Hi all,

I shared last week how the Isaiah 55 passage 'my ways are higher than your ways, my thoughts than your thoughts', is actually an invitation to come up to the Father's higher ways and thoughts, for He tells the wicked and unrighteous to forsake his ways and thoughts and return to the Lord.

All things prepared

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified version: "For we are God's own handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time), that we should walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live."

That means as I walk with Him He will reveal what has already been planned at the appropriate time.

Look at II Timothy 1:9: "He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but according to His purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time..." (in the Greek: 'before times eternal')

All His provision for our whole lives has already been given to us! These are the higher ways Isaiah 55 talks about - come up to walk in what has been prepared for you since times eternal - just walk with Him and He will reveal what He has prepared when it is needed. These are given with 'purpose and grace' - there is a purpose to your life for grace is never separate from purpose.

The trip and Chris
When I plan a trip I mentally walk through every element while shifting attention to my spirit to see if the Holy Spirit in my spirit witnesses of any detail not yet covered in the safety of the Lord.

I mentally walked through the nearly 2 hour drive into Tulsa, I thought of the flight to Seattle and nothing was in the Spirit about safety or any other issue related to the flights.

I thought about our son, daughter in law, and their 3 and 5 year old flying with us - kids, flying, ear pressure - nothing in the Spirit, it just feels blank, no negative feeling in my spirit so I knew all was OK.

I thought through and shifted attention to my spirit for the whole 5 days while there (things like anything about safety and fireworks with the kids, etc), then the remaining trip...and then my attention fell to our son Chris, our oldest and handicapped son who lives in a group home and wasn't going with us. There I had a sense of something wrong so I dwelt on him and that sense of heaviness, a sorrow that overwhelmed me when I thought of him and this trip.

What was prepared by God, what the devil wanted to do
The Father only prepares good things for us - James 1:16-17 says 'Do not be deceived brethren, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights in whom there is no variableness nor even a shade of turning (of His character)..."

But the devil would like to disrupt us from walking in our Father's higher ways by looking for any way to steal, kill, destroy, distract, cause us to back away from Father's provision by introducing fear, etc.

So I expect my Father to reveal both His plans that have been prepared since times eternal, AND anything the devil has planned to try to keep me from walking in Father's provision. That's why I have to know Him and know Him well.

We left July 3, a Tuesday, and we had Chris at home that weekend through Monday afternoon. I knew something was going to happen with Chris on the trip, and by Monday morning I knew what it was - Chris was going to be hit by a car and killed on Wednesday, July 11th, in the afternoon. I knew we were going to be driving between Vancouver and Banff when we got the call, and we'd have to fly emergency tickets out of Calgary to go home to plan a funeral.

When I dropped Chris off at the group home Monday and said goodbye I had the overwhelming sense I was seeing him for the last time this side of heaven. He didn't know what I knew of course, his simple ' Bye dad, when you come back you come get me and take me home' - he understands I have to go and tell people about Jesus - only made me reflect on the frailty of life and made me determined that this would not happen.

Of course there was no opportunity to pray that evening - remember last week's computer exchange issue - and because his death wasn't 'planned' by Satan for another 8 days, I knew I had plenty of time to pray and change things with the Father.

Monday night prayer
It didn't make sense that Chris would be hit by a car, because (in a wheelchair) he is only outside when pushed by others while transitioning to a bus or workshop...so I quizzed the Father on it, but got nothing. I told Him it didn't make sense, yet that 'knowing' that he would be hit by a car that Wednesday afternoon next week remained.

I didn't tell Barb, I kept quiet for her peace's sake. Monday morning she told me she had a grievance about something on the trip, like an accident, but I remained quiet as the Father had given me the details not her and I knew she needed to sleep well the night before we left - and if I needed her to join me in intercession I knew I could tell her as she is a far greater intercessor than me.

That (Monday) night I slept maybe 90 minutes. I knew we had a full day on Tuesday from early morning to well after midnight Tulsa time (Seattle is 2 hours earlier, meaning we'd not get to bed until about 2am Tulsa/body time) but  I was going to fight for the Father's provision of safety for Chris, though the revelation of being hit by a car made no sense. I prayed in the Spirit nearly all night, wrestling with the forces of darkness for my son's life.

