Kingdom of God – Page 4 – Sons of Issachar

182. Not Of This Creation

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

Therefore I urge You, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present Your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is Your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of Your mind, so that You may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:1-2).

Spiritual service of worship

We are spirit, so this is what we were created for. ‘Service’ and ‘worship’ are exactly the same Greek word, and they go together. You cannot worship Him without serving Him; nor serve Him without worshipping Him. My service, my worship, is God’s will for my life, my eternal destiny; and it will be revealed as I come and offer myself as a living sacrifice.

A living sacrifice

We can treat this living sacrifice as an analogy, as most of us have probably always done, or we can experientially present our lives as living sacrifices, by faith, in reality. It can be a real thing we are doing in a real place, in the presence of God.

The altar for this sacrifice is in the tabernacle in the heavenly realms. On a macro scale, the tabernacle is a pattern of the heavenly realms, but on a micro scale it is also an actual dimensional realm of kingdom authority.

The sacrificial lamb was prepared by the priest. It did not prepare itself. We cannot transform ourselves, however hard we try. We need the presence and power of God to change us. All we have to do is surrender, and let Him do the rest.

The priest slit the animal’s throat and drained the blood; skinned it, split it open and washed its inner organs; and split open the backbone to reveal the marrow. As we have gone through this series we have seen what some of those things represent.

Head and legs

Finally he chopped off its head and cut off its legs.

The head is all about government, rule or authority. We surrender our choices, our rights and our decision-making; our own head is severed, and we become connected to the Head: Jesus. We have the mind of Christ. We seek first the Kingdom; God’s rule in, around and through us. We seek His righteousness, ‘His way of being and doing right’ (Matt 6:33 AMP). ‘His way of being’ manifests as the fruit of the Spirit; ‘His way of doing’, as the power of the Spirit. We are under authority and we exercise authority, confidently expecting God to add to us all that we need.

Our legs are symbolic of our walk and lifestyle: we walk a surrendered walk, a walk of obedience. The one who says he abides in Him (Jesus) ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked (1 John 2:6).

I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal 2:20).

Now we can walk by faith, not sight; not swayed by what we see around us. Having a heavenly perspective, we see things through God’s eyes. God blessed Adam: He empowered Him to succeed; and then told him to be fruitful and multiply; to subdue and to bring the rule of God to the earth. He is still calling us to do the same today.

Jesus is the only way

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

There is no other way we can come. The only access point we have into a relationship with the Father is through Jesus and what He did on the cross. He is our only means of access into the presence of God in the heavenly realms.

Not of this creation

Jesus went into the holy place in the heavenly tabernacle, and the same passage of scripture says that we can go there too:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation… For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Heb 9:1, 24).

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:19-22).

We can enter the same holy place (there is no other holy place any more), and be cleansed, changed, transformed into the image God has of us.

Know the will of God

And in that holy place is the ark, containing manna, the tablets, and Aaron’s rod. The manna (bread of life) is the will of God (John 4:34); the tablets are the Word of God, now written on our hearts (Jer 31:33), enabling us to recognise Him in what goes on around us; Aaron’s rod is God’s authority, anointing and power to do His will and purpose (Matt 6:10).

I want to know the will of God for my life every day, so each day I step in to where God’s presence rests over the ark, and I take what is in the ark and apply it to my life. The blood of Jesus is always on the mercy seat, so I always have access to come and make a connection.

My spirit needs to resonate and harmonise and agree with the contents of the ark. When I come into agreement with God, I can expect God to reveal His will, His word, and His heart, and to release His authority. I get the thoughts of God, and I ask Him to show me if there is anything He wants me to do today, anything I need revelation of, anything I need specifically to do. If not, I ask Him to touch my heart so that my heart will see and recognise Him around me.

God’s will has a frequency. Resonance happens when I vibrate at the same frequency as God, to produce harmony and agreement; that is when authority and confidence come. Since God has told me to do something, I can be completely confident that He is going to give me everything I need – the authority, the power, the resources – to accomplish it.

Practice

I administer the kingdom government of God through my life, with authority and power, in the sphere of influence He has given me. But it is heaven first, earth second: I need to know the will of God in heaven before I can outwork it here on earth.

I encourage You to practise engaging until You can live and operate out of the revelation you have accumulated, and it becomes a pathway of entrance.

When you learn to drive a car, at first the driving instructor has to constantly remind you to think, be aware, look in your mirrors, step on the gas, apply the brakes and so on. But once you can drive and have built up some experience, you do it all without thinking; it comes as second nature to you.

When I first began to access heaven, it used to take me quite a long time. I was going through the process, learning to present all the different parts of the living sacrifice. Now, I can go from here in this dimension right to the very presence of God in one step, following the pathway I have learned. This is what we mean by learning the protocols of engaging heaven, so that we can step into whatever realm of heaven we need to, whenever we need to, in order to bring the rule of heaven to earth.

We need to live on the other side of the veil, in the realm of His presence. The earth responds when we govern from beyond the veil, no longer looking to live on the earth out of the supply of heaven (great though that sounds), but living our life both in heaven and on the earth, in dual realms, at the same time; no longer trying to get heaven to come down to earth, but to be in heaven, and bring heaven to earth with us.

Let’s engage as we step in:

Jesus, I thank You that You have opened up the veil.
You are the door, the matrix to the Father
into the realm of His presence

I thank You that You have torn the veil.
So today by faith I step through the veil of the natural world
into the realm of Your presence.

I thank You that while I am standing here in Your presence
I am a gate of eternity.
I open the gate of eternity in me
and I receive the realm of eternity.

I receive the fullness of the breath of God into my body
[breathe in]
that my body would take on the reflection
of who I am in the kingdom as Your son.

Father, I engage that and I push and pull it in
and draw it into my spirit being.
I ask You to breathe into me while I am in Your presence,
Breathe Your spirit and Your being into me.

I draw it into my spirit being
so I become one with You

I step back into the atmosphere of the earth
to administer the breath of God.
[breathe out]
I breathe out the breath of God
into the atmosphere of the earth around my life
to establish Your kingdom.

I step forward into the realm of Your presence.
I open my life to expose my inner being to Your presence.
All that I am, Father, I make open
for Your presence to gaze upon.

Jesus, You are my high priest,
You take my living sacrifice and make me clean.
I receive Your purity and holiness
through the absolute cleansing of Your presence.

Lord I breathe You in,
Baptise me afresh in Your Holy Spirit.
Bring me to the house of wine
to the banqueting table of Your presence
under the covering of Your government and love.

