Hi all,
My grandfather was a doctor who started his practice in the small town of Philippi, West Virginia, where my mother was born in 1934. Even today Philippi only has a population of 2870, so he was a true small town doctor in the early 1930's. Later he moved his young family to Kokomo, Indiana, where mom grew up, married, and I was born and raised.

One day when I was 17 and visiting my grandparents, granddad used my visit as an excuse to eat his favorite snack; a bowl of Breyers vanilla ice cream - the kind with specks of vanilla bean. As we sat down to our bowls at the kitchen table he began telling me about beginning his practice in Philippi:

Fever
"One day Mrs. Richardson called and made an appointment with your grandma to come to the office because she was sick, but she didn't show up for the appointment that afternoon. (My grandma was a nurse and my grandfather's assistant at that time) I was worried she was too sick to come, so I walked to her home and knocked on the screen door.

It was summer and back then we didn't have air conditioning, we just opened the doors and windows. After I knocked on the front screen door Mrs. Richardson said 'Hello. Who is it?', so I replied, 'Mrs. Richardson, this is Dr. Good. You didn't keep your appointment so I wanted to stop by and check on you. Are you alright?'"

He paused for each of us to take a bite of rapidly melting ice cream, and I became puzzled, as he was holding back a smile and his eyes glistened as he remembered: "She said again, 'Hello, who is it?'. So this time I said a little louder, 'Mrs. Richardson, this is Dr. Good. How are you feeling, do you need help?'

Delirious
"By this time I thought she was delirious from fever, or maybe too weak and disoriented to respond properly, so I was very concerned for her. I quickly ran around to the back door at the kitchen, and it had a screen door like the front. The kitchen was empty except for a parrot in a cage, so I knocked on the door and peered through the screen with my hands cupped around my eyes as I called out quite worried, "'Mrs. Richardson, this is Dr. Good. Do you need help?'" (I was on the edge of my seat as now I was worried for her).

But granddad started to laugh so hard he had to wipe tears from his eyes, leaving me confused. I remember suddenly realizing I may not have many times like this with him left, so etched every detail into my young mind, as I tried to guess the reason for his laughter. Grandma made herself busy putting away dishes to allow him time to tell the story, barely containing her giggles, which I suspected came as much from

enjoying him laugh as much as remembering the story.

Hardly containing himself he continued: "John, as I pressed my face against the screen door the parrot

talked to me in a loud and clear voice: 'Hello, who is it?'"

And with that we all burst out laughing as he stated the obvious; "I had been talking to a parrot the whole time!" For me, the laughing was partly due to the story, partly due to the site of grandma and granddad laughing so hard together, she touched his shoulder gently over the shared memory, and suddenly I felt like a by-stander privileged to witness something marvelous and poignant, and which would never come again.

Less than 2 years later grandma died unexpectedly and he lost the will to live. I submitted that story to Reader's Digest for publishing in one of their humor columns, but I was privileged to hear it directly from him. And Mrs. Richardson? He later found out she had begun to feel better so walked to town for some shopping but hadn't bothered to cancel her appointment.

Know the Lord, or just know the Word?
My grandfather thought he knew Mrs. Richardson's will because of her word. She had called my grandparent's house, talked to grandma, described her symptoms, and made an appointment. Then grandma told granddad what Mrs. Richardson had said. He knew Mrs. Richardson by her word relayed through someone else.

Some Christians know the Lord in the same way my granddad thought he knew Mrs. Richardson. An intermediary, a go-between, has told them about Him, telling them what He said, so they think they know Him for they have His Word. But when a crisis comes when they really need to hear from Him, well....

My grandfather discovered he didn't know Mrs. Richardson's voice or else he wouldn't have been talking to her parrot. So too when believers try to follow what they think is God's Word in a crisis or time of decision, they discover they really don't know His voice - and can't imagine why He is being so mean to them, or why faith isn't working or why He seems distant and uncaring. But they don't know Him, they know His Word, what others say about Him, some teaching about principles and concepts. But they don't know Him.

How did they do it?
Christians in our day are doing things backwards from what the first century believers did, yet they turned their world upside down in a matter of years while we find ourselves having less influence in our world with each passing year. New Greek and Roman believers in Jesus didn't know a lot about Jewish culture, they didn't know the Old Testament, and the New Testament hadn't yet been written.

