I Took The Red Pill

I'm going to show them a world … without you.

2011-01-29T13:52:00.002-06:00

"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world … without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries; a world where anything is possible…" (Neo to the machine world)

Imagine yourself saying those words to the devil, to all the corrupt systems of the world that keep people in bondage…now let it sink into you that this is the reality. You can do that! You were made for that!

1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Christians are the ones Jesus deputized to enforce God’s will and to set things right (think “as it is in heaven”). However, if you look around at most cities, it sure doesn’t seem like that could be true. We see terrible things in the news, see it as we go about our day. But if Jesus lives in you, then you are joined with that same Spirit that raises the dead, heals diseases, casts out devils, stops storms and causes resources to manifest when needed. You lack NOTHING. You can bring the reality of heaven everywhere you go!

What would happen if you and I dared to live like this was true…that it was not only that we had the power and ability to do something about it, but also the responsibility to do it? I know that it is God’s power living in us and not our own per se, but we are “His body” His hands and feet…WE go, WE touch, WE pray and HIS power pours out!

Mat 7:12 Therefore all things, whatever you desire that men should do to you, do even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jas 4:17 Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.

What if, instead of complaining about conditions we don’t like, you and I took responsibility for them? What if you and I stopped waiting for God to send someone else? (What if there is no one else?)

We live in a college town. For years, downtown has been dominated by bars. We are known for binge drinking and sexual assault. Once we started to see that we could take authority over the weather we took responsibility over our area to not let there be damaging rain and floods or winter storms. That idea began to spread into the downtown area and the bars. I have read that revival often closes bars and changes the culture of a community, so why not command the bars to close and legislation to change? Well, it works! I have lost count, but since November of 2010 I think we’re up to 6 of the major bars here closing.

http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/01/17/Metro/20666.html

I noticed about a month ago that a psychic/medium was operating in our neighborhood and I was struck with indignation- “not here- NO YOU DON’T!” Rachelle and I began to command that business to die, the access to spiritual darkness to close and commanded that practitioner to leave. Just drove by it today…business closed…house for sale!

We are made to demonstrate the gospel. It is the power to destroy the work of darkness here and show people another world is possible…outside the matrix! And it is amazing!

*Weather screenshots-
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=636794965&aid=273911 , http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=636794965&aid=340683 )

Sorry for the delay!!

2011-01-29T12:42:00.001-06:00

We’ve been busy doing our Father’s business here in Iowa City!
Our time has been divided between my more than full time job, homeschooling our kiddos, doing house calls and outreach and then we have been building up a ministry team. We’ve been really excited to see the people we are working with getting results- they are healing the sick, intervening in emergencies and commanding the weather and circumstances!

Recently, we have begun to interact with other groups and ministries in our city and are looking forward to our team growing and expanding our connections as we work to demonstrate the gospel and make disciples here in Iowa City! Sorry we have been away for awhile- lots to tell, but hard finding the time for everything! More soon!

Get up, Trinity. Just get up! (Rachelle)

2010-11-05T19:30:00.003-05:00

The only way we lose is to give up. To stay down when we‘ve been kicked. Or to never get up.

The Bible says we win. (2Cor 2:14)

GOD says we are more than conquerors. (Rom 8:37)

It doesn’t matter if the old thoughts come back. Get up.

It doesn’t matter if you fail. Get up. Do it again. The Bible says we win.

I have been thinking a lot about our goal to become like Jesus—to live like Him, walk like Him, do greater works than what He did. These are our commands. This is our trajectory.

We can no longer be satisfied with just hearing the messages. We can no longer rest in just enjoying the testimonies. That is the opposite of God’s will.

"And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep his commandments." (1John 2:3)

"He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." (1 John 2:6)

I know what it is like to be overwhelmed. I have written before about having a lot to overcome in order to do the Word of God (timidity, fear, etc.).

Deciding to do is costly. But not doing is so much more costly. It is stepping back on the path toward death.

"The world is being caused to pass away, and its passionate desire. But the one who keeps on habitually doing the will of God lives forever." (1John 2:17)

What are we waiting for?

I was struggling with an unrelated question, emailing friends for feedback, and one friend asked me something about steps and smaller goals. How radical! How obvious!

Many of us have this larger than life picture of healing, preaching, making disciples. And we freeze. Maybe it seems too impossible a task for “little ol’ me.”

Sometimes we can just fling ourselves off the cliff and into radical obedience.

But if it has been a while of hearing and not doing, and you still have not flung, how about breaking it down? Let’s fiercely demand of ourselves that we will obey our God no matter what it costs, even if we move steadily forward one step at a time (before we freak out and run the other way)?

Think about it. As we get up, most of us first put weight on one arm, then the other. (Keep going!) Then we put weight on one foot. Then the other.

Maybe it would be more fun to tell a story of standing on a table in a cafeteria and preaching to a crowd. But the goal is not to impress friends with our boldness. The goal is not to win God’s favor by doing something wild. The goal is to follow and obey our GOD who has already given us His favor and every spiritual blessing in heaven. Whatever it will take for you to do that, just do it.

There are some ways that I have flung myself off the cliff. There are other ways where I have had to say………Ok, Rachelle, Step 1.

Here’s part of this journey for me. I am shy and introverted.

I do not like to talk to people I don’t know. I get pretty awkward. And I hate to feel foolish.

In addition, I have a few good reasons why it’s just “too hard” to make it happen. I am a mom of 4 young children (7, 5, 4, 2) and I home-school, so I am pretty tied to home, and often tired. When I am out, my plate is full with just surviving being out with 4 young squirrelly kids.

I had been going out with friends to heal people and share God’s love with folks on the streets. Then I would see Tom Fischer out by himself with just his little camera. Or my brother-n-law setting his cab driver free. And I think: Ahhhhh! I am terrified to do that! At the thought, I would feel all my major arteries pulsing! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Nope. Not OK. I am more than a conqueror. I have no limitations.

I have to be able to do this ALONE as well as with friends.

So, I decided to load up on coffee and go to the food court at the mall by myself in the evening. (Husband home with kids).

I went a few times, walked around, went to the bathroom a lot, watched the ice skaters, and chickened out. (Thud! Thud! Thud!)

I went again and had a few people refuse prayer. I followed a guy limping down the mall and I practiced building rapport with him, but he did not want to give me his hand!

I determined again that I would conquer this thing. No limitations.

Get up, Trinity. Just get up!

I knew that if I went to that food court again and again (telling myself that when I lay hands on the sick, they recover; that I am bold to share the gospel of Christ; that I love people) if I just kept going, I would win.

If I give up, I lose. If I don’t give up, I WIN!

I got up. Again. And again.

One night I had an amazing breakthrough. I approached a table of 4 women. They did not have physical ailments, but one asked me to pray for her family. After I left their table, one by one came after me, asking for more prayer, more help, more of Jesus. We cried and prayed and talked, felt God’s peace, shared His love, recommitted lives to follow Him. It was beautiful!

