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The Word of life which we have, 3 of 3, Honoring life

10/29/2022

Hi all,
There are several Greek words translated 'life' in the New Testament. For example, one is 'bios', which refers to physical life. It is the root of the words 'biology', and biography, which is the written (graph) life (bio) of someone. Another word translated life is 'anastrophe', which means a quality of life, a behavior of life.

But, when talking about God's quality of life, we see the word 'Zoe' used, often combined with 'aionios', which means 'age-long' or 'eternal.'

Zoe is the life that comes from God and is therefore self-existing and self-sustaining.
To the world, we look like just another person and our lives look like 'bios', natural life. But residing in our spirit man we have the 'zoe aionois', life eternal - God's life. That life in our spirit which is self-sustaining and self-existent, is flowing out to and changing our soul - our mind, intellect, emotions - in a life-long process, flowing out to the world and people around us.

Because our true life is eternally self-existent and self-sustaining, we should cherish what we have deep in our souls. It is a mystery to those on the outside who think we live by mere philosophy or believe superstition.

The mystery of godliness
In I Timothy 3:9 and 3:16 Paul talks of the 'holding the mystery of godliness in a clear conscience' and 'great is the mystery of godliness'. That mystery of godliness involves the fact eternal life, Zoe, has recreated our spirit-man. It is a mystery to those on the outside, to those not in the body of Christ.

To others we are foolish, but to those who believe, the cross is the power of God. The word 'mystery' or in the Greek, 'musterion', does not mean something which cannot be known. It means something revealed by revelation.

The word means something known after having been initiated into the mystery. In other words, it can only be known by revelation. For instance, before you were born again the Word of God made no sense to you. But once born again, which was your initiation into the kingdom, the mysteries of the kingdom of God were and continue to be revealed to you. Revelation knowledge is given by God to those who have been born into the family, adopted into the family of God. (Ephesians 1:3--5...)

Paul used this same root to describe how he lived. In Philippians 4:10-13 he thanks them for their financial support when he left there to go to Thessalonica (The end of Acts 16 and start of Acts 17). He tells them he wasn't coveting the gift, but was thankful for it. He made a statement that doesn't come across with the same dramatic tone that it does in the Greek, so allow me to write a Greek translation of v11-13:

"...I have learned this truth; I know how to be self-sufficient, independent of circumstances. I know how to be brought low, I know also how to abound. In everything and in all things I have been initiated into the mystery of how to abound while being full or hungry. That is: In all things I have strength in the One strengthening me."

Most people know the King James Version which says;
'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me', and take it to mean if they can just tough it out, if they can just hang on, if they can just try a little harder, God will come through for them.

But that's not what it says. Paul is sharing his heart and life experience to the Philippians, and indeed his letter to them is his most intimate and revealing of all his letters. He shares how he has been initiated through a mystery, discovered in times of lack and times of abundance. That mystery is that eternal life in Christ makes him self-sufficient, independent of circumstances, for he can do all things through the one strengthening him.

It is through the initiation into the mystery of eternal life that we learn our lives in Christ are in fact independent of any circumstance swirling around us. Our life in Him is not dependent nor affected by circumstance. It is eternal life, Zoe life, the eternal life of God which is self-sustaining. That's Life.

That is why towards the end of his life, the apostle John when writing his gospel and his first letter, of all the things he could have said of Jesus, chose to emphasize: "In Him was life, and that life is the light of men' and 'for the life was manifested'.

Again, we need to realize that each one of us belong to a special 'club', as people who have been initiated into the mysteries of eternal life, the mysteries of godliness. When I was first saved I heard the term that the army of the Lord is the only army that shoots its wounded. That's so sad.

When I sit in one of our house church meetings across the living room from someone, I look at them and see the grace of God - a fellow initiate into the eternal life of God and its mysteries. I esteem them for the life they have in Him and what He has done in their lives. Jesus loves them equally as He loves me. We are equals.

In Galatians 2:9 Paul says that Peter, James, and John extended the hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas, when they 'perceived the grace in us'. These men had very different ministries, for the 3 were sent to the Jews while Paul and Barnabas were sent to Gentiles. Those differences could have divided them, but instead they esteemed one another for they perceived the grace in each other's lives.

