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From The Pit To The Palace

When we set out on a journey, especially one of some distance, we are not surprised when we encounter such things as road blocks, detours and other holdups. This is normal, it doesn’t really surprise us. But when we have a dream and circumstances conspire to keep us from fulfilling that dream, we give up too easily. The following story illustrates the fact that if you hold on to your dream you can go from ‘pit to palace’.

The Story of Joseph

Most of us are familiar with the story of Joseph (Genesis, Chapters 37 – 43) and his coat of many colors. Joseph, whose father was Jacob, was the youngest of twelve brothers. He was his father’s favorite, a situation which did not endear Joseph to the rest of the family. To make matters worse, his father did not attempt to hide his affection for Joseph when he presented Joseph with a special coat. Now, in that culture, what you wore signified to everyone your status and position so this went against the position of authority or, as we would say the ‘pecking order’ of the family structure.

Now Joseph had a dream, one in which he saw himself in a position of authority over his brothers as they bowed down before him. Nothing wrong with having a dream but you should be careful who you tell it to. Even if it’s family you don’t have to tell them everything. Joseph did not have this wisdom and with the impetuosity of youth, told all. This did not sit well with the brothers and we see their attitude towards Joseph rapidly changing from jealousy to outright hatred.

One day the brothers set off on a journey to tend to their father’s sheep. Shortly thereafter, Jacob asked Joseph to go and find his brothers and see if they were well. This Joseph did and when the brothers saw him approaching they decided that this was the opportunity they had been waiting for. Taking hold of Joseph, they would have killed him but for the intervention of his elder brother, Reuben. Rather than killing Joseph,  the brothers were persuaded to put him in a pit. At this time, a group of travelling traders came by and it was decided that Joseph would be sold to them. In order to cover up their conspiracy, they killed an animal and spread its blood on Joseph’s coat.

So, the group of traders continued on their way with Joseph in tow, and eventually ended up in Egypt. Here they unloaded Joseph for a price, into the home of a high ranking official by the name of Potifer. During the years that followed, Joseph excelled in his duties until he found himself in a position of chief of staff in Potifer’s household. This was quite a prestigious position and I’m sure when Joseph thought about his dream he must have thought everything was on track. There was, however, an impending derailment of that dream in the form of Potifer’s wife.

Potifer’s wife had taken a ‘bit of a shine’ to Joseph but when her feelings were not reciprocated she was less than pleased. In a fit of spite, she went to her husband and accused Joseph of attempted rape. The result of this accusation was, that Joseph lost his position as chief of staff and ended up in prison.

You could have forgiven Joseph for wondering at this stage, what on earth is happening to this great dream. The pit was a bit of a setback to say the least, but things seemed to be ‘on the up’ since then and now look what’s happened, he’s ended up in prison. Surely, when you have such a strong dream it’s supposed to go a lot smoother than this.

It would appear from the record that Joseph spent a few years in prison, and it was not until his proficiency at interpreting dreams was brought to the attention of Pharaoh, that he got another break. Pharaoh himself had had a dream, and none of his wise men could tell him what it meant, so when he heard about Joseph’s ability he sent for him. When Joseph was brought into the presence of Pharaoh and heard the dream, he was able to tell Pharaoh exactly what it meant, and Pharaoh was so impressed, Joseph ended up in a position equivalent to Prime Minister.

Now Pharaoh’s dream concerned an impending famine coming upon the land, and as Joseph’s interpretation gave the Egyptians the solution on how to avoid catastrophe, Joseph was put in charge of the whole project.

As Pharaoh’s dream came true, and the famine took hold, they were well prepared for it, but other parts of the country did not fare so well. This included the part of the country where Joseph’s father and brothers lived. As they ran out of food, their only recourse was to travel into Egypt and buy grain. When they did this they ended up in the presence of Joseph. Not recognizing Joseph, but only seeing this important person in front of them, they did what was required of them and bowed before him.

Thus we see Joseph’s dream being fulfilled in its entirety.

So what does this tell us about dreams?

First of all, just because you have a dream, doesn’t mean it is suddenly all going to come to pass the next day. Secondly, going by the example above, things may get worse before they get better.

