Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Ingredients for your divine health. We need to take care of ourselves. Our bodies are the temple of God.
Citation preview
1
~A 12 Week Program~
BY, Val Valano
This 12 week program presents the cure to addiction, marital
healing, restoration & revival of the soul, unlocking the secret
to an intimate relationship with God, hearing God’s voice, the
path to true purpose on earth and how to live a supernatural
lifestyle having a Kingdom Mindset.
2
The 7 Ingredients to Divine Health
1. Belief and baptism in the trinity of God
2. Free from Spiritual Oppression
3. A forgiving heart
4. Living by the order of God, self, family, others
5. A Kingdom Mindset
6. Using God’s gifts for heavenly purpose
7. Weekly worship and rejoice in the Spirit
3
12 Weeks of RHEMA
1. Why Should We Surrender to God?
John 3:16: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
2. Understanding God’s Laws
Passage Mark 12:29-31: 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
3. The Trinity & Your Triune Self
Romans 8:5-6 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
4. Addiction is the Manifestation of Spiritual Oppression
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 16 …But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
5. Identifying & Expelling the Legion of Addiction
Ephesians 6:11-12 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
4
6. Developing a Repentance Mindset
Luke 16:16-17…”But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. 17 But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.
7. Rhema: Hearing God
Luke 11:28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
8. Personal Core Values in order of God, Self,
Family & The World at Large
Passage James 4:7: 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
9. Discovering Your God Given Gifts!
I Corinthians 12: 7-11 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
10.) Developing a Kingdom Mindset
Colossians 3:2-3 2And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. 3For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.
5
11.) Building Heavenly Treasures
Matthew 6:19-21 19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
12.) Deliverance Festival
Psalm 30
1 I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health.
3 You brought me up from the grave,[a] O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 When I was prosperous, I said, “Nothing can stop me now!”
7 Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.
8 I cried out to you, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you?
Can it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O Lord.”
11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!
6
Ingredient One: Belief and baptism in the trinity of God
Week One:
Why Should We Surrender to God?
John 3:16: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Objectives:
• To establish why non-Christian recovery models can’t
offer a cure for addiction
• Surrendering to the biblical God is the first step toward
divine health
• Who God is
There is more than one step to fight addiction and this model covers
all steps. But, as we piece together all of the elements of this process,
we learn collectively each component then see it as a holistic process.
The most essential step to this process is the acceptance of the Trinity
of God into your life. I cannot express enough the importance of this
step. Without this step, this model will not work. If you have
previously accepted Christ into your heart and named Him your
7
personal savior, it is still recommended you “re-dedicate” your life to
Him.
The difference between someone who is genuinely saved and those
who claim they are is the fruit of their lives. Simply handing your life
over to the Lord will not do unless you begin to let the Lord manifest in
your life. For some this comes naturally thus their major sins begin to
fall away, for others, including myself, it takes desperate measures.
Even if you have a solid understanding in the Trinity, it would be
beneficial to you to recap on it to refresh your spirit. After all, you are
reading this book because you have not surrendered completely
resulting in your current spiritual afflictions. So, like I did, let’s start
over from the beginning, as they say, “when all else fails, go back to
the basics.”
Let us start with knocking out one elusive theory that there is no cure
for alcoholism/addiction. However, the relapse rate among most
people are so high, there is virtually no way for them to ever claim
complete freedom from addiction, because they have yet to discover
for themselves a cure in fact does exist. Though I have known many
“recovering alcoholics” who are very dear to my heart and who I love
deeply, it is sad when I am around some of them because through
8
their recovery they have only left one form of bondage and entered
into another. They live in constant fear of “going out” or “relapsing”
that they utterly live their lives in more spiritually limited bondage
having no clue what real freedom is.
This form of recovery is only hitting the surface of what they could
actually experience. If only they were to realize that true freedom
from addiction does in fact exist and they would not ever have to say
they are powerless or that they are an “alcoholic” or “addict” again.
Science has defined medically, addiction/alcoholism as a physical and
psychological disease process which is “progressive.” To defy this
however, you will learn through these specific 12 Steps that it’s
through spiritual oppression (demonic activity) manifesting these
physical and psychological disease processes. Once these deities have
been expelled the person heals, the progression reverses and full
recovery then manifests. Temptations soon completely vanishes as
they progress into divine health, the cure has been had.
When studying brain scans of the effects of alcoholism or drug
addiction, the brain progressively worsens however, when they abstain
from it, the brain actually begins to recover over time restoring brain
9
activity and actual healing takes place. A true “disease” does not
recover and is truly progressive as seen in Alzheimer’s or Muscular
Dystrophy. People without divine intervention experience the desire to
drink or “use” which becomes emotionally painful (another spiritual
oppression) which has primarily classified addiction/alcoholism as a
disease process. However, to classify this as an incurable disease
seems ridiculous and unintelligent when an addict or alcoholic has
been completely healed through divine intervention.
I believe the causes for relapse and continued spiritual bondage is in
the heart of certain principles within non-Christian recovery groups.
Removing the product i.e. alcohol, drugs, sex, food etc., still leaves
them with the key elements of their progression, obsession and
perceptional dysfunction which is deception resulting in addiction.
If these dysfunctions were to be broken, they could begin to exhort
their energy toward the real meaning of life, a relationship with God.
In their minds, a cure does not exist because they have never
experienced a real relationship with God. Only until they find true
redemption in God alone, and work within His structure will they
ensure their sobriety and find the cure.
10
To be open to a more enlightened way through God named Jesus
Christ and not a “higher power” would only prove my point if given the
chance to explore every detail of it. If people are truly healed from
addiction/alcoholism through God, why would anyone not want to
know how to attain such genuine freedom? Denial was once a major
part of these people and for those closed-minded to a possible “cure,”
and an oppositional mindset will only prove denial still exists within
them therefore the principles of their non-Christian recovery model
proves fruitless. Can denial and close-mindedness exist within their
own relationships with their Higher Power?
2 Corinthians 3:16-18…
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and
reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes
us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
Freedom, that means freedom from any and all transgressions we face
including addiction! If we believe in Him. I am honored in knowing
and often working closely with people in recovery, and I am not
knocking their system in a derogatory way at all. In fact, I think God
11
even uses non-Christian groups for His will. But I think it’s more
important to spread the word that true freedom is available by
accessing it through divine intervention. Let’s examine some their
principles:
1. Using a “Higher Power” is the primary component to leading
God’s people away and ensuring their fears of relapse, as it is
there is only one true God, what a sneaky tool of Satan! Having
a god to the alcoholic/addict as they understand it? Is there no
room for learning who God is that He is reduced to meet their
understanding or simply replaced with a false non living god?
How nice it must be to invent a god who can fit into the
alcoholic/addict intellect, rationale and expectations!
2. Focusing on their “character defects” instead of embracing their
gifts and talents. We are to build each other up not tare each
other down. God takes you as you are and does not blame your
character defects; instead He begins to transform you into His
image. NO ONE is free from character defects. You are beautiful
in the eyes of the Lord. Not only is the alcoholic/addict broken
and experiencing a very high degree of shame, so let’s add to it
12
by making them take a grand tour of their very shameful past?
When they could have surrendered to God instead and let Him
rebuild them with all the goodness they already possess! In 2
Corinthians 5:16-17… “So we have stopped evaluating others
from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ
merely from a human point of view. How differently we know
him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has
become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has
begun!”
3. Constantly identifying as an “alcoholic” or “addict.” When you
surrender your life over to God, you become a brand new
person, the old person falls away and exist no more. Again, …”
The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” I must warn any
Christian member who is identifying themselves as their “old
selves” they are not manifesting fruit of the Spirit or accepting
God’s grace. In fact in a sense, you are insulting Him by
identifying yourself as someone you used to be.
4. If you need to make amends between you and someone else, by
all means that is healthy and admired by God. But God should
13
be your first priority not man. As it reads… 2 Corinthians 5:20
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were
making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be
reconciled to God.”
Finally, forgiveness is essential to your spirituality and relationship
with God, so forgiving others is deemed righteous and quite
expected, without it divine health cannot be attained.
There is only one true God and through Him all things are possible. It
is described in several passages in and throughout the bible. This true
God comes in three separate deities, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost. In order to receive any of His healing powers you have to
believe this through faith. He is the only source that can “cure the
addict/alcoholic.”
Deuteronomy 32:39
“See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me. It is I who
put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal: And
there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”
14
Any God or “Higher Power” other than the biblical God is rooted in
demonic activity. The answer is found in I Corinthians 10:20-21….
“…the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and
not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You
cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot
partake of the table of the Lord and the cup of demons.”
God is the creator of all things, simply put in Isaiah 45:18…
“For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is God who
formed the earth and made it),…I am the Lord and there is none else.”
My last comment about Non-Christian Recovery Models and
unbelievers are words about Paul in Acts 28:23-27. He was in Rome
testifying about the kingdom of God and its validity, most of the
people there were not persuaded. He went on to live there for two
years preaching the Word to all who came to listen. Though many
received God the majority did not listen. Paul would later be beheaded
for his testimony to Rome.
Passage Acts 28:20-27: 20 I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel—the Messiah—has already come.”
15
21 They replied, “We have had no letters from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here. 22 But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced everywhere.”
23 So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. 24 Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe. 25 And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,
26 ‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. 27 For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’
People who insist on their way as just and true are actually
experiencing what God is describing here. They are people with
hardened hearts which has closed their understanding, ears and eyes.
If the veil was taken away, thus opening their minds to listen, their
hearts would soften, their ears and eyes would open and they would
receive healing and a transformation of their existence all together.
16
God is everywhere. You cannot escape His presence. Having a veil is
not the same as God not being available to you. It just means that
the ways of the world has programmed you so much and Satan has
deceived you so much that you are literally absent from God, he is not
absent from you.
Psalms 139:7-10 which beautifully describes God as omnipresent,
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
In closing with step one, I want to share with you an awesome
passage which showed Jesus’ relationship with the Holy Spirit of God.
Take notice that he was described as joyous in the following excerpt.
Luke 10:21-22
17
21 At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding
these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for
revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this
way.
22 “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows
the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except
the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
What a passage! He was joyous in the Holy Spirit. He prayed to the
Father and honored Him for hiding secrets of His love from those who
were not willing to accept Him. Jesus says he is the one who chooses
the people to reveal these wonderful secrets to! The Father entrusted
everything in His Son. It’s no wonder so many people are hard of
hearing when it comes to the Word. It is not given to those who are
only making half of or part of the effort on their walk with the Lord or
to those who won’t stop to listen!
To be childlike is to be so full of enthusiasm for God, you are like that
of a child’s energy. The wonderful part about it is no matter how long
it’s been you can still recapture that enthusiasm with the restoration of
your spirituality.
18
Death does not exist to those who follow God for He is a loving God all
merciful and forgiving full of personality, humor, charisma, friendship,
fatherhood, discipline and high hopes for you! The rewards are
everlasting even on earth and start the very moment you say a
sinner’s prayer. He will begin to talk to you, empower you and fill you
with His love and you will know what it is like to have real joy in your
heart as the Kingdom starts to invade your life. You will dream of
Him. He will give you prophetic dreams about your life according to His
will.
Good things will begin to manifest, people of His calling will start
attracting to you and your life will suddenly take on new meaning.
The fog of your addiction will soon fade and your triune self will
emerge from deep within you and take over your life, you will come to
know God intimately and never again will you experience loneliness or
hopelessness nor would you ever want to go back to that life after you
have a small taste of the presence of our Father. If this is something
you have been longing for, or something that has been missing in your
life, raise your hands and repeat with full conviction the following
Sinner’s Prayer. Let everything out, surrender everything you have
inside you good and bad.
