Blog Archives

How to be independent of circumstances, 2 of 3

2/22/2025

Hi all,

Last week I shared transparently about the toughest time in our married lives, a 9 month period where everything precious to us was taken away.

In English we quote Paul this way: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." But I wrote the Greek literal: "I prevail with (dynamite) power in the one strengthening me." He wrote that after saying he had 'entered a new dimension, having been initiated into a mystery'. (v11-12)

Paul's letter to Lydia and the Philippians
It was his warmest and most transparent of all his letters, giving us a glimpse into his emotions and personal growth in the Lord.

Philippi had no synagogue but Jewish women met to pray by the river. There Paul and his fellow travelers met a business woman named Lydia. Acts 16:14 tells us she was a 'seller of purple', originally from Thyatira, which was a city near Ephesus near the coast in south west (modern) Turkey. More than that it says this: "...who worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened so that she listened to the things Paul was talking about."

Note - she was a worshipper of God, but she was not yet born again.
We can speculate that it was because she worshipped God that Paul was led to talk to her. I think about people I know who are worshippers of God, but not yet born again as far as I know. Those are the ones I ask the Father to draw to Himself as per John 6:45, for they are not far from the kingdom of God.

In Acts 16: 16-18 Luke records 'as we went to prayer' (at the river) a girl with a spirit of divination followed them, crying out "These men are the servants of the most high god, showing us the way of salvation." That grieved Paul for in that city at that time, the spirit in the girl was talking about Apollo, not the God of Israel. It may be that the spirit, not wanting to be cast out of the girl, caused her to proclaim this hoping Paul would ignore her so he could stay in the girl.

Paul was well aware of the Greek culture and gods, and he was grieved with the spirit of divination in the girl following them 'many days' proclaiming Apollo as the most high god. The only question is, 'Why did he wait so long to cast it out?'. The Greek of 16:18 says Paul was deeply grieved, in emotional pain due to the unrelenting nature of this spirit in the girl. Perhaps he waited because he knew it he cast it out it would cause greater trouble for them - indeed, they were arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail.

Perhaps he was concerned that with so few Jewish people in the city.
It would cause great difficulty for Lydia and the other believers. We don't know, but at some point his distress was great enough, he turned and cast the thing out of her, with the resultant arrest and beating.

You know the story: Paul and Silas were beaten and chained to the wall in the local jail. In 16: 23-31 the officials charge the jailer with keeping them secure under penalty of death, chaining them in the innermost part of the prison. But at midnight, with the other prisoners hearing them worship, there was a great earthquake and Paul and Silas' chains fell off. The jailer, seeing the doors and gates open, prepared to kill himself knowing it would mean death for him and his family for letting prisoners escape. Paul assured him all the prisoners were there still, and the jailer asked what he could do to be saved.

In context
The subject was how could the jailer's life and that of his family be saved from execution due to the chains falling away and all the doors and gates opened. Out of context Christians take this as a promise their whole family will be saved if they alone believe. This is not consistent with what Paul wrote in I Corinthians 7: 16: "For who knows wife, if you will save your husband? Who knows husband if you will save your wife?" Yet many believe it is scriptural that if one spouse is saved the other and their children will all be saved at some point. There is no such promise in the NT.

That said, perhaps awed by the divine intervention, the jailer and his whole family believed on Jesus and were baptized. With Lydia and her household, this was the start of the body of Christ in Philippi.

In the 10 years after leaving Philippi in Acts 16...
...he experienced a riot in Thessalonica and having to be quickly taken out of town, then very limited success in Athens in Acts 17. In Acts 18 he had good success with the start of the body of Christ in Corinth, followed by a federal court victory there. Then success for 2 years in Ephesus followed by a riot. Before turning to Jerusalem he traveled constantly, was arrested in Jerusalem, suffered a ship wreck, and was awaiting trial in Rome. In those 10 years he wrote in our terms:

I have been initiated into a secret on how to be self-sufficient no matter my surroundings. I have strength in the one who strengthens me.

Today, the phrase; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...
...means hang in there, grit your teeth and try your hardest, you can do it with all your strength - but that is NOT what Paul was talking about. He was talking about a mystery he had been initiated into, that came through very difficult and life-threatening circumstances.

He had learned to be at peace in any situation. That made him independent of whatever circumstances were swirling around him: He found by focusing on his spirit and the Lord's presence there, he could remain in that peace and look for His provision in any situation.