I cast the devil out and away from the situation right away of course, and asked the Father to send angels to protect Chris - but this was a perverse assignment from hell where the demon was persistent. The reason for the persistence became clear somewhere about 2am when I asked the Father what was taking so long - He told me there were many people involved and a chain of events involved.

If it was a simple matter of my will against the demon trying to cause an accident, it would have been an easy 'I command you to leave' - but many people were involved (each having their own will, job responsibilities, other residents to deal with) so the intensity of the prayer required persistence to undo all that spider web of people and events of that Wednesday afternoon to be...finally just before dawn the last thread of web was evidently unwound.

I could feel the momentum shifting about 4am but unlike my usual reaction of 'that's good enough', I stayed with it until every strand was undone and the Father had a clear path to make His provision for the day manifest. By dawn I got the victory and total peace - I knew Chris had been spared. Barb woke up later and commented that she suddenly had peace...then I filled in the details for her - on that side of peace.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning the 11th
We were driving through the mountains of Canada heading toward our destination for the night, Banff, in Alberta, when I made the call to Chris' group home. The Aide, Peggy, answered and I told her of what the Father showed me about that afternoon and she responded; "Hmmm. That's interesting, here is what's happening around here..."

Some 2 months earlier they had upgraded Chris' wheelchair. Due to a stroke at age 17 he only has use of his right hand, so when he pushes the rim of his wheelchair he just spins in circles. He grabs doorways to pull himself down a hall or move other than circles. But 2 months ago his wheelchair got a locking axle for the left wheel - they put a 2nd grab wheel on the right wheel, and if he grabs the original bar he spins in circles, but if he holds both bars it locks the left wheel and he can go straight. Let go of the 2nd one and he can turn or spin, grab the 2nd again and he goes straight.

Peggy continued: "Chris has just this week mastered his wheelchair. We've discovered him out in the parking lot, going over speed bumps and laughing hard, but a few times he's been to the road out front before we've caught him."

Suddenly it all made sense - that's why the 'hit by a car' burden was there. With 2 Aides for 8 people and the numerous duties that keep the Aides busy, they would have lost track of Chris, resulting in the accident. I told her I wanted him in the house that afternoon, watching TV or whatever, but NOT outside. She agreed. Later I told the other Aide, Kathy, the same story as I suspected Peggy didn't relay it - and I was right.

Later that night I talked to Kathy again, and she said it nearly happened. She said she was in the kitchen making dinner about 4-5pm and Peggy went to do something else, and Chris used that opportunity to open the front door and roll to the busy parking lot before they realized he was gone. (The parking lot is for cars from 2 group homes and 4 buses and the headquarters for the group home (with some 300 clients total in NE Oklahoma) PLUS their garage area to work on the handicapped equipped buses for those clients.

So that is a living example of being sensitive to the Father's higher ways and thoughts, and doing what is needed (2 days of concentrating on it to zero in and 1 sleepless night and follow up phone call) to assure His ways and thoughts were what happened. All things the Father's ways and thoughts are prepared for us to walk in - will we pay the price? Next week - another perspective on coming up to higher ways and thoughts...stay tuned, blessings,

John Fenn
www.supernaturalhousechurch.org

Hi all,

I'm rearranging the scheduled topic of asking 'Does heaven initiates experiences or does earth?' to the topic of 'Higher Ways' because of some recent events in our family's life.

Isaiah 55:7-9: "Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man (forsake) his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord...and He will have mercy on him...and abundantly pardon...For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts (are higher) than your thoughts."

This passage has been used from the pulpit to proclaim how much higher and loftier the Lord's ways and thoughts are than ours, leaving congregants with the sting of hopelessness in their efforts to see their prayers answered and destiny's fulfilled. He is SO high and I am SO low, how can I ever attain? How can I ever get victory?

Invitation
That is not the point of these verses. Note in verse 7 the wicked/unrighteous man forsakes his ways and thoughts, and returns to the Lord (and His ways and thoughts).

The word 'forsake' means 'to abandon and renounce'. The wicked and unrighteous man is abandoning and renouncing his ways and thoughts, and RETURNING to the Lord and His ways and thoughts. This is an invitation to leave our ways and thoughts and come up to the higher ways and thoughts of the Lord. This is what renewing the mind and walking daily with the Lord is all about - forsaking our way and learning to think in line with the Father as we walk with Him.