And I am still at it.

Sometimes I see people healed.

Sometimes I share the love of God with people and they cry and leave the mall changed.

Sometimes I have awkward conversations that make me feel foolish.

But every time, I am less afraid.

Every time I walk more like Jesus.

Now when I think of going, I feel excited and giddy! I can’t wait.

We all want to bless people. We all want to freely give as He has given to us.

We are meant to conquer all that would hold us back.

If it is hard to keep love and compassion in the foreground, spend a few weeks practicing that. Deliberately approach people and love them. Put their needs, desires, hopes and dreams first in your mind and heart. If it is hard to get the courage to pray for healing, work up to it. Start with simply touching the person’s arm and telling them to “Be well.” Maybe you will do that a couple times, and the next time decide to be more direct.

The more you do it, the easier it will get, the bolder you will get, and more you will grow to be who you were meant to be in Christ. Maturity comes as we do His will!

Get up! Just get up! It’s worth it!

I know Kung Fu - (Jason)

2010-10-28T22:19:00.003-05:00

"I know Kung Fu..."- neo

Something has shifted in me.

I remember that line from the Matrix (“I know Kung Fu”). You feel this umph behind it. It’s as if he’s realized all kinds of truth about the world and his situation, but now has something he can do about it. He is no longer powerless!

For so many years, I allowed the enemy to go unchallenged because I backed down. I gave up the fight before it really began, which reinforced the illusion of his power. But that’s the trick, most of his power is in illusions! He will feed you thoughts, like a series of lures, hoping to catch you with one. My understanding of this is that demons need our agreement, sort of like a legal contract.

For example, I might have a memory of someone who treated me unkindly. I recall what they said and may even feel the sting of their words or actions. At that moment, my choice is to say NO to that thought and either remind myself I’ve already forgiven them…or get moving and forgive them if I haven’t! If instead, I choose to remember the offense and replay it, I feel the old feelings come up again and begin to mentally list the reasons I don’t like this person, rehearse what I would like to say to them, etc. The enemy wants to plant his flag into that part of me and shout “MINE!”

Jas 4:7 Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

(Resist = to stand against, oppose, withstand.)

In all my Christian life, I have never been trained to fight…until now! Now I’m learning that there are many ways the fight can happen.

I can refuse to accept circumstance and just DO what the enemy says I can’t.

I can bring the fight to the enemy by rescuing and freeing others (healing, deliverance and salvation)!

I can renew my mind and STAND in what the Bible says, or even use it to destroy the works of the enemy.

If you can find three scriptures to memorize, then you can use those to hit your situation and give you strength. Learn to rest in these more than circumstance or any other source of information. The Word supersedes the laws of nature…It IS supernatural! (above nature and the laws of this world)

When I unplug myself from the rules and systems of the world and stand on these scriptures, I plug myself into the rules of the Kingdom and establish Jesus’ King-ship over the situation. That changes the governing powers over circumstance and sets things “as it is in heaven”.

Here are three key areas I’m pushing myself to fight in: symptoms, bad circumstances and fear.

Symptoms:

Years ago I injured my back when I fell down some stairs. It wasn’t a high level of chronic pain, but enough to keep me from sleeping through the night without a lot of shifting. When it got healed, it was wonderful to sleep through the night!

During that first week there were many times the old pain returned. The first time I felt that twinge of pain, I got afraid. I actually began to move my body differently to take stress off that part of my back. Then the pain began to worsen and spread. I had thoughts like “oh man, I’m going to be stuck with this for the rest of my life…see I didn’t’ get healed”. I chose instead to challenge that and say NO! When I told it NO (same kind of NO I would say to a dog about to poop on my carpet) the pain left. Every time it tried to return and I said NO, it left. It has not returned since. That’s an area I have won and I will not allow it to come back.

After we have commanded something to leave a person, we are now teaching them to say NO if any symptom tries to return. We tell them to say it out loud, with force and conviction- moving the symptoms out with the force of their words. It works. We have to show the enemy we are serious and we are not afraid to fight him!

1Co 15:54-57 But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

About a week ago, we got a call from friends. Their son was injured and couldn’t run. He is a state champion cross country runner and about to finish his high school competing...now sidelined. Severe pain. Some kind of injury in his gluteus muscles. We prayed and he felt some relief. We declared he would run in the race that week. *(the one his doctor said he couldn’t run in!) We told him that even if he feels any pain- tell it NO, command it to GO and hammer it with scriptures like the above. He ran and we got an email describing more pain. We reminded him how to fight. The next email we got said he not only won his race, he won by 30 seconds!

In the article written about the race, it says “I can only say that God was in that,” said Spencer, who crossed the finish line in 16:08. “I honestly have no other explanation. I’ve been running no more than two miles a day for the past two weeks, and no hard training whatsoever. I came here not knowing if I was going to be able to run, let alone winning by a considerable margin. That came out of nowhere. I was just amazed. I felt a little bit of pain, but the more I ran, the harder I could push it,” Spencer said. “It kept hurting more and more, but I could just keep going. I don’t know what it was. It was a strength I’ve never felt before.”

This week, the newspaper wrote about him again. He competes for the state title this year, and his coach said “Somehow, he’s maintained the conditioning he had before [the injury].”

Well, we know how he did it!

2 Cor 2:14 Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the aroma of his knowledge by us in every place.

Here are the links to those articles:
http://goldentrianglenewspapers.com/articles/2010/10/22/washington_evening_journal/top_sports/doc4cc1d7d4bf600745654880.txt

http://goldentrianglenewspapers.com/articles/2010/10/27/washington_evening_journal/top_sports/doc4cc880e693a69924616684.txt

Next time: fighting bad circumstances and negativity/ fear…

Methods vs Identity - (Jason)

2010-10-03T21:22:00.002-05:00

Neo: What are you trying to tell me, that I can dodge bullets?
Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

I picture Neo is asking himself “how am I ever going to figure out how to dodge bullets?” But Morpheus says “when you know who you are you will have an entirely other set of rules…when you finally get that you are THE ONE, there is no method- you choose how to do it!”

Romans 8:14-19
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

(suffer here means to experience pain jointly or of the same kind specifically persecution; to “sympathize”)

Sometimes, we find ourselves in conversations where someone asks us “is this real? Are you saying people are actually getting healed?” And the answer is…Yes. They are…come see for yourself.

“But I mean, isn’t just psychosomatic or positive thinking or something?” Well, it’s hard to fake cancer leaving, pain leaving a screaming child, neurological conditions transforming or body parts appearing that weren’t there/ disappearing that weren’t supposed to be there.

“But, I mean, how? How do you do it?”

