) -a primitive root; to prophesy, i.e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse):–prophesy(-ing), make self a prophet.

3. Inspired Prophet-

Matthew 11:9 9 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10 “For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ 11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Greek 4396. prophetes, prof-ay’-tace defined as a “prophet” or foreteller by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet: or prophet. Inspired by god or by God’s Holy Spirit.

1Cornthinas 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

Romans 12:4-6 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

The office of a prophet vs prophetic people.

Next lesson…

The School of the Holy Spirit

Intimacy and Communion with The Holy Spirit

Perhaps the most important key to being led by the Holy spirit is intimacy and communion with the person of the Holy Spirit.

Cornerstone Scripture

2Cornthians 13:14; The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

1. Communion or koinonia

If we expect to rip or rend the heavens over our lives we must seek to enter into communion with the Holy Spirit.

Write the definition of koinonia

Elaborate on how communion with the Holy Spirit will ultimately lead to the heavens being ripped or rend over a person’s life.

2. A testimony of intimacy and communion with God.

Revelation 19:10- The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy.

I want to describe a parabolic experience that I walked through in the city of Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada on, Thursday, November 29th, 2001. That morning the Holy Spirit invited me to go for a walk with Him in the cool of the day. That experience is described in great detail in Chapter 5 of Dancing with Angels: How to Work With Angels In Your Life.

During that encounter with the Holy Spirit, He instructed me and taught me many things. It was also during that magical morning that the Spirit of God told me that He was going to arrange for me to travel into the wilderness of Newfoundland, and to be sequestered in hiddenness with Him for a season. Again, this was a stretching of my mindset and my comfort zone. None the less, the Holy Spirit informed me that He had prepared a place for us and that we would spend time together in a cabin in the mountains on that trip.

John 14:2,3; “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 “And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

I want to elaborate on this series of events, as it has a direct bearing on angels and opening the heavens over your life. The morning that the Lord spoke these things into my heart I was open to hearing them, because I honestly did not believe that there was any possible way for these instructions to come to pass. The requests that the Lord made of me seemed impossible.

We need to recognize that at times god will call us to perform:

3. Prophetic acts of obedience

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

However, as I soon began to learn, with God nothing is impossible. Perhaps the Lord will begin to speak impossible things into your heart as you press into His kingdom. These requests from the Lord required me to perform unusual acts of obedience, or what some call prophetic acts.

Perhaps my obedience to simply say yes to the Lord, even though I did not see any possible way for those things to come to pass, helped to open the heavens over my life.

So, allow me to state that obedience to the Holy Spirit is absolutely critical to opening the heavens over your life. Obedience is critical to maintaining open heavens in your sphere of influence. Amazingly, and in short order, the Lord fulfilled the impossible requests that He had asked of me.

I have shared a little bit about how the Lord utilized angelic ministry to release financial provision and to open the door for me to travel to Africa. The trip to Africa was an extreme prophetic act of obedience on my part and was unimaginable to me at the time. My obedience to fulfill these prophetic acts played a role in transforming my life and walk with Jesus. …@@@

God may do a similar thing with you…so be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this.

In obedience to the Lord’s request, I had extended my trip to Canada by several days. This was a real stretch for me. My flesh and carnal man earnestly desired to return to my business and ‘normal’ life back in America. After all, I was now reduced to an impoverished state with very little money in my pocket, and no visible means of support. My rent was due and I did not have any funds to make that payment. So the idea of staying in Canada with the Holy Spirit, though very appealing, did not make a lot of sense in the natural realm. I just could not see any possible way that I could afford to do this stuff. A trip to Africa was a preposterous idea. Even the concept of extending my Canadian adventure and seeking to find God in a cabin on a mountain somewhere seemed absurd to my carnal mind. On top of all of that I was financially strapped, and didn’t even have enough money to pay for food.

However, I chose to walk in the spirit and trust in the Lord and what I was hearing Him instruct me to do, even if it meant that I might be evicted. You could say that my flesh was warring against my spirit. You may also experience a similar struggle as you seek to open the heavens over your life.

Galatians 5:17; For the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Weymouths: For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those desires of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature fo the flesh; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined…Other translations say that our flesh is in conflict or at war with our spirit.

I want to elaborate on these events. I pray that this will encourage you and help the reader to understand the dynamics of opening the heavens over your life, and the role of the person of the Holy Spirit in this process.