Example from my own life: Weather change?
Barb and I recently returned from a 2 week trip that included a 5 day mini-reunion with 2 of our sons and daughters in law and our 6 grandchildren over the 4th of July holiday in the Seattle area (it would have been impossible for us to take Chris, our oldest son, the handicapped one, though we would have loved to have had all 3 boys together).

Barb and I continued on to ministry time on Vancouver Island then eastward and down into Bozeman and Billings, Montana. (A 7-10 day strictly ministry trip for the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver-Vancouver Island area is planned in the future)

Before our trip I asked the Father for the sake of our kids and grandkids, that He would make sure we had clear skies and temperatures in the 70-75F (21-24C) range. If you know that area of the world you know that can be a tall order, but I had peace that it would be so.

As the trip approached the area was having the usual cold, cloudy, and wet weather it is known for, and the weather forecast for that week was for more of the same - but I had peace so I followed the peace and didn't change plans.

That whole week was exactly as requested; the rain and low temperatures moved out the evening we flew in, replaced by sun and warm temperatures the whole 2 weeks as I had asked!

Question
Am I to believe that the Father God changed a whole region's weather pattern for little old us, providing millions of people (finally) their summer weather just because some guy in Oklahoma wanting to have a nice holiday and ministry time while visiting the area made request?

That would be the height of arrogance, and totally incorrect. The truth is that I do my best to walk in the higher ways and thoughts of the Lord, having forsaken my ways and thoughts many years ago (though I remain a work in progress as you'll see below). When it came into my heart to have the family reunion and ministry time, I consulted with the Father and got an immediate peace about the trip.

Once I had that peace, which is the word from heaven that He was in agreement with the trip, or to say it another way, He was thinking I should do the trip too, my requests for weather and temperatures were naturally in accordance with His higher thoughts and ways concerning the trip.

In fact, He knew before the laying the foundation of the earth that I would at this time have the idea to put the trip together, and He coordinated even my desire for good and warm weather precisely with His thoughts from way back then. (Ephesians 2:10, II Timothy 1:9)

Missed it this time
We flew out Tuesday, July 2, leaving our house early in the morning. Monday the 1st, the day before this trip, was constantly busy from sun up to way past sun down. Neighbors to instruct in the watering of the garden, laundry, ministry work, emails, phone calls - you know what the day before a big trip is like!

That's when my lap top broke. Beyond repair (for now at least). I had work to do and needed a lap top on the trip, so off to Walmart I went, buying a basic bargain lap top (which still has far more power, memory and capability than my 2 year old now broken one).

On set up I entered my password as instructed, completed the set up, then spent the day getting ready for the trip on other things. About 8pm (20:00) I flipped up the lid, entered my password and saw the message 'incorrect password'. I re-entered - same message. What was wrong with this stupid computer!??!

Secret code?
I called the help line. A patient man explained there is no secret code to get past that blue screen and little box where one enters his or her password. I pressed him for some secret industry code - no such thing. His suggestion was to go back to Walmart and exchange it for a new one.

Having spent an hour or more in set up and phone call, and it being now 9:15pm (21:15) and knowing I would have to be up by sunrise thirty (about 5:30am), I wasn't a happy camper.

I asked "Father why don't you just tell me what I did wrong" and was vaguely aware of my angel's presence in the living room, but I was too agitated to pay attention as I huffed to my truck and in the near dark explained to Barb I had to drive the 25 minutes to Walmart to start the process all over again.

60's music take me away
The drive into town winds around the lake we live on, and once the sun goes down deer seem to think the middle of the road is their special place to meet and talk about the day, so I put my mellow 60's music on my iPhone, put the ear buds in, started praying and singing in the Spirit and worshipping the Father, and slowly drove on through the gathering darkness.

(I realize me worshipping the Lord and singing in the Spirit to the melody of mellow 60's music may offend some, but maybe its my 54 years old or meeting the Lord in 1974, but much of modern music labeled 'worship' simply isn't. I love Hillsongs and Michael W. Smith's worship songs, but give me The 2nd Chapter of Acts, Keith Green, Honeytree, or mellow 60's songs and I'm making melody in my heart to the Lord just fine)

Somewhere on the other side of the bridge into town and the Vogues singing "You're the One" (or was it 'Ferry Cross the Mersey' by Gerry and the Pacemakers?) my mind drifted off the song and into that spiritually neutral wavelength as I worshipped in tongues where I was once again aware of my angel, this time crouching in the bed of my pickup just to my right and behind me on the other side of the (rear) window.