I ask You to fill me with the wine of Your love and presence.
I drink the wine of Your presence
and engage this as provision for my life
out of the realm of heaven.

I step back into the realm of earth
and release the wine and atmosphere of Your presence
into this atmosphere around my life.

I release it out of my spirit being
through the matrix gate of eternity
into the atmosphere of the earth
to administer Your kingdom through me.

You can find your own words; you do not have to use these. But as you practise stepping in by faith day by day, you will start to engage. And as you step out, things will begin to change. You will be bringing God’s kingdom into the atmosphere around your life, to His glory.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation 20-part audio series with slides (this post is based on extracts from Mike’s notes for session 19).
Preparing For Destiny (audio series and blog series).
Freedom Apostolic Resources website.
Freedom Apostolic Resources’ profile on Pinterest.

← PreviousNext →

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider making a donation to sow into and support this ministry. Thank you!

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

Vision Destiny 2015

Free download

Mike Parsons’ 3-session teaching series, Vision Destiny 2015, is available for free download from our website.

We believe that these messages contain important prophetic words for the people of God in 2015.

A reflection of God on earth?

Are we a shadow or reflection of God on earth so He can fully occupy us?

We are responsible for the revelation we have been given:
Are we aligned to that revelation?
Are we acting like forerunners?

“I am going to release the 7 spirits and your assigned councillors in greater measure
to those who will position themselves
and take the responsible seats of government.”

The Lion roars

This year will be the year where the Lion roars,
where Kingship will be revealed
and where enthronements take place,
where authority is released at a higher level.

You are a son of God, called to have dominion;
governmental authority,
in, and through, and around your life.

Judgment is coming

Judgment is coming:
God drawing a line, saying,
“This is me… and this is not”.

Judgment is not a punishment to death
but a decision to call us to choose life.

Impending upheaval

“The very stars are awaiting their repositioning orders, as Sons accept their call to action from their mandated positions of true governmental authority.

“Look to the constellations for the signs of impending upheaval
as the affairs of the nations are administered by the sons of God once more.
The stars will release their light and glory to the sons of God:
the resonance of their light and sound once again restored to divine order.”

You can download this latest 3-session teaching series, Vision Destiny 2015, completely free of charge from our website.

These key teaching sessions release important prophetic words for 2015. Whilst originally delivered in Freedom Church, so that some of the content relates specifically to the local body, much will be of value to the wider ekklesia of God (especially sessions 2 and 3, those titled ‘Vision Destiny 2015’).

Please click here to obtain your free audio mp3s, PDF slideshows (and for session 3 only, streaming video).

← PreviousNext →

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider making a donation to sow into and support this ministry. Thank you!

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

177. Heaven Around Us, Heaven Within Us

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light (Matt 17:2).

The Greek word ‘metamorphoó’ (the same root from which we get the English word ‘metamorphosis’), is translated ‘transfigured’ in this passage and ‘transformed’ in Romans 12:2 (‘but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’).

When Jesus was on the mount of transfiguration he was representing mankind. He was showing people what it would be like if they were fully able to reflect God’s glory through their lives. They would literally be shining. As we are fully transformed into the image of Jesus and mature into becoming joint heirs with Him, we will begin to shine as He did when He was transfigured/transformed. Something of God’s glory will be seen in us.

Our inheritance

And as joint heirs, God wants us to have our inheritance, which is to do the works of Jesus. Those include all kinds of miracles, healings, and control over nature. It is not surprising that the enemy wants to rob us of our inheritance; but Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus said we were to do greater works than He did. He went back into the realms of heaven to open up heaven for us so that we would do even greater works of authority and power and occupy greater spiritual authority.

Our inheritance is also to be whole, complete, without blame, reproach, sin, transgression or iniquity. The Hebrew word means ‘nothing missing, nothing broken’: nothing missing of what God intends us to have; nothing of His provision that we cannot use because it is broken or damaged; so that so that we are in that place of peace.

He intends us to have (and demonstrate) a life of wholeness and prosperity, excelling to the highest level – spirit, soul and body.

And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) (1 Thess 5:23 AMP)

That word translated ‘coming’ is parousia, which really means ‘presence’. It is one of those translations which has succeeded in reducing the level of expectation (and faith) of too many believers. Since Jesus is with us now, we can expect our spirit, soul and body to be sound, complete and blameless in His presence!

Staking a claim

Have you ever seen one of those old gold rush movies, where the prospectors would ‘stake a claim’ by driving a physical stake into the ground? Strongholds give legal rights to the enemy who has staked a claim on your inheritance. Any fractures in our souls have given an opportunity for the enemy to plant a stake, giving him a legal right to stop God’s inheritance in us being fulfilled.

The enemy is a legalist, and will take advantage of laws such as the law of sowing and reaping and the law of sin and death, unless we give him no ground. We have to deal with anything in us that has given him legal rights. We do that through repentance, applying the finished work of the cross and the blood of Jesus to all sin, transgression and iniquity found in us.

The kingdom of God is within you

The Kingdom of God is a heavenly realm (around us) that is also mirrored within us.

For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you] (Luke 17:21 AMP).

Both within us and around us in the spiritual realm, there is conflict, a battle for control. Whose kingdom rules? We are on the offensive in the spiritual warfare which takes place (both in us and in the kingdom of heaven). Wherever the enemy has established his influence, we contend for God’s kingdom to be manifested on earth as it is in heaven. He does not want God’s kingdom manifested, but his own. His intention was always to rule, and when he realised that God’s plan was for mankind to rule over creation, he rebelled. Now he seeks to manipulate circumstances and do whatever he can to prevent us from fulfilling our God-given destiny.

Our struggle is with the things that go on in the heavenly places, not against people (see Eph 6:12). What we struggle with must be dealt with in heavenly places, not in this physical realm. But we are not alone, and angels are in that spiritual realm to operate on our behalf.

Blocking the gates

We have gates in our spirit, soul and body to allow God’s flow through us and around us. They can be blocked if we allow enemy strongholds to persist, hindering the manifestation of God’s glory. Strongholds empower spiritual forces (in the kingdom of God realm in the heavens) to rob us of spiritual authority.

If we do not realise that we are surrounded by a spiritual realm, we can wander around thinking that this is just what life is like. But because the kingdom is within us, whatever happens on the inside of us is reflected in what goes on in the realms of heaven and whatever goes on in the realms of heaven is reflected in our lives. If we continue to allow strongholds to continue functioning, we are also allowing them to affect the atmosphere around us.

Deny the enemy access

The history of our past generations is stored within us and can affect us today. Our genetic record is 23 + 23 chromosomes. God wants to deny the enemy access by re-writing the record that allows him to occupy strongholds in our souls, and in our hearts.

