Tag: Spiritual Growth

502. Breaking Free From Indoctrination | Embracing Love

Mike Parsons –

Over hundreds of years, false doctrine has infiltrated the church and shaped what many people simply accept today.

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Simplicity of the gospel

Over many years, even hundreds of years, false doctrine has infiltrated the church and shaped things into what we see today, and people have simply accepted it. However, there are explanations for this and different alternatives to all of it. To be honest, why spend your time trying to understand something that was never written for you in the first place?

With all of this, whether it is true or not, let us go back to the simplicity of the gospel that Jesus talked about. Let us love one another. We do not have to agree: let us love one another. Let us love the world rather than trying to convince someone of something. Let the Holy Spirit, who is the only one who can renew someone’s mind, do that work. If people are genuine, then you can have a conversation, but if they are just trying to prove you wrong, then it is a waste of time.

A different view of God

If someone is genuinely searching and thinking, “I am struggling because this does not align with God, how could this be God?”, then they are on a journey towards restoration and renewal of their mind, and you can help them along that path. If all they want to do is convince you that you are wrong, and that there is going to be tribulation and judgment and a millennium and all of that, then that is a very deceptive doctrine, and you will not argue someone out of it. I think God will renew many people’s minds and deconstruct a lot of people, but many will remain stuck in religion and in the system, sadly. But many are leaving it, and many are coming to a different view of God.

We can help them discover that God is love by loving them. It is better to love them than to argue with them. It is better to keep a friend than to win an argument and lose a friend. I think saying, “Look, I do not really want to get into a lot of this stuff, because I think it will just cause problems in our relationship, and I value our relationship more than being right,” and leaving it at that, is often the best way.

It is better to keep a friend than to win an argument.

It is a difficult deception that keeps people in darkness and in bondage, and ultimately only God can bring the light into that. If people had tried to convince me that my eschatology was wrong back in the 1980s, I would not have believed them. But God spoke to me. God did it. I could not argue with God. I just went on a journey where he unfolded a whole different view that I had never even imagined.

God deconstructed me himself

I did not read books about it at first. God showed me through the Spirit by taking me through the whole thing. Once I realised that my whole understanding had been twisted, then I found some books that supported that view, and I realised I was not on my own. Loads of other people believed this as well. But I did not find it through other people. God totally deconstructed me over a two or three year period himself. Then that was confirmed by me reading other things, and there were people who were helpful to me, especially David Chilton: Paradise Restored, The Great Tribulation, and The Days of Vengeance, which is his book on Revelation, a massive book. You can find free PDFs online here:

Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (1985)
The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (1987)
The Great Tribulation (1987)

David Chilton started off as a partial preterist in that he believed chapter 20 of Revelation was still future, but he ended up a full preterist because he came to realise that it was all in the past. He got himself excommunicated from the group he was in because he believed that and was persecuted.

Inevitably, I think, if you are open, you will move through partial preterism into preterism. I do not want to be labelled a preterist or not, because there are other things within that system that I do not necessarily think are true, but let us say I am a realised eschatologist. All eschatology is realised. It is already the end. The study of the last things is the study of what happened in the past, not the study of what will happen in the future. For me, that is where I have moved towards.

Not the end of the world

Ultimately, my understanding of that, and the same Bible verses that talk about what would happen at the end of the old covenant, also talk about and have been interpreted as what is hell. Then I realised, I do not believe this is talking about the end of the world. So this is also not the end of the world. Gehenna is not hell. Gehenna is literally talking about the end of the age when the old covenant was put into the fire and destroyed. Jerusalem and the people were put into the fire in Gehenna if they continued in Jerusalem, as Jesus warned them would happen.

They did. The Romans crucified hundreds of thousands and burned them in Gehenna. That was not the end of their life. That was the end of their physical body. Their actual soul would go into the fire of God’s love and hopefully bring about their restoration. I imagine a lot of people would have remembered what Jesus said when the armies turned up, but it was too late if they were besieged, and they would probably have remembered what Jesus said, “You are going to end up in Gehenna.” Hopefully, they would also then have remembered Jesus’s offer of life.

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266. A Happy Eschatology

431. Breaking Free from Deceptive Teaching | Rediscovering God’s Love

426. The Nature of God: Rethinking Our Beliefs

345. The Rapture of the Saints

318. Not the End of the World

501. Deconstructing Beliefs: A Journey to Authentic Faith

Mike Parsons

The deconstruction of our way of thinking comes from experiencing God. If I present people with theory about God, they will soon spot the gaps in that theory reflected in my own life. If I share the testimony of my experience of God, based on knowing that God loves me unconditionally, that there are no conditions attached, that I have been reconciled and included in Christ and all those wonderful things, then I am able to share that good news with others because I have truly experienced it.

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If I only offer theory, people will sense it is not real in me. The best form of deconstruction is to experience the truth, which will then challenge the areas in our lives that are not true. Rather than attempting to change lies, experience the truth. Focusing on changing the negative aspects of our lives only makes us focus on the problem, causing it to grow and become more difficult to overcome. If we focus on the solution, the solution addresses the problem.

