One of the things you asked is whether you’re doing something long enough, or if you should spend more time on it. But it’s not really about the length of time—it’s about the focus of your intention. It’s your intention that activates something. Your desire directs that intention, and your intention focuses on what you’re seeking—whether that’s DNA cleansing or something else. When you engage in communion, when you live from that place of communion, it’s not so much how long you stay focused, but the strength and clarity of your intention and desire in that moment that makes the difference.
Essentially, what you’re doing is choosing a reality. You’re choosing the reality that your desire and intention are working together to bring about. And if you then live in a state of rest—living in the reality that you’ve already received what you’ve intended—then you begin to align with what was always in God’s heart for you. His heart has always been for everything to be as it should be. His desire flows from what was, into what is, and shapes what will be. So you live in the presence of your future. Your desire draws you there, and staying focused on that future in the present means you are living loved, loving living, and living loving. You’re enjoying the process, resting in the reality of your intention. It may not have fully manifested yet, but you’re already living in it.
Jesus said about prayer, “believe you have received, and you will receive.” This operates on the same principle. You’re focusing your attention, you’re directing your desire, and you’re choosing to live in that reality now. That present moment, infused with intention, is what creates the future—because it flows from the eternal heart of God. ‘What was’ is not just something that happened a long time ago: ‘what was’ is the ‘eternal now’. And when you allow that to manifest in your life—when you bring that into your present through focus and intention—your future begins to show up in the now.
And ultimately, when you live in rest—not striving, not chasing, not driven by fear or anxiety—you can maintain that state of peace no matter what’s happening around you. Whatever the circumstances, you’re grounded. You’re steady. You’re not swayed. You’re always encouraged, always encouraging others, because you’ve learned to stay in a place of rest. From that place, you can focus your intention, knowing that what you’re aligning with is the very heart of the Father. You’re simply cooperating with His desire for you—to live in the fullness of righteousness, to experience the vast sum of His thoughts towards you, which are always good and always rooted in unconditional love.
As you live that way, the full manifestation of it will come. But even before it does, you’re already living in the reality of it. You’re enjoying it now. That means you’re not focused on what you don’t yet have. You’re not living from a place of lack. Instead, your thoughts and desires are shaped by what is already true in the eternal, and that becomes your experience. In that way, manifestation is simply the natural outflow of the rest you live in, in the present.
Please like, comment, share and subscribe – it helps us, helps you, and helps others to see our posts!
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
Going in to meet the person of God—that is an experience beyond any other I’ve ever had. I could never have entered into that in the state I was in, but God began to change me, prepare me, in all those things in the soaking room, so I could get to that place where I was able to meet Him face to face. Now, I’d met God in many different ways, but there’s a difference between engaging the presence of God and engaging the person of God.
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a process that produces transformation. Not only do things get removed, but things also get changed, added, to enable us to go into deeper levels of intimacy. So we have the ability to live in multi-dimensional realms, in the fullness of our eternal nature and identity.
An example in nature of metamorphosis is the transformation of a tadpole into a frog. It hatches from spawn and begins life restricted to water, breathing through gills—but that’s not God’s intention for it, that’s just the beginning. The tadpole eventually loses its gills and tail, develops legs and a new respiratory system, so as a frog it can be free from restrictions and live in both water and on land. A butterfly goes through a similar process—starting as a caterpillar, restricted to crawling on the earth, but changing through the chrysalis into something that is free to fly.
These are symbolic of the change and transformation that’s needed. We also go through a similar transformation that removes, adds, and restores abilities.
Many times in the Bible, you’ll find characters placed in a place of restriction to prepare them for their destiny. Now, sometimes people really struggle with that. They find it really difficult—to be restricted. They think God is putting that restriction on them in a negative way. But it is a positive thing when God places us in a position that brings about the change and transformation needed in our lives.
Some examples of that—Jacob under Laban, where he was looking to receive his wife, and there were all these conditions put on him, and tricks and everything else, but it produced character in him. Moses in the wilderness—he was called, but lived in the wilderness until he was able to take his position, after he had matured. David in Adullam’s cave—called for the kingdom, but in this place with a group of misfits, and God used that. Jeremiah was in anguish of soul, but came out into a place of fulfilling his destiny.
And then Joseph and Esther—they were also prepared. Joseph was prepared in the pit—his brothers threw him into the pit. How difficult must that have been? Then in slavery, in stewardship, and in prison—the prison of obscurity—until the time was right when his dreams and destiny would be fulfilled. Joseph, in his father’s house, was never going to fulfil his destiny. It was Joseph who’d gone through the process of change and transformation, who grew, who matured, who would end up in leadership in Egypt—in a way beyond what we’d have thought possible. But God prepared him, took him through seeming injustice and different situations that so challenged him—and yet he remained humble through those situations.
Esther went through 12 months of preparation before she could come before the king. That was so difficult. I’ve engaged Esther in the spirit—I’ve engaged her in the cloud of witnesses. I asked her, “What was it like?” And she said, “I didn’t want to be prepared to go and see the king.” That was not something a young Jewish girl would ever have wanted—to be a concubine of a king, a foreign king. But God had a purpose for Esther that would bring about the salvation of her people.
So it’s really important we don’t just look at the external circumstances of our life and think, “This is terrible. How can I get out of this?” We need to understand that sometimes, places of restriction are the places of greatest transformation.
For our soul to be prepared, there needs to be an identification of the things in our lives that are hindrances—coping mechanisms, defence mechanisms, trauma—and all of that leads us to a place of surrender. We surrender our independence. We learn to trust the Father for our provision, protection and direction in life. We’re no longer going to do it by the DIY tree path.
This video and blog post are taken from Mike’s current teaching series, Restoring First Love. Get the full-length videos every month, ad-free and with many extras, only at eg.freedomarc.org/first-love
Realign with our divine origin
Our spirits, souls and bodies realign with our divine origin—get realigned and brought into union and oneness with each other and with God. The identification of our false identity and any works- or performance-based orientation gives us the opportunity to find our true origin and redemptive gifts.
There’s preparation for glorious sonship in restored First Love, and creation is longing and waiting for the revealing of the sons of God—for the revealing of our true nature and how that can bring freedom to the whole of creation.
So the soaking room experiences began to engage my body, they began to engage my soul, to prepare my body to radiate glory and my soul to operate in light. This soaking begins to realign the frequencies of our being, to restore resonance with God, with our true identity—harmony and balance to our whole being.
We experience the sound and light frequencies of glory—God’s nature—for transfiguration from one degree of glory to another. We don’t stay the same. We increase in glory. So we increase in the full revelation of who we are, and begin to express that and live from that place.
Now literally, excitation of light waves of specific frequencies causes our DNA photons to be energised and transformed. That light is God Himself. We begin to be transfigured in light by God, who is light. We become sons of light, living in physical and emotional harmony, health and wholeness—and it all happens by the presence of God.
The symbols of the things in soaking are symbols of God’s presence—of God Himself. God as our Father is calling us to embrace the restrictions of transformation, to receive the freedom of our sonship. And it’s so important that we receive that freedom, so we can receive the full revelation of our eternal destiny—to live trans- and multi-dimensional existences, fully embracing all of the eternal characteristics of sonship that are our eternal identity, our true authentic self.