That’s the trickier part. Not because the answer isn’t simple, just not what people often want to hear. Healing can happen through a prayer prayed from the other side of the world, through an email/chat/skype/phone call, through laying hands on a person. Those are just the more common ways. I’ve seen people open deaf ears by blowing on them, snapping fingers, shouting, saying nothing, hugging them. Any of those can work…or none of them.

It’s the wrong question. The question isn’t how…the question is who.

Healing comes from Identity. It comes from WHO is praying…a human, or a SON of God? If you know you are a Son, then it doesn’t matter what method you use because you have access to all the resources of heaven. If you are a follower of Jesus, his disciple and the spirit of God lives in you…then Romans says you are a SON of GOD. This scripture says this is about normal, ordinary people…not super pastors or religious leaders or anything like that.

The truth is, The Red Pill is not about healing for Rachelle and I. It is about becoming Sons of God and reconciling people to God and the reality of their identity in Christ. Healing is a part of that, so is freeing the oppressed, casting out demons, serving the poor and making disciples. You can’t free the oppressed with methods. Demons don’t listen to methods (they might even beat you up for trying! (Acts 19:11-17) Although there are methods to making disciples and giving to those in need…there is something greater! We give away who we are not what we do…

If you are a Son, you can go into your house and take what you need. You don’t have to cajole or beg. You can take what you want to out of the fridge. Sons have access to everything in the house. (and I don’t mean to exclude women, I’m using the language the Bible uses which also refers to us being the bride…each has specific and very meaningful implications.)

Recently we were downtown praying for people and sharing the gospel. We saw a homeless man sitting on a bench with a bunch of other guys and he looked in bad shape. When we approached him, you could tell he was skeptical and wanted us to leave and told us he didn’t have anything wrong with his body. Rachelle and I asked him to give us his hands and we looked into his eyes and told him “Jesus sent us to you. He doesn’t want you to have to carry this depression, he wants to set you free and return joy into your life.”

As we kicked out depression and restored his mind, we also handed him some money and told him that it was for him from Jesus, and you could see walls crumble in this guy…and suddenly he was beaming! He had a huge smile and was smiling and laughing with his friends as we left!

If I try to turn that into “the way to do it”, it will be hit or miss at best. I think it’s really smart to go with money and be ready to give it folks…but it is not “the secret”. The reason our time with him was effective was because we were confident in who we are. We know we have the authority and the power to bring this man into freedom. No matter what he says or what we see that might seem otherwise. We know that we are filled with the LIFE and LOVE of Christ and it will transfer out of us into others in our interactions.

These all come from who we are, not how we do it. Being...not doing. That means it doesn’t run out or expire and we can do it in any circumstance or environment.

Just imagine if the church knew who she was and was out on the streets, in the stores, in neighborhoods BEING what the whole world groans in wait for!

Do. Or do not. There is no try. (Rachelle)

2010-09-28T19:34:00.003-05:00

One of the most stunning things I have learned this year is how we deceive ourselves when we do not DO what Jesus said.

“But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like to a man seeing his natural face in a mirror: For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1:22-24)

Now, I am process-oriented. I have never liked those “Just Do It” T-shirts.

I am a thinker.
I ponder. I mull.

But to always ponder, and to always try means to never do.
You can think about doing it. Intend to do it. Contemplate the concept of what it means to do it. Write about doing it. Talk about doing it.

I know. I have done this for years.

But it’s all in the doing. It’s the doing that does it.
That flips the switch and turns on the lights.
It changes everything.

And the deception in the not doing is deep and thick.

This is partially because we believe we are doers when we do things He did not tell us to do.
We do a lot of things that are not bad things.
In fact, they are often good.
But these things become deceptive when they are in the context of a life of hearing the Word and not doing it.

Things like putting lots of energy into big meetings and nice buildings.
Like creating 100 different contexts to meet with friends
and enjoy “Christian” community.
Like chasing down yet another prophetic word to throw in the treasure chest.

John Wimber was known to say “the meat is in the street.”
We loved that saying. We enjoyed it. We thought about it.
We said it and taught it.
But we were so rarely in the street.

Shane Claiborne wrote a book called “The Irresistible Revolution.” I don’t have it anymore. But I remember he described how all the gospels looked different after he got outside the church walls and spent time with the homeless. He went with friends and slept under bridges. He fought to get needs met for families who had nowhere to go. He befriended and loved the poor as his own.
It really struck me.
I imagined how it could be. How the lenses of safety and comfort would fall off my eyes if I really did that.
So I made dinner at the homeless shelter with friends a few times.
Spent time with the kids at the domestic violence shelter.
It was nice. It was good.
And it was something I could keep doing, telling myself I am doing the Word.

But I did not get near enough to befriend them.
I did not preach the gospel. Make disciples.
And I did not heal their diseases and cast out their demons.

It was a step. And if I become satisfied with the step, and don’t press on toward living like Jesus, I deceive myself.

I forget what I look like. Or at least what I am supposed to look like.
I am supposed to look like HIM.
I do look like Him on the inside because I asked Him to live there.
But He wants out. He wants every part of me to represent Him.

It does not take much to get a taste of losing those lenses that cloud our sight.
It can start to happen the moment we get determined to DO.
Not try. Not consider. Not cry out in prayer for the courage to do.

DO.

It started when I stood in Wal-Mart looking at the lady in the shopping cart scooter. I knew that Jesus would not hesitate to lift her right out of that thing.
I could not get my mouth to open, or words to form.
But I was determined that I would not forget what I look like.

It happened when I approached the blind man downtown and offered to pray for him to receive his sight. And he snarled at me bitterly.
But still, I began to see.

And again when I showed love and care for a young girl with uneven legs. I prayed and her legs became even, and she freaked out and left.

But it’s OK. Don’t stop. Don’t forget what you look like.

It happened when I prayed for a baby online who was hospitalized and in bad shape. And a couple days later she was well and on her way home.

It happened when I held the hand of the homeless man, looked into his eyes, told the heaviness and darkness to go, handed him a small wad of cash, and saw his countenance change into utter lightness and joy.

It’s like when the color switches on because Dorothy landed in OZ.
It all looks different. The words on the page look different.
It’s a whole new Book.

When we do, we see. We understand. We grow.

And you just can’t know it until you do it.

John G. Lake said that we can act ourselves into believing faster than we can believe ourselves into acting. And that’s the point, right? Do not be afraid. Only believe.

And to believe is to do.

(James 2:14-26)

Love…Disinterested Benevolence (Jason)

2010-09-25T14:18:00.003-05:00

Charles Finney used the word "disinterested" in a positive, 19th century way-- meaning free of bias or self-interest.
"[Love] seeketh not her own" (1Cor 13:5).

Disinterested benevolence does not mean that I am uninterested in the person I pray for. It means that I seek his or her healing, freedom, happiness for its own sake. It is not about any reflection on or effect on me.