He said: "You accidentally touched 'caps lock' when you entered the letters, and accidentally touched it again to release it when you entered the numbers." I was only going 35 mph at the time (56 kph) but I pulled over into a parking lot and slammed the brakes on so fast a by-stander would have thought I'd lost control.

I took the carefully re-wrapped computer out of the box, turned it on, made sure I didn't touch the caps lock key, and the computer said 'Welcome John'....ARGH!!!! Suddenly my angel said: "You could have received this immediately at home if you'd just been more calm about it." ARGH again.

(I mumbled a 'I'm sorry Father' as I slowly drove home, no music on, feeling the mix of relief and embarrassment one might feel if they'd had a bursting bladder so had to pee their pants - you can't help feeling relieved but you also can't help feeling embarrassed and just hope no one notices.) 

Low ways
That my friends, is an example of taking the low way - I stuck to my ways and thoughts until almost the last minute. There awaits for us the invitation to come up to higher ways and thoughts, accompanied by a Guide, the Holy Spirit, to help us stay in those higher ways and thoughts.

Paul said in Philippians 3:15 that if, as we press toward the mark of the high call in Christ we are otherwise minded, the Lord will reveal this to us. That's what happened when I finally calmed down enough to hear that word of knowledge on what I did wrong on the computer password.

And that's the process I want to take apart for you in this series. How to leave old ways and thoughts and start walking in the Father's higher ways and thoughts. Next week I'll share how our son, Chris, the handicapped one, nearly died while we were on this trip and how the Father saved his life. When it counted, we moved in His higher ways and thoughts and saved Chris' life.

Next week then, blessings,
John Fenn / www.supernaturalhousechurch.org 

Spirit and Word in Balance

Hi all,
I've shared how scripture says we are to determine if something is God or not - as they did in Acts 15, taking a look at what is claimed to be the Holy Spirit moving AND finding it in the Word. That which is in agreement we accept, that which is not, we reject.

Markers
Before getting into other modern day examples, let me tell you the Word does reveal some characteristics of the false. If we go back a couple weeks where I mentioned Paul's teaching in II Corinthians 11 about false teaching and teachers, we'll see these characteristics.

Marker #1
In v3 he says he is afraid lest as Satan 'beguiled' Eve through subtlety so their minds would be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Beguiled in the Greek means 'deceived'.

Look for deception - a show, the elevation of a leader unlike you could ever imagine Jesus being. Look for a more complicated faith - Eve was deceived from the simple 'don't eat' by going ever deeper and ever more complicated - you won't die. You'll become as a god. God knows this and He wants to keep you from it. She was drawn ever so slowly into a twisted and more complicated understanding of God's instructions.

That means formulas - fasting x days to bring revival to your city, pray this prayer or these scriptures over your life for x days or in such and such a way, pray this prayer and give an offering of x amount - it's complicated faith, and it is deception - and there is never accountability. The leader that told you to fast for 30 days for revival in your city never comes back to acknowledge no revival happened, no breakthrough as they had prophesied. In fact, what Paul is talking about here is a faith in formula rather than simple faith in God.

Marker #2
In verses 4-12 Paul describes a Godly minister is transparent, humble, lacking any pretense of greed, but actually loving and knowing the people. The false is opposite - treated like royalty, proud, eager to take people's money...they are not as Paul was in v6, 'thoroughly known among you'.

Marker #3
Interestingly, v9 says "I was not a burden to you" or "I was not burdensome/chargeable to you". Paul paid his own bills by other churches supporting him at this time, though for the first 18 months when he lived in Corinth he worked his tent making job, Acts 18:1-3, the only 18 months in 33+/- years of ministry he worked a 'regular' job.

But the word 'burden' or 'chargeable' is 'katanarkao' and literally means 'to grow numb'. In other words, Paul wasn't numb to the people, he wasn't burdensome because of his numbness to their needs...the false is completely numb to the real issues of the people they (at least in appearance) serve.