On Sunday, December 2nd, 2001, I had returned to Living Waters Church in Springdale, Newfoundland, Canada. The previous day I had arranged to meet with the pastor, Dave Mercer. I shared with Him about my visitation of Jesus, and how I had seen the Lord step down from the realms of heaven into Living Waters Church on November 25th, 2001. I also told Pastor Dave about the angel that I had seen in his church. Dave was very cordial and encouraged me greatly. Pastor Dave listened to my testimony patiently. This was a great blessing; because of his kindness, and openness to the supernatural experiences that I had shared with him, I was able to move ahead with some small confidence that I was not ‘losing it’. Dave was one of the first pastors that I had met that was actually anointed to pastor.

That Sunday morning I was sort of “dancing around the sanctuary” worshiping the Lord during the praise time. As I did this, a beautiful older woman, Daisy, stopped me. She told me that the Lord had spoken to her about me. This was a shocker to me, and I stood in stunned silence waiting to hear what she would say next. She continued saying something to the effect of, “The Lord said that I was to offer to let you use my vacation cabin on the lake. For some reason the Lord wants to spend time alone with you in the wilderness. Would you like to visit my cabin?” I was once more astonished at God’s goodness and His faithfulness. I remembered what the Lord had told me on Killic Island, in Botwood, just a few days before. I immediately agreed accepting Daisies kind offer. I knew that this was the Lord at work.

On Monday, December 3rd, 2001, I traveled into the mountains to find Daisy’s cabin. It was small and was heated by a little wood burning stove. Since it was extremely cold, this was a real blessing. A good friend helped me to bring in some wood, and I organized my supplies. These included a few cans of soup, some saltine crackers, a loaf of white bread, a jar of peanut butter, some bottled water, the book Good Morning Holy Spirit, and my trusty King James Bible.

The instant the door closed behind my friend and they departed, the presence of the Holy Spirit fell upon me in power. The tangible presence of God enveloped me. At that precise instant the Lord ‘ripped open’ the heavens over my life. I believe that this was the fruit of my geographical obedience. Daisies little cabin became a Mount of Transfiguration experience for me. The tangible presence of God enveloped me. Later, I would learn that what I experienced that Monday afternoon was what the Bible refers to as the glory or kabok (?) of God. I immediately began to weep, as the passion and presence of Jesus flooded my spirit and the confines of the little cabin. I fell to my knees in the presence of God. There was no need to pray. There was just a knowing that I was to ‘be’ in His presence. Just ten minutes in the real presence and glory of God will change your life forever!

After some time, I laid down on the little couch and just luxuriated in Him. The presence of the person of the Holy Spirit seemed to penetrate every fiber of my being. This was Jesus. This was the actual presence of God. This is what He desires – just to be with us. I am not sure how long I waited in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. I did not want to move. There was no need to think. There was a knowing that I was just to be with Him. I wept. I laughed. I smiled. I was His. He was mine. This time in that little cabin was my Mahanaim or my first Mount of Transfiguration type of experience….Remember that God can take you from glory to glory, and your obedience to trust the Holy Spirit can determine if you will be able to begin to ascend into the weightier matters, or hidden mysteries of the kingdom of heaven….@@@

The Lord did not speak to me. He did not make any requests. He just wanted to be with me. The Holy Spirit just wanted to have fellowship with me. I was no longer concerned about the cares of this world. The Spirit of God became my world. For a divine segment of time, I was in harmony with the Lord. There was no need to pray. There was nothing that I needed. I was at total peace, because I had Him. I was accepted by God just the way that I was. At that moment I was still pretty much a big mess, and my life was in disarray. But that did not seem to matter to God. He loved me just the way I was, and it seemed as if I had touched heaven for a fleeting moment of time. A few years later, in Kelowna, British Columbia, in December 2004 the Lord began the process of teaching me about communion with the Holy Spirit.

It must have been several hours later that the Lord spoke to me, breaking the silence and peace that surpassed my ability to understand. The Holy Spirit said, “Are you ready now?” In hind sight, I wish that I had told the Lord that I just wanted to stay with Him and just be in His presence. However, I also knew that the Lord had a plan for this special time. In my mind, I believed that the Lord wanted me to read the book Good Morning Holy Spirit that Margret had given me.

You can get a lot more details about these events in the book Dancing With Angels 1: How To Work With The Angels In Your Life, Chapter 4: Prophesying About Angels).