I do good because I truly rejoice in the happiness of others.

Now I know there are those out there who are just nice people and you enjoy making folks happy. Yes, sometimes we do good because it feels good to see good be done! And to do it!

But is this disinterested?

Another way to think of this kind of love is that it is disengaged from the emotions. It is AGAPE. It is from the Spirit.

Many have written of this higher form of love. Higher than physical love. Higher than emotional love. But have we accessed its power within us? It is there because HE is there. It is HIM.

We can pray for people out of emotional love. We can serve them and give to them and in many ways bless them. But we see them healed out of spiritual love. We see the power of God, the real difference made, when we love them from our spirits.

But this line is difficult to see.
We need the scripture to help us see it.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Emotional love makes me feel good. I feel connection and am satisfied because of what it does for me. Spirit/agape love is infused with power…it changes everything it touches.

When I pray for my children, I am torn.
It’s so easy to pray from emotional love. If I imagine my child severely wounded, how do I pray outside of that? AS I say the words “be healed” there are also unspoken words like “or else I don’t know what I will do” and “oh my dear one; I do not want this!” and “please, please, please….now…..Now………NOW!!!”

While the emotional feelings are natural and right, they also can flow toward enmeshment, toward my basing identity and security in their effect.
Another word for that could be idolatry.

That may sound too harsh. We love our kids…of course we do. But in the moment when my child needs to be healed or set free, I cannot afford to compromise my identity in Christ- because THAT is what is going to get them set free, right?

Healing occurs because Christians decide to enforce what Jesus already paid for. And like salvation, healing won’t happen because of emotional pleas. It happens by resting in the truth of it. Otherwise I switch the source of healing from Jesus to me.

C.S. Lewis wrote about this in The Great Divorce**. In the story, a recently deceased spirit lingers outside of heaven and an old mentor/friend meets him there. They were both artists. The one man talks of painting the glory of heaven, but quickly reveals his self-interest. Then, his friend describes the fountain that, in this story, brings heaven’s residents to a heavenly frame of mind.

"It is up there in the mountains," said the Spirit. "Very cold and clear, between two green hills. A little like Lethe. When you have drunk of it you forget forever all proprietorship in your own works. You enjoy them just as if they were someone else's: without pride and without modesty."

What if that were true of us?
In a group, do we silently wish to be the one who prays the breakthrough prayer? Do we want to see the healing so we can tell the story? So we can feel OK? Or do we celebrate in disinterest? Without pride and without modesty? Without focus on myself?

I had a recent experience with this. I was praying for a man who had an injured rotator cuff. He had pain and lost mobility. My agenda was to see him well, with full mobility and no more medical bills. I prayed a number of times. There was some improvement, but it was not fully healed. I pressed in. At one point, he began to pray, too, and I heard the words anxious and fear in his prayers. Then there was a shift.

I moved from what I wanted to happen, my agenda for the situation, and onto where he was at and what he needed. I didn’t know it had been about me. Yet there was a clear shift off of me and onto him.

Love for him consumed me……but it wasn’t emotional. It was restful. It was separate from my own desire or need. I knew the love and the life of God moved through me and into him.

We drove out fear so he could rest. I still wanted his shoulder healed, but my agenda had shifted. Love poured into him. There was peace. Fear left.
You know what happened then?
He could move his arm and shoulder freely.
Full rotation!

I realize this involves a lot of nuance. It can be hard to discern. But there is something in this for us! I am only beginning to touch it.

Let’s chew on this together, let it mull over and over in our minds and see how it changes our thinking and practices. Let’s see how we can sharpen each other in this!

**(if there is a way... I want to make a film of this book! Filmmakers unite and let's get this realized!!)

Unstoppable - (Rachelle)

2010-09-11T10:49:00.004-05:00

Have you ever felt like you were unstoppable?

Like you could laugh in the face of, well, anything?

Do anything? Conquer anything?

I believe this is what God means for us to be.

I spent most of my life buckling under the weight of the world. I saw sickness, injustice, evil, and felt utterly powerless. As an adult I was often tempted to avoid people when things got bad.

I would see tragedy devastating a family and be so overwhelmed I could only hide and cry.

Sometimes I wonder if this isn’t where some of our bad theology comes from.

It’s hard to fail. It’s awful to feel powerless.

Sometimes we just need to get the weight off—

Back to the sickness thing.

There’s a lot out there to explain why healing does not happen. I’ve heard it’s the final chapters in every book on healing.

One beloved friend told me that seeing a friend die young after years of healing prayer helped shape his theology.

Ouch. Stories like that just hurt.

But experience is not supposed to shape our theology, right? The Bible is.

And the Bible says Jesus healed ALL. The Bible says our healing was paid for when Jesus was beaten. The Bible says it is finished.

But that friend who died………

But that loved one I laid hands on……

What of that?

What did Jesus say about why healing sometimes does not happen?

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt 17:19-21)

I used to hate those verses. They can take your breath away if you let them.

It made me feel too guilty. Too ashamed. Too inadequate and overwhelmed.

Clearly my faith was nowhere near the size of a mustard seed.

And if it really was about my faith, it seemed hopeless.

Enter bad theology.

I had to believe it was about something else. Even though Jesus was so clear.

This is not the picture of unstoppable.

Now I realize I was missing some things.

First, it means something that He lives in me.

This is not just a concept to inspire warm-fuzzies.

This is the power—in me—that raised Jesus from the dead. The power that stopped the storms. That fed 5,000+ with a few fishes and a couple loaves. That separated the Red Sea. That healed ALL.

It’s more than “my Father loves me and hears my prayers.”

It’s “my Father made me His true son and I have power and authority to do His will on the earth.”

And if I choose to believe this. If I demand, claw, scratch, fight, thrash until I believe this, I will do His will on the earth.

With God all things are possible.

I was also missing the truth about shame. And doubt. Self-rejection. Guilt. Fear of failure.

And all the other things that try to stop me.

These are not just idiosyncrasies of the human experience.

These are spirits.

Spirits sent from hell.

Spirits that can be flicked off like a pesky fly because Jesus won.

Because I am a son of God, and I have His power in me.

When I was much “wiser,” I would have scoffed at this. Now I am foolish and free.

Now I am unstoppable.

Now I have an answer for the friend in trauma. Now I have something to offer the one who is sick. Now I have weapons against injustice that actually work.

Now I can pursue and fight for that faith that moves mountains.

And if something gets in my way, I get the fly swatter.

(example: Shame, GO! Doubt, GO NOW!)

But that friend who died? That loved one? That’s a bit weightier than a ‘swat!’

I think about Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding.

He is the first one I ever heard talk about Acts 10:38. The first one I ever heard demand the Biblical standard—Jesus healed all. The first one I ever saw with the boldness to declare his city a cancer-free zone, where cancer melts away because of what they have fought for in prayer, because of the presence of God in that place.