We must realize what we have when we say 'eternal life' and live in a way that esteems, respects, and cherishes that life. We should do all we can to protect that life, to not grieve the Holy Spirit. To actually apply long suffering and making allowances one for another. Love fulfills God's law, and it is easier to walk in love if you realize fellow believers have the same eternal life you do - they've been initiated into the mysteries of God.

Of all that the Father has brought you through, from the start when you just wanted saved so you wouldn't go to hell or you needed rescued from some circumstance in your life, to now when you realize you have the life of God in your spirit, let us focus on that special fact. Let us focus on that unique truth among us, that in Jesus Christ is life, abundant life, the life that came from His Father, and He has given it to us. Wow, what amazing grace!

New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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The Word of Life, what we have. All have eternal life, 2 of 3

10/22/2022

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Hi all,
Last week I asked the question: Why did you get saved? And secondly, has the reason you walk with God now changed since you first believed?

When did the recognition you have life come for you?
For Peter it came fairly quickly, for in John 6:68 after Jesus spoke some very difficult parables and many disciples stopped following Him, He asked if the 12 would leave Him too. Peter's response was a revelation of the core of why he was following Jesus:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

Peter and John realized the truth Jesus stated in John 5:26: "The Father has life within Himself, and He has given to His son to have life in Himself."

What makes Christians unique is this fact: We have life.
Being a Christian is not adhering to a philosophy, which is how most unbelievers see us. They often see us as having strong opinions about Jesus while giving up our intelligence to believe fables. Unfortunately many do seem to lay common sense and logic aside in the name of 'faith'.

Being 'born again' in our spirits means we have life. Often in the New Testament the life of God is coupled with the word 'eternal' or 'everlasting'. I would suggest we have heard 'eternal life' so often we've become numb to exactly what that means.

All human beings have eternal life, meaning we will live forever, because we are spirit beings. The same is true of the angels and former angels. When a person dies they will go to the kingdom they are a citizen of - either the kingdom of darkness which is ruled by a fallen cherub* who doesn't want anything to do with God or His life. Or they go to the kingdom of life and light to be with the Father and Lord because they love life and light and the things of God. *Ezekiel 28:16

But as far as we know, everyone has eternal life. God the Father is a (Holy) Spirit and lives forever, so whatever spirit beings He creates live forever. They continue to exist after this earth-body dies. Satan and his followers continued to exist though they rejected life and a place without life had to be prepared for them. (Revelation 12:8, Matthew 25:41).

When I look at old photos and watch old movies, I often think, 'All those people are still alive, I wonder where they are now?' In Matthew 22:31-32 Jesus said, "...God said, 'I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob', so God is the God of the living, not the dead."

Words of this life
In Acts 5:17-20 the high priest had all the apostles arrested and thrown in prison. An angel releases them with the instruction in v20: "Go, and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life."

This life - which life? - this life. How is our life different?

You have probably heard people say that before a person comes to the Lord they are spiritually dead
But that isn't scriptural. Some believe before we come to the Lord our spirit man is dormant, or 'has the nature of Satan', or in some other way inert. But that's not scriptural either.

Ephesians 5:8: "Before you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So live as children of light."

We were darkness - we weren't dormant, we weren't inert, we weren't spiritually dead, we weren't spiritually asleep. We were spiritually alive, but that life was darkness. We existed in spiritual darkness. Our spirit man was alive in that darkness. If we were to have died without Jesus, we would have continued to live in that kingdom that rejected Him. But we changed kingdoms by giving our lives to Jesus.

Colossians 1:12-13 says the act of our spirit man being recreated by the Holy Spirit caused this to happen: "We give thanks to the Father who made us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has translated us out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son."

We don't get saved all by ourselves. Jesus said in John 6:44 that no one comes to the Lord unless the Father draws them. Not a single person in the Old Testament or gospels before the resurrection was born again - yet they heard the Lord and Father, and had amazing spiritual experiences and miracles. They could function in the spirit realm and the realm of the Spirit of God. But they were not born again.

How many of us before we were born again, obeyed or were aware of a premonition, hunch, gut feeling, or knowing something before it happened? How did that happen but by the Father being gracious to you in the process of drawing you to Himself. The Father put in your un-born again spirit, information about something that was going to happen, or something that wouldn't work out that you knew 'in your gut' or 'had a hunch' about.

