Can I Talk You OUT of Being On a Diet EVER AGAIN?

This is a reposting by me, Chris Welch of a reposting here by the blog author
Heidi Bylsma from God is Doing A New thing

With the New Year upon us, the dieting ads are abounding! It seemed fitting to share this post, which is a re-posting from September 6, 2011. If you are interested, come on over to my new blog where I give three reasons why I won't be making resolutions ever again and what I am doing instead!

Are you a dieter, hoping to find a blog that will offer you support and encouragement? I must apologize. I want to support YOU, but I don't have the resources to support your diet. I would love to talk you OUT of being on a diet. I would love to talk you into being FREE for the rest of your life. Not free to be overweight, but free to lose the obsession with food and dieting AND free to find your natural God-given size, all the while growing in a closer relationship to the God who created you!

I would be so blessed if you would let me talk you into ditching your diet--forever!

I bet you know how to diet with the best of them. If you are like I was in 1999, you have lost weight a bunch of times. The trick is, we just can't keep the "performance" up. It wasn't until I began to believe that my list of "good foods" and "bad foods" was NOT helping me and that I had to try a different approach that I was finally able to lose the weight for good. I lost the *thinking* that had kept me on the pendulum swing, too!

Many of us are fearful about throwing away fat-gram counters, diet books, the special foods, measuring cups and food scales. Having a meal where we don't have a death grip on our food content FREAKS US OUT! We are terrified of what the scale will say in the morning, even if we have "been good!"

I just don't believe that God intended us to live this way...in fear. Fear is not of the Lord!

He wants us to experience the provision, presence, and power of His Spirit in our lives. As we walk in dependence on Him, asking Him about our body's need and what fuel He has provided to meet that need, we come to see Him as He is...a GREAT provider! He never intended food to TORMENT us!

This is part 4 of a series of posts about how "Junk Food" is a myth. My view is there is no such thing as JUNK food. In fact, I don't believe some foods are fattening. Over-eating IS! :-) You can over-eat and get fat on ANY food.

Image Provided by Stock Xchange

If you are afraid that if you start eating burgers or fries or whatever else, you will expand to double your current size, let me share with you how this works. :-) Before I stopped focusing on the nutrition content...back when I was having to step out in faith and start eating according to my physical hunger and physical satisfaction cues without counting points, calories or whatever else, I kept a loose mental note of nutrition facts relative to my eating. I did this as a sort of "insurance" policy and also to see if this thing was really likely to "work."

Here is what I found: If I am physically hungry and slooooowly eat a more calorie-dense food, and really listen to my body as it signals physical satisfaction...well, it doesn't take much of a calorie-dense food to satisfy my hunger. This translates into fewer calories than some might think. The thing is, many of us assume that if we order a burger and fries, we will eat the entire thing! But we don't need to do that. We can eat only what our body needs and it knows that it isn't hungry after just a few bites. It may not take many bites of a calorie-rich food, but those bites are deeply satisfying! I don't end up frustrated and ready to indulge at the first discipline failure.

Dieters know that fat has more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein. So it stands to reason that things with more fat are likely to sustain me a bit longer and it is likely to take less of it to get me to a place of physical satisfaction. LESS of it. That makes a huge difference! If I eat LESS of a regular hamburger...say 1/4th of it, isn't that better than eating TWICE as much of a fake-burger? When I eat the entire fake-burger even though I am not hungry, is that really healthier? Overeating diet foods or eating smaller portions of regular foods...which keeps me healthier mentally and spiritually? Well, for me, it has been smaller portions of regular foods. In the past, eating the diet foods, just resulted in me giving in later out of frustration and eating BOTH...the "diet" food AND bingeing on the "bad foods."

With the dieting mentality, food was my god...either because I was over-eating it, consuming massive quantities out of the sheer compulsion to do so ... OR I was obsessing about counting this or that, weighing this or that and being sure I had special foods with me when going out with friends. That is a "god" there, too! I wasn't free of my idol just because I had switched from over-eating to counting everything. With both mentalities, my focus was FOOD FOOD FOOD! Not to mention the worry of losing or gaining and weighing. It drove me nuts!

When we embrace the freedom to which the Lord calls, we are free to be grateful and thankful with a humble heart and to enjoy any food. We begin to care more and more about how our bodies feel and begin to gravitate toward foods that we know intuitively make us feel better--more energetic and less bloated (for instance).