What if all your Bibles and teaching cd's, MP3's and reference books were suddenly non-existent? What if you had no chapter and verse in your memory because there was no chapter and verse to memorize? Answer: You would be faced with getting to know the One who lives in your spirit.

Today we put all our efforts into the written Word and knowing Him by the Word. While that is well and good of course, the first century believers didn't have the New Testament - they got to know His presence within. He was their guide. He was their instructor. He was their leader and help in time of crisis and decision. There were no scrolls to turn to chapter and verse, there was only Christ in them, the hope of glory. They HAD to know Him. We seek principles, they sought God.

No resources
Classic commentators believe Mark's and Matthew's gospels were written as late as 66-70 AD, after the deaths of Peter and Paul and some 40 years after the cross, though some believe Mark and then Matthew were written in the 30's or 40's AD, and some say the 80-90 AD time frame. But those are just 2 gospels out of the whole of what became our New Testament.

Luke ends Acts with Paul in Rome in a rented house, around the year 62 AD so we know Acts was written after 62, and Acts is just part 2 of the gospel of Luke, each originally written to a Roman Christian named Theophilus who wanted to know about this Christ who now lived in his born-again spirit. (Luke 1:3, Acts 1:1)

Peter and Paul both died around 66 AD, and John didn't write his gospel, his 3 letters, and The Revelation until the late 90's or early 100's AD. There was no New Testament for Christians to turn to!

So how did new believers in the first century know God if not by His written Word? It was by knowing HIM. Conversationally, naturally, walking through life with Him. If they needed to know about what the Father had for their future, there was no prayer line to call, no hotline to call where for $20 per month they could call and get a personal prophecy.

There was no Christian conference on deliverance, no conference on getting your kids and family saved, no bookstore with a theology aisle or the study of Old Testament history and culture. They had no resource except the God who lived in them. And that was enough to turn the Roman Empire upside down!

Think of it!
When Paul told the Ephesian believers to no more be 'children tossed to and fro and carried about with every new doctrine coming to them by cunning and deceitful men, but to speak the truth in love and grow up in Him in all things', how were they going to do that without a chapter and verse to stand on? (Ephesians 4:14-15)

When Paul wrote to the Romans, educating them about the Jewish law, and told about how part of him wanted to do right and part of him wanted to sin, and how to overcome sin by walking in the newness of life in Christ, how do you think they were able to do that without chapter and verse, a prayer line to call in time of temptation, and no page to turn to for 'standing on the Word'?

Gilligan's Island
They had to know the Lord inside. Theirs was a determined faith. A purposeful faith. They had backbone, they knew Christ lived in them made a majority in any situation, even in the face of martyrdom. No devil, no Caesar, could separate them from the fact they knew, they felt, they walked with God who lived inside them. They had no chapter and verse on which to stand, they knew His presence inside them.

They had to walk in His presence in them, for there was no other way to know Him. Are you too dependent on what others say of the Father and Lord? What if you had no Bible, no Christian TV, no teaching at all other than the testimonies of those around you as to what the Lord has done in their lives, and your own memories of His faithfulness in your life?

So maybe for a season be like Gilligan and the castaways: No phone, no lights no motor car, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be...set aside our modern helps, and learn to depend on knowing Him, living in His presence, switching your attention back and forth through your day from the world around you, to Him on the inside, and then back again...and converse, offer a thought, ask 'What do you think of this Father?'...and tune your ear to His still, small, voice floating up from your spirit.

And never again lose your single mindedness of first and foremost knowing Him who lives in your spirit; let all else just be support, not the primary focus of Christ in you, the hope of glory.

New subject next week, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org

Conference april 2013 

Dear friends,
I shared a few prophetic things about our nation after the election in my Weekly Thoughts but I'd like to share what the Father told me about hurricane Sandy.

Background first -Back in about 1991 during a visitation with the Lord, He told me that up to about that point in history natural disasters were largely natural, most without prophetic meanings.

Of course we know 'the foundations of the earth are out of course' and the 'creation groans and travails until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God', so weather patterns and disasters happen as a matter of natural life, and will become more intense as we get closer to the Lord, for Paul likens the earth's 'travailing' to the contractions of a woman in labor. (Ps 82:5, Romans 8: 19-23)

In the Bible we see creation, which was made 'by Him and for Him', used prophetically: Noah's flood, Red Sea dividing and drying, the Jordan river parting, the 'earthquake' that brought down Jericho's walls, the sun standing still, the Star of Bethlehem, the darkness in Israel as Jesus hung on the cross and others - but on a world-wide basis over the whole of man's history most natural events have been purely natural.