Marker #4
Verse 15 says the false ministers 'transform themselves' as ministers of righteousness. The Greek word is not metamorphosis as we might think, but 'metaschematizo', which means 'disguise' by 'changing appearance'. In other words, they live one way in the pulpit but another way in real life.

When you hear of a minister claiming great anointing and miracles, but then does drugs, is unfaithful to his wife...run, he is a false minister. Not saying not a Christian, but a false/fake minister, bringing in false spirits, as in this antique is real and this one is a fake, as in this plant on the table, is it real or fake? Disguise.

Markers #5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Verses 19-20 says 'You put up with fools gladly because you think yourselves so wise...you suffer, allowing yourself to be brought into bondage, they devour you, take money of you, exalts himself, insults you.'

This is all a continuous thought by Paul, so I link them as well. #5 - A false teacher or teaching will appeal to the ego - the 25 page personal prophecy, 'you better be on the cutting edge of where God is moving or you'll miss out' - things that make you feel special, spiritual, wiser than others in the things of God. Touchy, feeling, ego centered gospel that's more about you and your money and your blessings than it is about crucifying the flesh and actually making hard decisions to be more Christ-like.

If a teaching or teacher doesn't draw you to become more humble and in awe of God, but instead emphasizes self and a show of godliness...follow the Spirit of Truth within and back away from such. Don't seek the show, seek the glow (of the genuine presence of God).

#6 - Allowing yourself to be brought into bondage. We get a glimpse of this in I Corinthians 3 when some said they were of Paul, others loyal to Apollos. But we get a clearer idea where false loyalty goes by what follows in marker 7; takes money of you, devours you (uses up your resources).

#7 - Give because you are touched, you learn, you are growing. Not of necessity but merely because you love God and whoever ministered to you, and you want nothing else in return - just express love. There are today 'prophecy of the month' clubs where if you partner with a ministry you get a personal prophecy monthly, there are people eagerly awaiting the next letter from x minister to find what they must do next for answered prayer...people are being manipulated into bondage...You just can't see Jesus in the gospels acting like that, can you?

#8-9 - Exalts himself and insults you. How many times have you been talked down to from the pulpit, had your intelligence insulted, known you were being manipulated...from such steer clear.

In this series
This series has been about rightly dividing the traditions of men from the true and balanced Word of God. Today I've provided 'negative' markers Paul outlined which we could accurately call the 'fruit' of the false.

But the biggest thing you can do is take a step of faith by obeying the Spirit of Truth within. And I'm talking the true Holy Spirit. The information we take in with our natural senses can help focus us on our spirit man, such as when Jesus no doubt saw the body language and facial expressions of the leaders in Mark 2:7 when they thought within themselves: "Who does this man think he is? Only God can forgive sins!"

After He had said to the man let down through the roof, 'Your sins are forgiven', Jesus would have seen their expressions, but "Jesus perceived in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves." The natural senses only helped direct His attention to what was being revealed in His spirit - and the same for you and I today.

Sometimes people will emotionally say 'that doesn't bear witness with me' and what they mean is 'I don't agree with you one bit.' The Holy Spirit isn't in our emotions, not in our head. He is in our spirit.

Empowered to think
We have opposites playing against one another in modern life. We are a media dominated world, and that media comes in tiny bits of information that requires no thinking on our part. We are presented information, a picture, a video, a short sentence or two, a screaming headline - and millions of people are trained in knee-jerk reactions to those tiny bites of information rather than trained in thinking through issues.

Christians are trained similarly: 40 minutes of worship that starts with 4 horizontal songs followed by 3 vertical songs, a moment of silence where maybe the Spirit can manifest 1 single expression, 20 minute announcements, 45 minute sermon...and no more thinking required.

It is no wonder many have never disciplined themselves to listen for themselves to the Spirit of Truth living within - why do that when pastor will tell you what God is saying?

But Christ DOES live within, and no matter what our education systems produce, no matter what our media outlets tell us, He expects us to think for ourselves, to think through issues, to think through our sins and gifts, failures and victories, and walk WITH Him through it all in a long continuous relationship - not a sound bite.

You are empowered to think. You are empowered to make your own decisions. You must learn the difference between difference of opinion (formed in your mind) and a different spirit (revealed in your spirit).