The "forbidden" foods no longer have a hold on us because they are not forbidden! We can have any food any time we are hungry and suddenly when I know I can have Chocolate Turtle Empanadas at On the Border any time I want, I don't need to have them all the time! When I order them, I don't need to overeat...I can slowly enjoy a few bites and discover that I am physically satisfied...not to mention emotionally *gratified* that I got to enjoy something so wonderful! Spiritually, I am praising GOD for the incredible tastes and textures in the food as well--AND that he has made my body so efficiently that it doesn't take much food to sustain my energy!

I can keep this approach up for the rest of my life. That is why I don't gain back the weight! This is a lifestyle change. And I continue to eat with gratitude and joy just as the Scriptures seem to indicate I should! I am not taking on a form of legalism as if it is godliness. Instead, I am learning to depend on the Lord as I seek His leading in the moment.

It just plainly takes less calorie-dense food to satisfy me than it does something that I don't want in the first place just because it has fewer calories!

What do you think? Are you willing to give it a try?

CLUELESS, YET WILLING.............by Frances N. Mygene Ashcroft

on Facebook  on Wednesday, 19 September 2012 at 17:01 ·

When I received Jesus as Lord on Feb. 2, 1982, I really had no [logical] idea of what I was doing. I had no idea of how it would literally CHANGE MY LIFE [into HIS LIFE]. Yet, when I said the "sinner's prayer" something amazing most definitely happened within my being.I repeat, in my mind, I was CLUELESS as to HOW my life as I knew it would no longer exist...I had no idea I would no longer desire to smoke pot, snort cocaine, down hash brownies, or take uppers and downers............in my mind, I was clueless to the exCHANGE [of life] that there would be.



DREAMS TO YOU....IN exCHANGE FOR YOUR WILL, YOUR LIFE, YOUR WAYS, YOUR DESIRES, YOUR HOPES AND YOUR DREAMS."
OH MY GOD, YES, GOD, YES, LORD JESUS!!! ........... GO ON, WHATEVER YOU WILL IS WHAT I NOW WILL...............this is YOUR doing, OH GOD, YOU, WHO ARE ONLY MARVELOUS, YOU, OH GOD, WHO ARE ONLY WONDERFUL, YOU OH GOD, OUR GOD, CHRIST, OUR KING OF GLORY, YOU ARE WHOLLY TRUSTWORTHY. AMEN, AND AMEN!!!

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• Annalize Mouton, Merrill Thompson, Devvi Smith and 5 others like this.
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  Dawn Sedig Hill My My My how Jesus has proved his trust over and over again to me ... yet I can still get back into the flesh and worry and be afraid .. Oh Lord forgive me you have brought me through so many situations that were impossible why would I ever think you would not do it again for me .. Dear Lord cleanse my heart oh Lord and renew a right spirit within me. I want to surrender to you will for my life , I want your ways , your desires , your hopes and your dreams... I want you to make me into the vessel to be used of you for your glory. I must admit I have to step out of my comfort zone .. and into your arms of Love knowing that you will never hurt me . That you only want what is best for me .. Help me to trust you with all my heart. Perhaps things we see around us have our focus and there difficulties seem even greater. But you are greater than anything we walk through . Lets look back and remind ourselves we come this far by faith leaning on you and you have never failed us yet and never will . Thanks Frances This is a great post I needed it .. Love you Dearie .. ♥

  15 hours ago · Like · 1
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  Devvi Smith Frances~so beautiful! His Agape Love from you, explodes, erupts and overflows His Heart with such beauty! Oh the freedom of being childlike and so willing to fly in Daddy's arms as He swings you around wildly to touch ALL our hearts! Thank you♥

  14 hours ago · Like · 2
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  Frances N. MyGene Ashcroft Devvi, while reading your comment, I COULD SEE [MYSELF, YET, NOT JUST ME, BUT ALL OF US] AS A LITTLE CHILD, BEING TWIRLED AROUND BY OUR PAPA.....YES, UNLESS WE BECOME LIKE A CHILD, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE THE WONDERFUL TRUTH OF OUR TRUSTWORTHY PAPA............

  14 hours ago · Like · 2
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  Frances N. MyGene Ashcroft Precious Dawn, NO CONDEMNATION WHATSOEVER........cause we ALL have gone from trusting HIM to looking in the natural and being afraid..........ALL OF US.........."but God" is bringing us to maturity....the paradox is this..........we are growing up to become a child..........a child of God Who in maturity trusts our PaPa as the ONE WHO IS TRUSTWORTHY..........OH THE WONDERS OF HIS KINGDOM.... [SMILE] Dawn, I want you to know I think of you often, and sense that we are knit together by HIS Spirit...."we are family"....[remember that old song? hahahaaa]

  14 hours ago · Like
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  Betty Shick His love unending, un changing, sweeter than the honeycomb, better than gold. Oh the depths of His love Frances..It a ocean of love oh the majesty, Oh the wonder of it all I love Him and He loves me.