Judgement or merely warning? Even the years of abundance followed by famine in Joseph's time was a statement of fact on His part, with no attaching of divine significance - just that there would be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, so He moved His servant into place to warn and prepare to save millions of lives. He didn't make that feast/famine happen, He just warned Pharaoh it was coming and graced the whole region with wisdom to make provision.

The prophet Agabus in Acts 11 warned of a coming drought in Judea, but it wasn't the Lord that made it happen as droughts happen as a matter of an earth under the burden of sin - He only provided warning in time to make provision. That is the case with Sandy.

In this 1991 visitation He told me that from that point on the percentage of disasters that had prophetic significance would increase, and this has certainly been the case. For instance, I've already shared when the Icelandic volcano blew a few years ago, the Father told me it signified economic trouble for many of the nation’s its ash cloud overshadowed, and we've seen that in Iceland, Greece, Spain, Ireland, etc.

Timing - He told me about timing - if you look through Biblical examples you'll see it is the timing of a natural event, not just the event itself, which provides an indication of divine significance. The walls of Jericho fell at the exact moment needed, the sun stood still at the time Joshua needed it, the Star of Bethlehem appeared at the right time.

People affected - Timing isn't the only factor. When the Lord uses nature for prophetic significance it is very targeted in such a way that to most people it is just another natural event. The famine that came on Egypt affected that region, but there it wasn't world-wide. The falling of the walls were only Jericho's walls. To a by-stander living 20 miles (32km) away it was a mild earthquake. The magi studied the heavens and saw a new King in Israel coming, but outside of their group no one else noticed and/or were able to discern its meaning like they did.

That is a very brief outline of my basic understanding of the Father using natural events, which is important to know as I asked the Father if Sandy had any prophetic significance for our nation. This is what He said:

Sandy - “Sandy’s timing on the home of this nation’s economy and home of ungodly reasoning is a snapshot (picture) of the next 4 years. Even as you saw lines of people waiting for help because they had made no preparation though they saw the storm approaching, so it will be in this nation in these areas. But those who prepared though times were difficult, did not lack for basic needs. They prepared in the natural, and had a network of friends who supported one another."

He didn't bring the storm about as the earth is out of balance as mentioned above, but as spiritual things go, this one had spiritual meaning for the US. I don't feel to share the rest of what He said because my purpose isn't to make afraid, but to warn for the purpose of being prepared.

We will see economic difficulty but also a storm of ungodly reasoning clashing against Godly reasoning. This is why the days of drive-through faith - "Where is my order God because I need to get this answer and have to move on" - are gone. The days of abiding in Christ, abiding with those on the same spiritual page, are here – just as they’ve always been in our NT. But now is the time to move from theory and mental agreement into a living and practical faith.

In the ‘Frasier’ TV sitcom, in the episode ‘Space Quest’, Frasier’s father, his dog, and his health care worker have just moved in with him. This invasion of his personal space is too much for Frasier, who tries to find privacy at his favorite coffee shop. Instead, his brother Niles drops in, and after hearing Frasier’s complaint about everyone in his life infringing on what he thought his life would be, Niles replies: “So what you’re saying is you want to be closer to dad, but you don’t actually want him around.”

In times past we could paraphrase it this way: “So what you’re saying is you want to experience God and the fullness of the things of the Lord, but you don’t actually want His people around.” Folks, He is moving in relationships - Our family in the faith is our greatest resource – even if you alone or just you and a friend start meeting in your home, remember that where 2-3 are, so is He. Work to develop relationships with those on the same spiritual page…Christ in us, each of us, is our greatest resource and help in times of need.

I only share what I hear, and take it all as a call to prayer. Remember that when you are in God's economy of life, there is provision - II Peter 1:3-4 says ALL things that pertain to life and Godliness HAVE BEEN PROVIDED - and Philippians 4:19 also says (of the giver to set the context) that for them He will provide according to His riches in glory.