I said, “I am ready, Lord.” I sat up on the couch and then moved to the small sink and splashed some cold water on my face. I could sense angels in abundance. Then I walked over to my little pack. It held my trusty King James Bible and the book by Benny Hinn. I was sure that the Lord wanted me to read the book Good Morning Holy Spirit.

When I reached into the pack, the Lord said, “I have brought you here to teach you some things.” “Do you want me to read the book?” I asked. Suddenly, I had a knowing that I was to read the book of Acts instead. This was the unction of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Holy Spirit said, “I wrote the book of Acts and I am going to teach you from the book of Acts.” My mind began to whirl as I wondered what it meant to be “taught by the Holy Spirit.” At the time, this seemed to be perfectly normal to me, so I accepted the Holy Spirit’s offer without hesitation. I took the trusty King James Bible (the same one that had been blasted off of my chest by the heavenly ball of fire just a few nights before) and sat down at the small table near the wood stove. It was cozy and warm.

Amazingly, when I set the Bible down, it supernaturally opened to the title page of the book of Acts. I smiled. At that instant I sensed that an angel had moved his hands from the pages of my trusty King James Bible. He smiled at me and vanished. Every hair on my body stood on end. It appeared that this angel was working in harmony and in symphony with the plans of the Holy Spirit to minister to me. This fact gave me a real peace and a supernatural revelation about the Kingdom of God. I stared at the spot where I had just perceived the angel standing for a fleeting moment, but only the brilliant red of the Canadian sunset filtered hazily through the window there. The Holy Spirit began to speak to me in a very clear and direct manner. When the person of the Holy Spirit began to teach me I immediately put the angel I had sensed out of my mind. However, I was aware of the fact that there were a lot of angels in the cabin with us. In fact, it seemed that a lot of angels were also coming down from heaven into the cabin. I could also sense that angels were going up into the heavens from the little cabin. This was, of course, all new to me. I just embraced what I was discerning during this time with the Holy Spirit. A few months later I also experienced a very dramatic and tangible angelic visitation of this kind involving open heavens and angelic activity. This experience occurred in Mwanza, Tanzania. In that visitation of the Lord I saw the heavens open over and Jesus visited me and taught me about the ‘seer anointing’. I also witnessed dozens of angels ascending and descending upon Jesus.

That testimony is illustrated in great detail in Chapter 6: Angels And The Lamb Of God, in my previous book, Dancing With Angels 1: How To Work With The Angels In Your Life.

4. I discovered that it is possible to actually be Taught by the Holy Spirit

Over the course of the next two days the Holy Spirit spoke to me and taught me – line by line, and verse by verse – through the entire book of Acts. As I would read each scripture the Holy Spirit would elaborate on the text. At times, He would ask me questions. At other times, I would ask Him questions, and the Lord would give me gentle and insightful answers to my questions. During this process I began to become very comfortable with speaking to the person of the Holy Spirit on a personal basis. I was learning to recognize His voice clearly.

This was a fulfillment of the promise of John 16:13

It seemed to be totally normal to be sitting and supernaturally speaking to the person of the Holy Spirit. Most of the time, I spoke to Him in an audible voice. It seemed that, after a time, He also responded and dialoged with me in an audible manner. Honestly, I am not sure. However, I am sure that the Lord spoke to me clearly and precisely teaching me various aspects and intricacies about the entire book of Acts. The ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit is another fruit of an open heaven.

5. Paul’s Revelation of the Gospel came through koinonia

When I would become tired, I would ask the Lord if it was ok if I took a break. The person of the Holy Spirit taught me late into the night during this period. So I grew fatigued at times, and I would lay down and occasionally doze off. In each instance, the Lord would continue to instruct me in my dreams, and I actually dreamed about the events that were depicted in the book of Acts.

So, the Lord continued to instruct me in the night season (see Job 33:15, 16).

When you enter into a place of the open heavens the Holy Spirit will continue to instruct you even when you are asleep!

I came to understand, years later, that ‘God dreams’ are also the fruit of an open heaven. Several of those dreams were about the season that the Apostle Paul was sequestered with the Lord in the desert of Arabia.

Amazingly, I walked with Paul in my dreams. Paul told me how he received his revelation of Christ and the gospel that he preached. It was not given to him by a man. He had supernatural revelation before he met the Apostle Peter and James, the Lord’s brother, some five years later in Jerusalem.

