Hi all,
Last week we established Jesus came legally into the earth, by human birth, but how was this accomplished? 
 
We will look at 3 amazing passages that describe in detail what it was like for the Son to be given by the Father to human conception. 
 
The first is Philippians 2: 5-11, with verses 6-7 that interest us today:
 
 "...Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death..."
 
I could take this passage apart in the Greek all day long, but 'emptied himself' is accurate. Christ in heaven, in order to become Jesus conceived in Mary's womb, emptied Himself of all rights, privileges, and claims to being Christ. He had to come to earth as one of us and live as one of us. He was going to die as a man for man's sin, so He had to be 100% man. 
 
Notice also the terminology: "..taking the form of a servant (man), being made in the likeness of man", and then from His perspective: "Being found fashioned as a man" or another translation is "Finding Himself fashioned as a man." 
 
I find that amazing, humbling, awe inspiring to the highest degree. What it must have been like to go from all-powerful to being a 'normal' human being!
 
And remember this change was forever. Once He left heaven as Christ the Son given to us, to take upon Himself human flesh, there was no going back. No longer in the Spirit unlimited realm, now He found Himself confined to one place at one time as a man. 
 
The One who designed the human body now had to live in it. The One who previously could be anywhere He wanted at the speed of His thoughts, had to learn to use the legs He found Himself in to walk there. The one who designed the bladder and bowels had to be potty trained. Think of the changes He went through. For the first time He personally learned what sleep was. What being hot or cold was. The one who designed wood had to learn carpentry and use that wood to make things. 
 
And He is still that man today. Still in a human body. 
 
The 2nd passage
In Hebrews 10: 4-7 we find Jesus actually saying this as He left heaven to be conceived in Mary: 
 
(Father) You don’t want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
    you’ve prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar
    that whet your appetite.
So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God,
    the way it’s described in your Book.”
 
Jesus was looking at His human body with singular focus: As a means by which to offer the final sacrifice. 
 
Our question is this: How did the Father 'prepare' the body for Him? Enter Mary in Luke 1: 26-35, and v34-35 in particular:
 
The 3rd passage: Mary and Gabriel
"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God."
 
Those 3 elements: Holy Spirit will come upon her. The power of the highest. Will overshadow her. That is how the conception happened. That is how Christ took upon Himself a body that had been prepared, using Mary's egg, so that He was legally a man. 
 
The key is the middle phrase, 'the power of the Highest' will overshadow you. In Hebrews 1: 1-3 which is my favorite all time passage I think, it says that God spoke to the fathers in times past by many ways, but in these last days has spoken to us by His Son whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom He also made the worlds. Then it continues of the Son: 
 
"Who is the brightness of His (Father's) glory, the (impressed image, like clay on a coin having the image impressed onto it) of His (Father's) person (character, nature), and upholds all things by the Word of His (Father's) power...." 
 
Not the power of the Word, but the Word of His power
"The power of the highest will come upon you" Gabriel said. Notice Christ Jesus upholds all things by the Word of the Father's power. It is not 'the power of the Word', but rather the Word of the Father's power. Big difference. Big difference. 
 
Jesus upholds things as the Word of the Father's power - the Father has the power, Jesus is the expression of that power. When a mom tells a child to clean their room, the power resides in the parent. The child is fulfilling the word of the parent's power. They are the boss. They have the power. Jesus upholds all things by the Word of the Father's power.
 
So when we see Gabriel telling teenage Mary the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power of the highest - the power of God the Father - will overshadow her, THAT is the moment of conception. THAT is the Father's power expressed in His Son, coming to her egg to fertilize it. The Word of the Father's power came into her womb to join her egg, and Jesus was conceived. He was now 100% man. 100% God. Growing in her womb. 
 
The word 'overshadow' is used to speak of a cloud, so the imagery is clear, she was enveloped in the Holy Spirit as Christ came into her womb, the Person of the Power of the Highest becoming human flesh. And later, finding Himself 'fashioned as a man', He chose to humble Himself further, even to death, and that of the cross. As a criminal. 
 
Amazing grace. New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.co

Hi all,
Have you ever wondered how Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb? Was there a legal necessity to accomplishing the conception of Jesus in that way? (Yes)
 
Isaiah 9: 6 begins: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given..." 
The son was given through the child being born. Given from heaven so that He might be born into earth as a man. 
 
