The Holy Spirit and Power by Janet Denton

DEAR PASTORS AND LEADERS,

IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT THE LATEST CHRISTIAN LINGO ARE THE FOLLOWING; AUTHENTIC, REAL, UNITY, COMMUNITY, RELATIONSHIP, PASSIONATE ABOUT PEOPLE, GENUINE FAITH, PURPOSEFUL RELATIONSHIPS, PRACTICAL EVANGELISM, EXPERIENCE GOD, AND DISCOVER FAITH TO NAME A FEW.

THESE ARE ALL WELL AND GOOD, SOUND BECAUSE THEY (CHURCHES) SAY THEY WANT TO BE LIKE THE FIRST CHURCHES IN THE BOOK OF ACTS THAN WE MUST GO TO THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE BOOK OF ACTS AND START WHERE THEY STARTED,...."BUT YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THAT THE HOLY GHOST IS COME UPON YOU: AND YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME BOTH IN JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDEA, AND IN SAMARIA, AND UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH."

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT JESUS SAID TO THE APOSTLES IS TO WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT AND POWER!

PRAYER CAME NEXT "WITH ONE ACCORD AND SUPPLICATION" WHAT WAS THE "ONE ACCORD" THEY WERE IN? THE POWER THAT JESUS SPOKE OF AND SUPPLICATION FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COME. THE HOLY SPIRIT WOULD COME UPON THEM AND ENABLE THEM TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE.
BUT THERE HAS NOT BEEN ONE CHURCH OR FELLOWSHIP THAT I HAVE BEEN TO THAT HAS EVEN MENTIONED THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT LET ALONE THE ABILITY TO BE WITNESSES BOTH HERE AND FAR, WHY?

THE EYES ARE NOT ON JESUS, THE SEEKING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, HIS PRESENCE AND THE POWER AND DEMONSTRATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH THE EVIDENCE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES!

INSTEAD IT IS UPON THE "FEEL GOOD," "I UNDERSTAND YOU PAIN" ATTITUDE (WELL MEANING) VICTIMS COMING TOGETHER TO BOND TOGETHER SO TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT THROUGH.

Janet Denton

THIS LATEST CHRISTIAN LINGO SOUNDS GOOD BUT WHERE IS THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO HEAL, SET FREE AND LEARN TO LIVE FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH?

ALL THE "REAL," "AUTHENTIC," RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IS SOUNDS SWEET AND WELL MEANING BUT IT IS NOT GOING TO GET ANYONE HEALED, SET FREE AND CATAPULTED INTO THEIR "NEW NATURE" IN CHRIST. I PROMISE YOU, I HAVE SEEN THIS HAPPEN IN CHURCHES FROM THE NORTHWEST ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE TO LAS VEGAS, IT LOOKS GOOD, THE P&W IS LOUD, THE HUMOROUS STORIES GET A GIGGLE, THEY TAKE 10-15 MINUTES JUST TO CONVINCE THE FOLKS WHY THEY SHOULD GIVE, IT IS USUALLY CASUAL AND COMFORTABLE BUT WHERE IS THE "FIRE" OF THE HOLY GHOST?!

YES, MEETING IN SMALLER GROUPS IS GOING TO MORE PEOPLE TO BECOME MORE FAMILIAR WITH EACH OTHER, BUT WHERE IS THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT? "BORING!"

INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT AS SOON AS THEY WERE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT THEY BEGAN SPEAKING IN OTHER TONGUES (LANGUAGES) SO ALL COULD UNDERSTAND "THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF GOD."

YOU SEE IT WAS NOT ABOUT "RELATIONSHIP BUILDING" OR BEING "REAL," "AUTHENTIC," "GENUINE," "PURPOSEFUL," OR "EXPERIENCE" BUT IT WAS ABOUT "P R O C L A I M I N G !" THE WORKS OF GOD/JESUS THAT HAS SET US FREE FROM SIN, SICKNESS, DISEASE AND POVERTY WITH SIGNS AND WONDERS FOLLOWING.

SHORTLY THERE AFTER IT WAS COMMANDED TO THEM TO "REPENT" (CHANGE YOUR WAY OF THINKING AND BEING, SEPARATE YOURSELVES TO GOD), AND BE BAPTIZED EVERYONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST." 3,000 WERE ADDED TO THEIR NUMBERS IN ONE DAY! NO WONDER THE FIRST CHURCH GREW SO FAST, IT WAS ALIVE WITH POWER AND DEMONSTRATION, IT WAS FULL OF FIRE AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD!