Paul was given knowledge by the person of the Holy Spirit, and by the Lord Jesus Himself in the desert. Paul was taught about the Lord’s Supper, or the communion table, by Christ Himself.

Lord willing, I will share some of this information and revelation that I was given by the person of the Holy Spirit in a subsequent book about the life of the Apostle Paul.

Today you can also receive revelation of the Word of God through communion with the Holy Spirit….that is a very important reason that you need to maintain an open heaven over y our life and sphere of influence…we will look at this in more detail in the next lesson.

Later I found scriptures in the New Testament that confirmed what the Holy Spirit had taught me in those ‘God Dreams’.

Galatians 1:10-12; For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 11 But I make known to you, brethren, which the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:23,24; For I received [knowledge of the communion table] from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

It was the person of the Holy Spirit that helped to teach Paul while he was in the Arabian Desert for three years. Of course, Paul did not have the gospels for the Holy Spirit to teach him from.

However, Paul did have the Torah. And the Holy Spirit taught the Apostle Paul about the ministry of Christ, the Messiah, through the writings of the prophets and the Old Testament in a very similar manner that Jesus taught His disciples on the road to Emmaus.

The Apostle Paul did possess personal scrolls or parchments that contained segments and books of the Old Testament teachings while he was sequestered with the Lord in the Arabian Desert. He most certainly studied these with the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit. Remember that Saul, who was transformed into Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit shortly after his salvation.

Acts 9:17,18; And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. [In the Holy Ghost].

The Lord wants to release this kind of supernatural teaching through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life too.

7. This kind of Supernatural teaching is outlined in life of the resurrected Christ

We see that kind of supernatural teaching outlined in life of the resurrected Christ.

Luke 24: 27-32: And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded (or taught) them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” This is another example of the open heaven that was upon Jesus impacting other ordinary people in the immediate area.

This is the nature of our God. When we draw close to God, He will always draw close to us. This happened to Paul, it happened to Jesus, it happened to Cleopas on the road to Emmaus, and, in some very small way, it happened to me at Daisy’s little cabin in the wilderness. The person of the Holy Spirit visited me. He taught me, and instructed me, about the events depicted in the book of Acts.

Those supernatural happenings, as written by the Apostle Luke, became a live within my spirit. The ascension, the angels, the resurrections, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, the Pentecost’s (plural), the miracles, the persecutions, the prayer meetings, the prophetic decrees, the extravagant giving, the brotherhood of the believers, the expansion of the ministry, the martyrs, the evangelism, the translations, the demonstrations of God’s power, the unbelievable conversion of Saul, and Saul’s transformation, the signs and wonders, the angelic ministry and the Macedonian calls, the visions, the acts of prophetic obedience to God, the growing pains of the church, the angelic interventions, the missions trips, the discipleship of young men, the signs and wonders in prison, the visitations of Jesus, the visitations of angels, the visitations of the Holy Spirit, the riots and violence sparked by the opposition to the Gospel,

the grace and favor of God, the calls to the nations, the deceptions and plots, the standing before Kings and leaders, the trials, the shipwrecks, the perils, the cost to serve Christ with truth and an uncompromising spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit to protect us from harm, the pouring out of our lives as a drink offering to honor our King…it all became very real to me.

I understood that we are still writing the book of acts. We are still living the book of Acts. Jesus is alive and He has truly given us power! The events of the book of Acts took on life in my spirit, in my world and in my sphere of influence. They are real, and those same kinds of supernatural experiences are still available to you and me today.

The book of Acts is not a history book, as some intellectuals propagate. The book of Acts was no longer a logos or written word to me. The book of Acts became a living word in my heart and in my spirit; it became a rhema word. The book of Acts is still unfolding today. We can still live it, we can still experience it, and we can still walk in the same kinds of signs and wonders depicted by Luke in the book of Acts.

That was the fruit of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to me in the wilderness of Newfoundland. The Holy Spirit opened the heavens over my life. He opened up the reality of Christ’s Kingdom within my heart. He birthed within me a passion, and a faith, for the things hoped for but not yet seen.