This understanding that Christ existed with the Father before He became the man Jesus is carried through the New Testament by the use of either "Christ" which signifies His deity and prexistence, or "Jesus" which signifies His humanity. We remember the 'Son of Man' in the fiery furnace in Daniel, but maybe haven't thought it through. (Get my series: I AM; Who Jesus is; Where He came from, for more about His appearances in the OT)
 
Technically speaking "Jesus" doesn't live in our hearts. Jesus is a specific individual in a glorified human body located somewhere, in one place right now as you read this. When He visits people as He did with Paul and Ananias in Acts, it really is Him - not a hologram, not a projection. He, the man Jesus, is in one place at one time. 
 
"Christ" signifies He is also God, and by the Spirit of the Father knows all things and sees all things. This is how He supernaturally governs His body as the Head. A very rough example is how you can be sitting right now in your chair at home, but in your mind you are with with your child at school, or figuring what they are doing at work in your absence. Except Jesus actually knows it by the Spirit and can be there instantly if He wants to be. 
 
I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it
This is why we pray in the name of Jesus, not the name of Christ. It was the person of Jesus whose body was sacrificed for our sins. 
 
This is why Colossians 1: 26 says we have Christ in us, not Jesus in us. This is why we have the mind of Christ as per I Corinthians 2: 16, and can do all things through Christ who strengthens us in Philippians 4: 13. It's not through the strength of Jesus, a man, but through the strength of Christ Jesus, God in the flesh, that we can do all things and be independent of circumstances as Paul said there. 
 
If you look at a passage you can see when both terms are used, if the emphasis is on His humanity or deity by which comes first. The order of use also reveals the direction the action is coming from.
 
For instance in Philippians 4: 19 it says in response to them giving into his ministry: "And my God shall provide all your need according to His riches in glory, through Christ Jesus."
 
Notice the provision starts in heaven, flow through Christ Jesus to us. The emphasis is divine provision starting in heaven, flowing through Christ Jesus. When we pray the flow is through Jesus Christ. We pray in the name of the Man Jesus, who is Christ, our requests flowing to the Father. We don't pray in Christ's name, we pray in the name of Jesus, the man who won our salvation. 
 
Similarly, Romans 6:3 says we are 'baptized into Jesus Christ', showing the emphasis on the earth-act of water baptism and the human part of Jesus who was also baptized. Do a study of Jesus and Christ, or Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus, and you'll be amazed at the revelation you receive. You'll be amazed how your spirit jumps with life when you contemplate these things. 
 
The door to the sheepfold
The blood of all mankind is tainted by our father Adam. That means in heaven's court man has to pay for the sin. The whole universe, even the natural world is governed by for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Man sinned so man must pay for the sin. 
 
In John 10: 1-16 Jesus spoke 3 parables. If read in a straight line the reader can be confused because He switched symbols for each parable. But in the first parable of verses 1-5, contrasting the difference between the devil and Himself, Jesus said in John 10: 1-2: 
 
"Truly, truly I say to you, he that enters NOT by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs in another way, that one is a thief and robber. He who enters into the sheepfold by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." 
 
Understand the parable. The devil is the robber, the Lord is the Shepherd. The sheepfold is the earth. That is Sunday school lesson from 4th grade. The question is, what is the door to get into the earth where the sheep are kept?
 
The answer: Human birth. 
 
He that enters the sheepfold by the door is the shepherd. The one who climbed in another way is Satan: Not legally, by birth, but by deception. (The 'porter', the gate keeper, is the Holy Spirit, who opens the door for the sheep to be led by the shepherd, and the shepherd leads them out of the sheepfold to heaven). 
 
If you consider the ramifications of of just this parable you'll no longer be concerned about the devil: He has no legal right to be in your life. Jesus does have legal right. Christ is in you. That's why Jesus said we don't pray about demons, we command them out of our lives or of the lives of others. Once a person asks for help, we have the legal right to cast out the one who came here illegally. 
 
For Christ the son to be given, it had to be done legally, thus He had to be born into this earth. But how? That is for next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Sometimes we get to a point that just taking a day to rest isn't enough to recharge. Having a time of worship isn't enough. Praying in the spirit just isn't enough. We get to be like a t-shirt I saw, "It's a beautiful day to leave me alone." lol
 
We need a change of scenery, a distraction by going somewhere for a week or more - and yet we may feel guilty about such things. Should we spend the money? Do we have the money to take such a break? What about all the work we have to do? 
 
Israel had 3 'vacations' built into their yearly calendar, a calendar God gave them. What does it say to us that God mandated taking at least 3 vacations per year, each of which was at least 1 week long? (Plus travel time going to and returning) 
 
Israel's 'vacations'
Deuteronomy 16:16 commands that 3x a year adult males would have to come to the temple, and of course it was a family event. Those 3 required 'vacations' are Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. 
 
