Heb 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, faith is the substance of things hoped for.”
I have a better understanding of this scripture since I have heard it from the Jewish perspective. The substance that gives faith is the vision you have for your future. You must form a clear picture of what you want. God is the energy that is forever bringing into being the things you envision with a thankful heart.
The Jewish people encourage others to ask God for visions and dreams in the same way the Heroes of faith did in the Old Testament. Abraham envisioned himself as the father of many nations by counting the stars. It was God who said that he should count them. Jacob had a dream that heaven was a real place, and God’s angels were moving down to earth to help people and go back again. Joseph, the dreamer, saved the world of his time by interpreting the king’s dream. Although we lead an earthly life, our minds should be filled with things that are above. Ask God to give you visions and dreams, then fill your mind with them, and then begin to obey the first Jewish financial law: Be thankful! Begin to write down things you are thankful for, even the things you are expectantly waiting for.
The second financial law is to have wisdom. I thought that the wisdom Solomon had was a gift. I thought he woke up one morning and was wise. Apparently not. If you want wisdom, go study, read the Bible, and learn from wise people. The third law is to give. The idea is that we should be a conduit for others in the same way I am writing to you, about what I have learnt, so that others may partake of the prosperity God has in mind for all people.
We have all been created in the image of God. We have an imagination. Our task is to fill our imagination in the same way an artist paints a canvas. This is the substance that faith will bring forth. The imaginations and thoughts of the heart should be pure, sanctified, and washed with the blood of Christ. This place where we imagine is spiritually high. The book of Ephesians teaches this high place that is in Christ. Ephesians 2:6 says we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.
The idea is that we must focus our thoughts on the things we want and not the things we fear. Once you are sure that your vision and dream are from God, you become so filled with thanks that joy makes you live the thing you want before it happens in the physical. You become consumed with your future substance, and there is no room for doubt. As far as you are concerned, it has already come to pass. The heart soil is now properly planted, and the seed is growing as you give constant thanks and praise.
2 Cor 4:18: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The last thought I would like to leave with you is that you must read the Bible, keeping in view the fact that you are living a heavenly life while on earth. In the book of Hebrews, we are described as being citizens of heaven. For instance, the fullness of God is pleased to live in Christ; we are in Christ, Christ is in us. Paul says, “It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me”. Jesus said, “Let thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. Don’t think about the physical earth, God created that; it is perfect. The Bible teaches that God is recreating us to be like Jesus. Think about your mind being the Kingdom of heaven, and the way you think will give you a heavenly life here on earth that is heavenly.
I remember a friend who asked me to make a sculpture for him out of a weathered, lead wood stump. I did it with a lot of loving care, but he told me that since that sculpture arrived in his house, a lot of bad things had happened to him. I felt really bad about it and prayed about it until I received assurance from the Holy Spirit that what God had blessed cannot be cursed. Everything eventually worked out for my friend, and I must say that he gained a lot of spiritual wisdom and maturity after that season of his life.
I believe that we must realise that even finances have seasons when we are working for ourselves. It is especially during these times that we do a lot of introspection and grow in our understanding of who God is. Through the ages, the Jews have proven that they are very good with finances, so much so that it was one of the main reasons that German Riegh hated the Jews because they were so wealthy. I have been trying to understand the Jewish perspective on money. They do have great confidence in the word of God and rely heavily on God’s blessing. Rabbi David uses scripture to prove that we should never beg God for money. The Afrikaans version of the Bible specifically teaches “gebed en smeking” (Prayer and begging). This is a translation error.
Phil 4:6: “Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
The English versions never beg God. The word “Supplications” is translated as begging in the English dictionary. However, the Greek Translations (G1162) says it is Prayer, Petition, or Request. NEVER BEG GOD because we are sons of God. We are joint heirs with Christ. I would never allow my children to beg me; all I have also belongs to them. It is also a great mistake to be jealous of others who are doing better than we are. The Kabbalah teaches that we should be glad with others who prosper and be expectant for our prosperity, next time it is my turn. We know these things from the teachings of the Bible, but it was interesting to see it from a Jewish perspective. They have set prayers that are said to align oneself with the overflowing blessings. To open yourself to God’s abundant supply. It is interesting that they also teach you not to wait for God to give you money to start a business, but to make a start and do the things you can, while waiting for the business to take off. The Kabbalah uses the instance of Moses, who asked God what he should do when they came to the Red Sea. God answered, “Why are you asking me? Tell the people to go forward.” While we are waiting for God to do things in our lives, God is waiting for us to move forward by Faith.
The other thing I found interesting is that we should never be competitive, as it causes a fearful mind. I stopped doing sports when I was young because I thought What am I doing? Am I trying to prove that I am better than other people?
Gratitude is the key that keeps you connected to the God supply. Always pay a tenth of your income to whatever cause you deem worthy. You must form a definite, clear picture of what you want to achieve. Think of what you want, how you can help others, and create things that have never been made before.