Dear Father in Heaven, hear my prayer. I come to you desperate for change in my life. I am a sinner Lord, I now know that I cannot do it
19
without you. I lift my hands to you and surrender my life to you. Jesus, I ask you into my heart, my life and my body. Fill me Father with your Spirit. You are the alpha and the omega, the first and the last and I am your child, your new servant to your body. I repent of all the sins of my life and ask for your forgiveness. I acknowledge you sent your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for me for this very moment to happen and add my name to the book of Life. I am a new person, I am made new from this moment forward and I accept your love for me. Walk with me Lord, from this day on as I take up your cross and thirst to know you. I pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
20
Ingredient One: Belief and baptism in the trinity of God
Week Two
Understanding God’s Laws
~Getting Back to the Basics~
Passage Mark 12:29-31: 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Objectives:
• The Law
• The Origin of Sin
• Salvation is a gift
There are many laws that govern in and around our existence. In the
beginning, there was the Law of Judgment as described in the bible
(the Old Testament). Mankind was governed by the Law of Judgment
until the death of Jesus (His Son, Himself as incarnate God) which
released us from the Law and launched us into the Law of Grace. You
see, Satan was deceived when he thought he won mankind (whom he
is extremely jealous of and hates with a vengeance) when he
succeeded in tempting Adam and Eve into the world of sin which is
governed by the Law of Judgment. Satan knew humans can only be
21
destroyed through judgment of sin thus the reason for his temptation
on them in the Garden of Eden in the first place. When God gave
mankind authority over “all things of the earth,” Satan became even
more rebellious out of jealousy of us. He did not know why God made
mankind just below the rank of angles let alone giving us so much
authority.
The Tree of Life & The Tree of Knowledge
Satan’s Role
When God discovered that sin had taken place in the garden, which
was the moment it happened, the Tree of Life was guarded from Adam
and Eve. You see, if they had eaten from the Tree of Life, after
entering into sin, mankind would have been locked into the Law of
Judgment for eternity which was Satan’s goal.
The Tree of Life gives eternal life to whoever eats from it. The Tree of
Knowledge was the forbidden tree they had ate from. The reason it
was forbidden, was because to know the difference of good and evil
there comes much responsibility and one stands the chance of losing
his place in the Kingdom. Its fruit gave the constant desire for
knowledge to mankind. Suddenly, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened
22
and they realized they were “naked.” It was at that point sin entered
them, having “knowledge” that they were naked. Their heavenly
bodies were transformed into our physical bodies which decays and
dies. When they first felt conviction “being naked and hiding from
God” is the very first account of what sin is in nature.
God had a plan all along though. He had a way to rescue us back from
the grip of the old Law. He sent His Son (Jesus) to live among us on
Earth as a human so we could be saved from eternal judgment. Satan
knew the laws and did not expect any way out of this dilemma
because it is eternally impossible for any man or woman to be
completely free of sin. I am sure he was especially disappointed when
God’s only begotten Son entered the world to fulfill this mission. Wow!
Is that awesome! God is always one step ahead of Satan.
To have a sinless man enter death is an impossible mission Satan
relied on to accomplish his plan of destruction. Who on earth could be
sinless let alone enter death free of sin? The answer is; no one! It is
impossible. Only sin enters death, even though Jesus was sinless on
the cross, in one moment just before he died he took all the sin of the
world into his body at which time God rebuked Him. Jesus did not
know the impact of being shut off from God until sin entered him and
23
God could no longer be apart of him, as he uttered those words,
“Father, why have you forsaken me?” He was cast into Hell where he
rescued the people of the Old Testament and then resurrected 3 days
later as the price had been paid for our salvation.
Satan and his army (who are fallen angels from Heaven) cannot
escape the Law of Judgment because they entered into sin on their
own accord knowing the difference between good and evil unlike us
being “blindly tempted into it” therefore the new law can not apply to
them and grace has been bestowed upon us, hence God is a just God.
Satan’s mission is to take as many of us as he possibly can. In fact,
he will succeed in taking 1/3 of all mankind which ironically, is the
exact sum of angels who fell from Heaven with him. Stop to think for
a moment just as a hypothetical thought, how big that number must
be if it were one for one, one demon per one human. We can’t
assume however that the numbers of fallen angels are equal to the
numbers of fallen humans. One third of fallen angels consisting of
Satan’s Nations are a mighty big number! To give you this illustration,
we turn to Revelation 20:7-9…
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his
prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the
24
earth – Gog and Magog – to gather them for battle. In number they
are like the sand on the seashore.
It’s no wonder addiction is so hard to break. What chance do we have
to stand against mighty nations of evil without God’s armor? The
secret is you have a mighty army of angelic warriors ready to go to
battle for you right now, 24 hours a day! That is exciting.
25
Ingredient One: Belief and baptism in the trinity of God
Week Three
Understanding the Trinity of God
&
Your Triune Self
Romans 8:5-6 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
Objectives:
• Understanding the triune human
• Understanding the Trinity of God is key to developing a
personal relationship with Him
• Understanding God intimately
Triune Self
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your
whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus
Christ comes again.
26
The number 3 has a divine significance. We are triune beings; Body,
spirit, soul; just as God is Triune; Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Before we
become born again, or born into the spirit of Christ by accepting Him
as our personal Savior, we were operating and functioning as body,
soul and spirit of the world.
When we enter into grace and leave the grip of the Law of Judgment
as we recited a sinner’s prayer, we are given the Holy Spirit of God.
The spirit of the world leaves our physical body and God moves in! We
know this to be accurate because we feel the physical manifestations
of it, the tingly and/or emotions we go through. This returns
throughout our walk with Christ when the Spirit wants our attention or
begins to talk to us. We have a responsibility to care for all three
parts in order to live in Divine health. First we will discuss the body.
Body
In scripture, the body is fragile and vulnerable to sickness, disease,
death and spiritual oppression (and demonic possession for those who
are dead to Christ). The body once surrendered to the Lord, becomes
the temple of God as it says in, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 -
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
27
Romans 12:1-2…
1”Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Here this says the renewing of your mind. A renewing of your mind is
an ever lasting evolution gained by constantly seeking the knowledge
of God. As you move closer to Him throughout your life, God will
reveal things to you. If one reads the bible with the same precepts
and understandings, how is that renewing the mind? There are many
treasures hidden from us until we seek after them. That is heaven
invading earth and we have full right and access to it here and now
(This is discussed further in Step eleven).
There is no other therapy available in the world that can offer a
constant renewing of the mind. It is the same old principles as
described here in this passage by warning to not conform to the
practices of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your
mind which exalts God. So, in learning we are to offer our bodies as
living sacrifices’ to God, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what
would defile the body if God were to dwell in it. Getting high, drunk,
sexual immorality, suicide and divination.
28
Passage Mark 14:38:
38 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For
the spirit is willing (to do the right thing), but the body is weak.”
This teaches us that we must try very hard to live in the Spirit that
dwells within us, not the body. No one is perfect at this and we all fall
short but, the more we try the more we become perfect in God’s eyes
and closer to Him. When we were born we were born out of the spirit
of the world. The spirit of the world resided in us, which is why it is
said that when we accept the truth of God into our lives, accepting
Christ into our heart, the old passes away, we are a new creation. The
spirit of the world within us is removed and we become filled with the
Holy Spirit of God thus our new identity.
Man’s Spirit Transformed
As the body becomes flesh in the womb and born into the world, it is
only when one seeks out the Kingdom and deeper meaning to life,
realizing Jesus is the way to eternal salvation, the body becomes
reborn in the Spirit and transforms into a temple of God because it
then houses the Holy Spirit of God.
29
So, how do we live in the Spirit? The spirit of the new Christian is
something worth more than any amount of treasures known to
mankind because it is very pure and innocent and makes its presence
known immediately. It is very precious to God. You will suddenly feel
something in the very center of your body an unfamiliar peacefulness.
You will know what it is to feel alive. It’s a feeling not a product,
principle or theory. It is alive inside you.
Once you have recognized the Spirit, it cannot be ignored but will
often stay back in the shadows of your soul if you continue to live with
a world mindset. However, He can be brought back to our fore
thinking and presence simply by acknowledging Him. For instance,
how do you feel right at this moment? Is something warm stirring
around inside you while receiving this revelation assuming you have
said the sinner’s prayer? My case is closed.
The beautiful part is the Spirit of God inside you is connected to your
mind. All of your thinking, even your most secret of thoughts you
covet cannot be hidden from the Spirit of God however; He is not
there to judge you but there to assist in the process of renewing you.
It’s so powerful and amazing I often cry just with the thought of Him
30
inside me. I cry not out of sadness but out of pure joy in His
presence.
Although sin still resides in you, the Spirit has power over it. It is
foreign to Him, a stranger, and an intruder. This intruder still has
influence in your life but on the outside of the body hence, spiritual
oppression. God the Father no longer sees it as long as you are
constantly evolving spiritually. The price has been paid for our sin
therefore; the sin is void as long as we keep steadfast in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Salvation is freely given to us by believing in Him but
must be maintained and nurtured with a repentance mindset and thirst
to know Him.
He wants to see the fruit! He plants the seed in you, the seed of
Abraham also known as Jesus, and then watches as you become the
gardener. That is why Jesus said he will reward each of us according
to what we have done or have not done.
Imagine if you will, a master frees his slave (a slave to the world) and
invites him into His household as His own child. He then gives him a
bare lot. The soil is rich and the land is plentiful. But it is raw land. His
new child is excited to have received such a bountiful gift! He goes to
31
work on it immediately. The Lord is pleased with all He is seeing. The
child’s child-like enthusiasm is pleasing to watch.
Then one day, the Lord decides to go on a long trip and leaves bidding
him goodbye and assuring his return. He has left his child with his
assistants to watch over him and guide him. The child is sad that his
new father is gone but continues to work on his lot eager to please
him.
As time passes, he becomes lazy. He stops listening to the assistants
so much that the assistants eventually go inside and leaves him alone.
He soon takes on another mindset. A mindset that tells him all he has
done is good enough. Then, he begins fill it with other things.
Sometime after, his father returns excited to see what his child has
been building. The father catches him sleeping and figures he is tired
from all of his hard work. So, eager to see what he has been doing he
walks out to the pastures and utter sadness and disappointment
overwhelms him. He sees barren land, filled with dust and thickets.
The springs are dried up, the cattle are gone, the garden has blown
away in the wind and then realizes he wasn’t sleeping, he was drunk
with the only living thing left on his lot, a vineyard. All of his old pals
32
from the world he was rescued from scattered from the face of the
Lord.
So, the Lord wakes him up and gives him severe punishment. He tells
him, “I have rescued you from a wicked world that did nothing for you
but make you a slave to it, I give you part of your inheritance early
and you have only harvested one piece of fruit from it! Then, you have
invited your old friends back into your life, friends who care nothing for
you and only have their own interests in mind? Your lot is not only
bare, but is defiled with wickedness. You ignored my assistants to the
point of no return yet they still stand here pleading for you! Out of
love for them and my unyielding mercy on you, I will not punish you to
death, but you will not receive what I had in mind for you and you will
never know what that was.”
Mathew 13:22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.
You see, many of us start off in the right direction and mindset, but
eventually return to old patterns because we don’t know how to plant
our gardens. The assistants (The Holy Spirit & Jesus) are ignored as
they try to teach us because we haven’t stopped to listen. We have
33
been programmed so much we have turned scripture into a lifeless
doctrine; we have lost the fervor for God and developed a worldly
religious mindset, exactly what God has warned against! Only when
the Word is alive we can move toward God and the Spirit has this
energy waiting for us right now.
He has been given authority to empower your thoughts, your
emotions, your intellect and your strength. He gives you your rhema,
your “ah ha!” moments. Through the Spirit and Christ you can hear
and feel the Word of God. God’s voice is often confused with self-will.
You see, “the conscience” is born again too and no longer a mere
psychological conscience as described by the world; it has been
transformed into the “phone line” to God with no long distance
charges! This is God’s access to communicate with you on a daily
basis. There is much discernment required though because even evil
can access this communication line; Hence, the devil on one shoulder
and an angel on the other. There’s no coincidence in that longtime
analogy.
The Spirit has influence over your body. Your body reacts to its
presence sometimes in subtle ways and other times in very dramatic
ways when it commands your attention. This is the presence you see
34
in some charismatic worshipers. They often shake and tremble, cry or
laugh and sometimes even being slain in the Spirit by the laying on of
hands. Basically, the Spirit of God in you is your anchor to keep you
steadfast, your beacon when overwhelmed in darkness (demonic
attack), your vessel when you are weary and your liberator when you
are filled with joy. Romans 8:5-6… 5 Those who are dominated by the
sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by
the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting
your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the
Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
Now that we have described how to recognize the Spirit inside you, we
move to understanding the soul.