John 3:30 says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Now I’ve heard that preached as if it’s something we need to beat ourselves up about—as if we need to put ourselves on the cross every day. It doesn’t mean that. He reveals in me what is like Him—I embrace that. He takes away from me what is not like Him—I embrace that. It’s not something I have to try and do, like “I’ve got to decrease,” as if I’m nobody and nothing and with this sort of false humility. No—this is allowing Him to increase. Therefore, if He increases, then everything that’s not like Him falls away.
So I learn to surrender, where I can present myself to Him—I can be changed, conformed to sonship through this whole process by allowing Him to soak me in His presence.
So, what is soaking? Soaking is to make or allow something to become thoroughly wet by immersing it in liquid—that’s the dictionary definition: to immerse, to steep, to submerge, to submerse, to dip, to sink, to dunk, to bathe, to wet, to rinse, to douse, to marinate, to steep, to pickle. I mean, some of it’s really important.
To baptise in water, to baptise in the Spirit, to baptise in fire—in which we are immersed in those things which bring about the changes. I’ll go into that in more detail in a future session when I look at the heat and how heat transforms us. But the soaking room is the place of preparation that has parallel heavenly encounters in the River of Life, which is a river of energy—of Spirit—and in the river of fire.
God is a consuming fire. His love is a consuming fire. We can be baptised in the River of Life and in the associated waterfalls that cascade down. We can be baptised in the river of fire, engage the altars of fire, engage the process. See, the River of Life is Spirit energy—living water. It’s not H₂O, but the very essence of life, encoded with the frequencies of God—God’s essence. And when we are baptised into it, when we submerge ourselves into it, it begins to change and transform us.
The sound of many waters—it says God’s voice is like the sound of many waters. The sound of many waters are the creational frequencies of God’s voice that will realign us to who God created us to be.
I encourage you right now
just to close your eyes.
Get comfortable.
Begin to relax.
To focus your thinking on God.
Focus your thinking
on God’s love, grace, mercy for you.
Focus your breathing by slowing down.
Breathe in more slowly.
Breathe in more deeply.
And as you’re breathing in,
you’re breathing in
the unconditional love of the Father.
You’re breathing in love.
You’re breathing in joy, and peace.
And as you breathe it in, just receive.
Let it flow into your being.
Whether you feel it, or sense it,
just let it flow.
Continue to be still.
Breathe in
and breathe out slowly.
Breathe in slowly
and breathe out slowly.
Slow everything down and totally relax.
Just become mindful
that you’re cocooned
right now
in God’s presence.
As you are still,
He is cocooning you in love.
He’s loving on you.
Consciously invite love,
invite joy,
invite peace,
to come upon you,
to flow in you,
to flow through you—
to create an atmosphere of rest around you
that you are completely submerged in –
baptised into the higher frequency of love.
Vibrating in that energy.
Vibrating in peace and joy.
Overshadowed with the presence of the Holy Spirit,
energising you,
transforming you,
changing you.
Be open to that overshadowing.
For the presence of God
to rest upon you.
People often ask doctrinal questions, but it’s important not to answer them with doctrinal answers, because doing so only reaffirms another doctrinal stance. What we really need to do is bring it back to the nature and character of God. Behind every doctrinal question lies an assumption about who God is and how He acts. The person asking the question might no longer resonate with that assumption, or they may be going through a process of having their previous beliefs challenged. For example, when God began challenging my own belief in penal substitutionary atonement—something foundational to my upbringing—it led to a cascade of further questions. Doctrines are interconnected. When one is questioned, others naturally follow, and this often challenges the very foundation of someone’s faith.
Some doctrines may seem less significant, but if someone is asking about them, there’s usually a reason. The real issue is not necessarily the question itself but why they’re asking it. Understanding the motivation behind the question can reveal where they are in their journey. Perhaps God is working in them, nudging them to reconsider something. If they’re asking just to win an argument or prove their own belief right, then engaging in debate is usually fruitless—they’re not really open to listening.
So when someone asks about theology, I try to understand what’s prompting the question. Is God speaking to them? Challenging them? What’s He doing in their life that might explain why they’re now curious about this topic? Once I get a sense of that, I can align with what God is doing in that person’s life. I don’t want to get ahead of where God has them. If I tell them something they’re not ready for, they may react badly and retreat from the journey they’re on. I try not to give people something ten steps ahead when they just need the next step.
I often won’t answer the question they’re literally asking. Instead, I try to give the answer they actually need at that moment. This can be frustrating—some will say, “But you’re not answering my question.” And that’s true, but if God doesn’t want me to answer it right now, then I won’t. I want to share what God is saying to me to say, not just what I think I should say. The goal is always to discern what’s really behind their question, what’s in their spirit and heart, and then respond to that.
Rather than giving them answers, I try to point them to the Father. If they come to know who the Father really is, they’ll be better equipped to receive the answers directly from Him. That’s far more helpful than just believing or disbelieving something I tell them. Often doctrinal misunderstandings come from a distorted view of God, so pointing people to the true nature of God helps correct those distortions more effectively than tackling the doctrine itself.
In a recent Zoom on Patreon, I shared how mistranslations have distorted our view of God—how we see the cross, ourselves, and how God relates to us. These come from reading Scripture through doctrine instead of revelation. Take Isaiah 53:10—most English versions say it pleased the Lord to bruise him, suggesting God took pleasure in punishing Jesus. That paints God as abusive, which pushes people away.
But Jesus used the Septuagint—the Greek Old Testament—written between 300 and 100 BC. It reflects a shift in understanding. Earlier, people had thought everything came from God—good or bad—because they didn’t separate God from Satan. But over time, that changed. The Septuagint shows a growing revelation of who God really is—not a punisher, but a healer.
The Septuagint says the Lord wished to cleanse him of his wound—not bruise or crush him. That word cleanse is the same used when Jesus healed a leper. God didn’t punish Jesus—man did, inspired by the enemy. Jesus took on mankind’s wound so the Father could restore our identity. Penal substitution paints God as an abuser and makes love hard to grasp.
Similarly, Jeremiah 17:9 is mistranslated. It doesn’t say the heart is deceitful and beyond cure, but the heart is deep—who can know it? These distortions fuel a false view of humanity as wicked and unfixable, rather than whole, loved and made in God’s image.
Romans 5:9 is very often translated as saying we’re saved from the wrath of God, but “of God” is added by translators—it’s not in the original. The King James and Young’s Literal just say the wrath. So whose wrath is it? Not God’s—it’s the enemy’s. The one who comes to rob, kill and destroy. Jesus came to give life and to destroy the works of the evil one.
For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer, and the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring that he was thy servant. So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers. For when the dead were now fallen down by heaps one upon another, standing between, he stayed the wrath, and parted the way to the living. (Wisdom of Solomon 18:21-23 KJV).
So the Wisdom of Solomon, part of the original canon of scripture [and included in the King James Bible until it was removed in 1885] says it is “the destroyer“ who punishes and brings death, and Paul would have known this as scripture. So when he talks about ‘the wrath’, he is referring to the enemy’s destruction, lies and identity theft—not God’s supposed anger.
