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Follow Thoughts to Do "You Know the Word or the Word"

1/30/2021

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Hi all,
I received so many emails and messages about how last week’s ‘Thoughts’ changed the way people think, it seemed good to go into a bit more detail summing up the question; Do you know the Word, or the Word?

Daily Bread – not what you think
Matthew 4:4 says: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes out of the mouth of God.” 

That word ‘Word’ is rhema, meaning God speaking to a person. This is not talking about the logos, the general reading of Genesis through The Revelation – all that is good. But we don’t live by the logos, we live by and live for and hunger for, a rhema, a word from God to us directly and personally. 

We do not live by bread alone, which refers to the food of the flesh. In the same way our physical bodies receive nourishment from bread, so too does our spirit man receive spiritual nourishment from God speaking directly to us. I live to feel His Spirit in me, to sense His presence, His direction, His revelation. Live for that! 

That hunger for a rhema drives us in the same way when we get physically hungry we are like a hungry lion on the prowl for a gazelle – we won’t be satisfied until we have it!

We are to equate our appetite, our hunger, for a fresh and direct Word from God, a rhema, with food. Do we? Isn’t it much easier to find a verse to memorize each day, which is well and good, but it isn’t necessarily a rhema to us. But have you had those days when you go through the routine and that one day that verse just jumps out at you and sinks down inside, and you know it is for a purpose? That’s a rhema from Him to you. The other days were logos days, but when you get that rhema you want more! Oh to live in His presence, to hear His voice alone!

Washing of water with the rhema
In Ephesians 5:26 we are told that “…husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it (set it apart with purpose) and washes us (cleanses from the dust and dirt of the world) by the washing of water by the Word…” (you guessed it; washing of water by the rhema)

My focus is not on the behavior of the husband, but on the statement that Jesus washes us not by a logos, not by the general counsel of God Genesis through The Revelation, but He washes us by a rhema to us. 
If you think to the times in the Lord most precious to you, it was probably a time when you felt His presence, His peace, His warmth, His word directly to you for comfort and cleansing and peace in your spirit – He washes us with a rhema word from Himself directly and personally to us. 

Holds it all together by a rhema of the Father’s power
In Hebrews 1:1-3 we find an amazing set of statements. It says the Father spoke in times past to the fathers ‘in many ways and many parts’, but in these last days has spoken to us by His Son. This Son is who the Father used to make the universe, and He the Father has made Him heir of all things. 

This Son is the exact representation of the Father’s image and is the brightness of the Father’s glory – and this Son holds all things together by “the Word (rhema) of His (Father’s) power…”

Jesus doesn’t hold all things together by the logos nor the power of the word, but rather all things in the universe are held together by a rhema from the Father: The rhema of the Father’s power. Your life. My life. All held together by rhema from the Father through the Son – the Father who so loved us He gave us His Son. The Father is the power, the Son is the word – the rhema – of that power. 

This is emphasized again in Hebrews 11:3 where it says “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared (prepared, planned as an architect) by the Word of God (rhema), so that the things which are seen were not made by visible things.” 

The worlds, or we might say ‘the universe’ from which our earthly bodies were made, was framed by a rhema from God. Jesus is that rhema from the Father, and it is the Father’s power released by rhema that created us all. How is it then we think we can apart from Him, have faith? How is it so many have become so arrogant to turn Life into a formula and religious exercise? 

We must know Him, that is the only solution. We set out hearts by including Him in all we do, conversationally including Him, giving thanks, expressing gratefulness when we notice good timing in our lives, or thanking Him in spite of a surprise in our lives that gives us pause. 

It is a life-long journey this thing called discipleship, and in fact we are just getting to know Him, for we are talking about knowing an infinite God over infinite time, which means infinite revelation and depths of knowledge we cannot imagine in this life. 

But the great apostle Paul, in his most intimate letter, to the Philippians in 3:10, said even then with all his knowledge and all his experiences, even then he said his great desire was “to know Him.” Amen brother Paul, amen. 
New subject next week, until then, blessings,

John Fenn
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Do you know the Word or the Word? Revelation, then speak, 3 of 3

1/23/2021

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Hi all,
Back the late 1970's and into the 1980's a popular teaching was called 'name it claim it'. Today it is the same thing, but called 'decree & declare'. Both are based on speaking the written Word or godly things over one's life in the belief by speaking them they will either come to pass or form a hedge of protection against the enemy, or both. 
 