There is a storm swirling in our nation, a storm whose winds will ravage all things standing, no matter how old the traditions, the 'buildings' of man just as Sandy ravaged homes that had stood for generations. God's kingdom is advancing one person, one family at a time. But the winds attacking traditional 'religion' and 'Godly thought' will continue, and eventually lead to conservatives/Christians being blamed for the nation's ills - but in the kingdom, exciting days are ahead - stay in peace which is in your spirit, and look for His guidance and provision, for the safest place to be is in His perfect will, not matter what storm swirls around you. Live your faith as if you mean it.

House church and home based meetings will really expand in the coming years, as more and more disciples realize they want and need more of God, and to do 'church' as the NT describes - these are exciting days.

Thank you for your faithful giving and support – It is a privilege to pray for your needs, and to have you part of my life.

Blessings,
John
www.supernaturalhousechurch.org

Hi all,

The town of Rocky Ford, Colorado where I was once a pastor, had a ministerial breakfast each Thursday at a local motel and restaurant.

One morning one of the pastors asked if we'd heard what happened to brother ____ in the nearby city of LaJunta. Many of us knew him, an older pastor of the Lutheran church.

He was visiting a member of his church in the local nursing home, a lady now blinded by diabetes and age, and sat down in a chair next to her bed as they began talking. As they visited he helped himself to the little bowl of peanuts on the nightstand next to her bed until they were nearly all gone.

About 45 minutes into his visit, the woman said: "There really isn't much for me to do at this point in my life. About the only enjoyment I have left is eating chocolate. One of the staff brought me some chocolate covered peanuts, but I don't like peanuts so I just sucked off all the chocolate and spit them out into a little bowl on my nightstand." (I've seen this story printed or told by others over the years since, but I can tell you it really happened.) 

Mistaken identity

Not being able to tell the difference between your spirit and the Holy Spirit can lead to mistaken identity not unlike the pastor above. We make decisions we think are God but turn out not to be, leaving us in confusion and loss wondering how we could do what we just did to end up like we are.

Qualities of our spirit

Barb loves sunset. I love sunrise. Fall is her favorite time of year, I love spring. She has a strong sense of right and wrong. If someone has weird spiritual vibes around them, she notices. I see the potential in people and their gifts. I first notice the spiritual season and process going on in their life.

She is a project person who must complete a project before starting another. Until complete all else is distraction from her task. She is thorough. I flit from project to project, juggling 6 or so projects at once, working a little here and a little there, completing them over time. She reads 1 thing at a time, I am reading 4 books with another 2 I read a page here and there regularly, and 3 magazines. That doesn't count the half dozen or so 'Calvin & Hobbes' cartoon books I have on or in my nightstand, for a little humor and distraction before falling off to sleep.

If I have to focus on a single project around the house for longer than a day, it looms before me as 'work', with no enjoyment in it for me, just a job that has to be done. She relishes long projects and when complete, everything will be in order, in place, and pleasing to the eye. Therefore she gets attached to things, while things hold little attraction to me, though I'm more of a romantic than she in many ways. I love her spirit, she loves my spirit. Our spiritual traits compliment and complete one another.

You are who you are

These are qualities of the spirit man, for it is who we are, how we function, how we relate. There were no soul (emotional or educational) experiences in our upbringings to form us into liking on the one hand sunsets and projects complete, and on the other sunrises and projects started. We are this way naturally.

And the fact that she can only do 1 thing at a time while I can do several, is not a character flaw in each of us that must be changed. Yes, I've learned through her to work a task to completion, and she has learned to be more flexible as it relates to her projects, but having those traits and not others is not a character flaw, sin, or other indication of being imperfect. They are just traits of our Father in us.

The soul is the issue: Confusion begins

The qualities in your spirit man, the things that make the core you, you, will bear witness with another person's spirit who is created similarly, or a similar call on their life. That spiritual attraction doesn't mean God is telling you to go in that direction, it just means your spirit man relates to someone else's spirit.

It is like the Bible student who came into my office in tears, wondering why the missionary's message at chapel so touched her. I told her it was because she too was called to Missions, so her spirit bore witness with his mission work - that didn't mean God was calling her then and there to the mission field, or to work in his ministry, just that they had similar call in life. Attraction is often mistaken for rightness, and even love.

Here are some other examples:

1) A couple both love mountains, so when they visit a mountain town seeking God to see if He wants them to move there, their spirits relate to the setting and they feel peace, so they take it as God and move. When jobs don't arise and life is difficult they wonder why God led them there.