So, a few mistranslated verses have propped up an entire theology that presents a false view of God’s nature.
{The video continues]
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
When we become whole, spirit, soul and body should be seamlessly integrated, so that we no longer need to constantly think in terms of spirit, soul and body. but when we’re learning, it helps to understand how each functions—and how they work together.
So, in terms of our body, we have the five physical senses—sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch—which are obviously housed in the body. That’s primarily how we’ve received information throughout life, and so we’ve learned from those experiences. Now, the body itself has often been treated as the lesser part, with the soul and spirit seen as somehow “higher realms”. I don’t believe that’s the case. I believe God made us whole. One part isn’t more important than the others; they’re all equally important, but they do have different functions.
The body needs to be treated with honour and respect—as a temple, if you like, a temple of the Holy Spirit. So, we need to look after ourselves and be aware of the signs our body may be giving us. These might be physical indicators that we’re not getting enough sleep, enough rest, exercise or the right food. Our body might be communicating to us that we’re feeling lethargic or unwell or lacking energy. That’s a sign that we may need to change our lifestyle—how we care for our body and emotions.
In the same way, we need healthy emotions. Emotions are good, but they shouldn’t control us. Our emotions, which are part of the soul, often come from our life experiences. But again, all these parts—body, soul and spirit—need to work together.
At the core of our being, in the very centre of our body, is the place where spirit, soul and body are in union with Father, Son and Spirit. Most people have never learned to interact with that centre. They might engage with their soul, their spirit, or their body, but not with their innermost being. A lot of people think that our innermost being is our spirit. It’s not. Our innermost being is the core, where that union takes place.
Within that core, we have energy gates. These are associated with the body, but also connected with the soul and spirit. We need to learn to be in tune—physically, emotionally and spiritually—so we’re fully energised. That energy is Living Water—rivers of Living Water. It’s spiritual life, the abundant life that flows out of heaven into us, into our innermost being. But it needs to be used correctly.
Most people have never been taught any of this. They’ve never been shown that we have gateways or how our spirit, soul and body interact. But as we begin to learn and grow in this, our body becomes the energising centre of our being—a place where soul and spirit can function together.
So if we’re going to be healthy, we need to listen to our body in different ways, and we also need to communicate with it. I don’t let my body rule me, but I do let it inform me. I’m interested in how my body is feeling. Am I treating it well? Does it feel healthy, well, whole? If I damage my body in some way, I’ll communicate with it. I might apologise for the damage—whether it was through an accident, carelessness or neglect. Then I’ll work with my body, cooperating with it in the process of healing and repair. The body is designed to self-heal, to restore itself. So I can work with that—I can cooperate with it, energise it, and assist that process. I can be in partnership with my own cells as they replicate and restore, becoming whole.
Eventually, that becomes my state of being. When that happens, it functions almost automatically, instinctively—it’s programmed into my unconscious mind. My soul functions in the subconscious mind, and I’m active in the conscious mind. So, I want that state of being to be programmed in, so I don’t have to go around thinking all the time, “Oh, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that…” That becomes tiring and stressful. It’s about living from that inner function—having the how I live operating from the inside, as part of who I am. When that becomes reality, my spirit, soul and body can function together in unity.
I do speak to my body. I listen to it. I want it to be healthy and whole. That means getting enough sleep, eating well, and avoiding addictions. The body can become addicted—to chemicals, certain foods, or even feelings. Some people are addicted to exercise because it releases endorphins that make them feel good. That’s fine—it’s how the body is designed—but not to the extreme. Some people can’t stop exercising because they’re addicted to the endorphin release, not just the exercise itself. And actually, endorphins are chemically similar to some drugs. So we have to manage all of that well.
We need to avoid becoming obsessive—to the point where these things control what we do. If the body starts controlling us, then we’re being driven by physical factors. That’s not how we’re designed to function. We’re designed to work together—spirit, soul and body—in a seamless way.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out nowas an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
We are tripartite beings, made in the image of God to be in union with the Father, Son and Spirit. We have gateways that connect our spirit, soul and body, facilitating the flow of abundant life within us. Most of you will probably be familiar with the gateway diagram. Usually, it consists of four concentric circles, each one inside the other, representing body, soul, spirit and the glory of God— that place of first love at the very centre of our spirit.
Discernment is essential
The body is how we experience world consciousness. The gates of our body—our five physical senses—include the eye gate, nose gate, ear gate, mouth gate and feeling gate. These are designed to help us interact with the world, but not to interpret what we experience from the outside in, without spiritual discernment. If we rely solely on what we see, hear, smell, taste or touch, those things can deceive us if not interpreted correctly.
Our soul represents our self-consciousness, how we become aware of who we are. It too has functions that help with this self-awareness, but again, it’s not meant to function based only on external information or independently of revelation from our relationship with God. The soul gates include conscience, reason, imagination, mind (conscious, subconscious and unconscious), emotions, choice and will. If these operate independently, they can lead us to create an identity based on what we do and the programming we receive from the world.
The River of Life flows
Our spirit also has senses or gates that are meant to work together with the flow from that place of first love, where God’s glory dwells. This is where the River of Life and the life energy of the Spirit flows, to touch the soul and engage our whole being—so that we interpret the world only through the lens of the spirit. That was how Adam lived originally. He experienced the physical realm through the discernment of the spirit, because he was clothed with the spiritual glory of his identity in the union of relationship with God.
Now, instead of walking with God in a garden, we have His presence within. Our spirit is within our body, and our body relates to the world. This is the picture illustrated by the four concentric circles. We have spirit gates such as the communication gate, prayer gate, fear of God gate (which is not about being afraid, but about awe), intuition, revelation, worship, hope, faith and reverence. Each of these relates to a corresponding soul gate. For example, reverence and fear of God engage our conscience. Communication may flow through intuition or revelation. Worship helps us to engage with the world around us from a place of relationship with God, echoing how Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing.
Three spheres
So it is helpful, but that image doesn’t fully capture the reality. It’s more accurate to think of three spheres—spirit, soul and body—that overlap and connect. So rather than seeing these interactions as two-dimensional, we can see our spirit, soul and body as spheres in quantum entanglement—connected in such a way that our spirit can be anywhere and still instantly relate to our soul. There is a place – our innermost being – where all three are connected. That is our core, the centre of our being, where our union with the Father, Son and Spirit takes place.
This video and blog post are taken from Mike’s current teaching series, Restoring First Love. Get the full-length videos every month, ad-free and with many extras, only at eg.freedomarc.org/first-love
Only a trickle
At the core, in our spirit is the glory of God’s presence within the first love gateway. God dwells within everyone, but often that gateway is closed or restricted, with only a trickle of life flowing through—like the stream under the threshold in Ezekiel’s temple. But that flow can increase: ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep—until it becomes an overwhelming flood. This is God’s desire: that we be saturated with His love and presence.
We have the choice to open that gate. It’s a daily decision. In my experience, this daily opening of the first love gate led me into deeper intimacy with God. Often, Father, Son or Spirit—or all three—would embrace me, and that hug would lead me further. The flow would often carry me into my soul.