I shared last week that Jesus is the Word of the Father's power, the ink on the page is not the Father's power. If the power was in the ink on the page anyone who read even a single verse would be born again. If the power resided in the ink on the page every declaration would come to pass. 
 
But Jesus said, the Spirit gives life to His words*. Without the Spirit, they are just speaking words, often vain words because the Holy Spirit isn't involved in them. They are good things, don't get me wrong, and there is nothing wrong with reminding ourselves of godly things. But some use their declaration to get things, like a magic formula instead of first consulting with the person who is the Word to see if those things are for their situation. *John 6:63
 
How faith arises in our hearts
Romans 10:17 says "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The word for 'word' there is rhema, not logos. Rhema is used when God speaks a word to a person. The word logos is used to speak in general terms or the sum of words, for it is used in John 1:1: "In the beginning was the word (logos) and the word (logos) was with God and the word (logos) was God." That means Genesis through The Revelation is the logos, the general counsel of God.
 
Out of the logos, the general counsel of God comes a rhema. Out of the vague comes the specific. The word rhema is used when God speaks directly to you, and that is what Romans 10:17 says produces faith - faith comes by hearing a rhema, a word directly from God to you - faith comes by that, not by the logos. When someone told you about Jesus and your heart stirred, and you realized you had to make a decision about Jesus - that stirring was the Father speaking to you, dealing with you, a rhema from Him to you. 
 
Faith does not come by reading 2 chapters of the Bible a day, nor memorizing a verse a day - all that is good, and it keeps our minds focused on the Lord and such, but faith the Bible says, comes when God speaks directly to you. If we walk with the Logos, Jesus, then He can speak a rhema to us. But we can't get the cart before the horse - our faith is based on Him, and we walk with Him that He may speak a rhema to us for our situation. 
 
Rabbit trail, but his can change your life
In John 15:7 Jesus said, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, then you may ask what you will and it will be done for you." 
 
In English this appears to say if a person has enough chapter and verse in them they can reach a point that whatever prayer request they make will be answered. That's not what Jesus said.
 
Jesus used the word 'rhema' in this verse, not 'logos'. He literally said, "If you remain in me, and my words that I speak directly to you (rhema) remain in you, you may ask what you will (pertaining to that word I spoke to you), and it will be done for you." 
 
In other words - Noah received a rhema to build the boat, so he could ask anything he needed as it related to building that boat. Moses received a rhema to deliver Israel from Egypt, so he could ask anything he needed related to that rhema to do the task. Think of the times in your life you received a rhema - and that can come through a witness inside, a peace about going in a certain direction in life, and so on, that rhema isn't always verbal. But when you respond and asked according to that revelation, it all worked out in that. 
 
As Jesus said, the Spirit will guide and show and speak - only 1 of those 3 is verbal. Think to when 'it worked', and you'll find John 15:7 was true - we are to live like that not just have 'here and there' times when it worked - and it is a life-long process!
 
The whole kingdom God flows by revelation from the Father, the greatest rhema and revelation is what Peter experienced in Matthew 16: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"...."blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven." 
 
Paul got it right
In Acts 13:44-48 Paul and Barnabas are telling the people Jewish people about Jesus. But soon they had a crowd that included Gentiles, so that nearly the whole city came out to hear what they had to say. Verse 45 says when the Jews saw the multitudes of Gentiles, they were moved with envy and tried to stop Paul and Barnabas. Paul responded: 
 
"It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken to you, but since you have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look! We are going to the Gentiles! For this is what the Lord has commanded us saying, "I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth." 
 
That word, that rhema that the Lord spoke to Paul, is a quote from Isaiah 49:6 in a prophecy about Messiah. But Paul said the Lord spoke it to them as well.
 
This is a pattern for us today - the Lord will quicken a verse, make a verse 'jump out' at us, cause us to find a verse and then our spirit leaps, or we hear directly a particular verse. Each of those are like Paul here, a rhema to us. Once Paul had received that rhema from the Lord, he knew what he needed to do.  
 