Soul
The soul is the very life force from God. It is the living energy within
the body that enables the living to breathe and be alive; it is
responsible for our individualism and uniqueness. When you say your
name out loud, you are addressing your soul. It is precious to us and
can be lost. It is pure life energy. When we move out of the world and
into the Kingdom, the Spirit seals our soul which blocks the entrance
to demonic possession and brands our salvation. That in itself is a
35
reassuring security we can count on but it comes with a strong heed.
Once sealed with the Spirit, we become greater targets to the enemy.
To win a soul of one sealed with Christ’s blood is a greater loss to the
Father. Why bother with mere ponds when they can have high
ranking officers?
The soul is not to be worshiped as many New Age practices teach.
New Age teaches healing by tapping into your “life force” empty of
God, along with many other strange practices. Satan is clever and has
many tactics to fool even the most intelligent. Don’t get caught up
with practices like these. Here’s the most accurate discernment tool
you can use to differentiate God’s way or Satan’s way; whatever the
situation or subject, if it bears the fruit of God it is good. Anything
that is absent of the trinity of God is not of God.
Let’s look at healing in this light. When a person (anointed from God)
heals someone and has done so in the name of Jesus, it is genuine
work from God however, that does not ensure the salvation of their
soul just because they are doing the healing.
Matthew 7:22 - Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
36
The secrets of their hearts have been judged. How can a person
claiming to be God’s child be turned away by Christ? It is because the
Spirit has revealed their inner desires being not of God. But what
about the miracles they performed? People were saved, healed and
released from devils by them? True. It wasn’t the manifestation being
denied by Christ, it was the person with the wicked heart doing it. So
don’t be fooled or led away or become jealous of those who seem to
have a special anointing from God, be discerning and pleased with the
fruit of the miracles or healings taking place! It is the work of God
doing it, not man. Anyone can perform miracles but that does not
mean they will enter the Kingdom of God if their hearts are not right
with God.
Also, if healing takes place but speaks no word of God, it is counterfeit.
(Rieke, Chakras, life force, crystals etc). Miraculous signs and
wonders can be done without God like when the Egyptians turned their
walking sticks into snakes however it was the work of Satan. We cover
more of this subject in Step Ten. We have covered all three
components of our existence now lets examine the trinity.
37
God the Father
There is the Mighty God in Heaven, who is described as the Living
Creator of all things, the “Father,” then there is His son, Jesus who is
our natural God (in flesh) the gateway to the Father and then the Holy
Spirit which is the spirit of God given to us as a gift, to guide us and
talk to us, who is the connection to Him in heaven and who is
responsible for us hearing God’s voice.
The ‘Father’ is not just a Divine power or energy. He is a living person
(not in the human sense), and we are made in His image. He has
emotions, will, aspirations and thrives to live within and among us and
to have a personal relationship with each of us.
God the Son
The ‘Son’ is the actual son of God and is of God sent here by His
Father (also our Father) to restore our salvation if we believe in Him.
Jesus is described as being the same as God but also that He is the
only gateway to heaven and access to the Father. Jesus describes
Himself as being in the Father and the Father is in Him. Many people
believe that Jesus is not separate from our Father in Heaven however,
in John 8:42 says…
38
“Jesus said to them, “If god were your Father, you would love me, for
I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but
he sent me.”
Many people also believe that Jesus is not God. This can confuse new
comers in many ways. To understand who Jesus is we turn to
scripture. Luke 22:67-70
67"If You are the Christ, tell us." But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe;
68and if I ask a question, you will not answer.
69"But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD."
70And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" And He said to them, "Yes, I am."
To see Christ up close and personal, we turn to Colossians 1:15-23
Paul writes….
13For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
39
18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
22yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--
23if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
And again in Colossians 2:6-10…
6Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
I don’t know about you but this couldn’t be more plainly described as Him being our Lord.
9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
40
He is also described as sitting at the right hand of God’s throne and
after his resurrection, that he had not yet ascended to his father …
when he rose from the dead and appeared to Mary Magdalene, and in
his own words proving himself as our Father’s actual ‘Son’ yet is of the
same God as the incarnate flesh making Him our Lord.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the very spirit of God, the Living Word of God and
the Spirit which has been given to us as a gift through the blood of
Jesus on the cross though He has always been with God in Heaven. As
mentioned earlier, the Spirit is what enters you when you turn your life
over to God. The Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you if you listen to
Him. He is God in you just as Jesus described having the Father in
Him. The Spirit manifests emotions, will and intellect just as I am
typing these words and entering into your mind. When you feel the
power of God, the chills, butterflies etc, this is the deity you feel or the
“ah ha!” experience when the Living Word of God becomes alive to you
and finally makes sense also known as Rhema. John 15:26 reads,
“When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
that is the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the father, He will bear
witness of Me.”
41
Jesus Himself sent Him who “proceeds” from the Father. Putting it all
together, Jesus is Lord incarnate flesh, deity who existed first before
all creation, He sits at the right hand of God and is crowned above all
created, the Spirit is bestowed to us as a gift after Jesus’ resurrection,
He is from the Father, a part of the Father given to us therefore He is
a deity of God, a person of God in spiritual manifestation, then there is
the Father our creator of all things, holy and Most High. God exists
within and is made of three separate deities but is one in the same as
He is omnipresent.
The Trinity in More Detail
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit,”
The next very compelling examination when studying the trinity of God
is how they operate together. In Romans 8:26, The Father “searches
the hearts,” 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For
example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy
Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is
42
saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s
own will.
Then in Revelation 2:23 Jesus says he is the one who searches the
minds and hearts of mankind, …”and all the churches shall know that I
am He that searcheth the reins (minds) and hearts; and I will give
unto every one of you according to your works.”
The Holy Spirit is described as the searcher of all things in I
Corinthians 2:10-12… 10 But it was to us that God revealed these
things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows
us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except
that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except
God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s
spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
You have to think about this for a minute to understand the depth of
this revelation. The Father searches the hearts of man, the Son
searches the hearts and the minds and the Holy Spirit (our gift)
searches all things including the very depth of God the Father and
reveals His secrets to us as we mature in Him according to His will. To
know God’s deep secrets is a gift most Christians do not realize they
43
have access to. Why then do you suppose Jesus told the apostle’s they
would go on to do “more miraculous signs and wonders then He?”
There’s much more offered to us than what was recorded in the bible,
and more revelation than described because He knew we would
mature spiritually beyond those of that age. That is why God told
Daniel not to bother trying to figure out what his dream meant, it was
hidden from him and all those of that age and would only be revealed
to a future age with greater wisdom. This is a direct acknowledgement
from God that we as humankind would evolve spiritually closer to Him
as His children in the ages to come. We are here, this is the age.
God cannot fit into the bible though it is the Living Word, our compass
to salvation. He is bigger than that. Our understanding of Him should
go far beyond the pages of scripture though we need scripture to
guide us there. Look at the bible as a treasure map. It contains the
way to Him. The treasure is knowing God and having eternal salvation
so when he returns to see our lots, we can walk beside Him in our
gardens in the flesh in this New Kingdom, like a Bride hand in hand
with the bridegroom. What a beautiful image that is.
44
We were commanded to thirst for more knowledge in Him and about
Him, this pleases Him. He wants to reveal things to us, outside of
scripture. It is a close and intimate relationship which cannot be
attained exclusively through bible study. It is from our hearts and our
spirits we must thrive and live to know Him intimately. Scripture keeps
us in check so we don’t get off the beaten path (led astray with
counterfeit doctrine) however, the bible concludes frequently that
there is more.
This is the missing ingredient to most Christians and most certainly
those of unbelievers. Spiritual affliction and addiction is a direct result
of that. Satan knows that these two manifestations are the keys to
keeping our spiritual evolution toward God at bay. We cannot be close
to Him let alone hear His secrets when we are ruled by certain spiritual
afflictions of addictions and constantly feeding the desires of our flesh.
The next step will explain the source of addiction.
45
Ingredient Two: Free from Spiritual Oppression
Week Four
Addiction is the Manifestation of Spiritual Oppression
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 16 …But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
Objectives:
• Learning the source of addiction
• Why addiction is so powerful
• Identifying the cure
• Defining unclean spirits
How many times throughout scripture does it say that no drunkard
shall enter the kingdom of God? So many times it is a loud and clear
message! Here’s the good news…
He (the Spirit) has the power to over come any temptation and is the
very source of the cure. With the assistance of angelic forces ordained
by God and the binding and expelling of spirits in the name of Jesus
with a kingdom mindset comes the cure of addiction.
46
That is the reason most Christians relapse with their struggle in
addiction. They have not accessed the full power of God. They have
not learned how to access God’s powers as described in the bible as
free to us. For instance, I successfully quit drinking for almost a year
through prayer and bible study however, it wasn’t long before the grip
of my old pal, denial and obsession took over, proceeding into
temptation of course.
Jesus explained that basically you can expel spirits all day long and
they will flee from you, but if you don’t replace that space with God’s
presence they will return and will cause a worse condition than before
often accompanied by more demons, which is described as a Legion.
Lesson: A legion of particular spirits gives the manifestation of a
particular affliction.
In Luke 11,
24 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert,
searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the
person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is
all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more
47
evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so
that person is worse off than before.”
In the case of addiction, I have indentified 7 spirits, I.e. the Legion of
Addiction.
These 7 spirits are the primary source of addiction;
Spirit of Obsession
Spirit’s of Fear & Pride
Spirit of Drunkenness (an altered state of mind which covers drug
high’s too)
Spirit of Withdrawal
Spirit of Deception
Spirit of Temptation
Each of these spirits works together in the addiction process as a
group. It’s only when these 7 are together, their manifestation
becomes “addiction.” Here’s where I found my proof;
Mark 5:7-9
48
7And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have You to do with
me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? [What is there in common
between us?] I solemnly implore you by God, do not begin to torment
me!
8For Jesus was commanding, Come out of the man, you unclean
spirit!
9And He asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is
Legion, for we are many.
Notice this demon refers to himself as one, “my name is” but then
speaks for them “for we are many.” Did you just have a rhema
moment? This is a good Word of knowledge! I believe this has been
overlooked in this light and this passage is a key secret to
understanding demonic forces.
The man possessed by this Legion is described as a complete lunatic
running around cutting himself and unable to live in society. We might
see this as the worst case of Paranoid Schizophrenia? This is an
example of one of the worst kinds of Legion’s but has its reason for
being in the bible; for us to discover how demons operate and
manifest.
49
There are so many more Legions afflicting people with dysfunctional
personalities, diseases, genetic histories, sicknesses, behaviors and
generational dysfunctions we cannot possibly cover them all nor do I
have full knowledge in all of their identities. It does not take a scholar
to identify Legions, only careful analysis guided by the power of God
teaching you.
Lesson: This is the study of the Legion of Addiction.
Addiction in the Bible
A search of the Bible reveals 228 references to wine and 19 references
to strong drink. Obviously God wants us to pay attention to this
subject. Drunkenness can be described as; to make somebody drunk
with alcohol or stupefied with drugs or other substances having
unhealthy influence on judgment and reasoning, therefore drugs and
any form of addiction can fit into this structure. After all, I don’t think
God will let a drug abuser in the Kingdom but not a drunkard. Drugs
were not a part of that age but it is with this one; yet, another reason
to think beyond the scriptures about a certain subject. We are an
enlightened age so let’s start thinking and acting that way.
50
The fact is the bible does not exclusively prohibit the moderate use of
alcohol but plainly and exuberantly warns against drunkenness.
Lesson: Don’t let this be access for denial to creep in about your
alcohol intake. Conviction is the sign of sin. If you are convicted
about it, you shouldn’t be drinking because you don’t have the ability
to drink healthily.
One of the best descriptions of what drunkenness is; is found in
Psalms. The beauty in this passage is it describes the very nature of
addiction.
Proverbs 23
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. (Obsession)
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
32 In the end it bites like a snake
51
and poisons like a viper. (Withdrawal, physical manifestations)
33 Your eyes will see strange sights
and your mind imagine confusing things. (Spirit of Drunkenness,
Deception, the high)
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
lying on top of the rigging. (That saying, “being 10 feet tall and bullet
proof” ring a bell?)
35 "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt!
They beat me, but I don't feel it!
