The Spirit-Taught Truth

I John 2:27:  But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

This is such incredibly good news! 

Have you ever thought you were not smart enough to discern between truth and error; good and evil.  The fear that we might not get it right compels us to listen to other voices instead of going to the word and listening for the instruction of the Holy Spirit. 

When at Mt. Sinai, the Children of Israel made a decision to put Moses between them and God because they were afraid of Him.  It seems that is our tendency.  Fear of not knowing enough, fear of authority, fear of assuming responsibility, etc. encourages us to put that person, teacher, preacher, group, etc. in between God and us. 

This scripture frees us from the self-limiting lie that the truth is beyond our comprehension.  Those authorities who have all the answers often have come out from situations of being under abusive spiritual authority.  They have moved into positions of being a spiritually abusive authority with their own answers.   Anytime you find a situation that is creating the us/them paradigm…run.

This doesn’t mean that we are above instruction.  It does mean that all of man’s instruction needs to line up with God’s instruction in the Bible...when He (Holy Spirit) is come, He will guide you into all truth.  It is very obvious that people take Scripture and distort it and create all type of creeds and theologies that are not anointed.

It seems that God’s word has to be read and understood from a place of love and communion.  If I trust Him with everyone and everything, I will not be trying to “sit on His throne.”  The Church of Ephesus got sidetracked with the doctrine of the Nicolations.  It is easy for all of us to get sidetracked trying to prove this or that.  All that energy causes us to lose our first love…relationship/communion with God.  I would rather be known for what I am for (Jesus Christ and His love) than for what I am against.  We strengthen what we fight against…this world is a great example of this truth.  If we spent as much time, energy, and money into what we are for, it would be a different world.

God wants to communicate with us.  It is promised that His Spirit leads us into all truth.  Praise God.  There is no reason to feel inadequate.  Humility is the very best place from which to come to the Word in seeking truth.  We often measure “right” with what the Christian crowd does.  The righteous stand, however, is different.  We are warned against false prophets and antichrists.  These are in the church.  Stay in the Word, dear friends.  Our text today gives me much courage to believe in the truth that what God has started in me, He will continue!

The Folded Grave Cloth

As I beheld the Lord this morning, I saw Him fold His burial cloth.  This speaks volumes to me.  I think of things that I am uninterested in doing.  I think of things that seem such a burden.  So much seems out of control.   Sometimes, I just want to run away from the University of Unlearning. 

In the cave/tomb, you would not think that the burial cloth would matter.  The symbol of death became a symbol of life…He is risen!  The message of the folded cloth really touched my heart this morning.  Not only does it speak of neatness and order, but this morning it taught me something that feels like a transition truth.

The hands of Jesus did this relatively insignificant deed.  That means that it was not insignificant.  He took time to bring order before He left the tomb.  This is a mirror of the order that He provided the world in His redemption.  I see Him looking around the tomb, and He holds the burial cloth in His hands.  Having gotten victory over death, He had respect for the experience of it.  He folded the burial cloth.  That which had bound Him in death served its purpose.  In the resurrection, He laid it aside with respect.  His transition from death the living speaks to us.  He stands holding His burial cloth.  In His hands, He holds the symbol of a work completed.  He gently folds it—it is blood stained.  The resurrection power emanates from Him.  Truly, the temple has been cleansed…destroy this and in three days. 

I see the Lord in the tomb with the folded cloth in His hands.  He gently lays it on the rock upon which He had been resting in death.  The burial cloth covers that place of sacrifice and death.  His robe of death is exchanged for His white robe of righteousness.  He became sin and took the burial cloth willingly.  In a life full of brokenness, we kick and scream against the death and burial experience. 

I see Him this morning standing in the tomb with the burial cloth in His hands.  He teaches me.  My heart is made tender towards everything that seems ordinary.  The Lord, standing between death and life, the glorious Lord, King of Heaven and earth, took a minute and folded His burial cloth.  This picture brings harmony to my heart.   It is a message full of blessing to my life.

So often that which has held us captive in our tombs of death is not treated with respect.  Impatiently, we pull and tug to get it off.  We throw it away from us with disdain.   We are ready to run into life—into the new.  Jesus respected the experience because of what it meant to Heaven and earth.  It is a transition truth. 