If He couldn't deal with us about Jesus before we were saved, none of us could be saved -
It is while in the midst of sin that He reaches out to us, to touch us, to communicate to our spirit about the Lord Jesus. Our spirit isn't dormant, for those formerly in the occult know full well their spirit functioned in that realm.

A doctor was a student of mine when I was the Director of a Bible school, and he told me he had been part of all the main religions, as well as New Age. He said he was looking for life in those religions. One day he realized each religion taught a sliver of truth that could be found in the person of Jesus Christ. By process of elimination, he realized all wisdom dwells in Jesus and believed in Him, and was immediately fulfilled in his heart.

But what was he looking for when he was trying each religion? Life.
Back in 1981 a group from our church made regular 'witnessing' trips to the red light district of Denver, Colorado. We would walk the streets talking to addicts, prostitutes, and people coming and going to the clubs and bars in that area of town. One day a prostitute listened to us and believed in Jesus, and her life was transformed. She mentioned in all those relationships and the way she earned her living, was all a search for something, and she found the answer in Jesus. What was she looking for in sexually based relationships? Life.

A friend of mine shared his life before Christ consisted of 4 packs of cigarettes a day in a fast paced hardened corporate career. He said he just thought if he had enough money, had enough things, that one day it would fill the emptiness and lack of purpose he felt in his heart. His wife, realizing their lives and marriage were empty, came to the Lord and led him to the Lord. At that point he quit smoking, left the corporate world to seek employment in church - anything to be around the things of and people of the Lord.

What had he been looking for when he was striving in the corporate world to be the best, the richest, the one with the most 'toys'? Life.

They were looking for, in a word: Life
When we read the gospels we see that what Jesus meant to the disciples when they first met Him, changed over time. To some, He was going to be the Messiah that kicked the Romans out of Israel. To Peter and Andrew, He was the Messiah that John the Baptist had talked about and they wanted to know more. To Matthew He was the one who called him out of the job of tax collector that was hated by everyone.

We experience a similar transformation in our walk with Him. When I was 16 and came to the Lord, it was in part because I needed a father because my own dad had left our family, and I was looking for purpose. But now, not too far from 50 years of walking with the Father and Lord, I'm focused on that Life that I have inside me.

Maybe you too came to the Lord due to a tragedy that turned your heart to something solid and sure. Maybe you were a truth seeker like the doctor I mentioned above, and eventually the Father led you to Him. Maybe you had given yourself to some habit to dull the pain of life - whether it was drugs, alcohol, sex or money. But over time why you got save has changed.

We have life. But what is it? That's for next week, until then,
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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The Word of Life - what we have, 1 of 3

10/14/2022

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Hi all,
Why did you get saved? Is the reason you got saved the same reason you walk with Him now? This series will think that through, and look at what we have, with the consequences and benefits.

My mom got saved when her husband, my dad, left the family when we 4 kids were ages 11, 9, 7, and 5. She was left trying to raise we four, keep the house, and earn a living - she turned to God in the midst of tragedy.
I got saved a few years later because I was looking for a father - and found my Father!
I led my girlfriend and future wife to the Lord, she got saved in part to be able to cope with her dysfunctional family.

What was going on with you that you got saved at that particular time in your life?

In John 1:41-42 Andrew brought his brother Peter to meet Jesus
"We have found the Messiah!" That was why he introduced his brother Peter to Jesus. To the first century Jewish man, Messiah meant He would kick out the Romans and restore Israel to her former glory. That's why they got 'saved'.

Perhaps Peter needed proof Jesus was Messiah, maybe he needed to see something as he thought on his brother's claims about Jesus. He didn't leave everything to follow Jesus at that time.

Wisdom
But later, Luke 5:10 tells us Peter, James, and John were partners in a fishing business. We know from the events of Luke 5 they owned at least 2 fishing boats (v2). Jesus told them to launch into the deep and let down their nets - plural - and there was 1 net per boat. So Jesus' command was for 2 boats to be launched.