The thing is, when you have a dream you know two things….

You know where you are right now and…..

you know where you are going to be when the dream manifests.

The thing you don’t know is the route you’re going to take from where you are right now to where you’re going. If we knew that piece of information we may decide not to bother with that dream and see if we can come up with another one with a simpler route to the finish line.

The thing we learn very quickly is, when you set out on your ‘dream journey’ the route from start to finish is not a straight line. We can see this process in many areas of our everyday life.

The next time you are standing on a beach, look at the action of the ocean waves. The tide is usually doing one of two things, it is either coming in or going out. But how does it do this? It doesn’t suddenly rush in and you have high tide and then suddenly rush out and you have low tide. Watch the waves, they come up the beach and then recede, then they come up the beach maybe a little bit further and then recede again. This action is repeated until we have high tide and then the opposite motion starts. This is a normal operation of the ocean and we all recognize it as such, in fact, if it happened any different it would be abnormal.

Let’s look at another example. Think about throwing a ball. What direction does it go in before you release it? Backwards, of course! In fact, the further back you can take it, the more impetus you have, and the further forward you can throw it. This is a natural action, it’s just the way it works.

Let’s look at another example from the field of investment and trading.

You can see that the commodity shown in the chart above is in, what we call an uptrend. In other words, the price starts off low at the bottom left and progresses to a higher price at the top right. But look at the path it takes, it doesn’t go in a straight line. It swings up for a period of time, and then we have what is known as a retracement where price comes back and then it rallies again, and extends above where it reached previously. It keeps up this movement until it reaches the top. Can you see the similarity between this and our example of the ocean? This movement is natural, it is just the way everything works.

So, when you have a dream and you start off, everything looks like it is going to plan and then, suddenly you run into a problem that halts your forward motion. We call it a ‘drawback’. This is normal, it happens to everyone who makes the effort to move forward. Let’s face it, if a dream automatically came to pass without any drawbacks, everyone who had a dream would be a success.

So, how do we handle these adverse situations? As we said before, there are two things you know. The first one is where you are right now and the second is where your dream is taking you. The secret to success is not to focus on the problem of the moment but to keep your attention strongly focused on the end result. This way you are always facing in the direction of your success and the seeming failures will work themselves out and, in time, you will walk in the full manifestation of your dream which you will find is even greater than you originally envisioned.

This is normal, this is how it works!

The Name of Jesus – The Ultimate Authority

 

lisaby Lisa Dunn B.A.

1975 – 2002

Monday November 5th 2001

I was receiving some insight into the ‘Name of Jesus’. Most Christians do not realize what embodies the ‘Name of Jesus’ and what can happen when the Name is used in a command. It is Not just a name that you can say because it refers to God’s Son; the Name IS God’s Son, who Jesus is, what He embodies, and what He can do, are all encapsulated in His name, all to be released when His Name is spoken.

However, if a Christian does not understand all these things concerning the Name of Jesus, they will not speak His name forth with the boldness, the faith, and the authority that are required for achieving the results that can be achieved through His Name.

Jesus had, and has, authority. His Name is the person, so His Name also has the same authority. You can bring all of this back to the subject of ‘God’s Divine Authority Structure’.
Sickness and disease has a certain amount of authority, which is given by the flesh when it is accepted as fact. The flesh of man (the mind, will and emotions) also has a certain amount of authority, in that it has to be put to death in order for a higher authority, the Spirit of God, to reign in someone’s life. The Name of Jesus ranks the highest in authority over the other two.

You will notice in Acts 3: when Peter and John approached the man at the gate Beautiful that Peter spoke the Name of Jesus out first before he commanded the man to rise up and walk. By doing this, Peter established the supreme authority figure first over the situation. Then he commanded the man’s flesh to reject the infirmity ie. the lesser authority, and obey the higher authority.

When the Name of Jesus was spoken, which is the container of the highest authority that exists, the sickness had no choice but to leave, and the flesh had no choice but to obey. This becomes a tangible reality when the one speaking the Name of Jesus has an inner awareness of the magnitude of power, authority, and anointing that is released and directed when the Name of Jesus is spoken in faith.