Put me on trial

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way (Psalm 139:23-4).

In a trial, witnesses are called and evidence is presented. Generational and genetic iniquity may be the witnesses, and our present struggles the evidence of the areas we need to deal with. We can ask God to show us all this.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:4-5).

We have legal authority and power, weapons that can destroy those strongholds.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation 20-part audio series with slides (this post is based on extracts from Mike’s notes for session 14).
Preparing For Destiny (audio series and blog series).
Freedom Apostolic Resources website.

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider making a donation to sow into and support this ministry. Thank you!

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

← PreviousNext →

174. Iniquity, Transgression and Sin

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

Sold into slavery.

The human race was traded or sold into slavery by Adam and Eve: slavery to sin and with it, a sense of separation from God. It set a pattern. Joseph and Israel were sold into slavery in Egypt, and Israel and Judah were sold into slavery in Babylon, because people turned away from God and followed their own way. David expressed it like this:

Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5).

The good news is that Jesus, the second Adam, brought redemption and reconciliation for all mankind. No-one needs to feel separated from God any longer.

God’s Living Word

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analysing and judging the very thoughts, motives and purposes of the heart (Heb 4:12 AMP).

There are three areas where God’s living word is active in us as He brings about transformation:

soul and spirit (identifying what is of the flesh and what of the spirit)
the joints and marrow, the deepest parts of our nature
the thoughts, motives and purposes of the heart

Search me

Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way (Ps 139:23-24).

God uses the trials we face to bring things to the surface so that we can see them and deal with them in our lives.

Iniquity, transgression and sin

And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7, emphasis mine).

What happens in our lives can affect future generations, and what has happened in past generations can affect us.

Three provide government

Iniquity, transgression and sin are three different concepts. They all come from worldly, natural and demonic wisdom, three things which will provide government in our lives unless we deal with them. Heavenly wisdom brings God’s government by three things from the Spirit (righteousness, peace and joy), three things from the Son (the Way, Truth and Life) and three from the Father (judgment, justice and grace).

When Adam and Eve were created, they had spirit, soul and body, with the spirit on the outside. God was intimately involved with them, but He gave them free will. He asked them to follow the pathway of the tree of life, leading to life, peace and joy. But satan came from the outside and gave them another choice, the broad pathway of the knowledge of good and evil, which would lead to death.

Break the cycle

Adam and Eve chose the broad pathway that leads to death. Adam’s transgression was a cause of sin. The effect was the curse. As they continued in that, it developed into sin nature, which they passed on. That resulted in more transgression and set patterns of iniquity – which then caused more transgression.

Iniquity (the motive of things in us) creates sin (desire) which forms transgression, which then leads to more iniquity (see diagram at the head of this post).

In Christ, God has given us the power to break out of this cycle, and we must do so, not only for our own sake but for the sake of our generations to come.

Transgression

Here are some dictionary definitions:

Wilfully doing something you know to be wrong
Wilfully not doing something you know to be right
Violation of a law, command or duty
Rebellion or revolt

Hebrew: a wilful deviation from, and therefore rebellion against, the path of godly living.
Greek: to go beyond, overstepping the limits.

‘Who will set me free?’

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam … So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners (Rom 5:14, 18-19).

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Eph 2:1^b-3).

But God so loved the world – the Greek word is ‘cosmos’, so no-one is left out – that He sent His only-begotten Son (John 3:16), to deal with all these things so that we could become free; so that we could recognise and live from the nature which He created us in, the image of Jesus.

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Rom 7:24).

How many of us have felt that way? Here is the answer:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death (Rom 8:1-2).

In Christ, the condemnation that was passed down from Adam is removed. A higher law has set us free from sin and death.

Sin nature

We have probably all heard that to sin is to miss the mark, to fail to achieve the standard God has set (and when this series first appeared in 2012 I taught that myself). Strong’s Dictionary gives this definition, based on a traditional understanding of Romans 3:23: H2403 (Sins): an offense. Sinning is anything that comes short of the glory of God.

But in the New Testament the most common word for sin is hamartia, a noun (the sin) not a verb (to sin). ‘The sin’ in question is the sin of Adam, following the DIY path of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Religion focuses on behaviour – what we do wrong – but Jesus did not come to deal with our individual actions as much as He came to deal
with the issue at the root of our actions.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23).

The wages of sin is death. When Jesus overcame death, He defeated the power of sin in our lives. We are not of Adam’s line but of Jesus’, the second Adam. It is not that our behaviour is unimportant, but that it can only be changed by transformation from the inside out, when we recognise our true identity in Christ, and not from the imposition of external religious rules or even principles.

Jesus is the answer

Altogether in the scriptures there are 12 Hebrew words and 5 Greek words for sin, falling into 7 basic categories:

Deliberate act against a known law of God – 1 John 3:4 – external
A mental consent to temptation or sinful desire – coveting, lusting – Matt 5:27-28, Rom 7:7-8 – internal
Unbelief – rejecting biblical truth – Rom 14:23
Neglect of known duties or opportunities – James 4:17
Doing the wrong things out of ignorance – Lev 5:17-19 Luke 12:48
Our sinful natures, inherited from Adam – Ps 51:5, Rom 5:19-20
A law, principle or constant force dwelling in our sinful nature that enslaves us – Rom 7:14, 20-23

Four involve guilt through choice, one through ignorance, and the last 2 involve condemnation through inheritance (Rom 5:19, Eph 2:3, 1 Cor 15:50). But through His death and resurrection Jesus has done everything necessary to deal with whatever the accuser tries to bring against us. He has made us alive (Eph 2:5) and we can make a new choice to follow the pathway of the Tree of Life, which leads to peace and joy. So –

Iniquity?
Transgression?
Sin?

– whatever the question, Jesus is always the answer. His death and resurrection enables us to break free from our past and into the future He created us to have and enjoy. We all share in the victory of the cross and in resurrection life.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (1 Cor 15:22).

Two make an arc

Forgiveness and cleansing are two, making an arc which opens the third: the window of power which rests on our lives, enabling us to deal with those internal processes which have bound us to crooked behaviours.

We need to lay hold of forgiveness (and live in the good of it), so that we can be cleansed and then transformed.

…knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Consider yourselves dead

We have been bought back (redeemed) from slavery and exile into relationship with God. When we are baptised in Christ, we are baptised into what he did on the cross, and we reckon ourselves dead. That deals with the sinful nature.

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (Rom 6:3).

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin (Rom 6:6-7).

