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A Workman Is Worthy of His Hire

by Del Hungerford

There are several scriptures that relate to the phrase “a workman is worthy of his hire.” To name a few: Luke 10:7, 1 Timothy 5:18, Mathew 10:10, Leviticus 19:13, and Deuteronomy 24:15. CLICK HERE to read those scriptures in Bible Gateway.  Consider looking at each scripture in a variety of translations. Depending on your religious paradigm, the interpretations will vary.

Here’s the issue with our standard belief system concerning people getting paid, specifically to “minister.” For some odd reason, we seem to have it in our minds that since “freely you’ve received – freely give.” This scripture comes from Matthew 10:18. CLICK HERE to read a variety of translations in Bible Hub. I encourage you to read those translations before looking at the definitions below. Once you’ve done that, look at the original Greek in Bible Wheel. CLICK HERE for that information. Here is a synopsis of those definitions.

  • FREELY: δωρεαν dorean {do-reh-an’} without a cause, in vain, for nought, freely, undeservedly
  • RECEIVED: λαμβανω lambano {lam-ban’-o} receive, take, have, catch. To take, to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it, to take up a thing to be carried, to take upon one’s self, to take in order to carry away. Without the notion of violence, i,e to remove, take away. To take what is one’s own, to take to one’s self, to make one’s own. To claim, procure, for one’s self. To associate with one’s self as companion, attendant – of that which when taken is not let go, to seize, to lay hold of, apprehend. To take by craft (our catch, used of hunters, fisherman, etc.), to circumvent one by fraud. To take to one’s self, lay hold upon, take possession of, i.e. to appropriate to one’s self. Catch at, reach after, strive to obtain. To take a thing due, to collect, gather (tribute). To take, to admit, receive. To receive what is offered, not to refuse or reject. To receive a person, give him access to one’s self. To regard any one’s power, rank, external circumstances, and on that account to do some injustice or neglect something. To take, to choose, select. To take beginning, to prove anything, to make a trial of, to experience. To receive (what is given), to gain, get, obtain, to get back.
  • GIVE: διδωμι didomi {did’-o-mee} grant, put, show, deliver, make. 1) to give 2) to give something to someone of one’s own accord to give one something, to his advantage. To bestow a gift. To grant, give to one asking, let have. To supply, furnish, necessary things. To give over, deliver. To reach out, extend, present. To give over to one’s care, entrust, commit. Something to be administered. To give or commit to some one something to be religiously observed. To give what is due or obligatory, to pay: wages or reward. To furnish, endue. To give, to cause, profuse, give forth from one’s self. To give, hand out lots. To appoint to an office. To cause to come forth, i.e. as the sea, death and Hell are said to give up the dead who have been engulfed or received by them. To give one to someone as his own. As an object of his saving care. To give one to someone, to follow him as a leader and master. To give one to someone to care for his interests. To give one to someone to whom he already belonged, to return 4) to grant or permit one. To commission.

Let’s take this scripture and reword it a little and see if that changes the meaning. Here’s the original in the NIV: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

Now, let’s replace the words freely, receive and give with another translation that might explain the scripture a bit better. “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Undeservedly you have laid hold of; undeservedly deliver.” There is nothing in any of the above definitions that points toward receiving pay for services rendered. There is no hint of that anywhere! On the other hand, when looking at the scriptures in the first paragraph, there is clear evidence that a workman is truly worthy of his hire. Bottom line, when people provide a service, pay them what they’re worth. If you don’t agree, go somewhere else.

Example time!

With that, we move onto a story. Many reading this know that I’m a musician and create music for the purposes of it being therapeutic. In addition, I create exercises and “practice” opportunities (available HERE and HERE) for those on a journey of Kingdom maturity. As a music creator and teacher, these materials BOTH minister to people AND provide an income for me. In the minds of some, I should be giving out these materials for free. I get that request (only from Christians) on the Healing Frequencies Music website, especially those who really want a particular album but can’t pay for it. In fact, Christians tend to be the cheapest and want something for nothing. The only rude correspondence to date has come from those who say they are Christians – 100% of the time. What does this say about the Christian community as a whole? We've done ourselves no service to the rest of the world when we act like this. 

I see some strange attitudes when it comes to Christian conferences as well. Conferences aren’t cheap to host. People fail to realize that renting a building, purchasing supplies, and paying service providers costs money. There’s this paradigm of “God will provide” so you should just let us in for free. I was at a conference where a group of women all wanted a teaching set. They agreed to pool their resources so they could purchase the whole set (as a download) and share it among themselves. In other words, the woman who purchased it would then send a copy of the downloads to the other women so they’d all have their own copy. I watched this play out for a bit while they discussed it and eventually asked a simple question, “Do you think that’s a good trade?” Long story short… after some further discussion, they decided not to go through with it. How do you feel about their discussion?

When you do a job, you’re providing of form of “ministry” to someone whether it be fixing a vehicle, cutting hair, giving money to the teller at the bank for a deposit, etc. That person is doing something for you that you can’t do yourself. So, he/she is ministering to your needs. To understand more of why I say that, consider reading my article about ministry vs. jobs. You'll find it under the blog posts.

From what I’m reading in Matthew 10:8, it doesn’t direct any meaning toward providing services for free. There aren’t scriptures that seem to point to that interpretation either (unless I’m missing one) but there ARE plenty of scriptures that address being paid what you’re worth. Honestly, I think this concept of providing services for free has only been around for 100 years or so. People think Jesus was poor so Christians should be poor, too. I'm not sure when they received that memo but I don't find scriptural references to support that opinion or mindset. 

The topic of a workman being worthy of his (or her) wages intermingled with the “freely receive, freely give” concept has messed up some people because we tend to swallow what’s preached at us – hook, line, and sinker. We haven’t been responsible for our own spiritual growth because we allow what pastors teach us as “thus sayeth the Lord.” We seem to have no problem paying a pastor… well…  most of the time. They tend to live on next to nothing and have to get a second job in order to make ends meet while we demand their attention to “fix” issues in our lives that we could often fix ourselves by putting at bit of effort into a good solution. This includes Christian counseling, which I had first-hand experience during marriage counseling. What’s the point if we’re not going to do what’s suggested?

Here’s the thing…. when you pay for something, you have ownership in/of it. When you don’t pay, you have zero ownership unless the giver chooses to turn over the ownership to you. A gift is a choice by the giver, not the recipient. 

I was at another conference where one of the speakers kept coming up to the booths saying, “You’ll give me one of those for free?” It was more of a demand than a request. This is all about trading. When you trade, you’re exchanging one thing for another. We can have good trades and bad trades. Much of that depends on our attitude in the midst of the trade. If there’s an expectation that something will be free, that’s a bad trade. Each vendor went ahead and gave this speaker something for free because he kept bugging us. Was that a good trade on his part? I venture to say that it wasn't. 

The Bible also states that we’ll reap what we sow. If we sow bad trades, we’ll reap bad trades. If we have expectations that things will be free because we believe they should be, then we’re not operating with honor or good character. That’s also a bad trade. A good trade involves putting something of value towards what you desire. When you do it that way, you own it. When it comes with an expectation, that’s of no value because it dishonors the giver. Let the giver make the choice to freely give.

Where Does This Lead Us?

We now get back to the main point at the beginning – a workman is worthy of his hire. That’s plain and simple with little room for misinterpretation. When reading the various versions of the Bible on this subject, there does seem to be uniform agreement. That’s not the case with Matthew 10:8. Hmmm…. I find that interesting but will leave that up for your own pondering as to why that is.

The key here is that in order to make a good trade, both the giver and recipient should be on the same page. If you find something overpriced, then don’t moan and whine about it. (There is cheese to go with that whine.) Go find something within your price range that works for you. This includes counseling, receiving services of any kind, attending conferences, etc. If we simply don’t have the funds, then let’s not put it on the giver to lower the price enough that we can have what they’re offering. This might be a growing opportunity for each of us to learn how to exercise our faith muscle and see how God provides.

Why expect someone to meet our needs and desires when we can use a situation as an opportunity to sit with Jesus and discuss His best plan? When we learn to look at our situations through the eyes of Yahweh, we often have a completely different picture of the process and any solutions that go with it. As we learn to move from our personal expectations and paradigms to those of Yahweh, we grow in character. I encourage all those reading this to get outside old religious boxes of expecting things to be free just because of a perception that it’s “ministry related.”

For many of us, what we do replaces a 9 to 5 job. We have training in our fields and offer a high quality product. Why should we be expected to give our product and services for free? That attitude is not honoring the God-given gifts of the giver. Even when something is offered for free, it’s “good form” to sow into that person or ministry. What it does is release more blessings over you! It opens the door for more!

Honestly, it took me some time to work through a bad paradigm concerning this topic. The “freely receive; freely give” Bible verse was used as a weapon to get me to give things to people. This included time, service to a ministry, and physical items or services. It’s a rampant problem in the church, especially for those in the artistic community. Why conference hosts often don’t pay the worship team is beyond me. Those leading worship tend to spend more time on the stage than guest speakers.

It seems that we have our priorities a bit messed up concerning two things: 1) the definition of a worker, and 2) our expectation that ministry should be free. I believe that as we honor those who meet our needs and desires (via our pocketbook), we’ll see more breakthrough in our finances.

May you be blessed in your giving and receiving!

Del

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Angels, Entities, and Demons – Oh My!

by Del Hungerford

In the 1980’s, I was a college student. That’s when the whole deliverance ministry was going strong. We’d sit in a room and take turns going through deliverance. People would puke, cough up junk, choke, wriggle on the floor, and do a bunch of other weird stuff when getting “delivered.” Most of the time, I sat and watched, simply observing. One time, they had me come forward. After praying over me, I was instructed to start coughing so that any demon inside of me would come out. I felt nothing so I did nothing. Needless to say, it was the last time I attended that church. I felt there was more to Christian living than constantly looking for demons.

