The Power of the Force

Chapter Three

When we come to church each Sunday but what do we leave with? Do we leave with a fresh word from the Lord that will fine-tune our lives by making adjustments to our thinking? Does His word become clearer to our understanding? Does He give us something that will make a difference in the kind of life we will experience that week?

I need God to give me instructions. I need a strategic instructive order of God for me to apply to my life now. I want to be equipped to live my life on a higher level than last week. I need the Lord to make a major, permanent change in me. We have been given the greatest privilege that God could give us when Jesus said in John 15:14 & 17,

"You are my friends if you do what I command.This is my command: Love each other.Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

If we love one another we can have whatever we ask in Jesus name. Do you believe this? Is this word living in you to the point that you believe you can ask Him anything and He will give it to you?

Let's pray! Father, in Jesus name you have given us all power and authority so we lift up our combined voices to decree that from this day forth there is a releasing of our minds and our way of thinking so that we may learn your will for us and that we may with the authority of your word declare and decree that this valley and this community in which we live is set free from all that would blind and bind the minds of our citizens.

We set them and ourselves free from all curses and forces of evil that would hinder the powerful word that you have given us to speak to them that will set them free. We proclaim liberty to those who are oppressed and freedom that they may see and perceive the Kingdom of God. We decree that this Mid Ohio Valley is no longer a playground of perversion and religious hypocrisy. No longer shall the word of God bounce off the minds of our citizens but from this day forth they shall perceive and understand what the will of our Lord is for their lives and have a desire to do our Fathers will. We declare that the minds of our families are set free and there is a change taking place in their minds and the word of God is alive in them.

We call upon you, Father, to clarify these orders you are giving to us in order that we can align ourselves to your decrees and commandments. If we are not walking in love in any area of our lives, reveal this to us. Teach us to love as you love. Help us to get out of the way so you can express your love in and through us. May we be united together as we go our separate ways so that we will be a force of righteousness in this valley! In Jesus name!

There is a pressing in me by the Spirit of God to come on up to a higher level in Him where the fountain of life is, where the rivers of living water will flow out of my inward most being and create an atmosphere around about me that will set any who come in contact with me free. I am sharing this with you because I see in you that same longing and desire to be used of God.

We have seen some measure of power and we are so easily impressed by someone being slain in the spirit or by someone being healed. But we see no change taking place in the environment around us. We are not having much influence in the community. Our schools are selling condoms to our children and our government is allowing the Ten Commandments to be taken out of public places. We don't have the influence that the church had in the 50's when I was growing up.

We need to find a way as the people of God to regain the influence we once had and to an even greater measure. In order to do this we must create a lifestyle that will personify the Kingdom of God and give our young people a desire to live this lifestyle that is more to be desired than the lifestyle of the world. We are going to have to teach our young people to look like royalty, to dress like royalty and to live like royalty.

Jesus is the King of Kings. If we are kings then it is time we begin to live like kings and to think like a king who has the sovereignty and authority of a king. I am not talking about living is some luxurious life style and being arrogant in my living. I am talking about my attitude and the way I think. My thinking has to be that of royalty. I am a son of the ruler of the universe. I have been given the authority to rule and have dominion in this earth. Kingship is a part of me that must be revealed and released.

Gen. 1:1 says, "In the beginning God!" This word for God is Elohiym (Eloheem) and it means, God's. It is used when referring to the plurality of God. More than one. It is used throughout the Bible when speaking of God.

The word 'beginning' used here is the Hebrew word, reshiyth, (ray-sheeth) and means, the first in place, time, order or rank. Specifically a firstfruit or first principal thing.

Remember Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:22,

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming."

May I suggest to you that Paul said, "Christ the firstfruits!" and not Christ then the firstfruits. Then he said all that are Christ's at His coming. This is everyone.

Going back to Gen. 1, this should read, "In the firstfruits Elohiym!" This means that in the beginning God was a body and in the ending God is a body. El Elyon, which is the most high God, the one we call Father, became revealed in a body which the bible refers to as Elohiym. In this body El Elyon has the freedom to express Himself. Nothing was there to hinder Him from expressing Himself in that body. So, when El Elyon spoke His will it was carried out through that body of Elohiym! Paul said in Col.1:15-20,

"He (Jesus)is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

We were in Christ in the beginning and through the body of Christ the world was created. When God said, "Let there be!" there was nothing to prevent this from happening. God didn't speak His word and the creation said, "Wait a minute!" "Let me pray about it!" Everything was so in union with God that when He spoke there was an immediate response to the command of God. Nothing outside of Him turned to Him to oppose Him. There was no opinion that was contrary to His plan.