Reality: Their spirit man loves the mountains, but that doesn't mean God wants them to move there. They mistook the qualities in their spirit that make them who they are, for God's voice. As a result they didn't 'do the homework' in the natural, to reason things through, to seek confirmations about the move, to work up a budget and orderly plan, choosing rather to spiritualize everything since God seemed to be involved in their move, which He wasn't.

2) A person interviews with 2 different companies, 1 where the corporate culture closely matches what feels right in their spirit, the other has no spiritual attraction to the corporate culture. They take job #1 but are miserable in spite of the more Christian corporate culture around them, trapped doing a job they hate.

Reality: They were attracted in their spirit to the Godly values expressed in the corporate culture without examining in the natural their actual job description. Had they done so, they would have taken job #2 which closely matched their skills and what they wanted to do instead of thinking the attraction in their spirit to the Godly culture of job #1 was God leading them.

3) There are issues in a person's heart and marriage they know God wants dealt with, but they are afraid of what might happen if they are addressed, so they draw back from church, from the relationships in church, and from subjects too close to the maturity God is trying to birth in them. They know in their spirit this issue needs to be dealt with, but they keep it bottled up inside so no one can get close. (Including the Lord)

Reality: They are running from God because of the spirit of fear instead of dealing with the issue as it confronts them in the course of life. They reason away confronting the issue because 'things aren't as intense now', and God's peace in their spirit is used as an excuse for not dealing with it, instead of understanding that peace is there so they CAN deal with the issue/sin/circumstance. Grace in our spirit is not God's permission to ignore issues; it is His empowerment to deal with issues.

Otherwise they end up doing what James calls 'lying against the truth', which means the wisdom of God is revealed to them in their spirit, but they lie to themselves and others and give excuses. Wholeness in this area is new to them, so they are afraid of what might happen if they confront the issue. Thus while in reality bound by a spirit of fear, they hide behind grace in their spirit, twisting it's purpose.

4) People go through a difficult time like a job change, a death, an illness (mental or physical), and they feel the overwhelming peace of the God in their spirit carrying them through the crisis. Because His peace is so strong in their spirit they refuse to deal with things in the natural realm like the emotions revolving around their future, tending to spiritualize everything. When asked, they refuse to be specific about what they are thinking, won't let themselves think about planning, avoiding direct questions while answering with spiritual sounding answers that say nothing. 

Reality:  They refuse to examine themselves, refuse to admit they are where they are through decisions they've made, or issues they've refused to deal with. They put what is their responsibility onto God, not realizing He will let them reap what they are sowing. The Lord can be very gracious with His peace in our spirit carrying us through difficult times, but that peace is not intended to prevent us from dealing with real life decisions nor ignore issues in our heart, that peace is there in our spirit to empower us to deal with life.

Experiencing His presence daily
You can see that experiencing His presence is not just about during a time of worship or prayer, but

throughout the day in decisions large and small. I can feel Him in my spirit 24/7/365, and a large part of that is realizing He lives inside me 24/7/365 to deal with life as it comes at me - I don't work to 'get into His presence', I live in His presence - and so do you! More next week on this. I hope this is a blessing to you, until next week then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org

Upcoming conference in the Netherlands april 2013
Apply asap 

Hi all,
I'm interrupting my series on Experiencing the Father's Presence to offer some post-election thoughts. Most will recall this from my earlier Weekly Thoughts and my e-newsletter in September of this year:

"I shared a few weeks ago in this space a small part of what the Father told me about the election. I shared this part: "As it stands now, Romney will win the election and the Republicans will take the Senate."

"But I didn't share the rest of what He said because some of what He said hadn't taken place yet. He actually continued talking, telling me who Mr. Romney needed to pick as a running mate to win because that state would prove to be important in the election, and what would happen if he didn't choose that person."

"I only told 2 others at the time what He said, and another since then...but I will report to you that Mr. Romney chose someone other than who the Father commented on that day, so I continue to pray for our country as the outcome is unclear to me at this point. The Father has remained silent about it since then, and usually that means what He said last, stands. Thus the call to prayer."

As a few people know who emailed me back and asked, the Father had told me if he wanted to win he would need to pick Rubio, as the Latino vote would be very important in the election. What He told me in August proved true, as seen in this analysis Presidential and Senate races: http://nbclatino.com/2012/11/06/record-latino-vote-key-to-obamas-re-election/ 

Where now?
Some will remember what I've shared in this space, going back to 2003, when the Father told me: "Watch out when Hillary takes office." At that time she was already a US Senator, so the only 'take office' beyond that was Secretary of State, VP, and President.