  10 hours ago · Like · 1
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  Gary Northington What a wonderful testimony Frances. Thank You so much for sharing.

  9 hours ago · Like · 2
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  Janey Dervenis Clueless, yet willing!!!! GLORY!!! that's the best way to be in Abba Father, having our trust in Him, with the confidence of our Christ going where the Holy Spirit blows!!! Thank you Abba for Your Ways are better than our ways, and Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts!! Blessings to you sweet sister in the love of the BELOVED!!

  about an hour ago · Like

Life OR Death! by Rich Novek . (how to Defuse that Bomb)

Facebook on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 19:31

"This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you...LIFE AND DEATH, blessings and curses. NOW CHOOSE LIFE...so that you and your children may live!" (Deuteronomy 30:19)

The "MYSTERY" hidden for ages and past generations (which is Christ "IN" you) gives us the assurance He will never leave or forsake us, and that HIS LOVE is always FULL AND FREE, having no performance based conditions attached!

The preaching of the Cross is still... THE POWER OF GOD!
The Cross is not preached because we live in a day and age where we don't want to offend.

"Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case THE OFFENSE OF THE CROSS HAS BEEN ABOLISHED." (Galatians 5:11)

The message of the Cross is meant to offend! In fact it is meant to do much more than that! The message of the Cross is a message of death to all things!

Death is not fun, convenient, or does it fit well within the parameters of our comfortable Christian lives. Most preaching today is nothing more than "help yourself to get what you want." And the people of God are so hungry for anything that brings life, they have forsaken the ONLY TRUTH, and created an alternative truth.

Today, even the Bible is interpreted according to the lust of the flesh and our love for the world! The message of the CROSS! Not the message of Christian prosperity, Christian morality, or Christian behavior modification! The message of the Cross! And not the old wooden cross, the historical implement where Jesus died His death! The "Jesus Cross" that has become just another idol that we serve and worship! The cross of Christ which is accepted by all... because along with it there is no personal cost attached to it! No!

Paul's message of the Cross was much more personal, much more costly! He spoke of ...his own personal CROSS! The implement of his own DEATH! He understood the blood of Christ and it's saving power for every "whosoever" who would call on His Name! But He also realized there was a second work of the Cross having to do with his own death "IN" Christ! The second work which is the COMPLETE message of the CROSS! And neglecting this message of the Cross is where modern day Christianity loses the ONE THING, which is needed more than anything, in order to impact our society today! THE POWER OF GOD!


For the message of THE CROSS is foolishness to those who are perishing, BUT TO US who are being saved (by it)...IT IS THE POWER OF GOD! (I Corinthians 1:18)

"AS FOR myself, brethren, when I came to you, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony and evidence or mystery and secret of God [concerning what He has done through Christ for the salvation of men] in lofty words of eloquence or human philosophy and wisdom; For I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him crucified. And I was in (passed into a state of) weakness and fear (dread) and great trembling [after I had come] among you. And my language and my message were not set forth in persuasive (enticing and plausible) words of wisdom, but they were in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit and POWER BY A PROOF BY THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF GOD, operating on me and stirring in the minds of my hearers the most holy emotions and thus persuading them, SO THAT YOUR FAITH MIGHT NOT REST IN THE WISDOM OF MEN (human philosophy), BUT...IN THE POWER OF GOD! Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away. But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God ONCE HIDDEN<> BUT NOW REVEALED [from the human understanding] TO US BY GOD--[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence]."

"NONE OF THE RULERS OF THIS AGE OR WORLD PERCEIVED AND RECOGNIZED AND UNDERSTOOD THIS, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory." (I Corinthians 2:1-8, AMP)

The message of the Cross takes our life completely passed us! It's our giving God the "green light" to roll in death on everything we have placed our trust in! Because like Paul, we know nothing else can open to us the thing we desire most, which is SEEING HIS LIFE AT WORK "IN" US!

We are so conditioned to living according to the world and the worlds system, and loving the world and the things of the world, that God has to deal with us severely in order for us to SEE AS HE SEES!



"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for THE SPIRIT AND GLORY OF GOD RESTS ON YOU. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that Name."

"FOR IT IS TIME FOR JUDGEMENT TO BEGIN WITH GOD"S HOUSEHOLD;

and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the (TRUE) GOSPEL of God? And, “if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” ( I Peter 4:12-18)

Give God permission to just touch what is at the center of your life! Let Him touch your position of power or influence, relationships, means of income, or material possesions...and you will immediately see where your TRUE hope and trust lie!