THAT is what we all should aspire to. That no matter what is happening around us, we learn to shift our attention to our spirit where the Spirit of God lives, and find His peace. The thing about an initiation is that a person has to go through something to enter into that mystery.

It means any difficulty or stress you are in right now, is the perfect opportunity to be initiated into the mystery of how to be independent of circumstances. Next week, details how to control our thoughts and emotions to stay focused on the one giving you dynamite power in your spirit.

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

0 Comments

How to be independent of circumstances, 1 of 3

2/15/2025

0 Comments

Hi all,

Barb and I learned the lesson of these Thoughts many years ago:How to be independent of circumstances. The situation was intense. I was an Associate Pastor under a pastor who had planned to retire and promote me to fully paid Senior Pastor.

But in June of 1986 he and his wife sat in our living room and told us their plans had changed. He had changed his mind about retiring and promoting me to senior pastor. He was staying put. "There is no future for you here." As it turned out, his brother was asking him to replace me as Associate Pastor, and that's what he did.

Suddenly in the Spirit with my eyes wide open, but also seeing the Lord's realm, I saw a giant hand slice between us in a slow karate chop. I knew our time there had ended. I knew by the Spirit and told him prophetically:"If you do this, within 1 year of us leaving you will lose everything." He did, and he did. He lost his businesses, his church, his home, his standing in the community, from which he never recovered. With his disobedience, the Lord removed His hand of grace and let him experience the consequences of his actions. But his actions also affected us. For us, what followed in the next 9 months were the toughest days of our lives

It was in this time as I've often shared, the Lord spoke to heartbroken Barb:
"I tried to work through men's hearts, but they wouldn't allow me, so now I have to work around them. It will mean a detour for you, but because it was through no fault of your own, you will remain in my perfect will. But it will mean a detour for you."

His decision put in motion a series of events resulting in loss of all things for us; We found ourselves jobless, without a car, without income, phone turned off, cut off notices from the power company, and we gave our car back to the dealer because we couldn't make the payments.

We held sales out of our garage and driveway each weekend just to earn food money, selling off anything we could spare, even things which meant a lot to Barb; family heirlooms. But we had children to feed. Some people in the church who were aware how we had been treated gave us money. That winter of 1986-87 some church members hired me to shovel snow from their walk and drive to earn some money, or gave us an offering when we gave spiritual guidance to them.

This period in our lives was from early June of 1986 to early March of 1987, and it was the hardest, most stressful time of our lives. 9 months that stripped everything from us. Yet we continued attending the church where the pastor had done that to us, while searching the Lord's heart for a church that might want me as their pastor. On Sunday, March 1, 1987, 9 months after the pastor had changed our lives by his decision, that same pastor knocked on our door telling me he had gotten a call at the church office from a church about a 3 hour drive away that needed a pastor. He drove me to the church office where I accepted that invitation, moving there within 3 weeks. Less than 1 year after we left, the pastor lost everything, just as he had been told through the Spirit.

What we perceived:
As we loaded what we hadn't sold off into a rented truck to drive the 3 hours to our new church, Barb perceived something in her spirit:"We will never pass this way again." I recognized that was of the Spirit and paused to check in my spirit, and the same revelation hit me. "We will never pass this way again." We perceived we had been through the worst time of our lives and would never return to a situation like that. We would never be that poor again. We would never pass that way again.

We had come through the fire, and leaving that church and being out from under that pastor's hand was a breath of fresh air, though we were moving to a poor little town on the dusty eastern plains of Colorado. But to us, it was a new start, with a confidence we could face anything - we had learned in the midst of poverty to retain a certain independence from circumstances, buoyed by the joy and peace in our spirits during those nearly 9 months.

We could say we were going through a gestation period during those 9 months. We had been initiated into a depth of dependence on the Lord we'd never known before. Everything had been stripped away - house, car, precious possessions - and we carried joy and a very certain knowing in our spirits that we were in the middle of God's will.

Those contrary elements resided in us:In the natural it was a horrible time, but in our spirits we knew we had joy coupled with a knowing we would never go through anything like that again. What a contrast! We had learned how to trust for the miraculous, we had seen Him faithful when men failed us. We had nothing extra, but we had food. When we needed something, and I don't mean a desire we said we needed, but when we truly needed something, the Father provided it. It was a new dimension for us.

What Paul learned....
When Paul was in prison writing his letter to the Philippians, he recalled in 4:14-19 how when he was in Thessalonica they sent money more than once to support his ministry - the first of the churches to financially support him. He told them while he was thanking them for supporting him, he wasn't writing to get more support, for he had learned something.