I think about how, in the midst of these glorious proclamations, his beloved dad died. He died too young. And he died of cancer.

I think about how the family cried. They mourned. They did not deny how much that hurt.

But they refused to build a theology on their experience.

They refused to make the appropriate adjustments so that it would all be OK.

They refused to contradict the Word of God.

And even still, they refuse to settle for less than what Jesus died for.

Unstoppable.

What’s really going to bake your noodle……(Rachelle)

2010-09-08T19:40:00.005-05:00

I used to think sickness just happened. Cancer. Dementia. Heart disease. It’s just a part of living in a fallen world. Maturity was learning to accept it.

Now I think this is carnal. That means it’s the way man thinks, not the way God thinks.

But to be carnally minded is death (Rom 8:6).
And the carnal mind is hostile to the law of God (v. 7).

I used to think God heals sometimes.
The now and the not yet.
Mostly the not yet.
Mostly in response to the prayers of the special few.
Certainly not for me.

But He said these signs will accompany those who believe….. (Mark 16:18)
So, that’s me, right? At least it should be, if I really do believe.

I used to think we had to know what God is doing at every moment.
That we don’t see healing because we don’t know if He is doing that.
Must worship more, listen more.
Find a way to become more keen, more aware.
Then we will know to pray at the moment when God is doing it.

“But every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, no shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)

He is not fickle. He does not change.
So how can He heal one minute, and the next say “Sorry, not doing that today”?

I used to think healing was for those with a healing gift.

But these commands were for me……
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matt 10:8).

I used to think we might all get healed if we could find the exact sin connected with the specific infirmity. It was almost like we didn’t need to depend on God. We just needed to repent.
Still sick? OK, what did we miss?

There’s a lot of teaching out there about why healing does not happen.
But what the Bible says is really going to bake your noodle.

Jesus has come to live in us. (John 14:23)
Our spirit is one with His Spirit. (1Cor 6:17)
We are sons of God. (1John 3:1)
Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)

Jesus healed all.
ALL.

We are to live as He lived and do as He did.
We are to do greater works than He did.

He healed ALL.

Noodle baking. Getting crispy.

So there is no question of what His will is.
There is no question of whether God wants you healed.

God’s will is All.

Then there are these……
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1Pet 2:24)

Have been healed…….what? I am an English teacher. I believe that is past tense.

It’s done.
There is no question of what God is doing when it comes to healing.
God did it.

Now it’s our time.
Our time to believe Jesus did what He said He did.
Our time to believe we are who He said we are.
Our time to do the things He did.

Fear - (Jason)

2010-09-06T21:38:00.003-05:00

“You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.” (Morpheus to Neo)

One of its primary tools is fear. Fear keeps us obedient to the rules of this world. It makes us want to accept our lot, our conditions, our symptoms. It keeps us from ever challenging what we see and experience.

Many people ask us if all this healing stuff is real. They say “but if it WAS real wouldn’t we see it on the news?” No… that is unlikely. I HAVE heard some stories of healing on the news, but they are rare. Why? The news is based on fear….and healing would hurt business. I dare you to watch the news and find a lead story not based in fear.

Fear deadens your mind. It is the programming for this world that sets the limits. Think of it…if they say there is an economic downturn, or even collapse, what will happen? Won’t that set the parameters of people‘s thinking? Here in Iowa they reported eggs with salmonella. Suddenly everyone is afraid of eggs and will not buy them or cook them. (We went to a potluck that week and made quiche).

Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

2 Tim 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I went through a yearlong process where I intentionally weeded out as much fear as I possibly could. Here’s what I did: Every time I felt like fear would stop me from doing something, I said NO to it (out loud) and then forced myself to do what I was afraid of. Just like turning a boat right into the waves to cut through them.

How can that be? Well, God did not give us fear. That means fear is foreign to us. For many, that may seem bizarre because they are so accustomed to it. Fear is familiar. However, the reality is that fear is an evil spirit and we have authority to tell it to leave. EVERY time you hear a fearful thought in your head, it is not YOUR thought. It will mask itself as your thought so you will allow it to stay and let it grow and control you.

Here are three examples of how this has worked for me:

1. Once I met some clients at their home. There was a birthday party in the parking lot when I arrived. I noticed a makeshift grill made out of a barrel and a shopping cart with a goat roasting on it. They offered me the first plate of goat meat. Everything in me was freaked out about eating a goat, not to mention one roasted on a shopping cart. At the same time, I knew this was the highest honor they could give me. To refuse it would be a big insult. So I said NO to fear and ate that goat!

2. When I got depressed (read my first post), I disappeared from friends and church. When I got healed, I wanted to go back and apologize for doing that and try and reconcile with whomever I could. I knew it had hurt people because I had been a pastor there. I was gone around a year and a half.

It was beyond intimidating. It could’ve put me into a coma of dissociation! So I knew I had to do it. I decided to choose the people who would be hardest to talk to and approach them first.

I showed up at the church, feeling like I was going to vomit every second, not knowing what would happen! I said NO out loud to my fears and went straight for the first person. Every time I tasted the vomit, I said no again, swallowed hard and pressed into the next one.

3. I was asked by a friend of a friend to pray for someone in the hospital. He had a huge brain tumor.

Both my parents died in the hospital when I was young. They were hooked up to machinery that kept them alive- one had cancer, the other an aneurism. Just going to that hospital room meant confronting those deaths.

When I got there, he was incoherent. The room quickly filled with people there to see him and (it seemed like) to say goodbye. They were tearful and emotionally charged. Some wanted to pray. As they began to ask God to guide the surgeon’s hand and bring him peace, I knew I had to make a choice.

I broke out of the prayer circle and put my hand on his head and commanded the tumor to dissolve. Everyone stopped. Everyone backed up against the wall and it was totally silent. I tasted vomit.

I said no to that fear, and commanded all the pain to leave him. Suddenly he looks at me and says “Why did that work? I don’t even know if I agree with this!” And then we laughed! And in that moment, those other people faded away and there were only three of us in that room. Him, me and my KING!

The hospital had given him a terrible prognosis. They said he would not speak after the surgery for at least a couple weeks and recovery would be very long. He spoke that same day. The doctors were confounded and couldn’t identify the tissue they found as cancer. He was discharged in a few days.

In each circumstance, there were lots of reasons why feeling fear made sense. But all those reasons are based on the rules of flesh, not spirit. And I am a Spirit…and so are you!

If you want to try this, memorize/write down/post on your wall 3 scriptures that directly confront fear. Every time you feel fear you can cut it down with these. Then say NO to it, tell it to GO and turn your boat directly into the waves. Now, enjoy the VICTORY!