The most important thing that I would like to add is to base all of your thought life on the promises of God. God is not a man that He should lie. Find the promises in the Bible and write them on the walls of your house in any place you might have a moment to meditate, so that faith can come for healing, finances, and prosperity, and all your needs. And then God will get the glory. Fill your mind with what it will look like when you receive what you are believing for. Begin to act as if it has already come to pass.
Heb 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. I have a better understanding of this scripture since I have heard it from the Jewish perspective. The substance that gives faith something to do is the vision you have for your future. You must form a clear picture of what you want. God is the energy that is forever bringing into being the things you envision with a thankful heart. They encourage people to ask God for visions and dreams in the same way all the faith heroes of the Old Testament had. Abraham envisioned that he was the father of many nations by counting the stars. It was God who said that he should. Jacob had a dream that heaven was a real place and God’s angels were moving down to earth to help people and go back again. Joseph, the dreamer, saved the world of his time by interpreting the king’s dream. Although we lead an earthly life, our minds should be filled with things that are above.
Ask God to give you visions and dreams, then fill your mind with them and begin to obey the first Jewish financial law. Be thankful! Begin to write down things you are thankful for, even the things you are expectantly waiting for. The second financial law is to have wisdom. I thought that the wisdom Solomon had was a gift. I thought he woke up one morning and was wise. Apparently not. If you want wisdom, go study, read the Bible, and learn from wise people. The third law is to give. The idea is that we should be a conduit for others in the same way I am writing to you about what I have learnt so that others may partake of the prosperity God has in mind for all people.
We have all been created in the image of God. We have an imagination. Our task is to fill our imagination in the same way an artist paints a canvas. This is the substance that faith will bring forth. The imaginations and thoughts of the heart should be pure, sanctified, and washed with the blood of Christ. This place where we imagine is spiritually high. The book of Ephesians teaches about this high place that is in Christ.
Eph 2:6: “We are seated with Christ in heavenly places.”
Eph 4:8: “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”
The idea is that we must focus our thoughts on the things we want and not the things we fear will happen. Once you are sure that your vision and dream are from God, you become so filled with thanks that joy makes you live the thing you want before it has happened in the physical. You become consumed with your future substance, and there is no room for doubt. As far as you are concerned, it has already come to pass. The heart soil is now properly planted, and the seed is growing as you give constant thanks and praise. The Image in your imagination is the substance!
2 Cor 4:18: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The last thought I would like to leave you with is that you must read the Bible from the standpoint that you are living a heavenly life while on the earth. For instance, the fullness of God is pleased to live in Christ; we are in Christ, Christ is in us. Paul says, “it is not I who lives but Christ lives in me.” Jesus said, “Let thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. Don’t think about the physical earth; God created it, and it is perfect. The Bible teaches that God is recreating us to be like Jesus. Think about your mind being the Kingdom of Heaven, and the way you think will give you a heavenly life, right here on earth.
I am writing the following to all people who have been in the Shoe and Alpha Omega Cave and who have an understanding of the Line. The Cave preaches the cross and the blood of Jesus and activates the imagery of the mind. We know the heart is the conscience, and it is the Garden of God. Now, the following is written to activate the garden and bring out the things we need in the physical. Everything above the Line is the garden. Whenever anything from below the Line comes above, the garden stops bringing forth. The Holy Spirit, who is the gardener, leaves the garden, and the garden is closed to man in the same way it happened to Adam.
I can understand how people get frustrated with the small interest rates that the banks are offering. We are all looking for better interest rates as inflation is eating away at our finances. There are so many scams, and many have lost all their savings and are hopelessly crying out to God, as there is nowhere else to go for help. We wonder how it can be that the rich get richer, how it can be that some people are always prospering. This is a subject that even the writers of the Bible talk about. They say our help comes from the Lord, we all agree, but when will this help come?
God has made a way for all people to harvest what they have sown. The first time God talked to Adam, he told him to guard the Garden of Eden, where they lived. It all started in a garden and ended in the garden of Gethsemane and the garden where Christ rose from the dead. God is the gardener of the heart, but the heart must be guarded.
The Garden is likened unto: God gives a farmer a free farm to plough and sow in. It is a place for the farmer to commune with God. This farm will bring forth whatever he sows, but he must guard the harvest. If the weather service predicts hailstorms, the farmer may perhaps allow fear into his garden. Perhaps it only rains on his neighbour’s farm, and he might become jealous. Or perhaps he did so well that pride crept into his garden. As you can see in Gal 5:19, the works of the flesh are producing negative emotions that are devouring his harvest in the form of pests, bad weather, thorns, and thistles. In this way, the farmer becomes naked, the garden is closed, and man is denied entry. All because he did not listen to the small voice of the conscience, which is the presence of God in your garden. And so it is with the heart garden that God has given each one of us. The result is the curse, and we just can’t seem to get ahead.