When will I wake up
so I can find another drink?"(Reckless behavior examined and I love
the way God describes this disease as a “cycle.” Find another =
addiction)
It’s the madness that every alcoholic/addict can relate to. Now that we
have established what addiction and drunkenness is how do we start
our way to recovery from them?
We turn to the most powerful gift, deity of God offered to us, The Holy
Spirit. Did you know that the Holy Spirit continues to pray for us even
when we are not? He cares for you more than anything imaginable.
The capacity of love He has for us is the everlasting love of God. And
to think that is only 1/3 of His love! The love of our whole God is
52
beyond our comprehension. Our physical bodies cannot attain even a
minute portion of it.
Lesson: To become closer to the Holy Spirit is to become closer to
God.
The next step is learning how to listen to Him and understanding the
complete access to Him like never before. It is through His power that
we will attain divine health and rid our lives of addictions and
afflictions. Jesus described the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth sent
here from Him. So, this access is free to us and we should be tapping
into it as often as we tap into Jesus after all, He gave us that
permission.
Let’s get into recognizing how Satan works, his dominion and how they
manifest in our lives.
What Does Satan Have To Do With It?
Satan is a “being” created in the image of God, a lot like us, and the
most beautiful of all His creations.
He is addressed by God as the Prince of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 where he
describes him as …”But you are a man and not a god…” Often time
53
the influencing spirit around us is referred to toward a human as if the
person is not even there or has any idea what is really going on in the
unseen heavenly realms. An example is when Jesus is conversing with
Peter because Peter rebuked Jesus when he predicted his death. The
unique point is that Jesus does not respond to Peter, he addresses
Satan.
Mathew 16: 22-23
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said.
“This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling
block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things
of men.”
Ok, can you imagine yourself standing there upset and angry because
Jesus just told you he was going to die, then he doesn’t even respond
to what you are saying or feeling, instead he talks to Satan who you
can’t even see? Someone with no understanding would be left feeling
empty and unacknowledged, as if their strong regard was being
overlooked and ignored!
54
In reality, Satan was trying to put doubt in Jesus about saving the
world. It wasn’t about Peter being troubled with the thought of Jesus
being put to death, it was actually Satan talking through Peter by
giving Peter this emotion however, Jesus knew it.
Lesson: Faith is the antidote to doubt. Doubt will destroy faith.
Demons have different natures. One demon identified himself in I
Kings 22:23 as a "lying spirit." A "deaf and dumb" spirit is identified in
Mark 9:25. Demons of various natures operate as spirits of infirmity,
seducing spirits, and unclean spirits. Satan uses them to war against
man in body, soul, and spirit. He also attacks the “unbeliever” to keep
them in opposition to God. For the sake of validity, let’s examine
types of demons and how they operate.
SPIRITS OF INFIRMITY:
These are spirits that can afflict the bodies of believers as well as
unbelievers. Read Luke 13:10-17. This woman was afflicted with a
spirit of infirmity. She was present in the Sabbath services and Jesus
called her "a daughter of Abraham." Both of these facts indicate she
was a follower of God, yet her body had been afflicted by Satan for
eighteen years.
55
For other examples of demonic powers afflicting the body see Matthew
12:22; 17:15-18; Acts 10:38; II Corinthians 12:7.
SEDUCING SPIRITS:
These spirits afflict the spirit of man, seducing him to believe doctrinal
lies and be condemned to eternal punishment. They are the spirits of
false doctrine, cults, false Christ’s, and false teachers:
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils. (such as New Ageism)
(I Timothy 4:1)
These seducing spirits are deceptive. They actually work miracles
which lead some to believe they are of God: (New Age Healing)
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto
the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the
battle of that great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:14)
Even him, who’s coming is after the working of Satan with all powers
and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. (II Thessalonians 2:9-10)
56
Seducing spirits include the "spirit of divination" mentioned in Acts:
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed
with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much
gain by soothsaying. (Acts 16:16)
Such spirits of divination or "familiar spirits" operate in fortune tellers,
witches, and palm, crystal ball, and tea leaf readers. Through
unscriptural methods the spirits of divination foretell the future or
discover knowledge which is naturally unknown. Warnings against
familiar spirits are given in Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:9;
18:10; Leviticus 20:27; and I Samuel 28:3.
Seducing spirits sear the conscience, seduce, entice, tempt, allure,
interest, fascinate, excite, arouse, attract, and deceive. Seducing
spirits are active in causing "spiritual wickedness in high places." They
are present and operative in every cult and wherever doctrinal error
exists. Remember that Satan craves worship and he will take it any
way he can get it. Seducing spirits entice men and women to worship
idols and even Satan himself.
UNCLEAN SPIRITS:
These demonic powers afflict the soulish nature of man. They are
responsible for immoral acts, unclean thoughts, temptations and other
57
strategies of Satan used to bind men and women. When Satan
controls individuals with unclean spirits, he can also operate in homes,
churches, and entire nations as these groups are composed of
individuals. This is how Satan works in the various levels of structure
in society. For examples of unclean spirits see Matthew 10:1; 12:43;
and Mark 1:23-26.
Evil spirits cannot live in the same space as God therefore; true
believers of Christ cannot be possessed however it is possible to be
oppressed by them just as the girl who was a Seed of Abraham. Being
oppressed takes place outside the body and that is the difference. It is
“influence.”
Oppression is the primary weapon used against followers of Christ.
Although keeping the unbelievers away from the Word of God is easy
to Satan, it is more gratifying to win over one of God’s people. The
unforgivable sin is Blasphemy of the Spirit of God which is described in
Matthew 12:31-32
31 “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.
58
The Holy Spirit is exalted higher than Jesus and the Father even
though they are one in the same. That’s how powerful the Holy Spirit
of God is!
The next step is the action step. It will dive straight into the
identification of the Legion of Addiction and how to expel it!
59
Ingredient Two: Free from Spiritual Oppression
Week Five
Identifying & Expelling the Legion of Addiction
Ephesians 6:11-12 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Objectives:
• Learning how to recognize unclean spirits
• Identify the addiction cycle personally
• Expelling the Legion of Addiction
• Putting on God’s armor & artillery
~The Legion of Addiction~
As mentioned earlier, there are 7 spirits that influence drunkenness
which mocks our Lord and the life of the drinker. First, you must
identify with each of those spirits on an intimate level. Examine how
each of them enables your obsession or affliction. This takes time and
should be dealt with, with a serious mindset. The best way to do this is
to write down each spirit and start to relate to them, keep a journal on
60
how you relate to them, how they work in you, what happens, what
your thoughts are, what your actions are and what your physical
symptoms are. Here are the personalities and manifestations of these
spirits. We will go through them one at a time.
Spirit of Obsession: This spirit is one which will keep your mind on
one thing and cause you to fixate on the object or subject from mild to
severe states. Obsessive behavior is what makes the alcoholic, drug
user, sex addict remain active in this disease. This spirit will influence
you and can take over your life. The object of the obsessed product,
alcohol, sex, drugs or whatever is only relieved when this spirit is
bound and cast out. This spirit is strong at first but loses easily. Once
dispelled, it slowly fades away and only occasionally attempts to
return.
Spirits of Pride & Fear: These are the monsters of addiction. Think
of them as the evil twins. They will find ways into your mind in a
multitude of ways. Fear loves to hang out with this group because it
has to do little effort to keep you in fear. Its pal, Pride is happy to
accompany this group because it loves itself so much that the addict
feeds it constantly. Have you ever tried to contend with the ego of and
addict or alcoholic? Pride & Fear are best of friends and are out to
destroy you in a condescending way. These particular spirits must be
61
bound together or you will battle them both in exhausting ways. They
can take on several other varieties of sin and can be found in almost
every single sin known to man.
Spirit of Drunkenness: This spirit loves to party! It’s the “high or
Buzz.” It also loves to laugh at you once you are drunk and pleasures
itself in making a fool out of you. This spirit is responsible for all those
undesired and embarrassing behaviors drunk people conduct. Also as
the drug addict, it’s the high manifested here. This spirit will lie to you
and tell you, you need “more and more.” It often comes across as a
friend. In the case of the meth abuser, it will say things like, “I am so
much more productive on it” or “I think clearer on it.” For the heroine
abuser, it will say, “I hate my life; I just don’t want to feel anymore.”
Coke abusers, “I love feeling coked up.” The good news is this spirit is
easily dispelled once bound and cast out.
Spirit of Withdrawal: Yes, withdrawal is a spirit which manifests
“physical symptoms.” This spirit is a little harder to dispel than its
counter part, Drunkenness. These don’t go hand in hand however. This
one comes into light when you start neglecting the spirit of Deception.
Withdrawal can be cast out once the mind is made up to quit the
behavior and in my experience, I declared it gone and actually quit
smoking completely free of withdrawal, alcohol was not hard either on
62
this level. Note: If you are attempting to cold turkey heroine, you
should have medical support due to possible physical dangers pending
on your level of faith. It is completely possible to cold turkey heroine
with no negative effects if your faith is strong enough I however don’t
recommend it without medical help close by at least someone to call
for medical help if you begin to experience unbearable withdrawals.
Spirit of Deception in fact is Satan: This spirit is the worst of them
all. This spirit will feed you so many lies you believe about yourself.
Deception will tell you things that will cause you to enter into
depression, hopelessness, anger, guilt and in some cases, suicide.
This is the devil that loved to throw me into self pity. It also is
responsible in giving you all those thoughts to defend your right to
drink, it is the core of its meaning; deception. This spirit can exist on
a multitude of levels and cause a multitude of sin. When the group
around it is dispelled, its focus becomes something else although it
operates individually. You have to be on your toes at all times to
recognize when it is acting out in your thoughts. This is the spirit
responsible for relapse. When you enter covenant with him, he opens
the backdoor to all the others previously dispelled patiently waiting
outside. They all wait because they know Deception is the strongest of
them to win relapse if you cave in.
63
Spirit of Temptation: This spirit has short episodes of tempting you.
Its grip is strong but flees quickly if you don’t submit to it. This is the
spirit who gives you your triggers. Usually it’s accompanied by
Deception.
Seems scary, but it’s not really. You just have to come to a full
understanding in how they operate in your life.
Lesson: Go through each one of them and try and pinpoint their
manifestations. Notice their unique behaviors as you analyze your
cycle of the addiction.
You will need to keep a journal. In your journal, write the definitions of
the 7 spirits I gave then add to it as you go, the ways they influence
you. (You should preserve at least 3 blank pages for each spirit)
Spend time with each one, one at a time.
Name the unclean spirit
1.) How does the spirit talk to you (triggers)? Example: does it
cause you to pay close attention to commercials? Visual aids?
64
Thoughts? Dreams? Compulsions? Certain events? Through
certain people and who?
2.) What are your physical symptoms? Examples, I feel butterflies
when I see a crack pipe, or my mouth waters when I think about
drinking, I feel anxious or short tempered
Step Two
Map your cycle
1.) Daily Log your cycle
2.) Write about your:
• Feelings
• Thoughts; good thoughts in blue ink, bad thoughts in red
• Identify each negative experience with the particular spirit
Here’s an example of the kind of cycle I had:
Day 1:
I feel ashamed for what I did last night. If nothing bad happened, I
would feel guilty for getting drunk. (Deception, Fear, Pride)
65
Day 2:
I feel better. I will make new goals this week. (My own thoughts)
I will not drink so much next time (Deception)
Day 3:
I am not a drunk, that man under that bridge is a drunk! Thank God I
am not like that. (Deception, Pride)
Man I feel good today. (Myself)
I am thirsty. (Obsession)
That commercial made that beer look good! I’m like that woman!
(Obsession, Pride)
I have to go to a huge conference, I wonder if they are serving
alcohol. (Obsession)
I am going to only have 2 glasses of wine. (Deception, Obsession)
Man, I am a loser. (Deception, Fear)
How can she say that about me? Did she mean it? She must have
meant it. She’s right, I am selfish. (Deception, Pride, Fear)
66
Why am I feeling anxious? (Withdrawal)
Man, I’m pissed off! (Withdrawal)
I can’t sleep! (Withdrawal)
Day 4:
I can’t wait to get home and have a glass of wine, man it’s been a long
hard day! I deserve one! (Deception, Obsession, Temptation)
I wonder what they will think (Fear, Deception)
I can’t wait for that buzz (Temptation, Obsession)
I don’t want to drink anymore (Myself)
I am not a drunk (Deception, Fear, Pride, Obsession)
Heck with it, I am a good person, why am I worrying about it!