"What is more, I consider EVERYTHING as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ!" (Philippians 3:8)

The Cross sets us free from all of the "shifting shadows" we falsely place our hope and trust in.

Like Job, we also have to come to that wonderful place...OF LOSING ALL WE SEE, SO THAT...WE CAN SEE GOD ONLY IN ALL THAT WE HAVE!

Then Job answered the LORD:

“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.” (Job 40:3-5)


THEN THE LORD SPOKE TO JOB... OUT OF THE STORM: (Job 40:6)

The storms of life reveal to us a God who truly loves us without condition. Most believe in a God who looks more like a child abuser than a loving Father! If you step out of line, look out! I have learned through embracing the Cross He is ALL LOVE ALL OF THE TIME! Everything He does IS ALWAYS "OTHER LOVE" FOCUSED! In fact, He could never do anything except for OTHERS, or He wouldn't be the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world!



The story of The Prodigal Son is a perfect example of the average believers perception of God. The younger son took all he had and spent it. A symbol of the believer who thinks only of himself and what God can do for him. The older son represents the believer steeped in the "do gospel" of trying to please God. The younger son was deliberately brought to the place of having NOTHING! And it was at this place of having nothing or nowhere to turn, when he was at his end, that he heard the voice of THE SPIRIT! "Perhaps I will go home and be one of my Father's hired servants." So he went home, all the while thinking, "what is my Father going to do to me?" The older son on the other hand, was enraged! "How could you do this for him? What has HE EVER DONE FOR YOU? You never gave me............"

Neither son had a right perception of their Father! Unfortunately, this is also where most believers live their lives!


The "dead letter" preaching of the "do gospel" that goes on today still has all of the condemning... shoulda, woulda, and coulda's attached to it!


In fact, there is the difference! The performance based "DO GOSPEL"... is an it! It is lifeless! The "TRUE Gospel" that brings LIFE...is a PERSON! HE IS LIFE!

Jesus said to the woman, where are those who condemn you? NEITHER DO I, so go on your way in FREEDOM! Just don't continue doing the things that cause you to see more than me! This isn't a story about doctrine concerning sin, but a further revelation of our FREEDOM "IN" HIM!

Romans 8:1 combined with Galatians 5:1 says it all......No condemnation! Set free from the law of sin and death! It's for freedom He made us FREE!


Our own journey is His journey "IN" US! And He wants us to know that we are FREE , no matter in what stage we see ourselves! In infancy, adolescence, or adulthood... our only foundation is CHRIST! So wherever we are we can be at REST, knowing He has taken up our cause...AS HIS CAUSE!

He who began a GOOD WORK, (it is a good work) is faithful (even when we are not) to complete what He has started!

The following liitle known and never taught (at least I have never heard a teaching on it) passage has changed my life!

Paul is saying no matter where you are in life you will not be abandoned, God knows ALL and is working "IN" ALL! So just live your life and do the next thing! Don't get hung up on trying to change things, just surrender and let Him bring the needed change! THIS IS OUR FREEDOM "IN" HIM!

"All of us WHO ARE MATURE...should take such a view of things, AND IF ON SOME POINT...you think differently, that too God WILL MAKE CLEAR. ONLY LET US LIVE UP TO WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED?" (Philippians 3:15-16)

Everything else is just dead letter Christian LAW! "If you do, you will be!"

The exact same lie that was told to Adam and Eve in the garden, we SEE today as Christian doctrine the church can't live without! "If you do, you will be... like God!" But today, it is the same lie, with just a slight different spin! Now it's, "if you do this, you will be... like Christ!"

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and...YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)

Instead of SEEING ONLY GOD IN ALL THINGS, you will now see two, and in seeing two, good AND evil, you open the door for confusion! Thank you very much humanity! Along with confusion... duality and division, separation and strife... are NOW YOUR NEW GODS!

Christlike-ness is SIN!

Only ONE can live the Christian Life, ONLY ONE Can be "like Christ!" ONLY... Christ Himself!

God says, "if you enter into the REST I have prepared for you from the foundation of the world, my Spirit who lives "IN" you, and is teaching you ALL THINGS concerning me... will do ALL OF THE WORK "IN" and through you!



We NOW see the activity of our life, ALL OF IT... as being ONLY God's activity "IN" US! This is not entering into some kind of a catatonic spiritual sleep, the place most believers are living today!



It's where we are finally released from the "do gospel" (which is no gospel at all) which produces only death, and finally enter into the revelation of ...HIS LIFE "IN" US AND AS US!



