We do not need a "concealed weapons permit" to carry and use the weapons the Lord has provided us with. Indeed -  we need to carry them quite publicly,  in the spirit realm, yes, openly carry them for all to see - devil, angel or man, whatever spirit we encounter needs to see we're packin'! And don't be shy about using them too. When you see the enemy attacking you or someone you love - waste em'! Don't hesitate and for God's sake don't let them talk to you. Fallen spirits will try to negotiate, beg, plead, curse, threaten - anything to keep you from doing what Jesus did to them - that is, cast them out of flesh and away from flesh. Let's reclaim territory for God. And once we've conquered new territor for Him -  let's hold that ground. Don't give it up again- no matter how hard the enemy tries to take it back. He knows anytime he attacks you he's on a suicide mission - he's just hoping you don't know it. You have no idea how powerful you really are  - or do you? God knows it, the devil knows it, but sadly, many of God's people do not know it. They stay on their side of the valley, not daring to confront Goliath. So start carrying your weapons with you openly, everywhere you go and start using them, soldier!

 Throughout the last 37 years that I've been walking with the Lord, I could never bring myself to study my Bible or pray religiously -  that is to say, i could not make them a rule, a law that i had to obey. Something i had to do everyday without fail. But having said that, if i get up every morning and the first thing i do is kiss my wife, for example, it becomes a habit, not a rule. It's not something I have to do, it's something i get to do. The difference between a rule and a habit is this --  one comes from the mind, the other from the heart. If your heart is compelling you to spend time with the Lord, whether in Bible study or prayer, because you're in love with Him - this is life! If your mind is compelling you to read your Bible or pray out of a sense of religious duty or obligation-  this is death! It will replace relationship with religion.  It can become a point of pride, especially if you tell others about it. I'm doing a fast! I read my Bible every day! All these things are good, but if done to impress or please God or men, they may avail you nothing. Because the flesh is motivating you. But if done from a motivation to seek Him, to spend time with Him, not just read about Him or even talk to Him but not let Him talk to you, but done out of a genuine love and desire for Him --  they will avail much for He always responds to the voice and touch of His lover - His bride. He attends unto her cry, He responds to her need for Him. He will always satisfy and fulfill the desire of our heart if that desire is Him! Amen and amen!

 I've come to believe that God put certain scriptures in the Bible to test us. I've come to believe certain scriptures are for outer court ministers, some for inner court ministers and some are exclusively for those who desire to minister in the Holy of Holies. So, let's say there's a scripture for outer court ministers. It's truth, it's in the Bible. But to latch onto it and build one's ministry around it would mean you have no desire to go further in God. You're content to remain in the outercourt, to be seen by men, instead of the Holy of Holies where God alone sees you. Outer court ministry alone is for those who do not desire a deeper walk with God - a more intimate relationship.  These are the ones who will most likely perpetuate religion, traditions of men and doctrines of devills, though not all do this. But they are content where they are. Others desire the inner court -  they're not tempted by the crowds, the fame, the adulation- the glory of man. They're not as tempted by the gold. They're willing to make personal sacrifices on behalf of the people-  but they stop short of the Holy of Holies-  which requires our all, everything we are, stripped naked and laid bare before Him, clothed only in the righteousness of Christ -  seeking to minister to God, not just to people. Personally interceding on behalf of others, face to face with the One who made them for His pleasure. 

Outer court ministers do not understand inner court scriptures-  they tend to avoid them, or they misinterpret them, or worse -  they present false teachings concerning them. Some of them even blaspheme the Holy Spirit-  He who leads us into the Holy of Holies,  if we're willing to follow.

Money is an example of this principal. There are many scriptures about money, but some are for outer court ministers, some for inner court and some for those who seek the Holy of Holies.  Paul taught that a workman is worthy of his hire, but he said he personally would not accept offerings for himself, for the children do not lay up money for the parents -  just the opposite.  An outer court minister would look at those scriptures (1 Cor: 9:7-19) and decide to accept people's money (verses 7-14), but an inner court minister might decide not to accept money for himself (verses 15-19), unless told by the Holy Spirit to do it. He would far more likely take up an offering for the poor, or widows or orphans.

"All things are lawful unto me, but not all things are expedient: all things are lawful for me, but i will not be brought under the power of any" "All things are lawful for me,  but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me,  but all things edify not".

There are many things you CAN do but should you do them? The answer to this question depends on where you are. Are you in the outer court, the inner court, the Holy of Holies,  or none of the above? In some churches, they by design exclude inner court ministry, and they certainly never enter the Holy of Holies. Some do not even practice outer court ministry, the court of the gentiles so to speak but their entire ministry is a counterfeit of true ministry.

In other churches, there is a mixture of outer court and inner court ministries. Which one is dominant depends on where the pastor is. If the pastor is an outer court minister,  he will belittle or ignore inner court ministers, and most likely will despise Holy of Holies ministers. Consequently,  if those desiring to enter into the Most Holy place end up attending this kind of church, they will not be satisfied  with outer, or even inner court ministry. They will become dissatisfied and leave. Or be told to leave. Especially if they try to lead people where the pastor refuses to go, he won't allow it. The deeper the Church goes into Christ, into His kingdom, the more members will likely be lost -  anyone wanting to "play church", anyone wanting to sing about and talk about love, but never do it, never live it, never walk in God's love, will not stat in a fellowship desiring to please the Father - not man.

