Tag: Kingdom of God

197. Citizens of Another Kingdom

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott – 

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20).

In prison, Paul described himself as ‘an ambassador in chains’ for the gospel (see Eph. 6:19-20). God has called His people to be ambassadors in this world for Him, to proclaim His kingdom and to encourage people to be reconciled to Him in relationship. I say ‘in relationship’ because, through the cross, God in Christ has already done everything necessary to reconcile all people to Him. But if they continue to see themselves as estranged from Him they will not enjoy the kind of relationship He desires to have with them as His sons.

Dictionaries define the word ‘ambassador’ as

  • a diplomatic official of the highest rank appointed and accredited as a representative in residence by one government or sovereign to another
  • an authorized messenger or representative
  • an agent, an apostolic delegate, messenger, minister, or emissary.

Our citizenship is in heaven

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

We have been taken out of one kingdom and transferred into another. We are now under the authority of God’s kingdom.

For our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20).

Our citizenship is not of the country of our birth or residence. Though that might be true in the natural sense, spiritually we are citizens of heaven. This means we are connected to heaven and our authority comes from heaven.  We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom but living on the earth.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you (John 15:19).

Jesus has chosen us as His representatives out of the world, so we are not tied to the restrictions of this realm. The kingdom of heaven is a spiritual realm, a higher authority than the natural realm. It has more and greater dimensions of authority and power than this realm. In fact, this physical realm is held together by the power that comes from that spiritual realm.

This temporal realm had a beginning and will have an end. Once we come into eternity, everything that is wrapped up in this time will be left in this time. Sin will be left in this time. There will be no more remembrance of it in eternity. But we are already of eternity: though we live in this natural realm, we are constantly connected to that realm of heaven.

Ambassadors of heaven

As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (John 17:18)

Jesus is talking to the Father about his disciples, about us. We have been sent on a mission. We are gateways of heaven on earth, bringing heaven to earth. We come to administer that kingdom in this natural realm. When we lay hands on someone and see a miracle, we are bringing what is in heaven (complete health and healing) to the earth through the power and authority flowing through us as ambassadors of that kingdom.

We take our orders and get our authority from heaven. Our protection and our provision come from heaven. We live by the laws of heaven, the economy and the political system of heaven.  Certainly we need to honour those in authority over us in the natural realm, right up until it conflicts with the authority of heaven. Then, we defer to that higher authority.

Consider the British Ambassador in a foreign country. The embassy is considered British soil and is protected by British troops. The ambassador and staff take their orders from London, and represent British interests, operating under British rules and culture. They are in constant contact with the home country. They do not operate from personal opinions but on orders from home. That is exactly what God is calling us to do.

The whole church is an embassy, and our individual lives are an embassy: foreign soil to this world, protected by heaven. We have authority, but only as we act on orders from heaven (and not earth). As citizens of heaven, each of us has a sphere of kingdom authority to exercise. In and around our lives we have authority to rule over our circumstances, situations, and the place that God has put us in, representing one kingdom (heaven) in another kingdom (earth).

New services and systems

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould… (Romans 12:2 Phillips).

We are not to be influenced by earthly culture, society and customs, but rather we are to influence them and transform them. In the UK, our National Health Service is excellent as far as it goes, but as Christians we have (and can administer) a new health service. Our health service comes from heaven.

We enjoy and administer new economic and financial services. We sow into God’s kingdom and He blesses us, honours us, and multiplies it back. We then have more than enough for all our needs, with an abundance for every good deed He calls us to do (see 2 Cor 9:6-12).

We have a new education system. We are not limited to what our minds can understand. We are connected to the source of all knowledge, the omnipotent, omniscient God, who is in heaven and in us. We have all the education we need because it comes from the source of life. We can receive revelation, prophetic information, and have a heads-up on every situation because we are connected to a realm which sees the future as clearly as the present and the past.  The spiritual realm is not limited by time and space like this natural world.

We are to be a new society. That means new attitudes, new ideas, a new culture, new behaviours, new abilities, and new powers.

We have supernatural abilities, even beyond anything imagined by Marvel comic book writers. We can look into the hearts of men and see what is there; we can lay hands on the sick and see them recover; we can work all kinds of other miracles. We have authority over nature. Jesus wants us doing everything He did, and more (see John 14:12). We have the supernatural power of heaven at our disposal. The kingdom (and our ambassadorship) is of a supernatural realm, operating in this natural one.

Sown into this world

Jesus presented another parable to them saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seeds in his field… The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one” (Matt. 13:24, 37-38).

