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The Emotions of the Father 3 of 3 but there will be a 4th

2/24/2024

Hi all,

In the visitation the Lord taught me from I Corinthians 12:4-7. Last week I shared the foundational knowledge I had before that visitation. The key points are that all the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, charismatic, ministry, and motivational gifts, are all just a manifestation of the Holy Spirit given to benefit everyone.

That really, really has to be a revelation each person has. That we are all equal in Christ, all saved by the same blood, just with different functions. If you have that, you won't put anyone on a pedestal beyond their function in Christ - respect that yes - but don't think of them above the fact we are all saved by the same blood of Jesus. Be certain of who you are, but not arrogant, for we are all equal in Him.

What the Lord said
"You need to stop thinking of them as gifts, but as manifestations of the Spirit. You need to stop thinking of them as being within the four walls of a church, in a service, and realize I am in each person, and that all things were made by me and for me."

"The world labels gifts differently, but it is still me moving in my people." I asked for an example and He said:"Consider the apostle Paul. He would go into a city to make disciples, and be part teacher, part evangelist, part pastor part prophet, serving all. But in Corinth he worked for a while as a tent maker. Study a first century tent maker and you'll find they had to deal with setting up the business, gathering materials, manufacturing, marketing and sales. What the world calls (sometimes) entrepreneur, is in the church, an apostle. The same gift in him as an apostle, enabled him to be an entrepreneur."

Then we talked about my own life, and He walked me through different jobs I'd had, how the gifts in me that were being used in ministry also enabled me to work in various companies and jobs. And it was pointed out jobs that I'd had which weren't in my gifting, which explained why I didn't like them or weren't good at them.

I'll share two:
I was the Campus Minister for a ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. We held services and Bible studies on campus. We hosted concerts like The 2nd Chapter of Acts, Barry McGuire, etc. 1982-83 time frame for those of you who know who those people are, lol. We hosted up and coming teachers like Andrew Wommack, and so on.

What I thought I lacked was an evangelistic effort. I felt pressured that a campus minister should be an evangelist. So I set up a loud speaker and microphone in an outdoor area where students gathered for lunch, turned on the microphone ready to tell them about Jesus - and I couldn't think of a single thing. My mind was blank. I couldn't think of a single thing. I was so ashamed I packed up and left within 3 minutes. I was full of guilt, condemnation, confusion.

The next Sunday a visiting minister had a word for me. He prophesied saying:"I've called you to my people, and you'll teach many. You aren't called to the world, but to build up my people. From time to time some will come to me through your ministry, but that isn't your focus. You are called to my people, rest in this my son." Whew, I was at peace and have been since.

Related directly is that I'm not a salesman.
After coming to Tulsa in 1992, before being hired by the church, I got my insurance license and joined a company selling insurance alternatives and other financial products to government employees. We could genuinely do better for them than their government program for retirement. I could explain it well, teach it well, but I couldn't get people to sign on the dotted line.

Both those are related - both involve sales. One called evangelist, one calls insurance sales. Same gift, or rather the lack of the same gift.

By contrast I can teach a person the Word, I can teach them how to make pizza. I can teach them how to take apart a toilet or install plumbing or frame a house. It's all the same gift of teaching, just different function.

As the Lord and I reviewed my jobs (Barb says I had 39 jobs from 1980-1994) while also in ministry, just to put a roof over our head, sometimes working 2 jobs. I saw the gifts in me were the same, they just functioned in different ways within different jobs. But the same gifts. It didn't matter what man created for a job title, Christ in me never changed, He was the same gifts He created in me.

Suddenly it all made sense, I was 'de-churched' in that moment, or at least the start of it.
I remembered frustrated men working as managers in jobs while thinking they were called to be a pastor, and missing God or worse, disappointing Him. They were wrong.