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Rom 6:11-13, emphasis mine).

Jesus did it, we consider it every day.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which [Christ and] I now live in the flesh [Christ and] I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal 2:20).

We can deal with:

Transgression or sins – they are cleansed and forgiven through the blood of Jesus.
Sin nature – we count ourselves dead through the cross and the death of Jesus.
Iniquity (we will see more in future posts – by engaging with the finished work of Christ through DNA transformation in communion; through separation, through divorce courts in heaven; and through seraphim fire).

A daily choice

It is a daily choice and we have free will to decide. What path will we follow?

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34).

We choose daily surrender, allowing God to lead, guide and direct us. We take one step, one day at a time. We find fresh mercies which empower us to live a life of godliness, to demonstrate God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and enable us to fulfil our destiny in God.

We choose life.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation 20-part audio series with slides (this post is based on extracts from Mike’s notes for session 10).
Preparing For Destiny (audio series and blog series).
Freedom Apostolic Resources website

← PreviousNext →

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider making a donation to sow into and support this ministry. Thank you!

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

164. The Image of Jesus

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

Transformation: embrace the season

We are entering into a season preparing us for holiness; a season of removing stumbling blocks; a season of preparation to cross the threshold into the glory realm; a season for transformation. Not just a minor adjustment of surface appearance, but fundamental, radical change, affecting body, soul and spirit.

Let’s not resist it, but embrace it. Let’s cooperate in being changed from glory to ever-increasing glory. Entering into the process of refining and purifying is entirely voluntary. That said, we know that sometimes God will engineer circumstances around our lives to give us further opportunities to volunteer! We can fall on the Rock, or the Rock can fall on us.

Like you have never known

Here is part of a prophetic word which God gave me before I first taught this series at Freedom in 2012:

“It is time to pray that the lid comes off and to call forth my angels who are waiting to start gathering and removing stumbling blocks both within and without. Holiness fire is coming, the highway of holiness has been prepared. It is time to walk in the river of fire. You have walked over it and felt its heat but now it is time to be baptised in fire. The heat will turn idols back into the dust they came from: to be under your feet, not in your hearts.

Call forth the gathering angels. The lids are coming off the sewers, the secret and hidden things of the heart are about to be exposed. All I ask is for the willingness to submit to the fire that will refine, purify and prepare you for true holiness.

I am about to restore your souls like you have never known, and lead you on paths of righteousness like you have never known.

I am going to prune the church. I am going to cut off the branches that are producing no fruit. I am going to remove the stumbling blocks to true kingdom government. I am going to close the access doors that the enemy has had. Some have already been removed.

I am looking for those who are willing to be pruned in the unproductive areas of their lives and in their desires and their priorities…”

Metamorphosed, transfigured

We have seen that happen at Freedom Church (kingdom government is being established here, but in the process, lids have certainly come off some sewers and we have experienced some painful pruning, both corporate and personal). What is true for us locally is true for you, wherever (and whenever) you are reading this. God wants His whole church transformed, metamorphosed, transfigured, changed, conformed into the image of Jesus; not patterned, moulded, conformed to the world.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:1-2).

Transformation is a process of change, a renewal, a restoration to original condition; not to what Adam was like before his sin but to what he would have become. How would things be today if Man had not fallen, but had spent the intervening centuries pursuing God’s plan for him and for creation? How would we be?

Our goal in transformation is to become wholly like Jesus; to live like Him; to do as He did, and greater things (John 14:12); to be conformed to His image.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29).

One degree to another

In our day, the prophetic books (portals) have been opened and we are receiving deeper levels of revelation and understanding. But these also call for deeper levels of transformation. It is like going from preschool mathematics (recognise a number), through primary school (counting, simple sums, addition, multiplication), to secondary school (algebra, equations, calculus), undergraduate, postgraduate and so on. I suspect many of us are not much beyond preschool as yet.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).

There are progressive levels of transformation to maturity, progressive levels of responsibility and authority. God wants to take us from servant to bondservant to steward to friend; lord to king to son.

By the mercies of God

Freedom from sin (Rom 6:16-18); the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23); peace with God (Rom 5:1); the grace of God (Rom 5:2); salvation from wrath (Rom 5:9); the gift of repentance (Rom 2:4-5); the love of Christ (2 Cor 5:14-15): the mercies of God are new every morning, and they motivate us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, ready for transformation.

It is indeed a process, and it may take some time. But we can begin today (and every day) by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice. We can invite Him to do what He needs to do in us.

He will challenge our conscience, imagination, reason, mind, emotions, will, and choice; our motives, desires, attitudes, mind-sets, belief systems, familiar spirits, patterns of sin, trading systems, idols, stumbling blocks, entanglements; hurts, pains, rejections, fears, inadequacies, inferiorities, disappointments and more besides. He will deal with our sin, transgression and iniquity. He will restore our supernatural abilities.

Are we up for that?
If so, let’s pray:

God I thank you for your presence in my life.
I open the gate of first love and invite you into my spirit
I invite you to activate my spiritual senses and flow through me
Jesus I surrender control of my life to your lordship.
You are Lord of my life.

I choose to be a bond servant.
Train me as a good steward
So that I can be your friend.

Renew my mind
Heal my emotions
Restore my conscience
Cleanse my imagination
Direct my will.

Train my senses to hear your voice
To know your heart
See your vision
And be directed by your peace.

Cleanse my bloodline and seed-line
Transform my DNA.

Father I choose to follow my eternal destiny
Into lordship, kingship and sonship.
I choose, as an ambassador of heaven,
To administer the rule of the kingdom of God
On earth as it is in heaven.

Display me as a son of light on the earth.
Manifest your kingdom rule through me to the world around me.

This article is available in other languages

Cet article existe aussi en Français

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation audio series (much of the content of this post is taken from session 1).
Ambassadors of Heaven audio series.
DNA Transformation (YouTube playlist of Mike’s ‘Supernatural Mentoring’ videos which touch on this subject).

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

Or you can use the blue button to support our work with a one-time gift*.
Thank you!
*Note: This donation is securely handled through PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account yourself to make a one-time donation. For repeating donations, if you do not have (or want) a PayPal account please support us through Patreon instead.

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

163. Gateways Open, Flowing Freely

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

Me, myself and I

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please (Gal 5:16-17).

Self-centredness, selfishness, self-importance, self-promotion, self-control, self-respect, self-esteem, self-worth, self-image, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, self-belief, self-righteousness, self-help, self-expression, self-gratification, self-indulgence…

You might think that not all of these are bad. But it really depends on what is driving our lives. If we are to reflect the glory of God and flow with His life, then ‘me, myself and I’ will have to die.