I walked with Jesus
When I first started engaging with these gates, I walked with Jesus through each one, asking Him to help me understand how I function. We are all different, and the interaction between our gateways is unique. I learned why some of mine were blocked or inactive. For many, the first love gate may appear chained or overgrown, seemingly impossible to open. That image is often a projection of fear or trauma—a deception of the soul. But in truth, the handle is on our side. We can open it.
When opened, the first love gate releases an increasing flow of life—no longer a trickle, but a flood. Most of us have lived on a trickle for too long. This flood can energise us at the core of our being, through the energy gates and the merkabah, leading to a state of immortal life.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
Through intention, I’m essentially leaving a part of myself in a place. The intention I carry—for others to receive blessing and love—I want that to become a frequency embedded in the very fabric of the places I go. If I speak, the memory of the frequency of my voice is retained. If I act, that too is recorded in the material world. It’s like a CD or DVD that carries sound or vision—what’s imprinted becomes part of the medium itself. That kind of imprinting can happen in any physical space.
We know some places feel peaceful, while others feel heavy or dark. Why? Because those spaces retain a memory of what’s occurred there. I believe we can be intentional about shaping that atmosphere in a positive way. By choosing to focus our intention on leaving a deposit of love, we create something for others—now or in the future—to encounter. My intention makes that possible. Whether I speak it aloud or simply think it, both have a vibrational frequency. Thought is just as powerful as speech in that way, and it engages the space around us when we align it with intentional purpose. It’s not complicated, but it does require focus and choice. That’s something I feel is part of what I’m called to do, especially when I travel.
I love travelling and seeing new places, and whenever I go somewhere new, I see it as an opportunity. Sometimes that opportunity comes through meeting and talking with people. Other times, it’s more about engaging the place itself—listening for what the land, the culture or the people might need. Many of the people I meet are loving and kind, even if they don’t yet know Jesus. In some ways, they reflect God’s nature—love, compassion, care—better than some who claim to know Him. So my desire is that they would awaken to who God truly is, beyond just philosophy or tradition.
I’ve visited Buddhist and Hindu temples—lying Buddhas, standing Buddhas, smiling Buddhas—and in those moments, I’m imparting something into the space, into the statues even. They’re just statues unless something is placed in them. People engage with those images spiritually, and while I may not feel a need to do so myself, I recognise their hunger. And if people are seeking, I want them to find truth. So I see those encounters as a way to deposit something of God’s truth into those spaces. If someone looks at one of those statues and has a moment of openness, perhaps they’ll receive something deeper, something that leads them to discover who God really is.
It’s not about condemning how people seek, but about making sure there’s something of truth available when they do. Some people have met God in very unexpected ways—through acid trips or spiritual experiences—none of which I’m endorsing, of course. But the point is, God meets people where they are. When people seek the spiritual, they deserve to find what’s real. That’s why I’m intentional about leaving behind a deposit of truth—a frequency that people might resonate with, one that leads them toward Jesus, who is the Truth.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
As a complete transcript, this is a long read… so first, here’s a summary. Scroll down for the full text.
Video Summary:
When it comes to knowing our true identity, it’s not about copying others or climbing some spiritual ladder—it’s about hearing God for ourselves. We’re not trying to fit into a religious mould or follow someone else’s journey; we’re learning to rest, to trust, and to grow in relationship. It’s not about striving or earning, but about realising we’re already included, already loved, already free. God never meant us to stay stuck in old ways of thinking or be limited by what others say about us. He wants to reveal who we really are through direct, personal relationship—and that’s something no one else can define for us.
A lot of the time, we’ve been taught to see ourselves through filters—through what others expect, or what religion tells us is acceptable—but God wants to strip all that back and show us who we truly are. It’s a process, often uncomfortable, but always leading to freedom. As we begin to engage Him more deeply, we stop needing external affirmation, because we’re hearing His voice. We learn to let go of the fear of getting it wrong, and instead walk confidently as sons and daughters who already belong. We don’t need to strive to become what we already are—we just need to live in the reality of it and let God continue the transformation.
The more we get to know God, the more we realise how much better He is than we ever imagined, and that makes the journey exciting. Everyone’s story is different, and I love hearing them because together they show the richness of God’s work in us. I never planned any of what’s happened in my life, but step by step, God led me beyond what I thought possible. It’s not about comparison with others—it’s about becoming fully ourselves, embracing who God made us to be. That’s where rest and joy come from, not striving. And as we live in that identity, we naturally bless others. We become rivers of living water, refreshing the people around us, not by trying to be anyone else, but by being exactly who we are in Him.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
I think when it comes to the relationship side of it, he’s on his own journey. So really, it’s about encouragement. If there’s an opportunity to practise something with him, then do something simple—like going to the throne of grace with a problem, or something basic that helps him engage with God on the inside. Where is God? Because a lot of people have never really considered the reality of that. They might say, “Well, yes, God is in me, the Holy Spirit is in me,” but where exactly? And how do we relate to that? How do you engage with that in any real sense? Rather than just saying, “Well, he’s there. I know the Holy Spirit is in me,” actually exploring where and how that works with our spirit and soul, and how that brings life.
You can also open up some other ideas—like Psalm 23, lying down in green pastures. Well, that could be the garden of your heart. There’s a scripture that says the heart is like a well-watered garden, so you can point towards both that inner relationship and the development of personal intimacy. But also you can say, we have access to be seated with God in heavenly places where Christ is. We can be seated there, which means a position of identity and authority. But also, intimacy—being with the Father, just as Jesus is with the Father, so are we.
So I think there are those two aspects you can begin to help someone engage with, if they’re on a journey—which obviously your son is, as he’s discovering things and having realisations. There still aren’t too many people who’ve put all of these elements together into one consistent whole. You know, Don [Keathley] has done the kingdom, the now, and the eschatology, but perhaps hasn’t quite touched on the intimacy and heavenly encounter aspects yet—or maybe he has and just hasn’t shared that. Who knows? But I imagine he’s on that journey, and the Father will be opening that door for him. That’s when it moves beyond just a theological belief system to a relational belief system—one that reveals the true nature of God.
Ultimately, I know he’s very much into love and the reality that God’s nature is love. I doubt that’s just a theory for him—I think it’s his experience. God’s got him on his own personal journey of experience. And I’d say, start with love. God is love—so how does he experience God as love? What does that mean? The unconditional nature of love can begin to deal with the religious obligations and duties that may have come from earlier experiences. Unconditional love brings a revelation of God that shows just how good he is—how kind, tolerant, patient and wonderful he is.
So help him experience unconditional love with very simple things—like closing his eyes, being still and knowing God. Be still and know love. Let love touch him. These small things can be really helpful for little breakthroughs, which then become a taste of something deeper, something that can lead further into the fullness of God revealing himself. And then your son can come to know who he is in God—free from any of the religious baggage we’ve all had to work through.
It’s the little things really. You want someone to always want more, rather than feeling overwhelmed. Like after a big meal when you feel so full it’s uncomfortable—you don’t want that spiritually. It’s tempting to give someone too much, but it’s better to offer just enough so they’re still hungry, still curious. Rather than thinking, “This might be my only or best opportunity, so I’m going to give them the whole lot,” it’s better to go bit by bit.