They did not first search for a verse to 'stand on'. They did not decree and declare their destiny or what they wanted. They did not find a verse and repeat it 100x and put it under their pillow and pray over it 7 days in a row and then return that verse to the apostles in Jerusalem with their best offering. 
 
They knew the Word, the Lord, so He could speak to them from the scripture a verse that was for them and their lives, and also for that situation. 
 
Let us know Him
I think one reason so many first run to ink on the page for a 'word' to stand on, is because it is easy. Contributing to this is they've been taught that error so they think that is what God wants or that's the Biblical way. I've shown that is not the case at all. Let us focus on knowing the Living Word, the true Word of God, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us invest the time to include Him in our lives by conversational prayer. Talk to Him. Thank Him and the Father for things -look for things to be thankful for. Even if your world has fallen apart, find something to be grateful for. Give thanks and praise for the morning light, the happy coincidence during your day, and your home in the evening - and so much in between. Do you know the Word? Or just the Word on the page? 
 
New subject next week, blessings!
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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Do you know the Word or the Word? My own lesson in this. 2 of 3

1/16/2021

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Hi all,
Most of you know our oldest son, Chris, was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck causing brain damage. Any brain injury occurring during labor or delivery is called 'cerebral palsy' (CP) - it is an injury not a sickness, nothing demonic, just an injury through lack of oxygen to the brain. 
 
When we first found out about the brain damage he was about 6 months old - We had just moved to the Boulder, Colorado area and found a pediatrician because Chris wasn't sitting up and moving like other 6 month olds. I'll never forget that phone call from Barb while I was at work. She was crying and sobbing trying to maintain control because the doctor had coldly told her Chris had CP: "Just put him in a home and forget you ever had him. There is nothing to suggest you can't have other children who would be normal, so just put him in a home. Forget you ever had this one and go on with your life and have more babies." He had the bedside manner of a frozen codfish, and it was devastating to us (we didn't go back). 
 
Of course we rejected his advice. That night after Chris' bath we sat on the bathroom floor on a fuzzy bathmat, and dried him in a fluffy towel and there, wrapped in that towel, we laid hands on him and commanded him to be healed in the name of Jesus. We commanded that he would fulfill his name, John (from the Hebrew 'God has been gracious') and Christopher, 'Christ bearer' or 'carrier of Christ'. That he would be a gracious witness for Christ in his life. 
 
Power in the written Word?
We were zealous to only speak wholeness over him. When we put him to bed each night I would say, "By His stripes you were healed." from I Peter 2:24, usually quoting the whole verse. I had been trained to find a verse and stand on it. I had been taught the power of our words. I had been taught the power is in the written Word on the page. Just stand on the verse you choose, and having done all to stand, stand. That's what I was taught. 
 
One day in 1984 when I was more frustrated than ever, wondering what I was dong wrong because I saw no change in him, the Father spoke directly to me: "What verse are you standing on?" I replied, "I Peter 2:24." He replied: "What is it?" A bit shocked He was asking me to quote chapter and verse but without hesitation I said: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed." 
 
He responded: "Very well. Can you get your eyes off the manifestation and just believe the promise (and rest in that?)" 
 
That thought was new to me. I suddenly realized I had been looking for a sign of progress in every movement Chris made. Any sign of healing, any indication that things were changing, and tied that to speaking the scripture over him - more zealously and intensely and loudly and out of growing frustration than ever - oh when would we see some indication 'it was working'? I had been doing all my Bible teachers had said to do, but nothing had changed. 
 
With that revelation I responded, "Yes, I can do that. I'll get my eyes off the manifestation and just believe the promise." He simply said: "Very well. Rest in that." I've been at peace ever since, though I still want Chris healed just as much as ever. But I stopped linking my faith to looking for a change in his body. I just believe and have therefore ceased from my own works, to rest. 
 
Chris was about 4 or 5 when that exchange happened. And once he learned to talk and to this very day, when I put Chris to bed I say "By His stripes" and Chris completes the verse; "I was healed." 
 
As far as Chris goes, the Lord spoke to him when he was about 21 saying to him: "I'm going to walk through the mountains with you." and more. Chris was SO excited when the Lord told him that. So that's where he is - he says that when he gets to heaven; "No more wheelchair." And when he has seen children running on TV; "When I get to heaven, I'm going to run like that!" He is at peace and is a blessing to all around him. He is truly showing the graciousness of Christ in his life - though not in the way Barb and I intended that day when we laid hands on him at 6 months of age. 
 