No one can deconstruct their own mind. Only God can accomplish this. If we keep walking with him, he will do things in our lives that will completely challenge everything we have thought about ourselves, about him, and about everything else. People may try to teach you to deconstruct your mind, though they might use the term “renew your mind” instead. I see deconstruction as the removal of negative things. However, I do not believe it is something God attempts directly; rather, deconstruction happens as a result of God revealing his true nature to us. Instead of God saying, “I am not like this,” he focuses on showing us who he truly is.

Renewing our minds brings about deconstruction because it challenges what I previously believed was true and shows it is not. Those beliefs are then deconstructed. You cannot deconstruct yourself because you do not know what you do not know. You allow God to reveal to you his truth, his love, his light, his relationship, his grace, and his mercy. Those experiences will change the areas in our lives that do not align with such truths.

Deconstruction is a consequence. God is not actively trying to deconstruct you. He is trying to give you the truth, and the truth will change the lies. If people focus on trying to change the lies, they end up concentrating on them. You can modify your belief system, but that is only a set of facts you have chosen to believe are true. That is quite different from truly knowing the truth.

I have changed many things I used to believe because I became convinced that something else was better or that it was actually true. However, until I experienced the truth, it remained an intellectual understanding; the truth is a person – Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

I am never going to discover truth by simply trying to invent a new belief system. You need to allow God to show you his character, and that will naturally transform the areas of your life that do not yet reflect who he really is. I know people, and I was the same, who tried to change their thinking by memorising, quoting, or confessing Bible verses. I did that myself. The Holy Spirit was able to work with me to some extent through that process, but essentially, confessing scripture will not make me experience it. It may provide a new perspective, so that I know the verse and can quote it or use it, but until I experience the truth behind it, I do not have a testimony of it in my life. That is the key.

I think deconstruction is spoken about a great deal at the moment because many are undergoing this process. It is not, however, God attempting to deconstruct their minds; it is God giving them a new revelation and experience of the truth, which then causes what is false to fall away. God is not going around trying to destroy your beliefs; instead, he wants to give you something true, and those false beliefs will simply fall away, which is far better. Having a testimony is so much better than having a belief.

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190. By Personal Encounter and Experience

426. The Nature of God: Rethinking Our Beliefs

330. Find Truth Within: Trust Your Own Connection with God

 

493. Training For Reigning

Mike Parsons – 

Kingdom people used to say, “We’re in training for reigning!” I don’t think they had any idea what reigning really was…
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Kingdom people used to say, “We are in training for reigning,” and I do not think they had any idea what reigning really was. I think they thought of it more as an earthly thing rather than something beyond that. But we are in training, and I do want to learn, and I want to enjoy the journey of learning, particularly when it comes with my Dad. I love that relationship with my Dad. It is an intimate one. I feel his pleasure, and I know that if I could help people, or any other beings, feel the pleasure that I feel from God, that would be a good thing. How could I do that? I do not really know, but I do know I feel God’s pleasure, when I am in creation; I feel his pleasure that way, and it is a joyful thing.

So any environment that I was responsible for creating, I would want to be filled with joy, peace and love. Would I make people with free will to go and choose to do something apart? Well, if you do not have free will, you cannot choose to love, so it is not love, is it? But I would not want someone to love me. If I was creating something, I would want them to love God, who created me. That is different, and I do think about that quite a bit. If I had total creative choice, would I want to create a mess like we have got? Because then I would be responsible for it!

Being an ascended father is not being God: I do not think I have the capacity to be connected to billions of people all at once and process everything at the same time. Unless my mind was totally transformed, that would be like the film Bruce Almighty. At first he is loving it, saying, “Oh, I can do this and I can do that,” and then suddenly, “What are all these voices? What are all these voices?” “Well, they are praying.” “Oh no,” he says, “I didn’t sign up for that!” So no, I don’t think it means we will be like God in that sense. But the more we become like him, the greater our capacity might be. It is an interesting one.

I do enjoy the multi-dimensional ability to be at rest, enjoying life here without having to cognitively do everything I am doing in the heavens. It would be impossible, really. I could not be in eight places doing eight things, one after the other, in a linear fashion. Being free from linearity, free to be multi-dimensional, was a joy when I discovered it.

I was doing all that before I even knew I was doing it. I had an inkling that something was going on because I was receiving insight and revelation from my spirit that I had no memory of actually engaging with. So I thought something more must be happening. Then the Father showed me, “You are here doing this, and here doing that, and here, and here.” They were all familiar places, not beyond my experience, but actually being in that state of multidimensional connection…!

When God spoke to me about it, he said, “You have had glimpses of these things, but now I am taking the blinkers off and showing you what this reality really is.” And I thought, wow, that is awesome. Now I can just relax and enjoy being here, knowing all that is being outworked there without me having to think, “Oh, I must do this today or that today.” It is who I am. That was the key: this is who I am.