If you are serious about eating the fruit of your garden, you must start by repenting and asking God for forgiveness trusting in man and not God. Make the goal of what you wish to achieve very clear. You must have a burning desire to achieve your goal. You will grown before God for divine instruction and revelation of dreams and visions. In Deut. 8:18 God has given us the power to get wealth. The word power is translated as ‘firm’. You could say determined to take the harvest out of the garden. Your determination is your power. I believe the correct word is faith. God has given all people the same measure of faith. Thus he has given us the garden and the faith to work it. Also, the only way we can please God is by faith. It pleases God if we enjoy the labour of our hands.
Ecc 5:19: “Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.”
Through the Garden, God provides all things we may have need of. Anyone can do this; we have been designed by God to see in the imagery of our minds. Switch the television off and look at the television of your mind, at what the garden is going to bring forth.
The key to having a harvest is to plough the soil. This happens as we deal with our sins and guilt at the cross. We follow Jesus and meditate on what happened before, during, and after the crucifixion. This happens in the outer court of the Tabernacle. When we leave this room of the heart, we have died to self and now live and move and have our being in Christ. We are in Christ and should do what he did with the authority we have in Christ. The ploughing has now been completed, the heart is ready to sow in.
We enter the Holy Place.
After the resurrection of Christ, the disciples went fishing. They fished all night and caught nothing. This is a metaphor of our lives. When they admit they caught nothing all night, Jesus tells them where to cast the net out [on the right]. Because they did what he said, the fish jumped into their net, and the net did not break from the strain of so many fish. Now this is a miracle, and the way the soil causes seeds to grow is also a miracle. The fact is that the presence of Jesus Christ caused the miracle. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the garden that causes the seed to grow in the same way Jesus could do no miracles without the Holy Spirit. Now you can see why it is so important to guard the garden continually. If the worry should slip in, the presence of God leaves. If pride comes in, there is no more communion with the Lord, no matter how much word you sow. The Holy Spirit must remain your friend and guide constantly as you sow and water your garden.
Now the word of God is Jesus, and as we ask the Holy Spirit what to sow and how to do it, he will begin to sow the word that is the seed we plant in the garden. If it should be that your need is health, you will sow Prov 4:22 by speaking out loud: “The word of God is life to all your flesh and marrow to your bones!”. One of His names is Jehovah Nissi. The Lord, your healer. God is also our provider, Jehovah Jireh. If finances are your need, use the above scriptures of Deut 8:18. Read the book of Joshua and plant Joshua 1:3, 1:8, Ps. 1, and Ps 112 in your garden by speaking these verses. Google knows where all these scriptures are, but especially Mark 11:23-24. That you shall have whatsoever you say. God also says that you can do all things; nothing shall be impossible to you. In Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1 we see that these scriptures should fill your meditations night and day.
If it is the burning desire of your heart, you will do so continually. This is the way we sow in the ploughed garden. The seed will come up, because the Holy Spirit is there to do the growing of the seed, and it will produce the things that you have believed in your heart, and it will bring great glory to God because you have a testimony. Everywhere you go, you will tell people of how God provided for you, and they will also do it. Now we enter the Holy of Holies. It is the presence of God, as in Heb 12:22. God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and thousands of angels are there in joyful assembly, along with all the perfected spirits. This is the place we say thank you, with praise and worship. Be joyful before the Lord as you look at the unseen as if it has already come to pass. Read Heb 11. You may be as excited and you want to be and act as if it has already come to pass. This is the way God has intended it for all people to live and be provided for.
The heart garden is also the Promised Land. If you read the Bible from this perspective, you will see that the story of the Israelites in Egypt’s slavery is our story. We were in slavery to the world system with our finances and healing. We go to the bank for money and are enslaved to them for the rest of our lives. I know the doctors do a lot of good, and without them, most of us would have been dead, but God is the healer. We just have to learn how to receive our healing in the heart garden.
The way God saved the Israelites from slavery was miraculous. Unfortunately, they carried with them their slave mentality, and they could not possess the Promised Land. Out of millions of people, only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land. Unfortunately, it is my experience that very few believers enter the Promised Land to eat the miraculous fruit of the Garden of the heart.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see that the people of God believed for a while, and not long before they started worshiping other gods. Then they are led away into slavery by other nations, from where God saves them again when they repent. These days, we say we don’t worship idols, but we do, as we believe that we will never be able to have patience and self-control, for instance. We are just as guilty as the Israelites
There are faith heroes like Abraham, who inherited the wonderful promises of God, and if we are in Christ, these promises are also ours, and we sow these promises in our heart gardens. We say them out loud, we hear them, and it then produces fruit we eat from and live from joyfully because it is a gift from God, because he wants us to prosper.
I spent the weekend with two old people who simply cannot see the need for God in their lives. They say everything is created by science. Yet they keep coming to me and always want to go through the Cave I built. They admit that they cannot understand the cross and the blood. Yet it seems to me their spirit is calling out to God, but the heart is hard and veiled.