What I realized is that they were pastors, their 'flock' being the people they worked with, who came to them with their problems and issues. These were men and women being pastors, who loved the people they worked with, were a tremendous presence for the Lord in that work place whether they ever shared Jesus or not. They loved their job not for the job, but for the people they helped and cared for at work. They were pastors because Christ in them had given them that gift, but man put a label on their job and they believed the label rather than Christ in them.

I remembered men who loved doing 'odd jobs' helping people out, thinking they weren't in ministry. They were often helping at church too with fixing things in the building. One man didn't think he was in ministry, and if I'd known then what I knew in this visitation, I would have told him more directly that he was in ministry for he carries Christ in him wherever he goes. The same gift of Christ in him that motivated him to fix things in the church building, also motivated him to fix things for people's homes - church members, neighbors, whomever.

I began to see that all things for us are sacred,
There is nothing that is secular for we have Christ in us. I stopped caring for titles and was able to see job descriptions merely as labels for gifts of God within each person.

The janitor who loves his job at school, being around the kids, imparting thoughts and wisdom to them as he could. In ministry.

In the visitation the Lord mentioned Psalm 68:18
It is the completion of Paul's thought in Ephesians 4: 8:"Therefore as he (the Psalmist) says, When He ascended up on high, He gave gifts to men, so that God might live among the rebellious." - the last line being the completion of Paul's reference in 4:8.

I saw that each of us have Christ in us. Equal, but with different functions. No matter man's label, it is Christ in us manifesting Himself whether it be organizing, or teaching, taking someone food when they are sick, to prophesying over someone. From giving money quietly to help meeting someone's needs, or fixing a toilet for a single parent - it is all Christ in us - who cares the labels?!

More of what He said next week, I've gone a bit long. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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The emotions of the Father, 2 of 3

2/17/2024

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Hi all,
I ended last week sharing a few days after the Father taught me how He manifests His emotions through the manifestation (gifts) of the Spirit, I received a visitation from the Lord.

He started where the Father ended, talking to me about I Corinthians 12:4-7. But before I share what He said, you first need to know what I knew before He taught me, so I'm sharing that first:

"Now there are distinctive varieties of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Spirit.
And there are distinctive varieties of service, but it is the same Lord.
And there are distinctive ways of working, but it is the same God at work.
To each one is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

Here is what I knew about this passage before the Lord started teaching me
What I knew is that in v4, the word 'gift' is 'charis', so the Lord is talking about the charismatic gifts. These include the gifts of prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues (revelation gifts). Healings, miracles, special faith (power gifts). And revelation gifts:Words of wisdom (about the future), knowledge (knowledge about the present or past), and discerning of spirits (perceiving things of God or the devil).

These are what v4 are talking about. Verse 5 says:
"And there are distinctive varieties of service, but the same Lord."

The word 'service' is 'diakonia', which was used in that day to describe 'waiting at a table'. It is translated in its forms as service, ministry, minister, ministering, serving. The '5-fold' are included in these gifts (apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist) but aren't the total.

Paul also lists things like helps (to assist, render help) and governments (literally, 'to steer a ship', meaning to help guide people (to safety)) as 'serving gifts'.

Both charismatic gifts and serving gifts are merely Paul says, the same Spirit and Lord doing what is for the benefit of all. He continues in v6:

"And there are distinctive ways of working, but it in all these things it is the same God at work."

The word 'working' is 'energema', or energy. There are distinctive ways of energy (motivation) but in all these things it is the same God at work. What motivates you in God, is of the Spirit. You were born with that motivation.

These are called the 'motivational gifts', or 'the energy gifts'. We are to be moved and motivated by the way we are created. Paul mentions some in Romans 12:1-8, where he starts by saying to each is given the measure of faith, and that he can only speak through the grace given to him. He urges us not to get lifted up in pride for we are how we were created.