You are empowered to train your senses to discern between good and evil. You are empowered to form opinions and make decisions based on what you sense in your spirit and what you find in the Word. You are empowered to walk with God free from religious exercise. Just talk to Him!

Next week I'm going to share about what we can initiate in terms of spiritual experiences, and what heaven must initiate - Prophesy at will? Go to the 3rd heaven at will? See Jesus at will? Next week...

Blessings,
John Fenn
www.supernaturalhousechurch.org

Word and Spirit in balance

Hi all,

I left last week with a question: How do you tell truth from error when you sense something is not right in your spirit about a teaching or teacher, yet your inquiring mind wants to know more? What do you do?

Those crazy Gentiles
For the first 10 years following Pentecost, the church was Jewish. It was a total shock to Peter in Acts 10 when he was telling the Romans of Cornelius' household about Jesus that they suddenly began speaking in tongues.

He had just told them Jesus was raised from the dead and anyone who believed on Him would have their sins forgiven, when it happened. Acts 10:45 says the Jews with him were 'astonished' because these Gentiles had the same Holy Spirit as they!

So now the question; Should these Gentiles obey the Jewish law? They were uncircumcised, former idolaters, promiscuous people used to having sex with temple prostitutes and/or whomever was willing, maybe some pedophiles as that was normal Greek culture for the day, certainly pork eaters, some polygamists perhaps. Doesn't God want them to have some standards such as the Mosaic law?

"And certain men came (from Judea) to Antioch where Paul and Barnabus were staying, and taught the brethren, 'Unless you get circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be saved." (15:1)

They had a huge argument about it for Paul and Barnabus taught they just needed to love God with all their heart and love their neighbor as themselves, and live Godly moral lives without the requirement to go back to Jewish roots and the law. But they decided Paul and Barnabus would go to Jerusalem to the other apostles and elders to decide. Their pattern for discovering the will of the Lord is the example given us to determine the same!

Word and Spirit
Acts 15 tells us what happened: There was alot of arguing this way and that, then Peter stood up and recounted his experience with Cornelius' household of Acts 10, saying:

"God, who knew their hearts, bore them witness by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did us; and put no difference between us and they, purifying their hearts by faith. So why are you tempting God to put a yoke on their necks which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved, even as they." 15: 8-11

Peter acknowledges God is working among the Gentiles by the Holy Spirit, and Paul and Barnabus then tell everyone all the miracles and all the salvations among the Gentiles, so all can see what the Holy Spirit is doing among the non-Jewish people.

This is key #1 - when you hear of something new to you, a teaching or claim the Holy Spirit is moving somewhere, or in some new way - then you look around the world at the body of Christ, and look to history to see what the Holy Spirit has done in the past and ask: Is what I'm hearing consistent with the character of Jesus and what the Holy Spirit has done in the past?

For example - If you believe women should be veiled because it is mentioned in I Corinthians 11, then you have to look around the world at 2000 years of church history, all the revivals, all the moves of God, and see if the Holy Spirit regularly and consistently through the centuries imposed veils on women. No? Then it is a cultural issue, not a command from God. Will you then rearrange what you believe to line up with what the Holy Spirit has done and is doing? If He isn't commanding the women of the 200,000,000 estimated Chinese Christians to wear veils, nor did He in the famed Welsh Revival, nor did He in the Toronto Blessing - then you are faced with either sticking stubbornly to your beliefs, or changing to agree with God.

The leaders in Acts 15 heard what the Holy Spirit was doing, and saw that it was in keeping with the character of Jesus; people were being made into disciples of the Lord.

Key #2 - Maybe some thought Peter's experience with Gentiles was a fluke. How did they know Paul and Barnabus weren't lying about what the Holy Spirit is doing and has done?  Knowing the Word and Spirit are One and always in agreement, James, the brother of Jesus, rose up with this determination:

"Men and brethren listen to me. Simon Peter has told us how God visited the Gentiles in his presence, to take out of the Gentiles a people for Himself. To this agree the words of the prophets (Word) as it is written..." v15

"Therefore my judgement is that we not trouble those who have turned to God from among the Gentiles. But that we write them to abstain from pollutions associated with idols, and from sexual sin, and things strangled or improperly slaughtered for from long ago the law of Moses and Jewish people have lived where they live..." v19-21

"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you nothing more than these things..." v28

The apostles, the ones who wrote our New Testament, were present for this meeting - they looked to what the Holy Spirit was doing and had done, and to the Word to verify what was God and what was not, and to make decisions based on these things. They found the Word and Spirit in agreement.