Our soul is supposed to get revelation and direction from God, on the inside. Once it finds the true source of life and grows accustomed to drawing from that source, it will not want anything else. But while we keep trying to feed it from two sources, it remains confused. We have to re-train it to receive from the inside out.

We were looking in our previous post at the diagram of our spirit, soul and body gateways, and we understand that we need all our gateways open and flowing freely.

So what might block and close up our soul gates?

Common blockages

Sin: unforgiveness, rebellion, independence, self-centredness.
Strongholds: mind-sets, beliefs, lies.
Negative emotions: fear, doubt, unbelief.
Demonic: familiar spirits, generational spirits.
Deception, confusion, control.

Mind gate: strongholds, words spoken, words received, curses, fear, false doctrines
Imagination gate: images seen or imagined, TV, films, books, fantasy, games, internet
Emotions gate: rejection, disappointments, unforgiveness, betrayal
Conscience: sin, deception, pride, independence, judgment, criticism, defensiveness

Unmet needs affect our soul’s desires and motives. Unhealed hurts affect our emotions. Unresolved issues affect our trust and foster doubt. Sin and rebellion will dull our conscience so that things no longer seem wrong, so that we become comfortable with our weaknesses and patterns of sin, and eventually they seem to us to be normal, acceptable behaviours.

How can we open our gates?
How can we keep them open?

Whatever it is that has blocked our gate(s), we must own, confess, repent of, and renounce. As we apply the blood of Jesus, there is no guilt, shame or condemnation for us: we receive forgiveness and cleansing. Cleansing the gateways by the blood of Jesus is essential to fully opening the flow.

Step 1: Open the gate of first love

This gate is often most damaged by our natural experiences of hurt, pain and rejection. Renouncing inner vows, repenting of fear and forgiving hurts, we invite Him into our spirit and out through our soul and body by deliberately opening the door. Jesus is knocking: the door handle is on our side and it is up to us to open it (Rev 3:20).

We give God first love, first place, first priority

Step 2: Opening spirit gates

In our relationship of intimacy with God, we act in faith and meditate on each gate, surrendering our spirit to Him. We pray in tongues, open it up and welcome the glory and fire of God’s presence to come through.

Here is an example prayer for one of those gates (revelation). These are just words I have used – you are welcome to use or adapt them, but you can find your own if you like:

Father, I choose to open the gate of ‘revelation’ in my spirit.
I open it and yield it to Your glory.
I receive and release the power of God through this gate
I begin to receive revelation of Your kingdom
So that it will change my soul into the image of the Son of God who abides in me.

Persistence and diligence are key. We can work on all the gates, one at a time or in groups, but we must pray until we start to see the results – and then keep going.

Step 3: Opening soul gates

The soul gates are often influenced by demonic familiar spirits and our sin nature (which we know must be crucified with Christ and reckoned dead daily (Rom 6;6, Gal 5:24)).

As gateways begin to open, we can expect warfare from our soul as the kingdom influence begins to exert itself. We have to take back possession of our souls and dispossess anything residing there: demonic spirits, blockages, strongholds, controls, or anything else.

Again we act in faith, this time speaking to our soul and yielding control to the direction of our spirit. We take God’s word as a sword to separate our spirit from the control and dominion of the soul (Heb 4:12), declaring, “Soul, you will not motivate me, control me, or block the flow of the spirit”.

Our soul draws life from our spirit, but it has been used to drawing from the world, through the body. It has been used to ruling, being in control, which is why it fights the spirit when the spirit seeks to assume its rightful place. We break soul ties to our spirit, and break independence by surrendering control to our spirit.

Here is my example prayer for the ‘conscience’ gateway:

I bring my conscience into submission to my spirit.
I release the life of God to flow from my spirit
Through the gateways of reverence and of the fear of the Lord
To a consciousness of God’s righteousness and truth.

Where my soul has been seared by sin,
I now take the sword of the spirit and cleave the gateway open
To allow the flow of God through it, to dictate my actions.

Father, make me aware of my actions
That I may submit to Your authority in my spirit…

Step 4: Take possession of the gateway and place Christ at the centre of it

We yield the soul’s gateways to the dictates of the spirit. We allow the life and glory of God to flow through them to the body, influencing and dictating its actions.

Step 5: Repent (change our mind and think about these things the way God does).

We repent of allowing any demonic spirits access through the individual gateways of our souls. We take the blood of Jesus by faith, wipe the gateway clean and redeem it. We acknowledge that we have not been diligent in the past and now accept and fulfil our responsibility for guarding the gates.

Continuing my example prayer over my conscience gateway::

Today in Jesus’ name
I take authority over [the spiritual force or condition]
That is resistant to the flow of God in me.
I loose it and cast it out of this gateway in Jesus name.
I make, and place, Jesus as Lord over this gateway today.

Father I thank You that my conscience gateway is full of Your glory.
I thank You that my conscience receives and releases
The flow of godliness and holiness through it in Jesus name.
My conscience will now dictate my body’s actions in the world.

[Thankfulness is very powerful. I may not feel that my gateway is actually yet full of His glory, but I declare that which is not as though it were, and give Him the opportunity to use my words to bring that about in me].

Persistent, diligent

When the life of God begins to flow, sometimes it is just a trickle. That is better than no flow at all, but we want a flood! This type of praying needs to be persistent in order to maintain the victory and widen the flow. Once our gates are open and functioning, as long as we are diligent and keep short accounts with God, we will never allow sin to block them again. But even if we do, we now know how to get them open and flowing freely again.

We lay hold of the gates of our life by faith as our inheritance, so that we exercise our God-given right to exercise dominion and authority there. We cast out any spirit seeking to exercise authority in those gates. Jesus is Lord of the gates only as we give Him the right to flow through them. In the spirit, by faith, we raise the banner of victory over each gate as a declaration that Jesus resides there.

God’s desire is that we manifest His kingdom, so that the world can see His love, His grace and His mercy, flowing freely to them through us. Let’s begin to enforce the kingdom of God from the point of authority in our spirit, so that it floods into our soul, through our body and out into the world.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Ambassadors of Heaven teaching series
Preparing For Destiny teaching series [this post is based on session 12]
Freedom Apostolic Resources website

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

162. Spheres of Influence

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

Rule

Your destiny is to rule, to bring God’s kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. This is His ‘Plan A’, and He has no other plan. God said to Adam and Eve when they were first created:

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule (Gen 1:28).