Free Your Mind - (Rachelle)

2010-09-02T18:56:00.003-05:00

Free your mind. In Biblical terms, it’s called renewing your mind.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Rom 12:2

Why is this such an elusive concept in the church? People often ask us what it means, people who’ve been in the church for a long time. If this is what enables us to “test and approve” God’s will, you’d think it would be centrally and constantly taught.

But everything hinges on this. It is one of our most important choices and most important disciplines.

Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding often says that all closed heavens are between the ears.

God opened the heavens the day Jesus was baptized, and He has not closed them. If you are not experiencing an open heaven—in other words, seeing Biblical provision and power in your life—the issue is not with God and the goodness of His promises. You might need to check things out between the ears!

Sigh…….renewing the mind. I sort of learned of this in my early 20s. I was saved, passionate to serve God, but also battling darkness and depression so intense I was thanking God for every 5 minutes I made it alive.

People told me about believing the scriptures, speaking them, studying them. But my mind was so darkened. I had no concept of my own authority. And the words always felt like pennies dropped into an empty well.

I decided it made no sense, this “reciting scriptures” idea. To me it was like they were saying “think positive!” I did not like saying things that felt contradictory to all I felt, and I gave up.

I suppose I “perished for lack of knowledge,” because now I know there is a lot more to it.

You see, declaring aloud what God has said seems foolish to the carnal mind. But if you are a Christian, if you have invited Jesus to live in you, He does. The Spirit of God inside you gives power to those Words, and it changes everything.

It’s not just about reciting random sentences half-heartedly. It’s about speaking the perfect and trustworthy Words of our God with conviction and purpose and passion and even VOLUME.

It’s about declaring them until you believe them with every cell.

It’s about believing them with a confidence that leads you to pray for cancer and watch it run.

You can force yourself to do this even when you feel crummy. You just have to choose. I have done it many, many times, as have most people living any kind of life with power.

Speak it. Declare it. Ponder it. Pronounce it. Again. And again. And again. Every day.

No, it’s not just a dramatic exercise. And it’s not just cognitive therapy. Like I said, the Spirit of God lives in you. He says YES to His Word and gives it power.

All of heaven screams YES as well.

So do not give up. Fight for this. You will rewire your thinker. You will develop the mind of Christ. And you will walk like the son of God you were created to be.

Here are a few ideas:

God has lavished great love upon me. And I am a son of God. (1John 3:1)

I never have to worry about anything; my Father knows what I need and He will take care of me. (Matt 6:25-34)

I have from God a Spirit of love, power and self-discipline. (2Tim 1:7)

When I lay my hands on the sick, they recover. (Mark 16:18)

It does not matter if these things match your circumstances. That is the whole point.

If you are a Christian, God lives in you. And we do what God does. We call things into being that are not. We trust in what we cannot see. We believe the Word of God above what the Matrix shows us to be “true.”

And here’s the test—here’s where the “rubber meets the road”:

You do this for a while. You maybe sense the power in it. You start to feel strong. The Bible starts making more sense.

And then one day, the cloud looms, the familiar voices whisper…….you can’t do this…….you’re no good…..…this is silly; it’s not even real……

It all gains weight and height again in your mind. The shame. Self-doubt. Disappointment. Rejection.

So, in that moment, STAND UP SON OF GOD!

Don’t forget, He lives in you. Stand up and tell it all to GO!

You have authority over these things. You don’t need to crawl into a ball and beg for help. Don’t tell yourself it doesn’t work. He put in you the power to cast mountains into the sea. To raise the dead. So, tell it to go and speak the truth!

My spirit is one with the Spirit of God! (1Cor 6:17)

I have been given all authority on heaven and earth because Jesus lives in me! (Matt 28:18)

I have power in me to do greater works even than Jesus did! (John 14:12)

I am born of God. I have overcome the world! (1John 5:4)

Keep at it. Free your mind.

You were made to do more, to be more, with more power than you’ve ever known—

More Than a Conqueror (Rachelle)

2010-08-31T19:06:00.003-05:00

My dad calls me mouse. He has called me that from my beginning.

My husband laughs at this. Ha! You’re NOT a mouse!

I know I’m not. Especially now.

But I have a large amount of timidity and fear to overcome.

I see these friends online healing people on the streets. They are normal people without blaring spiritual gifts or super-star charisma, and I am burning. All that is within me is aflame. That is what I must do!

But then when I actually get out there, that old part is suddenly vocal.

WHAT?!? I am going to talk to someone I don’t know? Are you kidding? Absolutely not!

“Do onto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Well, you see, I’m the one in the grocery store with the Don’t You Dare Talk to Me look on my face. So my answer to that verse has been easy for this introvert to fulfill.

Until now.

Now that I am awake to Who our God actually is. Now that I am done telling myself that all those “Anyone who…” and “He who believes…” verses somehow do not apply to people like me. Now that I understand what (WHO) is actually living inside me.

But I am not one to make something sound easy, when it’s not. Or act like there is no process.

I still have those times when I am on my way to Wal-Mart, and then I remember what I believe, and I think um…….maybe I can get by with what I have and stay home.

But the Matrix cannot tell me who I am. I am not going to hide behind the introvert label. I am not going to let social anxiety determine how bright my light shines.

Get off! In the name of Jesus!

I know there are people out there who enjoy the stories of healing, but who also shrink at the thought of doing it themselves. Who love to get fired up but then, when they’re in aisle 2 looking at the ice cream and the wheelchair rolls up, they go Uhhhhhh, I can’t do this!

We know we can’t just talk the talk.

There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

But standing your ground in aisle 2 and actually opening your mouth and releasing those first words, well…………...

Yet I am meant to overcome the world. (1John 5:4) God has given me the Spirit without limit. (John 3:34) He has not given me a spirit of fear (2Tim 1:7)—No, that spirit is from the devil. And I know how to kick him.

As I have battled this, it has looked all kinds of ways.

I know what it is like to freak out and walk away from that sick person Jesus loves.

I know what it is like to freak out and walk away, and then turn around and come back and do it.

I know what it is like to be fully in touch with who I am, and dive right in without hesitation.

I know what it is like to dive right in, and then in the middle of the interaction, freak out and somehow awkwardly end it too early.

Whatever the scenario, I say this is WAR!

I have gone out to pray for people with different friends, and often a friend will comment about how bold or fearless I seem. And I think—Oh! Me? Do they not know all the mountains I have to cast into the sea?

I am fighting the enemy. I am fighting the things in my flesh and my soul that hold me back. And I will keep fighting. I insist on taking this ground and conquering it completely.

I have lived the comfortable Christian life of safety and disobedience. I have lived the life that makes excuses for my fear and makes my sin OK because God just made me that way: introverted, private, cautious, etc.

I have been down that road. I know exactly where it ends. And that is NOT where I want to be.

No.

I was made for this.

I have been equipped for this.

I have thrown myself down this rabbit hole and I am not turning back.