When God says, “I am that I am,” I know that I am who God made me to be, and I only have to be in “I am” to outwork that. Not “I am” independent, but “I am” in the image of “I am.” If I really get hold of that – who he made me to be, my true identity in that wondrous union of intimacy and relationship – then I can be at rest. I do not have to worry, be anxious or rushed.

Life is so much more joyful and connected to creation now than when I was still learning how to do everything. I think back and realise how much I learned. It was a lot, but that was the journey God took me on. I learned how to do it all, but I did not realise I was doing it until he showed me. Then I saw how we have this amazing capacity to go beyond what I could ever have imagined or thought I could do in my own understanding. Looking back, that was the learning process that got me here.

I rejoice in that and I am very thankful to God for all he did to bring me to this place where life is now much more joyful, peaceful and restful. I feel his pleasure when I am enjoying life. I live quite a simple life. I enjoy being in the garden, in the workshop, just hanging out. I enjoy having fun. I laugh a lot, much more than I ever did. We have a very similar sense of humour, so we laugh together a lot, and we laugh at each other too, because we know each other’s little ways. It is lovely.

I never lived that way before, and it really does make life enjoyable and fun. We laugh a lot every day, about all sorts of things. God laughs too, you know. He is a God who laughs. People often think he is miserable, worrying and anxious about the world, but he is full of loving emotion. I know he has laughed at me plenty of times. I have brought him much mirth with the things I have done and the scrapes I have got into. I know he was laughing, because it was amusing, even if It was not very amusing to me at the time. This is a picture I used to use sometimes of a lion with its paw over its eyes, and I think that must be God looking at me, saying, “Oh no, what is he up to now?”

Can you imagine the Lion up in heaven, going ‘What are they up to now?’

These days I feel more and more in tune, living in that union with God’s heart. I feel and sense him all the time now, which makes life so joyful, and not something I would have thought possible, because you only know what you know, don’t you? You don’t know there is something better until you discover it. I did not know my life could be like this until I am living it like this. It was not something I asked God for, because I would not have known what to ask for. I might have asked in general terms, but not in specifics. Now I am so grateful for the specifics. I live with a real attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude because I appreciate it so much. It is a joyful life, to be lived.

432. From Within: Cultivating Your Relationship with the Father

332. Embracing Multi-Dimensional Living

377. Living in Rest

473. Why Do We Assume? | Questioning Our Beliefs and Practices

Mike Parsons

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We often make assumptions simply because we’ve never thought to question things, or even paused to ask, “Why am I doing this?” It’s so important to consider our motives. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t gather, worship, or take part in services—if that’s how they want to express themselves, that’s perfectly fine. But it’s worth asking ourselves and one another, “What’s at the heart of this? Why am I really doing it?”

A friend of mine, for instance, shared how God told her and her husband not to attend the Sunday meeting anymore. Her husband was delighted—he could use the time for other things—but she was horrified. Every time Sunday rolled around, she felt guilty for not going. It took her six months to work through that guilt. Guilt doesn’t come from God—it stemmed from her conditioning and an internalised mindset of what she thought she ‘should’ be doing. Once she processed those emotions, she found incredible freedom and began enjoying life outside of that obligation. She also found that her relationships changed: there were genuine friends who stuck by her whatever she did, and ‘church friends’ who were only present if she attended church. Real friends are those who stand by you through thick and thin, not just casual acquaintances from shared routines.

Whenever we feel compelled or would feel bad for not doing something, it’s worth asking ourselves: why? What is driving that feeling—guilt, compulsion, or freedom? God never wants us to be in bondage to something because we’ve assumed He desires it when it may not be His intent at all. Asking “Why am I doing this?” is always helpful, and I’ve had to do this myself many times. God has nudged me out of many such patterns. For example, a few years ago—around 2022—He told me to stop doing my annual Vision Destiny teaching series. The idea was that people should discover their own destinies with God and engage in their own conversations with Him, rather than relying on mine.

I realised that, even after stopping public teaching, I was still journaling out of habit. When I asked whether God wanted me to continue, He made it clear that it was up to me—He didn’t require it as a condition for our relationship. It was freeing to realise that my sense of duty was self-imposed, not divinely required. Eventually, I let go of journaling, and even changed how I approached my time with God in the mornings.

This shift wasn’t about having a better or worse relationship with God, just a different one. I learned that intimacy and union with God doesn’t depend on set routines or religious disciplines; it can be experienced just as deeply in everyday life, in the garden, the workshop, or wherever I am. Sometimes that connection comes through a conversation with God, but just as often it’s a felt sense of His presence throughout the day.

Since embracing this freedom and releasing the conditions I thought were required, my experience of God’s unconditional love has grown so much deeper. I realised that the expectations I thought God had of me were really just conditions I’d placed on myself. As I allowed those to fall away, I became freer, more connected, and filled with joy in everyday life, knowing that God’s love is unconditional and not dependent on any ritual or discipline.

If you enjoy these video blogs, please take a moment to like, share, comment, and subscribe—it really does help. Thank you very much.