Authority Structure
The Name of Jesus
The Flesh
Sickness and Disease

The Power Of Knowing

image11There is a big difference between knowing something as a theory and knowing something as a reality. When we say that we ‘know’ something we usually mean that we have heard the information before. This is a major barrier to learning because if we hear the same information presented in the same way, over and over again, we tend to start ignoring it. We say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ve heard that before, I know that”.

The question then has to be asked, “If you really know it, is it a reality in your life?”

Let’s take some example of scriptural truth in the area of healing. We are all familiar with the verse which tells us that God is Jehovah Rapha – ‘I am the Lord that heals you’ Even though the vast majority of the church that actually believes healing is still available today, would say they knew and accepted that as true, we have to look and see if it is actually demonstrated as a reality.

Many people are familiar with the healing scriptures and accept them as true, yet experience great difficulty in actually manifesting healing in their bodies.

So, why is that? Why the contradiction?
The problem is, that most people accept the truth of healing in their head – we call it mental assent, but it is not a reality on the inside. Just because you hear a truth and accept it, does not mean it will automatically start working in your life. It would be great if it did but, unfortunately, that is not how it works. If it were, a lot more people would be instantly healed.

How do we change this?
We have to take it from the area of head knowledge, to ‘heart’ knowledge, that is – it becomes a revelation. The way we do that is by getting quiet, take hold of one of the healing scriptures and start pondering it over and over again. This takes time and commitment which is why so few people do it. But if you want the results, you have to make the effort.

The reality we walk in, is determined by the reality that lives on the inside of us and not the information we give mental assent to. Mental assent is a beginning but it is Not ‘knowing’. When you really ‘know’ something it changes you.

John 8:32 – You Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Shall Set You Free

We have a lifetime of beliefs on the inside of us which have to be rooted out and replaced with the ‘truth’ that we want to see manifested in our life.

A Royal Healing

wil01“Queen Wilhelmina of Holland entered the state of motherhood six times, but was never able to carry the child to maturity. All the science of Europe could not bring the child to birth.

There was a dear lady in our congregation in South Africa who had formerly been a nurse to Queen Wilhelmina. Her son was marvellously healed when dying of African fever, when he had been unconscious for six weeks. Being a friend of the Queen, she wrote the story of her son’s healing, and after some correspondence we received a written request that we pray God that she might be a real mother.

I brought her letter before the congregation one Sunday night, and the congregation went down to prayer. And before I arose from my knees, I turned around and said, “All right mother, you write and tell the Queen, God has heard our prayer; she will bear a child.” Less than a year later the child was born, the present Princess Julianna of Holland.”

― John G. Lake, The John G. Lake Sermons: On Dominion Over Demons, Disease And Death

The ministry of John G Lake touched every level of human existence, from the savannahs and forests of Africa to the royal houses of Europe, his message and methods were the same. He exercised his authority and dominion over sickness and disease and commanded them to leave in the name of Jesus.

During his ministry in South Africa his influence was felt beyond the Christian sphere. Among the many giants of history who were touched by Lake were such people as Cecil Rhodes, Louis Botha and Jan Smuts. It is on record that John Lake made a significant contribution to the formulation of the South African Constitution.

But the driving force behind the man was his determination to demonstrate the Power of God wherever he saw the opportunity. No matter the location, whether a Queen’s palace or a tribesman’s mud hut, the outcome was the same – the oppressed were set free.

Come Up Here To A New Level Of Possibility

NI04“The life of the Christian without the indwelling power of the Spirit in the heart is a weariness to the flesh. It is an obedience to commandments and an endeavor to walk according to a pattern which you have not power to follow.”
― John G. Lake, The Collected Works of John G. Lake

The power of the Spirit elevates a person into a new level of existence, a place of new possibilities, new vision and new abilities. It is a place where ‘old things have passed away and all things become new’.

It is not as if you have no power at work within you right now because that is what is responsible for your present circumstances. Where life becomes frustrating is when you try to use that same level of power to change conditions for the better.

If you desire a superior life, only a superior power will get you there.

