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Eternal Spirit!/Thrones! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 7//Issue 5 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb9:14) There’s a temporary spirit and there’s the Eternal Spirit. When a man is born into this world his first experience is with the temporary but if he wants to enter eternity he must get to know the Eternal Spirit. You can understand the characteristics of the temporary spirit in that this spirit is concerned with things that don’t last. Those who are involved with temporary concerns are of the temporary spirit. Such a one lives for pleasures, politics, comforts, possessions etc. Since he’s concerned himself only with the temporal things, his life is going to be lived in a very small universe that begins and ends with himself; how he can promote himself, please himself, accomplish such things as he’d esteem valuable to himself in the immediate realm. And that describes all carnal humanity in this world; that they’re consumed with selfish interests; their immediate safety, security, comfort, health, welfare, etc. But all these things connected to the temporary spirit will end completely at ones death. For the person who’s in the temporary spirit, everything he’s worked for, everything he’s been living for, and everything he’s been devoted to accomplishing has just been about pleasing himself. His belly has been his god. (Phil 3:19) He’s been pampering and feeding his flesh. So when the flesh comes to an end there’s nothing left. His soul has been devoting itself to something that no longer exists. When his flesh is gone his entire purpose for being is now gone. And his soul has no ability to take hold of anything else because he’s never devoted himself to anything else. He’s detached from anything that has eternal significance because he’s been completely devoted to temporary things, physical things in the realm of the senses and now everything he’s been devoted to has passed away. So what good is he? His soul is an antique. He’s a buggy whip in an age of jet planes. So he’s cast into the garbage heap because he’s lived for the temporal. On the other hand the Eternal Spirit is offering us interests that have lasting significance; that didn’t begin with my birth. The things the Eternal Spirit is concerned with began long ages ago. They precede even what went on with Adam and Eve having their beginning even before the foundations of the earth. So when I get involved with things in the eternal realm I’m not limiting myself to things that started with me, but I’m getting connected to something that started long before me and becoming a part of it. Now my soul is party to something that began before me and is going to continue eternally far beyond where my flesh passes away. And by taking hold of the eternal, my soul is becoming detached from the temporal realm for I’m having regard for something vast and much, much larger and more important than temporary interests. So I’m becoming connected to the unending realm, which includes the eternal purposes of God, the everlasting will of God. I’m leaving behind that little universe of serving myself that begins with myself and ends with myself, and I’m entering into the universe of God that has no beginning and no end which is so huge, so awesome, and so much greater than me. And this is so much more worthy of me devoting my life to it that it can’t even be compared to the temporal realm. Because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the Word which by the gospel was preached to you. (1Pt1:24,25) Man is a triune being: body, soul, spirit; made in the image of God. (Gen1:26) At the center of every man there’s a spirit, everything flows out of his spirit and when the spirit in man is a temporal spirit it causes him to serve the temporal realm. If you take away mans spirit there’s no life left – no motion at all, it’s just stone. But when I can see that this temporal spirit is so inferior, small and puny, paltry and worthless in comparison to the awesome, mighty, purpose and power of the Kingdom of God, I can consider why would I want to follow this little spirit when I can devote myself to the extraordinary causes of eternity. So an exchange is made and the word I’d bring up here is “transcendence.” I’ll give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I’ll take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I’ll put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you’ll keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek36:26,27) When you see the purposes of God and the Eternal Spirit and you turn to eternity, or transcend out of the temporal into the eternal; something wonderful happens, because you’re being lifted out of something that’s going to pass away and you’re transcending into a realm that’s never going to end. For when you’re connected to the paltry little temporal life, it’s like you’re just a little speck of dust in the light of eternity. But when you get a hold of the awesome, eternal work of God and enter into it you become a part of eternity. You