I think this is typical of what happened to Adam and Eve. We see that God closed the garden and a Cherubim with a flaming sword was placed at the East of the garden. This happened as a result of eating from the wrong tree. I believe the fruit of the wrong tree is the fruit of the flesh (Gal 5). They were no longer eating Jesus, with whom they could commune in the garden. Adam and Eve began to listen and obey their own will, intellect, emotions, and feelings. The sin was pride. They became obsessed with themselves and not God. They can no longer eat from the tree of life in their fallen state. I am sure that these two old people want to talk to God, but can not find the way to enter the garden. They are still banished from the garden of their heart, where God can commune with them.
I believe the word ‘East’ is pointing to the shape of the rising sun. When the sun peeps out in the morning, it represents the mind. How is it in your mind today? Did you eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Jesus says: Come, let’s crucify it. Follow me, I want to give you a great day. I want you to be saved from yesterday. I want you to be free from the past, from bad habits, and thoughts of the past that keep repeating themselves in your mind. I want you to spend the day with me and not with your worries.
We must remember that Jesus was crucified in the garden outside the city. After the resurrection on Sunday morning, Mary thought he was the Gardener. Of course, He is the Gardener of the heart!
Many years ago, I started painting large canvases with the garden because Jesus revealed Himself to me as the Gardener of my heart garden. My family was ecstatic, and we took our problems to the garden; it was as if we were so spiritual that we hardly touched the ground. But then one morning the garden was gone and we were denied entry.
The Lord said we must learn this lesson, never try and teach people spiritual things without teaching them the cross. The cross is the door to the garden. We cannot enter the garden without dying as He did to the flesh. We leave the sinful nature and the cares of life in the cross as we die, then we enter and live in the Spirit, above in Christ, with the mind of Christ. Remember the thorn crown.
Jesus’ mind-garden was guarded by a thorn crown they made him wear. This led him to shed his blood around his head; therefore, we must apply the blood of Jesus to our minds daily, which will be our protection and act as a fence around our heart-garden. Keeping our thoughts and imaginations of our hearts safe, in Christ. Not allowing evil thoughts to enter into our minds.
The pictures you see here are the paintings Ron painted with the Garden in mind. All these paintings are described in his book The Garden. You can purchase it online.
The original Ten Commandments are written in Exodus.
Exo 20:2-4 “I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
You should read it and meditate on these commandments that Jesus summarised as: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.
These commandments were given to God’s people who had just been led out of slavery, and yet while God was giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, they were worshiping a golden calf. We are also metaphorically born in slavery to the sinful nature. God has written His laws in our hearts. We know right from wrong instinctively. I love the way Paul describes God in Romans 1:18-20. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made— they can clearly see His invisible qualities: His eternal power and divine nature.
Many people stop at the Shoe on their way to the Kruger Park. I always steer the conversation towards God, and sometimes I am surprised to hear that they don’t believe in a God. Yet they are on their way to the park to look at God’s creation. They can’t get enough of nature and are mesmerised by the animals, the earth, and the sky. I always tell them, if you love nature, you love God because they are, in fact, worshiping God by being quiet. They are only trying not to be indoctrinated by religion. They may ask me why I openly serve God because they can see it is my passion. I use the opportunity to explain the conscience and the importance of having a clear conscience so God can bless you. This naturally leads to the cross, and as you know,w very few people understand the cross, I just give them enough knowledge so they can have something to chew on while resting on holiday. Most of these people will use the internet to find out if this is true, and I must say, Google knows the Bible.
God is my passion. Because of Him, I have air in my lungs and a heart that pumps blood, I have always had food to eat and always been provided for. When I get up in the morning, I quote the first two commandments, and I tell God I love Him before I go to bed. John G. Lake taught me to greet the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit daily. They live inside of us with all their invisible, creative qualities, creating continuously. These creative qualities function in us and through us if we are at peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus said to the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5:34, “Daughter, your faith has saved you, go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
This word peace is the Strong’s number G1515 and is translated as ‘prosperity’ and also ‘quiet’. This woman was not a Jew, yet she had greater faith than all of the Jews because she saw that God’s will is healing and prosperity because of the things Jesus did. She instinctively knew Jesus was God in action. Jesus said that he only did what he saw his Father do.
Many people get miraculous healing, but then lose it after a while because they don’t live in the love and peace of God. So Jesus gave her a way to keep her healing. “KEEP YOUR PEACE !” We can all learn a lesson from this. When the conscience is clear, we are at peace.
Prov 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for out of it flows the issues of life. Prov.23:7 As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
Peace in the heart causes room for God to live in, and then he can bring prosperity and healing, which is his nature.
She took her healing by faith. Jesus did not know who touched him for healing and asked, “Who touched me? He congratulated her on her faith and was amazed by her faith because the Jews of that time did not live by faith at all. This was because the law was taken out of context by the priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and they held the people in bondage as they had to obey so many laws that they did not understand the love of God at all, because they were always burdened with guilt. No one could fulfill the law!