This sets the stage for this idea, that each of us has a measure of faith directly related to the gifts we are created with. He lists a few starting in v6:

"Some are (motivated by) prophecy." This is not the charismatic gift of prophecy, but a measure of faith, an energy characteristic of prophetic people. These people are direct, to the point, love righteousness and hate sin, and are good judges of people and can sense when someone is in sin. They were born that way. It's part of what energizes them, motivates them.

Paul tells them to do to 'according to the proportion (measure, reach, sphere) of your faith', meaning, don't overstep. A prophecy motive person wants to correct any wrong they see, even if it isn't their business to do so. In the name of correcting a person they tend to overreach, and can hurt people by forcing an issue they see needing to be corrected. Paul said limit yourself to just within your scope of faith, of relationships and of course, love and propriety.

Paul goes on to write the same 'proportional to your faith' in v7-8 of 'serving, teaching, and exhorting'.

A servant tends to serve until exhausted, putting their family in 2nd place behind the church or others. They will give their grocery money to a cause because they can't be patient enough for the chain of command to meet the need. They don't want to have a microphone, they prefer meeting physical needs behind the scenes - cleaning, setting up chairs, helping someone get to a doctor's appointment, doing kind things that no one but God sees. But don't try to serve everyone, keep priorities in order. Don't neglect yourself and family in order to meet the needs of others.

Teachers, who like to research and love facts and figures, and exhorters, who want to tell their story, want to blurt out everything without consideration that maybe not everyone wants to hear the tiny detail someone who is a natural teacher find fascinating. Or maybe they don't want to hear every detail of what God did for you this week over the course of 20 minutes - maybe a 1 minute summary would be better. Limit to proportional to your faith, as you have opportunity.

A teacher doesn't mean one of the 5-fold, it is someone who naturally wants to impart to others. Whether it be showing a young mother how to care for their baby, or a man wanting to teach his son how to take apart a motor. They are naturally motivated to impart their life into others.

Paul then goes on in v7-8 to share and then limit 'giving', 'ruling (organizing)', and mercy.' He tells those who love to give, do so with simplicity. In other words, not to be seen by others, not with strings attached, just keep it simple as the tendency is towards pride and being noticed.

To the 'ruler' he says with 'diligence', meaning an organizer tends to take on more things than they can do well. They naturally know how an office should be organized, who should be where on what project, for instance. Paul says allow that motivation to flow, but only to the point you can maintain diligence. Don't take on more than you can handle well.

Of 'mercy', he says with cheerfulness. Why? Because a person moved by mercy tends to take on the problems of the person they are demonstrating mercy on. Paul says keep an emotional distance, show God's mercy to them, but not to the extent you aren't cheerful in doing so - if you start to feel yourself becoming emotionally involved with the person you are showing mercy to and losing your objective cheerfulness, back off, limit yourself.

Paul said in I Corinthians 12:6 when listing these motivational or energy gifts, all these things - the charismatic, the ministry, and the energy gifts, are just God working in everyone. He concludes with a restatement in v7:"To each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for everyone's common good."

Now you understand what I understood before He spoke; we'll pick it up there next week.
The point I was seeing and understood, is that the gift of pastor is equal to the person showing mercy, who is equal to someone who can prophesy. There are no superstars in Christ, all are merely a manifestation of the Spirit so that we receive no credit.

It is huge sin that some pastors think others are to serve them. Or that 'apostles' think they are to lord their call over others to make them serve them. The person moved to organize is equal to the apostle, just different functions. Saved by the same blood, how dare we exalt one over another. We honor the function, but with the realization it is the same Spirit, same Lord, same Father God pouring through us to our world.

Until next week, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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The emotions of the Father, 1 of 3

2/10/2024

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Hi all,

This follows the 2 part teaching on how the trinity of man mirrors the trinity of God, that we are 3 in 1 just as God is 3 in 1.

Background
I was a leader in a church which at that time had according to the local newspaper, about 13,000 people. I was the director of the Bible school, which saw about 700 take classes over the course of a year, so I had many students visit with me about their struggles.