I moved to a new church where we still talked about deliverance but the focus wasn’t on getting everyone delivered every service. We still had books upon books on understanding the strategy of the enemy to help us deal with opposition and things that plagued our lives. If we did something wrong, it was “the devil made me do it!” We still looked for a demon under every rock. Who knows why but we did. For me, none of it made sense so I basically blew it off and went about my business. After all, I was a college student and I had school on my mind. What the enemy did, wasn’t on the forefront of my daily life.

Fast forward through the years… Every church I attended taught what I call “traditional warfare.” That usually involved looking at an entity and stating, “In the name of Jesus, I command you to ______!” There were books on how to do that, too. I actually got a pretty decent handle on kicking the enemy’s butt. After all, it is scriptural. I remember times when I felt under attack, I’d pray in tongues for hours and get a few words in English every once in a while saying “In the name of Jesus ______.” So, I know there’s power and authority in those words.

Eventually, I was introduced to the teachings of Smith Wigglesworth. There’s a quote on his site that says, “A deep intimacy with his heavenly Father and an unquestioning faith in God’s Word brought spectacular results and provided an example for all true believers of the Gospel.” Years later, as I look at this quote, the words “a deep intimacy” stick out to me.

It was out of intimacy with Father that he functioned. I believe he lived in the presence of Father and brought back to earth the authority he received there. My pastor frequently retold the story of a night Wigglesworth was sleeping. Something woke him up and after looking down at the foot of his bed, he saw the devil standing there. This didn’t phase Wigglesworth at all. He simply said, “Oh, it’s you!” and went back to sleep. He felt secure enough in his identity in Christ that nothing the enemy did phased him. It inspired me, reminding me of the scripture that says “Your adversary, the devil, walks about AS a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). If Wigglesworth could function this way, so could I. Although I didn’t know HOW to do it, I set out learning.

This leads me to the next bit of information when a friend told me about “terraforming.” It’s actually a term used by NASA to describe changing atmospheres from ones that are hostile to the human race, to ones that are hospitable. For a Christian, this is about the Love of God changing a spiritual atmosphere through repentance – from hostile to hospitable. The key word here is “repentance.” I listened to a video by Scott and Shari Norvell, who had the original vision for spiritual terraforming. In one of the examples, Shari talked about being in a park with her daughter. Another child was pitching a fit and was uncontrollable. Then, other kids started acting up. Shari’s daughter (about 8 years old at the time) made a comment asking if they could terraform. Right there, they identified something on the land (through asking Father) what could be repented for. After their prayer, the kids on the playground went back to their normal behavior. I knew at that time, there was something about this and it had to do with repentance. It’s a far cry from what I’d done before! Again, I was intrigued.

Now, we fast forward a few more years when I started hearing people such as Ian Clayton, Mike Parsons, Grant and Sam Mahoney, and others talk about warfare coming from the kingdom realms to the earth. Again, I was intrigued. Their “style” of warfare, provided some practical pictures in my mind of what that might look like. So, hang on with me here while I explain this one out a bit.

When we look at war in general and read about it in history, at one time, armies would literally come face to face with one another. They’d line up on opposite sides of the battlefield and go at it. I think the best example of how this looks is found in the “Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe” from the Chronicles of Narnia. At the end of the movie, as predicted, both sides line up and start shooting arrows. The arrows really don’t do much. Then birds fly dropping firebombs. That does a bit more. It’s when they start using the trebuchet that damage begins to be apparent. In the movie, Aslan comes in just in the nick of time and it’s his breath, breathing life into the trees that turns the tide of the battle. It’s unexpected to the enemy and they freak out a bit. They all die or run away and the movie ends with the daughters of Eve and sons of Adam being crowned kings and queens.

Let’s take a look at this scenario from another angle. As most everyone knows, we’ve had some major wars. Armies are constantly trying to find methods of one-upping the enemy. It wasn’t until World War II with the bombing of Hiroshima that there was a certain awe about warfare. The key to all wars? The winner is usually the one who can go the highest. The one with the best air power and bombs generally has the upper hand. Think about that for a moment.

How many of you have read Rick Joyner’s book “The Final Quest?” It’s part of a trilogy invloving a vision he had. CLICK HERE to see all three books in that trilogy. What I found interesting is that in order to escape the enemy, Joyner had to always go higher. On the top of the mountain, the enemy couldn’t get him. At the bottom, he could see Christians being vomited upon and badly beaten up by hordes of demons who were actually at a higher level. As people in the vision got a clue to climb the mountain, they began to escape the clutches of the enemy. If they didn’t go higher, there was no relief. That thought alone struck me for many years. Again, I didn’t know what to do with it. It literally had to marinate within me for a few years until I had my own revelation about it.

The main theme here in the natural and spiritual is that in order to win a war, you have to go higher. Everything in the natural is a mirror of what’s in the supernatural. It’s a matter of learning how to function out of the supernatural so we can bring that revelation from heaven and release it in earth. This is when my journey really took a major turn. I had to see and understand this fact before I could do the next part.

One of the first teachings I listened to from Ian Clayton talked about angels. I don’t remember the name of the teaching but if you click on his name, you’ll be redirected to his website. Type in “angels” in the search box and the teaching should pop up. I was totally overjoyed after hearing that teaching. Finally, I had answers to why certain things bugged me about deliverance and why Christians seem to always get beat up. In a nutshell, we spend so much time talking about demons but very little about angels. Why is that? Well, I guess you need to get the teaching to fully understand it. What struck me is that behind every demon is an angel, an angel from the kingdom realms of God. It’s what we choose to look at that makes the most difference. Shabbam!!! Now, we’re talking!

Smith Wigglesworth obviously understood the power of ignoring the enemy's antics. Why else would he tell the enemy to take a hike? Think about it. What grabs our attention? He's like that child who tattles on his friend. All he wants is to get our attention off what we’re doing and onto him. It’s that whole roaming about AS a roaring lion bit that the enemy tries with us. If we’re gullible, we take the bait. He only gets what we give him. Sorry friends, I really don’t want to pay attention to demons and Ian’s teaching helped me solidify that. 

Ian also brings up another good point. All the teachings we’ve had over the years about deliverance are not wasted – it’s practice. But, that only gets us so far. I don’t remember doing any spiritual warfare that involved repentance up to this point. As we mature, there’s more expected of us. If we get stuck in those places, we don’t grow. Maybe a key to where we are is to look and see if we’re stuck with certain things in our lives. But, that requires a good HONEST look. How many of us are really able to do that?

A quick synopsis of what I learned...

Warfare is necessary to get rid of stuff that we don’t need. However, it's not the warfare we've been taught. I now call it the "sonic warfare of Love."  Forgiveness appears to be a major key and going to a higher level definitely gives us the upper hand. A higher level here is in our temple, at the top of our personal mountain, and seated in Christ. That visual should bring about a nice picture of the "going higher" piece. 

I honestly don’t think it should take hours, days, or even months to walk someone through deliverance – in most cases. There will always be exceptions to everything. In general, if we don’t deal with stuff in our lives, we will get beat up. You know, those pesky little hidden sins that no one knows about but you? Or, anger, bitterness, and strife, along with their cuddle buddies.. If we leave doors open to these things, then we’re gonna get hammered. No need to fear! Repentance is here! The moment we repent (do an about face and go the other direction), it totally disarms any demon. It literally takes all the power from it. We own the sin, repent, and then renounce all ties to it. Then, we take it, nail it to the cross and walk it through to the other side where it’s covered by the blood of Jesus. Repentance often includes doing so on behalf of our generational lines and what’s gone in them that’s affected us. A scriptural example? Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1) rebuilds the wall to Jerusalem. Prior to doing so, he repented on behalf of his ancestors. The sin was not his but he repented to cleanse the land.

If you’ve read my book “Accessing the Kingdom Realms,” there are many instances where I stop and repent right in the middle of what I’m doing while I’m in the presence of Father (or Jesus). I’ve gone to the mobile court so many times to take care of my sin (or on behalf of my ancestor’s sin) that I’ve lost count! Some things that have affected me are not truly my personal sin but, I carry the effect of that in my DNA. Scientists are now discovering that junk DNA we all have is where these kinds of things are carried. Repentance is a long process. As part of warfare, I believe the results are better. NOTE: As time goes on, there are other ways besides the mobile court. It's a great starting point but you may eventually find different methods of dealing with an issue, especially as the Lord directs you.

Angels are there to assist us. Remember that right behind every demon is an angel. Now, if you don’t believe me, go look it up in scripture. How many times did angels come to help people? Uh, too many to name. So, if they can engage with angels in scripture, so can we. When I see a demon now, I look a little further and see the angel that’s there for me. I ignore the demon and welcome the angel and let him assist. Often times, I need to repent first. Then, the angel can do what’s necessary. That varies upon the situation, which I won’t go into here.

Here’s the scoop… when we stop fighting the enemy on his turf and go higher (dealing with it from heaven to earth), we’re going to have the kind of results we need as long as repentance is part of the equation. If we do the warfare standing right across from the enemy, chances are, we’re going to get beat up. Sorry, but I want no part of that. When we stop giving the enemy credit for every little thing, we’ll also be better off. Sometimes, it’s our own stupidity that causes opposition, too. There’s really no formula but I have found the following is a general starting point:

  • When something goes haywire, get in that place of peace and rest. Go into the presence of God and deal with everything from the midst of His presence. Get into the center of His name. If you want to know more about that, listen to Ian’s teaching titled “The Four Faces of God.” Again, go to his website and type in that title in the search bar. It should come up.
  • When an accusation comes (true or false), I usually own it even when I know it’s false. The reason? It disarms the enemy and takes away his power. At that point, he becomes what my pastor used to call a “powder puff lion.” Imagine the True Judge taking care of him.
  • Go through the repentance process first, even if you don’t think you did anything. If you didn’t, someone in your family line probably did. We carry the memory of all that our ancestors did in our DNA. For more of that, you’ll need to read some of my blog posts on Healing Frequencies Music. Ian also has some great teachings on DNA.
  • Do not look to fight the enemy on his territory! Commanding things to go in the Name of Jesus is fine… for a while. But, if we’re not doing that from our position IN Christ, IN heaven, seated WITH Him in those heavenly places, we’re on the same level as the enemy. Chances are, you’ll get the tar beat out of you.
  • Worship always sends the enemy fleeing. If you don’t know what to do, put on some music that brings you into the presence of God. Worship brings light. Light dispels the darkness. If you need some music suggestions, try some of my albums: I AM, Into His Presence, and Deep Calls to Deep. They are all instrumental and perfect to pray in tongues to. Praying in tongues is a must as a part of spiritual battle. Again, Ian has teachings on this, too.
  • If you’re looking for music to help during repentance or DNA cleansing work, consider the album, 528 Creative DNA.