It's all a matter of the flesh vs. spirit. How much flesh are you willing to sacrifice daily on the altar of His will? If outer court people are humble and teachable,  they may remain in an inner court fellowship and be led there themselves, but to go there they must not lean on their own understanding.  The scriptures often have several levels of meaning in one scripture. They may mean one thing to a baby, another to a ten year old and yet another to an adult. If a baby clings only to what he was taught as a baby, he may reject meat when he's presented with it. He must stop drinking milk only at some point. 

And a few, typically a few inner court ministries may yet yearn for the deeper things of God, fot the Holy of Holies.  They may not be satisfied with what the majority are satisfied with. They may climb the mountain to meet with God face to face. They may lose themselves in Him. The world as best as I remember it, as Rich Mullins put it. The life they knew outside the Holy of Holies may one day fade from memory, till all we see and all we know is what He shows us and reveals to us.

 I really love how revelation begets more revelation. How you can't understand something till you've understood something else. I love the Holy Spirit! He's such a great teacher. I so enjoy sitting at His feet and learning. I love how He will share with me anytime of the day or night. I could be anywhere doing anything and He will reveal something to me. He has had me dwelling on,  ruminating on, this thought all day -  

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body". 

This scripture helps me to understand so many other scriptures.  It's the key to unlocking the understanding that has eluded me for so long. I touched on one aspect of this earlier when I wrote about our old man and new dwelling in us at the same time but I've always wondered why certain scriptures tell us to mourn this life while others tell us to rejoice and be glad. I used to think it meant there is a time and a season for both in our lives - but there's more to it than that because His dying (His death) and His (ressurection) life are in us simultaneously.  We can both grieve and mourn over the sin in our own heart as well as the sins of (with the deadly results) of the fallen world we live in, while at the same time rejoicing and being exceedingly glad for the beauty and holiness of the next world to come "He that hateth his life IN THIS WORLD (in this flesh) shall keep it unto life eternal"

"I say to you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful,  but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." "The ransomed of The Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away".

The more i study the topic of Biblical rejoicing,  the more i see -  it's all for the life to come. It's all for the One who brings us to that life and through this one. Concerning this present world - and the life we live in the flesh, we grieve and mourn- we weep and are exceedingly sorrowful, for our own sins and the sins of others. We hate this life, we hate being seperated from God because of sin, and when we are reunited with Him because of His blood, we hate that so many remain seperated from Him. It kills us to know so many beautiful people, such precious souls, made for His pleasure, are going to Hell, are apart from Him now and will remain so forever.  At the same time our heart beats out with great sorrow it beats in with great joy that "we are in this world but not of it". Look at these scriptures pertaining to rejoicing- 

"MANY SHALL REJOICE AT HIS BIRTH" We rejoice for righteousness being born in our flesh, not for the flesh itself. We rejoice  that our names are written in Heaven (Luke 10:20), we rejoice whenever one of God's lost sheep are found (Luke 15:6), we rejoice because we will see Him again (John 16:22). We rejoice because we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand - and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We rejoice that Christ is preached. The focus is on Christ and His finished work on the Cross, and on the glory to come. We do not rejoice for this world, so full of rebellion and sin. Listen to Paul -

"But this i say brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passes away".

Weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn, rejoice with those who rejoice - see? We are instructed to both weep and rejoice, together, in one breast. We are called to do both - hate the old man, love the new. If we pluckbout the eye of the old man we will stop seeing what he wants to see - pornography,  perversion, violence and other sins, but our new man will have other eyes, eyes that continually seek to behold Him, our Christ - the beauty of holiness.  If we cut off the hand of our old man we'll stop doing what he enjoys - we'll stop sinning - while our new man has two good hands with which to do many good works - 

"put you on the Lord Jesus Christ,  and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof"

"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem"

We too, when God's appointed time comes, must stedfastly set our face to go to Jerusalem-  knowing full well our death awaits us there. But to live in the new Jerusalem we must die with Christ in the old one.

When we first come to the Lord as new-borns, we are filled with such joy and a profound sense of his love for us, but as we grow and mature, we slowly come to realize he wants to kill us. We are truly "killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter". 

At first, this is extremely painful-  as long as any part of our old man is still alive in us, God will seek to kill him and that part of us he's trying to kill will feel pain but when and if we give ourselves up to him to "die daily", when all our flesh, soul and spirit become "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" then the pain turns into extreme joy. We rejoice with Christ over our own demise! 

Paul testified "I take pleasure in infirmities, in persecutions,  in distresses for Christ's sake". Every bit of suffering we endure "for Christ's sake" keeps our old man where he belongs -  dead and buried in Christ, so our new man may live daily in the power of his ressurection. How marvelous that when we allow him to kill us this opens the door for him to ressurect us, in newness of life, life far more abundant than the old life we so desperately cling to. Letvit go!

Say,

"I DECLARE HERE AND NOW, I CAN AND WILL TAKE MY PROMISED LAND, THIS FLESH GOD HAS GIVEN ME. I WILL CONQUER AND CAST OUT ALL GIANTS IN IT - LUST, FEAR, UNBELIEF, WHOEVER THEY ARE, THEY WILL DIE, NOT I. I WILL SERVE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING -  I WILL SERVE HIM IN THIS FLESH. AS I SEEK TO FEED MY BRETHREN THE FOODVMY FATHER HAS GIVEN ME FOR THEM, I WILL SLAY MY OWN PERSONAL GOLIATH, AND LIFT HIS HEAD IN TRIUMPH, CUT OFF WITH HIS OWN SWORD". 

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh"

We cannot bypass his death and expect to receive his life. It can't be done.