Back to the example: So if the Holy Spirit hasn't insisted women through 2,000 years of church history wear veils, yet you understand the Word to believe it is God for women to wear veils - are you willing to change what you believe the Word to say so that Word and Spirit are in agreement in your heart? The only way to do so is to honestly acknowledge in 2,000 years the Holy Spirit hasn't insisted women wear veils, therefore you must change your understanding of scripture - are you willing to do that?

If so, you are growing in balance. If not, then you are stuck in a rut and God can't do much with you in that area because even though the Word and Spirit agree it was a cultural issue, you are un-teachable and stubborn.

Now I don't know anyone where this is an issue, that's why I use this as an example. But the willingness to adjust our understanding of God if the Spirit and our understanding of the Word don't agree, is key to growth.

Good enough for James, Paul, Peter, John, Jude - good enough for us!
 Let me use some fairly modern examples. Let us say we hear of a teaching called 'the Shepherding movement' - I know, I'm taking you back to the 1970's and 80's with this, but stay with me.

The Shepherding movement started as a 1 on 1 discipleship and mentoring teaching that gained popularity very fast. Soon, like so many other core teachings, disciples of the Shepherding movement took things to a new level. If 1 on 1 accountability was good, then why not extend that to the whole church? Soon many churches taught that people in the pew couldn't change jobs, sell or buy cars, sell or buy houses and such, without first getting the approval of the elders. Church leadership controlled every aspect of life.

The trouble is that 'shepherding movement' is stamped 'God approved' so well meaning people go along with it, laying aside their common sense, losing their backbone, in the name of God. (False religion always asks people to suspend and ignore common sense, giving their own authority over to leadership)

Now...you try out that church...you go on a Sunday morning and something seems off to you but you can't quite put your finger on it. There is an uneasiness in your spirit. Your first instinct is to walk to the nearest exit, but you are curious, and the worship seems good, and the people are friendly...but there is a tension in the air and something not peaceful in your spirit. So you have the Spirit of Truth telling your spirit something is off...you need to confirm this.

Then it comes from the pulpit...the Word sounds good, but laced thoroughly with accountability at every point, too emphasized in fact and there is a growing grievance, a heaviness in your spirit. You leave with mixed emotions and that nagging in your spirit that says something isn't right. What do you do?

You examine things. The issue of mentoring from one generation to another, older men and women bringing along younger men and women in the faith is throughout the Bible...so far so good. But your spirit through the Holy Spirit isn't in agreement with the spirit in this church...so you dig further and hear that people are asking permission to change jobs and buy cars...and you can't find that kind of control in the Word, your mind suddenly knows why you felt that grievance, and you never go there again. Ta da, you just went through the same process Paul and Barnabus, Peter and James did in Acts 15. You found the balance of the Word and Spirit!

Barb and I attended a little charismatic church some dear friends attended. We thought OK, nice church, we know a few people, the service should be good. The worship was good enough though a little too 'religious' for us - mercy drops falling around and woe is me I'm a worm sort of thing - but it did turn briefly vertical to actually express love to the Lord, and then that pregnant moment of silence when you know it is OK to let a single prophecy manifest. :)

But the prophecy from a worship team member started out: "My little children, your lips say you love me, but your hearts are far from me..." and it went downhill from there. My spirit was so grieved. Barb and I looked at each other in horror. In truth, we felt terrible for our friends who thought this was a genuine word from God.

Our spirits were grieved, and we also knew the Word. In I Corinthians 14:3 it says prophecy is for "edification (building up), exhortation (encouragement), and comfort." This was none of the above as it was all condemnation - it came from the person's own spirit, their own religious mind, and wasn't God at all...it was veiled preaching to a congregation eager to hear how displeasing to God they were...they felt lower than a snake's belly when we left. So we had the Spirit and Word telling us that wasn't a word from God - but our friends were blind to it all. They laid aside common sense, the Word, and what the Spirit was saying...

I need to close out this series next week, for I've run out of space today. Until then, blessings,

John Fenn
www.supernaturalhousechurch.org