In Luke 2: 40-52 we find 12 year old Jesus in the temple with the religious leaders during Passover. Verse 41 says this: "His parents went every year to Jerusalem for the feast of passover." That's every year. Every. Year. Family time!
 
Passover week included the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Sunday after the Saturday Sabbath of that week was the Feast of Firstfruits. This occurs in the March-April time frame by our calendar. In 2019 it is April 19-27. 
 
A mere 50 days after Firstfruits came Pentecost, the 2nd required vacation. In 2019 Pentecost Sunday is June 9. About 4 months later was Tabernacles, which in 2019 is October 13-19. Most Israelites came before Tabernacles to attend Yom Kippur which was the week before, (October 9, 2019) meaning the fall 'vacation' was at least 2 weeks in length. 
 
They had to walk wherever they were going. These trips to the city were not consumed with religious duties each day. Their temple duty amounted to making an offering on the festival, and then the rest of the week was theirs to do with as they pleased. So each week was a true family, community, and national vacation. 
 
There were no cell phones in their day, so when they got out of town they truly 'unplugged' from their life back home. God mandated they leave their home and work for (3) week-long breaks (plus travel time), so it must be healthy for we human beings to recharge in this way. 
 
Can we take a hint from God's command for these 'vacations' as to how He might lead us, some 3,400 years after this command was given? Their trips were low budget: Packing up, leaving home, walking or riding to the city, camping once there or staying at an inn, or with friends or family. They would be carrying money or grain or livestock for an offering(s) to the Lord and spending money. They probably enjoyed going to the 'big city' for shopping, meeting friends and more distant family. It sounds very similar to what we do today. 
 
This was God's idea because He knew if left to ourselves, we'd work ourselves to exhaustion or worse!
 
Purpose to these breaks
When we realize these were whole family events, whole community events, we realize multiple purposes in the Lord's mind. Consider too that when Jesus was 12 his family left the city to return to Nazareth in such a jumble of people that they didn't even know where their son was! It was evidently a safe enough event they at first weren't concerned, thinking him to be with the other families. 
 
How can we emulate what God built in to Israel's yearly calendar? To me it speaks of unplugging from electronics and plugging into the community and family around me. Of actually 'being there' in the moment. And by being there I don't mean physically there but on Facebook or texting with someone back home. It means no work, no social media other than those around me for that week. It speaks of alone time, just the family, seeing the sights, and meeting new people as well. 
 
Look at the timing of God's 'vacations': April, June, October. In the northern hemisphere that is spring, late spring/early summer, and fall. After Tabernacles it was about 6 months to their next 'break'. God didn't require travel in the more difficult winter months which was considerate - that's how the Father is! So gracious.  
 
What does your life look like? 
After we renew our minds to the idea God invented vacations and would want us to emulate the example He gave, we are comfortable with justifying time off. After that comes the budget and planning. It is all a balance; Personal worship time. Praying in the spirit. Taking a full day off each week. Taking a trip somewhere to get you out of familiar surroundings of home and work and all the cares of the world. Balance...find that peace inside, and He will lead you on how to personalize your time of recharging your spirit, soul, and body. 
 
New subject next week, until then, 
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Last week I shared point #1 for regaining spiritual strength and energy, which was about personal worship. 
 
Today point #2: supernatural refreshing: I was on a ministry trip in Mexico in 1986, staying with missionary friends. After dinner our first night the missionary handed me a list of 22 names who said they wanted to move to Mexico to work with them. He asked me to ask the Father which people if any should move there to work with them, and anything else He said.
 
I responded with: "These are people that you know, not me. You should be the one to ask the Father who and if they should come." He replied: "I'm too busy to pray. I'm too busy doing the work of the ministry to take time to pray about it. Do this for me please." 
 
That's how life is
It doesn't matter whether you are a missionary on foreign soil or at home trying to keep life together, we've all felt like my missionary friend, too busy with life to take time to pray. In fact that is pretty much the norm for most. There is a solution.
 
In I Corinthians 14: 18-25 Paul is teaching the proper use of a personal prayer language versus one that needs to be interpreted. He told them if you are given the tongue that needs interpreted, speak it forth if the opportunity is there, or allow another person to give the interpretation - or else be quiet and speak the interpretation to yourself. (v27-28) 
 
In this passage Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11 stating it is about tongues: "With stammering lips and another language will I speak to this people."  
 