Every believer is a son of the kingdom and has been sown into this world to produce the fruit of the kingdom and to bring God’s rule to earth. We are not just here to influence the world, but to colonise it. When the Pilgrim Fathers went to America they extended the government of Britain to America. The church is a colony of heaven on earth, and so too is each of our lives.

But we do not control, manipulate or force people into accepting the kingdom we represent. This is not medieval Christendom, with its forced conversions (often at sword-point). We bring and demonstrate the good news. As sons of the kingdom, we bring the fruit of that kingdom so that people will want to be engaged with the God that they see through us.

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matt. 13:31).

The kingdom started really small, with Jesus. By the time Jesus ascended back into heaven, there were still only about 500 disciples. Yet the kingdom did not stay small, and the church now has a substantial presence in most nations of the world. In the early centuries, the number of Christians to non-Christians was 1 to 350. Today it is 1 to 6. The kingdom is advancing and growing.

He spoke another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened” (Matt. 13:33).

We are to permeate the whole world with the good news of the gospel of Jesus. We bring a message of good news that God is not counting anyone’s trespasses against them and we demonstrate that message by how we live. We are called to influence the world, to restore it to its original condition and ownership.

That is why we have to be good ambassadors.

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188. Live And Not Die

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

Our inheritance is to be heirs of the world, to bring God’s government to creation (Rom 4:13, Gal 3:29). God promised that David’s seed would sit on his throne for ever (Psalm 132:11-12, 2 Samuel 7:16).

The land promised to Abraham was intended as a starting point from which blessing would spread to all the nations. Israel failed in that, but Jesus’ disciples accomplished it by taking the Good News out to the rest of the world, making available to everyone the blessing of God.

As the original Joshua generation began to take that starting point, that land of promise, they reinstituted two important practices (Joshua 5:6-10). The first of these, circumcision, we considered before. The second was the Passover.

Passover

Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of Passover – John the Baptist identified Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” – and when He celebrated it with His disciples, He reinterpreted it in light of what was to happen to Him, investing it with new power and significance.

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor 11:23-25).

Authority and power

…and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:29-30).

When we enter into the full revelation of what it means to take communion, we find that it enables us to be seated on thrones in another dimension: it confers upon us the authority to sit at His table in the heavenly realms.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7).

This is new, fresh revelation that God is making known in our days.

God releases to us the blessing with which every family on the earth will be blessed (Gen 22:17-18), so that we in turn release it and pour it out upon the earth. We are in a position to do that because not only have we been saved, redeemed, forgiven, but because we have also been brought into that place of authority, seated with Him in the heavenlies. When we break bread we are sharing and participating in that blessing which operates powerfully in and through our lives. We are joint-heirs with Christ.

Continually devoting

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

Their continual devotion to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer had an effect: a sense of awe, miracles, generous sharing, and salvation. They were experiencing blessing for themselves, for one another, and for others.

Live and not die

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself… For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep (1 Cor 11:27-30).

Because there is power in it, we need to be careful. With a Hebrew worldview, though, we understand that if eating and drinking unworthily can bring weakness, sickness and death, then doing so in the right way can bring strength, health and life.

“I am the bread of life… the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die… not as the fathers ate [manna] and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:48-58).

Jesus’ Jewish audience were not allowed to even eat the flesh of an animal with blood in it. So they were horrified when He spoke about living forever by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. But a few sentences later He went on to underline the importance of what He had just said:

“…the words that I have spoken to you” – that is, about eating His flesh and drinking his blood – “are spirit and are life” (John 6:63).

What does it mean to live and not die? It means an end to the principle of death operating within our genetic material, an end to the patterns of sin and iniquity which cause death. Death came about because of sin, but life, health and wholeness come through participating in the body and blood of Jesus.

I want to fulfil the purpose God has for my life, and not die. There are biblical precedents for not dying: both Enoch and Elijah were simply taken by God instead. And there will be a whole generation on the earth when Jesus returns who will not experience death either. That is what I would like for myself, and I am sure the same is true of some of you.

Apply the blood

Applying the body and blood of Christ has the power to remove the blockages to receiving our eternal inheritance.

Israel had to defeat the ‘-ites’ nations, the kings and the giants in their Promised Land, and we too have to deal with them in our bloodlines: the enemy activity, familiar and familial spirits, sinful and iniquitous behaviour and genetic patterns in our lives.

The death of Egypt’s firstborn struck at the heart of that nation’s inheritance. And just as the blood of the original Passover lambs had to be applied to the doorposts (or the angel of death would have visited the sons of Israel as well), so too the blood of Jesus has to be applied to our lives if our inheritance is not to be denied us.

