Mind over Matter Matters

Proverbs 23: 7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

I think it’s fair to say that most of us think with our heads, not our hearts.  Or at least we believe that.

The way most of us process information is as follows:

We perceive something that occurs through one of our five senses, usually eyes or ears. E.g. The doctor tells you have have some dreaded disease.

We use our other senses to confirm this.  We LOOK in a mirror, and come into agreement.  We FEEL badly and come into agreement.  The doctor runs tests and we HEAR the results and come into agreement.  You get the picture.

Then, our minds process all these facts, usually fueled by fear (how many WebMD doctors do we have out there?) and decide, logically, that this must be the truth. A + B must certainly equal C!  

And so, that truth settles into our hearts as we come to grips with it and sure enough the dreaded disease is part of us.  How often do you hear, “I’m battling MY cancer, MY alllergies, MY pain, MY divorce, MY fat …”  Listen … you will hear that … A LOT!!!

Notice, we have to “come to grips” with these things—that means it’s a struggle to accept them—why?  Because they don’t belong to US!!!!  Don’t Claim them, they are not yours!!  These are things that came with the curse at the original Fall of Man.  As a Christian, you have been delivered by the blood of Jesus, get on the blessed side of the cross!!

Easy to say, I know, but that’s what I’m saying here.  The way we process information is the problem.  It enabled man to be cursed in the Garden, and to date, it continues to enable us to be cursed even if we are covered in the blood.  It is NOT how God designed us, it is the power of the enemy’s deception at work.

Let’s look at Genesis to see what happened.  We see the serpent deceiving her in Chapter 3 and then finally in 3:6 we see how his deception worked. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate [emphasis mine].”

Notice that the woman first SAW with her eyes.  Then she came into agreement and THOUGHT that it was pleasant.  Then she DESIRED with her heart and finally she ACTED by eating and giving.

Prior to the fall, man was created in the image of the God (Genesis 1:27).  So their thought process must have been the same.  It’s impossible to know how God thinks because he is infinite, but we can get a glimpse by listening to Jesus—who was God thinking with a man’s brain … and heart.

Take a look at Mark 11: 24.  Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”

Let’s look at this scripture and see where the thought process begins.  Where do we DESIRE things?  In our Hearts—the Kingdom thinking begins in our hearts and we know they are God’s will if we have the mind of Christ!  Next we ACT by praying and believing that we receive—in other words, we are to agree with our heart and imagine that what we have asked for is already so—this can only happen in our MINDS.  Finally, we shall have them, which means that we finally SEE them come to pass!!!

In the Kingdom, we first perceive with the heart, then our Mind agrees that it is the truth (because we have the mind of Christ), and then our eyes see it.

Remember the Word says in Revelation 12: 11 that “they overcame by the blood of the lamb, AND by the word of their testimony.”  That means they gave their testimony BEFORE they actually overcame!!!  Get this about Kingdom thinking—its powerful revelation!

Through the redemptive power of the Blood, we are no longer under the curse and have access to the same kind of Kingdom thinking that Man was designed to have …  and with that comes DOMINION over the natural.  That’s where the word supernatural comes from.  It means ABOVE the Natural.

So the fallen model is this: Eyes—Brain—Agreement—Heart—Truth

The Kingdom model is this: Truth—Heart—Agreement—Brain—Eyes

Your five senses are a gift, my friends, God designed them so the we might perceive what He has already done, not giving credence to the works of the devil.  1 John 3: 8 says, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Satan’s only work was to teach us to put our brain before God’s heart that we might believe our own truths and disobey Him.  

Don’t be deceived any longer!  Be blessed, my friends and choose Kingdom thinking—with your hearts!

Thanksgivukka

I love God—He’s so smart and He’s so fun!  Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”  So this year the world is a buzz because Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah lined up for the first time since 1888 and won’t happen again until the year 77,094!  For those of us who find it fun to search the matter out, I would like to offer my thoughts on this phenomenon.

First of all, let’s think about the similarities of the two holidays.  Thanksgiving is a time when the pilgrims shared with the Indians and gave thanks to their new friends who taught them how to find provision from the land.  These travelers had come from afar to find freedom (from tyranny and religious persecution), and they found a wilderness; however, through grace they found provision and a new freedom they had never experienced.  Thanksgiving is about being thankful to a God who provides and who loves freedom!

Hanukkah, despite what we may have thought, is not a Jewish holiday found in the Bible. The origins can be traced to the writings of Josephus (a most renowned Jewish historian) and in the Apocryphal books of Maccabees.  In the story, the Greeks had overtaken the region, and many Jews had assimilated to their way of life.  Temples were defiled and the leader Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus where pigs would be sacrificed.  This created a revolt and some brave Jews led a rebellion.  Once the temple was liberated, they only had enough oil in the temple for one day, but the oil miraculously lasted for eight days which was just enough time to prepare new Kosher oil for the rededication of the temple.  Again we see a people grateful to their God who provides and wants them free from tyranny!

Now to look at the numerical significance: November 29, 1888.  11/29/1888.  So take a look at this 11:29 scripture: Hebrews 11:29 (KJV): “By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.”  Hmmm.  Another example of a people who gave thanks for being set free and crossing into a land of provision—flowing with milk and honey!

And the 1888?  Lets look at gematria for that.  Like the Romans, the Hebrews didn’t have numerals separate from letters.  So for instance the Roman 1 is the letter I.  The Roman 5 is the letter V.  Similarly, the Hebrew system uses letters to represent numbers.  The 1 in 1888 is the Aleph which means 1000.  The letter is silent and represents the mysteries of God; the name of the letter means “Master” or “Lord.”  If you look at the Glyph below, you can see how this makes sense.