We know the verse by heart, but we usually use it differently than Paul did. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That's the summary, the end result of what he said in the verse before, in the Greek of Philippians 4:11-13:

"Not that I speak to destitution. For I have learned in that (circumstance) which I am to be self-sufficient. For I know how to be brought low, I know also how to abound in everything and all things. For I have been initiated into a mystery on how to be full and to hunger, and to abound and to be deficient. For all things I have strength in the one strengthening me."

The word 'strength' means 'I prevail' and the root of 'one strengthening me' is 'en-dunamoo' - dunamoo is where we get the word 'dynamite'. Paul is stating he has been initiated into a mystery, that he can prevail with dynamite power in any situation through Christ who strengthens him.

The mystery he learned is what Barb and I learned during those 9 horrible months. Next week more about being initiated into the mystery and how to walk it out. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

0 Comments

Jesus in the Quran

2/8/2025

0 Comments

Hi all,

You may not realize the Quran says some amazingly things about Jesus, but I feel led to summarize some key elements which may prove useful. I'll share about the founding of Islam as well.

I'll start with amazing things that have happened within the last few years, in highly summarized events.
West Bank, 52 year old blind Muslim man and a friend were approached from 2 Christians who attend a house church. After sharing about Jesus, or Isa in Arabic, they asked the blind man what Jesus could do for him? The man replied he wanted to be healed - blind since a high fever when he was 2 years old.

The men laid hands on him only to have him slap their hands away, saying they were electrocuting him. Assured by his friend and them they were not, that it was the power of God, he allowed them to continue. When they removed their hands the man opened his eyes, totally healed. The man having been handicapped, had been hired by the local mosque to be the one to sing and call the faithful to prayer over the loudspeaker. When last I heard, there were studies of Jesus (Isa) happening in 4 mosques in the area.

A woman in Ir*n was praying, and the Lord told her to go to a certain city, address, and ask for a woman named ____ who lived there. He said He wanted to heal her. The young woman spent what money she had in obedience, knocking on the door, the woman answered, and she allowed her to lay hands on her.

The Lord healed the woman, who was highly influential in that town. They set a date the next month for her to return. When she returned there were about a dozen women at the door, waiting for prayer. They got healed. A month later, over 30 women were waiting. They got healed. All became believers in Isa (Jesus).

Another woman was told by the Lord to go to such and such city with a Bible, to an electronics shop there, and ask for Mohamed for he had been praying for a Bible. She went to the address the Lord had given her which was an electronics shop, asked the man behind the counter if he was Mohamed, he said 'yes'. As she pulled the Bible from her purse, she said, 'Our Father said you were asking for this." He burst into tears at the answered prayer.

An Egyptian woman who became a Christian, attacked by her own father, fleeing for her life, her clothes torn away as her father lunged for her. As she ran down the street naked, so afraid, embarrassed and ashamed, finally reaching the home of a friend. She apologized for being naked, but her friend told her that while she was naked inside the home as her friend gave her clothes, in the street that was not the case. She everyone saw she was clothed with a beautiful white robe covering her completely as she ran for her life, and on one saw her nakedness. It only disappeared once she was safely in her friend's home.

The start of Islam
Islam, the Muslim faith, started about the year 610 in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) when the prophet Mohamed said he received a revelation from Gabriel.

Islam believes Ishmael, not Isaac is the son of promise, so both Judaism and Islam honor Abraham. The holy book of Islam is the Quran, and it mentions Jesus 90 times. Of those 90 times, 71 times Jesus is called a prophet. The Arabic name of Jesus is Isa. The Arabic word for Messiah is 'Masih', and in Hebrew it is 'Masiah'.

Here is a list of things the Quran says:
1. Mary, Jesus' mother, is called holy.

2. Jesus is the only person ever to be born of a virgin:"She said, How will I have a son, whom no mortal has touched, neither have I been unchaste. He said, Even so your Lord has said; It is easy for Me, and that We may appoint him a sign to men and a mercy from Us. It is a thing determined." Sura Miriam 20, 21

3. Jesus was born from the Spirit of Allah, so He didn't have a regular conception:"The Masih, Isa Son of Mary, Allah's messenger, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him." Sura, The Women, 169

4. Jesus is different from all other prophets because He is the Word of Allah (Kalimatullah). Sura, The Women 171; Sura al Imran 40

5. Jesus spoke when He was in the cradle. (Isa said), "Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the scripture and called me a prophet." Sura Miriam 19:30 In another place it says no one needed to even teach Isa how to speak, and no one needed to teach Him anything (for He is the Word of Allah).