LikeUnlike · Comment · ShareMaryann Partridge, Tess Oliver, Betty Lorine Schwabedissen and 9 others like this.
Elaine Kelly Beautiful !!!! Where can I find more believers living like this ? : - )
Monday at 18:31 · LikeUnlike · 2 people
Betty Lorine Schwabedissen and Cindi Estep like this.Jean Meppen Excellent! Always a blessing to hear the truth! ♥
Monday at 18:58 · LikeUnlike · 1 person
Loading...Mikkel Thomsen Once again thanks Rich for wonderful writings.
Monday at 19:02 · LikeUnlike · 1 person
Loading...Dan Powers Wonderful word Rick as always.
Monday at 19:30 · LikeUnlike · 1 person
Loading...Cindi Estep Just come through ONE of those fiery ordeals.....;-) Thanks Rich!! SONtastic as always♥
Monday at 20:44 · LikeUnlike · 2 people
Loading...Mary-Ann Urosev Very thought-provoking note ... good job on writing this Rich ... thank you for the tag .. :O)!
Monday at 23:32 · LikeUnlike · 1 person
Loading...Betty Lorine Schwabedissen What can I say that all the others above haven't already said..Just that I am so "IN Tune" with all that you share with us of the message of CHRIST IN US as He is the ONLY ONE sho can do the work as we let Him be Himself living "IN US"! Hallelujah! \O/
Yesterday at 00:30 · LikeUnlike · 1 person
Loading...Mary Stubbert Amen! Thank you dear brother Rich - I'm finally starting to "see as He sees"' and I'm so blessed to have you as a friend and your insight - I've been reading The Message Bible and it's been bringing God's Word new life to me in Christ - it ...so exciting!
I love how The Message Bible words it in Hebrews 4:
...God keeps renewing the promise (of rest) and setting the date as today...
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4&version=MSGSee more
Yesterday at 03:56 · LikeUnlikeLinda Verhoff Yes! THIS is the gospel! The message of the cross IS the power of God unto righteousness. Life out of death, HIS life out of our death IN Him -- what a beautiful redemption. This is the message that forever changed me, as He exchanged my dead spirit for His living one, and began to live His life through me according to His good will and pleasure. What a Savior! What a God! There is none like Jesus, the altogether lovely Lamb of God.
Yesterday at 04:06 · LikeUnlikeGarry Young Jesus Christ and Him crucified! The testimony of Christ in us says, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who lov...ed me and gave Himself for me.
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” Amen and amenSee more
Yesterday at 04:36 · LikeUnlikeKim Flink Bro Rich, there is once again so much richness you have written here, I'm savoring it, many of my favorite passages you touched on. Very well done my friend! ♥
15 hours ago · LikeUnlikeBilly Warren John 6:48
I am the bread of life
14 hours ago · LikeUnlikeJune Melanson I sit here amazed and blessed as I read your article Rich.....seeing God speaking and moving in your situation....in your storm, and at the same time teaching and giving hope to His Body in the declaration of His love for them, even in the ...midst of our trials and difficulties.
God IS love, and ALL that He does or allows in our lives begins with that wonderful attribute at work. In that reality comes such comfort and hope.
And I gotta use your wonderful quote...."Our own journey is His journey "IN" US!" Awesome!See more
11 hours ago · LikeUnlikeMaryann Partridge Thank YOU RIch, Can't tell you haow much your notes help me on this road. Often, I will be asking the Lord something and might not read your note right away but asking Him the anwer appears in your note. I am blessed by your insight and the... Holy Spirit in me confirms this word NOW. I have a copy of your REST ote that I have been reading over and over. God Is speaking volumes to me through it and others. Can I bless you in any way friend? You ARE a blesisng. How are the things at home going? any turn around on the negative situations oyu were facing. I pray for you. And hurt for you and your family. But still I see such amazing growth through these difficult circumstances. I SEE THIS HAS BEEN THE WAY FOR MOST IF NOT ALL OF GOD'S CHILDREN.See more
about an hour ago · LikeUnlikeMark Douglas Vilen Very good message, Rich!
22 minutes ago · LikeUnlike

Dan Bowen's excellent Blogpost of Rob Rufus message

The original is here

Monday, April 05, 2010
Imperfect Faith Can STILL Bring You Face to Face with Jesus - Part 2

Just before Easter I posted the first half of this sermon of Rob Rufus's - he preached it in November last year in Hong Kong. The fact is that we are indeed facing a war. And I am increasingly convinced that the war is NOT to give into lust or anger or other "sins". I am increasingly convinced that the war is to give into bitterness and disappointment against God - and ultimately to lose our faith in a loving and gracious and passionate God. The devil simply uses those temptations - because he knows that if we as Christians do fall in those areas, we will most likely think that God is angry or disappointed with us. And then his job is accomplished.