Supernatural rest and refreshing for when you just cannot stop to rest
Isaiah's full prophecy about tongues says this: "With stammering lips and another language I will speak to this people. This is the rest whereby the weary will be refreshed. This is the refreshing, but they would not hear." (Speaking of Israel's unbelief concerning Jesus)
 
Tongues is the refreshing, the rest, according to Paul and Isaiah's prophecy. On the large scale we can say that receiving the Holy Spirit IS the spiritual rest all seek. But on a personal level it is also a key to our own rest and refreshing.
 
One day I was on a trip, very tired, looking for rest and refreshing, and this passage came up out of my spirit. I laid down on the bed where I was staying and started praying in tongues lightly, almost under my breath. My mind shifted from wandering to focusing to what was coming out of my spirit, and 10 minutes went by before I knew it. I felt recharged from the inside out. After a few times of doing this I've estimated for me, about 10-15 minutes doing that is equivalent to a 2 hour nap. 
 
You can try it too, and realize each person is different, but this works for me when I absolutely cannot stop to recharge. 
 
Supernatural rest and refreshing on a daily basis
We must first change out mindset to the culture of New Testament truths away from auditorium church culture. 
 
Christian culture encourages the setting aside of personal prayer time either before you start your day or after the day is done, scheduled like we might schedule a trip to the dentist. Christian bookstores are filled with daily devotionals with 'you need to set time aside for God' advertisements, usually accompanied by a verse from a Psalm.
 
Of course in Christian marketing varies by product. Something like ''I have cried to you, Oh Lord, and in the morning my prayer will come before you", from Psalm 88:13 works nicely if you want to guilt a person into morning prayer. Or for that too busy in the morning person or insomniac they present, "At midnight I will rise and give you thanks for your good laws." from Psalm 119: 62, lol.
 
And for the strongest guilt just cover the whole day with Psalm 55: 17: "Evening and morning, and at noon I will pray..." LOL
 
I learned early on in my walk that I don't have the discipline... 
...to set aside time for Him like an appointment. My schedule and family and the ebbs and flows of life prevent me from saying 'every morning from 4: 45-5am I will pray and study.' I refused even back then to be guilted into condemnation that I wasn't doing enough in the Lord that way. 
 
"Hmmm....let me see Lord. I've got that presentation at work so I can't get with you this morning, but I can schedule my lunch early so let's get together then. And if that doesn't work let's see about tonight...tonight is 'Survivor' on TV, oh I don't want to miss that. So if I miss you at lunch I'll give you between 10 and 10: 15 (22:00-22:15) after the show is over."
 
I don't disagree on the need to spend time with the Lord, I just reject the culture of condemnation that makes me a 2nd class citizen of the kingdom if I don't get up at 5am to pray along with the flavor of the month devotional. 
 
The New Testament truth is that Christ is in us 
So we take Him with us wherever we go, whatever we are doing. That means prayer and fellowship with Him can be continual. It also means you'll feel in your spirit when to set life aside to be with Him. Both work together in balance. 
 
That communion and fellowship with Him, is prayer. You don't get up in the morning and 'get into' fellowship with the Lord - as long as you are breathing you are in fellowship in the sense He is in us 24/7. All we have to do is shift attention to Him and start our thoughts to Him. Then be quiet and listen for a response which may come in peace, assurance, a words. 
 
Christ is in us, we are called into fellowship with Him. (I Corinthians 1: 9) Just talk to Him throughout your day! He isn't "up there", He is inside you! You have only to shift your attention to Christ in you...and what I find is that as I pray in tongues while looking down inside my spirit, I feel that rest, that peace, that warmth of His presence in me. 
 
I have disciplined myself that when I'm not talking or working on other things, often when driving, to pray in the spirit. It is the moment of rest in between a whirlwind of activity. So I seek that rest. I discipline myself to enter into that rest by when possible, shifting my attention to pray even just a couple of sentences in the spirit. 
 
When I'm in a store walking down the aisle or on the computer and have a neutral moment, I pray lightly in the spirit, maybe just a line or two. But I keep coming back to it through the day. A sentence or two here, a sentence or two there. Always 'keeping the motor running' under my breath when I can turn my thoughts towards Him, for it is that rest, that refreshing, from the spirit to my soul and to my body. 
 
What happened with the missionary's request? 
I took the list, went to my room, told the Father: "Father, you know I don't want to do this, but I am here staying under his roof, ministering under his authority on this trip, you know I would never ask this of you. But will you go with the flow on this please and give me something on each of these 22 people so _____ can be at peace, thank you." And He did, which I wrote down, presented it to the missionary who looked over my notes, shook his head up and down, had a few questions here and there, and said, "Bears witness. Pretty much what I thought too, thanks." And that was that. 
 