DOES YOUR HEART ACHE FOR THIS TOO? MINE DOES AND NO SWEET, WELL INTENTIONED MEETINGS AND HOUSE GATHERINGS BENT ON RELATIONSHIPS IS GOING TO START THAT "FIRE" THAT THE WORLD NEEDS TODAY.

SEPARATE YOURSELVES UNTO GOD, SEEK THE HOLY SPIRIT UNTIL YOU ARE BURNING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE FOR JESUS!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH OF SWEET, WELL MEANING PROGRAMS, FEEDINGS AND CHURCH BUILDING BUT WHAT GOOD IS IT IF IT AIN'T GOT THAT "FIRE" OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?

Janet Denton

LWWW6 - Avoiding the Sin Trap by Page Prewitt

Life ~ The Who The What The Why 1

[Part 12] Avoiding the Sin Trap
The course of action I must take to avoid this Satan trap is very simple but not easy to do, because it takes my giving up my idea of the situation and saying that I am wrong. Next, I stop saying all the negative things to myself that I have been saying, and instead I say the truth about myself–and that is, “If I am Jesus Christ in my particular form and He is my operator, then what I am thinking and believing about my inability to organize and write down my thoughts cannot be true.”
What I am thinking and believing may be the way things appear to my human senses, but they are merely appearances, and we are admonished in Scripture not to judge by appearances (John 7:24). I must look through appearances to what is true in the realm of spirit. This is how Jesus lived. He saw past the outer human need to His Father, the total supply, though invisible to the human eye, right in the midst of the negative circumstance.
Next, I begin to say by faith (none of it will be fact at this stage) what I know to be real in the realm of the Spirit. The truth is that Jesus Christ through me can write anything that He wants to write as long as He is the one in control of my life.  

I must look through appearances 

to what is true 

in the realm of spirit.  

As we discussed earlier, Christ regains His rightful place as Lord (Boss) of my life when I confess my sin of unbelief and then affirm and stand in the truth: that Jesus Christ, who is my spirit operator, can and will do it through me. My responsibility is to trust Him to do so and not give up, but to continue on writing.


[Part 13] What To Do About the Turmoil of Feelings
To go over this one last time in hopes that this further discussion will help you become very quick in dealing with your thoughts and feelings, here is an example that I hope will help you.
We say that we are shy or fearful or smart or ugly (use your own example). Let's pick “shy” and write it out: “I am a shy person. I have all the traits that portray someone who is shy. I have always been this way. I have been told I was shy since I was a small child.” All this is true on the body-soul level, and Satan has been free to live out shyness because my wrong believing about myself has given him the freedom to do so. But (and it is a big but) the truth is that I know that my operator is Jesus Christ and the shy label that I have put on myself is a lie.
The truth is that Christ is not shy. If He is sometimes quiet in me, that is His business. I am wrong to call myself shy because of His quietness. At the same time, I may be feeling shy, but you now know that is just a soul feeling and it has no reality on the Spirit level. I speak the truth when I say, “I am feeling shy, or afraid, lonely, or superior, or smarter, but these are all feelings and they are not who and what Jesus Christ, who is my operator, is.” We must not think we are off-course when the feelings continue, which in all likelihood they will. We simply focus on who we are and pay as little attention to our feelings as possible.
It is crucial that we understand that sin never begins with a deed; consequently, our root problem is never our deeds. Deeds are merely the symptoms of a deeper hidden problem. But Satan has done an excellent job of tricking us and keeping us from getting to the root of sin. Because of his deception, we always concentrate on the symptom. This keeps our attention off the source of sin, which is believing Satan's lie that I am just me and that I can and do operate independently of God.

[Part 14] Not I, But Christ
I am now finished with this booklet, but the task of writing it never became easy. I sat at the computer, trusted Christ within me putting myself at the disposal of the Holy Spirit, and simply recorded truth as He brought it to my mind. The task continued to feel impossible, but I ignored my feelings (soul) and no matter how impossible the task felt, I doggedly reminded myself of the truth - Christ is perfectly capable of getting the writing done that He wants to get done. My responsibility is to remain faithful and available to Him to use to accomplish the task.