Look at the interesting thing in Romans 4:31—we only fulfil the law if we live by faith. Faith in what? The very fact that God is a good God and he wants us to be well in the same way we want our children to be well. The only thing that trips us up is if we do not deal with the past that keeps repeating in our minds and the things we should have dealt with at the cross, so that we can have confidence towards God in a clear conscience.
I have noticed that more and more people understand what the flesh is here in South Africa. I remember how it changed my life to know that the devil is not my problem, but I am my own problem because I allowed impatience to rule my life. The Lord taught me how to crucify anger and impatience and to be saved from it, to live a life in the saved Christ-mind. It was a matter of doing daily introspection, crucifying fleshly thoughts, and living a peaceful, calm life as my thoughts were being transformed. I learnt to become a living sacrifice and follow Jesus daily. (Romans 12)
I am thankful today for our readers who have taken this message to heart and learnt to guard the heart against the things of the flesh. I know that many of you have taken part in guarding the heart and are now teaching others to live a saved life in Christ. You have all become disciplined in your thinking and learned to have an organised mind. I have lately met some people who have this knowledge, they learnt in cell groups or by listening to leaders preach the truth. Once again, thank you for what you are doing for Jesus! We intend to put out some posts on the knowledge of the cross and hope that it will be of use to those of you who live the truth and preach the message of the peace of God to all mankind.
Nevertheless, I also know that you have endured some suffering as we all have. Unfortunately, there comes a time when we all look down into that deep, dark hole and find scriptures like “it is through suffering that Christ learned obedience”. It has become my daily meditation to follow Jesus to the cross. One translation said that Jesus saw the horror of the suffering that lay before him in the garden of Gethsemane. He was deeply distressed and filled with anqiush as He overcame the thoughts of the flesh and perspired great drops of blood. The part that I would like you to remember is that an angel of the Lord appeared to strengthen him. My wife, Yvonne, had a hip transplant, and she took it badly. It was hard to watch her suffer, and when I read this scripture of the angel that strengthened Jesus, I anointed Yvonne with oil and asked the Lord to send His angel to strengthen her. Truly, since that day, she started to recover more speedily. I believe that Jesus was completely revived by the angel and was so strong that when the temple guards and Roman soldiers came to arrest him, they fell over backward when He identified himself.
It comforts me to know that he was strong in the spirit to face what lay ahead as they bound him to beat and torture him. He was falsely accused! Do you know that nothing is worse than being falsely accused, and no matter what you do or say, they will not believe you. So he just stayed quiet and allowed everyone to do their very worst. In this way, I believe he was setting a trap for all the evil that is in man. They flogged him with a lead-tipped whip that was certainly not sterilised, but I know that lead in itself is poisonous, so I think this was the way he took all sickness into himself. After this, a battalion of Roman soldiers mocked him. Between four hundred and a thousand two hundred men were called out to mock the only man who never sinned. They pushed a thorn crown into his head and beat him with a reed, put his clothes back on, only to take them off to crucify him. He was naked as they nailed him to the cross; the loneliest man in the world was ministering to the woman there. He saved the soul of a man, and then he forgave everybody. No one understood that he had trapped all sickness and all sin inside that body that was stinking and pouring pus. He hung there for six hours from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. If you study this out, I believe you will agree he was in hell. Finally, the earth could not stand it any more, and it became dark at twelve, and the earth began to shake, and the rocks split apart around Jerusalem. The one thing all four gospels mention is that the temple veil was split in two. I can’t help but wonder what kind of fear must have come upon the temple priests when this happened. Finally, he gave up his spirit. That life-giving spirit just slid out and left the old, sick body weighted down by sin; it was dead! And so was everything he trapped inside it. On Sunday morning, the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead slipped back into that old body and glorified it. It could now walk through walls, sit down, and eat with them, a new creation. The first one who rose from the dead, this is why we follow him daily. We partake of the death of the flesh, but we rise in the spirit.
The continued daily sacrifice of animals in the Old Testament was intended to sanctify the heart of man. This is no longer necessary because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The blood of Jesus is our constant seal against the sinful fleshly nature. When we pray, we must have a single mind; the mind must remain focused on God’s supply. However, the thought life is always under attack from the flesh as worry or stress enters the mind; our prayers are powerless. The blood of Jesus cleanses and seals the conscience against the coming and going of the fleshly chaos.
I meet so many believers who do not get their prayers answered. They pray, and when they do not get heavenly help, they give up and live in poverty. They are believers, but they have no testimony of how God provides.
My mother was the spiritual leader in our home, as my father had no respect for preachers or churches. We were a big family, and when anything went wrong, I would hear my mother calling upon the blood of Jesus over her family from her bedroom. Nothing bad ever happened to our family, even until today, because she made sure we understood the power of the blood. She did not understand the blood, but she applied it constantly because she knew it was all-powerful. She was a normal person and not completely spiritually minded and would do and say silly things as we all do, but when trouble came, she knew the power of the blood of Jesus gave her the right to have faith for anything she needed. She would use her faith and would cause incredible miracles.