                                                 

The ancient glyph is that of an ox which was strong, yet often used as a sacrifice.  When writing the letter, you first make the diagonal line which is the Hebrew letter vav and is a picture of a nail.  The two marks surrounding are called yod which are pictures of hands—one reaching up to the heavens and one reaching toward the Earth.  So looking at it as a whole, because of the nails through the hands, Earth and Heaven can be connected!  Wow!!  The 888 is the gematria value of the name Jesus!  Also, when you look at all the words in the Bible with the gematria of 1888, there is only one, and guess what the word is —Bingo! It’s “SALVATION!”

Fast forward to 2013—these events of the past are not so different for our America.  The secular world has bled over the Christian foundation on which this country was founded.  Read the news—constant evidence that tyranny is on the horizon if we remain complacent.  Have not fear, rise up and declare your love of the Lord.  Set your face like flint to see that you rededicate your lives, your homes, your families to the Lord—for we are now his temples!  Have no fear because I see the same God, who was, who is and who is to come, telling us that HE WILL PROVIDE and HE WANTS US FREE!!!!

Then there’s the whole matter of Jews and Gentiles being in unity in Jesus …  but that’s another blog entry for another day :)

God bless you and Happy Thanksgivukkah! 

Ready to Break your Chains??

The Lord shared a wonderful revelation with me that I want to share with you. All of us have chains from which we want to be free—addiction to one thing or another, bad relationships that we know we need to leave behind, but just can’t, habits we can’t shake …

As a hobbyist horse trainer, the very first lesson I teach a horse is” the rope is greater than you.” I have to make sure that the horse understands that the rope will hold him and he must submit to its authority. One way to do this is to put a halter on a horse and tie him up to a tree and leave him. He fights and resists, but soon learns that he can’t go anywhere. Now I had one stubborn horse that broke the ropes, so I had to tie the rope up high putting him in an uncomfortable position where the rope had leverage instead of him—he learned it. All of them must … if you are going to make them lead on a rope. Once they learn this lesson, you can time them to a milk crate and they won’t go anywhere, not because they can’t, but because they think they can’t because “the rope is greater than he.”

God showed me that before we began to follow God, life taught us that the rope is greater than we are. Circumstances teach us that we can’t overcome poverty because of this or that, we can’t get an education because of this or that, etc. See, Satan has used events and everyday life to tie us to a lie that holds us in a place where we don’t belong. We have to understand our identity in Christ!

A 1,200 lb horse can easily break a well tied lead rope and/or a halter if he knows he can—even if it’s tied to a stationary object. How much easier is it for him to walk away if he’s tied to a light object? I once watched a spooked horse drag a basketball goal 300 yards in a matter of seconds—these animals used to be used to pull great weight—remember those days?

What is your identity and how do you get free?

There is another way to train horses—it’s of relationship. Certainly, you have heard of a horse whisperer—well that simply is a person that uses trust, love and relationship to train a horse. Funny thing about these horses, they don’t need a lead rope—they follow their trainers—because they trust them and know that the trainer will never demand anything from them they cannot do or that will hurt them. (Check out this link to see an amazing display of this type of horsemanship: Awesome Horsemanship)

This is the good news—Jesus came to set you free—and the way to do that is to follow him. He says in John 10:27 ”My sheep HEAR my voice, and I know them, and they FOLLOW me.” That means that He is talking to you and leading you … just follow Him. As you do, you will notice that whatever lie you were tied to is no longer holding you. Sure, it might get drug along behind you for a bit, but keep following and you will see it either break off or Jesus will come over and remove it himself. He is good like that :)

So get free my friends! God Bless!

Arks of the Covenant

This time, my blog, is more of an attempt to reflect on my thoughts and musings about God and our relationship—a journal of sorts.  Perhaps a textbook for those looking to grow in intimacy with the Lord and walk in his power.  Who knows … will this blog be a medium I can use?

Today I have some revelation about Arks.

Before Jesus, the presence of God was carried around in a beautiful and valuable golden box called the Ark of the Covenant.  Where ever that box was, the presence of God was also.

We are the modern day Arks of the Covenant—that is, if we are in covenant with the Lord.

Covenant is a word that many modern people don’t care to understand.  They understand contract, but not covenant.

See, a marriage is an example of a covenant—it’s until death do you part—literally, it means that you are one with that person you are in covenant with and only death can separate you.  Modern day marriages reflect the idea of contract—I protect my interests, your protect yours and as long as it all goes well, we are in; however, the moment my needs are not being met—see ya, that’s not what I signed up for.  Well, in a covenant, yeah it is—so choose wisely with whom you enter into covenant.

Back to the Ark …

So when we ask the Lord Jesus into our hearts, we are really asking to enter into covenant with Him.  He is a gentleman and won’t move in unless we ask Him to, and He certainly won’t move in unless we are in covenant!  Effectively, we are “married” to Him and that’s why we are the Bride of Christ!  Therefore, He moves in and His presence is in us where ever we go—we are ARKS!!!

Signs, miracles and wonders follow those who believe—do you believe you are an ARK and carry the presence of the Lord?  If you do, watch out world, because you are an agent for Kingdom change anywhere you go.  Remember what happened to the servant who took the ARK to his house—he got SUPER blessed!!!

This modern age, though, is full of those who would probably covet the box more than the contents.  Even when we look in the mirror, we tend to inflict self-hatred because we compare what we see there to what the world desires.  I’d rather have a cardboard box filled with the presence of God than a golden box that’s empty.

So next time you look in the mirror, and you start to say, “I’m too …” stop and remember that you are an ARK and the presence of God in you makes you worth the price He paid—really, He believes that and so should you.

God Bless!