The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God ‘quickens’ or makes ‘alive’ our bodies. It’s like increasing a vibration or a frequency – it raises you up into a completely new realm where it not only can effect your physical body but also gives you a whole new way of thinking.

‘Come Up Here’ is an invitation found more than once in the Scriptures and it is the solution to change a life of struggle and frustration to one of ease and inspiration.

Hidden Riches Of The Kingdom

image10“The secret of spiritual success is a hunger that persists…It is an awful condition to be satisfied with one’s spiritual attainments…God was and is looking for hungry, thirsty people.”
― Smith Wigglesworth

Smith Wigglesworth once stated that he was never without the Bible on his person. It was his only reading material. He read it, studied it, prayed it and talked about it constantly. As he stated above, his secret was his hunger for more of God which led to his total absorption in the Scriptures.

Too many people are content with their degree of spirituality, not realizing that there is NO limit to the level of spiritual growth that can be attained, nor the amount of guidance and wisdom that is lying hidden under the surface. This hidden treasure is only available to the hungry seeker who knows that, no matter the degree of insight that he possesses, the surface has hardly been scratched.

We are complacent in our ‘theological boxes’, unwilling to expand our box and broaden our horizons to discover the hidden riches of the Kingdom of God.

Healing – God Never Changes

jglake01“GOD ALWAYS WAS THE HEALER. He is the healer still, and will ever remain the Healer. Healing is for YOU. Jesus healed, “all that came to Him.” He never turned any one away. He never said, “It is not God’s will to heal you,” or that it was better for the individual to remain sick, or that they were being perfected in character through the sickness. He healed them ALL. Thereby demonstrating FOREVER God’s unchangeable will concerning sickness.”
― John G. Lake, The Collected Works of John G. Lake

People make promises and break them. We have become conditioned to that and almost come to expect it and, because of that, deep down we are not sure if God will keep His promises.

But it states in the scriptures, ‘I am the Lord, I change not’. People like John Lake knew that and that was one of the secrets of their ministry. He knew that once God declared Himself to be the healer, He was the healer for all time. Once He healed one person the precedent was set for all to be healed.
The only thing that stands between us and our healing is trust in the fact that God will do exactly what He said He will do!

The Key To Limitless Thinking

transformation01We read in Romans 12:2 ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ In just a few words we find out what we have to do – be transformed, and how to do it. But what does it mean to be transformed and how do we renew our minds?

Let’s start with transformation.

In the scripture quoted above we find that the word ‘transformed’ comes from the Greek word ‘metamorphoo’. From this we get our English word ‘Metamorphosis’ which is the process by which a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Now, if we take this example, it tells us exactly what happens in this process.

A caterpillar is very limited in where it can go and the distance it can travel. A butterfly, on the other hand, is practically unlimited in its horizons. For example, the Monarch butterfly flies from the rainforests of Brazil to Nova Scotia in Canada, and then back to Brazil, a distance of over eight thousand miles round trip.

When we are transformed we too are unlimited in our possibilities. No longer are we restricted, earth-bound, but our possibilities are infinite. This is all possible because we have the ability to renew our minds.

But what does it mean to renew our minds?

It means that we are fed up with the limitations imposed by our old way of thinking and set our intention to change the way we think, and the way we feel and ultimately the way we act.
It was Einstein who said, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them’.

We literally have to change who we are – just like the great character actors of Hollywood who actually became the personality they were portraying. We have to put on the ‘new man’ who is comfortable in the surroundings we wish to create.

This is done by creating a clear picture of what you want, for example – a healthy body, more comfortable surroundings or a better financial situation – and then stepping into the picture. This is accomplished during your time of prayer and meditation.

When you are clear on what you want, ask yourself, what kind of person you would have to become to fit comfortably into your picture – how would they talk? How would they think? How would they feel? How would they act?

Somebody once said, ‘To be a millionaire, you must first act like a millionaire’.

All true change in the physical comes from a change, first of all, on the inside.

Mind renewal is the true key to transforming your life from something restricted and dull to a life filled with endless possibilities and potential.