I am saying these things to remind our readers that we cannot have confidence to move our mountains if we are not sanctified and sealed with the blood of Jesus. The blood is for the conscience. The blood-washed conscience gives us the confidence to stand before all of heaven to claim the things we have need of. I am saying that whatever we truly need will be supplied by heaven if we pray with the faith that is only in a sanctified heart. Sometimes we pray for things half-heartedly; we put the prayer out there and hope God will give it. You must admit, most of our prayers are like that. It causes us to be powerless believers without a testimony of the provision of God.
In Revelation 12, we read how the holy ones of God overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. We can really only help each other by our testimonies.
Rev 12:11: “And they overcame him (the enemy) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Some people are afraid to keep on praying because they are afraid the devil will turn against them; they are not bold and ready to stand against the satanic onslaught because they do not know the power of the cross and the blood. They have more faith in the devil than they have in God.
But are we really the holy ones of God?
Is the Bible talking about us today? Yes! Most certainly, when we have communion and follow Jesus to lay down our lives and apply the blood of the Lamb of God to our hearts, our sins are forgiven, and we are the holy ones to whom all of heaven listens intensely. Many of my personal prayers have gone unanswered, but when I truly have need of heavenly intervention, God has always met my need.
We need not fear the future and the bad that comes with it. No matter what happens, God will always answer our prayers if we pray from a sanctified heart.
I would like to refer to a foundational scripture that describes that firstly, our thoughts determine what will happen in all of our lives. Secondly that thoughts are in the imagination of the heart.
Gen 6:5-6: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
This is why he told Noah to build the ark to save himself and his family from the flood
In this case, the thoughts of the people’s hearts were evil.
Although God did not create us to think evil continually, we still have the option to think whatever we like.
I’m thinking about the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. They both knew that He was God, but only one chose to be with Him forever. The other thief chose to curse him.
Thoughts present themselves in our mind, and it is for us to decide if we will take them to heart and allow them to grow in our imaginations to cause toxic feelings. Feelings eventually become emotions, and dark emotions are the true powers of darkness. Gal 5:19
We can nurture feelings of hate, which are toxic thoughts, for instance, and allow it to grow and become a cancer that kills the body and causes death in all things we do. This is the curse. These emotions are called the flesh or carnality in the Bible.
On the other hand, God has given us His Word, and His Word is Spirit and it is life. His Word is full of life, that is life and life and life abundantly. The Word is the blessing. Meditating on the Word brings feelings of peace to the heart. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. What could be better than having peace in the thought life? After all, this is the reason for drug abuse and alcoholism. All people want peace! They will go to great lengths to make up all kinds of religious rules and traditions, but peace is a lot closer than that. We can’t work or do things to get peace. Peace is a free gift from God. Jesus saves! What does He save us from? From chaos in our minds. He saves us from deadly thoughts that make us sick and destroy our lives, and cause wars because we listen to all our feelings. We think that because we felt goose bumps when someone said or did something, the feeling must be from God. We do not listen to feelings, we tell feelings how they should feel.
When we become believers, we are to become disciplined in our thinking. Jesus made disciples. We must take thoughts captive and decide if they come out of our own will or if they are the will of God. We know what God’s will is, when we read the word. As the Word fills our heart, it causes life.
God is not out to get us for sinful thoughts, God so dearly wants us to have His thoughts that he gave His only begotten son to die on the terrible cross. Jesus took all the evil wickedness that is caused by thoughts into himself and nailed it to the cross. All we have to do is follow Jesus daily. Simply do what he did, die to the flesh and rise in the spirit, where there is only peace.
It has always surprised me how Easter has always been the beginning of new things in my life. It is also a time of reflecting on the work that God did for us by sacrificing Jesus on the cross—such a horrific death for the only man who never sinned.
He was meek as a lamb and was slaughtered like a lamb, and His blood poured out for our sins. We, as believers, should follow Jesus daily. Our death is not physical, but spiritual, as we take thoughts captive or do introspection of how our own dark side made it into the mind of our spirit. We have given the mind of our spirit to God, and it is the heart of man.
My heart is also the Kingdom of God.
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. This does not sound like it should be a problem to keep our thoughts on God; however, disciplining our thoughts to stay on the Word of God is very hard to do.
We, as believers, endure many trials. 1 Peter says it is to prove our faith in the same way fire purifies gold. Our faith is much more precious to God than gold. As you can see, faith is the main objective of our lives in the earth.
Romans 12:3:
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
Ephesians 2:8:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
But how can I know that faith has come?
Rom 10:17:
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
John 6:63:
“It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profited nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
So it stands to reason that if we meditate on the Word of God, it should cause faith to come into action, with which we should be able to conquer any problem. This is true, but before the Word can find root in the heart, the soil must be prepared; see to it that your heart is sanctified.