But if we can hold on resolutely to the finished glorious work of the Cross - that when God promises; "He is no longer holding our sins against us" - that He means it, then I suspect that the devil has lost probably his only weapon. Why are we as Christians so determined to believe that God is constantly angry or unhappy with us?

Here is Part 2 of the sermon;

"Quickly go to Romans chapter 3:3-4. “Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true and every man a liar”. What is so important today is that we need to see there is a difference between facts and truth.

So many people in the church are believers in theory. But the reality is that the administration of their life is closer to a practical atheist. There is very little in these Christians lives that you have to say they are solving problems through faith. They are solving their problems by “what is” and are dealing with “what is” by “what is”. So they are multiplying their problems.

This creates so much controversy and pain and I wanted to deal with this so sensitively and I just don’t have the time. Let me say I am dealing with this from a sensitive heart.

The fact is that you may have sickness in your body. The truth is that by His stripes - you WERE healed. The fact is you may be in financial debt - the truth is that at the Cross He has ALREADY redeemed you from the curse of poverty that the prosperity of Abraham may come upon you. The fact is that you may have sinned and done something seriously wrong - you may have failed God - that is the fact. The truth is you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

There is coming a defining and dividing dispensation in our time of the people of God who chose to be wrapped up in the facts or be wrapped up in the truth. If you focus on the facts then you will chose the things that are to nullify the things that are. But if you focus on the truth then you will chose the things that are not to nullify the things that are. You will seek the covering presence of the cherubims and the glory to get into the Presence of the God who calls things that be not as though they were.


I want you to look in John chapter 8 very quickly. Any fact that does not line up with the truth of God’s Word is a fact waiting to be nullified by the things that are not. I want you to look quickly at John chapter 8. I want to show you that Jesus constantly spoke about the two worlds - the superior world of heaven and the world that is from below that is temporarily corrupted by satanic deception. Satan has a system of politics, economics and education of doing things and God has a heavenly system of doing things and He says - let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we begin to get into the world’s system, we begin to try to deal with problems of what is - by dealing with what is.

Jesus says here - in John chapter 8 and verse 23; “I am from above, I am not of this world”. If you go to verse 28, Jesus said; “I am the One I claim to be … but speak what the Father has taught Me … He has not left Me alone”. That is the key theme of what I want to talk about in the coming weeks. He has not left me alone. “The truth will set you free”. What will the truth set you free from? It will set you free from the facts. Are you wrapped up in the truth of God’s Word or are you wrapped up in the facts? Now we are not to deny the facts - we have to face the facts and recognise that they are there. But we are then to look on the things that are unseen and get wrapped up in the truth.

It is not a waste of time to be lying on the floor soaking under the manifest glory of God - it is not a waste of time to go into the secret place and let God love you and manifest His glory over you and saturate you so every cell in your body is vibrating with eternal life, divine virtue and divine quickening of your mortal body so that God can then do the things that are impossible to do.

I wonder has God really called us to have faith for miracles? Or has He called us to have faith to surrender our whole life to come under His hovering Presence? Because when you want to have faith for miracles, it puts all the pressure on you to have faith. If all you are saying is; “God I know I can have faith for Your manifest Presence” - then the God who does miracles does the miracle.

I can’t do the miracle and neither can you. What do we need to have faith for? His hovering Presence. God has to come out of the invisible and manifest tangibly. No miracle can happen unless the Presence of God manifests tangibly in reality so that your very physical body can feel His Presence. Go to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32 is God’s announcement of the superiority of the New Covenant. Most of you have heard me read this and quote it but I want to read it again. Verse 40. We no longer earn or deserve the blessing, Jesus Christ earned the blessings on our behalf and redeemed us from the curse of the law that the blessings may come on our lives through faith and faith alone. So Jeremiah 32:40 says; “I will never stop doing good to them”. How long is never? Does never ever run out? “I will rejoice …”. The Hebrew word means; “To turn and twist with deep emotions of ecstasy and joy in doing us good”. V41 again.

Let me put these two verses together - then the will of God is to NEVER stop doing you good! 24/7 every second He wants to do you good! How does He do us good? With rejoicing! So if He never wants to stop doing you good then it means that He never wants to stop dancing with deep emotions and twists and turns and ecstasy in doing you good. The greatest fun God gets - is doing you good!

Why do so few Christians feel a consciousness that the Creator is not remote and a distant deity but He is a very engaged Being that is literally dancing over me and you with ecstasy and deep feelings of wanting to do us good and never will stop doing us good? How come that is not reflected in the life of the church?