The precious Holy Spirit became a real person to me, and when I opened my heart and invited Him to enter, He transformed my life. He did this by opening the heavens for me. The Holy Spirit opened the heavens that are within my heart or within me. Then the Holy Spirit opened the heavens over my life and sphere of influence. He did that by opening and expounding upon the scriptures for me. God Himself did this for me. God Himself will do this for you also. Later on, I found the passage of scripture that so eloquently describes this type of ministry of the Holy Spirit just as Christ promised. In John 14: 26 it says: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

After about 60 or so hours of walking through the book of Acts with the Holy Spirit, the Lord finally said, “Do you have any other questions?” At that moment I was in a state of shock. I guess you could say that I was ‘blown away’ by the Spirit of God. I was reeling as I sought to process the enormity of the massive amount of information and revelation that had been poured out upon me during that supernatural and enchanting time. So I said, “No, Lord.” When I did, the presence of the Holy Spirit lifted to a great degree, and the Lord said, “Now you can read my friend’s book.” I decided to get some fresh air first, and stepped out once more into the cool of the day.

I took a long walk in the evening as the sun began to set over the lake nearby. The blood red Canadian sunset turned the frozen lake into God’s own personal canvas. The colors that reflected from it, at that moment, were fantastic and spectacular to imbibe with my eyes.

As I breathed in the fresh, crisp, clean air it felt as if I had also been made fresh and clean. Again, it seemed as if the Holy Spirit was walking beside me. I looked, on more than one occasion, for footprints in the snow, but found none. As the crisp winter winds whipped off the frozen snow covered lake, it seemed that the zephyrs carried the gentle voices of angels singing in some unknown tongue.

As I walked from time to time, I caught glimpses of the angels that seemed to be dancing around me as I promenaded in the cool of the evening. This fact no longer surprised me. Rather, it brought a smile to my face and a peace into my spirit. I understood that angels were always nearby, and that they are my friends and fellow servants of Christ Jesus.

Later, I returned to Daisy’s little cabin and stoked the fire. Then I settled onto the little couch and began to read the book Good Morning Holy Spirit. I read it in less than 24 hours, and I was astonished to discover that Benny Hinn had a very similar experience with the person of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Holy Spirit had also taught him from the book of Acts in a similar fashion as to what I had just experienced. This revelation both stunned me and also delighted me, simultaneously.

The Father, in His wisdom, had sent along with me, into the wilderness of Newfoundland, the very confirmation of the supernatural experiences that I was to walk through. Needless to say, those few days alone with the person of the Holy Spirit, and in the presence of God, had a profound effect upon my life by opening the heavens within me.

The Holy Ghost can do the same kind of things for you too!

8. The Holy Spirit is the Agent of true revival upon the earth today

Acts1:8; “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

When I returned to America I would often lay upon my bed and meditate late into the night about the things I experienced in Daisy’s little cabin. Over the years, I have written and pondered these events in my heart over and over again. I have sought the Lord for more revelation, and He has been faithful to give it to me.

During my seasons of prayer and fasting concerning these things, I have come to many conclusions about these supernatural events. I have come to understand that one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to ‘make heaven real’ to people. The Holy Spirit is assigned to make the person of Christ Jesus real to people. He is responsible for revealing and establishing Christ’s Kingdom on earth. The Holy Spirit is The Agent of true revival upon the earth today. (see John 14:26-28).

9. The Holy Spirit’s role in opening the heavens today is critical

An important mission and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to open the heavens over a person’s life. That is the dynamic that I experienced while I was in Newfoundland. This ministry of the Holy Spirit was illustrated by the experience that I have just shared about my time in Daisy’s little cabin. As the presence of the Holy Spirit begins to abide upon a person, it has the benefit of simultaneously opening the heavens over their life.

The Holy Spirit can open the heavens within your heart too….@@@

When the heavens open over our lives, it is easy for Christ’s Kingdom to come, and for us to fulfill the mandate of Matthew 6:10.

Matthew 6: 10: Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom come. The reason for this is that we carry God’s Kingdom within us and over us, in the supernatural form of an open heaven. When the heavens open within our heart, and over someone’s life, there is always a remarkable and dramatic increase in the amount of angelic activity in their life and sphere of influence.

Remember that one of Jesus Christ’s primary objectives and missions on earth was to rend open the heavens over mankind. So, one important way to increase your ability to ‘see’ angels is to ‘rend’ the heavens over your life.

This process can activate your ability to perceive and co-labor or work with God’s angels to impact your sphere of influence in your daily life…@@@

In the next lesson we will examine several easy ways that can help you to ‘rend’ the heavens over your life with the guidance and help to the Holy Spirit. Let’s explore this dynamic of ‘rending’ open the heavens in the next lesson.