Prophecy has a way of being fulfilled in shades of gray, like a person standing on the shore line getting their feet wet and saying 'I got wet', but later wading into deep water and saying again 'I got wet'. Both statements are true, but a matter of degree.

In this same way John the Baptist fulfilled the role of Elijah preparing the way of the Lord, which fulfilled prophecy. Yet Revelation 11 makes it clear 1 of the 2 witnesses is Elijah literally coming to prepare the way of the Lord right before His 2nd Coming. A matter of degree in the fulfillment of that prophecy.

It is safe to say when Hillary became Secretary of State we entered the first days of 'watch out when Hillary takes office', but even back then I pondered the ultimate fulfillment of that word, would be her as President in the 2016 election. Let us watch and pray, for if that does happen, then the 'watch out' we have seen thus far, will seem like toes dipped in the ocean in my example above, with the 2016-2020 being full fulfillment.

Tipping point - prophetically speaking word from the Father
Back in the Kerry/Bush election you'll recall I shared in this space something the Father told me then, when I told Him the spirit was different in that race than I'd felt before, and I asked what it was: "It is the spirit of socialism. It can be delayed, but it won't be stopped." I asked where it came from and He said: "It came from Europe, for there are those in this country who want to make this nation like the European Socialist model, but that is not what I've called this country to."

Folks - with the US Census Bureau reporting that 49% of Americans living in a home that gets direct monetary benefits from the federal government, we have reached the 'tipping point' (that is the phrase the Father spoke to me) towards socialism.

Tyler's (Tytler's) quote says exactly where we are spiritually and politically:

Alexander Tyler (Tytler) 1747-1813
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

AND
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.” Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

What now?
I've also shared how the Father told me to be praying about next year - civil unrest, natural disasters, economic difficulties - and I continue to pray. People just don't know what is coming on this nation and the world, I hope it can be avoided or at least made less severe. One example the Father's told me is that Russia will move in to the vacuum created by a retreating America, and exert much influence, and so much more (I've shared that in this space previously, you'll recall).

But none of these things move me, for the Father's Kingdom is most assuredly bringing the kingdoms of this world to Himself, with the eventual outcome that man's efforts at governing without God will be brought to nought. Let us not get rapture happy, let us prepare ourselves for the transitions ahead. We know the times and seasons, and are not afraid.

When the Lord appeared to me in 2001 and told me to start CWOWI and I asked Him why a house church network, He replied: "Be a resource for them. It's against the time to come, a resource against the time to come."

I am not like the children's story of Chicken Little, running around the barnyard saying 'The sky is falling, the sky is falling', but I am saying know the seasons, know the times in which we live.

Historically speaking, the body of Christ grows fastest when there is economic strain and persecution, and the body meets in homes in small groups - not a miniature of the traditional, but a true home based body-led church connected to and in relationship with a network of other believers.

Remember this?
I've shared in this space a couple times in years past how in 2005 the Father spoke to me. I was driving along thinking back on the previous 10 years, 1995-2005, and how I hardly recognized the country that day (2005) from those days. Back then the issue was (only) Monica Lewinsky, and since then we had the attacks of 9/11 and subsequent war in the Mid-east.

The Father spoke to me: "You say you don't recognize the country now for what it has become in the last 10 years? I tell you the truth when I say you won't recognize it again in another 10 years." (That would take us through 2015.)

What is happening in the economy and culture of the US is also happening in much of the world, and the resource of home based church and the strong relationships are a safety net, a source of strength, and a catalyst for personal growth. It is church as our New Testament describes, balanced in Word & Spirit. 

If you want to be more independent of the world's economy, start entering into God's economy - from giving financially to giving of yourself in terms of doing church as the Bible describes - home church, relationships, and moving those closest to you in the faith up the list in priority so they become closest to you in life.

The Father (heaven) relates to us through the work of Jesus on the cross, but money is on the earth, therefore earth-bound laws apply. And that is why giving is so very important in moving in God's economy. When Jesus said in Luke 6:38 if we give it will be given back to us later, pressed down, shaken together, running over - He indicated giving to God never leaves our lives, it merely enters into our future to be a provision for us at a future date. That makes giving to God an investment, not an expense.  