I feel like I am standing in my own tomb; the grave cloth in my hands.  I look at the experience of healing abuse and dysfunction, and I am glad that this part of my experience is over.  The Lord has walked with me.  As the Lord and I stand in this most holy place experience this morning, I hear Him say that I need to respect the experience and cherish all those trials.  It all served as instruction. He says to respect this moment as I stand there with the grave cloth in my hands.  Realize that nothing has been in vain.  It all led to crucifixion, the tomb, and resurrection.  It all leads to a place of rejoicing in the heart as I realize nothing has been wasted, no effort insignificant.  It was about embracing the cross daily.  It was about dying to self so the resurrected Jesus might have a cleansed temple in which to be enthroned.  The heart has been cleansed, and He can take His rightful place on its throne.

Respect where you have been, from where you have come.  He stands with you as you fold the grave cloth.  Enjoy this moment…His victory in you.  Rejoice in this transition place of misunderstanding and hating our own experience.  Rejoice!  The process of knowing good and evil has cleansed my temple.  I can respect the process and gently and tenderly fold the grave cloth.  Praise God!

Healing a Leper

In Matthew 8, we see Jesus on the mountain surrounded by multitudes who are listening to his teaching on the Beatitudes. When He comes down from the mountain, the multitude follows Him. Matthew 8:2 says  that a leper came and worshipped Him. The Scripture says this so simply, but it was not simple for the leper. 

The leper had been pronounced unclean due to the leprosy. This disease was viewed to be a judgment from God for sin. A leper was to stay away from other people. But the Scripture says that this leper came and worshipped Him (Jesus). I’m sure that the other people watching all this moved away as quickly as possible. Perhaps some shouted at him. Perhaps some threw stones. Perhaps some tried to shield Jesus. 

Nevertheless, the leper came and worshipped Him. In my mind, I see him falling prostrate on the ground in front of Jesus. Evidently he had heard something about Jesus that did at least two things to him:

1.       His faith was touched – his hope enlivened.

2.       His courage surfaced. 

To this point, a leper had never been healed by Jesus. But this man believed in Jesus and His ability to heal – even him, the outcast leper. It took courage to come among the clean, acceptable people. It took courage to disobey the law regarding the leprosy. It took courage to fall down at the feet of Jesus in front of everyone who condemned him. 

Why did he worship Jesus? And what was the meaning of this act of worship…to the man and to Jesus? Worship, to me, is a response. Evidently, the man had heard of the greatness and compassion of Jesus – specifically about healing. What he heard about Jesus created a worship response.  This was a place of faith for him. 

 It is one thing for a person to be healed of a physical malady, but for a person to be healed of the “judgment” of God, is a very different thing. To be released from the sin, the judgment, and the sickness, and to be restored to your place in your spiritual camp is a whole different level of healing.  This leper needed that kind of healing, and it must come through divinity. I think this is why he worshipped. To prostrate himself before Divine Love, to become one with the ground from which he was created, positioned him perfectly for re-creation.

Jesus, knowing the heart of the man, was thrilled by this man’s recognition of Him as divine Savior. So many people followed Him to hear his words, to study out the meaning of this or that. They were waiting for political freedom ushered in by a political messiah. This man recognized his need for healing and restoration – his need for a Savior from the physical, not for the physical.

“Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Verse 26). The leper had not yet felt the touch of God on his body, yet he trusted the heart of God. These words acknowledge that his state of being was completely up to the heart and hands of Jesus. The “if” is not doubt. This “if” is a word of worship in the waiting room.

As mentioned, to be made clean is different than being just physically healed. The leper is asking for an inside change that will manifest in external physical changes. I believe the leper’s awareness of his physical and spiritual state was so great and his conversion so complete that it was not necessary for Jesus to say, “Go and sin no more.” 

Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him saying, “I am willing, be cleansed.” This is an awesome visual aid of the gospel of salvation. “I Am that I Am” is willing to come into a leper colony (our world), touch and take on the curse (all the sin of mankind), cleanse us, re-crate us and restore us. The heart of God continually pursues us, and the hand of God continually seeks to touch us. The word of God, “be cleansed” is made flesh in the leper and immediately he is healed on all levels – emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually. 

 “I Am” is present tense. We all have things in the past for which we need healing. We all have the lie, “unclean”, that has been pronounced over us in some way. In the darkness of this lie, we live on the fringe of the spiritual camp as one who is unclean…feeling disconnected and insignificant. In the shadow of this lie, we are unable to fully embrace the truth that we have been and are forgiven. This name of God, I Am that I AM, is full of promise to all of us who need to let go of the past and embrace our spiritual inheritance in Him. I Am that I Am is willing...may the light of this truth dispel the darkness of the lies that have been pronounced over each of us. 