All Mike’s books, including Into the Dark Cloud and Unconditional Love, are available to order from online and local booksellers; or you can buy them as ebooks and download them instantly from our website.
More info at eg.freedomarc.org/books

307. God’s Unconditional Love For You

FREE – 2020 Vision Destiny

442. Unconditional Love – NO GUILT, NO SHAME

469. Developing Your Spirit | Its Function in Relation to the Soul

Mike Parsons

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The spirit needs to be developed—and we need to understand how it operates. The functions of the spirit are often experienced through gateways such as reverence, the fear of the Lord, worship, and so on. There are several gateways, all designed to work in harmony with the soul and body, rather than independently. However, because the spirit and soul have become somewhat disconnected, we haven’t learned to function as a unified whole.

When some people discover spirituality and develop their relationship with God, their spirit begins to function, but since we haven’t generally been taught how to operate in this way, generally we need to learn how. I found it helpful to engage with the different gateways of the spirit by walking through them with Jesus and asking Him to show me how they work and what capabilities my spirit possesses. We refer to them as gateways because they serve as entry points, but in reality, they represent spiritual abilities or function of the spirit that need to be activated.

These abilities are activated as the Holy Spirit flows through us, and when our spirit is joined with the Holy Spirit. However, because we haven’t been used to living this way, we need to intentionally build up our spirit. Some people seem to operate in this instinctively, but most do not, so it becomes a learning journey. The more we focus on developing our spirit, the stronger our spiritual abilities become; we learn to sense and feel through the spirit—not merely through the physical senses or emotions. As our spirit becomes more active, it expands, grows, and increases in its ability to function, and as we become more whole, the spirit, soul and body work together seamlessly.

Separating and reintegrating soul and spirit

There is often a process required, where the spirit and soul need separating and reintegrating. Typically, the soul draws life from the spirit but has not been truly subject to it. Without the spirit, we wouldn’t be alive. Before discovering our identity in Christ, we often live as though we do not even have a spirit—the soul predominates, learning from everything outside ourselves. The soul is shaped by experiences and operates independently of the spirit and of God. However, when we become Christians, our spirit and soul are reconnected, and that’s when a ‘wrestling’ tends to begin, as the soul is used to being in control—protecting and providing for itself through various coping and defence mechanisms.

Suddenly, when the spirit enters the scene, the soul resists surrendering control, usually out of fear. As the spirit grows, this struggle continues, but the sooner we surrender, relinquish control and allow the spirit to lead, the better. With our spirit joined to the Holy Spirit, our lives can be directed far better than by the soul alone. Once Jesus separates and reintegrates the soul and spirit, the spirit connects to the soul from the inside out, allowing everything to flow outwardly from that unity. We then discern what is happening in the world around us first through our spiritual senses, rather than through physical senses or emotions. We’re no longer operating from memory, but from spiritual instinct—enabling us to know, feel, and sense what’s happening.

It is important to go through this process and surrender the soul’s control, so that spirit and soul can become integrated, functioning together to operate in a completely different manner.

If you enjoy these video blogs, please take a moment to like, share, comment, and subscribe—it really does help. Thank you very much.

All Mike’s books, including Into the Dark Cloud and Unconditional Love, are available to order from online and local booksellers; or you can buy them as ebooks and download them instantly from our website.
More info at eg.freedomarc.org/books

274. Separating and reintegrating soul and spirit (1)

275. Separating and reintegrating soul and spirit (2)

 

 

 

466. Quantum Integration | Connecting Spirit and Soul for Transformation

Mike Parsons

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Separation and reintegration

Once I had gone through that process and reintegrated, I became whole—spirit, soul, and body—in a genuine sense of completeness. My soul no longer felt the need to validate itself or dictate the terms of my actions. Suddenly, my soul and spirit were functioning in different realms but remained connected. This reintegration of spirit and soul brought a quantum entangled perspective, enabling me to be anywhere, as it were, and allowing my spirit to function in that realm.

Previously, I was tied to my soul; I would journey into heaven and then come back out, rather than having my spirit truly dwelling there, seated with Christ in heavenly places. Although my spirit was seated with Christ, I couldn’t fully understand or consciously realise the connection, as my soul kept pulling me out. As a result, I would have amazing heavenly experiences but would always return, rather than remaining in that place. God intended for me to dwell there consciously, uniting my spiritual and physical consciousness—linking my mind and spirit.

The bridal chamber

When that happened, everything came together. Things changed quite dramatically, and a whole range of new experiences opened up, eventually taking me into union in the bridal chamber. Now, this union is not sexual, but it is just as profound as sexual union, as described in 1 Corinthians 6:17. In the previous verse, it refers to whoever is joined to a prostitute becoming one flesh with her, illustrating the depth of true union.

I truly didn’t know what to expect. I felt invited to come to this place to meet the person of God—that was the union I experienced. After undergoing the process of separation and reintegration of spirit, I entered into the person of God and engaged with Him face to face. The encounter was overwhelming—far too much for me to handle. My limited beliefs and my mind simply could not cope with the magnitude of the experience, so I withdrew very quickly. But in that brief moment, I saw God and encountered something far too wonderful for me to explain or even process with my understanding of who God was.