With that, this is already a marathon post. More will come on this subject but for now, this is a start in helping us understand that our system of warfare is changing. If you’ve done something for so long and it’s not quite working like it used to, then that’s the first clue something’s wrong in River City.

Here’s another clue… If you’ve done deliverance the usual warfare way (commanding and demanding) and you’re constantly under attack in your personal life and/or in your health, there could be something missing. There appears to be three key ingredients: 1) Being in the center of God’s name, in that place of being IN Him (intimacy with Him), 2) Repentance of some kind, and 3) Getting on “higher” ground. A fourth likely ingredient involves allowing our spirit (not our soul) to preside over us. Read the posts about your personal mountain, gateways, the throne of your life, and sitting in Perfect Love. 

It’s all about intimacy with Father and through that intimacy, we can deal with those things that keep us from moving forward.

Blessings to all of you and may you walk in total freedom from all things that would try to hold you back from fulfilling your destiny!

 

Del

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What if You Were Given a Million Dollars!?

by Del Hungerford

In a 2016 Time Magazine article, we read about how lottery winners fared after winning those millions. What about people who receive a sizable inheritance? I’ve read horror stories of families fighting over inheritances, many often contesting wills. Add theft into that and what do you have? It’s all about money and people wanting more of it. So, what would you do if you were given a million dollars?

Papa has been teaching me over the last few years about stewardship with money. Honestly, most of my life, I’ve not been good with it. Because of that, I was in debt up to my eyeballs. And, like many people, I was living paycheck to paycheck. Even after several times around the mulberry bush, I still didn’t get it. Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way.

Let’s go back to the lottery winners for a moment. I’ve heard that over time, many of them struggle and end up broke within a few years. The Time Magazine article expounds upon that so I’ll let you read it. I’ll make a couple of observations here. First off, people who are not used to having a lot of money have no clue what to do once they get it. Secondly, because people think things (cars, houses, grown-up toys, etc.) are a big deal, their focus is on the “now,” not on the future. And thirdly, everyone around those people reveals their greed, which often surprises the lottery winners. People’s true colors tend to be displayed when it involves lots of money.

I was listening to a teaching by Marios Ellinas from a donference in New Zealand with Ian Clayton. The teaching itself is part of the conference set and is titled “Access.” What struck me about this teaching is how honor is so important in dealing with finances. I hadn’t thought of it in that way before. Yet, I think back to how I have dealt with finances. Sometimes, I walked in honor but other times, it was fear that ruled.

In one teaching, I received revelation that might answer one of the reasons our financial system functions the way it does as well as why we each struggle with finances. The most important aspect of this is to look at the spiritual laws set in place. It doesn’t matter if you’re a believer or not. Once you tap into these spiritual laws, you reap the benefits of them. This might be why what I call "pre-believers" seem to do better than believers. Once you tap into those spiritual laws, God isn't a respector of persons so He honors those who understand and use the laws. 

Two of those twelve laws include the “Law of Sowing and Reaping” along with “the Law of Abundance.” There are 12 spiritual laws that Ian Clayton speaks about but I can no longer find that teaching. Each law carries a precedent that’s been set into the foundation of the universe. For example, let’s look at the Law of Sowing and Reaping. In our world, we often call that “karma.” What is karma? It’s when you do something, you get a return on that investment (good or bad). More often than not, karma has a negative connotation. Not long ago, there was a video shared on Facebook of some driver doing illegal and stupid things on a busy highway. Within a few seconds, he loses control of the vehicle and wrecks his truck. And, it was all caught on tape by a driver watching the whole situation unfold. The video was labeled “instant karma.”

News flash #1: The twelve laws operate whether we believe them or not. That includes when we don’t know about them. But, people who understand them can learn how they operate and then tap into the benefits of those laws. The twelve spiritual laws are like the law of gravity where it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re bound by that law.

Do you remember the parable of the talents? (Matt. 25:14-30) Marios discusses that story in the “Access” teaching. He also quotes the scripture from Luke 12:48 where it says “to whom much is given, much is required.” As he was talking, I got a mini-download or and understanding of how this is functioning in our society. (Drum roll please…)

I hear so much in the news about how the United States sets up laws that allow the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. There seems to be a lot of blame shifting in the political arena of how and why this happens. Let me propose to you an alternate reason… at least one of the twelve laws reasons. It has to do with wrong mindsets. When you look at the the story in Matthew 25 where the master goes away and leaves his servants with money to invest it, we see what each of those servants does. Upon return, the master gives the servants the same measure of what they received from those investments. In a nutshell, the master asked them to do business for him while he was away. As a boss, wouldn’t you reward the person who brought you the most money with more responsibility? Uh… heck yeah! I don’t know of anyone who would do that for the person who didn’t invest anything.

Our society has bowed down to a spirit of poverty. I’m killing a sacred cow here but I believe in order to get past it, we need to see it for what it is. Look at the number of people on various forms of assistance – assistance that requires nothing from the recipient in return for money and/or food they don't pay for. Until we get over that mindset of allowing others to do for us, it will be very difficult to step into the gravitational pull of the truths in the twelve spiritual laws. The more we go around saying “I can’t do that because I don’t have the money,” the more we stay in that mindset. I’ve actually done this next thing myself, not even realizing it… “I would love to go to dinner with you but I only have $10 in my bank account.” My conscious mind was thinking “I just want them to know I can’t go to dinner” but my unconscious mind was actually saying “Maybe they’ll buy me dinner if I tell them how much I have.” This seems to be an innocently honest situation but after I went back and looked at a couple of these instances, I had to repent. Why? Because I was functioning out of a poverty mindset.

For years, I came up short financially. I did OK but because I hadn’t learned how to manage finances, live within my means, and generally use good common sense concerning money, there was never an over abundance. There would be times I’d want to do something special, like attend a conference or go on a retreat when I couldn’t go because of my finances. I admit, I allowed the “poor me” familiar spirit to whisper in my ear. And, I listened.

A poverty mindset often functions out of one or more of the following:

 1) That’s too expensive! No one should ever have to pay that much! 2) Look for the cheapest version of anything they want to buy. 3) Christians should give to other Christians freely. After all, Jesus gave everything away so why shouldn’t we give our services away? 4) When faced with receiving governmental assistance, often stay in that place rather than believe there could be a way out. 5) A belief that if they could just have more finances, everything would be OK. 6) Deep inside, hope that others will care for them. And, the list could go on. This is only a start.

Now, let’s look at the story of the talents a bit more. If you’ll notice, when the master returned, he called his servants asking for a report. Those who knew what to do with the resources, were given more resources because they had something to show for their diligence. The one who didn’t was functioning out of a poverty mindset. Basically, the master rewarded and gave more responsibility to those who brought resources. These servants were functioning out of the twelve spiritual laws. They tapped into a law (maybe without even knowing it) where they understood the protocol of multiplication. It was “I’ll take what I have and make more with it.”

Look at the rich people in the world. Why do they have money? More than likely, many figured out how to tap into spiritual laws set into place from the very beginning. There are those who have a lot of money but are some of the unhappiest people on the earth. Money has done nothing for them probably because their intent was greed, which isn’t a kingdom mindset. The intent of the heart can produce interesting results.

Now, think of how many people you know are near the opposite end of the spectrum, where finances don’t seem to be abundant. If you give these people  money, they haven’t had the practice of managing a lot of finances and eventually lose it, as noted in the article I mention above from Time Magazine.

News flash #2: Until we learn how to manage what we have, it’s going to be difficult to know what to do when we're given more. The reason there’s such a big gap between the lower and middle classes all has to do with mindsets – mindsets about provision. Making laws to help close that gap hasn’t helped people either. The reason? You give people something they don’t understand how to handle and chances are, they’re going to mess it up because they haven’t learned responsibility. We must have a shift in thinking and then practice new mindsets. This involves not listening to familiar spirits that entice us to think the old way.

I’m on this journey in learning how to be responsible with what I currently have so that it opens a door for more… more of Him… more of everything. In this article, I speak out of experience, both the stupid and the smart. Honestly, I had no idea I’d been functioning out of a poverty mindset until about 2013. It was revealed to me during my times with Papa. Even while writing this blog post, I found another area that needed attention. Before going any further, I took a break and repented.

It’s taken me several years to gain freedom of some “stinkin’ thinkin'” about finances. Meanwhile, I’ve had to walk some pretty rough things out. For quite some time, I had very little. I made a choice to get out of debt and put my resources towards that. That also meant that I got rid of all my credit cards and decided if I didn’t have cash, it could wait. I’ve also had to learn to live within my means. Meanwhile, I started spending more time with Papa and gained some strategy on smart ways to increase finances. This was my test to see if I could be given more responsibility. Out of that, Healing Frequencies Music was birthed. I’m learning how to manage that business while continuing to grow in what Father is teaching me.

I have to mention that being a giver is an important factor in understanding the Law of Abundance and the Law of Sowing and Reaping. And, it’s probably one of the only reasons I didn’t completely crash financially, even when I was doing some stupid stuff. When I didn’t have finances, I gave time. I sowed into other’s lives as I believed the Holy Spirit led. I love that Marios talks about honor as part of the equation, too. Marios Ellinas has several books on Amazon so look him up and show him a little love financially!

I truly believe that if we want to close the gap between the rich and poor, we need to help the poor understand The Law of Abundance and The Law of Sowing and Reaping. Giving them free stuff only perpetuates the poverty mentality. We need to get out of our old mindsets and put on the mind of Christ. Until we learn how to use what we have wisely, there’s no way we can be trusted with more. We’ll simply squander it like most of those lottery winners end up doing.