Thank you, Jesus!

The Blessings and Benefits of Essential Oils

There are over 200 references to aromatics, incense, and ointments throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  Aromatics, such as frankincense, myrrh, galbanum, cinnamon, cassia, rosemary, hyssop, and spikenard, were used for anointing and healing the sick. 

Just exactly what are essential oils?  Essential oils are aromatic volatile liquids distilled from shrubs, flowers, trees, roots, bushes, and seeds. They are chemically very complex, consisting of hundreds of different chemical compounds.  Moreover, they are highly concentrated and far more potent than dried herbs.  The distillation process is what makes essential oils so concentrated.  It often requires an entire plant or more to produce a single drop of distilled essential oil. 

Understanding a little about the chemistry of essential oils can help us have a deeper understanding of benefits of essential oils, and why God chose essential oils to be used in the sanctuary service and even why God told Israel to use a hyssop branch to put the blood on the doorpost at the Passover in Egypt.  As always, the more you research something in the Bible, the more amazing you find that God is.

There are hundreds of chemical components in essential oils.  For the purpose of this writing, we will look at three and explore their significance spiritually.

Phenols:  have the ability to clean the cell’s receptor sites.  Phenols are the “fighters and warriors.”  They clear out unwelcome guests that don’t belong…viruses, bacteria, parasites, petrochemicals, heavy metals, pharmaceutical drugs, and other aliens. 

Monoterpenes: restore or awaken the correct information in the cell’s memory.  Monoterpenes are coordinators, quenchers, unifiers, and organizers.

Sesquiterpenes clean out cellular information that is no longer useful. 

Quoting David Stewart, Ph.D., D.N.M., The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple…God’s Love Manifest in Molecules:  In one’s individual search for God, there are three stages along the way:

1.         There is the purgative stage where one is cleansed in preparation for spiritual endeavor.  This is analogous to the function of the phenols (or ketones/alcohols) that cleanse receptor sites and prepare us for the release of our emotional and spiritual blockages.

2.         There is an illuminative stage where the darkness is dispelled and cleared from our consciousness.  This is analogous to the function of the sesquiterpenes that erase erroneous data in our cells and eradicate the dark emotions and spiritual deficiencies that block our vision of God and our capability of manifesting His gifts.

3.         Then there is the unitive stage where we are ready and able to unite and commune directly with God.   This is analogous to the function of the monoterpenes that assist in re-establishing the divine image of God that was implaced within us at our creation—the manifestation of which is our purpose in being.

The anointing and sacred oils that God directed the Children of Israel to make and use are extremely high in the above chemical constituents.  This is not coincidental as the chemistry of these oils makes the incense an emblem of the mediation of Christ.  This is so incredibly beautiful.  It is the mediation of Christ that cleanses, illuminates and restores us to relationship with Heaven.  With an understanding of this truth, we can see more clearly why God forbid Israel to make their own incense.  There is no work of our own that takes the place of the work of Christ for us.

Not only do the essential oils in the anointing and sacred oil blends have physically healing properties, they have the ability to cleanse and restore correct programming at the cellular level.  So, when the priest ran among the Israelites and stopped a plague, God was allowing man to harness the healing properties available in that which He has created.  He was not only creating a physical healing, He was creating an emotional and spiritual healing as well.

Here is another scripture that takes on new meaning when you understand a little about the chemistry of essential oils.  Again, quoting from Dr. Stewart:  In Psalm 51, King David is repenting to God for committing adultery (with Bathsheba) and committing murder (by arranging for the death of her husband, Uriah).  Tendencies to commit compulsions and engage in wrongful actions are imbedded in the DNA of our cells.  David did not want to be driven to commit such heinous acts ever again and in his begging for God’s mercy, he applied the oil of hyssop to his body and inhaled its vapors with these words: “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.  Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow…Blot out all my iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”  Ps. 51:7, 9-10.   “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.”  implies a cleansing of the receptor sites (P).  “Blot out all my iniquities.” suggests that unwanted tendencies be deleted from the DNA (S). “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.” suggests the reprogramming and restoration of God’s perfect image (M). 