Cognitive dissonance

This encounter created cognitive dissonance and prepared me to re-experience the true God, because the religious concept of God I had did not align with what I felt in that moment. It was simply too wonderful for the God I had believed in. I had to go through the process of really coming to know and dwell with Him. This began back in 2012, and over the years, I underwent a time of deconstruction—discovering who God truly is.

My relationship with God deepened, revealing the true God behind the false one I had previously imagined—the one who needed me to serve, be obedient, and fulfil duties out of obligation. All of that fell away as God challenged those beliefs. The ‘old covenant’ concepts I still held were also challenged. Throughout all of this, I continued to have encounters which led me to new places. For example, I passed through a series of firestone experiences—nine encounters in total—which took me into different levels of identity as a son of God.

There were many strands of experience, all drawing me towards union. Looking back, I realise how much work it took to get me to this place. I was so far removed from it, but I persisted in the journey, not knowing how each strand or encounter fitted together. All the experiences had a purpose, even if I couldn’t see how at the time—there was indeed a goal at the end.

If you enjoy these video blogs, please take a moment to like, share, comment, and subscribe—it really does help. Thank you very much.

All Mike’s books, including Into the Dark Cloud and Unconditional Love, are available to order from online and local booksellers; or you can buy them as ebooks and download them instantly from our website.
More info at eg.freedomarc.org/books

274. Separating and reintegrating soul and spirit (1)

275. Separating and reintegrating soul and spirit (2)

455. Scroll of Life | Understanding your heavenly purpose

Mike Parsons

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Two Scrolls: Destiny and Life

From my perspective, it is like there are two scrolls. One is the scroll written of me by the Father—it is the scroll of my destiny, of my identity. The other is the scroll that is the record of my life—how I have actually lived.

Some of my life has been aligned with that identity and destiny, and some of it has not. When I engaged the judgment seat of Christ and the fire of God’s presence, I took the scroll of my life. Literally, of course, it is me stepping into that place—but the scroll is a way of relating to the process.

The Bible describes scrolls being written front and back, and that was my experience too. I brought that scroll before the Father. All I saw was a consuming fire—His eyes—and the scroll was opened.

Understanding Our Destiny

On the front side of the scroll, I saw wood, hay and straw—and also gold, silver and precious stones. These represented the things I had done as a believer. This was not about my life before I knew Christ—because everything from that time, every action rooted in lost identity, has already been forgiven and dealt with at the cross.

What I was seeing was my life in Christ—how I had lived in relationship with God. Some things had mixed motives. I was doing certain things to affirm my identity, to validate myself through activity. They were not necessarily wrong, but the motive was not pure.

And He consumed all of those things—everything described as wood, hay and straw. But the gold, silver and precious stones remained. My scroll—my life—was refined. Everything contradictory was removed. There was no guilt, no shame, no condemnation—just love.

Unconditional Love – new book out now
Mike Parsons’ new book, Unconditional Love, is out now. Order it from your favourite local or online bookseller today, or get the ebook instantly from our website. More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books.

Reflecting on Life Choices

On the reverse side of the scroll, I saw more gold, silver and precious stones—and more wood, hay and straw. This represented the things I had done in alignment with the Father’s heart, and also the things I had missed—things I could have done, but did not.

Some of those omissions came because I was not paying attention, or I was too busy, or simply unaware of what the Father was doing. As I began to feel sorrow and regret for missing those things, He just lovingly consumed it all—no condemnation, no guilt—just love.

That love removed all potential for the enemy to accuse me, or for me to condemn myself. He purified my scroll—my life—completely, so that nothing could hold me back.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

The judgment seat of Christ is not about punishment. It is about purification. It is about bringing our lives into alignment with who the Father says we are—not who we have been shaped to be by the world, our culture, our upbringing or religious systems.

Religion warps our identity. But God wants to reveal our true identity as sons. He wants us to operate from the truth of who we are in Him—not the false version formed by lost identity.

He has continued to speak to me—to reveal the vast sum of His thoughts about me, so I can come into deeper understanding of who I really am. I do not know everything yet—He is still revealing. But that is relationship. Sonship is discovered through relationship.

God’s Love and Forgiveness

In that relationship, He continues to purify and refine my life—removing anything that might hinder me from progressively knowing who I truly am and living from that reality. I know there were many times I acted from mixed motives—trying to earn or prove my identity.

But He has removed that mixture. The pure in heart will see God, and I did not want anything impure clouding that. In His kindness and generosity, He purified not only the record of my life, but also my memory of it.

There are things I can no longer recall—literally gone—wiped clean by His love and grace. And that is just His mercy and His wonderful, overwhelming love.

If you find these videos helpful, would you please take a moment to like, share, comment and subscribe? It really does help. Thank you very much!

281. Scroll of Destiny: Just Being

434. God’s Fiery Love

417. Awakening to Love | Finding Your Place in God’s Heart

422. From Rejection to Acceptance | Understanding Your Identity in Christ

430. Being You | The Heart of Your Relationship With God

Mike Parsons

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God isn’t commending you, endorsing you or recommending you based on what you’ve done—but on who you are, and who he created you to be. Your destiny isn’t a long checklist of things you have to accomplish in order to be good enough. It’s about being you. That’s really the heart of it—discovering and becoming your true self in relationship with him.