The idea of a “joy economy” speaks to me of how heaven functions—not based on duty, obligation or even money as we know it, but on joy. Having joy in something is worth more than the kind of economy that’s all about profit. Enjoying your work is better than just working to live. That phrase has all sorts of connotations. In an economic sense, if you’re serving someone in what you’re doing—whether that’s in a job or your own business—what’s your motive? Do you want someone to be blessed, to be happy receiving your product or service? That changes everything. The joy economy has a different motive behind it.
More broadly, God wants us to live with an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude—which is joyful. Rejoice always, and again I say, rejoice. You can’t rejoice if you’re miserable and focused on what you don’t have. You rejoice over what you do have—what God has done, what Jesus did, your experiences, your testimony. That focus on the positive opens up even more in the future. Whereas the joy economy would not be based on warfare—there’s no joy in war. We don’t want to be at war with anything or anyone. That fits with a restorative view: I’m not going to fight against something, I’m going to restore—whether that’s a relationship or a person. Restoration, not opposition.
The Freedom of Sonship
So there are lots of different ways of looking at it, but joy is the predominant factor. Whether you’re thinking in financial terms or in terms of how things work, joy is foundational. And I’d say love, joy and peace all work together—they cement the whole thing. Then from that comes grace and mercy. The joy economy is living in limitless grace, triumphant mercy and unconditional love. These are aspects that deepen and broaden what joy really is.
If I don’t know I’m unconditionally loved, it’s very difficult to be truly joyful, because there’ll always be a condition I feel I have to meet—and I might fail. So unconditional love leads to joy, and joy leads to peace. And peace really comes when you’re at rest—when you’re not striving or struggling or constantly trying to tick boxes. It’s that place of rest, where you’re living in what God’s already done and who he already is towards us.
That can then start to shape the way we live—how we live in this world and how we stay peaceful even in hard times. Rejoicing, praising, being thankful—not just when life is wonderful on the surface, but also in the midst of difficulty. People often look at the world and feel despair—“It’s getting worse and worse.” But I look at the world and yes, I see what’s going on—but I also know the kingdom of God is filling the Earth. I believe God will restore everything eventually. So I’m not focused on how it is now—I’m focused on what it will be like when it’s restored, when the kingdom is functioning on Earth as it is in heaven.
It’s easy to become despondent when you focus on the negative, but I try to focus on God’s intention—his future. So what’s happening now is only temporary. I’m not going to let something temporary weigh me down or cloud my perspective. Yes, it might be a fact right now, but the truth is that everything will be restored to God’s original design, however long it takes. And while I’m here, I’m going to enjoy life and live in that truth.
To me, the economy of joy is how I live. It’s how I rejoice in things and stay thankful. I look out the window and the sun’s shining—I rejoice in that. It’s beautiful. Maybe I can’t be out there right now, but I rejoice that others are enjoying it—the garden, the wildlife, the birds feeding on the table—they’re enjoying it, and I rejoice in that too. Creation seems to be smiling.
And if it’s rainy one day—well, I’m inside, so that’s great. I can be thankful the rain is watering the earth, preparing the plants for spring. You can always choose to see something positive. For me, my attitude of joy is this: the glass is half full and getting fuller—or already overflowing. Rather than focusing on the negative. A lot of what we’ve been taught tends to focus on the negative—the enemy, the fight, the battle.
I’m not interested in the enemy or what he’s doing. Because of that, he generally leaves me alone. By and large, the enemy doesn’t want to mess with me—because I’d look to restore things, even for him. So from that perspective, I’m not coming from a place of focusing on warfare or negativity. I’m coming from a position of, this is where I’m seated, this is who I am. Everything is under my feet.
So, I ask, What is God’s intention in this situation? And I can rejoice in that, because I know God’s purpose is always to bring good out of it. I want to be part of that. I believe we have a mandate to live in joy and to be joyful. It’s not just a nice idea—Jesus said, My joy is in you so your joy can be full. That sounds like a mandate to me.
He also said, My peace I leave with you—not as the world gives. That kind of peace goes beyond understanding. Again, that feels like a mandate: live in peace. And then, Love one another as I have loved you—that’s not just a suggestion, that’s a commandment. It’s a new one. But in essence, the real commandment is: Let Me love you, so you can love others. That’s a mandate too.
God wants us to live in love, joy, peace and rest. And from that place of rest, everything else begins to flow. A group could absolutely have a corporate mandate to steward or administrate a “joy economy”—to live it out personally and also see how it might impact the world around them.
The medical profession is increasingly recognising the effects of gratitude and joy on the body and mind. It brings a sense of wholeness. It even boosts the immune system when we live in a state of thankfulness and joy, rather than under a cloud of doom, gloom and misery. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.
Sure, we can look at the world and say, “It’s a mess,” but that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way—and it doesn’t mean we have to be affected by it. I believe the world does need to awaken, and the Church especially needs to awaken—big time—to joy. Too often it gets bogged down in negativity.
But the truth is, God is always working, always processing, always good. He’s always wanting to bring good out of every situation. And we get to cooperate with Him in that. Yes, sometimes we see things that we want to change, and it’s okay to bring those to God. We can work with Him on it. We can wrestle with Him. But at the end of the day, we trust Him. We trust that what He’s doing will ultimately work out for the best.
Sometimes we have to refocus our attention and actively engage God in the things we want to see change. God doesn’t want us to be passive. He wants us to be real, to share our hearts, to express our desires. We don’t have to pretend everything’s fine when it’s not. There’s a difference between wrestling with God and accusing Him. Wrestling says, “This is what I long for—this is my heart.” And then we rest in His goodness, trusting that His way will prevail.
So yes, we can wrestle—but not to force our own way. We wrestle so that God’s way can be released into our situations.
With your son—it’s been a long journey. You’ve seen things along the way. And you’re not giving up. I remember you saying he told you Jesus had agreed to his calling—and laughed, saying, “So did you.” That just made me smile.
It’s tough when you’ve got years of memories and patterns, but the small shifts and signs of progress are encouraging. They help you persevere. They remind you to be consistent. Ultimately, it’s about relying on the grace, mercy, love and goodness of God—for you, your son, your whole family.
And yes, it’s absolutely fine to remind God of His promises. He said them in the first place. You’re just reminding Him of who He is. That gives us confidence. We come boldly before the throne of grace. We don’t have to tiptoe. We can come with confidence because we know God is good.
When it comes to entering into the fullness of all God has for us, seeing ourselves the way God sees us is key. We have to come into agreement with God—aligning our minds and hearts with His. His thoughts about us are vast and loving. If our thoughts contradict His, it becomes difficult to receive and accept the wonder of who we are in His eyes.
So God wants us to step into the fullness of our relationship with Him—through intimacy, through the revelation of how He sees us, and how that reveals our true identity. If He loves me unconditionally but I don’t love myself the same way, then something’s out of alignment. And that causes problems.