We do not need to only do this once a year, or once a week, as a religious ritual: we can celebrate this communion every day. We can participate in it and in faith apply the body and blood of Jesus to our genetic material, transforming us into Christ’s image as sons; a whole new dimension of transformation, bringing glory to Him. The body and blood of Jesus will renew us so that we can enter into everything God has for us and fulfil His purpose for our lives.

Nothing need prevent us from receiving our full inheritance as sons of God

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185. The Battle For Inheritance

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

Israel’s Promised Land speaks to us of our Kingdom inheritance. The journey they travelled was like ours, from slavery to sonship.

Coming out of Egypt’s bondage is a picture of our salvation.
Crossing the Red Sea is a picture of our baptism in water.
The pillar of cloud and fire is a picture of the baptism in the Holy Spirit (most of us have received that baptism in cloud: perhaps not so much in fire – though that is coming, if you have not encountered it already).
The wilderness: testing, preparation, transformation.

Finally, in crossing the Jordan they were embracing their destiny. But they could have done so a generation earlier:

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us” (Num 13:30-31).

Because of a spirit of slavery, an orphan spirit, a whole generation did not believe and so failed to inherit – except for two: Joshua and Caleb. God calls us to be like those two. The Joshua generation were forerunners who had spied out the land – experienced it for themselves – and who were ready to lead and equip the next generation to possess [to inherit by seizing, dispossessing and becoming heirs of] the land of promise.

We have the capacity to live and operate in dual realms, and our inheritance is both spiritual (supernatural, heavenly) and physical (natural, earthly). Our inheritance is to bring God’s kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven. It is to fulfil Adam’s mandate to rule in the spirit realm and so exercise influence in the natural realm. It is to see God’s glory fill the earth.

Characteristics of the Joshua generation

A generation ago, Bob Jones prophesied a billionfold harvest. I believe those billion are the labourers who will bring in an even greater harvest in the supernatural dimensions of the kingdom. Some time ago we looked at the characteristics of the Joshua Generation, who received their own inheritance and enabled others to do the same. In coming posts I want to revisit and expand upon some of those characteristics, and see how we can learn from them in our day.

1. The Joshua generation will be victorious warriors, dependent on God for supernatural victory

The very first mention of Joshua is as a warrior.

Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill (Exodus 17:8-10).

We understand that mountains and hills represent places of authority. This was where Moses went to stand, with the staff of God in his hand.

The staff of God

When he met God at the burning bush, Moses had a staff which God commanded him to throw down onto the ground. As you will remember, it became a serpent and then, when Moses picked it up by the tail, became a staff again. And God told him,

You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs (Exodus 4:17).

Moses’ staff represented his natural earthly identity as a shepherd. It represented his own natural abilities (the phrase ‘by hook or by crook’ refers to the use of a shepherd’s staff). It represented his natural source of financial provision. All this he laid down.

When he picked it back up, it had become the staff of God. In taking it up, Moses took up his supernatural identity and abilities in God. And we can do the same.

So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed (Exodus 17:11).

It was God’s supernatural authority that was being lifted up, bringing heaven to earth and causing God’s people to be victorious.

So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner; and he said, “The LORD has sworn; the LORD will have war against Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:13-16).

Inheritance robbers

Amalek were descended from Esau. They had lost their inheritance, and were trying to take it back. They represent those who would seek to rob us of our birthright and inheritance. In that sense, God still wants us to war against Amalek today.

This battle for inheritance will be in every generation, in each of our lives. Will we be robbed of our inheritance? Or will we fight and overcome in the power of God to receive it? We need to know (that is, to know by personal encounter and experience) the Name of God, Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our banner or victory. It is only in Him, in His power, in His authority, that victory comes.

What is robbing you of your inheritance today?

Is it your past – memories of sin, guilt, shame or condemnation?
Are there whispers in your head saying you are unworthy, or not good enough?
Maybe you don’t feel forgiven.
You may retain memories of past failure, disappointments, and disillusionment.
If you are haunted by your past, then God wants to meet with you to deal it today.

Are you holding on to a slavery mentality, feeling that you do not deserve an inheritance, perhaps because you have not earned it?
Do you know your new identity, or are you still acting out of what the world and your past say you are?

An orphan spirit can mean that you don’t feel loved, accepted, affirmed or approved of; that you don’t belong, don’t have a father, home or family.

It may be stubbornness and pride – still thinking you can do it your own way, refusing to admit you can’t do it in your own strength; angry with the world and with God, thinking you are owed something; having a big chip on your shoulder.