So God’s not looking at your performance and saying, “Well, I can’t work with them, they’ve not done a good enough job.” He’s looking at you as his son, as his beloved creation. You’re the apple of his eye, the treasure of his heart. His desire is for you to be you. And as you live out of that true identity, you’ll naturally express things through creative sonship that reflect who you are—and that’s what’s truly worthy.

So when he says, “Well done, my son,” it’s not because you ticked off a list of achievements. It’s more like, “You had a go. You used your creativity. I’m pleased with you.” Think about Jesus—God spoke over him and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased” before he even began his ministry. God’s approval wasn’t based on what Jesus had done. It was based on who he was. And that’s the same for us. God wants us to rest in who we are. That rest then becomes the source of everything that flows out of our lives. Just being, without striving or doing, releases the doing in a natural and authentic way.

Now, when it comes to things like creating wealth, we don’t need to strive for it. God is our provider. If we’re in tune with him—moving with his heart, doing what we sense he’s doing—then everything we need will be provided. He’s already promised that we have more than enough for all our needs, and abundance for every good deed. And those good deeds aren’t random acts—they’re connected to who we are. They’re expressions of our true self in a world that needs it.

If I’m striving to make money or create wealth in my own strength, it’s probably because I’ve moved out of that place of trust and into anxiety. But when we’re at rest—when we’re not worried or fearful—we draw provision to us. We’re not grasping, we’re receiving. There are people out there—Joe Dispenza, Sadhguru and others—who’ve tapped into some of the principles that God operates by. Things like sowing and reaping, or what some might call “heavenly technology.” They may be working with these principles, but not necessarily in relationship with God. So while they might be doing generally good things, it can have a kind of humanistic flavour—because it’s often built on information, not revelation. It’s not flowing from intimacy with the Father.

And look, I’m not heavily into any of that stuff—I’m just aware of it because people talk about it, and I have friends who are really into those ideas. And in many ways, there’s nothing inherently wrong with what’s being said. But the problem is, without relationship, it becomes a formula or a technique. And that’s not what God wants from us. He wants union—a living relationship with him as our Creator.

That’s totally different from working a technique to get a healing, or meet a financial need. Being in relationship with him draws all that we need to us. We don’t have to chase after it. When we live from rest, we don’t fall into striving or performance to try and earn his blessing or approval. He already wants to bless us because we’re his children. And he wants us to relax into that identity; to be at peace with who we are. From there, everything else flows.

If you enjoy these video blogs would you please take a moment to like comment and subscribe – it really does help! Thank you very much.

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

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377. Living in Rest

374. Aligning with God’s Heart in Co-creating

333. Unveiling Our Divine Identity

281. Scroll of Destiny: Just Being

426. The Nature of God: Rethinking Our Beliefs

Mike Parsons

Not seeing the video? Click here.

People often ask doctrinal questions, but it’s important not to answer them with doctrinal answers, because doing so only reaffirms another doctrinal stance. What we really need to do is bring it back to the nature and character of God. Behind every doctrinal question lies an assumption about who God is and how He acts. The person asking the question might no longer resonate with that assumption, or they may be going through a process of having their previous beliefs challenged. For example, when God began challenging my own belief in penal substitutionary atonement—something foundational to my upbringing—it led to a cascade of further questions. Doctrines are interconnected. When one is questioned, others naturally follow, and this often challenges the very foundation of someone’s faith.

Some doctrines may seem less significant, but if someone is asking about them, there’s usually a reason. The real issue is not necessarily the question itself but why they’re asking it. Understanding the motivation behind the question can reveal where they are in their journey. Perhaps God is working in them, nudging them to reconsider something. If they’re asking just to win an argument or prove their own belief right, then engaging in debate is usually fruitless—they’re not really open to listening.

So when someone asks about theology, I try to understand what’s prompting the question. Is God speaking to them? Challenging them? What’s He doing in their life that might explain why they’re now curious about this topic? Once I get a sense of that, I can align with what God is doing in that person’s life. I don’t want to get ahead of where God has them. If I tell them something they’re not ready for, they may react badly and retreat from the journey they’re on. I try not to give people something ten steps ahead when they just need the next step.

I often won’t answer the question they’re literally asking. Instead, I try to give the answer they actually need at that moment. This can be frustrating—some will say, “But you’re not answering my question.” And that’s true, but if God doesn’t want me to answer it right now, then I won’t. I want to share what God is saying to me to say, not just what I think I should say. The goal is always to discern what’s really behind their question, what’s in their spirit and heart, and then respond to that.

Rather than giving them answers, I try to point them to the Father. If they come to know who the Father really is, they’ll be better equipped to receive the answers directly from Him. That’s far more helpful than just believing or disbelieving something I tell them. Often doctrinal misunderstandings come from a distorted view of God, so pointing people to the true nature of God helps correct those distortions more effectively than tackling the doctrine itself.