Many people struggle with identity. They don’t see themselves the way God does. So we’re faced with a choice: do I believe what others have said about me? Do I believe what my past says? Or do I believe what God says?
Scripture says, Love one another as you love yourself. So if you don’t know how to love yourself, how can you love others properly? Loving yourself doesn’t mean being selfish. It means seeing yourself as God sees you. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. That’s the truth. And when you really believe that—when you stop striving and start accepting—it becomes your experience, your reality.
Knowing your identity also means facing what’s shaped your identity up to now. If your past contradicts what God says about you, you have to be willing to deal with that. Don’t ignore it or deny it. Face it with honesty.
You can say, “Father, I struggle to believe what You say because this has happened to me.” Maybe it’s rejection. Maybe people let you down. And then the Father says, “I’ve never rejected you—I accept you.” And then the choice is, do I forgive those who rejected me? Do I let God heal me?
Because emotional damage can make it hard to receive love, especially the kind God offers. But healing comes when you forgive those who hurt you and release them. Most people aren’t capable of loving you the way God does—because they’re not God. And that’s okay. But you can still choose to forgive.
If you try to build self-esteem from your own efforts—your works, your successes—then failure will knock you down hard. But if your worth comes from God, which is unchanging and unconditional, then even when you fall short, you’re still secure. It must come from God—that’s where the truth is, the Way, the Truth and the Life; that’s where love is, He is love. Ultimately that’s the key. It must come from Him.
Living Beyond Limits | Identity and Intimacy
It may not always be easy to accept that, but the more and more we get to know God, the easier it becomes to accept—because we realise he’s better than we could have ever imagined or thought. And it’s good to hear that. It’s just good to hear different people’s experiences. It’s good to share the journey with others. I love these sessions because I’m always meeting new people—people with different pasts, different identities—but they’re all sons of God. And within that, God’s relationship with each one is unique and wonderful.
We can celebrate and rejoice in the diversity of our lives and our journeys, and the fact that they can connect with others. I can’t relate to everyone, but someone else can—and that’s why it’s so important we all share our journeys and experiences together. It’s encouraging—yes, we’re encouraging each other in recognising that God is at work in all of us, in different ways. And that gives hope to everyone.
God just seems to go beyond anything you can imagine or think. That, to me, is such a great truth—God is always beyond what you can imagine or think. And that’s why I find it exciting. For me, every day is a day to learn something new, to experience something more. Every day is a good day—because God is so good.
When I think about the limitations of what I could ask or imagine, and then compare that to how good God wants things to be—I can ask for a lot, and I can think pretty big—but I’ll never exceed who God is. And it’s a wonderful thing to know that God will go beyond my limitations—about myself or about my life.
I look back at what’s happened and I think, “I never saw that coming.” I’d have never thought I’d end up doing the things I’ve done. It wasn’t on my agenda. It’s not like I had a life plan where I knew exactly how things would work. It was always just one step at a time—getting to know God, hearing from him, and actually believing some of the things he was showing me.
And a lot of the time, I didn’t even know how to think like that. I would never have imagined myself doing what I’m doing now. When I was working in a hospital—specifically, in a hospital lab—I would never have imagined that I’d go on to plant churches, that I’d be connecting with people all over the world, teaching, helping and encouraging. But God knew. And he led me, step by step.
Where I see limitations, God sees beyond. When I think, “How am I supposed to do that?” he already knows I can—if I’m willing to keep walking the journey. And even when things don’t go to plan—when they go wrong or don’t turn out the way I intended—I know God is good, and he wants to bring something better out of it. Even that is beyond what I can see in the moment. Because God is so much better, so much bigger, and has greater expectations than I do.
If I’d asked for what I thought would make me happy, I’d have asked for far less than what I’ve actually received in my life. So from that perspective, God really is so good. And the journey has been full of blessings—some of them unexpected, some of them way beyond what I could have imagined or thought. Because he’s able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think.
That fills my future with optimism. Whatever comes, God is bigger and more than able to handle it. And I know his goodness, grace and mercy are limitless and overflowing. His love is unconditional—and for me, that makes all the difference.
When God said to me, “beyond beyond,” I didn’t know what he meant. I had no idea. I could’ve tried to reason it out—“beyond beyond,” what does that even mean? But with God, it’s always beyond beyond. It’s beyond my wildest dreams, beyond my imagination, beyond my experiences, beyond anywhere I’ve ever been before. God himself is beyond anything I can imagine, think, reason or understand. He always goes beyond where I would put a limitation.
I ask myself, “Where else could this possibly lead?”—and there’s always a beyond.
In the past, our security and foundation were probably rooted in doctrine—those things we were certain of, that gave us identity, reputation, or a sense of how people viewed us. But once we start engaging God and seeing how he sees us, those things no longer matter. Paul called them rubbish—refuse, dung. Whether you call it a hill of beans or anything else—it’s all the same: none of it compares to the intimacy of knowing God and his love, and discovering who we really are.
And then it’s about living that out—becoming who we truly are. It’s great when people can point the way or encourage us—people who say, “Hey, there’s more.” People who share testimonies, or go ahead as forerunners and say, “There’s something over here.” Explorers who discover a new realm and invite others into it. That’s great—but then you become that to someone else.
That’s the reality. You know way more people than I do—you have your own circle, your own connections. I don’t know them. But you do. And God can open something up for you to be a forerunner in their lives. Your experiences then become a source of encouragement and inspiration for them.
That’s really what it comes down to. I’ve been blessed—and I’ve been blessed by others who’ve encouraged me, shared their journey, supported me. And I want to be a blessing in return. But you can only bless others if you yourself have been blessed.
I think God wants us to be blessed in the fullest sense—to be empowered to succeed and thrive in who we are, so that who we are becomes a blessing to someone else. I only need to be me. You only need to be you. You don’t have to be me—and thank God for that! That’s where comparison falls away. You can look at what I’ve taught and be encouraged, but you don’t have to be me. You can’t be me—you’re not me.
Some people try to be like someone else, but God just wants you to be you. And I think that’s the mark of someone who’s really discovered their identity—they’re not pointing people to themselves, but pointing them back to the source in their life: God. He’s the one who helps you become the best version of you. And that is what will bless others.
I can’t bless someone else by trying to be like Justin [Justin Paul Abraham]. I’m not Justin. I love Justin—I love who he is, and what he brings. He adds a flavour to the bigger picture that I never could—because I’m not like that. But I can be me. And I’ll be able to help people who maybe need something slightly different. And people can learn from both of us—because there’s no comparison. I don’t have to be like him, and he doesn’t have to be like me.
I can be content in who I am and rejoice in who he is. I can celebrate people’s differences—because it means I don’t have to be that way. Trying to be someone else is hard work! It really is. But God doesn’t want us striving—he wants us at rest. And real rest comes when we’re living in the truth of who we are, in that relationship with God.
So, we rejoice in it. We enjoy it. We go back to that joy economy we started with—this life is meant to be enjoyed. And I’ll never enjoy it if I’m trying to be someone else. But when I truly accept who he made me to be, and I live in that, that’s when my true identity shines through. And that identity only comes out of who I am in him.