Peter wasn't a believer, so launched 1 boat and 1 net, and ended up ripping the net and nearly sinking the boat. A good lesson for us, that before the Lord does miracles in our lives, He will usually require us to do what is right in the natural to be able to contain what He is about to do. It's the same reason when feeding the 5,000 He first had them sit down in groups of 50s and 100s, so they could handle the miracle that was about to happen.

Back to the story
When Peter saw the miraculous catch of fish, he fell on his knees before the Lord in v8, and told Jesus to leave him immediately because he was a sinner. Peter got saved upon seeing proof Jesus was who his brother Andrew claimed He was - how about you? Did you require proof as well? (I did. I watched 7 prayers being answered by the girl and her boyfriend who led me to the Lord, and then I gave my life to Him.)

Instead of leaving, Jesus invited Peter to become a fisher of men. Why do you think Peter followed Him? What was he looking for by giving up his business to follow this itinerant teacher? Same with James and John - poor Zebedee their dad, who was left with 2 boats, a whole lot of fish, and no workers! Why would his boys leave their business and their father to follow Jesus?

The teenager and future apostle John
The apostle John is thought to have been the youngest of the disciples, about age 17 when he and his older brother, James, started walking with the Lord. We don't know much about him other than he and his brother were partners in a fishing business with Peter. We know he had a mother that was quite forward, asking Jesus that her sons sit with Him in His kingdom in places of honor, one on His right and one on His left. (Matthew 20:21). We know he was the only apostle remained at the foot of the cross. And the only one who died of old age, somewhere around the year 100-110AD, after writing the gospel that carries his name, 3 letters, and The Revelation.

We don't know exactly why at the start, the apostle John 'got saved' and decided to leave fishing for a life with Jesus. Perhaps it was that claim of being Messiah, and that would mean a career move as his mother wanted - James to sit on one side of Jesus in His kingdom and John on the other side.

When we get saved it is often for selfish reasons
Sometimes we need help, like maybe on the verge of suicide or dying of a destructive habit or relationship. But even if we get saved to keep ourselves out of hell or more lofty motives like knowing God is the greatest adventure, it is still for selfish reasons. So maybe the apostle John saw following his big brother and Peter, his business partners, to a life with Jesus as an escape from a career his father had picked for him. We don't know.

But later in life, some 60 years after the events of the gospels, he writes the gospel of John. His motives have changed. His reason for walking with the Lord has changed over time. He opens his gospel of John with these words:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and there isn't anything made that wasn't made by Him. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men." (1:1-5)

The 60 years between being a zealous 17 year old following his big brother and his friend to walk with Jesus had changed him. At the start of his gospel he stripped away every other reason for walking with the Father and Lord, to recognize this fact: "In Him was life."

About 10 years after he penned the gospel that bears his name, he wrote the first of 3 letters, which we know as I John. He again makes the point that Jesus is Life:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have handled with our own hands, the Word of Life. For the Life was revealed, and we have seen it and bear witness to it, that eternal life which was with the Father, has been revealed to us." I John 1:1-2

We don't know at what point John's relationship with Jesus changed from expecting Him to kick the Romans out of Israel, to recognizing the core truth: He is Life.

We are unique. There are two types of people walking the earth. Those who have God's life in their spirit, and those who don't. There are some who are close, as seen in Mark 12:28-34 in the scribe who answered Jesus discreetly: "You are not far from eternal life."

Let us move from getting saved for fear of hell, or because we needed in the midst of a tough situation, to understanding what we have - God's life in our spirit. How special, how unique - that He gave us His life. More on that next week and what it means in day to day life...until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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Final thoughts on spiritual warfare

10/7/2022

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Hi all,
Some final, very practical thoughts on spiritual warfare.

Demons can't read your mind
Demons and even Satan himself, are only individuals. They cannot read our minds. For people who have been taught to be on the look out for the devil, the question of demons reading our minds is important. They may even find it hard to believe he can't read their minds.

And along with that, demons can understand tongues because we speak the languages of earth and heaven. But what does it matter? We are praying to the Father, so who cares who knows what we are praying? If you realize demons have no authority in your life, you won't really care what a demon may or may not know or understand - they are immaterial and irrelevant. Christ in me is all that matters.