In a recent Zoom on Patreon, I shared how mistranslations have distorted our view of God—how we see the cross, ourselves, and how God relates to us. These come from reading Scripture through doctrine instead of revelation. Take Isaiah 53:10—most English versions say it pleased the Lord to bruise him, suggesting God took pleasure in punishing Jesus. That paints God as abusive, which pushes people away.

But Jesus used the Septuagint—the Greek Old Testament—written between 300 and 100 BC. It reflects a shift in understanding. Earlier, people had thought everything came from God—good or bad—because they didn’t separate God from Satan. But over time, that changed. The Septuagint shows a growing revelation of who God really is—not a punisher, but a healer.

The Septuagint says the Lord wished to cleanse him of his wound—not bruise or crush him. That word cleanse is the same used when Jesus healed a leper. God didn’t punish Jesus—man did, inspired by the enemy. Jesus took on mankind’s wound so the Father could restore our identity. Penal substitution paints God as an abuser and makes love hard to grasp.

Similarly, Jeremiah 17:9 is mistranslated. It doesn’t say the heart is deceitful and beyond cure, but the heart is deep—who can know it?  These distortions fuel a false view of humanity as wicked and unfixable, rather than whole, loved and made in God’s image.

Romans 5:9 is very often translated as saying we’re saved from the wrath of God, but “of God” is added by translators—it’s not in the original. The King James and Young’s Literal just say the wrath. So whose wrath is it? Not God’s—it’s the enemy’s. The one who comes to rob, kill and destroy. Jesus came to give life and to destroy the works of the evil one.

For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer, and the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring that he was thy servant. So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers. For when the dead were now fallen down by heaps one upon another, standing between, he stayed the wrath, and parted the way to the living. (Wisdom of Solomon 18:21-23 KJV).

So the Wisdom of Solomon, part of the original canon of scripture [and included in the King James Bible until it was removed in 1885] says it is “the destroyer“ who punishes and brings death, and Paul would have known this as scripture. So when he talks about ‘the wrath’, he is referring to the enemy’s destruction, lies and identity theft—not God’s supposed anger.

So, a few mistranslated verses have propped up an entire theology that presents a false view of God’s nature.

{The video continues]

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

Related posts

 

417. Awakening to Love | Finding Your Place in God’s Heart

363. Deconstructing the Pillars of Your Mind

299. PSA Sounds Nothing Like Jesus! (Penal Substitutionary Atonement [1])

422. From Rejection to Acceptance | Understanding Your Identity in Christ

Mike Parsons

Not seeing the video? Click here.

As a complete transcript, this is a long read… so first, here’s a summary. Scroll down for the full text.

Video Summary:

When it comes to knowing our true identity, it’s not about copying others or climbing some spiritual ladder—it’s about hearing God for ourselves. We’re not trying to fit into a religious mould or follow someone else’s journey; we’re learning to rest, to trust, and to grow in relationship. It’s not about striving or earning, but about realising we’re already included, already loved, already free. God never meant us to stay stuck in old ways of thinking or be limited by what others say about us. He wants to reveal who we really are through direct, personal relationship—and that’s something no one else can define for us.

A lot of the time, we’ve been taught to see ourselves through filters—through what others expect, or what religion tells us is acceptable—but God wants to strip all that back and show us who we truly are. It’s a process, often uncomfortable, but always leading to freedom. As we begin to engage Him more deeply, we stop needing external affirmation, because we’re hearing His voice. We learn to let go of the fear of getting it wrong, and instead walk confidently as sons and daughters who already belong. We don’t need to strive to become what we already are—we just need to live in the reality of it and let God continue the transformation.

The more we get to know God, the more we realise how much better He is than we ever imagined, and that makes the journey exciting. Everyone’s story is different, and I love hearing them because together they show the richness of God’s work in us. I never planned any of what’s happened in my life, but step by step, God led me beyond what I thought possible. It’s not about comparison with others—it’s about becoming fully ourselves, embracing who God made us to be. That’s where rest and joy come from, not striving. And as we live in that identity, we naturally bless others. We become rivers of living water, refreshing the people around us, not by trying to be anyone else, but by being exactly who we are in Him.

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

Lightly edited full transcript:

Walking with God | Authentic Relationship

I think when it comes to the relationship side of it, he’s on his own journey. So really, it’s about encouragement. If there’s an opportunity to practise something with him, then do something simple—like going to the throne of grace with a problem, or something basic that helps him engage with God on the inside. Where is God? Because a lot of people have never really considered the reality of that. They might say, “Well, yes, God is in me, the Holy Spirit is in me,” but where exactly? And how do we relate to that? How do you engage with that in any real sense? Rather than just saying, “Well, he’s there. I know the Holy Spirit is in me,” actually exploring where and how that works with our spirit and soul, and how that brings life.

You can also open up some other ideas—like Psalm 23, lying down in green pastures. Well, that could be the garden of your heart. There’s a scripture that says the heart is like a well-watered garden, so you can point towards both that inner relationship and the development of personal intimacy. But also you can say, we have access to be seated with God in heavenly places where Christ is. We can be seated there, which means a position of identity and authority. But also, intimacy—being with the Father, just as Jesus is with the Father, so are we.