Revelation 8:3-4  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

This holy fire was of God’s own kindling, and the fragrant smoke represented the prayers of the people as they ascended before God.  This is so beautiful.  It takes God’s holy fire, the incense of Christ’s righteousness, and his mediatorial work to make our prayers fragrant and acceptable.

Here is another Scripture that takes on new meaning when you understand a little essential oil chemistry.  Numbers 5 – The trial of jealousy process – verse 15: Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an epah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, NOR PUT FRANKINCENSE thereon: for it is an offering of jealousy, and offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.  Frankincense is 64 – 90% monoterpenes…remember, monoterpenes awaken the correct information in the cell’s memory.  In this process, the priest did not want anything to interfere with the truth coming out.  Frankincense would have interfered with “bringing iniquity to remembrance.” 

In Exodus 31, Moses is given the recipe for two oil blends.  One was an anointing oil.  One was a sacred oil, "sweet incense for holy place."  Ex. 31:11  These oils also contain monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and phenols along with other God-created chemicals.  The anointing oil contained: myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, calamus and olive oil.  The sacred oil contained stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense.  This blend also contains the monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and phenols. Frankincense has the ability to stimulate limbic brain, and helps overcome stress and despair.  The sacred oil/incense was sprinkled on the altar of incense.  The heat created a fragrant white cloud that covered the priest before he went into the Most Holy Place into the presence of God.  This is symbolic of the white robe of Christ’s righteousness…the work that He did for us.

Doesn't it just make you want to celebrate God?  He, Himself, uses what He has created to spiritually symbolize Christ's work in our lives.  But, He doesn't just leave us with a spiritual awareness of this truth.  He gives us essential oils that actually work at the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels...helping Him accomplish that which is needful for us...conviction, conversion, cleansing, commission!  I just have to say, Praise God!

In Mathew 26, we have the story of Mary who used a very expensive ointment, Spikenard essential oil, and anointed Jesus with it.  Jesus commended Mary for her work and said, “For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.”  (verse 12).  This oil was used for embalming the dead.  When you understand some essential oil chemistry, you have a clearer meaning of what Jesus is saying.  He was being anointed in the fullest sense to become the sanctuary and the fulfillment of the first phase of His work.  These oils would have ministered to Jesus in just the same way that they minister to us today….physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Spikenard is an antimicrobial oil, a relaxant helping with nervous tension; it helps with heart arrhythmias, and it nourishes and regenerates skin.

May you experience the blessings and benefits of essential oils as you learn to use them in your daily life, and may this information be an anointing for your spiritual eyesight.    

From Sorrow to Rejoicing

Psalm 126: When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter.  And our tongue with singing.  Then they said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them.  The Lord has done great things for us.  And we are glad.  Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South.  Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.  He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

God’s children had deliberately turned their back on Him in the corporate sense.  Remember Daniel and his three friends…they were in captivity, but they were not unfaithful.  This has a huge lesson for us.  We can end up in captivity, and it has nothing to do with us…we are a part of a people who have forsaken God.  We will be those who sow in tears and reap in joy bringing our sheaves with us.  I see sheaves as being our children that may have been born in captivity.  Within each captive is the seed of a future that is not in captivity.  This is beautiful!  It often takes captivity for God to clear the way for a different kind of future for ourselves and our children.  Captivity, then, can be viewed as God stepping in…not to punish, but to put an end to something that is destroying His people and their future children.

Have you ever been in bondage to a really difficult situation?  It is hard to hope past the present.  Those tears of helplessness and hopelessness are appropriate.  It is hard to see past the bondage to the deliverance of ourselves and our children and grandchildren.  Our bondage to non-disturbance causes us to kick and scream in our places of captivity.  When God’s children had a new king and he was a good king, the first thing he did was to restore the temple service, re-dedicated the temple and the people.  This included corporate confession of the sins of the father.  This is huge.  Have you done this for your family so they are not burdened with the sins of the fathers/mothers? 

Often in the work that I do with people, we have to do a work that releases them from these past sins.  This is the stuff of  “why do I keep doing this?”  Not overcoming may be about this dynamic.  We are not taught the necessity of confession of the sins of the fathers/mothers.  The awful consequences just keep accumulating for generations.  Each generation has less and less potential for overcoming and living in a place of freedom…God’s freedom. 