Welcome to the Real world - (Jason)

2010-08-28T19:26:00.003-05:00

We know that there is nature. We also know there is supernature (the realm of the supernatural and our home!). As a concept, it is possible to grasp this, but conceptual understanding and tangible experiential understanding can be quite different! This video of Carl Sagan has been so helpful to me. It provides practical understanding of how the natural and supernatural could intersect. It has also helped me explain things to folks I pray for or talk to…And yes, that is a Morpheus chair! Coincidence??? Or just pure awesomeness!

Heb 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Without faith it is impossible to please God…….impossible? Why would that be? There is something to this. I don’t know that I can answer it. It’s so much like Sagan’s explanation of “up” as a strange place that cannot be explained or perceived unless you leave this dimension!

Faith and belief are the lens for us to see through. Rachelle was saying to me, it reminds me of a 3D movie image…it doesn’t make sense until you put the glasses on.
Faith gives us access…without it; there is no access, no making sense of things.

James 1 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Sometimes when we pray with people, there are conditions that seem more intimidating. Praying to grow an amputated leg seems very intimidating from a carnal perspective…and unless something “visible” happens it can call up all kinds of feelings and thoughts. But we aren’t basing it on what we can see or the rules of this world…

I have to remind myself that having access makes everything we need available to us! This is like the loading program in the matrix…whatever we need, we can have access to. New leg- not a problem, brain cells- got it, money, no sweat…where we get tripped up is the result of where we live from. It is not visible from the conventional sense. If we live from our minds or our bodies, then we get limited and messed up, if we live from our spirits then ALL kinds of things become possible!

When we pray and see something happen- this is the intersection, the breaking through of one realm into the other! Even if it gets worse, or moves…it reminds me of the changing shape of the apple…things are shifting…we hit something and it’s changing now. This can be so helpful in explaining to people what is happening to them when we pray. It helps me have confidence too when it seems like things are not happening….because I can put my confidence in God’s word, that when we lay our hands on the sick, they recover. Just because it is unseen (recovery) does not make it any less real.

Let me add one last thing- Sagan talked about how there is a cost to reducing things by a dimension. When you reduce a cube to 2d, you lose a LOT of information and it becomes very distorted compared to the real thing. Perhaps this is part of why it is so important that we DEMONSTRATE the gospel along with telling about it…all our telling is a reduction, a compression, a shadow…the demonstration is as close to the real thing as we can get. The REAL world comes through and touches our world!

I don’t think the words and ideas are not valuable, just incomplete without the demonstration. God wants us to get it, to connect with it…that’s why he made the tabernacle a shadow. You can check out how God wanted things a very certain way when Moses made their traveling worship center. The point is that it was incomplete, we had the shadow, but Jesus is our lens…he gives us access and makes it all make sense.

John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

We may live here, but we have access to a world that can change this one.
Welcome to the REAL world!

He meant it (Rachelle)

2010-08-27T20:11:00.002-05:00

How did I spend so many years teaching people about Jesus, mentoring people in the faith, and believe so little?
How did I deceive myself so thoroughly?

The Matrix had me.

I believed I was free when I was a slave. I said the Word of God was true, but did not believe it. Not really.

I went to the doctor before I thought to ask for prayer. I suggested diet changes before offering to heal. I thought doing the Kingdom meant going to meetings and making sure everyone stayed connected. I gave all to maintain the machine.

I lived in a world that had been pulled over my eyes to blind me from the truth.

I often read the Bible and thought I don’t get it.
So much did not fit what I saw.

Things like "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues……….they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." (Mark 16:17, 18).

But how can that be? I do not see anyone doing that. And we all believe, don’t we?

Or "Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing, He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

Well, he can’t possibly mean me.

Or "But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit." (1Cor 6:17).

Uhhhh……..What?!!?

We love to say the Holy Spirit is our comforter. This is an easy one, right?
One night, when this journey had just begun, I was feeling particularly devastated. I sat on my bed and wailed. And I realized how long my knee-jerk had been to grab the phone and call a friend. My friend likes me. My friend will help me feel better. It’s Christian community.

But when I had no friend, I had to really look at God. And I learned that the Holy Spirit IS my Comforter. Lesson 1 in the school of He Means What He Says!

How many times had I been told that a believer is “not safe” outside the church? How long had I believed that I could not thrive without my friends and mentors?

How long had I read the Bible as if it were a beautifully written piece of literature?

If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and live within him. (John 14:23).

Oh, what a lovely image. I like how that is worded. How interesting that Jesus chose this way to describe his relationship to us.

Oh, wait. He Meant It.

But the anointing that you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you….. (I John 2:27).

Oh. He Meant It.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give (Matt 10:8).

Yeah. He meant that one, too.
No need to twist it into a sensible interpretation that applies to today.
He knew what He was saying.

Call me foolish! Please!
I do not care if the smart, respectable ones lose their jaws when I say I believe all sickness is from the devil. I do not care if they tell me I am not living in reality when I say he has already carried all our infirmities. Nothing matters but that God’s Word is TRUE. He meant what He said.

Time to F.R.E.E. M.Y. M.I.N.D..……….

Because you’ve never used them

2010-08-25T19:02:00.004-05:00

“Why do my eyes hurt? Because you’ve never used them…” (Morpheus to Neo)

In the past, I would pray for people to be healed…and essentially not too much would happen. They often would feel warmth, a few conditions improved. I saw a cut seal up once, a bruise fade away and had some headaches leave. Not too much to show for 20 years of praying for people to be healed.
So what’s the deal then?

I love what Curry Blake says in his teaching series on Divine Healing Technician Training:
“It depends on WHO is doing the praying”.

So, I have to be some superhero? Nope.

Have the right gifting? Say the right words? Pray enough? Have someone who can do it pray for me so I can do it?? Negative.

I spent those 20 years looking for all these. None of them worked! (this is part of what led to the depression I wrote about earlier)

So what works then? What I’m finding is it all depends on your identity...

If you’ve seen the Matrix, you remember the scene near the end where Neo realizes who he is. He becomes aware that he has the power to choose to follow the system of rules in the matrix or supersede them. In fact, he just relaxes, hardly makes an effort and puts one arm behind his back while deflecting EVERY strike his enemy can make! Then he realizes he can supersede it further! He jumps inside of his enemy and blasts him apart…something they NEVER saw coming! Then they RUN!

If you are a Christian, then your spirit is ONE with Christ. You are a son of God!
(for example, 1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. )

We live in a state so much like the matrix. We are duel citizens. There are two realms and we interact with both. But if your identity is based in the natural/empirical world, you cannot supersede its rules. You will be limited by them and anything outside that will seem impossible to comprehend. Thus, the supernatural will not happen and will reinforce your belief that it cannot.