He intends us to bring His will (His kingdom) from heaven to earth. It is our individual destiny, and also the destiny of the church: the mountain of house of the Lord will be raised up above all other mountains (Isa 2:2).

But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him (1 Cor 6:17).

It is in relationship with Him that we become one. It will take time, dedication and obedience, but the more we are in tune with Him, the more His will and purpose and kingdom will be outworked through us. Our destiny to rule comes only through relationship with Him, and is based in love.

Spirit, soul, body senses

This is a picture we have seen before, showing how we can relate to God and how He can flow through us.

At one time we had no concept that the glory of God could be inside us. Our First Love Gate was closed. We had no connection to God and our spirit was dead to Him. But we now know that He lives inside us, empowering us to live, to change, to be transformed.

We all have a body, soul and spirit. Our body enables us to relate to world; our soul to relate to ourselves; our spirit to relate to God. Our destiny flows through a strong spirit, but can be blocked by a dominant soul. So it is vital for us to have our soul restored and refined, and spirit – soul – body in the proper order, not the other way around.

When we are born again, we become a dwelling of God’s presence. Heaven is a spiritual dimension all around us, and we are now connected to it through God who is in us. We have a flow of abundant life flowing through us like a river from heaven (from the spiritual realm), and we can experience the goodness of God, on the inside.

This means that everything we are used to getting from the outside, God can give us much more effectively from the inside. God is love, so we can now experience the love of God from the inside instead of looking to meet that need for love from somewhere else (which is ultimately unfulfilling). God is light, so we can receive understanding and knowledge from Him, on the inside.

The river flows from heaven through God in us, to our spirit, soul, and body, and from there into the world around us. God’s will (His kingdom rule) in heaven is able to operate in us, through us and around us. Every single person reading this can be a world-changer. Even if it is only your own world you are changing, that is still something of eternal significance.

Spiritual blessings

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3.)

In our relationship with Christ we are blessed. And those spiritual blessings can be manifested in the physical realm, equipping us to succeed in life. Those heavenly blessings can flow to us, through us and around us.

But more than being connected, we have access to actually enter into those heavenly places:

…and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6).

So we can engage with the eternal things of God and manifest them here and now.

Flow

A flow of revelation comes from heaven into our lives through God’s presence. Rather than trying to build up our intellect from the outside and get worldly knowledge (which may be good to have, but is not of eternal value), we get revelation knowledge from God. In that flow there are also resources, authority, light, glory, God’s presence and power, all coming from the unseen spiritual heavenly dimension into the physical realm through the gateway of our lives.

…the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, from, for) eternal life (John 4:14 AMP).

He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water (John 7:38 AMP).

In the world, everything flows from the outside in. But with God, everything flows from the inside out. So if we are looking to change, to be transformed, then we can be changed from the inside out rather than picking away at the symptoms of our behaviour, and peeling away the onion layers one by one. We can go straight to the root, from the inside out.

Higher

This physical realm is held together by the spiritual realm, which is higher than the physical realm in power and authority:

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col 1:16-17).

Spiritual laws or principles supersede natural laws and principles: healing overrules sickness and disease; freedom overrules captivity and bondage, and so on. Jesus is our example of heaven ruling earth through His life – the will of the Father was perfectly demonstrated through Him. He demonstrated the higher authority of the spiritual realm over the natural. He walked on water, turned water into wine, multiplied food, passed through crowds of people and disappeared from natural sight. He made money appear in a fish’s mouth, controlled the weather, stilled the storm, healed the sick and cast out demons, restored limbs and raised the dead – the spiritual realm has authority even over death, proved by the resurrection.

If we are to do the same, and greater things (as He said we would), then we too need access to and familiarity with that spiritual realm.

We have learned how to relate to the world around us through our five physical senses, from the outside in. Our soul also has senses that have been trained from the outside in, by nature, nurture and trauma. But our spiritual senses can only be trained from the inside out, through our relationship with God. We cannot get them trained anywhere else. This will transform our soul and body senses from the inside too.

He is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present – and connected to us, which gives us access to all He knows, everything He does and everywhere He is. Through Him we are connected to everything, everywhere, at every time.

Positioned to receive

We are in position to receive a spontaneous flow of revelation knowledge: inside information. Prophecy, for example, is information from the future: God disclosing to us what is to come. So if we want advance information about what is going to happen, to know all about our day before we live it, we can get in touch with God in the morning and ask Him to show us. God wants to give us an advantage. The information we can get from the physical world will never be greater than the revelation we can get from the mind of Christ who is in us.

The thoughts of God dance in our mind, as Einstein said. The feelings of God move our emotions; the impressions God gives motivate our wills; He causes visions and pictures to form in our imagination. We can learn to tune in, to hear God’s voice on the inside. We can learn to see from the inside – see angels, see that spiritual dimension, the spiritual signals people are giving out. Learn to hear from the inside, that still small voice, sense of peace, the umpire in our hearts; to feel from the inside, moved by the compassion of God; to smell from the inside – spiritual fragrances, which often indicate what God is doing; to touch from the inside – many of us have experienced heat, or vibration, when we have laid hands on someone for prayer.

We need to activate our spiritual senses: the fear of God, intuition, revelation, worship, hope, faith, reverence and prayer. Some of those senses we may use more than others because of our particular gifts and callings, but we all need to use them to some degree.

Channels, conduits

It is when we have these senses functioning that our lives become an open gateway to manifest God’s presence in this world: His rule, as it is in heaven, on the earth, through us. Each of us has a kingdom sphere of influence in which we have authority to rule. For some it may be wider than others, but we all have the power of God’s kingdom to bring godly influence into our home, family, social gatherings, workplace, street, church, and ministry. If where you work is miserable, you can come in with joy and peace to transform it. Let’s start bringing heaven into our workplace, and every other setting in our lives.

We can change the atmosphere, and we can change a situation, because we carry the kingdom of heaven within us. If we see someone sick, we can bring healing. If we see someone in poverty we can bring blessing. We can find the will of God in heaven and bring that will to earth as a manifestation of the kingdom.

Keys of the kingdom

We will need to use the keys of the kingdom.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven (Matt 16:19).

We have to bind or loose it in heaven first. We bind to the will of God, to the truth and so on; we loose from the restrictions and chains of the enemy.

We need to be flowing from the inside out, God’s kingdom manifesting through us. We need to know our identity as sons of God, that we have a right to bring God’s rule wherever we go. Then we can walk into a situation with boldness, knowing that we will affect it and bring change to it rather than being affected and changed by it ourselves.

We can change our lives, and those of others, by being open to God’s kingdom rule.