6. Jesus (Isa) is a sign of mercy from Allah. It says Allah appointed Isa Al-Masih (Jesus the Messiah) as the 'sign' and 'mercy' for human kind. Suran Maryam 19:21

7. Only Isa can know men's secrets. "I will inform you too of what things you eat, and what you treasure up in your houses. Surely in that is a sign for you if you are believers." Sura Al Imran 48

8. Jesus was the only perfect prophet. All other prophets have sinned as mentioned in the Quran, Isa is the only sinless one. "Highly honored shall Isa be in this world and the next." Sura al Imran 45

9. Jesus is distinguishable from all other prophets because He alone gave life. "I will create for you out of clay as the likeness of a bird; then I will breathe into it and it will be a bird." Sura al Imran 42

10. Jesus did miracles and signs no other prophet could. "And I will also heal the blind and the leper." Sura Al Imran 48

11. Only Jesus could raise the dead. "And I will bring life to the dead." Sura al Imran 48 and The Table 110

12. Only Jesus was given the title of Masih (chosen one, 'masiah' in Hebrew, 'Messiah' in English). "The Masih, Isa son of Miriam, was Allah's Messenger, and His Word committed to Miriam." Sura the Women 169

13. Only Jesus would die but promised to rise again. "I will cause you to die, and I will raise you to Me, and I will purify you of those who do not believe. I will set your followers above the unbelievers until resurrection day." Sura al Imran 55

It also says He was a carpenter, that He was betrayed by one of His disciples. It says He died, but not for our sins, but was made alive again and raised to the heavenly realm. He was and is the messiah. But He will finally die a natural death at His second coming. (Quran and hadith (commentary, history)

Those are some highlights of the 90 times Jesus (Isa) is mentioned in the Quran, and you can see why Muslims are particularly moved to believe upon seeing a miracle, dream, or sign. And perhaps why Jesus is so willing to confirm His true identity by doing healings, signs, and give dreams and visions.

I hope this helps provide information, perhaps discussion. The thing to keep in mind is the Lord is always willing to confirm the truth of who He is and His resurrection, through signs, wonders, and healings. It isn't about us. It is about Him eager to confirm and validate the Person of, and resurrection of, Jesus the Christ, our Lord.

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

0 Comments

Can Christians be cursed? 2 of 2

2/1/2025

0 Comments

Hi all,

Faith is not of ourselves, it proceeds from grace as per Ephesians 2:8:By grace are you saved through faith, and THAT is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God lest you boast it coming from yourself.

What part of faith NOT being of ourselves is so difficult to understand? It clearly states faith proceeds from grace. Grace is a revelation from the Father. Grace is a divine revelation, the first of which is seen in Matthew 16:16-17 when Peter confessed Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus said that confession of faith came from a revelation from the Father of that fact. The whole of our Christian walk is founded upon that sequence of events:Grace first, then faith proceeds from that grace - and the whole process is not of ourselves or our efforts to 'stir up faith'.

There is also the perversion; A revelation of fear, confusion, strife, that causes a person to respond to - faith in the revelation of Satan's ideas. Revelation from the Father is peace, revelation from the devil is fear.

It is as Jesus told 2 blind men who wanted healed in Matthew 9:29:"According to your faith be it unto you." Revelation of fear and according to your faith it will be to you. Revelation of the Father's peace and confidence in His future provision, and according to your faith it will be to you. Which do you choose? A revelation of evil, or a revelation of good?

Perverted grace - a revelation of evil - fear is the response.
A single woman spent her free time focused on fear of an economic collapse, the fear being she wouldn't have food to eat. From that fear she used charge cards to fill her home with food items, but was now afraid because she couldn't make the card payments. I explained we are moved from the peace and presence of Christ in us, and He would not put us in that situation. In this area of her life, she proved she had more faith in the revelation of evil from Satan, than she did in all the promises of provision from the Father seen in scripture.

The Internet has allowed every voice to gain an audience, and for Christians, fear seems to be the largest single driving force among these voices. If you submit to the spirit of fear, which is a revelation of Satan's plans, and act on it - you have removed that part of your life from God's peace. Moving yourself from peace to torment for fear has torment, is a 'curse'.