My personal example? Like I said, I’ve done some really stupid stuff financially. After making the decision to change my thinking about provision in general, setting my eyes on the things of the kingdom realms, things finally began to change. I had to do a bunch in the natural to line up with what I was hearing in the spirit…. no more credit cards (unless I could pay them off each month), learn to live within my means, and get rid of the poverty mentality!

Within nine years, almost all my debt (yeah… something about student loans) was paid off. And, I didn’t immediately think “Yippee! I get to go out and buy some things I’ve wanted on more credit.” I started setting money aside, in a savings account and adding to it each month. I put myself on a budget where I have separate checking accounts for various purposes. I have one account that’s for groceries, gas, clothes, little surprises for myself, and other daily expenses. When it’s gone… it’s gone. It’s rare that I borrow from another account to supplement these expenses.

What I find amazing is how I have more money available for use now than I’ve had in several years. And, I make about half the income (because of a job change) than I did before. Try to wrap your head around that one! Here’s a little story from the spring of 2016… I was so excited when I walked out of my accountant’s office completely overjoyed that I could pay her that same day for my 2016 taxes. It’s the first time EVER (since she became my accountant in 1994) that I’ve been able to do this. She thought I was a little too overjoyed but she didn’t understand how much this meant to me. It was freedom in the fact that I could pay a bill all at once and didn’t have to be on a payment plan. It was truly liberating.

The next piece of this equation has to do with giving and honoring those you’re in relationship with. Do you remember what I said above about giving of my time? For me, this is about honor. For several years, I was part of a prophetic training school in Canada. At the end of each year, they have a conference, which I attended. When they asked for volunteers, I jumped in. Yes, we were given free entrance to the event but for me, it was more than that. At one conference, they had a guest speaker who had lots of books to sell. I agreed to take care of all his sales while dealing with my own, since I also had a vendor table. Now, I was only required to work a certain amount of hours to cover my entrance fee. However, I know what it’s like to rotate people in and out of a bookstore at a conference. There has to be some consistency which is probably why the year before, I agreed to be at the registration table through the entire conference. I like things running smoothly and if I can honor those putting on a conference with my time, I’m happy to do it. (Murray Dueck, you are the bomb!)

Long story short… there are many times in my life where I really didn’t have the finances to give to a ministry or minister. But, if I knew that I could do something to help them, I offered my services. I would venture to say that giving of your time is part of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Although I wasn’t operating out of it in one area (because of a poverty mentality), I was in another area. I wanted to give so I gave myself. That in turn has opened doors for me to gain more freedom in the overall area of finances.

Please understand that I’m not pointing anyone out. I’ve been there so the finger points back at me. If you’re living off provision where you depend on other sources (in this world) to meet your needs, you’ll want to get off that merry-go-round in order to see increase. Finances may not be available to give but you can give of yourself. What is it you do that could be of help to someone else? Maybe it’s taking the neighbor kids for an hour or two to play with your own kids while the parents go out to eat. There are always lots of highways that need cleaning up. I’ll venture to say this and sorry if I hit another sacred cow but here it is… If you have time to sit in front of the TV or play games for hours every day, you have time to give of yourself. If there’s a lack of confidence to do anything, consider getting some healing so you can walk in who you’re meant to be.

CONCLUSION:

As I stated before, if people step out of the poverty mentality and align themselves with The Law of Abundance and The Law of Sowing and Reaping, I believe the large gap between financial classes (rich vs the poor) would diminish greatly. It’s all a mindset. The problem? It takes time and most people aren’t willing to walk through the process and give up too easily. Why? Because it requires giving up stuff, including tangible items as well as thoughts and habit patterns we get stuck in. I encourage you not to be one of those people. If this is your tendency, spend time on the Father’s lap in the garden of your heart. It’s from this intimate place where we learn who we are in Christ. If you don’t have a good earthly example of a father, allow healing from those memories to wash through you. If you need some assistance with cleaning stuff up, contact, sign up for mentoring and/or inner healing with someone in the Ekklesia. You'll find that information HERE. 

Blessings to all! I speak freedom from old mindsets concerning finances over everyone who reads this. As paradigms begin to shift, I speak a release of provision!

Del

Posted on

Business From a Kingdom Perspective

by Del Hungerford

We often don’t think about business as being a “kingdom” thing. I’ll have to say, that included me until I actually owned a business. There are many principles, like the laws of physics, that work despite your belief system when it comes to business.

I listened to Ian Clayton’s teaching set titled “Kingdom Business 1” and “Kingdom Business 2” a few times when I first purchased them. I’m finding that it’s good to go back and listen again to teachings after I’ve worked through things. Being prompted this past week to listen again, I “heard” this teaching with a fresh set of ears. Go to www.sonofthunder.com to purchase these MP3 teachings.

At the time of my first listen, I was going through some rough spots financially and had been for quite some time. Much of that was due to my own stupidity, involving my lack of ability to handle money. I did some dumb things but, I also learned from my mistakes. We are often brought to a place where we have to deal with our shortcomings. If we don’t, we stagnate and never seem to move forward. However, we do have the option to stay stuck. It’s all about choices.

To purchase Ian's book about business, CLICK HERE. 

In the “Kingdom Business” teachings, Ian discusses integrity as well as the importance of functioning on the other side of the veil for all business practices. In general, I’m finding that when I don’t go directly into the realm of the kingdom for any business dealings, stuff doesn’t seem to work out quite right. It’s so important that even in the midst of the “yuckies” that go on in our lives, we learn to function from heaven to earth out of a place of rest.

Ian discusses the standard view of the “enemy.” This was not something new to me but for some strange reason, it resonated differently this time. We all think the enemy is the devil. That’s the standard thought, right? Ian makes a passing comment (as he often does) that’s a whiz banger! It’s one of those that grabs you around the throat and demands your attention. Ian said that the enemy is often ourselves. In other words, we can be our own worst enemy. What we think the devil throws at us, it’s not him at all! The devil is chilling out in his own depressing-makeshift-power corner thinking “Ah, there’s another person who’s giving me credit for something I didn’t do.” He then leans back in his chair a bit further with a smug look on his face knowing that he has you right where he wants you. It’s called “deception.”

It’s often our own thoughts and actions that wreak havoc in our lives. Thoughts, intents, and actions carry a frequency that’s released around us to frame what occurs in our lives. This can actually be measured via scientific equipment! You see it in those water experiments where Dr. Emoto spoke negative and positive things over water. He then froze the water and looked at how the ice crystals formed. The pretty images were the positive words. The ugly images? They had hateful or negative things spoken. Here’s a bit of my geekiness sticking out – there have been additional experiments completed under more controlled conditions to show what Dr. Emoto found is accurate. So, the next time something goes haywire, check out what you’ve said over yourself in the season before that.

Here’s an example of how thoughts and intents framed a situation in my life: I would have walked through some physical healing much faster had I not wallowed in the “woe is me” attitude. Things didn’t change until my thought processes shifted concerning a particular illness (while I was married). First of all, sickness is NOT mine. I don’t own it. Yes, there may be something on my body from time to time but it doesn’t belong to me unless I accept it. I knew this, too, but didn’t walk in it. I was too worn down (or so I thought) to believe that I could do anything about it. Enough of that. That’s a whole different blog post topic. Moving right along…

Ian also says that choices become important. Stuff literally can sit in front of your face taunting you with the words, “look at me!” Circumstances tend to encourage us to engage them: it’s a choice. Instead, we should engage love (which is the opposite of fear). In addition, it’s important to step beyond the veil into intimacy with God to learn how to deal with the circumstances from a kingdom perspective. It’s only when I’ve done that, I’m in a place of peace. When we learn to function out of that place of rest, life is so much easier!

Another whiz banger that Ian kind of slipped into the teaching has to do with pleasing man. Our affirmation and approval tends to come from our relationships with people instead of God. Ouch!! That hurt but… think about it. How many times have we each done something and looked to another person to approve what we did? Are we doing things to get accolades from people?

I guess a good barometer to make that determination is… when we give of ourselves (clean the toilets at church, be on the worship team, sign up to be a helper at a conference, etc.) and no one thanks us or notices how hard we’re working, what is our response? If this bothers us, we’re trying to please man.

Let me say this before going any further. This can also work in the opposite direction – it’s called “false humility.” It shows up in people when we compliment them. Have you ever gone up to someone and said “That was so awesome. Thank you!” They then turn around and say, “It was all Jesus.” They then bow their head in a humble gesture. Yes, I’ve done that, too. I think it was mostly because someone told me that was how I was to respond when complimented. Either way, what I’ve learned to do is take the compliments to the trading floors and trade for more love, joy, peace, etc. You’ve heard of “casting your crowns?” That’s what trading is all about. You take all those compliments and positive things that happen in your life and cast them before the throne, trading for more intimacy with the Trinity. Once I started doing that, I noticed some big changes.

What does this have to do with business? Well, everything. Circumstances will happen that you don’t like. You will have many choices to make, and you’ll be granted the opportunity to engage the circumstance or... get on your seat of rest. It’s all about choices and learning what to look at and what to turn your back on. We also have to learn to walk in integrity with our business dealings.

News flash! Many of the Christians I have dealt with in business walk in less integrity than the unbeliever. Why? It’s because we have expectations between Christians. It goes something like this… “I’d like you to do this job for me but, because you’re doing it as unto the Lord, you’re going to give me a better price, right?” Or how about what goes through our mind when dealing with a Christian business owner? Try this scenario (thinking to yourself) – “This person should bless me because I don’t have enough to pay for it. Then, God will use that and bless them in return.”

When I ran a mobile espresso business, I was the highest paying espresso business in town. Plus, even though I often worked harder than the employees, I gave them the tips. The only time I kept any was when there were only two of us and we both worked our butts off. I wanted to bless my workers for giving their time to my business.