may be a small part of something great, but you are a part of something great! And because you’re hooking up to something eternal you also become eternal. The word blessing isn’t big enough to cover it; privilege isn’t big enough. It’s such a wonderful thing, the extraordinary calling of me being able to become a part of something eternal and so mighty and so good is beyond my ability to express in words. Yet God has opened the door to us in Christ to be able to do that; that we can transcend from that temporal spirit and into the eternal. And we don’t have to die to enter into this – we can do it now. That’s why Jesus makes such statements as “he who believes in Me has Eternal Life” because it isn’t the fact of having immortality in the sense of never dying He’s speaking of, but the entering into a Spirit that has no beginning, and is not ever going to end, and our becoming a part of it, being joined to it, becoming one with it. In our recognizing the extraordinary value of this the temporal life becomes something we don’t even consider; the sufferings of this present life aren’t even worthy to be compared to the glory that’s going to be revealed which Jesus has opened up to us. (Rom8:18) And when it says Jesus through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, it means He saw God’s eternal purpose and took hold of the Eternal Spirit to fulfill the purpose of God which includes the exact purpose for Jesus’ life and by so doing He became an integral part of God’s eternal plan. But to do that, He had to let go of everything temporal, this world and everything in it. Thus the Eternal Spirit is what defines real Christianity in that to enter into Christ we too must offer ourselves up to God through the Eternal Spirit and transcend the paltry little life down here to enter into this awesome eternal life and the eternal purposes of God. So real Christians are men who’ve transcended. They’ve come out of the temporal and into the eternal and you can see it in the choices they make, and there are many examples in the scriptures that prove this. Most of the so-called “christians” around us however, haven’t seen the transcendence. Contemporary “christianity” isn’t eternal. It’s not of the Eternal Spirit and you can see that because the so-called “christians” of today aren’t trying to enter into the eternal purposes of God and for the most part give up everything in this life to do it. Just the opposite, they’re trying to get God to enter into their temporal life; to bless it, make it comfortable and secure etc... which indicates they’re still connected to the temporal spirit and they haven’t even seen what real Christianity is about. Because even if God blesses your temporal life, you’re going to perish if you never become a part of the eternal realm. It’s not that God can’t bless the temporal realm, He can! But that’s not where salvation is found. Virtually every form of false religion is trying to use God to achieve some temporal purpose. I want God to pay my bills, I want God to heal my sicknesses, I want God to give me a sense of security so I can feel good and I can live the “abundant life” here and now. And everyone who’s looking at God that way, can’t even be saved! They haven’t seen what Jesus saw and haven’t taken hold of what Jesus is offering us and what He took hold of when He offered Himself up to God through the Eternal Spirit. Jesus had to value God’s eternal purpose so far above and beyond anything temporal that the temporal didn’t matter anymore. It doesn’t matter what I lose out of this temporal realm including the whole thing, and even my life, if I can get into the eternal purposes of God. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Phil 3:7,8) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Mt16:25) “Whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord.” (Rom14:8) For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Phil 1:21) My death must serve God’s eternal purpose. My life must also serve God’s eternal purposes if I’m going to be a living sacrifice unto God. (Rom12:1,2) So if I’m a real Christian I’m going to offer myself through the Eternal Spirit to the eternal purposes of God, for these things are going to last forever and I’m not attached to the temporary things that are just going on down here for a little while. They’re of no importance to me unless the things down here are connected to God’s eternal purpose, which means, yes, there are temporal things that aren’t merely temporal because they’re in some way connected to the eternal purposes of God. But most of the things going on down here are passing away and have no effect whatsoever in God’s eternal purpose. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1Jn2:17) So if I’m going to live unto the Lord, I must be involved in things pertaining to God’s eternal purposes. The things that aren’t, I don’t care about. We need a few temporal things. We need to feed ourselves, but it doesn’t matter whether I eat rice or bread. It’s of no consequence whatsoever to God’s eternal purpose. Things that have no effect upon the eternal purposes of God shouldn’t concern us. They’re of no importance to a real Christian. The things that pertain to eternity are the things we hold on to. For you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. (Heb10:34) This is a people who’ve transcended into the eternal purpose. The plundering of their temporal goods doesn’t matter. It’s all temporary anyway. What does matter is to have entered into God’s plan. We’ve become a part of what He’s doing so we’ve become a part of eternity now. The transcendence has taken place; we’ve crossed over. I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If in the manner of men, I’ve fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead don’t rise, “let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!” (1Cor15:31,32) The temporal spirit says, “We must live it up now because there’s nothing else.” The Eternal Spirit says, “It doesn’t matter if I suffer now because there’s something greater ahead, and I’m willing to give up these temporal pleasures because what I’m headed for is so incomparably greater that it doesn’t even compare.” (2Cor4:17) I die daily means that since I’m living for the eternal causes of God I can’t live for temporal things. I have to make my choice of what I’m going to live for. So while God allows me to live, I’ll live unto the Lord not unto myself by dying unto myself even while I live. I die daily to the temporal spirit that I may live in the Eternal! And when the time comes for my body to die, I expect and pray that my death will be beneficial to the Kingdom and God will use my death for His glory and for the advancement of His eternal purposes. Spirituality is exhibited only in people who choose eternal things over the temporal, as those who’ve had a glimpse of eternity. They’ve seen the pearl of great price, the treasure in the field; I’ve seen something better than the ordinary life, and I’m willing to pay everything, forsake everything to take hold of it. The treasure God’s offering me is to enter into the eternal purposes of God and be a part of His work and then become a citizen of eternity because that’s what I’m connected to. My life won’t pass away because it’s devoted to things that won’t pass away. My soul is united to things that won’t pass away. So I have eternal life now because I’m living for things which don’t pass away. I’ve transcended out of the temporal life of serving the flesh. The desires of the flesh no longer appeal to me. Flesh isn’t my master now, Christ is! I’ve transcended and moved into the higher realm where Jesus is seated in the heavenlies. But God, who’s rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you’ve been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph2:4-6) If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Eph2:4-6) All real Christianity and even Old Testament Judaism has a sense of the Eternal Spirit. In the bible faith always takes hold of the Eternal! By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. (Heb11:24,25) When Moses chose to suffer with the people of God he entered into God’s eternal purpose. He became part of something God was doing that would affect eternity, whereas if he’d stayed in Egypt enjoying his pleasures, his life would’ve been meaningless. What happened in Egypt doesn’t matter! It’s all washed away in the sands of time, it’s temporal refuse; meaningless dust. What happened in Egypt during those forty years that Moses was in Midian is of no significance to any of us, and never will be. But what happened to Moses in the deserts of Midian is of eternal significance. And what Moses became involved in with God’s people is a part of eternity. Which side do you want to be on? Do you want your life to be meaningless, or lived for a purpose? Because he was a part of God’s eternal plan Moses gets a part in God’s eternal Kingdom, God’s eternal city, whereas those who remained in Egypt, are gone and they’ll never be seen again. They have no part in eternity. Abraham looked for the city made by God. He could’ve stayed in Ur but if he had, he’d be part of the dust that’s already been swept away. What was going on in Ur during the years Abraham sojourned in Canaan had no significance whatsoever. We don’t care what went on in Ur, or what went on in Haran. But what was going on where Abraham was is of eternal significance. What Abraham did has become a part of forever and Abraham is now a part of eternity. And one of the greatest things our Lord Jesus Christ has done is He’s opened the doors of forever to us and has shown us how to live a life that means something. He’s delivered us from VANITY!! From dust, from a life that’s lived to no purpose and He’s brought us into something that’s far beyond us, and overwhelmingly bigger than us; so big we can’t begin to measure it, and yet we get to be a part of it and it never ends. Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thrones In Place! I watched till thrones were put in place…(Dan7:9) Prophecy: Humble yourselves under My mighty hand that I may exalt you in due season. Does that mean bow the knee? Yes! Confess Me as Lord? Yes! But it also means to obey Me. The very beginning of humility is obedience. To take Me as your Lord is to realize you aren’t sufficient in yourself, you aren’t fit to rule yourself. For the very beginning of humility is to depend on Me to lead you and obey Me, says the Lord. Prophecy: There were three groups of fifty that went up to Elisha. The first two didn’t come humbly and I struck them down. But the third company of fifty humbled themselves in the presence of the man of God and I was able to spare them. And thus saith the Lord to all the proud, to all the haughty and arrogant; you need to heed this example lest I strike you down and use you as an example to bring others to humility, to bring others to bow the knee to My Name and obey My Spirit while you perish, thus saith the Lord. Prophecy: There’s a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. And this is the way of the proud who seek their own ways through their own preconceptions. But what they find is death! But I say to you, if you’ll humble yourself and seek My ways and hear My voice, My wisdom and My counsel, I’ll show you the way of life; for I am your life, saith the Lord. So, do not hold on to your own ways. Don’t have any opinions apart from Me. Wait upon Me, saith the Lord. I give understanding to My people. I show My ways to those who’ll humble themselves and wait upon Me for I know the way which you must go. I have the way in which to save you. For I save those who have a broken and contrite heart. And those are the ones who wait on Me. They wait for Me to show them the next step. They don’t hold to the way they think I ought to do things, but they wait till I show them the way to go and in the end, I lead them to life. For I give life to those who humble themselves, thus saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at “My Father’s House”) You’ve given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people for next to nothing, and aren’t enriched by selling them. You make us a reproach to our neighbors… all this has come upon us; but we haven’t forgotten You. (Ps44:11-13,17) “For Your sake we’re killed all day long; we’re accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (But we haven’t forgotten You. Ps44) Yet in all these things we’re more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Rom8:36,37) Often when preachers in the New Testament quote the Old Testament they see new meanings in the Old Testament scriptures because they have insights into what the Spirit’s doing now or something that’s like a change of season with God. It seems God’s judging. But the Psalmist isn’t saying it’s because we’ve been wicked. He says this suffering is upon us even though we’re remembering God. As Paul says such things happen to us, yet we know God is for us and we’re more than conquerors even though such things occur. Consider Daniel’s vision. I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated (Dan7:9) and I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion, glory and a Kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. (v13,14) The New Testament confirms Jesus has been given that position already. He’s seated in the Heavenlies far above all principality, power, might and dominion. (Eph1:21) But Daniel also sees the antichrist. I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them. (Dan7:21) It seems a contradiction, He’s given us as lambs for the slaughter, yet we’re more than conquerors! So antichrist is prevailing against them until the Ancient of Days came and a judgment was made in favor of the saints, of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the Kingdom. (Dan7:22) But this can only happen after thrones were put in place. (Dan7:9) There’s a placing of thrones before the Ancient of Days can make the judgment in favor of the saints. And thrones being put in place is a process, as in He (Jesus) will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth. (Is42:4) To establish justice in the earth Jesus must put thrones in place. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. (1Cor15:25) Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, (the Ancient of Days) when He puts and end to all rule and all authority and power. (v24) All authority and power has been given to Jesus so He can put the thrones in place, then He’ll deliver the Kingdom to the Father. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him that God may be all in all. (v28) Jesus even now is putting thrones in place, and we’re all involved in that! Why does God actually harden hearts and cause people to have ears that are dull of hearing and eyes that don’t see? Go to this people and say: “Hearing you’ll hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you’ll see, and not perceive;” for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them. (Act28:26,27) If His people won’t come to Him with all their hearts to do His will, He’s not going to let them get away with just knowing how to repent enough to escape punishment. He won’t extend grace to a people who refuse to turn to Him fully with all their hearts so they can become truly involved in building His Kingdom and bringing forth the things Jesus is working to accomplish. If you won’t get in step with Jesus to do all the will of God and bring to an end all resistance to God, you’re going to be destroyed. Either you’re going to get involved in Christ’s purposes with all your heart or ultimately God will do away with you. God has to expunge those who are holding onto even a little bit of resistance because all resistance has to come down, and when Jesus is done there will be no resistance to the will of God whatsoever. So who are the people who’ll survive? The ones who are cleansed of ALL resistance and who are completely in unity with God’s will and purposes. Jesus has to bring that people into being. And the first fruits of that people are His church! As His church we wrestle against principalities, powers, and spirits of wickedness in heavenly places. (2Cor10:5) In other words we wrestle against thrones that are in place but are enemies to God. At the end of World War II General McArthur was put in charge of the pacific over Japan and the recently liberated Asian countries to establish free governments in those areas. What many people don’t know is that in some of those countries McArthur temporarily left in place the provisional governments that had been put there by the Japanese military. Japanese governors were governing countries in Asia in 1946. Even though they were defeated, they were still governing. The reason McArthur didn’t remove them immediately is he didn’t have anyone to replace them with, and even a Japanese governor was better than no governor! Jesus more so than McArthur has been given all power and authority, and underneath Him are thrones. He has the highest throne that rules over all principalities and powers, but underneath Him there’s a governor of Burma, a governor of Singapore, a governor of Malaysia, and the problem is Jesus doesn’t have anybody prepared from His church to rule in these places yet. Jesus promised His apostles they’d sit on the twelve thrones judging the tribes of Israel, which proves there are subordinate thrones under Jesus, but those thrones (meaning rulers) have to be put in place. And until those thrones are put in place the Most High can’t make a judgment against the existing thrones even though they’re held by His enemies. He has to leave the enemy thrones in place until He has someone who belongs to Christ to replace that enemy with. And what Jesus is doing in His true church is raising up governors who can sit on those thrones and rule in place of His enemies. Christ would like to get rid of those demonic governments but He can’t permit anarchy which is no government, so He has to have someone to replace these enemies with. In order to do this He must have a people who He can trust to reign with Him. Of course there’s no possibility of you reigning over others on Christ’s behalf if He can’t reign in you first. So what’s going on in you that needs to be conquered? Because if you don’t let Christ conquer the sin in you, that wickedness in you will continue to reign thru you even over others, and that’s replacing one demon with another. So until Jesus reigns completely in you, you’re not fit to reign over others. Being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. (2Cor10:6) Jesus can’t give you authority to reign over others in His government until you’re fit for it. But if you surrender completely to Him and come into absolute unity with Him as far as the government of your body and your present areas of authority, then because you could be trusted with little, you can also be trusted with much. And he said to him, “Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in very little, have authority over ten cities.” (Lk19:17) Jesus can put you into a high place of authority when you’re so absolutely obedient to His Spirit, that everything that takes place in that realm of authority He gives you is going to be His perfect will and you’re going to represent Him perfectly as though it was Jesus himself sitting there. And that’s what He wants His body to be – people like that. There’s nothing in you that would in any way interfere with Jesus’ will. No selfishness; you won’t take bribes, you won’t listen to flattery, you have no pride, you’ll rule for His glory as though you were actually Him and that’s what it’s going to be like. Jesus is producing a people like that, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled (2Cor10:5,6) Where He has such a people, Jesus can empower us to cast out the devils that are in thrones that actually belong to Him. Now what’s Jesus been doing here? Teaching us, and bringing us to the place that we can cast down those thrones, those evil rulers that oppose Christ’s will and establish Jesus’ will every place where He puts us to fight for the Kingdom of God. When we’re completely obedient to Him He can do that and He can establish and put those godly thrones in place. (2Cor10:4-6) So why are we given as sheep to the slaughter? Because when we’re not ruling and reigning over the devils, they’re