Closing the series next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
 

Hi all,
As I write this the holidays are upon us in full force. In addition to the normal busy-ness of life, now is the season of additional strain including money needed for presents and travel, events involving work and family, food to prepare, and so much more.
 
Many feel like a slogan I saw on a t-shirt: "I'm going to use what little energy I have today to breathe, and maybe blink. That's about it."
 
Or maybe this: "I'm not an early bird or night owl; I'm some form of permanently exhausted pigeon."
 
I'm exhausted! 
In II Corinthians 1: 8 Paul said he and his traveling companions went through a time they were 'pressed so heavy it was beyond our ability'; the idea communicated was they felt like olives under such pressure that oil flowed out. 
 
I think we can all relate to that - our very life being squeezed out of us. But what can we do to refill, recharge, and regain enthusiasm once again? Is it just a matter of letting this season pass and then we can recharge? 
 
Paul told the Ephesians in a startling example of opposites, "Don't be drunk (saturated) with wine to excess, but be filled (fully completed) by being filled with the Spirit..." (5: 18)
 
He does not use the same words to list these opposites. The word drunk means to saturate. The word 'filled' in the phrase 'filled with the Spirit' means 'to be made full and complete'. Filled....complete...with the Holy Spirit. How to do that? His very next words are:
 
"Speaking to yourselves with Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord." 
 
A Psalm in Paul's time was a sung poem (lyrics) accompanied by stringed instrument(s), a hymn was sung without instrument (a cappella), and a spiritual song is one out of your heart to the Lord. 
 
In the phrase 'making melody in your heart to the Lord', the word 'melody' is 'psallontes', and you can see the word Psalm in the first part of that word. Paul is therefore literally saying to 'pluck your heart strings in a song from you to Him'. That's how to be filled with the Spirit, and that filling helps us in times of stress and holiday pressures. 
 
Remember too the word for 'worship' as used in John 4: 23 where Jesus reveals the Father seeks people to worship Him in spirit (from the heart) and truth (not worshipping with an ulterior motive), is 'proskuneo', literally, 'to kiss towards'. The Father is seeking 'kisses', covenant kisses given from our spirit with nothing else on our agenda than to express love to Him. 
 
Spiritual songs can be a sung prophecy, divinely inspired and we see that very often in house church meetings. It can also be just you and the Lord, you pouring forth from your heart all the love and thankfulness you have towards Him, using your words out of your heart rather than someone else's words set to music - it is the music of your heart strings to Him.
 
The question today is this: 
Have you developed personal worship? I'll ask another way: If the church where you go suddenly didn't have a worship band and leader, and the pastor asked the congregation to stand and worship - would you immediately raise your hands and start worshipping, able to block everything out to pour forth of your heart in love to the Lord? 
 
Can you pluck your own heart strings to worship Him? If the answer is no, then develop the practice of addressing the Father in your own words how you feel, how grateful you are to know Him, how if you weren't born again you'd be at the least a miserable human being, and possibly dead or in prison - find your own words and express that to Him in word and song.
 
A friend who with her husband led a house church once complained to the Lord, telling Him, "I miss the worship of the traditional church". In a shock to her, He responded immediately: "You don't miss the worship, you miss the music, for worship flows from your heart out of your intimacy with Me." 
 
Many Christians never develop personal worship in the first place, yet Jesus said the Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit (purity of heart) and truth (no hidden motives in your worship). 
 
But you can actually have those times while going about the business of life. 
 
Conversational thanks and fellowship
One of the things I've done since my teen years was to include the Father in everything I do in a running conversation. Even if a busy day means I have to break away to attend to things for hours at a time, I often pick up right where I left off. In that way I found I do the do's so I didn't have time to do the don't's, if that makes sense. As soon as I open my eyes to the morning light I start by thanking Him or complimenting Him on a beautiful morning...and I go from there, even now after all these years.
 
I will often ask upon hearing an opinion from someone, "What do you think Father?" or if it pertains to the body of Christ, "Do you have a thought about that Lord?" - I'm always asking for the opinion of the Father on things, and then I shift my attention to my spirit man to see if I get a grievance, or a neutral (no opinion, no comment), or sometimes I hear directly His words. 
 
I look for 'God-incidences', coincidences I know are from Him, a 'wink', a clue that He is there and oversees my steps. From all this flows worship, thanks, gratefulness, always...even when major things are going on. I find something, anything, to be thankful for and in. 
 
When we turn our attention off self and all the activity of life onto Him, even in short shifts of attention to offer a quick 'Thanks Father', we find He pours into our spirit a rest and energy that keeps us fueled up and going strong. Next week, a supernatural way to regain physical strength... 
 
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com