If however, you were to have an identity based in a higher realm, one that contains the natural… then walking on water, multiplying food and commanding a new kidney into existence are not impossible. They are natural for those whose citizenship originates in that which is above nature (supernatural).

The problem is not in our methods or our efforts… it is in our insecurity.

Those who know who they are, live from it. They rest and are confident. If you are the son of a restaurant owner, you can go get whatever you want out of the cooler without having to ask permission or justify it, because you know your father’s business. No begging or pleading, no bargaining. You just enjoy!

In matrix language, we were designed to live like Neo. We set the terms for our enemy with no fear because we realize that the world of the matrix is superseded by the REAL world. We get to live the amazing adventure of helping to set others free! Sons of God were made to have dominion over the earth, made to destroy works of darkness and set things right…make things “as it is in heaven”...change the rules!

Why has the church been so ineffective? Maybe it’s because she has never used her identity?

The Red Pill part 2 (Rachelle)

2010-08-24T19:27:00.001-05:00

It had been our dream to start that church. It was our livelihood. Our life. Our family. Our future. Our purpose.

When it was pulled out from under us, we thought we had lost everything.

I had four babies with the most amazing man on earth. Nothing could be better. I learned love, patience, self-sacrifice at a whole new level. Learning to parent with Jason was like heaven.

When he got depressed, I hardly knew him. I was left to parent four kids on my own, to protect them from the hell we were in, to make life seem normal while Daddy was, well, not normal.

It seemed like the rest of everything was about to go.

I thought it was the end of our lives.
But, of, course, it was the beginning.

Where there is death, our God brings resurrection. His stories never end in death.

Obviously, I was desperate. But it was good.
I got shaken out of a comfortable, narrow concept of the Kingdom. I found people who took Jesus at His word. Not extra-special, super-star people. Normal people who prayed and saw cancer disappear and blind eyes open. Who multiplied food. Who kept nothing for themselves and saw God meet every need. People who lived like Jesus.

That’s when I knew. I had been living in a dream world.

Suddenly I did not care about being cool. Culturally relevant. Balanced. Wise. Smart, in the eyes of men. I did not care what I had lost. I cared only that all those verses about living a life worthy of the Lord seemed suddenly accessible to me (Eph 4:1, Php 1:27, Col 1:10).
I had to live that life!

Then, my husband got healed. He went to a deliverance conference. I went out-of-state to a friend’s house with my kids and looked for his emails every day. And when he got home, he was the man I had married. No, he was better.

Much, much better.
From there, we dove straight down that rabbit hole.

There’s nothing like getting raised from the dead. And there is nothing like losing everything. I was so much like the rich young ruler. I had no wealth, but I was safe. I had friends. I had dignity and respect. I had enough to talk myself out of radical obedience. But when I lost it all, and was left with only Him, I could see. I knew I had been asleep, and it was time to wake up.
And it was very, very sweet.

It was the red pill………with sugar.

Accepting the grid, the rules…the matrix

2010-08-22T23:13:00.002-05:00

"Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now?"

But don’t we do the same? We accept what we are given. Doctor’s reports. Diagnosis and prognosis. Economic forecasts. Weather forecasts. Symptoms. Circumstances…we tolerate them and allow them to set the rules and limit the playing field before we’ve even stepped onto it.
And yet, there is ONE who broke free of all that. Not even death limited him.

Galatians 4
1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Did you catch that?!? I’ve missed that for YEARS! I’ve read the Bible so many times and NEVER seen that one…

We’re children because we’re in bondage under the elements of the world. We’re supposed to be “master of all”. Uhmmmmm, WOW!!

My family and I have been trying to challenge this in our lives. Call it an experiment. One way we’ve seen this is with the weather. One time we were driving to a zoo with our kids and it was a thick, heavy kind of overcast. (And supposed to rain.) Terrible for zoo trips! We commanded the sky to clear in Jesus name and literally watched a hole open up in the clouds and keep opening!! We were so freaked out that it was that easy! Then we got so excited talking about it, by the time we looked again, clear sky. I know it’s not easy to swallow that. Yes there are times we try and it doesn’t seem to go like we’d hoped. But most of the time it does. We’ve seen physical and emotional symptoms go by refusing to accept them, telling them to obey. Thunder silenced so it won’t wake up our kids at night. There really is something to this- not being enslaved by the elements of the world. By the rules, the system…the matrix.

Why do we accept the limitations placed on us, when the Bible is saying that is the essence of immaturity? I have a lot to learn, but I’m finding that there is a whole other kind of life that I never thought was possible. This isn’t happening because we are special, super powered or anything other than that we are trying to grow up and live like Jesus modeled. This is supposed to be normal for Christians.

What if NOTHING stopped us? What would it look like to REFUSE to accept limitation or to REFUSE to acknowledge lack and become mature in the ways described in the Bible. This is the adventure we signed up for. Stay tuned…

The Red Pill

2010-08-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

I thought I had it all.

We planted a church and built a very culturally relevant community. I was married to a passionate, strong, amazing woman. We had four brilliant little Celtic warriors. We had so many supportive, wonderful friends.

Then depression. Major depression and anxiety.

It felt like being buried alive. I lost everything. My job, my church, my community and my friends. All of it gone like paper thrown into a fire.

I went back to school to study social work and become a therapist. All the while I wanted to die. I was on the max dosage of every drug I could be given, seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist. They were about to hospitalize me when some old friends appeared and offered to pay my way to a healing and deliverance conference on the other side of the country. Amazingly, the therapist agreed to give me this last chance. I went to the conference half thinking I might not return.

Then I got healed. Radically, and totally healed.

No more depression. No more anxiety.

Then tumors melted away. My teeth got healed. Chronic back pain got healed. Eyes healed… no more glasses!

I had always heard of dramatic healings- even longed to see them. I spent years pursuing the “right” way to pray to see this kind of thing. I listened to anyone, read any book of anyone who had any results and was willing to try almost anything. I’ve read revivalists. I’ve read the books from church history and the underground church movements. Isn’t that part of what the church is supposed to do? I had never experienced anything like this. Sickness and disease were treated as entities. Spirits. They were spoken to and cast out. Commanded to “git”… like dogs at the back door.

And they left!

That was the start of going down the rabbit hole.

I had a new life and I wasn’t about to waste it. I had entertained death and despair long enough, now they are beaten! I had nothing to lose!

No plan B!

No looking back!

Shortly afterward I stumbled across a guy named Curry Blake on youtube.

He challenged me so much- it was just like the “early days” of my faith. I was actually having to decide whether or not I believed in what the Bible was saying! Just about everything I had built our church on was being shredded…BY THE BIBLE! It wasn’t even Curry’s expounding…it was the scriptures themselves!

I could take the blue pill and pretend I never heard it…go back to my “comfortable” Christianity…hope that I would forget and that it wouldn’t haunt me…

But I took the red pill