(Deception, Fear, Pride, Temptation, Obsession, Drunkenness)
This is a typical cycle of any kind of addiction. As you see, day 3 for
me was the worst. I had more demonic inflammation the day before I
drank than any other day.
67
I don’t recommend trying to cast out demons right away because you
need to educate yourself on how they work in you. Take a full week
acquainting yourself with them before you do step three. You are
actually in the process of quitting; you just haven’t removed the
product yet and through this process, you are strengthening your faith
in it. This is the spiritual conditioning that must take place first or the
model will fail as you have to understand in detail what you are
fighting so you can quickly recognize them on their return.
Lesson: The knowledge of identity is your weapon; Faith and God are
the ammunition.
Step Three
Now, you have identified how your cycle works and how they are
working in your life. Now it’s time to bring in God’s angels to battle.
You will bring God’s power to intervene and allow the angels to banish
them. These powers will surround you and there will be a great battle.
Spirits do not like to leave their host. Be prepared.
Physically mark the calendar: “STARTING MY NEW LIFE!” Note: you
cannot effectively cast out spirits while hung over so don’t do it.
68
The most effective way to cast out any unclean spirit is to fast for at
least 24 hours. Even in the Catholic church priest’s have to fast for 72
hours before an exorcism. Jesus himself fasted for 40 days in the
desert during his temptation with Satan. Fasting is both spiritually
healthy and also serves as a tool to strengthen your spirit against
temptations of the flesh. If you are medically able to fast for at least
24 hours, this should be routinely practiced once a week. As you fight
hunger, you actually learn to ignore fleshly desires and you begin to
enhance your spiritual connectedness with our Father. If you cannot
fast such in cases like diabetes, casting out the spirits can still be
effective, you’ll just have to focus harder and a bit longer than as if
you were fasting. After your fast….
Lift your hands and command with full conviction:
Call for Battle
Father in heaven, I come to you in desperation as your daughter/son.
I repent of my sins. Forgive me for….. I am now ready to quit……
and I know Lord that without you, I am nothing and only with you ALL
things are possible. I accept you into my heart and my life from this
point forward. (In an authoritative voice) I declare in the name of
Jesus Christ, Legion of Addiction leave me now! I bind you spirits of
Deception, Drunkenness, Pride, Deception, Fear and Temptation with
69
the power of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave me and not return!
God in heaven, send forth your angels to defend me in battle and keep
me safe from these spirits from this point on. I declare under the
authority of Jesus Christ I will not suffer any withdrawal whatsoever
and my body will be filled with the holy spirit of God to resist their
return. I pray this is Jesus name, amen!
You have cast them out all at once but each of them will take their
turns at attempting to return. Remember, you will now be able to
recognize them intimately and be able to cast them out using this call
for battle. Pride and Fear will always be together! When you are being
prideful, cast out Fear too. And vise versa. Deception will be the one
you will come to know on an expert level! In fact, you will acquire a
doctorate in Deception by the sixth month of recovery. Eventually,
you will gain so much strength from God these spirits will get bored
and find another victim. I promise you that! That’s the reward in the
end and once fully recovered, you are no longer prone to addiction
unlike popular worldly belief.
Lesson: Memorize this Call for Battle!
Call For Battle For Returning Spirits
70
I declare in the name of Jesus Christ, Spirit of…. leave me now! I bind
you spirit of… with the power of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave
me and not return! God in heaven, send forth your angels to defend
me in battle and keep me safe. Fill me with your anointing and Holy
Spirit, In Jesus name. Amen.
71
Ingredient Three: A Forgiving Heart
Week Six
Developing a Repentance Mindset
Luke 16:16-17…”But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. 17 But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned
Objective:
• Releasing the power of resentment
• Understanding the power of forgiveness
• Why repentance is maintenance for salvation
• A forgiving heart opens the ears to God
Now that the source of addiction has been expelled, the next step
toward divine health is releasing resentments in your life. 100% of
people who suffer from addiction have some past emotional scarring
which has enabled the Legion to enter their lives resulting in their lives
spiraling out of control.
Formula of Addiction: Emotional Injury + Shame & Guilt + Anger &
Resentment + Fear & Pride = Addiction
72
As mentioned earlier, the human is extremely fragile not only
physically but emotionally. We are weak in heart. Satan knows this
and thrives on our weaknesses. So many people spend thousands of
dollars in regressive type therapies when in reality, all those regressive
memories can be dealt with in one session of prayer. The most
important lesson is understanding the power of forgiveness before
anyone can begin the step of healing past emotional scarring.
This is such a hard subject for people. I understand why. This is the
process of being hurt by someone. You made yourself vulnerable to
them only being hurt in some cases severely. Why should someone
forgive others afflictions upon them? Why would this be so important?
Let’s examine this.
Thoughts are power, energies put out into the world that brings about
cause and effect. Positive attracts positive and likewise with
negatives. Let’s take the energies of hurt feelings, hurt ego, painful
encounters with people.
First, we can suggest that these emotions represent negative polarities
right? Negative attracts negative. Un-forgiveness creates resentments
and regressive scarring. When you have been the one who has been
73
hurt or offended should you be the one to seek forgiveness? My
answer is yes. The reason is because you become released from
attracting negativity (also known as unclean spirits) into your life.
Lesson: Forgiveness is the antidote to sin.
Now that you have become a brand new creation, is it possible to carry
the old feelings and scars of the old person? Absolutely! We are still
required to take some additional steps toward the process of our
transformation. This is so overlooked when someone converts to
Christianity or during a Christian’s walk with God. So many Christians
are walking around with that same deep emotional pain even though
they have surrendered their lives. Let me start with saying full
surrender has not yet been experienced by these people.
Philippians 3:13-14
….”but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies
ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which
God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
How on earth do we do that? Especially when the pain is so severe as
in cases with sexual abuse, physical abuse, manipulation by people we
74
love, being lied to by those we trusted, losing a loved one to a
murderer or rapist, childhood traumas or even an untimely death of
someone close to us? Or injustice by the court system or even our ex?
God will heal all of that? The answer is yes! Our mission is to attain
divine health by taming anger and releasing regressive emotions which
will thwart our mission!
Teaching about Anger Matthew 5:21-22
21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
Matthew 6:14
14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
In order to attain divine health and escape judgment, we are to forgive
those who have hurt us. Does that mean we have to go to them and
verbally forgive them? Yes.
Will a letter do? No. What if they are unreachable? Then speak it to
God.
The power of Word will cause them to be released from that sin
against you even though they don’t see it that way. What about the
pain behind it? How is my pain justified?
Psalm 147:3
75
…3He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their
sorrows].
The word heal is here. God’s healing is superior to any therapy of the
world. Neither man nor therapy can heal the regressive emotions of
one’s life. The way to receive this wonderful healing is a prayer, a
prayer in a quiet place between you and God. This should be done as
soon as possible because these memories are the weapons the enemy
uses against you to tempt you back into your sinful ways. This is a
mighty weapon Satan uses to get you back in covenant with him. The
minute you go into the sorrow self, the Legion stands waiting to enter
the back door.
This prayer will be painful but you will experience the greatest healing
you have ever experienced.
Go to a private and quiet place, bring up ALL of the hurtful and painful
memories to the point of tears. In a prayer, in your own words, give
them ALL to God. Talk about them, tell God how they have hurt you
and that He is the only one who can restore your spirit. He’s your
father, go to Him in that way. Spend time in this prayer and cry until
every tear has fallen. Then, when the tears are done falling, thank
Him for taking their grip on you away and healing your wounds. I
76
promise you, you will be restored completely and will never be a slave
to those terrible memories again. By doing this you have literally
disarmed Satan from one of his deadliest weapons against you. You
may feel tired after this, which is normal. Go and rest, healing will
continue while you sleep.
On the occasion when Satan tries to dredge up these memories back
into your mind, your response is “Get behind me Satan! My sorrows
are healed, my past is behind me. You cannot remind me of my past
because I shall I remind you of your future!”
I have used this one a time or two and the feeling of his flee was very
apparent. Some may wonder how this would work. The answer is in
the power of the spoken Word.
Did you know everything that comes out of your mouth causes an
action in the unseen realm around you? Why else would the bible
teach the importance of restraining your tongue in anger, watching
what you say, be careful not to take covenant with the enemy by your
tongue? Why would a spoken prayer be more powerful than a silent
one? Are devils not cast out by the power of the spoken word? Jesus
77
declared healings and casted out devils not by magically waving his
hands, he spoke them into existence.
Does it not say, If you said to that mountain, Go and fall into the sea,
it will be done by your command and faith? These are all examples of
the power given to us. How do we know if we commanded mountains
to fall into the sea it wouldn’t happen in the invisible world?
Lesson: Divine health cannot be attained with a wicked tongue.
Lesson: The power of forgiveness cannot be accessed or activated
unless it is spoken.
Lesson: You cannot stand before God free of judgment unless you
forgive.
Does that mean you have to let everyone walk all over you? Absolutely
not.
Passage Luke 17:3: 3 So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.
78
If they do not seek your forgiveness, forgive them to the Lord and you
will be set free from your resentment which leads to anger thus
leading to a spiritual trap.
Salvation is a gift. This does not mean you escape judgment if you
continue to live with a world-mindset and lacking a repentance
mindset. Several Christians believe they don’t have to repent after
they have been saved. This is such a deadly way of thinking. As
learned earlier, grace is a gift but that does not mean that God’s laws
are to be ignored. As you practice these principles more and more in
your life, you will begin to receive revelations from God.
Lesson: Divine Revelation only comes when you are in divine
health!
You will hear God speak to you! This is the only way to hear Him. As
the days pass, your very soul will begin to illuminate from inside and
you will feel your connection to Him.
This is a daily lifestyle not an experience. Each day you have chances
to enter into a deeper communion with God. Examples: An angry
person in public, when someone cuts you off, when you are mistreated
79
or your feelings get hurt, someone is talking about you, someone
else’s bad attitude, your kids upset you, your spouse upsets you,
someone is hungry, someone is asking for your help, you are tired,
you are hormonal, you are around an undesirable situation and the list
virtually goes on!
It’s all about that moment you hear the Holy Spirit (your conscience)
tell you what to do or how to do it, if you choose to listen, He will talk
to you more and more. In fact sometimes He talks to me so much I
get overwhelmed. You will soon learn how to tell the difference
between where your thoughts end and God’s voice begins. It’s very
exciting and a powerful way to live!
80
Ingredient Three: A Forgiving Heart
Week Seven
Rhema: Hearing God
Luke 11:28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Many Christian’s thirst to hear God speak to them often living a
lifetime deaf to his voice, unfortunately because they have not
experienced it they tend to ridicule those who claim they have. The
problem is not only they have not entered into divine health but they
are relying on their physical ears to hear Him. God’s physical voice
would destroy our fragile bodies so He communicates to us through
thoughts that are not our own, dreams and visions and signs and
wonders however many charismatic churches are deluding this and
taking covenant with Satan.
Thoughts: This is the most difficult to hear. Thoughts in our minds are
occupied by our own, God’s and Satan’s. Our minds are like a freeway
of mixed thoughts from varying sources in a rush hour traffic jam.
The most effective way to discern between them is not to jump into
the fast lane where traffic is dodging in and out in a hurry and urgently
passing in between lanes nor is it to stay in the slow lane with traffic
81
entering and exiting the freeway which slows traffic to a ridiculous
speed! The most effective lane on the freeway during this madness is
the median lanes keeping a moderate speed, flowing with traffic and
effectively keeping place while traffic changes lanes in front and
behind you. In this lane you can safely keep alert at all angles.
The same is for distinguishing God’s voice from your own thoughts and
Satan’s influences. This is where people with the gifts of discernment
stay, right in the middle also described as being neutral. Most people
cannot keep a complete neutral mindset that’s why it’s called a gift
however, there are certain tools people can use and learn from people
with this gift.