For example: How much revelation from God did you have, how much did you know, before you were born again? The answer is very little. It wasn't until after your spirit was recreated by the Holy Spirit that the things of God became things that you knew, that suddenly made sense to you. That is because you were before in darkness, alienated from God, having very little revelation. But once in the family, the truths of the Father were revealed.

Now imagine beings thousands of times in greater darkness than you used to be.
If you being human had no light of God in your life, no personal revelation of the things of God, how much more in the dark and ignorance do you suppose demons are? They can't read your mind.

This is why we get weird thoughts and weird temptations that make no sense floating across our mind - they don't have a clue what we are thinking so they just throw things out there to see if any of it gets taken by us as a thought. Further, many demons have been around families for generations. In the same way the Father gives us angels to be in charge, Satan's perversion is that demons can be assigned to families, and are what the Bible calls 'familiar spirits'. Familiar because they have been around a family, often for generations, using up one body after another through the decades.

So they know what makes you stressed or afraid by observation, not by reading your mind. Relax, they are nothing to be afraid of - knowing they don't know your mind, that they can only guess what you are thinking because they know you and have observed you or your family for years, shouldn't bother you.

This is why what we say and what we do are so important. They observe us. By your words you reveal your heart. In the same way your words reveal your will to another person, your words also limit or give information to demons enabling them to act, or run away realizing there is nothing for them with you.

Cast them out
Jesus said to simply cast out demons. He didn't go looking for them, but when a person crossed His path who had a demon, He commanded them out. The same is seen in the book of Acts.

There is only 1 record of anyone talking to a demon, and that was Jesus talking with the boss demon, Legion, in Mark 5. That was just to determine who was boss over those thousands of spirit that man had, so He could cast them out. Ministries who regularly talk with the demons are off balance, for there was only that 1 time in the NT it was done, and that by the Lord for specifically learning who was boss over thousands.

You cannot override someone's free will
In Matthew 15:22 Jesus is asked by a mother to heal/deliver her daughter. In Luke 9:38-42 a father seeks healing and deliverance for his son, in the Greek 'boy', which is younger than a teen.

Going back to even 500BC we find Jewish tradition (in the Mishnah, the oral law) stating that a parent is responsible for the actions of a child until they turn age 13 (sometimes 12 for girls). That coming of age ceremony is called a 'bar mitzvah' for a boy, 'bat mitzvah' for a girl. It is based on the onset of puberty.

But many parents, including Barb and I, found that the Lord roughly follows the same principle. I remember laying hands on and commanding the fever away of one of my sons when he was young. Nothing happened, which was unusual. When I asked the Father why, He told me simply: "He knows enough and is old enough to stand on his own faith. He's responsible now."

If you have a teen or adult child, and they are not walking with the Lord
Perhaps even doing things where you discern demons are involved in their lives, your authority is very limited. You can intercede for them, and even command the demons away from them, but if they willfully live that way, the demons don't have to obey you. At the most, your loved one finds relief for a time, but when the demons return they give in, and the cycle begins all over again.

Perhaps that is why Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1:17-19, 3:14-20, and Colossians 1:9, all have to do with the Father reaching people and dealing with people in their hearts, not by rebuking demons in their lives. Ultimately, deliverance must start in the heart of a person - they must first reject demonic influence found in that habit, that addiction, that sin. There is no prayer of intercession for others recorded in the NT that involves casting demons out of someone' life, it's always about how they may be strengthened in the Lord, and see His call on them.

The body of Christ in Ephesus had been before Christ, involved in deep occult practices (remember Acts 19 records they burned their books on the occult when they came to the Lord). So we would expect Paul to write about demons extensively in his letter to the Ephesians - but we don't see that. We instead see prayers for the eyes of their understanding to be opened, for them to be strengthened by the Father's Spirit in their inner man, and so on. Those prayers are focused on Christ in them and walking in who they are in Christ.

Personal sin and demonic influence
Romans 13:14 says; "Put on the Lord Jesus, and don't make provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof."

The devil gets much more blame for the private sins of believers than he is responsible for. There is no demon mentioned here by Paul: he says you deal with your flesh. The Greek of Romans 13:14 for 'provision' is the word 'pronoia', from 'pro' which means before, or ahead of time, and 'noia' meaning 'to think'. Literally then: "Put on the Lord Jesus, and don't think ahead of time how you will fulfill the lusts of the flesh."

