Part Two

Butterfly's are easily controlled by the wind (Jn:3:8). They are light - more wings than flesh! They come and go as the wind directs them, using their wings more to stay aloft than to fight the wind. So are believers who walk (and fly) in the Spirit - when we die to our own will, we become Holy because it is never His will for us to sin. So it's only when we die to our own will that we can live for the Father's will. In Gethsemane, Jesus crucified his will. It then became easy to allow his body to be crucified. When we allow our will's to be crucified, it is easy then to allow our bodies to be led by him, rather than by ourselves, to go and do and say whatever pleases him, whatever the Father's will is for us on any given day. Jesus testified he only did what he saw his father doing and he only said what he heard his father saying (Jn:5:19) Indeed, he testified in Jn:10:17 that the Father loved him because he laid down his life (his will).
The Tree of knowledge of good and evil represents man's will exalted over God's simply because God said not to eat of it and man, at Satan's urging, chose to exalt his will over God's. The Tree of Life represents God's will exalted over man's. Choose you this day - life or death? Spirit or flesh? Your will or God's? Will you choose a religious form of Christianity centered on the tree of knowledge, on the pursuit and consumption of an endless supply of knowledge? Or will you choose a Christianity centered around Christ himself, our tree of eternal life, who we engage and commune with within our hearts? Will you be a doer or a hearer only? A follower of Christ in mind only and not in heart is a caterpillar - they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof (to transform them). They honor God with their lips (they sing songs to Him or about him, they sit, and listen to endless sermons) but their hearts are far from him. Notice the order here - Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Spirit, soul, than body. Heart first, always, then mind. Religious, Babylonian, apostate Christianity is always mind only.
Engage God with your heart. Embrace him wholeheartedly, and become that butterfly believer he has invited you to be - live free! Unwrap, remove those grave cloths that stink of death, of your old, sinful lifestyle and join Jesus in unending fellowship - supping and drinking together with him and others like you at his table. Never hunger and thirst again! Be fully filled and satisfied. Say with me "He brought me to his banqueting house and his banner over me was love!" He wants to be your source of pleasure forevermore. Say "I will seek him whom my soul loveth". You well know, if you seek, you will find (Mt:7:7). His garden is full of his love for you, full of delights, full of delicious fruits. Invite him now into YOUR garden as well, say "let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits". Invite him to be as intimate with you as a lover would be. Let him know he is your source of pleasure, not any fleshly desire or lust. Say "My beloved is mine and I am his and I have kept myself for a time such as this. His coming is near as the dawn to my eyes, this longing of mine is soon satisfied. Come quickly, Lord Yehsua, says the Spirit, says the Bride, I'll not arise complete till you draw me to your side. My God in my heart is an all consuming fire, come quickly my beloved for it's you that I greatly desire".