So intimacy and relationship—that’s all I need. But it’s not selfish. It’s not self-centred. It’s always about being a blessing. That’s the key. If something isn’t flowing through me, then it’s stagnating in me. And stagnant water? Well, the only thing that likes that is mosquitoes!
I need rivers of living water flowing from my innermost being—so that I become a refreshment to others, and others can refresh me too. When we really celebrate each other, we learn from so many different sources. But ultimately, God is the source. He is the way. He is the Tree of Life.
That’s the key.
Please remember to like, share, comment and subscribe, either here or on YouTube – it really helps us get the message out!
Quite a lot of deconstruction and renewing of our minds is needed to actually know the truth—and then to live in that truth. A lot of people will say, “Oh yeah, I can be multi-dimensional,” and then you ask, “Well, how does that work for you?” and they can’t really answer. Because although they believe it’s true, they’re not yet living in that truth. And that’s okay, because we’re all on a journey.
But God wants us to embrace the fullness of our sonship, which carries with it a whole different quality of life—what Justin (Justin Paul Abraham) would call “beyond human.” It’s beyond the limitations of humanity, because mankind was made in the image of God. We were never supposed to create our own image. Humanity, as we know it, is the image we’ve created for ourselves.
And I’m not going to be restricted by being human—because I’m not just human. I’m a son of God. I’m created to be beyond purely human, even though I’m living in a human plane of existence. I’m meant to live in a completely different realm—one of sonship. I believe that’s what the Father really wants to help us embrace and begin to live out. So yes, our immortality is definitely on the Father’s agenda—to get people to start thinking about the possibility, then embrace the possibility, and eventually go and live the possibility as a reality.
Of course, if you’re going to live forever, it raises a whole load of other questions: how, where, what are you going to do, how are you going to eat? All those questions. Some of the conferences Justin has been part of—and others as well—are beginning to ask these things. For example, what is the economy of immortality? Are we going to live on a financial plane, or are we going to rise above finances?
Are we talking about an economy of well-being, where simply being completely and utterly content and fulfilled in being me would free me from any need for recognition from others, or from the need to produce a self-image? Because I wouldn’t need that anymore.
Money is often tied to value and worth. If you earn more money, you’re seen as having more value to society. Your self-worth gets programmed into what makes you valuable—and often that boils down to money. In the world’s eyes, if you earn more, you must be more valuable. But actually, God wants us to see that it’s the image He made us in. He created us with value and worth intrinsically built in. I believe an economy of immortality is one free from money. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a functioning system—but if everyone is doing what they’re designed to do, no one needs to be paid for it, because we’d all support each other out of who we are and what we’re called to do.
If we were living in, say, a restoration city, and I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing while others are doing what they’re meant to be doing, then the whole thing functions. We don’t need a hierarchical system. I’m blessing someone, and someone’s blessing me—that’s covenant. The economy of immortality is covenant: what’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. We’d all have enough for our needs and an abundance of overflow, because Jesus promised us abundant life—life in all its fullness.
So, what I see is that when we remove the limitations of identity that come through humanity, we also remove the programming that humanity has placed upon people—programming based on works, performance-driven worth, and earned value. All I need to do is be me. And if we’re all being who God intended us to be, then we’re not comparing ourselves with each other. I’m not saying, “I’m doing a more important job than you, therefore I’m worth more.” No—I only need to be me, and you only need to be you. That’s how we value each other—not by what we do, but by who we are.
That completely removes the need for financial remuneration. Money doesn’t have to make the world go round. And I think that’s where we’ll end up when we really start looking at the practical implications of living in immortality. What changes would that bring to the world if people began to live like that? I believe it would make a significant difference to our attitudes and our mindsets—towards each other, towards the world.
Because my sonship is connected to creation, and creation values me as a son. Creation gives me a place within its greater purpose, because creation is longing and waiting for the revealing of the sons of God, so that it too can be set free. There’s a vested interest, from creation’s point of view, in me being me—because that plays a role in creation’s freedom.
Please remember to like, comment, share and subscribe – it really does help!
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
When I used to think about the resurrection, my focus was very much on what Jesus did—overcoming death and defeating sin, and all of that. But as I’ve experienced more of what Jesus did, and my part in it, I’ve come to realise that I was included in it. So when Jesus died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried. When he was resurrected, I was resurrected.
I’m the same as the whole of mankind in receiving what happened at the resurrection. It wasn’t just an individual thing for people who would, in the future, accept what Jesus did on the cross and through the resurrection. It happened as Jesus was resurrected.
I am going to prepare a place for you
He promised to come back and bring people into a resurrection relationship with the Father. I think John 14 is the best illustration of that—Jesus promising that he was going to go away, go to the cross, come back and take them to be where he was. “Where I am,” he said, “you may be also.” Now, “I am” was not a physical location. It wasn’t a spiritual location either—it was a relational position.
In John 14, Jesus talks about “I am in the Father and the Father’s in me.” But people have taken John 14 to mean, “Oh, Jesus has gone into heaven, and one day he’s going to build a house there for us, so we can all go and live in that house—in our house in heaven. He’s going to come back and take us there.”
That teaching has placed what Jesus did in the resurrection solely in the future, after we die, when we get physically resurrected. So we expect death and resurrection in the future, based on what Jesus did. But actually, that’s a completely wrong understanding of that passage. The passage is really talking about the union of relationship we have within “I am.”
It was a union thing, because John 14:1–3 is a marriage statement. In the Hebrew marriage tradition, when a couple got betrothed, the bridegroom would go and build a house—usually attached to his father’s house. He would say, “I am going away to prepare a place for you,” to his future wife. And she would say, “When are you coming again to take me to yourself?”
Now, this was a well-known understanding at the time. But we often read John 14 in today’s culture and completely misunderstand it. Jesus was basically saying, “I am going to the cross, and through the cross I’m going to prepare you to be a place where I can dwell—where you will be in ‘I am’ just as I am in ‘I am’ with the Father.”
On that day
Later on in the chapter, he says, “On that day you will know that I am in you, and you are in me, and we’re in the Father.” On that day—that was the resurrection day. He literally came back, went into heaven, received the kingdom and then came to his disciples and breathed onto them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
That was the moment where the disciples became representatives of the new man in Christ. Whereas Adam had been the representative of the old man when God breathed into him — everyone died in Adam. When Adam walked into death, everyone died in him. But everyone has been made alive in Christ.
So the whole of mankind was represented in Christ when he went into death, into the grave, and was resurrected. And when Jesus breathed onto the disciples, they experienced the Holy Spirit filling them, or coming into them. The whole of mankind had the Spirit come into them, but they didn’t know—because they didn’t have the relationship with Jesus or the Spirit that the disciples had.
The disciples already had a relational connection, which became very different, because God came to dwell in them. But God came to dwell in all mankind. Most of mankind has not come into a knowledge or experience of that, even though it’s true. But God is at work in everybody to reveal that truth.
Resurrection applies to everyone
So the power of the resurrection over physical death applies to everyone. If we embrace what Jesus did and partake of it, then we also don’t need to die. Jesus basically said, “If you eat my flesh and drink my blood”—in other words, if you partake of me—then you won’t die.