A certain preacher I know tells people if they don't give to his ministry, they open themselves up to the devil. He also has said if they don't tune in, they open themselves up to the devil. Some go so far as to saying if a person doesn't give money to their ministry, they open themselves up to a curse. By giving in to this manipulation using the spirit of fear, the Christian demonstrates a greater personal revelation and therefore faith in evil, than in their loving heavenly Father.

God telling of a bad thing, or the devil telling of a bad thing...
In Acts 27:10 Paul is a prisoner of Rome on a ship. He states:"Sirs, I perceive this voyage will be with much harm to the ship, the cargo, and also our lives."

Paul had a revelation from God - grace - shown by his use (Greek) of the word 'perceive'. He had a revelation the voyage will cause them to lose their cargo, ship, and lives. Years ago when I was young I thought any revelation of bad was of the devil, and more than once I rebuked the Holy Spirit. Several times with myself and friends, like Paul I perceived something bad was going to happen if I or they did whatever was the plan.

I learned this way to determine if it was God showing me what the devil had planned, like in Paul's case, or if it was the devil trying to scare me into doing something stupid or unwise. In James 3:14-18 he compares wisdom of the world with wisdom from God.

Wisdom of the world, he says is 'unspiritual and demonic' and produces confusion, envy, strife. In the Greek, the word 'unspiritual' is 'psuchkikos', or 'psychosis', meaning mental, sense oriented (feelings) very animal and basic. It is 'sensual' he says, meaning 'feeling in the mind based', and demonically sourced. Confusion, fear, decisions by emotions.

By contrast in v17:"But the wisdom from above is first of all, pure. Also peaceful and peace loving, considerate, gentle, easily approached..." God's wisdom brings peace, Satan's wisdom bring confusion and fear. No matter the tragedy about to happen, there is peace. When it is the devil, there is fear, confusion, anxiety.

Paul's peace in Acts 27:10 is evident. When the owner and captain ignored his warning, in the midst of the storm, an angel appeared to Paul stating he would be brought before Caesar, all 276 would survive, but they would be shipwrecked on an island. Paul's peace allowed the Father to intervene.

A person opens themselves to the demonic by giving in to wisdom of the world - fear, confusion, strife, envy. Can a Christian place themselves under a curse, yes. According to your faith be it unto you.

Another example:Galatians 3:10
"Those who depend on the law to make them righteous, are under a curse..." Paul's asked the Galatians in 3:1 who had bewitched them? Witchcraft is a manipulation of God's Word and will to control others. (I Samuel 15:23:Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Saul's rebellion was twisting God's Word into half truths to manipulate others.)

In Acts 13 and 14 where certain Pharisees told Paul that Gentiles who got saved had to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses. Paul said no to that. In Acts 15 he went to Jerusalem to bring the issue to leaders. When it was determined Paul was right, \ that to make them obey the law of Moses after the fact God making them born again AND Spirit filled, would be pointless. God already gave them the Holy Spirit, what good would making them obey Moses do?

Paul says for a Christian to go back under the law of Moses is to place oneself under a curse. It is an act of denying the work of Jesus Christ. For He fulfilled the law, and when we are born again His law is written in our newly created spirit. To go back under the law is to reject the work of Jesus, for He took the Law on Himself.

One of the greatest errors is...
Christians thinking their lives are subject to the sins of previous generations. They think they are trapped in a pattern of torment and curse because of the sins of previous generations. They read they have Christ in them. They read they are commanded to use the name of Jesus against demons. They read 'Greater is He in you than he that is in the world." Yet they don't believe it. They believe what their eyes and circumstances tell them - that the demons from the past, the sins from the past, have them trapped.

Let us separate spiritual truth from practical truth. Spiritually you are of the family of God now. A citizen of heaven. Your spirit was recreated by the Holy Spirit, then sealed by that same Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Your Father in heaven has not cursed you, won't curse you. Spiritually, you are not under a curse.

In the natural, your earth body may come from a family is sinners, addicts, workers of iniquity. Your flesh may have inherited tendencies towards the sins of your ancestors. The lie is that you are automatically subject to that family line of sin. That is a lie. You can break the pattern by an act of your will.

Jesus taught many things, one of them was a command to use His name to cast out demons. Not pray about them. Not ask someone to pray they stop their attack. You - you have the authority to use the name of Jesus to command spirits away. You're got Christ in you, don't lay down your authority to allow demons to walk all over you. Consider this in Romans 8:32 and Hebrews 1:1-3:The Father used His Son to create the whole universe. Then He gave us His Son. Once you have the Son, you have the universe. What can a little old devil do to you? You've already got everything!

New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected] or [email protected]

0 Comments