Search my heart, O Lord, take all my sin away, and this is why the cross should be the centre of our hearts. We follow Jesus to die and become a living sacrifice daily. Do not dig and mourn, only those things that are on the surface of your thoughts. Things like unforgiveness or especially worry. Worry is a fearful state of the heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to show the state of your heart, and once you have dealt with sin, confidence comes. Confidence to pray the prayer of faith.
The Bible teaches that it is sin not to live by faith. There are many promises in the Bible for us to cause faith in our hearts, but begin with the state of your heart. Begin by asking the Lord about what your heart looks like to Him. Is it good soil to sow the Word in? Trying to sow a seed into unprepared soil is not possible. There is a digging that must happen. Pull out those old weeds that are growing in your garden by the root, crucify them, and use communion. Now we are doing Hebrews 10:22.
Hebrews 10:22
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Jesus came to give healing to all people. Healing is free. Jesus sent out his disciples and said, “Freely you have received, freely give.” Healing is God’s will.
The reason that we do not have our needs met is because we don’t feel worthy.
Yes, but I have had terrible thoughts going through my mind lately. I have not been tithing… I have not been to church… I lost my temper and I feel terrible… How can God ever help me?
If you are having these kinds of thoughts it is why you are not receiving. The gospel of Jesus Christ is for sinners. Jesus healed everybody. He did not ask them any personal questions. As long as you believe you were healed. It was always people from other nations at who’s faith Jesus marveled. The centurion and the woman with the issue of blood. These people did not feel guilty because they did not have the Jewish law. This is the reason Paul said that the law is a curse and not life-giving because they always felt guilty. Most of us have had some religious upbringing that keeps us captive to not receive freely. The law says you must do something to receive but Jesus says it’s free! Only believe! God is good he wants everybody to be well and cared for holistically.
We were already healed by His stripes and all sickness and poverty was nailed to the cross. All we have to do is believe it and apply healing scripture constantly because God created all things with His word. The word is God, and the word is spirit and it is life. We believe with the heart and speak with the mouth so that faith can come and healing be manifested in the body.
No matter what your problem is –speak the Word of God to your mountain!
Here I have some scriptures for you to meditate on. Print them and hang them on your wall.
Psa 107:20: “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
Jos 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Matthew 12:35: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
The heart must belong to Jesus who is the Word. It must be guarded against fear and the other things of the flesh.
The heart is the mainspring and this is why we have communion constantly so the heart can be sanctified to be the Holy of Holies, the place where God lives inside us is the heart. So we guard the heart above all things because healing and all other issues of life flow from the heart. (Prov. 4:23)
Mark 11:25: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
As we speak healing verses continually and it transforms the mind. Rom 12:1-2 Out of thinking the problem, we now crucify the problem as we become a living sacrifice. We follow Jesus daily. We die to the flesh we rise in the spirit. The problem is crucified as we eat the flesh of Christ then we rise with Christ to be in Christ.
Gal 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Because I no longer live but Christ lives in me I talk to sickness or problems the way Jesus spoke to sickness or lack. It will be exactly the way I say it will be. (Mark 11:23) Sickness must die the way the fig tree died—from the root. It may not manifest immediately but it has already happened in the spirit. We are looking at things that are not as though it has already come to pass. (Hebrews 11) Because Jesus has been given power in heaven and earth we now also have this same power because we are in Christ and represent God in the earth. God is no longer talking in the earth but he has given us His word. But nothing will happen if we do not talk to the problem with Christ’s authority. All things must obey the voice of God. You are the voice of God and nothing will be impossible for you.
Mar 11:23: “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
The mountain is any problem!!!
Rom 8:11: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
James 5:14-15: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
YOU MUST FILL YOUR MIND WITH THE WORD AND THINK AND TALK THE WORD, DO NOT BE DOUBLE-MINDED.
James 4:8: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”
Is 58:8: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.”
Is 58:11: “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
Today I read Hebrews 2:14 [Jesus] only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil who had the power of death.
I am thinking about negative thoughts and that Jesus died to remove the effect and power the negative thoughts of death have on us.
These opposing thoughts that are in the minds of all people were crucified. Jesus took death into himself. Thoughts of death were killing Israel.
We were entertaining a guest who had visited with us many times. He usually keeps to himself but he decided to join us this night and started telling us about his life. Everything that came out of him was death, thoughts of death consumed him. He told us about everything he did that failed and how he was trying to stop the downward trend in his life. He is one of those people who knows everything and doesn’t accept any teaching I try to give. That evening this person affected our lives so much that I felt dirty after listening to him. My wife also experienced it and suggested that we should have communion together. This person spoiled our family evening together with his spirit of darkness. Later I thought that this person was affecting the lives of all the people he came into contact with and everything he touched is affected negatively.
We are naturally dark and we need to be saved so that the light of God can shine into our being. The Word of God is the creative power of light. God spoke everything into existence and so do we by the words of our mouth we create. Just like the scripture says we have life and death in the power of our tongue. We should choose life.
Colossians 2:15: “Having spoiled principalities and powers, he (Jesus) made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Please read the previous verses also.)