Your destiny is to rule.
Your destiny is to be a world-changer.

God I thank You for Your presence in my life
I open the gate of first love and invite You into my spirit
I invite You to activate my spiritual senses and flow through me
Jesus I surrender control of my life to Your lordship. You are Lord of my spirit.

Transform me into the image of Jesus from the inside out
Renew my mind, heal my emotions, restore my conscience, cleanse my imagination
Train my senses to hear Your voice,
Know Your heart, see Your vision, be directed by Your peace.
Manifest Your kingdom rule through me to the world around me.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation teaching series
Preparing For Destiny teaching series [this post is based on session 11]
Freedom Apostolic Resources website

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

157. Manifesting His Presence

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

God’s presence is within us. He wants us to open the door so that He can fill our whole being.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Rev 3:20)

Opportunity for the world

Jesus is inviting us to have a relationship with Him. God is on the inside of us. He wants to flow out through us so that we manifest His presence around us. In that way the world has the opportunity to interact with the kingdom of God.

There are senses in our spirit. They are gates through which God can flow. Depending what your destiny is, some of those gates will be used more than others.

Revelation from God

I spent a long time meditating on my gates. In praying, I would picture a gate and meditate on it, asking God to show me what that particular gate meant for me. I did that for all those gates in my spirit, soul and body until I had a revelation from God about all of them. I went through a process of opening my gates and learning to allow the flow of revelation to go through my spirit, soul and body.

I have taught others how to do this and they agree how challenging it is, as God highlights the areas which are blockages to His flow. But they also agree how effective it is in opening up their lives to receive revelation from God. Their experience (and mine) is that this can transform your life.

I spent a long time considering each of the combinations of gates through which the life of God can flow through my spirit and soul and out from my body. It took a while, because I think there are something like 280 of them. But it was worth the effort, because it has opened me up to being able to hear God, see Him and flow in Him so very much more than I ever could before.

Removing the blockages

The process is one of perseverance and practice. But as you start to understand how this works, you find there are things operating in you which are blockages to the things of the spirit.

They may come to you as pictures. Some people see brambles, or chains, all over their gates. Some see their gates all boarded up with wood and nails and are crying out “I can’t open it! I can’t open it!”. The truth is, we will be able to open it, but there may be things God wants us to deal with and get rid of, so that the gate is unblocked. We have to go through the process.

Transform the world

Jesus is knocking, and I just want to encourage us every day to open up the door inside us. Let Him in. Let Him into our spirit. Invite Him to be Lord of our life. Allow Him to start flowing through the gates of our spirit, soul and body and so out into the world around us.

As we do that, we find that we start to change and transform not only our own lives and how we live, but also what goes on around us. We become subject to God’s kingdom flowing from us rather than what is coming at us from the outside, so we learn to overcome things like sickness and be in authority over them. This is something God is teaching us how to do.

When Jesus came He was the model of the kingdom. Everyone who came to Him, He healed from every sickness. Everyone who came to Him, He set free from the demonic influence that was operating in their life. He brought people into fulness of joy, and peace, and hope.

Flowing like Jesus? It does not happen overnight. But with dedication, practice and perseverance we will be able to experience this in our own lives.

The question is, how much do we want it?

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

153. I Have Called You Friends

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

There is a period of training we have to go through in order to sit in the seat of rest, the place of government, and to bring kingdom authority into our life. We have first to give up control of our lives, and learn to be servants and stewards. But beyond that, God wants us to come into friendship. In all this process we are gradually getting to know the ways of God (Zech 3:7).

Friends

Friends enjoy a measure of revelation that stewards and servants do not. Being a friend of God comes through relationship, but it also comes about through obedience, as we shall see.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you (John 15:13-14).

When we surrender He is able to bring us into a place of intimacy and fellowship and revelation where He reveals things to us.

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).

He wants to entrust us with insider knowledge and revelation. This will give us an advantage in the world around us, and we will have the favour of God upon us. Because of our faithfulness as servants and stewards He will now trust us with those intimate secrets He wants to share with us.

Jesus is Lord. We learn how to be a servant and do the works of God. He then starts to entrust us as stewards with more resources and responsibility. He shares His heart with us as we become friends. We begin to learn the ways of God. We engage with the Holy Spirit and learn to recognise His voice and to learn the things of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there to lead us to Jesus. He does not promote Himself, but He leads us to Jesus. Jesus becomes higher in our lives.

Lords

Jesus is Lord of lords, and we are the lords of whom He is Lord. He enables us to be lords who govern with authority and power, and we start to administer the principles of the kingdom.

Kings

Jesus is also King of kings, so we understand that when Jesus takes us to a yet higher revelation of authority, we become kings. A king has a greater and wider authority than a lord. Instead of simply administering the laws, kings can make them. That is when we can ‘rule the house’ (Zech 3).

Sons

But Jesus in turn does not want us to remain just in relationship with Him, so He always leads us to the Father. As we get into that relationship with the Father we can operate as sons. Sons operate in a whole different level of authority and power than do lords and kings.

This is a process and a journey of training which all starts with surrender. I can only become a son if I first become a servant. Am I willing?

God is looking for that surrender so that we can judge the courts of heaven and operate in the kind of authority that most of us have never even dreamed of. Because of the storms that are coming in the world, God wants a people who can live from the eye of the storm in authority and power as lords, kings and sons. He desires a people who can administer the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Equipping

When kingdom authority comes into our lives, we can command things around us to be subject to the realm of God’s kingdom. We have authority to change things so that they come into line with God’s purposes for our life.

We need to come into alignment with the desire of God, engage in the purposes of God, and set ourselves apart to yield to His Lordship. As we surrender to His government in our lives, we receive His equipping on the inside. This enables us to engage external things so that they change and take on the reflection of the internal authority of God’s kingdom within us. Then we can walk into chaos and transform it, bringing peace and order just as Jesus did.

Step in, step out

We will finish today by stepping in to God’s presence, and having engaged with Him, stepping back out, as we have learnt to do. We need to practise stepping in and out of the presence of God. This is not just for corporate prayers: in our own intimate time with Him, we can learn how to step in and pray like this about particular things in our own lives, and then to step out bringing answers from heaven.

If you want to come to that place of surrender from which this process begins, then I would encourage you to find somewhere you can stand, and will be able to take a step forward. Then as we speak these words out together, we will practise entering the seat of rest.