I think it was when Jesus said - your traditions have nullified the Word of God. I don’t think people believe this. I don’t think people have the faith to surrender to the covering Presence of the God that calls the things that be not as though they were. I think people have got caught up in rituals and religion and ceremonies. Religious principles and protocol - but have we got caught up in revelation and eternal intuition and insight into this God dancing over you all the time? We have been told that when God manifests over us it is a sovereign initiative and there is nothing you can do about it and He will just come. Now the gifts of the Spirit operate as the Spirit wills but I am not talking about the gifts here today. Jeremiah 32 is not God talking about the gifts - it is God talking about Himself dancing over you all the time!

Some of you have heard my account of when I went to Brighton two years ago and I was invited to be the main speaker at a conference for about 5000 leaders. The weekend before the conference Terry Virgo invited me to come to the church he is based at that he has planted - it is quite a large church - and minister Sunday morning and Sunday night. So I preached Sunday morning and came back Sunday night and it was packed out. People had come from all over and they had brought lots of sick people and I preached again in the evening but realised I had to pace myself because I had to preach seven times in the week to thousands of people. At the end of the evening service I thought I had to get out of the door and then saw this long queue lining up and the first one had crippled hips and I just knew that it was not going to happen. I couldn’t do it. Someone said “Will you come over?” and as I am walking over I suddenly felt over my physical body, my head and everywhere the dancing God. He was wanting to rejoice over doing me good and anyone that got into my radius.

Any time you watch a DVD of an evangelist or a preacher and see someone bringing them out of the wheelchair with boldness and no lack of confidence - anytime you see that, don’t think that is their natural temperament. They are under something. I am tired of ministering to broken lives if I am not under something. It is just flesh and religion. “Come out in Jesus Name!”. “I am not coming out”.

As I got closer I could just feel the intensifying dancing of a God who just wanted to do me good and anyone around me - this God of perfect love. I walked up to the first lady and I said; “Lady what do you need?”. That’s all I did. I didn’t put my hands on her or pray and I felt this all around me. She started to describe her symptoms and about 30 seconds into her describing the symptoms (I had said nothing -
just fixed my eyes on her) she started shaking. I hadn’t prayed for her, hadn’t said “In the Name of Jesus” or put my hands on her and she started shaking and vibrating and then she falls over! I just was standing there listening to the symptoms. A minute or two later she got up and her hips were totally straight. I said “Next!”. 20 people - about 8 out of 10 - the exact same thing happened. I never prayed for them - it was effortless! I didn’t have to speak! While giving me their symptoms they were healed!


I think that is closer to the Jesus ministry than what I see. Mark chapter 1 He walked into the temple and a demonised man started screaming. “Aaagh why have You come before our time?”. He hadn’t preached yet! Shut up - and come out. They marvelled at His authority.

In Eastbourne in southern England quite recently I went to speak at a conference there with Glenda and Millie was there. On the last night I was tired. The pastor came and in the large hall there was a bunch of people there who had the worst crippling conditions I had seen. I know if you are trying to get cripples healed and that thing is not over you - it is shocking. You are trying to pretend you know what you are doing but you don’t have a hope of getting them healed! You can go through the religious formulas and pretend something has happened but everyone with the know-how knows that nothing is happening. It is almost disgusting and discrediting the real ministry of Jesus!


So I walk over there and as I get closer the dancing God comes over me. Suddenly I am not Clarke Kent - I am now Superman. But it is not me! As I am walking it is getting stronger and stronger and I see this woman who is crippled and as I get closer and closer the demons start screaming; “Aaagh leave us! Leave us!”. Literally! And they are out. They are gone. She topples over and gets up healed. Everyone I step towards are healed. Many of you saw the DVD I brought back of dozens of people. One lady was so crippled she couldn’t pick up her child - and her husband had to leave his career to look after her children full time. She went down under the power and the next morning she came dancing into church.

How many of you think this is the love of God - how many of you think it is shocking and disgusting that we do not see more of these things?


Because of the traditions of men! Let me tell you honestly and vulnerably - I have been doing this for 30 years. I want to tell you what I have just described today has only happened to me maybe about 100 times. I have daily anointing! I am not talking about anointing here or the gifts of the Spirit but God coming. Actually He is not coming - He is always there. But why isn’t He always manifested? He said I will never stop doing you good - I will rejoice and dwell to do you good! If I can come under the dancing God all the time then maybe you and me can start approximating the promise of John 14:12; “Anyone who believes in Me .. And even greater works”. Acts 10:38 said that God anointed Jesus with power and He went about doing good and healing ALL. If Jesus could go about any time of day, any second if anyone touched Him in the crowd, anyone that asked for healing, He could give healing on the spot!

