For a new church plant -

I have a simple premise -

Now, at first, i will be teaching as a means to set up this premise-  and to help you unlearn much of what you've learned -  especially concerning God's "ways". Jesus said "Iam The Way, The Truth and The Life" but in your typical church service they don't do things his way, they don't seek his truth, and they don't experience his life "neither are your ways my ways, saith The Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways". We need learn from Him -  His ways, of doing everything.  We need to hold all we do and believe up to him and let the Wind drive away the chaff.

So my premise is simple  - 

What if we all got together and everyone of us submitted ourselves to the Holy Spirit? What if we all know each other only after the Spirit - and not the flesh? What if no one was  "in charge" but God and God alone? What if God chose leaders among us, to lead us into this new kind of fellowship,  not to lord it over us, not to make us dependant on them - but to lead us into total dependance on God? What if Jesus' name was the only name we exalted? What if we didn't use titles on a regular basis but went by first names only -  Peter, James, John, etc.? What if we recognized "leadership ministers" by the work they did and fruit they bore, not because they demand everyone call them by a title and submit to them? What if each of us esteemed the others more highly than themselves? What if we had not one pulpit, but all hearts present were God's pulpits? What if each of us sought the others wealth, not our own? What if the rich were treated exactly the same as the poor? Indeed, what if social status, age, gender, race, income bracket,  or any other worldly standard had no place inside our fellowship? What if we saw each other through God's eyes and not our own? What if there were no fleshly divisions or cliques of any kind - but all were loved and accepted equally? What if the Holy Spirit had His way with us - and His will was done, in every service? And leadership's primary responsibility was to keep flesh and the wrong spirit from manifesting? What if the Holy Spirit was allowed to minister from start to finish? And minister "to all, through all"? What if the "spirit of the world" never entered our fellowship? What if Ephesians chapter four was fulfilled in our very lives, before our very eyes? What if we all joined the Holy Spirit and cried out as one "COME LORD JESUS! COME! What if He really came and stood in our midst? (He did this at a Derek Prince meeting once). Could we focus on anyone above Him? Could we allow anyone's flesh to be exalted above His Spirit? Can we love each other the way He loves us? Sacrificially? Can we be the people He's desired to fellowship with since the Garden of Eden?

Many of you are going to have to deal with pride in the coming days. You're proud of yourselves for what you believe -  your proud that you know truth, yet if we possess truth in a spirit of pride we open ourselves up to falsehoods and lies. For some of you, the Truth is going to seem very strange, alien; you re not used to it. I may step on a few toes, burn a few sacred cows but don't get offended  -  hang tough, let the Holy Spirit use me to teach you: you have been taught your fair share of false doctrine,  be it of man or devils, I guarantee. It's time to be rid of them -  but remember-  the pursuit of sound doctrine is secondary  to our pursuit of the person of Jesus, always. What i mean is -  Satan is very happy if we pursue knowledge about God but not God HIMSELF.  He is happy if we seek Him with our minds but not our hearts. He doesn't mind if we know about God but never come to know God "ever learning but never arriving at the truth".

May i leave you with a few more questions to ponder? 

1) If you've done something a certain way all your life, does that mean it's the right way to do it? Could there be a better way? (Example: peeling bananas). 

2) If you've believed something all your life, does that mean it's true? Could you have been taught the wrong thing to believe? Is that possible? Just because your parents or grandparents believed it or did it does that mean you should do it or believe it too? Do you have any idea how many false teachings have been handed down from generation to generation? 

Will you let the Holy Spirit "guide you into all Truth"? 

Let this never be said of us, any more -

"yea, they have chosen their own ways"

 The next time you go through a trial -  especially a heart-wrenching,  serious one, think about this -  what if The Lord is testing you? What if He's bragging about you to Satan and all the angelic host? 

                     "And The Lord said to Satan,  have you considered My servant Job, 

                                 that there is none like him in the earth?"

What if God is allowing Satan to "sift you as wheat", like he did to Peter, for a time and a season,  because He knows you will never leave Him or forsake Him? 

What if He is proud of you for not doing what Job's wife did -  "curse God and die"? (give her a break, she'd just lost all her children).

What if the end of your trial was worth going through every bit of it?

What if Satan must restore to you seven times what he took from you?

Sometimes,  when Satan is attacking you  -  it's because God is allowing it. No matter what you're going through, keep your heart empty of bitterness  -  keep it turned towards God, not away from Him, and He will stand with you in the midst of the fiery furnace,  or den of lions. You'll get through it, there is an end to it, though you can't see it now.

 You run and hide.

You can't admit

You're own demise 

is counterfeit 

To paradise you've been restored,

yet even there you hide from The Lord. 

What will you do, 

when He desires you?

The Lord can see

behind your fig leaf.

He's wondering too - 

where are you?

"You belong here -  by my side,

so why, dear one, are you trying to hide?

I don't see the sin you see,

You're altogether lovely         

                                                               to Me.

So don't run away,

no, turn to me and say,

By Your side, Lord, i will stay....."

Even when I'm a disgrace, 

i will stay in the place,

where i'm beholding Your face.

Forgive my wandering heart,

help me to hit the mark,

of the high calling in Christ 

and not miss     the true purpose        of this life.......

 Just as Jesus left His Throne, with all it's splendor and riches, so He might inherit human souls -  which He values above all else in His vast kingdom; so must we leave our throne that we may inherit what is worth more than all the wealth the world has lusted after throughout history -  HIM.

It may not sound proper, but a king sacrificed himself for me, a pauper.

It may sound strange -  but a king became the servant of all He surveyed.

Rather than demand that his subjects serve him, our king left his throne to serve us.

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" because He "made Himself of no reputation,  and took upon Him the form of a servant" "And.....he humbled himself".

So then, real kingdom authority is weilded by those the Father exalts, who he selects to rule in his kingdom. They are not seeking it, they humble themselves by becoming the servant of their subjects- they are not seeking to make a name or reputation for themselves but rather seek to glorify God's name and kingdom. 

 May my life one day

match the words i say.

May i someday be

altogether lovely.

May i do

what i say i will do

and stop

resisting You.

You, oh Lord, are my strength, my peace. 

To You oh Lord, I fall on my knees

and i cry with all that is in me - 

You're my reality, not what i see.

Let my words create

as did Yours that day,

When You first showed Your might,

when You said "let there be light"

May i become

as my Holy One

a faithful,  obedient son - 

May i do all i say

not say what i don't do.

May i become

an altogether pleasing son

                                                                 for You

The Lord is now teaching me about feelings. When my children were young, they felt safe when they were in my presence-  sometimes they would climb on my lap and cuddle with my strong arms wrapped around them. They were content and happy to know someone much bigger than them and much stronger, was so gentle with them: he used his strength to protect and provide for them. They called him daddy.

As they grew, they grew more and more confident in their own strength and did not feel the need to rest in daddy's presence as often. They began to engage me with their minds more than their hearts -  but they knew they were loved just as much when they weren't in my presence.  Now that we're living apart -  i hope they still know this today. 

I love to FEEL my Father's presence.  Iblove feeling the peace that passes all understanding.  But if i don't "feel" Him, i am still confident that He loves me. I trust Him. I believe Him when He says "I will never leave you, nor forsake you". He is ever with me, whether i feel Him or not. My heart is now His "Holy of Holies", ever more to be -

our private place of intimacy.