In return, I had a couple employees that worked for me for several years, even though I was a seasonal operation and the hours weren’t all that good. I treated them well and that made them want to come back. Well, I think making up cheesy songs for every drink helped a little, too. The customers really enjoyed it, which made them come back each week to see what other antics we’d come up with. I guess when you’ve had 8 shots of espresso by 8:00 in the morning, it opens the possibility for some wackiness.

I love what Ian also said in the Kingdom Business teachings. We are to embrace the circumstance to see what we can learn from it. He even quoted the scripture that I literally had pasted all over my bedroom as a teenager. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). Or, maybe it was “All things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Either way, these are two scriptures I stepped into. When we learn to embrace the circumstances asking “Father, what can I learn from this?,” we’ll all be in a much better place.

Have you ever been asked the question, “If you could go back and change anything in your life, what would it be?” Honestly, my answer is “My reactions to things that happened.” And, “I wished I’d made better choices.” No, I wouldn’t change who I was married to. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I could change that. Yes, he was abusive. Yes, I responded in unhealthy ways. This situation encouraged me grow up. It’s all about be thankful IN the situation, not FOR it. (I Thess. 5:18)

Ian discusses a particular difficult business problem that propelled him into a deeper relationship with Yahweh (Hebrew name for God). Out of that relationship, things began to change. That type of action changes attitudes, which changes the frequency of our thoughts, which changes intent, which finally leads to circumstance changes. It’s been the same for me, too. There continues to be some interesting situations in my life. Life happens and you have to deal with it. It’s the “how” we deal with it that makes or breaks us.

Businesses have ups and downs. When we learn to walk in integrity, allow God to lead us through everything in our lives, turn our intents toward our Divine Creator, and watch what comes out of our mouth, things tend to line up. There are spiritual laws put into place. It’s our choice whether to live by them or not.

How do you walk in integrity through business interactions?

 

  • Treat your employees with respect and pay them well.
  • Be giving and do so without an agenda (both bosses and employees).
  • Honor the people you work with and work for. Even when they’re acting like a dork, remember the issue is probably more about them and has nothing to do with you.
  • Be fair and balanced in treatment of ALL employees.
  • Creative a positive atmosphere by bringing heaven to earth.
  • If you’re the consumer doing business with someone who is a Christian, don’t expect their services to be cheaper for you. They, too, have to make a living. Your money is literally a “trade” into what they have to offer you. Pay them what you’d pay anyone else for the same service.
  • As an employee, don’t cheat your time, give 100%, don’t whine and complain every time other workers do something stupid, and don’t complain about the management and/or customers. Instead, go beyond the veil (into the kingdom realms) and see what Father has to say about it.
  • Be prepared to accept responsibility for your actions. Be quick to repent (before the Father) and then establish patterns in your life where change creates positive rather than negative actions and reactions.
  • Feelings? There’s nothing more than feelings? Uh, yeah.. let’s not be led by our feelings. People will frost your buttons so be prepared to take those frustrations before the Father. He’ll show you what to do. Hint – it will probably involve some repentance, either on your behalf or those around you. The quicker we repent, the quicker things have the opportunity to turn around.
  • When people come at you with accusations, go to the mobile court (court of accusations) and deal with it there, even if you did nothing wrong. By repenting, it disarms the situation. Ian has a teaching titled “The Mobile Court” that will help you walk through that process. Again, go to www.sonofthunder.org to get that teaching. Enter the title into the search box and it should show up. Mike Parsons also has a really good teaching on YouTube. CLICK HERE for that link.
  • I also discuss the mobile court in several of my books. You'll find all my materials on Amazon. Simply type in my name under the "books" category. 
  • Don’t expect ministerial services to be free. This includes music, teachings, books, healing sessions, etc. If you’re offering one of these services, set a price worthy of your abilities. If you’re the consumer, think of it as a trade into what that person offers. You’re paying for their time.
  • Don’t share “purchasable” materials with others. If they want it, they should pay for it! This is against copyright laws. So, don’t do it!
  • Learn to enjoy what you do! Quit complaining and see the positive instead of focusing on the negative. Abiding by the phrase from the 1970’s that was plastered all over bumper stickers – “bloom where you are planted” is a good place to start.
  • Add your own…

If this seems a bit harsh, there’s probably a sacred cow (stinking religious thinking) that needs dealt with. Honestly, these are spiritual laws. People who live by them that aren’t Christians generally fare quite well. The Christian community often whines and moans saying “Why are they having such great success and I’m not!” Well, it’s probably because there are spiritual laws not being followed. We have to be willing to see our own faults before we look at the faults of others. Our barometer is registered by what’s going on in our personal lives, our families, and our businesses. I did well in some areas but horribly in others. Once I started to focus on the pieces that were way out of kilter, it was amazing how my overall life began to change for the better.

Had I not looked at the crap in my life, I’d still be in the same place today that I was several years ago. Even though I was a good business person in general, there were things in my personal life that needed attention. I’m still on the journey but as I walk through the tough stuff, I literally graduate to that next level where I get to deal with more stuff! But, with that comes a new level of authority as well as freedom in my life. If I can do it, so can you. This may sound goofy but when hard stuff happens now, I say “Woo hoo! I get a chance to learn something through this!”

Thank you for taking time to listen to my musings on the subject of kingdom business. I hope it provided some insight for you. Feel free to post your questions/comments below or shoot me a message by clicking on the “contact us” button in the right side bar.

Here’s my declaration for you today: May Yahweh, Jeshua, and the Holy Spirit become so real in your life that no circumstance can pull you away from that love. May your whole being resonate with the light, Glory, and Love of the Father!

Blessings,

Del

Posted on

Taming the Soul

by Del Hungerford

Taming the soul – what a title! You’re probably thinking “what does that mean?” 

For quite some time, I’ve been releasing Perfect Love into the spirit, soul, and body gateways. The gateways involve opening them up and exercising them by allowing the life, light, and glory of God to flow through them into the soul and body gates. Huh? If you’re not familiar with your gateways, I suggest that you purchase my self-paced course, Mountains, Gates, and Castles. When I first began the process of "cleaning" the gateways, I didn't use this gentle approach. What I've discovered is that because Perfect Love is the strongest possible frequency, it can take out some pretty nasty stuff when we infuse that frequency into our gates. Perfect Love is like a weed killer with a lot more strength. That then allows for a more gentle approach with issues that feel so hard. Hmmmm....

Our goal as kingdom-minded believers is to function out of who we are meant to be by developing an intimate relationship with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. There’s only one problem… we all have junk to deal with. And, that junk clouds our ability to function “in Him.” This is where starting with the gateways comes in. Think of a gate as an opening that allows things in and out. Look at all the scriptural references in the Old Testament about the purpose of each gate in the city. Remember that everything in the natural is a mirror of what’s in the supernatural so by studying the gateways in and out of the city of Jerusalem, we can learn a lot about our own gateways.

I’ll give a quick synopsis so I can introduce you to the gateways concept. Basically, we have four sets of gates: First love, spirit, soul, and body. First love is our direct communion with the Father where we truly function in Him. We allow the life, light, and glory of the Father to come into us from the Throne of Grace. It’s in the first love gate that we are infused with all that we need to function as a spirit being.

From the top of our mountain, we're seated on the throne of our life where we govern "in Him" all that's below Perfect Love. Your seat of rest is on that throne. Whatever we allow into the gates of our lives is what dictates our behavior. 

The spirit gates are prayer, reverence, faith, hope, intuition, revelation, fear of God, and worship. We are to allow the life, light, and glory of the Father to flow from the position of first love into our spirit gates. In reality, we are to be governed by our spirit instead of our soul. However, for most of us, it’s the other way around. And, that’s why we run into issues.

The soul gates are conscience, reason, imagination, mind, will, emotions, and choice. Notice that our emotions are a soul gateway instead of a spirit gate? When we let our imaginations and emotions run wild, we are functioning out of our soul. The soul is to bow down to the dictates of the spirit. In other words, the soul has to take orders from the spirit once we are “born again.”

The final set of gateways are the body gates: seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling. I see the gates like a mountain with First Love being at the top where I sit in my seat of rest and rule my life from that position. As I function out of my spirit, those gates open and the life, light, and glory of the Father flows down the mountain into the spirit gates, then to the soul gates, and finally to the body gates at the bottom of the mountain. Everything is governed from the top down. Or, from inside out since we are spirit beings first.

Houston! We have a problem!!! This is where it gets very tricky. We are too often ruled by our emotions, our mind where we reason everything out (oh how busy the mind can be), our choices, and our will. The conscience feeds into all the others. We have these things called “familiar spirits” that whisper sweet nothings into our ears. Many times, we don’t even realize it’s a familiar spirit talking and we actually think it’s God.

Time out! Yes, familiar spirits are even around Christians. What renders those nasty little familiars useless is our UNwillingness to listen to them and heed their whisperings. It’s a choice despite how you feel. When we allow our soul to rule, we entertain familiar spirits on a regular basis. The mind of Christ comes directly from Father, into our place of first love with Him and then through through the spirit gates (prayer, reverence, worship, faith, hope, intuition, revelation, and the fear of God). As we allow the spirit to govern the soul, our emotions and thought life begin to line up with who we are in Christ.

Need an example of a soul in control? You’re at a social event. Everyone is talking and having a great time but it appears as though people are leaving you out of the conversation or… you make eye contact with someone who quickly glances the other direction. You have a choice here… If you start thinking and the pondering on thoughts like, “why are people ignoring me?,” you’re actually entertaining a familiar spirit. Or, how about one of my favorite examples… You’re talking with friends and joking around with one another when someone pipes up with a comment such as “You might look better in that outfit if you were twenty years younger.” Again, you have a choice. Will you be offended? Trust me, the moment those words hit the atmosphere, we are given the opportunity whether to listen to a familiar spirit that sits by the soul gates just waiting for us to engage it or, turn into our spirit and let it make the decision on how to respond. Yeah, people who say such dumb things have their own issues but you have a CHOICE in how you want to deal with any stupidity that comes your way. 