Immortality is a consequence of embracing the power of the resurrection. Jesus overcame death, and we were in him overcoming death. Now, to start with, you could say that was spiritual death, but it didn’t stay spiritual. Jesus’s death wasn’t just spiritual—his body died. That meant that when his body was resurrected, it was the firstfruits of our resurrection.
The teaching of the church over the last thousand or so years has lessened what Jesus said and made the power of the resurrection only really about salvation. It hasn’t applied it to wholeness, health or immortality. So the thinking has become: “Well, I get spiritual life. But I’m going to die again, and I’ll go to heaven, where the resurrection will take place for me.”
Whereas actually, it is designed to take place now. Jesus being transfigured before he went to the cross was an illustration of that—that we are to be transfigured and become who God intended us to be—as light, if you like, as God is light.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
Another wrong interpretation of the Bible paints the picture of a God who is angry, full of wrath, and ready to torment and punish. But unconditional love does not fail or give up. It is faithful, persistent, and wins in the end. So, God has no reason to be angry. People often struggle with this concept, but the Bible clearly says that Jesus came to take away the sins of the world—in other words, our lost identity. He also nailed every accusation against us to the cross. They were defeated and finished. It also says that God was in Christ, in 2 Corinthians 5:19, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them—not counting their trespasses against them. So, if there’s nothing to hold against anyone, why would God be angry, and what wrath would he have to punish anyone with? He wouldn’t. He doesn’t. He hasn’t. Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Romans 5:8 in the NIV says: “But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Which is absolutely true. Even when we were in our lost identity, Jesus died for us. He didn’t wait for us to recover our identity, sort ourselves out or be good enough. He died for us—as us. We died with him while we were still in that lost state. Then verse 9 says: “Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.”
So this is saying, quite correctly, that we’ve been justified by his blood… but how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him? Jesus came to save us from his Father’s wrath? No. That isn’t the truth. In fact, this verse does not say that. If you look at the original Greek, it does not say we are saved from God’s wrath.
So what is the wrath we’ve been saved from?
Not God’s! Does God store up his wrath to pour out on his children? Absolutely not—because he has no wrath to pour out. So does “the wrath” here have a different meaning? Because it’s talking about the wrath—a very specific wrath. Does it come from another source? Yes—and we’re going to look at what it is.
(A clue to this is found in who Jesus says comes to rob, kill and destroy. The thief. The accuser. The devil. And who is it that desires to give us abundant life? Jesus—the Good Shepherd. That comes from John 10:10.)
Romans 5:9 does not actually mention anything about God’s wrath. In fact, there are two Bible versions that include the phrase “wrath of God”, but put of God in italics, admitting that it was not in the original Greek: it was added to help the reader understand (or so the translator thought) but it has actually created a deception. They assumed it meant God’s wrath, since they didn’t know the love of God. They assumed that’s what it meant—but it wasn’t there at all.
For example, the NASB says: “Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.” But “of God” is in italics—because it’s not in the original. It was added. The NTE doesn’t put it in italics. It says: “Much more, because we’ve now been declared righteous by his blood, we shall be saved through him from God’s wrath.” But it does put a note: “Greek: the wrath (referring to God’s wrath as in verse 10).” So, what does verse 10 actually say?
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? (Romans 5:10).
Where does it mention “God’s wrath” there? We needed to be reconciled to God—God did not need to be reconciled to us. He has never, ever turned from us. It’s we who turned from him. It was our wrath that God in Christ endured—not God’s wrath waiting to crush us. Because God has no wrath and no desire to crush anyone. He is a loving, restoring God.
So what is the correct translation?
Well, in this case, the King James Version actually gets it right. It says: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” It doesn’t add “God’s”—just “wrath”. The Young’s Literal Translation says: “Much more, then, having been declared righteous now in his blood, we shall be saved through him from the wrath.” That’s what it actually says.
If the wrath we’re saved from is not God’s, then whose is it?
Paul was using the Septuagint translation, which also included a book called The Wisdom of Solomon. That book was in all Christian Bibles until the 1500s, when it was removed from most. It’s still in some. The Wisdom of Solomon—which Paul would have known and read—gives us insight into the wrath, and whose wrath it is. In writing what he did, Paul would have known this verse:
So he overcame the destroyer, not with the strength of body nor force of arms, but with a subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers. For when the dead were now fallen down in heaps one upon another, standing between them, he stayed the wrath and diverted the way to the living. (Wisdom of Solomon 18:22-3).
In other words, this was describing what God was doing to the destroyer—the one who was punishing—so that the wrath would be stopped, and people wouldn’t be killed.
So what is “the wrath” that God’s servant overcomes? The wrath—another name for the destroyer—who, by this point, the Jews no longer associated with God, but with Satan. (Remember, they had previously had an undifferentiated view of God in which they thought ‘the destroyer’ was God even though Satan may have been doing the work.)
Jesus saves us—not from his loving Father—but is sent by the Father to save us from the wrath. The destroyer. The accuser. Satan. That has a totally different connotation.
Which translation should I trust?
Revealing these differences in translation—where some words have been mistranslated—can cause confusion. People often ask: “Which translation should I read? Which should I trust?”
The answer, really, is to trust the Good Shepherd—Jesus—the Way, the Truth, and the Life—who said we can hear his voice and follow him. Follow Jesus. Don’t follow your interpretation of what you think the Bible might say. Yes, the Holy Spirit can bring us revelation of truth. But it’s difficult when we’ve already been programmed to believe we know what the truth is. We’re all confirmationally biased, which means it’s really hard to be deconstructed.
For me, it was such a hard process for God to deconstruct my mind from the things I thought were true—things I had never really questioned. I had some struggles, but I hadn’t questioned deeply enough to seek the real answer. It took experiences of unconditional love to bring that change. I believe we can use unconditional love as the plumb line to discern what is true. The gospel is good news—not bad news. If we know the true good news, we’ll be free from the deceptions that misrepresent God, misrepresent us, and misrepresent how God treats and loves us.
An “unbiased translator” is an oxymoron. In reality, everyone is biased by something. The question is: are you biased by love or by theology? Take the Mirror Bible, for instance—translated by Francois du Toit. His bias is love. He sees God as a mirror of who we are. I don’t mind that bias. But I struggle with a bias that translates things through a belief that God is angry and will punish his children forever.
Your ability to judge a translation doesn’t come from your linguistic skills or academic credentials—some people have those and some don’t. It comes from your personal knowledge of who Jesus is—the nature of God as revealed by him—and the gospel of unconditional love that he preached.
Unconditional love is the reality. God loves us in such an unconditional way that he continually seeks us out to reveal we have been saved from our lostness. In the YouTube video, The Gospel of the Chairs, by Brad Jersak, which I’d encourage everyone to watch, God never turns away from us—he always turns towards us—so that we can be restored to relationship.
God’s love is so unconditional that he designed us to be immortal—to have a continual, unbroken relationship with him. Death was the result of Adam—representing mankind—walking in independence, away from life. Jesus came to undo what Adam did, and undo the consequences brought by the enemy, including death—by taking back the keys of death and Hades, and revealing what was hidden—who we really are.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.
Sons of Issachar 