Demonic attack in sleep
Not all dreams are spiritual, many are the product of stressful lives and the cares of this world. But sometimes people fight demons in their sleep. Early on in ministry we noticed people who had been sexually or otherwise abused (verbal or physical) battled demons in their sleep.

For example, if a man molested his daughter, or a boy was molested by an uncle or older boy in the neighborhood, or things like that, the demons that motivated those attackers will often seek to continue to harass the victim, often in their sleep.

I have no chapter and verse on this, just experience. Demons seek people so they may expand their influence, or if the perpetrator dies, those spirits are left without influence, so will seek out the victims of the perpetrator. Often the perpetrator is still alive, but the girl or boy grew up and out of that authority structure (like family, or a social club like Scouts) that opened the door for the demons, so the demons will seek the victim to try to gain authority in their adult life. Often that is in their dreams - I don't know how it works that they harass at night, but I've seen it countless times.

Again, set your will.
Fight them in the name of Jesus, even in your sleep, using His name, and they will soon find no place and will leave that person alone. If this goes on for years, experience has shown that sometimes the victim has not fully dealt with the damage that was done to them, so it keeps the wound open and therefore the door open for those demons to harass them. Sometimes not. Sometimes the demons are strong-willed and try repeatedly. But you have to assert your will as stronger and set, and they will go away. First the attacks will lessen, then months apart, like they come back every once in a while just to test things to see if anything has changed with you. But if one's will is set, those demons will at some point give up, even if that person is working through the injury to their soul.

The subject is huge and my teachings in this space aren't meant to be exhaustive on any subject, but I hope beneficial and food for thought. New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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Trench warfare or having already won? Using our authority against us 4 of 4

10/1/2022

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Hi all,
Today I'll share part of a visitation I had with the Lord decades ago, but it changed my life. I rarely share it because it is personal and some of the questions I asked of Him were due to events in my family and in the families of people close to me. But I will share part.

I had been thinking on Matthew 28:18:
"All power (authority) has been given Me in heaven and earth, therefore you go..."

The Greek word translated in some versions as 'power' is actually 'authority', or exousia. Jesus said;
"All authority is given to me in heaven and in earth, you go therefore and teach all nations.."

The difference between power and authority can be seen in a police officer. The gun they carry is power, but traffic stops or goes when they hold up their hand by authority. When they give directions to traffic it is not anything within themselves that stops traffic, it is that they have the authority of the government to cause people to obey.

All authority was given to Jesus by the Father, therefore we are to make disciples. Why 'therefore'? Because we are in Him and He in us, we are the ones who are charged with exercising His authority in the earth.

Like a police officer who has authority to use power, so too we have authority to use the power of God. And in the same way that both authority and power must be in place within an officer of the law, so too we Christians should be living in both the authority of the Lord and able to use the Father's power (by His Spirit) where He wills.

It is the power of the Father by His Holy Spirit that authority is teamed with. The Word and Spirit agree, so though you may have authority to use His name, you must be doing that in teamwork with the Holy Spirit, who is the power. Jesus said He cast demons out by the Spirit - the Holy Spirit is the power that actually does the work.

You can speak the name of Jesus as many times as you want, and you have the authority to do so, but unless the Holy Spirit joins with that use, nothing will happen. When the Spirit is joined with the Name, all it takes is one mention of that Name to release the power of God into the situation.

That's why I take time to linger as I pray for someone. It's why in our conferences we break up into small circles of 6 or 8 people so each person can be prayed for with time to linger so all can know the mind of the Father and therefore how His Spirit will minister to the one receiving prayer.

I train people to first determine the will of the Father by where the Holy Spirit is moving, before we use the name of Jesus in prayer for the person. You can also tell how little faith in the Name a person has or how dull they are to the Spirit if they just jump right in with many words that sound all powerful and full of declaration. And if they pray and use His name multiple times and/or use various religious formula's as if they can add to the power. It's very simple: If you know by the Spirit what the Lord wants to do, simply command using that Name of Jesus and it will be done. Short, simple, powerful, because the Holy Spirit does the work.