At that time in the charismatic church world, flag wavers and dancers were the 'in' thing. These were people who during worship, would flood the aisles and in front of the platform, and dance. Some seemed to be dancing with invisible partners, others waved flags in 'worship'.

Why I started asking the Father, and what it turned into
Some of the flag wavers and dancers were women who were students at the school. Several had come to my office with very serious personal issues, seeking advice. Nearly every one of them was single or in an unequally yoked marriage, had been through or were going through trauma of some sort, and many were in serious financial difficulty. They were stressed.

Not all were like that, some dancers and flag wavers were just artistic and expressed their love for the Lord in dance and flag waving - nothing wrong with that at all. But they were the minority.

Several of the dancers told me privately they imagined they were dancing with Jesus, and some confided they didn't know if it was Him or their imagination. I knew people danced prompted by the Spirit. And I also knew people danced prompted by their flesh. How to tell the difference?

Just like the once popular 'holy laughter'. I've seen the real laughter flowing out of one's spirit when they had been touched or ministered to by the Lord. And then I'd seen the flesh, mass hysteria, suggestive selling, whatever you want to call it - I'd seen far more flesh than I had laughing of the Spirit and in spirit.

So I asked the Father about it
He said:"I manifest my emotions through the manifestations (gifts) of the Spirit. These people are emotionally raw, their emotions on the surface due to turmoil in their lives past or present, so they are among the first to sense my emotions, where I'm moving in a service."

That made sense. Their emotions were raw so there was a connection to their spirit and the Holy Spirit. Their mind/emotions to His mind/emotions. I was intrigued by the connection between human emotions and the Holy Spirit but I set that aside for the moment. (I've seen many churches substitute emotion for the anointing, thinking they are the same. They are not.)

I went back to His statement that He expresses His emotions through the manifestation of the Spirit. "Can you give me chapter and verse on that Father?" His response was immediate:"Study compassion in the gospels. Every time you see compassion with the Lord, it is followed by a manifestation of the Spirit."

Matthew 9:35-38; 10:1:Jesus had compassion on the multitudes, so anointed the disciples to go forth healing and casting out demons. Ministry gifts manifest.
Matthew 14:14; Jesus moved with compassion towards multitudes, healed their sick. Healing.
Matthew 15:32-39:Jesus had compassion on the 4,000 men (not counting women and children) and multiplied loaves and fish. Gift of miracles.
Matthew 20:29-34:Jesus had compassion on 2 blind men, and healed them. Healing gift.

Mark 1:41:Jesus had compassion on a leper, and healed him. Healing gift.
Mark 5:1-20; Jesus cast out Legion and the man wanted to follow Jesus. Being Gentile that could not be allowed at the time, and the Lord told him to go home and tell everyone how the Lord had compassion on him, and delivered him. Manifestation of healing or miracle gifts/deliverance.
Mark 6:33-35; Jesus had compassion on the multitude, so taught them. Teaching gift manifest.
Mark 6:35-44, Jesus moved with compassion on these same people, to feed 5,000 men (not counting women and children). Gift of miracles.

Luke 7:13-15; Jesus moved with compassion on a widow burying her only son, raised him from the dead. Gift of miracles, or some might say 'faith' or 'special faith' for that situation.

Inexperience in these things of the Spirit...
...can cause a person to be moved with their own compassion, thinking it is the Father's compassion. Because of this error some have given away their food or rent money to a need seen on TV, and then wonder why God isn't providing that money back.

The answer is their compassion is of the soul, emotions. The Father's compassion is felt, sensed, in our spirit and flows up with some force to others, going through our own emotions which remain detached, almost as one observing to the side. You just sense (in your soul/mind) this compassion in your spirit, and are moved to take action. God's compassion doesn't make someone else's troubles your own, it allows a certain detachment so you can keep priorities in order. Another's problems are for Him to take on, not ours.