Such mindsets and behaviour patterns are strongholds in our thinking which, unless they are overcome, continually deprive and rob us of our inheritance, the freedom in Christ to live as sons of God.

Lay it down

Imagine you have a staff in your hands.
This staff represents your natural identity, your past, your natural abilities.
It represents anything you can think of, associated with your past,
which hinders you from receiving your inheritance.

Lay down that staff.

Lay down your past
Lay down your natural identity
Lay down your own natural abilities
Lay down your natural strength
Lay down your pride
Lay down your natural means of provision
Lay down your slavery mentality
Lay down your orphan spirit.

I want to encourage you to be serious about this. In your spirit, deal with those things which are blocking your inheritance. Lay them down.

As you lay them down,
Let your spirit receive the words God speaks to you.
If you have honestly chosen to lay down your past, symbolised by that staff, then God wants to speak into your spirit right now.

I declare that you are no longer a slave, an orphan or a victim
I declare that you are Mine and I am yours
I am your inheritance
And you are My inheritance.

I bless your spirit with the spirit of sonship and with the mindset of sonship
I bless you with a deep heart identity as My very own child
Securely loved in My family

My Spirit testifies with your spirit that you are My child
Receive your adoption into My family.

Let your spirit receive that spirit of adoption.
You are no longer going to be alone, an orphan, separate, rejected.
You are accepted.
Let your spirit receive that revelation.

Receive your forgiveness.
If you have felt unforgiven, that you cannot deal with the sin of the past,
Right now just receive your forgiveness from the Father.

Receive your cleansing from past sin, guilt and shame
Receive your righteousness
Receive your new name as a son [daughter] of God.

My Spirit testifies to your spirit that you are My children
Receive your acceptance and affirmation
Receive your adoption rights
Receive your birthright
Receive your blessing
Receive my love, joy and peace
Receive my supernatural authority and power of sonship

I call you My children.

You are my children and I call you to be displayed
As mature sons and daughters on the earth.

I call forth your spiritual identity as a son [daughter] of God
I call forth your eternal destiny to bring glory to Me
I call forth your divine purpose to restore creation back to its original purpose.

Take it up

As you picture the staff that you laid down,
Now take up the staff of God’s authority and power
For you to operate in the supernatural realms
Bringing heaven’s authority to earth.

As you take it up, you now have God’s authority as His children to do His works. You have authority to do what Jesus did, and greater. Take up the authority it gives you: to overcome all the blessing blockers and blessing robbers in your life, and to help overcome them in other people’s lives; to manifest heaven on earth.

Begin to exercise your authority as His children.

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Engaging God
	


	
	
	

		
Are you part of the Joshua Generation?


We developed this just for you:


eg free trial eg homepage 2019


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


To find out more and get started today*, click here…


‘Engaging God’ is an interactive modular programme developed by Mike Parsons.


Through using it you will learn how to access God through Jesus who is the Way, Truth and Life, in the realms of heaven and within your own spirit and heart; and how to take up your responsibility as a mature son [daughter] in God’s kingdom.


Many people have had involuntary or ecstatic encounters or experiences where they have engaged God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the realms of heaven in visions. Whether you have had such experiences yourself or not, through this programme you will learn to develop the ability to engage and re-engage those encounters at will, and to mature in outworking the revelation you receive from God on a daily basis.


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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.


heavenly-realms-2 (1)


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


Way, Truth and Life


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.


Ark


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.


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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).




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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!


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We developed this just for you:




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Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek


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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.


Related articles by Freedom ARC



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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:




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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.


1


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 2:1b-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:


    

  1. Deliberate act against a known law of God – 1 John 3:4 – external
    2. 

  2. A mental consent to temptation or sinful desire – coveting, lusting – Matt 5:27-28, Rom 7:7-8 – internal
    3. 

  3. Unbelief – rejecting biblical truth – Rom 14:23
    4. 

  4. Neglect of known duties or opportunities – James 4:17
    5. 

  5. Doing the wrong things out of ignorance – Lev 5:17-19 Luke 12:48
    6. 

  6. Our sinful natures, inherited from Adam – Ps 51:5, Rom 5:19-20
    7. 

  7. A law, principle or constant force dwelling in our sinful nature that enslaves us – Rom 7:14, 20-23
    8. 



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.


2


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.


Related articles by Freedom ARC



Other resources from Freedom ARC





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:


eg-homepage-crop


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!*


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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.




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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!




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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.


Related articles from Freedom ARC



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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.




'Donate to Freedom ARC' button


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:


eg-homepage-crop


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.