It’s very easy to detect evil thoughts and by now you should be able to
recognize the very condescending thoughts of Satan by having learned
your addiction cycle and relating thoroughly to the unclean spirits
around you. You will become more and more proficient at this the
more you pay attention to their processes. Now we can take a step
further by learning where your thoughts end and God’s voice begins.
Have you ever had a thought you couldn’t understand as if it popped
in your head out of the blue? Chances are God (the Holy Spirit) was
82
talking to you. It can happen when your head seems very loud.
Things are going on around you, your usual trivial daily thoughts are
present then bam, out of the blue comes a thought that has no
relation to what you were thinking nor seems appropriate for the
timing. The thought is like an epiphany, a rhema moment, the “ah
ha!”
Other times you could receive God’s voice in the quiet. This is the
greatest time to hear God. You are meditating on Him and then the
thoughts become alive. When you get comfortable at becoming neutral
with your thoughts, you will be able to have full conversations with
Him at any time. As you practice this you will open the phone lines and
distinguish where your thoughts end and God’s voice begins.
The most important things to pay attention to are your body’s feelings.
The Holy Spirit will become present to you by feeling your core center
connect to your mind. It’s like the presence of being alive makes itself
known. It’s hard to explain but if you start thinking this way, it will
become known to you.
Dreams: These are fun. How do you tell which dreams are from God?
Let’s start with most dreams cannot be remembered. Those dreams
83
are not from God. If God wants to talk to you in your dream you will
not forget it. You cannot manipulate dreams of God like you can in
lucid dreaming. You can have angelic or demonic visitations while you
sleep while God’s dreams are symbolic and free of demonic presence.
For instance, Once I dreamt of a jar of jelly-like substance, orange in
color which contained gold specks that shimmered brilliantly. I took
this substance in my hands and spread it on my face, my face shined
golden. That was it. Then, as I knew it was a message from God, I was
eager to learn the interpretation of it. I knew I had to open myself up
and become receivable to it. So I prayed on it and watched and
listened patiently. I even said “Hey, Father, what does that mean?
What are you trying to say?”
Then, it happened. While listening to a sermon, the message was
about golden oil of the anointing. My body recognized the message
and instantly reacted, chills, butterflies etc.. I was pleased to have
received such a beautiful prophesy about my life.
God dreams are rare but when you have one, you will not forget it nor
will you confuse it with anything other than God.
84
Visions: Visions range in many different ways. People can experience
visions in several ways. There are open visions; where the person is as
if they are in the vision, Flashes; where you see a flash of a picture or
a series of pictures, Closed Vision; where you prophesy over someone
seeing a slideshow of pictures about them.
Visions can come from God, angels or Satan. You will be able to
differentiate between them easily. The only visions I have experienced
are flash visions. Once I was looking out the window while driving
with my mother (I was passenger) not thinking about anything in
particular and out of the blue, I seen a flash of me in the back of a
truck driving through arid places. I was dressed in middle-eastern
clothing and the sun was pleasant. I could feel the warm wind; I was
smiling, then, a flash of the Egyptian Pyramids’. That was it. Ok, I
started evaluating any possibility of outside influence that could have
triggered this vision or what I thought momentarily, my imagination. I
didn’t see any movies about Egypt, read anything about middle
eastern culture or anything I can relate that vision to. So I concluded it
was from God.
I really didn’t know what it meant. I even told God I was very
confused. I thought that He was telling me He wants me to mission
85
there. I became curious and started doing research about Egyptian
theology. Eventually, I learned that the vision was from Satan and not
God at all but not without a soul shaking experience.
During my research I learned about Osiris. The theology describes
Osiris as their Jesus type god and claims that Jesus did not exist but
had in fact lived among them as their true messiah. It had symbols of
the divine birth, crucifixion and the resurrection. The confusing thing
was the timeline of this legend was long before the birth of Jesus as
recorded in the bible. The point is the story was so compelling I soon
found myself challenging my own faith.
I was very discomforted by this. I later learned that the vision was a
seed for a future situation that would cause me to question my faith. I
was already pretty keen to Satan’s tactics but this was genius on his
part. Finally, I was restored and told Satan “Nice try, that was good.”
I learned to be more discerning of visions, not all of them are from
God. Satan and his demons will appear as angels of light to fool you.
Don’t be too quick to judge your visions and dreams as God inspired.
Take a careful notion toward them and go into prayer asking God to
reveal the interpretation to you. Be ready to receive. If the fruit is
Godly and shouts Jesus in every way, it is God. God will not confuse
86
you. I was caught in a trap and forgot all about this fact. If you are
left with questioning your faith, it is not from God.
Signs and wonders are wonderful!!! In fact I have been waiting all
through the development of this program to get to talk about this very
subject. God knows how eager I was and He kept telling me to be
patient. Let’s dive right in.
We are entering an age of Signs and Wonders. It has been told about
for centuries and throughout the bible. God warns us by describing in
the end days a rise in signs and wonders. With an uprising in the
church, there is also an uprising in charismatic worshipers. Now, I
don’t agree on many of the strange manifestations you see in certain
growing popular “revivals” but it is trembling before the Lord that is
scripturally sound. Not full on body convulsions and certain animal-like
behaviors. When I say tremble, the following scriptures are related to
my point about the subject and I am only aiming to help Christian’s
discern what is of God or of Demons.
Was it unbiblical for Ezekiel to fall over in the Lord's presence when
the glory of God was manifesting where he was (Ezek. 1:28; 2:23)?
How about when Daniel fell over and trembled and shook in the
87
presence of the angel of the Lord (Dan. 10:8-11)? The following
passages suggest it is normal to tremble and shake in the Lord's
presence:
Ps. 114:7--"Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord."
Jer. 5:22--"Should you not tremble in my presence?"
Was it demonic for Jeremiah's bones to shake, vibrate and tremble and
for him to stumble around like in a drunken state "because of the Lord
and his holy words" (Jer. 23:9)?
Was it demonic for Saul, when the Spirit came upon him in Naioth at
Rama, to strip off his outer clothes and lay down “prophesying” for a
whole day and night (1 Sam. 19:23-24)?
Was it unchristian when John fell over "in the Spirit" when Christ
appeared to him (Rev.
1:10, 17), or for Paul to fall on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4;
26:11), or for the
soldiers and officials to fall before Jesus in the Garden (Jn. 18:6)?
88
Was it demonic for believers to stagger about intoxicated by the Holy
Spirit's presence and power in Acts 2 (Acts 2:4, 13, 15)?
Instead of focusing on the falling over of people and their charismatic
displays, one should be focusing on the power of God as it applies to
their life and their experience and accept that God operates in many
ways with different people.
What about slaying the spirit and signs and wonders not backed up by
scripture? The answer to this is very simple. It is backed up in
scripture by explaining that we will do “even more miraculous signs
and wonders than I” Jesus Himself proclaims. Luke explains that Jesus
did much more wonders than even recorded in the bible. In fact, Jesus
instructs us to perform signs and wonders and I believe in that but it is
not the signs and wonders that glorify our Savior, it is the Word of God
and living a Godly lifestyle so the fruit of your life is what glorifies
God.
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good
News to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be
saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These
miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out
89
demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.[e] 18 They
will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything
poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on
the sick, and they will be healed.” 19 When the Lord Jesus had
finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down
in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20 And the disciples went
everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them,
confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.
However, when one falls backward, it is not from God! Every account
of a Godly encounter, the person always fell forward, face down.
When you see people falling backward, get out of that environment
because it is not originated from the Holy Spirit. Don’t be deceived!
Living a supernatural lifestyle is considered normal among Christians.
Often time, signs and wonders accompany those who are strong in
faith and mature in Spirit. We can’t limit our understanding and
acceptance of how God works through us by denying some of scripture
and embracing only what we are comfortable with.
God is bigger than the texts in the bible and to box Him into the Bible
is downright insulting to Him. Signs and Wonders scream, “God is
90
gathering His People!” But not through the signs and wonders. It
says in the end days God will pour out His Spirit on His people. I
believe this is the Spirit of Discernment; the Holy Spirit of God is
described by Jesus as the Spirit of Truth. This is the Spirit which will be
poured out to veil those who are following false doctrine, but opening
the ears of those who are truly Christian. The path to Hell is broad, but
the path to the Kingdom is narrow.
There’s a warning that goes with this. The more intense the uprising,
the more this will provoke the enemy. Do you think the god of this
world; Satan will stand by and watch massive conversions into the
body of Christ without retaliation? Of course not! This uprising will
ignite revelation in those who are listening and close the minds of
those who refuse God’s call. Let’s examine what the bible says.
In 2 Timothy 3:4-5,
4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
God is telling us we have access to the power that could make us
godly. As signs and wonders rise up, the call for strong discernment
should also rise up in Christians. It is not good to deny the rise of
signs and wonders being from God as it is not good to be tantalized by
them causing us to be snared in a trap.
91
Matthew 24:24: 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
In contrast….Acts 2:17-19,
17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy. 19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke. It is an abomination to deny signs and wonders but wise to think of
them as described in Luke 10:20,
Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
It’s amazing, the powers of God and all that has been given to us. The
point Jesus is making is not to seek and rejoice in the signs and
wonders but in your salvation instead. Signs and wonders are used by
God to glorify Him to unbelievers and also to strengthen believers
alike. But signs and wonders seekers are missing the point when they
are seduced by them.
This is all in direct relation to living in divine health. It can be summed
up as having balance. God reveals to you secrets and through us
92
performs signs and wonders, dreams and visions to bring us closer to
Him, call to unbelievers, do His work and warn about His coming. So
as we live in this enlightened age, don’t close your mind to the
mysteries described in scripture, remember, God’s total power cannot
fit into the bible, He is more than that, bigger than that and wants us
to seek Him outside of that.
As you move into a supernatural lifestyle, you will begin to hear God
louder and clearer. The supernatural lifestyle is examined further in
the last weeks.
93
Ingredient Four: Living by the order of God, self, family, others
Week Eight
Personal Core Values
Objectives:
• To learn the proper order of core values for divine health
1.) God remains first in my life above any and all things. I am His child and He is my Father. I love my Father in heaven with every part of my existence. Without Him, I am lost in sin and in covenant with Satan therefore I cannot be any good to my Him, myself, my family or others.
• Passage James 4:7: 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
2.) I will continue to thirst for the knowledge of God and yearn for His love for me. I will listen when He speaks to me and I will resist evil by accessing His presence which is available to me at any time day or night. Without my own salvation, I cannot be any good to my God, myself, my family or others.
• Passage 1 Peter 4:7: 7But the end and culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded and self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer.
94
3.) As my 3rd priority, my family members are not above my own salvation or God. I will raise my household up in Christ by living as an example of His testimony bearing fruits of love. Without serving my family in this way I am no good to my God, myself, them or others.
• Mathew 10:37 and the Lord says, 37 “If you love your father or mother more than
you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
4.) The world is no longer my concern. I am not a part of it; I am a member of the unseen Kingdom of God around us. I have authority over all things of the earth by spiritual inheritance. Demons flee from me by the spoken Word of the Holy Spirit through me. If I concern my mind with the things of the world I will not be any good to my God, myself, my family or others.
• Colossians 3:2-3 2And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. 3For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God
95
Ingredient Five: A Kingdom Mindset
Week Nine
Discovering Your God Given Gifts I Corinthians 12: 7-11 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. Objectives: • Learning about all of the Gifts from God
• Learning what gifts you have
• Building strength, faith & gratitude in the new Christian
Gifts are so exciting to learn about. You have spent the past few
weeks going through some very emotional experiences. Each week
has been building toward the rewards of these last steps. Let’s review
what you have accomplished;
Week one, you surrendered to God and learned about Him on a
personal and deep level, you cannot enter into divine health unless
God is commander and chief in your life.
Week two, you learned about the impacts and power in God’s laws,
you cannot repent without knowing the impact and origin of sin.
96
Week three, you learned about yourself and God on a spiritual level.
You cannot have a relationship with the Father unless you know about
Him on all levels and how he operates nor can you fully repent unless
you know who you are repenting to.
Week four, you learned what the source of addiction is. You cannot
fight something if you don’t know the source of it; you cannot enter
into divine health unless you have a full understanding of the evils
around you.
Week five, you identified with the demons in your life, mapped your
own cycle patterns and were given your artillery for spiritual battle.
You cannot have divine health while under the oppression of a legion
of demons.