That is true of all giving to the Lord and His people - time, resources, money, work, wisdom - giving to others enters into your future to be a provision at a future time. That is why home based relationships and church are a resource now and for the future - it requires you to give yourself and of yourself.

Don't write me off now
Christians will listen to the news even though opinions expressed are often 180 degrees from what they believe, yet go back to that same news show the next night. And they will discuss or even argue with a friend over a cup of coffee on all things political and religious, but not end their friendship.

But emails provide a sense of being impersonal that some have knee jerk reactions to what I or others may write - they'll read 200 emails over 2 years but 1 thing written they disagree with and 'unsubscribe' is immediate. Grow up. Don't do that. What I'm saying is of the Spirit.

For whether you agree with me or not isn't important, what is important is that I am telling you as an apostle and prophet, there are difficult times ahead, and what I say here is true and right. When the doctor wants to give you a shot, you don't think, "He is just giving me this shot because he makes money from the drug companies" - No, you realize he wants you healthy!

So don't read into my urging you to be involved in house church and start giving of your time, money, and abilities to others in a regular and disciplined way as self-serving. I have no ulterior motives other than to say we need each other, and if you are a giver now, you will be a giver then instead of standing in line wishing you had Christian friends to share resources with - I share what the Father tells me to benefit the body of Christ.

There is so much more, but these are exciting times, we are seeing such anointing, such manifestation of the Lord in our meetings...truly amazing...He is so good. When you focus on what the Lord is doing it completely dominates you with peace and excitement! A return to the series next week, blessings,

John Fenn
www.cwowi.org
UPCOMING CONFERENCE IN THE NETHERLANDS APRIL 2013

Hi all,
I started this series last week about how to enter into the Father's presence –

I shared that Jesus said His Father is a Spirit, and that we are born again in our spirit man. Therefore it is in our spirit that the Father speaks to us; His (Holy) Spirit to our spirit - all things flow upward and outward from what He shares, reveals, speaks in our spirit. (John 4:24, 15:26-27, 16:13)

How to tell if it is in your spirit
I also shared last week how the 2 on the road to Emmaus commented after the Lord disappeared from their midst: "Didn't our hearts burn inside us while He talked with us...?" (Luke 24:32)

They were describing their spirit man 'burning'. Notice their minds noticed something happening down on the inside of them. The act of your mind noticing your spirit man like they did is something you've done countless times before.

Have you ever spoken something you shouldn't, and as soon as you did you felt grieved, bruised, down inside? That is your spirit man, which is born of the Spirit of Truth, telling you the truth - you sinned - and your mind noticed it.

Now think, where exactly did you sense that grievance? In terms of area of the body, it was in your chest area, or your gut/stomach area, yet it wasn't physical, it was in your spirit.

Sin recently?
Paul said of sinners in Ephesians 4:17-19 of sexual sin in particular, 'who are past feeling, having turned themselves over to loose living and uncleanness...' In the Greek 'past feeling' is 'apalgeo', which means 'to cease to feel pain for' (an act of sin).

We get the English word 'apology' from it, and in this use another way to say this verse is that a person is "past apologizing for their sin". They are calloused and self-righteous in their justification of their sin:

They are past feeling that dirtiness, that unclean feeling, that grievance and remorse when they sin so they offer no apology...that sense of sin happens in the spirit man. The mind is merely 'picking up on' or noticing that sense of grievance, shame, dirtiness that their spirit man is feeling and reacting to.

Branded
Paul later said the same thing a different way: "Now the Spirit speaks specifically that in the latter times some will very slowly depart from the faith, seduced by spirits and teachings of demons...having their conscience seared with a hot iron." (I Timothy 4:1-2)

The word 'seared' is better translated 'branded'. Not surprisingly, it is the Greek word 'kausteriazo' and is where we get both 'caustic' and 'cauterize'. Caustic is something acidic, eating away at you.

It is the act of a hot iron burning the outside skin so that all the blood and juices are sealed inside. Paul paints a picture of this 'past feeling/no apology' made by a person repeating and repeating and repeating a sin, until they become seared over in their conscience, past feeling their spirit being grieved and unable to sense any shame or wrongness about their sin in their mind.

Happy thoughts now
In I John 3:19-21 the apostle John said "If our heart blames us, God is greater than our heart. If our heart doesn't blame us, we have peace before God."