Start with this
Years earlier I was a pastor of a small church. I've never been one to just teach something. I always and to this day ask the Father what He wants me to share. I ask, then wait until He tells me directly or puts an emphasis on a subject by the Spirit. That started with me decades ago.

At that time, 1989 to 1992, I noticed the Father's will for any given church service would be focused on one of 3 areas:Word, Worship, or ministry. I could sense it in my spirit when I thought of those 3 elements of each service. I sensed a 'weightier' feel on one part more than the others. It was a deeper sense of His presence emphasizing one part over the others. Not knowing how best to phrase it, I began asking the Father as I prepared for each service:"What are you in the mood for; Word, Worship, or ministry?"

I learned just to throw out the service schedule to follow where the anointing was - word, worship, prayer. If I didn't have a message and the 'mood' was worship, I'd tell the congregation at the start, receive the offering at the start so there would not be interruptions, and we just worshipped. Other times I'd have a definite message so I'd ask the worship team to cut it short, or we'd skip it altogether but for an opening song to gather everyone. Other times the Father wanted ministry, so the worship would be brief but deep, and then I had the congregation pray for each other. People came up to me saying:"I love this church, I never know what is going to happen but it's always anointed."

Within a few days of that conversation with the Father
I had a visitation from the Lord. He went directly to I Corinthians 12:4-7, about this very subject to continue what the Father had been teaching me. We will pick it up there next week.

But consider these things:The Father expresses His emotions through the gifts of the Spirit. As you prepare to go to your church, or start your Bible study, or participate in or lead your house church, first ask:Father, what are you in the mood for? Where will your presence be?

Where He wants to go, where the anointing will be, may not be on what you have planned. You'll sense more 'weight' on one area or another. Follow that. Change the 'schedule' around to give that area the Father is interested in, the focus.

Take a step of faith; Throw out your plans so you can do what you see the Father doing. He will flow directly from the Father through the Spirit to you, the body of Christ. And it will be amazing.

Until next week, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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God's trinity our trinity, 2 of 2

2/3/2024

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Hi all,
Last week I shared how the trinity of man is made in the likeness of the trinity of God.
I shared how we are spirit and soul and body, so God is the same way. The Father is a spirit, the Holy Spirit functions as the soul, and Jesus functions as His body.

This is why there are no prayers to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
I know that upsets the theology of some, but the truth is, the Holy Spirit only listens (as He is the soul) for what the heart of the Father (spirit) has prepared for us.

Consider it another way, the Father is on His throne in heaven. Jesus has ascended to heaven. The only one ministering on the earth today is the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Father flows from Himself by the Spirit to the body (of Christ).

We don't pray to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer we are to ask of the Father. In John 16:23 Jesus said in the day when He is gone from us, "In that day you will ask me nothing. You will ask the Father and He will give it to you."

I Corinthians 2:10-12 tells us the Holy Spirit 'searches' the Father for what He has for us, and it says; "...we have the Spirit so we can know the things the Father has prepared for us."

That put the Holy Spirit right in the middle between the Father God and the body (the Lord Jesus, the body of Christ). Your soul is in between your spirit and body. Sometimes you listen to your body - I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm sleepy - and sometimes you listen to your spirit:"I need some worship", "I don't sense in my spirit this job is for me", "I'm hungry for the Word."

Your soul is in the middle in the same way the Holy Spirit is in the middle. From earth to heaven He carries our prayers to the heart of the Father, and from heaven to earth He carries the answers or response to us. spirit-soul-body, body-soul-spirit.

So then people ask; Is it wrong to pray to the Holy Spirit to ask things? What did Jesus say? Look at the prayers of Acts and the epistles - the apostles believed and obeyed Jesus, praying to the Father. Sometimes people ask me why their prayers are ineffective, and when I listen to them or ask them, I find they are asking the Holy Spirit, or asking Jesus for things - that's direct disobedience to Jesus and the practice of the New Testament.