Paul talks about how Jesus crucified principalities and powers. The commentaries do not all agree. Some say that all the dark powers in the air were crucified. It certainly sounds like a spiritual thing, but reading Adam Clark was an eye-opener. He said the principalities and powers of darkness that were crucified were the religions and traditions of the Sanhedrin and Pharisees. I also spoke about this in last month’s email.
Eph 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (The highest place in man is the mind that should be heavenly-minded.)
Adam Clark says this wickedness in high places is the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, he thinks false teachers, who endeavored to corrupt Christianity, disguised falsehood in the garb of the truth the Rabbi’s and Jewish rulers intended.
These learned lawmakers who placed heavy burdens on the Jews were the true enemies of Jesus. They were perverting the Word of God. He spoke out against them and said they were full of dead man’s bones and were whitewashed tombs. If you think about it these arrogant, self-righteous people were the only ones who Jesus spoke out against in anger. They made laws to uphold the Law of Moses and bound the people making them captives. In Isaiah 61:1 we see that Jesus was sent to make the Jews free from this captivity of traditions that was death.
Isa 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn”
If you read this chapter you see how powerless God’s chosen people were. The people were in mourning because they were held captive not only in religious traditions but also by the Romans. There was not one person in Israel who had spiritual authority like Elijah for instance or David who could lead them to repossess the land God gave to the children of Abraham. If you think about it, it was death thoughts that bound them.
Furthermore, it was traditions and religions that crucified Jesus. The power of religious thinking is death and Jesus crucified that death and took the keys away. Now we can follow Jesus daily, crucify death thoughts, and live in freedom in heavenly places because of the cross and the blood. As we say the Word and do the Word the mind transforms and causes life-giving thoughts so that everything we do will prosper. (Josh.1:8, Ps 1, Jn 1:1-5)
I encourage the reader to think about this and study it because it causes freedom in our thinking if we know who the real enemy is.
Like last month my prayer this month is still the same. Lord help me see and identify the death thoughts in my mind and let me be set free from the captivity of my own dark thinking. Let my thoughts be in line with your Word and let my life-giving thoughts create the good things in my life that YOU have planned for me.
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The subject of this month’s letter is principalities and powers.
The Holy Spirit taught us that the seven deadly sins listed by the Catholics before the time of Luther are principalities.
The principalities and powers of darkness in Ephesians 6 have been used to explain the spiritual darkness you could see over a city as you approach it from a distance. From this, some teachers have assumed that in Daniel 10 the prince of Persia will fight against the spiritual force of Grecia. As I studied this I found that Cyrus was the King of Persia who Jesus told that the time had come to set free the children of Israel. This must happen because history is moving on and the king of Greece, Alexander the Great will fight against Persia. These physical events are part of history in the time of Daniel and are worth reading in this context. Heaven most definitely did fight with Persia against Babylon.
Even the people who preach it say that it has nothing to do with our salvation. Then why do you even say these things that have no purpose and cannot sanctify the heart of man, but cause confusion to the body of Christ? All scripture is for the edifying of man.
2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Heaven most definitely did fight with Persia against Babylon. It was the time when a hand appeared writing on the wall of the Babylonian palace. It is a beautiful story that brings glory to God and not the devil. The Lutheran church and also Billy Graham understood that principal spirits were the seven deadly sins.
The following is also one of those scriptures that I had to ask the Holy Spirit to explain.
Col 2:15: Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. (He was not their prisoner; they were his!)
This scripture is difficult to understand because it most certainly sounds like spiritual forces in the air and some of the commentaries such as Barnes understand it as such. However, Adam Clark is certain that these principalities were the darkness in the hearts of the Sanhedrin. These people were the enemies of Christ, after all, they crucified him.
Tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. These are the people who held Israel in bondage to make up rules. These priests were full of their self-importance and Jesus called them white-washed tombs.
Col 2:8 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27).
These words are woes to the Pharisees.
If you read Colossians 2:15 you see Paul is talking about the spiritual forces that Christ overcame and then suddenly he is talking about being judged for what you eat or drink and even about the Sabbath in verse 16.
Col 2:16: “So why would you allow anyone to judge you because of what you eat or drink, or insist that you keep the feasts, observe new moon celebrations, or the Sabbath?”
This proves to me that the spiritual forces Jesus overcame were traditions and religions that held the Jews captive in the law. Jesus came to make everyone free from these laws but they were the power the priests and the Pharisees had over the people.
This is a lesson to me because I was also brought up with traditions that I know the Lord pointed out to me that were holding me captive. I am asking God to show me in which way these teachings have distorted my understanding of spiritual things so that my heart may be the dwelling of God only.
Jesus in his own words told the Pharisees in Mark 7:13 that their traditions make the Word of God to no effect. Traditions, religious laws, and ways are the principalities and powers in our minds that blind us so that we do not see the Truth. They are like veils that keep us from understanding and experiencing the full love of God.
Let us surrender to Jesus and allow him to set us free!