The Greek word 'blame(s) us' is 'kataginosko', made up of 'kata', against, and 'ginosko', to know something. Literally then, "If our heart knows something against us, God is greater than our heart. If our heart doesn't know anything against us, we have peace before God."

When our heart has something against us, that is we sense in our spirit we have sinned, God is greater and all that is required is that acknowledgement in humility as we seek forgiveness and right standing again.

I shared these 'negative' things of the spirit man because all of us know the feeling of sin, and we know the act of our minds noticing our spirit when it feels grieved, shamed, dirty by that sin, and it is important to know the stages of 'desensitizing' that goes on.

Turn that attention to your spirit
It is that exact same act of the mind noticing what is going on in our spirit as it pertains to sin, that also allows us to sense His presence within. We look for His presence in our spirit, which is as simple as turning your attention inside, the same way you do when you misspeak and have that sudden grievance in your spirit that you notice. Start noticing His presence, His peace inside you.

Like I always tell people I've laid hands on for healing; look for the healing, not for what remains to be healed. In the same way, look for His presence, not the last bit of grievance, look for His peace down inside you, in your spirit.

Dinner interrupted
My wife, Barb, had just set a very nice dinner on the table. She had worked on it all day long, slow cooking a beef roast surrounded by carrots and potatoes and onions and herbs and spices in our big black enameled roasting pan. The house was filled with the aroma of the feast we were about to eat.

All 3 boys were seated, and I on one end of the table and she on the other, when after prayer and as we started to portion out the boy's plates, she stopped: "I'm sorry, I just can't eat right now. I've had such a burden to pray all afternoon, and I've prayed as I've cooked, but I can't stand it any longer. I have to go to the bedroom and pray this out, someone's life is at stake."

And with that, she left as the boys and I pondered yet another one of mom's prayer burdens. About 45 minutes later and well after the meal she emerged from our bedroom refreshed and ready to eat. "I don't know who it was for, but it was for someone in Thailand and their life was at stake, so I had to pray it through until I got the victory. When that peace came on me I knew it was going to be OK for them." (This sort of thing has happened countless times in our over 34 years of marriage, as she is an intercessor like no one I've ever seen)

Groaning
Physically speaking, Barb's body was in the kitchen preparing the meal, her mind (soul) was busy with what goes in at what time and how hot the oven should be and do we have clean dishes, sort of thing. In the midst of all that her mind, her soul, also noticed a burden in her spirit. A heaviness, a present urging to intercede not just in our native English, not just in tongues, but I heard deep groanings like someone in labor coming from our room.

Jesus stood near the now dead for 4 days body of His friend, Lazarus. Earlier in John 11 Jesus revealed He knew by the Spirit that Lazarus had died, but as people were trying to arrest Him in that area, He had to wait until released by the Father to go to his dead friend.

Once there, v33 says "...He groaned in his spirit and was troubled." And again in v38: "Jesus again groaning in Himself came to the grave."

If you read the story you see that emotionally speaking, Jesus was overcome with the death of his friend, but emotions didn't raise Lazarus from the dead. It was the intercession beyond words, the groaning in His spirit, that did so.

Romans 8:26-27 describes the deepest groaning of intercession as 'beyond words', which describes Barb's burden for a stranger in far off Thailand, and Jesus at Lazarus' grave.

Rivers from a river
Jesus said in John 7:38 for those who come to Him, out of their 'belly' will flow rivers of living water. The word 'belly' here is exactly that, and has 3 meanings based on context. The first use is that of the belly, the appetite. This same word is used as 'womb'. Clearly neither of those meanings fit the context. The 3rd meaning and use here is: "The hidden, innermost recesses of being". Out of our hidden and innermost recesses of being will flow rivers of living water. That's out of our spirit, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

Notice that in Revelation 22:1 there is a single river, the River of Life that flows from the throne of the Father. That river of the Holy Spirit enters our spirit and then flows out of us in tongues and groaning's, dividing into rivers, plural, flowing in intercession for many people and issues as the Father leads.

Recognizing what is happening in our spirit man is key - and I'll pick it up here next week...your homework is to think through those times you felt grieved, repent if you have an area you are seared over, and practice switching your attention back and forth from 'out there' the world around you, to 'in here' where the Father lives, to what your spirit is feeling and sensing.

Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org