So they have to decide if they will change their theology to what Jesus and the Word actually say and what the authors of the NT practicied, or continue in their man-made theology asking the Holy Spirit for things, which leaves them ineffective in their prayer life. He merely carries the messages and searches the Father for what He has, so says (again), I Corinthians 2:9-12.

But let us move on to the flow from heaven. We really are the body of Christ.
I shared how no one can separate the Father from His Spirit just as no one can separate our spirit and soul. In heaven, people are spirit and soul.

They look the same though minus time and earth's ravages, they have all their senses, but they are spirit and soul, lacking their redeemed body. Paul wrote in Romans 8:22-23 says we are waiting for the 'redemption of the body'. One day we will have that glorified body, made of heavenly material, sinless and with the nature of God. Our body today has the nature of earth and wants to sin, but we are promised a body of heavenly material in I Corinthians 15:39-49 that only wants rightesousness.

Today let us look at that flow in more detail
The Revelation 22:1:"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out of the throne of God (Father)..."

The River of Life flows from the Father. Where does it flow?

In John 7:38-39 Jesus said:"He who believes on me, out of his belly will flow rivers of Living water (this He spoke of the Spirit which would be given to those who believe in Him)."

The flow leaves the Father, John identifies the river as the Spirit, and it flows into our spirit (we are the body of Christ.) As we pray, this river branches out into rivers of life flowing to give life to all we pray for. From the Father by the Spirit to the body of Christ. spirit-soul-body.

I've had as many as 10 different languages when I've prayed for different people and situations in tongues over a 2 hour period. Each one is a river of life watering that particular concern. The river of life flowing from the Father pours by the Holy Spirit into our spirit, and then we pray out that Life to water all these things in our lives and for those we pray for. spirit-soul-body to spirit-soul-body.

We see this same flow in Matthew 3:16-17:
"...and Jesus came up out of the water and he (John the Baptist) saw the Spirit descend upon Him...and a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son...'" Notice, the Father from heaven spoke as the Spirit flowed to Jesus. Father-Spirit-Jesus. spirit-soul-body

Jesus said in John 5:19 that He only did what He saw the Father do - so the Father was doing things, Jesus saw by the Spirit what He was doing, and then did it. The same flow, Father-Spirit-Jesus. spirit-soul-body

We are created in His image and likeness, so we are created to flow the same way.

Father-Spirit-Son, spirit-soul-body
In I Thessalonians 5:23 Paul writes:"May your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The flow for us then is spirit to our soul and then outward again to our body. spirit-soul-body. This is why tongues is so fulfilling, so uplifting. The Father sends His will by the Spirit to our spirit (we are the body of Christ), then we flow that our our soul with our body. Praying in tongues involves our spirit and soul and body in that exact flow. We are one with Him. Father to Spirit to body, which flows into our spirit to our soul and out our body. We are one in Him, He is one in us. One flow.

Many will relate how fulfilling it is to flow spirit-soul-body in other ways. Some examples would be visiting with a friend and suddenly have something in your spirit for them. Your mind recognizes something in your spirit, an idea, some wisdom, and your soul grabs it and out your mouth if flows to your friend. It feels SO good, because you have just flowed as designed:spirit to soul to body.

Another example would be in worship. You are singing in tongues out your spirit to your soul which is focused on thoughts of the Lord, and out your mouth the worship flows:spirit-soul-body. It is fulfilling because we are functioning on all 3 parts.

Next week I'm going to share more of what the Father and Lord taught me on this, specifically how He flows in His emotions to us. These last 2 weeks have been a challenge for some. Read The Revelation chapters 4 and 5 to see the Father on His throne. Read Daniel 7 to see the Father as the Ancient of Days. The Father is STILL on His throne, but He is everywhere by the Holy Spirit, who functions as His soul, His mind. The Spirit as Jesus said, 'proceeds' from the Father, just as our soul proceeds from our spirit.

There is so much more, next week, the emotions of the Father...until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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