Hear me out for a minute. I’m willing to put my neck out on a limb to say that many of the issues we face with our emotional state could be rectified IF we allow the spirit gates to rule over the soul gates. What do I mean by this? Another example should help explain. As many who’ve read my blogs know, I left an abusive marriage. There were some physical ramifications from that marriage that lasted for nearly 20 years. In all honesty, it was easier to stay in that place because it was more comfortable. And, I didn’t know a way out. The unknown was scary. I was fearful and didn’t know how to move forward, especially since the physical issues lingered for so long. For that to change, I had to make some conscious decisions and then then practice (yep… PRACTICE) a new way of thinking (renew the mind). I also had to carefully watch the words out of my mouth (Proverbs 18:21). Words are a huge creative force. It was with words (and possibly song) that God created the universe. But, that’s a topic for another blog post.

Kingdom Principle break! I really believe that there are many physical illnesses that are directly caused by our emotional state of mind. Check out the “Emotional Roots of Physical Symptoms” chart that I assembled with my friends Alice and Seneca. Once we deal with our emotions, our bodies tend to heal. We should be under the governance of the spirit gates. That in turn trickles down through the soul and into our body. What does that mean? When you have a symptom on your body, don’t immediately bow down to it. Watch what comes out of your mouth and don’t immediately go into Facebook and say “Please pray for me! I woke up this morning feeling ______” In a sense, that’s bowing down to it and acknowledging that it has a place in your body. Instead, step into the presence of God and allow Papa to speak to you on what needs to be done to bring your body back into health. This doesn't negate going to the doctor is you need to do that. But... be careful who you ask to pray for you  Choose people who will align with God's thoughts about you, not their personal opinions. 

Please note, I do ask people to pray for me. I see no problem with that and we should come alongside those we consider to be part of our inner circle. Outside of my circle, I tend not to tell everyone else what’s going on in my personal life. Why not? Because words ARE a creative force, I want prayers to be brought from heaven to earth and not the other way around. I want people praying for and with me that know how to function from that intimate place with the Trinity. And, I need to be able to take care of my junk on my own, seeking Father for answers. Often times when we ask others to pray for us, we rely on those prayers more than our own. In order to grow out of the baby Christian mentality, we need to learn how to take care of our own stuff. This has been a huge lesson for me. I wasn’t called “motor mouth” for nothing. Ask my dad. He’ll enlighten you on that subject. Just saying…

Back to my example… I eventually figured out how to put my emotions and imagination into their proper place. First off, I had to make a conscious decision not to live out of the fatigue that seemed to plague my body. It was a mindset that I needed to change. When a familiar spirit would come and whisper “But, you know how tired you feel? It’s OK to ________,” I had to get onto my seat of rest and imagine being in that place of intimacy with Father. I then focused on letting the love, light, and glory of the Father flow through a spirit gates and into my emotions or another soul gateway (depended on what Father was showing me at the time). I asked Jesus to show me where I needed healing (emotionally). I then spent a lot of time repenting for wrong mindsets and emotional traumas that I “fed” and hung on to. In case you’re not aware, fear is almost always going to be feeding an emotional trauma.

News flash!!! Things didn’t change right away! I had to practice and practice and practice new thought patterns despite how I physically felt. At first, the more I practiced, the more familiar spirits would try to entice me with some new and twisted theory of staying stuck in that place of emotional pain, which led to physical pain.

I hated spending many years of my life so fatigued that I could barely function. They say when you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, you finally do something about it. As I became whole emotionally, my body healed.

I went through a lot of Inner healing, which may be necessary to help get over the issues that we tend to have. That being said, I think it’s also important that we don’t get stuck there. Look to see if you’re doing what you’ve been asked. To me, emotional healing should start with making sure we’re functioning out of our spirit first. We aren’t supposed to be led by our emotions or how we physically feel. What does that look like? Have you ever said, “That’s just the way I am…” or “I’ve had ______ happen to me” or “All my parts and pieces aren’t liking this.” We’re told that we have the mind of Christ and that we are a new creation. Well, in order to function as a new creation IN HIM, we must put our focus on Him instead of what negative thoughts and emotions run rampant in our minds.

The hardest part of not having dinner with the familiar spirits? They are ever-so-willing to whisper if I give them a sliver of a listen. They can be like vultures waiting to pounce on their prey. I had to look past the physical symptoms and see myself soaking in the River of Life where I allowed the very essence of God's Love to flow through me, changing me into His image. I will also note here that worshiping, praying in tongues, and spending quality time with Father makes a HUGE difference with everything in my life. It starts from the inside out.

What HAS changed through this is my attitude. What other people think should have no affect on what I do or don’t do. Really, it all began with me stepping into who I am in Christ. Out of that I am learning to function as a spirit being first. Then, my spirit governs the soul which in turn pounds out “Yankee Doodle” on my body. And you know what? My body eventually gave up the extreme fatigue. But, it required me governing my life from heaven down to earth - from the top to the bottom of my personal mountain. Everything takes time and PRACTICE in learning new mindsets.

As the familiar spirits try to tempt your ears and eyes, focus on being in Him and choose a response that comes directly from your place of rest in Christ, even if your body continues to be in physical and/or emotional pain. Things that stop the flow are constant complaining/whining, being pessimistic, doing the hypochondriac bit (where you always have to tell others what’s wrong with you), dwelling on the past horrible things that happened to you, unforgiveness, fear, anxiety, and lack of hope. The list could go on but you get the idea.

As I often share, I’m speaking out of experience here because I’ve done every negative item on the list above. It wasn’t until I chose to change my mindset and then practice the new mindset before things started to change. And, I took every small change as a step in the right direction. Little changes are better than no changes.

Lastly, if you need some assistance in walking through healing from trauma, get the Mountains, Gates, and Castles course. Take your time and enjoy the journey!

My declaration over anyone who reads this… May you come into that intimate relationship with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. May you be healed in your soul and body as you function out of who you are in Christ. I speak blessings over and above all that you could ask or think! May you be physically pain free, emotionally whole, and spiritually sensitive to all the Father has for you. May you walk here on earth in what you’ve been called to do and that’s mandated for you life! In the Mighty Name of Jeshua – AMEN!

Blessings!

Del

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Why is Identity Important?

by Del Hungerford 

When you hear the words “step into your identity in Christ,” what is that truly saying? By definition, identity means that you are yourself and not another. It’s a condition or character of each individual person – who they are, what they believe, and other qualities that make us each identifiable from others. So, when the Word tells us that we’re a new creation in Christ, our identity is now with Him and the more time we spend with Him, the more we become like Him and identify with what He does, says, and acts like.

Here’s the problem… because of trauma and life circumstances, we often struggle with truly knowing who we are. We take on an identity that others have put on us. It’s pretty hard to identify with Christ if we can’t be secure in who are created to be. It’s going to be hard to step into Christ’s identity if we are negatively affected by the world around us.

Growing up, I was a show-off. I did dumb things to get people to pay attention to me. I now call that an “A.G.D.” (attention getting device). I can laugh at some of my silly antics now but at that time, I was pretty serious about needing some major attention. My goal (unconsciously) was to get people to affirm me as a person. Most of the time, that backfired because how I went about it was rather annoying. I’ll spare you the details but I’m sure if we’re all honest, we all relate on some level. My issue was my lack of being comfortable in my own skin; I didn’t like ME.

I spent a lot of time with college students in a variety of situations (teacher, fraternity cook, house mother at a sorority, etc.). So many of the conversations centered around what others thought of them. If someone said a mean thing, for many, it was devastating. Imagine if Einsten or Tesla took all the negative comments thrown their direction when they came up with new ideas. Hmmmm..... 

In recent years, it's like any negative comment is an attack on the identity. Most recently, many have come to talk with me who battle anxiety, depression, and other emotional things. These issues appear to keep these people from having a normal functioning adult life. Many struggle with “adulting” in general. When we get overwhelmed, life itself tends to throw curve balls at us. We then get hit with those curve balls and think there’s no way out because we listen to what society tells us.

It's interesting that these types of issues began to escalate somewhere around 2012. Why was there such a spike in mental health issues? As a teacher, I noticed that by the time I retired (2022), HALF of the students in my classes were on some sort of plan to manage their mental health. I have some theories about the "why" of these issues but will save my comments for personal rather than public discussion at this point. 

News flash #1 – When people are mean, nearly 100% of the time, it’s their own issue and they are simply projecting their own hurt at you! Hurting people hurt people. Once we become comfortable in who God created us to be, nasty comments have less of an effect on us. But, that’s easier said than done.

Why? Because when people say nasty things, we like to “entertain” those little nasties, mulling them over and over in our minds. The more we do that, the more stirred up we get. I wonder what would happen if we did this more often with the compliments people give us? I can’t seem to figure out why it’s the negative comments that get the most “mind attention.”

Everyone on the face of the earth has had trauma of some kind. At some point, we have a choice in how the events of those traumas rule our lives. The process of choosing an alternative takes consistency of practicing new thought patterns. In other words, we need to dwell on the opposite and let who God says we are become the ruling force in our lives. There was a time where I had note cards of scriptures pasted all over my bedroom as a child so my focus was the words of God’s promises and not on the circumstances. We are told to give thanks IN everything but not FOR everything. (I Thess. 5:18) When we learn to put our focus on the good and Holy things, then, and only then, do we even stand a chance of overcoming the traumas that can plague us. When we keep our eyes on Jesus and put into practice what He says about us, it’s easier to focus on the good and holy things.

News flash #2! The road will have twists and turns. It’s gonna take time and persistence of being consistent to learn how not to pay attention to the negative crap that comes at us all the time. Even in the midst of some of the slimiest stuff, we can still be in a place of rest. It’s a choice. It’s easy to be offended but, that’s a choice, too. We live in a society where people look for opportunities to be offended. We seem to feed off the latest and greatest disasters and bad news by calling the “bad guys” every name in the book or complaining how the situation has ruined our lives, etc. Maybe it might be more worth our while to pray in our prayer language over those situations and release blessings to all those involved.

What does any of this have to do with our identity in Christ? Well, everything. The reason? We get so wrapped up in what others think of us. Why? It's because we tend to look to the world for affirmation or approval rather than believing what God says about us. We're too sidetracked by the things of the world which keeps us from moving forward out of fear. It's the "what will people think about me?" syndrome that is a destiny killer. 