Hebrews 1:1-3 - Jesus upholds all things by the Word of the Father's power
"God the Father after He spoke long ago to the Fathers by the prophets in many portions and many ways, has in these last days spoken to us through His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things and through whom also He made the world. Who, is the radiance of His (Father's) glory, and the impressed image and exact representation of His (Father's) nature, and upholds all things by the Word of His (Father's) power. When He made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty (Father) on high."
 
Notice Jesus upholds all things by the word of the Father's power. The Father has the power. He is the Majesty. Jesus is His physical representation, the Father's Word to us. But the power resides in the Father. 
 
That Word from the Father became flesh and lived among us, John 1:14 says. Jesus is the manifested word of the Father's power. All Jesus is and does and did was and is flowing from the Father, the source of all good things. In John 5:19 and 30 Jesus said He did nothing and spoke nothing except what He had first seen and heard from the Father. Verse 20 continues: "For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He is doing..." 
 
The Father is the power, which is why Jesus taught us to pray to the Father. "In that day (when I am gone from you) you will ask me nothing. But you will ask the Father in my name." John 16:23
 
Anything written on the page we call 'the Word' flows from the person who is the Word from the Father. The ink and page can become life to us as the Spirit quickens revelation to us. So go to the Father, and see what His Word, Jesus, would say to you about what verse to stand on. Seek the Father and see what He or the Lord might say to you about your situation, what revelation, what peace or insight might the Father or Lord give you? THEN go to chapter and verse. Do you know the Word, or the Word? 
 
We'll close it out next week with who or what is the Sword of the Spirit? Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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Do you know the Word or the Word? Standing on a verse scriptural? 1 of 3

1/9/2021

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Hi all,
Years ago a man emailed me asking for help: he knew the Word of God but he didn't know Jesus. He knew all about Him from scripture, he just didn't know Him personally. He believed, but didn't know.
 
A woman emailed me saying the same thing. She had volumes of notes from some of the best Bible teachers in the world, journal entries, and notes in the margins of her Bible; She knew the Word but didn't know the Person. 
 
Like the man and woman above, when we talk of knowing 'the Word of God' we are talking about chapter and verse. "I know the Word backwards and forwards" one might say. Or "I'm in the Word everyday." But the New Testament we call 'the Word of God' did not come about until the year 367, and made official at Councils in 393 and 397 - about 300 years after the authors of the New Testament had died. 
 
That means the authors of the New Testament meant something altogether different when they spoke of 'the Word of God.' When they wrote of the Word of God they were talking about the person of Jesus. When we say the Word of God we mean ink on a page.  
 
When we have a problem we look to a chapter and verse that applies to our situation that we may 'stand on the Word' because that what church culture and our pastors have told us to do for years. But for the first 300 years of the faith after Pentecost, if they had a problem they prayed to hear directly from the Person of the Word that they might stand on what He says to them. They didn't have the book of Ephesians or Romans to turn to chapter and verse. We think ink on the page is equal to a personal revelation of what He might say to us. It isn't. 
 
This is the proper way to go about it
In Acts 13:46-47 Paul and Barnabas are opposed by unbelieving Jews, so Paul reveals something the person who is the Word of God, told him: 
 
"It was necessary the word of God (Jesus) first be spoken to you, but since you have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we turn to the Gentiles, for that is what the Lord has commanded us, saying: "I have set you as a light to the Gentiles* that you should bring salvation to the ends of the earth." *Isaiah 49:6
 
Paul is quoting the last half of Isaiah 49:6 which is about the Messiah, yet Paul said the Lord had spoken it to them as well. Paul did not flip through the written pages to find a verse to stand on. He did not go into a his notes to see what verse would apply to their situation. He said the Lord, the true Word of God, spoke to him and highlighted a verse in the written word from Isaiah. That is what he was 'standing on'; it was that personal word first and the verse the Lord told him second.  
 