Part One

Jesus was sorely tempted in the Garden. How fitting that he faced and overcame in a garden the same temptation the first Adam succumbed to, in a garden - the temptation to exalt his will over the Father's. His reply must also become ours - NOT MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE
Essentially, Jesus was tempted with the same temptation we are all faced with, perhaps the greatest temptation of all - to abandon our calling from God. To quit our God ordained destiny. To exalt our will over God's, which is Satan's original and continuing sin.
Jesus was called to be crucified on our behalf - so are we. He was physically crucified, we must sacrifice our souls. We must willingly lay down our wills, our souls and die to our fleshly, carnal desires in order that we may live. This is the true born-again process - from selfishness to selflessness, from childish to childlike, from carnality to holiness.
Unless a seed falls (Jn:12:24) willingly lies down and dies (1 Cor:15:31) it cannot be transformed into it's God ordained destiny - it cannot become "much fruit". It will never fulfill it's original reason for being created. Only when our old man (sin filled,  self willed man) dies can our new man (Holy Spirit filled, Father's will fulfilling) live.
Romans 12:2 speaks of this transformation, likening it to a chrysalis, the transformation a butterfly goes through. It looks nothing like it's former self and it is no longer earth bound (flesh bound) but it can fly! When we are transformed into the image of Christ we break free of our flesh's lusts and desires and we become (spiritually) like the angels or as scripture puts it, like birds. We can soar and fly far above earthly things to our hearts delight (Rev:19:17).
Too many churches are full of caterpillars pretending to be butterfly's (some don't bother to pretend, having no idea that they aren't butterfly's, deceived into believing they are who they should be while remaining caterpillars). If anyone makes it to butterfly status they'll fly away from the religious mess most churches have become. When the jail is shaken and the prisoner is freed - they leave! So Pastors (or whatever your leaders calls themselves) in their all encompassing drive to keep people in their seats, will not allow that kind of spiritual freedom in their midst. Who knows, if one soul should be transformed and set on fire with the liberty the Holy Spirit brings, they might free others. Can't have that. Especially if they are anointed by the Holy Spirit's presence within them and the Pastor isn't. This will expose the Pastor as a fraud, so the threat must be removed. Yes, the usual response to someone with God's presence alive within them is to kick them out of the church because the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us into all truth! Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit will clearly see the religious bondage they were in, they will see the truth about their church and how much the people are being deceived,  We are told to "quench not the spirit" precisely because so many do just that.
The poor souls caught in this type of religious bondage, caterpillars all, are precisely the ones Jesus came to set free when he announced publicly his ministry on earth - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord".
(a bit of balance, there are very humble Pastors who have the opposite problem of pride, their churches do not give them enough respect and authority. We need a balance between the two).
Pastors jealously clinging to their positions, making sure all are subject to their will alone sounds so fleshly and carnal because it is. Instead of esteeming other's more highly than themselves, many Pastors esteem themselves more highly than everyone else in the congregation. They must not realize it was never God's will to exalt one man over all others in the church but rather that he (God) himself would be their head - using only men who are so filled with the Holy Spirit that they do not put forth their own will but the Father's alone, whom have a complete absence of fleshly ego and desires for attention and power over the people. "You have many teachers but not many fathers" Paul declared. This lament is so true today. So many attend a Bible college where they learn to use their minds to lead God's people instead of attending the "School of the Holy Spirit" where they are taught to lead with their hearts first. They believe that teaching is the primary function of a leader of God's people, teaching by speaking primarily, teaching using logic and the understanding of men, instead of becoming fathers whose hearts are broken and fully given in love to their children, who will lay down their very lives for their children, whose goal in life is to see their children succeed and surpass them, not have them continue to remain in their own home (church) and never become parents for themselves, leaving and going forth and starting their own family (congregation)

Part two soon....



 

A couple of things that I have found
No matter what happens to get you down
The world's gonna keep on spinning around
The sun will rise again
And whatever it is you're going through
You'll find that, as faithful as the sun and the earth -
our God is our friend
He really cares about us -
even when we've ignored him for a very long time.
Just talk to him again, he won't mind.
Even if you wait till you're dying on a tree
like the repentant thief, he will still receive you faithfully.

You say you want proof?
He only reveals himself to human hearts, not minds.
You can't know him intellectually
till you accept proof of a different kind
You have to soften your heart
You have to humble yourself
Open your heart to him and He'll keep you from Hell
He desires you - he really does
He wants to prove to you how much he loves
Once your heart is available to him
your mind will be filled with awe and wonder
at knowing the God who rides the thunder,
who calms the wind, who walks the water -
You'll be thrilled to personally know your heavenly Father
isn't out of your reach
but can be approached, can be beseeched
He's not distant and cold and unavailable
but he's near and dear and completely entreatable

The warmth of his touch, the sound of his voice
The truth is that he's made the choice
to be with you forever
If you'll simply value and treasure
him in return
Then the only way you'll burn 
is with the intense love you share
with the one, true God who cares.....

Did you know that each of us can make a conscious choice to hear God's voice? 

"My sheep will hear my voice and another they will not follow". 

"Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds (not proceeded) out of the mouth of God".