Psalm 126 says much to me about the principles of this dynamic.  “When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.”  Our dreams of freedom, of peace, of health, of victory, etc. can be more than a dream.  It comes through the Lord turning back our captivity.  The blessing of the captivity is that it is preparing a people who want to live in freedom.  All the others will die in the wilderness because they really prefer Egypt. Again, this says so much to us.  Unless we get over those places of non-disturbance (that which is holding us captive and stifling our spiritual growth), we will confuse captivity with freedom.  To equate freedom with never being disturbed and encouraged into spiritual and emotional growth/maturity is the core of bondage.  We dress it up and desire the flesh pots of Egypt…preferring bondage to freedom.

God’s model is to confess the sins of the fathers/mothers.  If not done in the easy times, it will be encouraged in times of captivity.  It is essential for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren…unto the third and fourth generation.  This is a spiritual law that has physical implications.  Science is showing that our off spring are genetically predisposed to our emotional and physical limitations.  Confessing the sins of the fathers/mothers is more than a spiritual ritual.  It is the gateway for actual genetic change and not living under the dominion of death (sin). 

The promise is that we will come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves (children/grandchildren) with us  I encourage you to help yourself, your children (even those unborn), and the grandchildren (even those unborn), to a future that is free from the captivity of this world and what we have inherited.  If you need guidance, please feel free to ask.  God bless.

Trusting and Contentment

Lack of contentment causes us to kick into the “I will ascend” mode.  I think it takes many forms.

I will ascend by escape:  I taught a class one time which was about the Exodus.  A point that I made which offended some was that desire for Exodus may come from wanting to escape something instead of wanting to move on to embrace the journey and the developing relationships…like discovering God in the wilderness journey.  Those that wanted escape from Egypt also wanted escape in the wilderness.  They regretted leaving Egypt and even being in the wilderness.   The motivations for escape are invested in avoidance, and the resulting anger/rage that can develop when people, places, and things are not what we want serve to harden the heart. 

I will ascend by going somewhere else: I will ascend can be manifested in other ways of shutting out the world.  Like kids who take their toys to another sandbox.  When our programming demands that we have our way and others be what we want/need, the other sandbox always looks like it has more potential.  I will just start over.  Maybe the kids that join me will be better.  I remember a time when I kept changing jobs because they were just awful.  Finally, I discovered that it was not about the jobs.  It was about me.  I had outgrown that particular job environment.  I kept changing jobs in the same job arena and expecting different results.  The motivation was escape of a “bad” job.  I was refusing to grow and assume responsibility for creating / embracing a different path.  I did not want to change.  I wanted those jobs and the people of those jobs to change.  These situations have the potential of feeling like rejection, and we are resistant to feel what all that means to us. 

I will ascend by do/being more:  This world is about having more, being more, and doing more.  We are programmed for discontent at an early age often confusing activity with productivity and busyness with contentment.  Achievement may be the politically correct way of being OK about being discontented.  It may be another way of hiding, running away, etc.  This energy of discontent leaves us void and empty on the inside.  When I have this, I will be happy.  When I accomplish this, my life will be great.  When I do this, it will be enough.  Achievement from the place of discontent is just a check on the to-do list.  Achievement from the place of joy, adventure, and contentment is a whole different thing.  The difference comes from the motivation, and that is a soul matter.

Egypt versus the promised land…via the wilderness journey.  I am not suggesting that we need to be content with Egypt.  We need to be content with ourselves and whatever our path is for the moment.  In all things be content.  That is about an internal situation.  It is bigger than where we are or what we are doing.  It is a contentment that helps us become an observer and a student in the University of Unlearning which is the wilderness journey.  This journey embraces that which is unfamiliar and uncomfortable as instructors.  These truth encounters will be places of freedom.  Some of us have a belief system that says we do not deserve to be content or satisfied.  It would mean that we might not have to work as hard…and life is about working hard!  We are victimized by our belief system.  Growing up we often learn that we get what we “deserve.”  The smart kids get A’s.  There is always a Winner and the rest of us are losers.  These messages propel us into a works/achievement mentality.  We do not recognize that at its core is the lie “you must ascend” in order to be as good as, good enough, the same as, and better than. 

This writing is embracing much, and I have no grand illusions that I am in any way doing this topic justice with these few remarks.  At best, I can hope that we will look at our journey in the wilderness with more understanding and even excitement rather than through the lens of the victim.  Rather than the I will ascend compulsion, Lord, help us understand the I must decrease and You must increase path.  It is not a path of less, it is the ultimate path of more.  Praise God!