eating us up. Why does God let devils eat us up? Because we haven’t taken the position He’s calling us to and used our authority in Christ against them or we’re just beginning to try to take it and there’s a battle going on. As we’re trying to operate in Christ’s authority to bring these devils down of course they’re fighting back. So we’re given as sheep to the slaughter because God won’t let us relax, be peaceable and act like everything’s ok when we aren’t progressing towards His goals. In the times of Peleg, God divided the nations. (Gen10:25) Today geologists say, “Oh that happened millions of years ago” but what they’re doing is they’re measuring the present day movement of continents, and they presently move about an inch a year or something like that, and projecting that same movement into the past. What they don’t understand is in the beginning the continents moved a lot faster. In Peleg’s age they moved at a higher speed but they’ve been decreasing in speed. Roll a ball and see how it starts out fast and slows down then tell me that ball took 47 years to get where it is because at the end it’s only moving about an inch an hour. You just threw it a minute ago but you’re catching it when it’s about to stop right at the end of its roll and you’re imputing that was the speed it traveled the whole distance at! NO! In the days of Peleg God divided the nations and those continents moved fast in the beginning but now they’ve slowed down. The days of Peleg were only about 5 thousand years ago. That’s the truth because the bible says so. But God divided the nations so that even though He’s among us we’d search for Him. (Acts17:26,27) Often people will superficially say, “God’s here because God’s everywhere!” But there’s a big difference between God being everywhere and having His Presence. There’s a big difference between reading a verse in the bible and saying it’s true and having God’s Presence on you where God is saying it’s true. Dead religion can read the verse, live religion has the Presence of God and by this we know we abide in Him because we have His Spirit (1Jn4:13) – this means His Presence. Yet many people presumptuously think, “We have His Spirit because the bible says so” but they don’t have His Presence, so they don’t have His Spirit. What John meant when he originally said, “We know we’re abiding in Him because we have His Spirit,” (1Jn3:24) is “We know and can sense His Presence.” But contemporary religion has diluted that to where people say, “We have His Spirit because the bible says so” and they feel nothing and know nothing of His Presence. So we have to say it now in a different way to get people to understand what the bible really means. We have His Presence and that’s how we know we abide in Him. We know and sense His Presence. He makes His Word Truth and Life to us. We don’t just read His Word, but He makes it live in us because we have His Presence. Real Christianity produces the faith that brings about the tangible Presence of the Living God in the lives of real Christians. (Jn14:21) And God won’t let us all sit here prosperous and healthy when we aren’t being led by His Spirit yet. He won’t let us get settled on our lees and stay in a place where we’re just going to do things the way we’ve been doing them, thinking everything is fine when we haven’t yet conquered His enemies and put in place the thrones He wants us to rule from. He’ll actually allow us to suffer even at the hands of the enemy in order to provoke us to ask, “What’s wrong God?” So what is the psalmist doing when he says Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Don’t cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? (Ps44:23,24) He’s saying, “What’s wrong God? Why are you letting this happen to us?” This allows God to reveal His will to him. And God’s answer might be, “I want you to seek Me and get a hold of more than you’ve ever gotten a hold of Me so you can deal with these problems and conquer these enemies for Me. I’m not just going to hold them back so you can have a comfortable life. I want to make you into a people who reign over these demons and I don’t want any more of those temptations taking you over just because you feel weak. I want you to reign over every wicked spirit. I want to enthrone you. I want you to show that you have My authority to drive these spirits out of your realm, because I’m teaching you how to reign in life.” “Heal the sick, and say to them, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Lk10:9) We’re to reign in life through Christ Jesus. (Rom5:17) We’re to reign over greed, lust and that bickering spirit. We’re to reign over the flesh. Everything contrary to God we’re to reign over. That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-- in Him. (Eph1:10) and “Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.” (1Cor15:24) So how does Jesus put an end to all rule, authority and power? The answer is God gives power and authority to rule to men who obey Him so they can rule over people who don’t obey Him. However, when Jesus has brought all things into obedience where everyone