Week six and seven, you healed from all of your past emotional scars,
you learned how and why to forgive and repent. You cannot have
divine health with resentments in your life. You learned that the fuel
for divine health is through the power of forgiveness and a repentance
mindset. You learned how to begin hearing God speak to you and the
power of the spoken word.
97
Week eight, you initiated the proper order of core values in your life by
God, Your Spirituality, Your family & then the world at large. This
lifestyle is fundamental to divine health.
You have been given the path to divine health in seven weeks. By
now, you should be feeling restored and spiritually healed inside and
out. The last few weeks will be dealing with your gifts, how to
strengthen them and how to live a supernatural lifestyle manifesting
God’s glory in your life through divine health, a Kingdom Mindset and
answering God’s call having received the cure to your addiction!
Here are the descriptions of all of the gifts God gives His children.
Study them and figure out which one(s) you identify yourself with.
You know yourself better than anyone so get into a prayer mindset
and receive what the Holy Spirit is telling you. You may have more
than one; I personally have six, Teacher, Discernment, Exhortation,
Hospitality, and Mercy & Faith. Do not go into this with “wanting the
best gifts” be realistic with who you are and what God has called you
to do. Every gift is received and honored by God.
Lesson: Each gift is used to build heavenly treasures!
98
Administration: This gift is the special ability that God gives to understand clearly the immediate and long-range goals of ministries with the body of Christ. They are also able to develop and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of those goals. Explanation: Are you really good at the tedious jobs of paperwork, office or systematic type environments? Do you work independently well and take charge in getting the mundane done? Apostle: This gift appoints certain Christians to lead, inspire and develop the churches of God by the proclamation and the teaching of true doctrine. Explanation: Are you a leader in your church? Can you appeal to anyone in front of you with the Word of God? Do you feel a burning desire to lead worship and ministry? Artistry: While not specifically in the New Testament, God has gifted individuals with remarkable craftsmanship and artistic skills from the earliest of recorded time. The Old Testament provides vivid accounts of God’s distribution of giftedness in these areas - whether for the building of temples or for use to glorify God in praise. Explanation: Are you artsy? Do you love to paint, draw, sing, create or build? Are you a talented writer or song writer? If you are creative, God has blessed you and your talents can serve the church and the world at large to give Him glory in many ways, maybe children’s ministry, art, or adult groups or construction and building. Discernment: This gift allows certain Christians to know through the power of God and with assurance whether some behavior is of God or of Satan. Explanation: Can you tell when angels or demons are around you? Can you feel evil? Do you easily empathize with people’s feelings to the point of feeling what they are feeling? Do you easily pick up on other’s energy? Can you see someone’s motives easily? Evangelist: This gift enables particular Christians to share the Gospel to unbelievers in such a way that the unbeliever becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
99
Explanation: Do you feel compelled to save souls? Does other people’s salvation mean everything to you? Do you have natural ability to do public speaking? Do you feel a burning desire to share your testimony to the masses or to all who will listen? Exhortation: This gift enables certain Christians to stand beside fellow Christians in need and bring comfort, counsel and encouragement. Explanation: Do people often flock to you when they feel sad, hurt, angry or upset? Have you been told you make people feel better when they are upset? Do you have a nurturing personality? Faith: This gift provides Christians with extraordinary confidence in God's promises, power, and presence. In doing so they can take heroic stands for the future of God's work in the church. Explanation: Are you the undying optimist? Do you always see things in light of God’s love instead of His wrath? Do you have 100% faith that God will never let you down and whatever transgression you experience has a bright side and lesson to be learned? Do you except that when God’s disciplining you, it’s out of the love of a father? Giving: This gift enables certain Christians to offer their financial and material blessings for the work of the church with exceptional willingness, cheerfulness and liberality. Explanation: Are you a giver? Do you find yourself giving to the needy or anyone who may need your help? Do you offer freely things that may be of use to someone else? Healing: This gift is given to employ certain Christians to restore health to the sick through the power of God by prayer or laying on of hands. Do people often get healed or delivered when you pray for them? You may have a gift of healing and should ask for the anointing of this gift to be strengthened. Hospitality: This gift is the special ability that enables the Christian to provide open arms, an open house and warm welcome for those in need of friendship, a warm welcome, food or lodging.
100
Explanation: Do you love when you have company? Do you usually go above and beyond in making them feel comfortable? Do you talk to those who seem shy or withdrawn? Intercession: This gift enables certain Christians to pray for others for extended periods of time with great positive effect for the building of the Kingdom of God. Explanation: Do you give yourself sacrificially to others wellbeing? Do you take a personal interest in people in need to the point of seeing positive change through? Leadership: This gift enables certain Christians to motivate, direct and inspire God's people in such a way that they voluntarily and harmoniously work together to do the Church's work effectively. Explanation: Are you a natural born leader? Do you take charge joyfully without having to be asked? Mercy: This gift enables certain Christians to feel exceptional empathy and compassion for those who are suffering so that they devote large amounts of time and energy to alleviate that suffering. Explanation: Are you often accused of letting other’s problems affect your life? Do you take a special interest in people hurting? Do you cry during emotional movies frequently or witnessing an emotional scene in life or fictionally? Missionary: This gift is given to enable the Christian to minister other spiritual gifts they have in a country, culture or community other than their own. Explanation: Do you have a burning desire to travel to third world countries and spread the Word of God? Do you like traveling and become intrigued with other cultures? Music: This gift enables certain Christians to praise God through various forms of musical talent such as playing an instrument or singing to enhance the worship experience of the local congregation. Explanation: Do you have a natural ability with music? Are you a former member of a rock band? Maybe a Christian Rock band might be up your alley?
101
Pastor: This gift enables certain Christians to assume responsibility for the spiritual welfare of a group of believers. Explanation: Do you see yourself as a Pastor? Prophet: This gift empowers certain Christians to interpret and apply God's revelation in a given situation. Explanation: Have you been told you are psychic? Do you have dreams that come true? Maybe God’s calling you to listen more intently. Did you practice divination before being saved? Maybe you mistaken your gift of prophesy in the wrong way and practiced divination? Servant/Helps: This gift empowers certain Christians to willingly bear the burdens of others and help them in such a way that they can do their tasks more effectively. Like witnessing, this should be a calling of all Christians, but there are some who have a special desire to find ways to help or serve, and get great blessing from it. There seems to be a special desire to meet physical needs in the people who have this gift. Explanation: Do you enjoy doing odd jobs? Do you mind doing work most people don’t care to do? Teacher: This gift enables particular Christians to communicate the truths of God's Word in a manner that others can learn and apply those truths to their own life. Explanation: Do you have a natural ability to direct or instruct others? Do people enjoy your instruction? Wisdom: This gift endows particular Christians with an understanding of God's will and work as it relates to the living of life. This allows them to be used in providing divine direction for themselves and others. Explanation: Do you evaluate life on a deeper scale than most people? Do you tend to see the journey as an evolution toward God? Do you think materials in life are meaningless? Are you intrigued with philosophy? Do you get your rhema easily? Do people often ask for your advice on things because you have been through very difficult times?
102
After careful analysis of these gifts, start asking Jesus to strengthen them and to give you more opportunities to use them in your life. Write about three situations where you were able to perform these gifts. Write the comments that have been made by others about those gifts. How to strengthen your gifts: Pray, expect, and then listen and watch for His response. The more you use your gifts, the better you become with them.
103
Ingredient Five: A Kingdom Mindset
Week Ten
Developing a Kingdom Mindset
Objectives:
• Out of offense & pretense • Into exoneration & augmentation • Out of judgment & jealousy • Into relevance & benevolence
Colossians 3:2-3 2And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. 3For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.
Living with a Kingdom mindset is the key to maintaining divine
health. It is the practice of living outside this world and becoming
aware and present in the unseen heavenly realm around us. You
become uninterested in the world and more interested in the
Kingdom of God. It is a realization of the kingdom being available
to us in the here and now.
Just as Jesus addressed Satan when Peter rebuked him about his
death instead of addressing Peter, it is the same sense for us to
view what goes on around us in our every day lives. We have the
ability to distinguish certain events in our lives as being either
demonic or divine and ascertain the nature of such events as either
104
oppression or discipline from our Father or submission to
temptation from our own lusts or joy received from God.
Kingdom mindset practices are; expectance of miracles, signs and
wonders in your life, active thirst for revelations from God, having
heavenly expectations rather than worldly purpose, moving out of
offense & pretense and into exoneration & augmentation, moving
out of judgment & jealousy and into relevance & benevolence; and
finally the utilization of spiritual gifts & rejoice in the Spirit.
We have covered expectance of miracles, signs and wonders in your
life, thirst and acknowledgment of revelations from God so far. We
now move into the secrets to having heavenly expectations rather
than worldly purpose by moving out of offense & pretense and into
exoneration & augmentation and moving out of judgment &
jealousy and into relevance & benevolence. The last two practices
are covered in the last week.
Offense & Pretense: When you live a life of being caught in the
snares of offense and pretense, you literally close your eyes to the
Kingdom. To avoid these practices takes discipline and
commitment. These are the times when you find yourself offended
105
by other’s actions against you or even offended by God’s discipline.
It’s completely human to be offended when someone treats you
unjust. That’s the point; to try and get out of human-thinking and
responding and into Kingdom thinking and responding. It’s the
ability to realize that more often than not the person offending you
is simply being used as a pond by demonic forces to get you to
react in an ungodly way thus fogging your vision of the Kingdom.
Sometimes we get offended by what God’s doing in our lives during
a particular season. Life happens in seasons. No emotion or
turmoil lasts evermore. During seasons of transgressions or
adversities, people tend to get offended by God. How hard it is to
have your friend come to you in joy after receiving money or a new
car when you are steadfast in the Lord yet remain unable to pay
your bills or your car just broke down. How do you have genuine
joy for them? You don’t, the fact is you get offended in a way
toward God and even ask Him, “God, I remain in your service and
help others, why can’t I have such things in my life?” Then, you
begin to examine other Christian’s lives, seeing their nice homes
and things.
106
It’s easy to fall into this trap. The fact is, you don’t know what God
has in store for you. God doesn’t give you something you can’t
handle or are ready for. When you are in a season of despair or
adversity, this is the time you are receiving a transformation. How
you handle the situation shows how mature you are or your level
of growth you’ve done to evaluate what you are ready for next. So
many times I missed the mark during the seasons of discipline.
Only to have God withdrawal His original plan next in my life
because I was not ready. How you can tell this is happening to you
can be discovered by examining the cycles in your life. Does your
life seem to be stuck in the rewind, play mode?
You seem to be going through the same kinds of adversities over
and over again? Bingo. It’s because you haven’t grown out of it, so
why would God give you more than what you are capable of
learning? If all you comprehend is poverty, poverty is where you
will live in your heart. Don’t be confused with this being a lack of
money, it is a lack of wealth in the Kingdom.
Once you have learned what you are meant to learn from a
negative season, God will give you your next gift He has planned
and you will have a short season of peace and joy meant for
107
restoration and refueling with stronger weaponry for the next
battle. Keep in mind, we are fighting for our salvation, people’s
souls, love for all and not demons themselves.
Discipline from God will never stop and you might as well accept
that. It’s about growing out of poverty by destroying a poverty
mindset and replacing it with a kingdom mindset because that’s
where your riches are.
Hebrews 12:4-6: 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said,
“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. 6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
Lesson: Adversities are seasons of discipline in order to receive the
next gift.
How would you be able to relate and help someone in the pit of
depression if you yourself have never experienced it? How would
you have true compassion?
108
What can we do in the heat of the moment? The answer is listening
to the command of the Holy Spirit inside you, restraint from cursing
or acting irrational and excusing yourself if possible so you can go
into a quick prayer unless you have become strong with the Spirit
and can effectively respond with temperance and diligence which
will disarm the enemy.
One time my mother and I went into a local sandwich shop to order
lunch. My mom was walking behind me and unknowingly speaking
very loud while on her cell phone. A man eating at a table yelled at
my mom, “Can you talk any louder!?” I instantly turned around to
see how she would react feeling confident because we just studied
this and low and behold here was the chance to practice it! I was
excited. When you become more divinely healthy, you will catch
yourself getting excited and looking for opportunities to fight in
battle like this. It’s the strangest way of thinking that only warriors
of God understand.