"My words they are spirit and they are life",

Each born-again, spirit filled child of God can hear His voice. This is why Satan ensures the world is filled with such a cacophony of voices - so God's voice can't be heard. Think about it - in our generation especially, the ability to mass communicate with each other has reached a fever pitch. It's so easy to fill our days with a multitude of voices - TV, movies, radio, music, internet, even books and magazines are filled voices in written form, but in all this maelstrom of noise, God's voice is nowhere to be found. Even churches seek to monopolize our ears with the voice of the Pastor and elders, yet in all this too do we ever hear God's voice? Do we take time out from our busy lives to "Be still" and get to know Him? Not just about Him by reading His word but to get to know Him personally? Did you know He usually speaks to us in "a still, small voice"? In other words, a whisper? We cannot hear a whisper unless we draw near to the one who is whispering. Those who are intimate with Him will hear His voice! 

Always keep one ear tuned in to His voice even while the other ear is listening to whoever it is you're listening to. Keep one ear reserved for Him, this way he can cut through the confusion and trivialities the devil shouts at you all day long to keep your attention distracted from God's voice. God's voice will give you clarity of thought and purpose in any situation you find yourself in. His voice is a tether, an anchor you can attach your soul to that will never fail you. 

Learn to hear His voice personally, in your heart of hearts, then you will recognize His voice coming from others you listen to. Hopefully your Pastor and leadership speak his words. One word from God Himself spoken by His Spirit has more power and impact on a human soul and body than ten thousand words from a mere man. 

If your church leadership is intimate with Him, their words will reveal it, if not, and you are, you will quickly see this too. I've often sat in church services where the Pastor would be speaking in one ear while the Holy Spirit  would speak in the other, usually disputing what the Pastor was teaching and telling me His understanding of the scripture. And too, there were times when I would sit and rejoice because the words coming from the pulpit were from the Holy Spirit - good, accurate, anointed teaching and preaching. 

Remember, we follow our God, not any man so always remain humble and teachable enough to let Holy Spirit reveal truth to you. This way false doctrines so often taught in churches will not enter the soil of your heart and take root there. A heart held belief is much harder to uproot than one in the mind only. 

Yes, the written word is simply God's voice written down but when we are filled with His Spirit, when we are baptized in Him - the very author of the written word, we enter into a relationship that becomes our reality because you cannot have a relationship with someone without ever speaking with them, not just to them but them to you also. Denominations that teach us that God only speaks through the written word are teaching a false doctrine and they are avoiding intimacy with Him. We are never to pit the written word of God and the spoken word of God against each other. This is a ploy of the enemy to cut off communication with God in the here and now. 

I have read Shakespeare therefor i know some things about him but i do not know him personally. It's the same with the Bible. We can learn all about God by reading the Bible, and by reading the Bible, we can learn to recognize the enemy's voice because the spoken word of God will never contradict the written word of God, though it may contradict our UNDERSTANDING of the written word, if we have been taught false doctrines. Ask yourself, do you really know Him or do you just know all about Him? And does all you know about Him come from your Pastor and leadership or have you been personally taught by the Holy Spirit?

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Turn off your TV, your radio, put down your book or magazine. Shut yourself away in a quiet place, as I am doing right now, and calm your mind and simply seek His face for His face is where His mouth is. Grow quiet and LISTEN, listen for that wonderful whisper that is God's voice communicating with those He claims as His own....He is waiting for you even now, to not just pray to Him but to listen to Him.....you will know His voice when you hear it, for He communes with us in our hearts, heart to heart and when He speaks to you it will fill you with such a peace and joy such as you've never known. His words truly are Spirit and Life, resurrection life, to all who have ears to hear, to all who are seeking His voice, for he promises us "seek and you will find". Time for my voice to be quiet.....shush now.....

Each night as upon your bed you lay
ask yourself who's life did I improve today?
In this be assured your Heavenly Father is well pleased -
when you fill your days with kind words and kind deeds.
An ambassador of Christ's you will certainly become
when you keep this commandment spoken from the Son -
"love one another" yes love every sister, every brother
and you will perfectly fulfill
your Holy Father's perfect will
and he will shed his love abroad in your heart
and the fragrance of your heart will smell sweet indeed
and men will know you love the God whom you can't see
because you've chosen to love people faithfully....