We think because bad stuff happened to us, we’re of no use to God. We believe lies that keep us from moving forward (I’m not good enough, I can’t do that, no one will notice so why bother, etc.). 

I really do like the story of the little engine that could. All the way up that entire mountain, his words were “I think I can… I think I can” and it wasn’t easy. But, he kept his eyes on the top of the hill – that hard place that he knew if he could only get to, things would be much easier.

News flash #3 – If we can’t develop a sense of our own identity and be comfortable with who we are created to be, it’s going to be rather difficult stepping into our identity in Christ. How do we adjust our paradigm in this area? Glad you asked! First of all, this thing called “practicing” is key. You put before your mind what you know to be true. This is what the Word calls "renewing your mind." And, when those little familiar spirits start whispering nastiness into your ear, turn your ear towards what God says about you or that situation. If you don’t know, find scriptures to stand on about who you are in Christ. Turn them into declarations and speak them over yourself several times per day. 

What’s a familiar spirit? It’s a voice in your head (your thoughts) that tells you junk that’s contrary to God’s Word and His thoughts about you. These little "familiars" go after all of us because they know that if they can wear us down, they win and we don’t get to move forward. That’s their job. Not that we pay attention to them (which we shouldn’t) but if we “take that thought captive” (II Cor. 10:5), what’s being whispered, or flashes across our the eyes of our imagination, it won’t take root and develop into a nasty thought process, imagery, or action in our lives. But, like anything else, it must be nipped in the bud before it takes root. Once the root is developed, it’s much more difficult to deal with.

For us to truly step into our identity in Christ, we need to see ourselves as Christ sees us. This requires getting rid of the junk that pollutes our minds and actions. This requires "heart-brain coherance" where the brain (soul) comes into agreement with the heart (spirit). It’s like cleaning up after a tornado or hurricane where there are heaps of smelly things strewn about. It takes our whole lives to get where we are today so we can’t expect that over night we’re going to clean it all up. Wise counsel, spending time with the Father so He can show us what needs work, and practicing new habits are all a part of the clean-up process. Also, please note, when we spend time with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, many things happen organically because we are being changed from the inside out. In building that intimate relationship, our paradigms change and so will our actions.

As mentioned above, we all have stuff in our lives that tries to pull us down. I’ve known people that have had horrendous childhoods that have come out of that experience and live normal happy lives. Others who still dwell on trauma and what it’s done to them, they can hardly function. What’s the difference? From my personal observation, it’s all about a choice to move beyond trauma and life difficulties. Even with major mental issues, I believe there is a way out. It starts with a full understanding of who we are “in Christ” and taking on His identity. But, in order to do that, we must learn to let go and forgive, learn to love ourselves for who God created us to be, and believe that we are created for a divine purpose. If the opposition can steal our identity, it’s won. We then won’t fulfill what we’re called to do.

Conclusion

Let’s answer the opening question… ‘Why is identity important?” Until we understand who we are created to be, it’s going to be difficult to see ourselves seated in Christ so we can become like Him. When we’re going around constantly having to remind ourselves not to be hurt by what others say, our focus is on those issues instead of the solution.

Or, if we believe we’re not good enough to do something or don’t have what it takes, again, our focus is on the problem and not the answer. In Christ, we can DO ALL THINGS! (Phil. 4:13)

How do we fix this? First of all, it’s going to take practice and lots of it! You’ll need to find methods of reminding yourself what God says about you ALL DAY LONG. Once it begins to soak into your memory banks so the new thoughts and behaviors are your first reactions, that’s when you’ll start seeing things around you change.

I’ve seen some amazing transformations in people. The key ingredients are a willingness to move past circumstances, traumas, and hurts. It’s fairly easy to see how we’re doing on this journey by looking at the “fruit” we’re putting out. It’s also obvious in how we react to situations. If you’re unsure, ask those closest to you to describe your behaviors.

When we find our true identity in Christ, that’s when we’ll see things around us change. And, I’m saving the most important comment for last. EVERYTHING comes out of intimacy with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. When we spend time in our spirit (heart, heart garden, etc.) with them, we can learn to walk like them, talk like them, and behave like them. Jesus only did what He saw the Father do. OK, how did He do that? Jesus told us we'd do that sme things He could do so, if He can do what His Father shows Him, so can we. We put ourselves on the alter as a living sacrifice daily being crucified in Christ. Everything about us (what we want, our stinking thinking, our frustrations, anger, bad habits, etc.) begins to be overtaken as Love itself infuses us to the core of our being. It’s done by faith even if you don’t see anything happen right away. As with all things, it takes practice, patience and perseverance.

Shalom!

Del

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Treasury Room in Heaven

by Del Hungerford

This post is a continuation of "seeing in the spirit." By providing examples, this should help you on your own journey of discovery. I'm sure that as you read these encounters, visuals come to your mind, just like your imagination is at work when reading stories in the Bible. This blog post was on another site until it was posted here in 2025. I don't remember the original date but just by reading it again, it appears to be the fall of 2015 and into the spring of 2016. 

As we learned in a previous post, our body is a living temple where we commune with God. It, too, has rooms and places for us to do that. Imagery is one way God helps us understand the concepts He's trying to teach us. When I first wrote this post, I didn't have that understanding. Therefore, I now know that this treasury room is in my heart and has been there since the beginning. It's a matter of tapping into the resources already within me. This may seem confusing at first but think about it... We are in heaven and on earth at the same time. Everything on earth is a mirror of what's in heaven so it only makes sense that "as above, so it is below." We are multi-dimensional beings!

All the rooms and spaces I mention in these encounters are all within the garden of my heart - my personal temple of intimacy with the Trinity. These two encounters take place in what I call the "treasury room of heaven" but it's probably my personal treasury room that I'm finally realizing is there. 

October

I’m suddenly standing before a thick HUGE wooden door, vines growing all around. It’s very ornate and shaped like one of those rounded church doors at the top. All I can see is the door because it’s so huge; nothing else is visible.

As I approach, the door opens so, I go in. I see chests with money falling out all over the place. Then, I look to the right and see several envelopes. One is marked “payday.” Another is marked “what the enemy stole.” I see several more envelopes with writing on them. I can see there is much more to this room than the eye can see but stop here and ask “What am I supposed to take?” Although I don’t hear an audible voice, I have a sense in my spirit that I’m to take two payday envelopes along with two “what the enemy stole” envelopes. I also “feel” through thought transfer that one of each of these envelopes is mine and the other two are for a someone whose name I hear in my thoughts.

Jesus, who is standing beside me, hands me the four envelopes with a twinkle in His eye. I can tell that this is His pleasure to do for me. Nothing is said but I feel and understand His thoughts. I also understood that I’m to go back into the realm of earth and “deliver” the envelopes.

By faith, I see myself come back and deliver two of the envelopes to the person whose name I heard. In my spirit, I see myself handing them to her spirit. Holy Spirit then speaks to me… “Go to the Bank.” Again, by faith, I go to the bank in the spirit and deposit the remaining two envelopes into my bank. I stand at the counter and hand over the envelopes to the teller, one I’ve not seen before. Her eyes open wide as she peruses the contents of the envelopes. I see cash literally pouring out of them. After some time, she finally hands me my deposit slips.

January

I’m worshiping and then find myself in heaven with Jesus. We are skipping down a sparkling golden pathway towards the treasury room in Heaven. The grass next to the path is an iridescent green.

As we approach the entrance to the Treasury Room, I can see the massive arched doorway. It opens as we approach. A tall being in purple robes with a gold belt and all kinds of shining stones welcomes us. I know this is Melchizedek because he is the keeper of this room.

I’m led to the right wall by Jesus where there are many jars on shelves stuffed with rolls of bills. Jesus nods that it’s OK to take one, so, I do. I take the lid off and ask what to do.

“Hold them at the tips of your fingers,” Jesus says.

I do and the money disappears inside my fingers, soaking completely into my hands.

Jesus then leads me to a rock on the floor. After lifting it up, I see a gold bar.

“Hold it up to your belly,” instructs Jesus.

As I do this, it soaks into me through my belly. I’m then directed to the left wall where more jars are stored. They are crystal clear and upon opening one of them, I see all kinds of precious gems.

“Pull as many out as you want,” Jesus motions to me.

I then grab diamonds, rubies, sapphires, topaz, turquoise, and others I don’t recognize. I look to Jesus waiting for the instructions on how to assimilate these.

“Press them into your skin so they cover every inch of your body. Don’t leave any skin uncovered.”

As I begin to do this, each gem becomes a part of my skin. I’m reminded this is how Satan looked when he was in Heaven. After I finish, I sense that it’s time to go. Jesus and I turn around to leave, thanking Melchizedek on the way out. Although I just now realize it, Melchizedek had been with us the whole time watching and enjoying my time with Jesus.

I turn to leave with Jesus and as we stand in the doorway, the music “The Wedding” comes on. I know Jesus hears it… He takes my hand and we waltz out of the Treasury Room, back down the golden path.

Upon arriving back in my room, I know that it’s important to release what I’ve received into the atmosphere around me. I have a basic understanding of what some items I received cover and others, I know will be revealed to me at a later time.

Conclusion

These experiences happened a year before the original writing of this blog post (on another site). Reading these journal entries once again, I realized much of what I received began manifesting around me within a few months. 

The second experience was in January. By July, seven months later, most all of my debt was paid off. Yes, I was in the process of getting there anyway but difficulties did come along to try and keep that from happening.

Within four months of the January date, I lost one of my highest paying jobs. Not feeling that I was to go out and find another job, I waited to see how Papa wanted me to proceed. Circumstances around me got quite intense during this time, too. In fact, more intense than it had been for several years. But, I was learning how to sit on my seat of rest and function from a place of rest and peace so… what would have frosted my buttons a few months earlier where I’d have retaliated, I stayed in that place of rest and legislated the situations from my seat of rest… in Christ.