Anyway, to my surprise, within the seconds of response time, she
cursed the man back and they had a heated exchange of words
resulting in her leaving upset and angry. The man sat there feeling
109
gratified. You could see it on his face. I thought, “Ah man! She
blew it.” I walked over to the man and calmly told him I thought
that was rude and cruel to snap at her in such a way as he did and
after all, it was a public place. The only action that fueled and
validated his behavior was his response about my mother’s
response to his action. So, I told him either way, I would pray for
him. I left to order my sandwich and went to the restroom where I
prayed for the man to be delivered of his hardened heart and be
restored with a repentance mindset and to deliver him from the evil
around him.
Here’s where the miracle happened; the man walked up to me with
a softer demeanor and apologized but told me I should exert my
prayer energy to my mom because of her tongue. Man, it was like
children fighting in grade school. It almost made me laugh but I
didn’t think that was a good idea at the time.
So much can be learned from this experience. I was able to disarm
the enemy using him by keeping a calm, discerning attitude. I
could have been offended by the way he treated my mother but
chose to see what was really going on in the unseen world around
110
us. The demon oppressing the man was causing him to behave in a
pretense state causing the offense.
Judgment & Jealousy: it’s not our job to convict other people’s
sins, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. It’s our job to love them the way
they are because we too fall short and have been given grace. We
are all in this together. When you catch yourself judging someone
or spawning pride about yourself out of that judgment, you are
actually closing the Kingdom’s gates and opening the gates of
Hades into your life. This is the very source of Lucifer’s fall.
Judgment & jealousy spawns pride. In James 4, lies the path to a
Kingdom mindset.
James 4
Drawing Close to God
1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed
111
within us is filled with envy? 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
Warning against Judging Others
11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
Warning about Self-Confidence
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.
17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
112
Relevance & benevolence: We need to seek what is relevant to the
big picture. We need to find the significance of any given situation
good or bad. It has its relevance for being in your life. So many
times I am left with wondering what in the world does that have to
do with anything. What is the relevance of that!? Almost anybody
can relate to this.
As earlier mentioned, God has plans for your life, but the great
thing that most people miss is that God also takes joy in knowing
what your ideas are. He gives room for your uniqueness. If He
masters everything under the sun and every living person’s life only
with His opinions and thoughts, what pleasure would He get out of
that? What amount of joy would that serve if everything has to be
His way and He was not open to your thoughts and ideas? Now, He
has a grand plan for you indeed, but also he wants you to pick up
the paint brush and paint some of your favorite colors for the
canvas of your life! He desires for you to stand beside Him and
sharing in the art of your new creation.
So, in knowing this, you should be able to find some relevance for
the season of life you’re in. Often you don’t find until it has passed.
But that’s the rhema!
113
Lesson: Revelation & relation are often discovered in hindsight.
Lesson: God wants you to pick up the paint brush and paint with
Him!
Benevolence is the grand master of having a Kingdom mindset.
When you begin to practice these principles, you will begin to
manifest a benevolent lifestyle which builds the fortress of your
inheritance, bears the fruits of your garden and landscapes your lot
into green pastures and golden waters. It is the force which drives
the paintbrush with each color you paint with God beside you.
Not everything is demonic; people cause much turmoil as well
without any demonic influence at all. But, through human offenses,
demonic attraction can be warranted. They flock to energy like this
waiting to lure us into covenant with them by how we react to any
given situation. For instance, a man gets angry at his wife and kills
her in the heat of the moment. They call it a crime of passion. He
was out of his mind and did not premeditate it however he is guilty
of murder. Do you think a demonic influence was in his head? Of
course! But was it in his heart to kill her? Maybe. God only knows
that. But, we can speculate that it may have been in his heart to
114
do it because sin is influenced by demons, Satan, giving the
opportunity for your sinful desires to manifest.
It’s the same analogy of the man lusting a woman other than his
wife, to God he has committed adultery because of the desires in
his heart. Satan will use this to try and cause the man to fall in
deeper. So he arranges a meeting between them enticing them to
commit adultery with each other. Can Satan do this? Of course he
can! And he does! That is the war we are in.
Lesson: The devil cannot make us do anything; he only sets up the
opportunity for us to do it!
James 1:14-15 - But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away
of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Exoneration & Augmentation: By realizing that so many people are
being used against each other and to actually cause the blindness of
the Kingdom from our sight, we can actually practice exoneration by
releasing some people from their offenses against us, which puts
forgiveness into action, releasing resentments and excusing the
actions as demonic war tactics. By not reacting to offenses toward us,
115
God exonerates our persecutions just as described in the bible. How
do we exonerate someone who hurts us? Simply by following these
steps: get out of offenses & pretenses and into exoneration and
augmentation. Or, don’t be quick to be offended, look at it spiritually,
release it from the person as possible demonic attack in disguise and
then focus on augmenting the situation by seeking increase in the
knowledge of God.
We are called to expect increase in our lives. Often people confuse
increase or augmentation with money or materials when really
spiritual augmentation comes as wisdom, patience, tolerance, peace,
love, joy and self control. These are only a small example of increase,
there’s also the increase of signs and wonders, visions, dreams and
revelations which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Lesson: We have to train our brain to restrain from the insane.
The world is insane, it always has been. Chaos overwhelms our news
and in our lives. We are called to live holy lives because we have
become holy. The only way out of chaos is to develop a Kingdom
Mindset!
116
Ingredient Six: Using God’s Gifts for Heavenly Purpose
Week Eleven
Building Heavenly Treasures
Objectives:
• Works, deeds & attitudes build treasures • Our call for greatness • Our gifts builds treasures • The greatest commandment of all covers a multitude of
sin
Matthew 6:19-21 19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Once we acknowledge that our purpose is not about our earthly
materials and we have a duty to store up our treasures in heaven,
we will hear God’s will and calling for our lives. Through the
identification of your gifts, you will learn what it is you are meant to
do for our Father. It might be as simple as being someone people
can come to for prayer because you have mercy and intercession
gifts, or it could be as complex as being called to be an Apostle or
Evangelist. You very well could receive much spiritual satisfaction
with being a worker of the church or human services, serving
others or administration but whatever it is God is calling you to do,
117
it must be answered and more importantly put into action in your
life.
Maybe your current job would take on a new meaning for you since
you have discovered your spiritual gifts. Maybe you become less
interested in your job and begin experiencing a different calling.
Whatever God is calling you to do, its time to do it. Don’t be
caught sleeping or slacking off when the Father returns for us to
see how we have filled our lots and what seeds we have planted in
our gardens. Our place is not this earth at all. This earth will be
destroyed and a new earth and kingdom will be given to us along
with our new heavenly bodies.
We will walk in the pastures with lions tame as the soft wind
dancing in the grasses. We will rule great cities and kingdoms in
heaven with God. We have only received an inkling of our
inheritance, which is our invisible lots, our gardens, so the kingdom
can invade our lives and opportunities come to store treasures
unbeknown to us by living a life in divine health, hearing God and
doing His will and purpose through us by our spiritual gifts.
118
We don’t have to wait for rewards. God is eager to reward us for
what we do or don’t do in the way of sin. He is constantly
renewing our minds and disciplines us when we are in need of the
transformation of our lives out of undying love for us. Listening and
accepting transgression is like a child accepting his father’s
discipline as teaching tools.
Philippians 3:13-14 - Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We are to press toward the prize! We become lazy souls when we
lose our thirst and desire for God. It’s too easy to forget the impact
of an unseen world when we get caught up in our lives and the
dramas of everything that goes with it. We get discouraged easily
when we are in a difficult season, heart ache or something severe
overwhelms our lives. That’s why divine health is not easy, it’s not
meant for it to be easy. Those who live effectively in divine health
reap awesome treasures and rewards.
Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
This doesn’t exclusively have a negative meaning to it. Whatever you
reap is what you sow in heaven and on earth but this gives a secret
119
path to understanding what it is to build heavenly treasures. If your
heart is pure, full of love and understanding, building tolerance and
enduring evil un-charred from its effects on you overall, you can only
imagine what your heavenly treasures are. After all, you have been
the one building them in your life here and now.
Treasures are built from your reactions to certain events, works, deeds
and how close you become to God personally. Pretty soon, your
treasures in heaven will be over pouring into the world around you.
Your life will be invaded by heaven just by keeping your focus on it, on
earth as it is in Heaven. Bring heaven into your life by living in divine
health. The path to it is covered by the most important commandment
of all.
Passage John 14:21:
21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones
who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them.
And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
Is that powerful!? He will reveal himself to us. What can we expect
with our mere understanding of the Kingdom? The bible enlightens this
in subtle ways.
120
Matthew 5:19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
To be called great signifies that there will be an order of greatness in
the Kingdom among His people. You can be called great above others
by God by what you teach and do here on earth in the life He has
given to you. We are to thrive for greatness in our new Kingdom; he
calls us to do that. Don’t be confused with pride and humility. It is
not prideful to want or desire to be great in the Kingdom. He wants us
to be all we can be and more.
Matthew 22: 36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Love your God then your neighbor as yourself. God calls us to love
ourselves. We have to love ourselves in order to know how to love
others. Love covers a multitude of sin. In love, you cannot find
anything evil. If love is not in the heart of man, or not in it’s right
order, God, self, family, others, then all the gifts, signs and wonders,
121
deeds, works or miracles in the world would not amount to anything!
If love is not in your heart, you cannot hear God, you cannot live in
divine health, you cannot be cured from addiction, you cannot think or
live with a kingdom mindset, you cannot rejoice, you cannot forgive
nor be forgiven and you cannot accept God into your life and you
cannot have grace.
1 Peter 1
The Hope of Eternal Life
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad.[b] There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of
122
Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.
12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
A Call to Holy Living
13 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say,
123
“People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
124
Ingredient Seven: Weekly Worship & Rejoicing the Spirit
Week Twelve
Deliverance Festival
Objectives:
• Identify the fruit of a good church • The importance of worship • The importance of celebration • Have a Deliverance Festival
With the rise and fall of so many churches these days it’s hard to tell
which church is best to attend. To identify a good church is to identify
the fruit of that church. Here’s some simple ways to identify a church
that is healthy.
1. The belief and worship of the biblical God identifying Him as the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2. Believes that you must be born again in the Spirit of God and
baptized in the name of the trinity.
3. Does not deny God’s signs and wonders
4. Believes that you have to keep a repentance mindset in order to
maintain salvation.
5. If the gift of tongues presents in the church service, there
should be an interpreter present as well. This is a random act of
125
God and is very rare. If the church is experiencing tongues
every week, chances are there is a false teaching within the
church.
When churches ask for money, it’s important you understand that
money is what enables the church to do God’s work. Money doesn’t
magically appear at their call. A church consists of a body of God’s
people working together doing the work of God in the community,
within their church or to the world by missions. All of this takes
money. No one should tell you how much money you should give.
Biblically, you are called to give 10% of your income but many people
cannot afford that. They should give whatever God is calling them to
give. It saddens my heart when I hear people’s ignorance with this
subject.
Please don’t be led away from a good church because you don’t
understand how the church operates and its need for money to do all
the wonderful things it is doing. I loved my church in Redding, with
Pastor Bill Johnson at Bethel. They did not make a big deal about
offerings. They have lock boxes for people to give and only make an
offering service very brief and during worship and praise not as a
focus.
126
Church is important for the Christian. It builds friendships, provides
opportunities to serve the Lord, teaches the Word of God and restores
our souls and spirits by praising Jesus. Most importantly, it gives the
Christian a chance to worship the Lord which is showing Him our love.
I would attend church services more than Sunday’s if given the
chance. Another wonderful Bethel service, there was three services
available, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Talk about keeping on fire
with the spirit! Some churches cannot afford to do this however. If
they offer more services during the week, that is wonderful and gives
you more re-fueling services.
Finally, we arrive at the celebration! God adores celebration. It is time
to celebrate your divine health and/or cure from addiction! We end this
program celebrating with Psalm 30.
127
Psalm 30
1 I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health.
3 You brought me up from the grave,[a] O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 When I was prosperous, I said, “Nothing can stop me now!”
7 Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.
8 I cried out to you, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you?
Can it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O Lord.”
11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!
128