True Prayer and Meditation – The Same Thing?

image09Most of the modern Church institutions have become powerless, spiritually devoid social clubs, all saying the right things but denying the power of the gospel. It was the healing evangelist, John G Lake who said over a hundred years ago that every church should have the letters ‘LTD’ written after their name – because they are limited in power, limited in vision and limited in their ability to minister the ability and authority granted us in Jesus Christ.

One of the root causes of this is the loss of the true meaning of prayer.

Let’s step back for a moment and look at a couple of things in the Word of God which we are instructed to do on an ongoing basis.

First of all we are told to pray without ceasing – that seems like a formidable task in itself – and, secondly, we are instructed to meditate day and night. Now. It would seem if we managed to do any one of these, it would automatically preclude the other, if for no other reason, we just wouldn’t have the time.

As a potential solution to this dilemma, I am going to present a concept for your consideration and that is that prayer and meditation are one and the same thing.

Now when we talk about meditation most Christians are scared stiff. Eastern religions, cults, devils are among some of the negative connotations which spring immediately to mind. All this shows is that they have no idea what their position in Christ is. ( a subject we will examine in more detail in future posts) The Bible tell us to meditate so therefore it is a scriptural practice and we don’t need to say anything else about it at this point except to say it is a spiritual exercise.

Prayer is also a spiritual exercise, not words committed to memory and repeated parrot fashion.

To explain prayer let’s look at a verse in Mark that we have used in a previous post – ‘Whatsoever things you desire, WHEN YOU PRAY, believe you receive them and you shall have them’. How do you believe you receive something when you pray? Simple, you get quiet and see yourself in possession of the thing you desire. But, wait a minute, you may say, doesn’t that sound more like meditation than prayer.

Exactly. Prayer and meditation are both spiritual exercises designed to do exactly the same thing.

As another example, let us look at prayer in the context of healing the sick. To pray for the sick is a common term used in most churches that believe Divine Healing has not passed away. But what if I told you that only once in the Bible does it tell you to pray for the sick and that is in the Gospel of James. In all other places it tells you to heal the sick or to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

Look at the ministry of Jesus and how He ministered to the sick. He commanded them to be healed, he commanded sickness to depart, He commanded devils to leave and He commanded the dead to rise. He never prayed for them, all His praying was done before He even came into contact with the sick and what He did then was exercise His authority.

So, if you are involved in ministering to the sick, here is a suggestion for you. Before you go to minister, spend time in the quiet using your imagination to see people coming out of wheelchairs, crippled limbs being made whole and all manner of diseases being healed.

That is true prayer and it has the effect of building up spiritual power on the inside of you and when you come into contact with a person in need, you release that power into their lives and set them free.

Renewing Spiritual Energy

image03We are three part beings – spirit, soul and body. Most of the time we take care of our bodies, but neglect our soul and spirit. We all know that when we are deprived of sleep we don’t function as efficiently. We can’t think ‘straight’, our ability to focus is altered and we tend to be irritable, in other words our body starts to break down.

Just as our bodies need sleep to restore and rejuvenate, to grow muscle, repair tissue and synthesize hormones, so too does our spirit require a time of peace and silence for renewing its energies. It is vital to our spiritual welfare to make time every day for meditation. Meditation can mean different things to different people, some people are even afraid of the concept, not really understanding what meditation is.

Meditation can be sitting quiet and pondering a scripture, mulling it over in our minds. Joshua1:8 and Psalm1:2 tells us to ‘meditate day and night’.
Meditation is also sitting quietly, waiting in God’s presence Psalm 46 :10 tells us to ‘Be still, and know that I am God’

There are so many benefits of meditation. Recent studies have shown that meditation can help relieve stress keeping you calmer, enhance your ability to focus and boosts your creativity and intuition. So not only does meditating renew your spiritual energy, it also improves your state of mind and helps create a healthier body.

We all do really know how to meditate, in fact a lot of people do it every day without realising what they’re doing- worrying. Worry is mulling over in our minds all kinds of negative scenarios. Going to bed at night worrying about things that happened during the day, or things that might happen the following day. Worry is meditating negatively and we don’t want to do that.

So, if you’re not already meditating, why not start today, even for say 15mins. and start enjoying the benefits in your mind and body as well as spiritually.