Father I thank you that You have made a way for me to come into your presence
By faith I step [take a step forward]
into the realm of Your presence
and ask you to forgive me for not fully surrendering
to the absolute government of Your kingdom in my life.
Today Jesus I wilfully and with desire
abdicate the throne of my heart
so that you would come and seat yourself as Lord and King;
as Lord of lords and King of kings over my life

I surrender my seat of rest,
that mountain throne
with its domain and government,
into Your hands.
I give You the keys of my heart.
I give You the keys to every doorway of my spirit, soul and body.

Today by faith I thank You
that You are seated on the throne of my life as Lord.

Train me, Jesus,
to surrender to Your Lordship
and to come to that place of maturity
to assume responsibility for the seat of government in my life as a lord

Now Lord I step back [take a step back]
into this earthly dimension
bringing You to this realm
to teach me how to administer your kingdom government
to the world around me.

Amen.

As we surrender to His lordship, He will train us to be lords, kings and sons who will fully bring the manifestation of His kingdom as it is in heaven on earth through our lives.

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

152. Resources and Responsibilities

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

The first step in our ‘training for reigning’, as we saw last time, is to give up control of our own life and learn to be an obedient and willing servant.

Stewards

Beyond servanthood, there is training to be a steward. A steward has responsibilities – and access to resources – that a servant does not. Stewardship carries a higher level of authority and responsibility, and Jesus will train us to be stewards of all the resources He has made available to us for our lives and for the works He has prepared for us to do.

In Matthew 25 Jesus taught about responsibility in the kingdom:

Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them (Matt 25:1-3).

All ten were entrusted with a task, but only five of them took their responsibility seriously. Five did not, and Jesus’ response to them was ‘I do not know you’ (Matt 25:12). I do not believe He meant that they were not in relationship with Him, He meant that He did not recognise Himself in them. They were not operating in good stewardship.

Talents

For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability (Matt 25:14-15).

We have been entrusted with Jesus’ possessions while He has gone back into heaven. All of us have calls and destinies in God, which He will give us the resources to fulfil. A talent was an amount of money, and each of us needs a different level of resource to achieve our particular calling.

Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money (Matt 25:16-18).

Trading is taking something God gives us and putting it to work to achieve a desired result. Here, the two servants who traded with their master’s money acted responsibly, and doubled his money for him. The one who hid it in the ground was an irresponsible steward.

Whatever God has given, He has given for a purpose. We can hide it in many ways: ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I’m not worthy’, ‘I can’t do it because of my past’ and so on. We can come up with any number of excuses why it is too difficult or too risky to go after our destiny in God, but Jesus will not accept any of them. He knows what He has called us to do, and He has given us the means of achieving it. He expects us to use our gifts for His glory.

Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master. (Matt 25:19-21).

All of us will have to settle the account of our life, before the judgment seat of God. I have been there, and I know it is not somewhere you want to go if you have messed up, and not used the resources God has given in the way He intended. God wants to train us to be faithful in using what he has given us. If we are faithful with a little, He will entrust us with more. That is a principle of good stewardship in the kingdom, and it applies both in this age and in the age to come.

As for the servant who did not act responsibly with His master’s resources:

But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy servant… you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless servant into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 25:26-30).

This is not ‘hell’, but the outer courts. The weeping and gnashing of teeth will come as people realise how they have failed to fulfil the call of God and squandered His resources. The good news is that we can go before that judgment seat now, repent and pursue our destiny, beginning to act as faithful stewards. Then we do not need to find ourselves in that situation.

Faithful

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much (Luke 16:10).

God tests us. He gives us opportunities to demonstrate whether we are going to be faithful with what he has given us. Those of us who are looking for something from God, whether it is anointing, finances, gifts or anything else, need to be faithful with the little things first. God will not give us a huge international healing ministry if we are not prepared to minister healing to the person next door. God’s training involves giving us opportunities to grow.

Authority comes as a result of learning to be a good steward:

And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17).

Trustworthy

And here is Paul, talking about the things that God revealed to him when he went to heaven and had a face to face encounter with Him. He sees himself as a steward, who would wisely use those resources to bring blessing to others:

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy (1 Cor 4:1-2).

God wants to entrust us with all that He has for us, but He starts us off with a little, so that we can learn to be faithful, and acquire the wisdom to handle greater anointing, greater revelation, greater levels of finance, greater honour.

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10).

In our finances, if we are faithful with what we have, He will give us more. When we honour Him by faithfully administering a little, He is able to entrust us with everything. Are we faithfully using our gifts and abilities, whether spiritual or natural, for the purposes for which God has given them? How are we using our covenant relationships, with one another and with Him?

Heart attitude

Everything we have belongs to God, and He wants to train us to be good, faithful stewards. After all, we are only stewards of everything we have. Our money, homes, cars and possessions all belong to Him. When we make Jesus Lord, we make everything we have available for His use. If it all belongs to him, then He has first claim on it, whatever and whenever He wants. When He asks us to give something away, it will reveal the attitude of our heart (particularly if He asks us to give something precious).

Are we willing to surrender everything to Him? An attitude which says ‘It all belongs to You’ – that is the hallmark of a good and faithful steward.

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

Spiritual service of worship

A living sacrifice

Head and legs

Jesus is the only way

Not of this creation

Know the will of God

Practice

Related articles by Freedom ARC

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Support Freedom ARC

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

Share this:

A reflection of God on earth?

The Lion roars

Judgment is coming

Impending upheaval

Support Freedom ARC

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

Share this:

Our inheritance

Staking a claim

The kingdom of God is within you

Blocking the gates

Deny the enemy access

Put me on trial

Related articles by Freedom ARC

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Support Freedom ARC

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

Share this:

Sold into slavery.

God’s Living Word

Search me

Iniquity, transgression and sin

Three provide government

Break the cycle

Transgression

‘Who will set me free?’

Sin nature

Jesus is the answer

Two make an arc

Consider yourselves dead

A daily choice

Related articles by Freedom ARC

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Support Freedom ARC

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

Share this:

Transformation: embrace the season

Like you have never known

Metamorphosed, transfigured

One degree to another

By the mercies of God

Related articles by Freedom ARC

This article is available in other languages

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Support Freedom ARC

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

Share this:

Me, myself and I

Common blockages

How can we open our gates? How can we keep them open?

Step 1: Open the gate of first love

Step 2: Opening spirit gates

Step 3: Opening soul gates

Step 4: Take possession of the gateway and place Christ at the centre of it

Step 5: Repent (change our mind and think about these things the way God does).

Persistent, diligent

Related articles from Freedom ARC

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Support Freedom ARC

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

Share this:

Rule

Spirit, soul, body senses

Spiritual blessings

Flow

Higher

Positioned to receive

Channels, conduits

How can we open our gates?
How can we keep them open?