If we are to be reconciled, or brought back to what really used to be, or to that old time religion, then we have to be brought back to the first fruits in Elohiym and this can only be done by the renewing of our minds that Paul spoke about in Rom. 12:1. There has to become in us nothing that opposes the will of God. This cannot happen unless we know the will of God and Jesus gave us the will of God in John 15:14 & 17,

"You are my friends if you do what I command. This is my command: Love each other. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

Jesus also said in Matt. 18:3-5,

 

"Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me."

That word, 'converted' means to turn and go back. We have to be willing to turn around and go back to Elohiym. Back to that place in time when we were with Him and our thinking was in alignment with His. Jesus used a little child as an example of how we are to be in our response to His Word. Do we go to hear someone tell us about the things of God to see if we agree with him or do we have our ears opened to hear from God? If you are sitting there analyzing what I am saying to you in the light of your understanding, you will not hear anything I am saying. However if you listen closely to what I am saying and then search the scriptures to see if that is really what they are saying, you will learn.

If you are listening with your spirit you will hear things that I haven't said but because you were listing with the spirit of wanting to know, it will be revealed to you. This is why I want to hear your feedback when I am through teaching. I want to hear what the Spirit is revealing to you.

When God formed man out of the dust of this earth, he breathed into him the breath of life. What is the breath of life? Spirit! Jesus said in John 6:63,

"It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are Life."

God said, "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness!" That image and likeness is spirit and when He placed our spirit into this body of flesh it contained all that He is. Now, God has a means of expressing Himself in a body of flesh. What we must understand is that we are spirit beings living in a body of flesh and as He is so are we in this body of flesh.

We are living or manifesting ourselves in the environment of this world. As such we are surrounded by worldly activities and all the five senses of our flesh respond to them. Our minds are bombarded daily by things that are not truth. If we fail to filter these things through our knowledge of the truth, it brings death to us because we become out of order with the truth.

The Lord said in Hosea 4:6,

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children."

Paul said in 2 Cor. 10:4-5,

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong hold, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

We must study to show ourselves approved before God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15) The knowledge of God will set free those who walk by it.

If I think of God as someone else, somewhere else, I have completely separated myself from the reality of God. Once I understand that the Spirit of God in me, is me, I will no longer pray to a God outside of me. John said in 1 John 4:4,

"Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."

We always apply the world to mean the devil. Well, you are in the world. So, greater is He that is in you than you. Which you are you living with? The one that you are living with, or giving expression to, will determine what your mouth says. If I am living by the one that is greater in me then the words I speak must create. This is why you have got to watch your mouth and think before you speak. Words are the manifestation of thoughts.

God did not create from His position of being El Elyon as found in Gen. 14:18 or the most high God. In other words, no other god greater than Him. If He would have created from that position then if I understand His purposes and adhere to them, I will be free. But He created as Elohiym which is plural. This means that there is a whole bunch of us and if I get it and you don't then I am stuck because I won't be able to experience the fullness of God unless you do.

Heb. 11:39 says,

"These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us will they be made perfect."

This is why I spend hours upon hours studying and meditating on the Word of God. I need you to understand that we need the rest of the Body of Christ to understand His will so we can all be free. The more you understand will result in me having more power because the power is in the body. Paul said in Eph. 1:22,

" He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,   which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

As long as the body is separated and divided there is little power. Paul said in 1 Cor. 11:30 that many have died because they did not discern the body of Christ. We are His body!! When you partake of communion, do you see everyone around you as the body of Christ?

What we need is the life of God with the power and evidence of who we are in the Kingdom of God. We must have His Kingdom manifested in and through us. We must become one with Him. The question then becomes, "How can I become one with Him?" Jesus said in John 15:7,

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

Jesus said that His words are spirit and life. If His words abide in us and we walk according to His words then the prayer that He prayed in John 17 will be answered.

"Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

Also in John 14:8-21,

"Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

Notice! In verse 10 Jesus said, "The words I speak to you is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work." Paul told us in Phil. 2:12,

Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

Does the Word of God live in you? There are many Christians who are filled with the Word of God but most of it is dormant because of unbelief or just plain dilatoriness. You may have all the knowledge of God in your mind but if you are not living according to what it says, it is dormant in you. You are not abiding in His Words and His words are not living in you because they have no expression through you. Paul was not talking here about sin. Sin was dealt with once and for all on the cross. Paul is talking about the salvation or deliverance of our minds. It is one thing to know what is right but an entirely different thing to do what is right. That is what all of us continually wrestle with and that is the warfare that rages within but praise be to the Lord, He lives within us to give us the desire and ability to accomplish the renewing of our minds.