I suspect that Jesus walked under the glory Presence of the Father all the time! The religious world has told me that any time He comes and does that it is just a sovereign mood of God. I think you and I have got something to do. I am now convinced that the will of the Father by the witness of the Spirit in my heart - the inheritance of every person that says Jesus is my Lord are meant to walk for most of our time under the manifest Presence.

I have said before that you wouldn’t be able to get to sleep it is so powerful. If you have never experienced this I wish I could put it on you today because you can never describe it - you don’t know what it is like to walk up to crippled people without that and know the fear that comes over you. The terror of knowing you are going to disappoint them. You have no idea what that is like if you havent done it. Neither do you have any idea what it is like when you are moving towards them and He comes over you - there is NO fear just utter, reckless boldness! You just know that nothing can get in the way, just an invincible sense of God over you.


People have watched people with that power over them and when they don’t have that power have tried to copy as a formula and have tried to pull people out of wheelchairs and then they just fall on the ground. When you are under that power you do things that you would never do. You are not copying. You are not mimicking someone else under the power - just because God is on you! Maybe it will lift slightly in intensity every now and again so you can relax a bit but I believe it should be there on call so quick! Imagine how your mortal body would be renewed in your youth with resurrection life. The grey hair turned dark again! Cellular regeneration! Rob how do you live in that all the time? You want to know? There are people who lecture in Harvard on how to run a business who have never run a business. You have theology professors teaching on the gifts of the Spirit in seminaries who have never moved in the gifts of the Spirit.


You cannot give away what you don’t have.


I don’t want people giving me information on the Kingdom - I am sick and tired of Bible information. I know the Bible pretty much well from back to front - but my biggest need right now is to learn from someone who has got the goods. It is a sign of hunger that you say you want to know - but to tell you the truth, I don’t really know. I have never met a person who does know. Except One. This is what I suspect He is whispering to me (and I am just giving you my suspicion). Two words; “Total surrender to the Holy Spirit”. Not less of me and more of you. NONE of me and ALL of you! Every part of my life, everything that I am - whatever you want me to do and give up - everything I surrender. I want to be branded by your jealous love and possessed by your jealous love. Rob how do you surrender?


How do you come to that place of surrender? I don’t know but this is what I suspect - you have to become so disillusioned with your failures to get the sick healed and so horrified at the lack of knowledge of the revelation of God chosing the things that be not to nullify the things that are and so horrified with your failure. You have to come to the end of your reputation in the eyes of men and so utterly embarrassed. I think you have to go through pain and try to get the sick healed and misunderstood and accused by those who didn’t get healed that it was your fault and you are a failure. And live with the rejection and misunderstanding. You have to live with the agony and lay on your face at night and say I am a failure in so many areas of supernatural ministry.


Dear Jesus all I have left is my love for You and if you can take that and take something that is not and nullify the things that are then I offer my body and soul and spirit as a living sacrifice that something I have only seen 100 times will become something that happens all the time. That the millions in Hong Kong do not need to be deprived of a church that has fully surrendered. I know not everyone wants to surrender like that. The vast majority of Christians are more caught up in the things that are and more caught up in their careers.

I can't describe to people the pain and rejection I have walked through in the last few months - the rejection involving thousands of people, people we have known for 25 years, the lies and cold shoulders. That could make you paranoid and reactionary and bitter or it can backfire on the devil and precipitate in you a face on the ground, a laid down lover that surrenders all. I live with eternity with nothing and surrender. We have to be emptied of every fleshly delusional arrogance and pride and all controversy against God and come to trust Him. When you sin and make mistakes and lose your temper, you look to God who chooses the things that are not to nullify the things that are. His grace to me is abounding - He will never reject me or disapprove of me - He is for me! What can be against me? He so sees you as precious that He doesn’t want you to have any idols or distractions - He wants you because you are such a jewel and precious. He wants you completely! And we don’t!


We think we have surrendered all but we have had hostility and defences and complaints and pride and self-promotion against Him! But pain takes that away. It either makes you bitter or makes you better. Every time Satan comes, he comes to make you bitter. If you chose to use the things that are to make the things that are then you are going to get bitter. But if you get revelation to use the things that are not and get into the Presence of the Living God who uses the things that be not as though they are then this good God will manifest His dancing over you. And when you walk through a place that place will be benefited because you were there. People in your radius will feel the unseen world touching you.

Close your eyes - He is here now.


Kathryn Kuhlman used to say “God isn’t looking for golden vessels or silver vessels - but yielded vessels”.