We've been taught wrong
Why then have we been taught to reverse that order? Why is it common to flip through the pages until we find a verse to 'stand on', without a clue whether the person of the Living Word actually agrees with that for our situation? The short answer is you have to actually know Him to get the answers first with a verse in the written Word as a confirmation. That so many Christians reverse the order, reciting or following a formula, rather than just asking Christ in them because they know Him, speaks volumes about the church experience. 
 
Faith comes by revelation - the Word - Noah didn't just decide to build a boat, he received a Word, a revelation, a grace instructing him to do so. Abraham didn't just decide to take a walk to the Promised Land and neither did Moses just decide to confront Pharaoh. Joshua didn't just come up with the idea of circling Jericho and neither did Gideon come up with the idea of 300 men and torches in clay pots. They were each told to take their respective actions by revelation - faith was their response to the revelation they had received. Their response to revelation was faith. Faith is not something you just decide to do, faith is always a response to a grace/revelation/Word.  
 
When a person just flips through the Word to find a verse to stand on without first having a personal revelation about what verse to stand on, they are in hope, not faith. Can the Lord highlight a verse for us? Absolutely. Faith would arise from that revelation, that grace. But to just say "I'm standing on this verse" without first having received revelation from the true person of the Word to do so, is hope, not faith. 
 
The difference between Bible and church culture
We 'declare' and 'pronounce' without a thought as to what He wants. We 'stand' without first going to Him to see what verse He might highlight that pertains to our situation. We mistakenly think there is a singular power by quoting chapter and verse, but the power in the Word is in the Person who is the Word, not pen and ink. Many theologians have known chapter and verse of the Word are in hell because they didn't know the Word of God the Person. Remember, "It is the Spirit that gives life...the words that I speak to you are spirit and life*." The Christian life requires the Holy Spirit to give Life to the ink and paper we call the Word. *John 6:63
 
Before 'standing' or picking a verse, spend time with Him to let Him speak to your heart with a fresh word, a fresh revelation. Then act on that, that is faith. Most people who say they are 'standing in faith' are actually 'standing in hope'. Hope is identified in scripture as being of the soul*; faith is born by first having a personal revelation from God on a subject. *Hebrews 6:19
 
First go to Him for wisdom and let the true Word direct your steps toward healing, for example. It may be miraculous, it may be slowly, it may be a healing that involves repentance and changing eating habits. It may be to have that surgery, or it may even be 'your time to go home'. Too many hide behind their fears and call it faith, and that gets them nothing from the Lord because of they are lying to themselves. They are afraid but don't have the spiritual integrity to be honest before the Lord, and face perhaps a surgery or doctor's test they don't want because they fear what would be discovered in the tests. The point is whether for healing or direction like in the above case with Paul and Barnabas - be led by what the Word says, who may then direct you into the written Word. 
 
The proper order to live by is this: The Person who is the Word of God the Father can 'highlight' by the Spirit a verse He intends for you, where it is quickened to your heart, or 'jumps out' at you when you read it as being for you. That is the Living Word causing the written Word to be 'personalized' for your situation, as He did for Paul and Barnabas. He can also just give you wisdom or a word not found in the Word, like a knowing 'it will be okay'. 
 
We must shift our focus to seek and know the Living Word of God first and then chapter and verse Word of God as a compliment to our personal relationship with Him. Not the other way around. So do you know the Word, or the Word? More next week....until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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How to discern your spirit or the Holy Spirit, Non-tithers in hell? 4 of 4

1/2/2021

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Hi all,
I received an email from a Nigerian man very worried for his salvation. He had listened to a man who claimed to have died and been given a tour of hell. There he saw Christians in torment because they did not tithe. He emailed me, is that man's testimony true? Of course it is not, but if the man's experience really happened, how did he get it wrong? 
 
I received several emails from women in Ghana, very worried for their salvation. They had each heard a woman testify she had died and was given a tour of hell. She said Christian women were in hell because they had braided their hair. They mailed me, is that true? Of course it is not, but if that woman's experience is true, how did she get it so wrong?
 
An 8 year old girl said she saw Jesus, and later painted a picture that she said looked like Him. That world famous painting is of a very handsome caucasian man with swept back hair, and close cropped beard. 
 
Many have taken what she painted as gospel truth, believing her instead of Isaiah 53: 2 that says; "He has no stately form nor attractiveness that we should look upon Him, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should be attracted to Him." How did she get it so wrong? 
 