To make a long story short, Papa worked it all out, and I now have more than enough, which to the natural mind, doesn’t seem possible. In the Treasury Room, I received some provision way ahead of when it was physically needed. Out of rest, even during the midst of some tough circumstances, the promises of YHVH were handed to me. It was mine to receive that provision by faith… a choice to receive and then believe.

What can you do with this?

The best part about stories is they paint  picture. If you are in a place where finanances need to manifest that seem impossible, then practice bringing what's needed into your treasury. Oops... there's that practice word again. Go into that intimate place whether it be on a bench next to the River of Life, in a flower garden, or someplace else you enjoy spending time with Jesus. Start asking questions and wait for answers. For me, it was easier to do it while writing. I'd start to write whatever came to my mind and then it began to flow out of me. This way, I didn't judge what I was sensing, seeing, hearing, or feeling. 

I know what's in these two encounters was real because it had a positive effect on my circumstances, especially in the financial arena. It's interesting that we eventually get a new level of trials that can brings us to greater levels of authority. We're in 2025 now, many years later, and I'm met with a similar situation. Hmmm... what are the odds of that? More is being required of me just like a 6th grader has harder materials to learn than a first grader. We literally go from maturity to maturity. The key here is to embrace the trials and learn from them which launches us into greater authority as Sons of God.

If you're interested in seeing how this works, might I suggest you read two books I wrote recently that show us HOW we mature throughout our Christian walk? Here are those links so check them out! Don't be concerned with the title. The word "mystic" simply means "mystery." Here, you are learning about the mysteries of God and how they apply to you in your personal maturing process as a Son of God. 

Blessings!

Del

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Life can be Painful!

 

Boy, I’m telling you. There are seasons and then there are seasons. As of late, I feel like I’ve been living in a coffee grinder. I’m ground up, but refined. I’ve had to look at myself in a new light. I found things inside of me that I didn’t know existed. They were mostly lies. I had a great fear of loss. I didn’t know that I thought myself unworthy of God’s provision.  I also found that I had difficulty accepting honor from others. But, I believe the biggest one was, “Who would want to listen to me.” Seriously, you can’t travel, teach, and speak when you are continually tripping over these issues. Yet, God kept nudging me forward.

 

In the process of searching my heart. I found that two sections of scripture had become extremely meaningful. The first is the Beatitudes, chapter 5 of Matthew. The second, Psalm 36, verses  5 through 9. I going to tell you about the most meaningful verses and leave the rest alone for now.

The Beatitudes (CSB)

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Have you ever felt that? Dear God, “There is nothing left of me!   I am nothing, and I have nothing to offer.” Then it dawns on you that through Him, you have so much more. Your inheritance “is” the kingdom of heaven. In and of God, you have exceedingly more than enough to live in the kingdom of heaven here on earth and do His will.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Have you had a dear loved one die? Have you lost realms and reams of friends because of the path God has directed you to walk? What about a near-death experience? There’s nothing like being told you were dying. Oh, let’s not forget bankruptcy. Financial trouble because you lost your job or your mate left you is such a stressful experience. The only place to turn is to God. Only he can truly help.

Recently, I  spent the evening crying and singing worship songs? I knew it was okay to mourn. I knew joy would come in the morning. However, for that moment it was all I could do to just grieve.  And… joy did come in the morning!

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

I have lost count the number for times I’ve cried out to Him. I  just wanted to see His face and know Him. I’d call that to hunger and thirst. Wouldn’t you? Did you know that righteousness, in this case,  means to be just like Jesus? God says He sees the end from the beginning. He sees us as whole and complete. That means we are already just like him. As we accept the truth, and our faith grows, the manifestation of Christ in our lives will become obvious.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Recently, I stood my ground on some issues. I held someone accountable for their actions. I told them they needed to repent. Remember, that repenting is a change of mind which brings about a change of ways or actions.  Consequently, I was pronounced bitter and unforgiving. That’s a very mild form of persecution. What would happen if another religion or government told you that you had to renounce your faith? Wowsers! I think it would take the grace of God to live through that. But, the end result is that the kingdom of heaven is yours. I think the more we ascend and spend time in the kingdom of God that it will become an increasing reality to us.

Psalm 36 is the cap to my blog today. It’s all about His love for us. He is our refuge in intimacy. We are safely nestled next to His body under his wing. When we stay in His love, we see His provision from His house and His wellspring. What a picture of love that is me.

Take a moment to meditate on this passage. It will comfort you and encourage you. Especially if life has some challenges right now.

Psalm 36 (CSB)

5 Lord, your faithful love reaches to heaven, your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your judgments like the deepest sea.

Lord, you preserve people and animals.

7 How priceless your faithful love is, God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They are filled from the abundance of your house. You let them drink from Your refreshing stream.

9 For the wellspring of life is with you. By means of your light, we see light.

 

See you in His light,

Anna

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Just Say Yes – Part 2: The Cost and the Gift

For me to just say “yes” is not a DO NOT GO TO JAIL pass allowing me to continue with life as I had been living it. Father might give me healing to demonstrate His love, but there is a need for me to desire and allow change. Otherwise, what’s the use? Why should God grant me my “wish” only to have me remain in the state in which I began? What good is that? How does that help me to remain healed?

I have found that my saying “yes” to God has two parts. The first is an expression of my desire. More importantly, it is permission for Him to be involved. The second aspect of “yes” is the desire to grow and change. I cannot overemphasize this enough; my life in relational-faith with Father God is a life of growth and change. That’s why I left the organized institutional church in the first place. There I found no impetus to grow. Here in relational-faith, I am loved by Him and He loves me. I want to grow out of love for Him.

No, this is not a free gift in the sense of me doing nothing to invest some of myself. I must float out of the way in yes and submission. In the midst of all of this work, I must continue to stay out of His way and keep saying, “yes.” I must do whatever it is that Father counsels me to do or invites me into. I must be proactive in this process. I must be willing to be transformed into the new, whole being that Beloved God designed me to become in the first place.

I have also discovered another fundamental aspect to this process of transformation. That is always the case. I must be willing to give up something I neither need or actually want in order to make spiritual room for what I do want. I’ve found that there is a need to let go of whatever it is that’s hurting me to make room for what it is that Father wants to give me. This too is a big part of saying “yes”.

There is a simple process of letting go that a friend of mine leads me through to help me. I’ve come to understand now that I can do this on my own in Father’s Presence. But at times, I don’t always see what is needed or how really very simple this release is, and so my friend’s help aids my focus.

What she has me to is in the Spirit. I see or visualize the thing that I am willing to release. I hold it out offering it to Father or to Jesus in both hands – palms up. I then see Him take it from me. I wait because His gift for me is then placed in my open, upturned hands.

Often I don’t know what it is that I’ve received. For me seeing in the Spirit is somewhat abstract. No matter, I almost always understand the precious power and significance of His gift to me. I know in my heart that this gift is many times more precious and more powerful than the misery that I’ve just let go of.

It’s interesting to me how all of this happens. On the one hand, God is willing and able to provide all that’s needed for my healing – spiritual and physical – but there is always something I must be willing to give up to receive what He has for me. I don’t always know what His gift will be. I am very often pleasantly surprised.

Release is the central aspect of the “yes.” I must freely let go of what it is that’s making me sick, spiritually or physically. I need to allow Father to make room within me for the new healed reality that He wants to give me – Amen.

God is not going to just zap me into becoming some new healed person so that I can just go out and destroy myself all over again. That’s not what will help me to become something new. That’s nothing more than codependency – He gives, I take, nothing changes. Nope, that’s not how love works.

Love offers the best of things, not items or objects, but things which empower us to become our true selves as God Himself designed us to become. That true self is a reflection of Him – period. That true self knows something of and lives in His Presence and His love. That true self loves to do what it is that it is designed to do and be – especially the be.

Always,

Lew Curtiss

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Just Say Yes – Part 1: Allowing God to Heal

 

Yesterday I discovered yet another area of my life where I’ve been getting in God’s way. I tend to do that sometimes. But He lovingly showed me how to stop blocking Him and just say, “yes”. I thought that I was doing well by “trying” to do what was needed, but now I realize that I was cutting God out of the mix and trying to do something on my own strength. It’s what a friend calls D-I-Y religion.

Last night I was reading Thomas Merton – New Seeds of Contemplation. Something that he said in that book struck me with revelation. He was talking about contemplation being a gift from Father. My job was simply to be fully present and to allow Him to bless me. This idea is what lead me into thinking about my need to be the “yes” for both my growth and healing. Merton further said something that lead me to grasp that my growth was my healing. They are one in the same thing. If I will simply turn toward growth, the healing happens all by itself.

I’ve come to realize that “yes” is my first and simplest expression of the powerful freewill that Father God has given me. Because He will never override or violate my freewill, this simple first expression is my permission to Him that I am willing to receive whatever He wants to bestow upon me. After that permission, it is imperative that I remain in “yes” and stay out of His way as He helps me. Lastly, a big part of my “yes” is that I want transformation. I want to change.

The other day I got a rather serious medical report from my neurologist telling me that I have problems. Some of them are in my brain. Some are my body. Most, if not all, of them are reversible, and it’s up to me to just get on with it. It’s up to me alone. This is my own choice.

Okay, back to my being the “yes”. It has to do with the idea that at times I get in God’s way when He has simply wanted to help me all along. My various doubts, challenges, and fussiness all add up to my blocking Him and not allowing Him to guide me into full health. This is the barest essence of what Merton was talking about. Many times I get in God’s way. Somehow I seem to think that it’s up to me alone to do the doing without a full submitted reliance upon Father God. Even though I know better from other ares of my life, I’ve found that I have still been doing this with regard to my physical healing.

I had to ask myself, has my health improved in the last few years? The truthful answer is no. On my own effort, nothing has changed long-term. I’ve not become the new person physically that I can and want to be. I’ve been doing all of this work on my own strength. And that’s what Merton was talking about in his writings on contemplation; it is God Himself who brings me into the relational experience, the intimacy, and the revelation through contemplation. It’s a gift pure and simple. All I need do is say, “yes” and receive – Amen.

Lew Curtiss