My question earlier in the visitation about Jesus having all authority as He said in Matthew 28:18, was why the Father allows children to be abused, neglected, even injured or worse in horrible families. If He has all authority, where is He when children suffer like that?

He immediately answered: "The Father created the family and delegated family to mankind. The intent was that family would be the main way the knowledge of His ways would be spread throughout the earth. (There are many OT and NT verses that demonstrate this) Because family is delegated authority, we are shut out of many families because they do not want us nor the ways of the Father."

"The Father often has to wait until that child begins growing up and outside of the family authority structure, which is why many come to me when they are approaching and in their teen or college years. Even if they come to know Me as a young child in the midst of such a family, I am limited by the authority of the family. Sometimes their faith is just between us because no one else in the family walks with Me. In other situations, as soon as a child starts to become independent, it becomes legally possible and right for the Father to seek those children to comfort and begin to heal them, and draw them to Himself. We will not be blamed. On that day all will see that everything we do is just and right that no one may bring an accusation against us."

After some discussion about this, how He must respect the very authority structure He delegated to mankind and related things, He then commented further:

"I do have all authority in heaven and earth, and you are in Me, therefore you have authority in the earth. Satan has no authority. He gets people to give him their authority, then he uses their authority against them. What you see in the world, and even in my people, is the accumulation and culmination of years and often decades of people giving him their authority, which he has used against them, to the enslavement of even whole nations." In many cases multiple generations have grown up giving Satan their authority thinking that is just how life is, to the enslavement of whole families, generations, and nations. When a person is born again, life becomes a journey to take back the authority they had previously (ignorantly) given to Satan.")

Suddenly I saw it. Every person's will is sovereign. In Christ we are in Him and He in us, and we live within His authority. Jesus has all authority. But free will supersedes everything. Being free-willed beings, we can give our authority to whomever we choose - God or the devil. God uses our will and our authority in Him to better us, but the devil uses our authority against us to harass and destroy us.

A person's free will is greater than God and the devil. Neither God nor the devil can make a person do anything. I have often used the illustration of millions of people who don't know God, overcome their addictions simply be their will. Christians have lost sight of the fact they merely need to grow a backbone, a strong will, to overcome the devil. Your will is stronger than any demon. Knowing yourself and determining your will first, before you ever become tempted, is key to living a victorious life. When you know yourself well enough and know the Father well enough that you hate breaking the sweet Presence of His Spirit by the grievance of sin, when protecting that Presence becomes all-important to you; When sin tempts you will be able to say 'That's not me, that's not who I am.', and it goes away.

Anything we have in Christ certainly adds power to the firmness of our decision to break the devil's stronghold in our lives, but the core is that we must decide we won't do ___ anymore. You can't try to resist temptation if secretly in your heart you know you want it. The flesh is always capable of sin, but we are to control the flesh and tell it what it may and may not do.

It is often said of addiction
No one can help the addict until and unless they decide they want help. To put it as Paul did in Ephesians 2:3, sinners sin because by their nature they are 'children of wrath'. That means sinners sin because it is their nature; Christians sin because it's their choice.

Once we set our will, then heaven or hell respond accordingly. When we set our will, and when we know that greater is He in us than he that is in the world. And we know we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And we know we are part of a royal priesthood first adopted into and then born into the family of the king - you won't think you have to search out some formula to overcome your sins or the sins of your forefathers.

You'll realize Christ really does live in you, and you really can go directly to the Father to seek mercy and grace to help in time of need. You will realize you have been given the authority backed up by the power of the Father to command demons away from your life.

Formulas become obsolete. When we spiritually wrestle against authorities and principalities, we do so from the perspective of having already won - we have all authority over them because Christ in us has all authority. Our lives build in momentum: From the first efforts to take back authority we had ignorantly given to the devil, to closing openings for the devil, because all our authority is now directed to the things of the Kingdom of God.

Can demons bring temptation? Yes. Can demons provoke people to attack you? Yes. But if your will is set, and those demons who know you and have watched you over time know your will is set and you have no interest in sinning, when you exert your authority and use that Name above all names, the power of the Father will back you up and vanquish those demons, making any attacks just for a short season.

Godliness becomes dominant, and life though filled with challenges, is lived victoriously....

New subject next week....hope these insights have been helpful. Blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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