is directly obedient to the Father then there’s no need to have policemen anymore because there’s no one breaking any laws. Before the great awakening preached by Jonathan Edwards in the 1700’s, sin had become rampant in the colonies. Jonathan Edwards was mightily used by God partly because of the prayers of David Brainerd. David Brainerd was a missionary to the Indians and a mighty man of prayer. He lived in Jonathan Edwards’ house the last 2 years of his life when he was dying of tuberculosis. Jonathan often heard him pray, and wept over him as he watched him pray himself to death. Those prayers of David Brainerd evidently landed on Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was a mousy man with big glasses and he could hardly read even with his glasses. He wrote his greatest sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” and he’d go into churches and read it holding the pages so close to his face that the people could hardly see him. But soon the listeners would start screaming and whaling under conviction. They’d see flames around their feet. They’d grab onto their pews thinking they were falling into hell, so powerful were the manifestations of the Spirit of God. And by the time that revival in Colonial New England was over, sheriffs were sitting with their feet on their desks with nothing to do. Bars were closed because they had no customers. There were no sinners. Sin had been wiped out by the Spirit of God. This was a foretaste of what will happen when the power of God’s Kingdom is established among men. You need policemen because you have sinners. You need jails because you have sinners. You need authorities to govern because you have sinners. (Rom13:1-4;1Tim1:8-10) When you don’t have sinners you don’t need those offices anymore. When everybody alive knows and obeys God perfectly then no one needs to rule over them; God rules them. God is all and in all. (1Cor15:28) But before we get there in the thousand year millennium, the church and Christ will rule over men to bring them into that state. And Jesus is preparing us even now to rule with Him. He starts by teaching us how to rule over ourselves and our flesh here in the place that we’re in. First we must conquer and reign over the things that try to rule in us that aren’t of Christ. It’s God’s goal that everyone should be completely and directly obedient to Him and not through intermediate authorities. The reason the pastor has to twist some people’s arms to get them to pray is because they’re not listening to the Spirit. After a few times telling you to listen to the Spirit, if you obey, we don’t have to admonish you anymore. You’ll pray because the Spirit tells you to, not the pastor. In “My Father’s House” I’ve often had to use authority to get people to listen to the Spirit. That’s what authority is for. (2Cor10:8) But the goal isn’t for me to lord it over everyone. It’s to get you to listen to God yourself. I’ve had to do the same thing using the authority God has given me to get the people to listen to God themselves and to function effectually in the sharing services. When you get right with the Spirit as far as the sharing services are concerned you’ll come to church filled with blessings. You’ll come in here knowing you have things that need to be spoken for the good of the church. As another example: The struggle I’m having now with my children is they get up in the morning knowing they’re going to have bible study so they prepare because they know I’m going to be there and they know they’re in trouble if they don’t show up with something fit to share. Bible study is an important part of their homeschool. It requires reading – it requires thinking – it requires discussion – it’s the most valuable subject you can study in school and almost every school in the beginnings of the United States was started so children could learn to read the bible. Christians taught their children to read so they could read the bible. So bible study is an important part of our homeschool; and the children can contribute, they can talk, and participate in our bible studies. It’s the first subject of the day in our homeschool. So they get up, they pray, they read their bibles, they prepare. It usually goes very well, and God’s presence is with us. Then the children get into the other subjects of their homeschool after the bible study, but sometimes they’re slow and I have to push them. Why? Because they’re not responding to the Spirit themselves. They need an authority to get them going. Then after their school is done sometimes their flesh is showing up all over. I rebuked the boys today and I said, “How many of you have said one Spiritual word in the last half hour?” And one answered, “I’ve prayed a couple of times.” That may be true but you’re still letting a lot of unChrist-like behavior come out towards your brothers. But then one of the boys comes back from visiting at the house of one of the young men in “My Father’s House” and says “Hey, you know in the afternoon when things started getting a little bit fleshly we prayed and stayed in the Spirit.” They did it without an authority. So something is going on where our young men are getting together and praying not because daddy or pastor says we have to, but they’re praying because the Spirit is saying to pray. And they’re obeying the Spirit. When that’s going on, you don’t need an authority. When everyone in the church will pray whenever the Spirit says to, then God can do away with the authority having to push you to pray. He doesn’t need someone to rule and reign over you if you obey the Spirit. God reigns over you Himself. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all they say to you; for they haven’t rejected you, but they’ve rejected Me, that I shouldn’t reign over them. According to all the works which they’ve done since the day I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day-- with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods-- so they are doing to you also.” (1Sam8:6-8) I could take all the children at 5:00PM and say let’s pray. That would be authority; a “king” ruling over them. But what I want to see is each one sensing by the Spirit his own need to pray so when prayer is needed, they’ll get together with God and crucify the flesh. Because I’m not trying to teach them to be under authority, they already are. I’m trying to teach them to be obedient to the Spirit. And to do that sometimes I have to refrain from using authority and start showing them how to listen to God, which is also what’s going on now here in “My Father’s House” church. We aren’t fixed in a program or schedule we’ve developed to run the church. For example, today I didn’t ask if anybody had a prophecy before we ended the service, because you had long enough to give your prophecy if you had one. If you’re waiting for me to ask if you have a prophecy, you aren’t obeying the Spirit, you’re waiting on the authority. We’ve gone through stages where I had to encourage you to prophesy and we still sometimes have people who hang back and wait until someone gives them a push because they don’t have the faith to obey the Spirit. But the goal isn’t that 10 years from now I’m still saying, “Does anyone have a prophecy?” The goal is to get you to where if you have a prophecy you give it, and no one has to push you because you obey the Spirit of God. And when Jesus brings everything to the place where everyone is hearing and obeying God, He can put an end to all rule and all authority and all power because God will be all in all. (1Cor15:28) Everything in creation will be obedient to God and no one has to push anyone to do something. So when everyone in “My Father’s House” church is obedient to God, and listening to the Spirit; what a glorious church we’re going to be! And that’s the goal. That’s why I don’t keep doing things the same way we used to. I’m expecting you to grow. The Christ in me is expecting you to grow in faith and obedience so God can move freely and do His will and do new things in new ways. So God Himself will be more and more in charge and you won’t need to be pushed around by any authority. And when we ourselves are completely obedient to Christ then we’ll be fit to be seated on the thrones of His authority to rule and reign with Him until all things are brought into that obedience to God. And this is how thrones are being set in place right now if you can receive it. Prophecy: The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Me. My power is in My Spirit. My power is given to those who obey Me. My authority flows from My Holy Spirit who backs up My Word. My authority is given only to those who obey Me and My Word. The power in My name comes from the power in My Spirit. You can’t truly call Me Lord without My Spirit. You can’t truly use My name apart from My Spirit. The power in My name is given to those who obey Me. My Kingdom exists in Truth only in those who obey Me. Those who obey Me are the citizens of My Kingdom and they’re the ones I exalt. They’re the ones I rule over, who receive My authority unto themselves and obey My Word. And I’ll perfect them in obedience; make them so one with Me that no one will be able to see the difference. For they’re My Body, My fingers, My hands, My mouth, My strong arms. And I’ll rule through a people who obey Me so perfectly that it’s I who rule through them. I’m raising up such a people here. In every place where My true church exists, I’m working to perfect My saints until their unity with Me is absolutely complete. When they do precisely and perfectly all My will, I’ll set them over angels and rule and reign over all things through them. And I’ll not have an atom, not the smallest piece of selfishness, pride, or rebellion in any of My people. For there’ll not be the least little seed that separates from Me. For we’ll be One; I and My church, we’ll be One. We’ll be One and we’ll rule and reign as One. For My Kingdom will be established through them and for them and by them, even as all things have come through Me and for Me and by Me, saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at “My Father’s House.”)
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