A boy said he went to heaven when he was 4 years old. He said every person in heaven has wings. That's not scriptural, not anywhere in the history of Judaism or Christianity, and refuted by literally thousands of others who have been to heaven and back - not to mention the millions of people seen in the book of The Revelation who are just normal people. When you die, your spirit doesn't suddenly sprout wings. How could the 4 year old get it so wrong? 
 
The mix of immaturity, inexperience, erroneous religious teaching, and the human factor
The Nigerian man's church taught if you don't tithe you will go to hell. The Ghanian women's church taught if women braid their hair they will go to hell. The 4 year boy was, well, a 4 year old boy so he thought we all got wings when we went to heaven. The 8 year old girl was an 8 year old white American girl, so painted Jesus accordingly. 
 
Assuming each experience was real, their errors happened because they filtered their experiences through their religious beliefs or childhood ideas. 
 
Your spirit or the Holy Spirit? 
In Acts 17:16 Paul was in Athens and it says; "...his spirit was stirred in him as he observed the city given to idolatry." Notice it wasn't God stirring Paul. Jesus didn't appear to him. His own spirit, his heart, his soul, was stirred within himself as he observed his surroundings. 
 
An inexperienced Christian in our day might say, "God just rose up in me", but that would be error. God didn't rise up, Paul's own spirit, his own soul, rose up. The Greek of 'stirred' means 'to provoke, to stimulate' - and it happened while he watched the idolatrous activities. What he saw, what he heard, stirred or provoked his spirit. He was Jewish, he had never before seen a whole city given to breaking a Jewish commandment he had grown up with. 
 
But it wasn't God doing it, it was within Paul based on his life experience, his beliefs. Thousands of others in Athens came and went - but Paul was stirred in his spirit, not them. 
 
In Luke 24:32 after Jesus had disappeared from the men He had walked with to Emmaus, they said to themselves, "Didn't our hearts burn within us, as He talked with us while we walked, and while He explained scriptures to us?"
 
Their spirits burned at the truth presented by the resurrected Lord. Today a person might say, "God just burned in my spirit" or "God rose up in me", but that would be incorrect. It was their heart, just as it was Paul's spirit that rose up. Christians not knowing the difference think it always must be either God or not. They fail to realize our spirit has been with us since we have been alive - our 'real' self, our spirit, has walked through life and gained experience.
 
When a child raised among alcoholics grows up and comes to the Lord, they will often be able to tell in their spirit when they meet a person, if that person is an addict or not. How? Because their spirit knows the feel of that alcoholic spirit because they were raised around it (or have been delivered from it). God's Spirit will bear witness to the truth of what they sense in their spirit, but it is their spirit that senses that. 
 
It takes a person who is mature, solid in the knowledge of the Word, and integrity to just let the experience stand on its own merits: To be able to separate the Father actually talking to them or a stirring in their spirit, to just experience without filtering it through life experience or religious tradition. The apostle John didn't try to explain what he saw that became the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ. He just wrote it out and people for nearly 2000 years have been trying to figure it out - but he never sought to explain it - it just happened to him. 
 
Your spirit is the core you, and influenced by your life experience
How does one express to others a visit to heaven? I've been there and I still can't describe adequately the colors, the life, the experience. I share a bit here and there, but words fail. So it is understandable if a 4 year old or 8 year old or church members believing error try to understand their experiences through the filters of their lives. 
 
People often think their soul - what they think and feel - is their spirit. It is not. But our spirit and soul are united with only the Person of the Word able to separate between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, thoughts and intent of the heart*. It is a life-long journey to learn how to distinguish between say, one's spirit stirred in him or a vision or dream that is of your own imagination, rather than the Spirit of God actually depositing something in you, or saying something to you, or giving you the experience. *Hebrews 4:12-13
 
Jeremiah was confronted by a man who loved his country and held strong positions about God. But he prophesied out of those feelings, opinions, and imagination rather than the Spirit of God. Let us move with caution, tact, and timing when we think we have something of God, being willing to hold it in us while we measure it against the Word of God, the ways of God, the accepted beliefs of the faith. And may we learn to know the Presence of the Spirit of Truth, who serves to guide us into all truth; may we be sensitive to Him and distinguish between Him and our own spirit and opinions. New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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