So I think there are those two aspects you can begin to help someone engage with, if they’re on a journey—which obviously your son is, as he’s discovering things and having realisations. There still aren’t too many people who’ve put all of these elements together into one consistent whole. You know, Don [Keathley] has done the kingdom, the now, and the eschatology, but perhaps hasn’t quite touched on the intimacy and heavenly encounter aspects yet—or maybe he has and just hasn’t shared that. Who knows? But I imagine he’s on that journey, and the Father will be opening that door for him. That’s when it moves beyond just a theological belief system to a relational belief system—one that reveals the true nature of God.

Ultimately, I know he’s very much into love and the reality that God’s nature is love. I doubt that’s just a theory for him—I think it’s his experience. God’s got him on his own personal journey of experience. And I’d say, start with love. God is love—so how does he experience God as love? What does that mean? The unconditional nature of love can begin to deal with the religious obligations and duties that may have come from earlier experiences. Unconditional love brings a revelation of God that shows just how good he is—how kind, tolerant, patient and wonderful he is.

So help him experience unconditional love with very simple things—like closing his eyes, being still and knowing God. Be still and know love. Let love touch him. These small things can be really helpful for little breakthroughs, which then become a taste of something deeper, something that can lead further into the fullness of God revealing himself. And then your son can come to know who he is in God—free from any of the religious baggage we’ve all had to work through.

It’s the little things really. You want someone to always want more, rather than feeling overwhelmed. Like after a big meal when you feel so full it’s uncomfortable—you don’t want that spiritually. It’s tempting to give someone too much, but it’s better to offer just enough so they’re still hungry, still curious. Rather than thinking, “This might be my only or best opportunity, so I’m going to give them the whole lot,” it’s better to go bit by bit.

The idea of a “joy economy” speaks to me of how heaven functions—not based on duty, obligation or even money as we know it, but on joy. Having joy in something is worth more than the kind of economy that’s all about profit. Enjoying your work is better than just working to live. That phrase has all sorts of connotations. In an economic sense, if you’re serving someone in what you’re doing—whether that’s in a job or your own business—what’s your motive? Do you want someone to be blessed, to be happy receiving your product or service? That changes everything. The joy economy has a different motive behind it.

More broadly, God wants us to live with an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude—which is joyful. Rejoice always, and again I say, rejoice. You can’t rejoice if you’re miserable and focused on what you don’t have. You rejoice over what you do have—what God has done, what Jesus did, your experiences, your testimony. That focus on the positive opens up even more in the future. Whereas the joy economy would not be based on warfare—there’s no joy in war. We don’t want to be at war with anything or anyone. That fits with a restorative view: I’m not going to fight against something, I’m going to restore—whether that’s a relationship or a person. Restoration, not opposition.

The Freedom of Sonship

So there are lots of different ways of looking at it, but joy is the predominant factor. Whether you’re thinking in financial terms or in terms of how things work, joy is foundational. And I’d say love, joy and peace all work together—they cement the whole thing. Then from that comes grace and mercy. The joy economy is living in limitless grace, triumphant mercy and unconditional love. These are aspects that deepen and broaden what joy really is.

If I don’t know I’m unconditionally loved, it’s very difficult to be truly joyful, because there’ll always be a condition I feel I have to meet—and I might fail. So unconditional love leads to joy, and joy leads to peace. And peace really comes when you’re at rest—when you’re not striving or struggling or constantly trying to tick boxes. It’s that place of rest, where you’re living in what God’s already done and who he already is towards us.

That can then start to shape the way we live—how we live in this world and how we stay peaceful even in hard times. Rejoicing, praising, being thankful—not just when life is wonderful on the surface, but also in the midst of difficulty. People often look at the world and feel despair—“It’s getting worse and worse.” But I look at the world and yes, I see what’s going on—but I also know the kingdom of God is filling the Earth. I believe God will restore everything eventually. So I’m not focused on how it is now—I’m focused on what it will be like when it’s restored, when the kingdom is functioning on Earth as it is in heaven.

It’s easy to become despondent when you focus on the negative, but I try to focus on God’s intention—his future. So what’s happening now is only temporary. I’m not going to let something temporary weigh me down or cloud my perspective. Yes, it might be a fact right now, but the truth is that everything will be restored to God’s original design, however long it takes. And while I’m here, I’m going to enjoy life and live in that truth.

To me, the economy of joy is how I live. It’s how I rejoice in things and stay thankful. I look out the window and the sun’s shining—I rejoice in that. It’s beautiful. Maybe I can’t be out there right now, but I rejoice that others are enjoying it—the garden, the wildlife, the birds feeding on the table—they’re enjoying it, and I rejoice in that too. Creation seems to be smiling.

And if it’s rainy one day—well, I’m inside, so that’s great. I can be thankful the rain is watering the earth, preparing the plants for spring. You can always choose to see something positive. For me, my attitude of joy is this: the glass is half full and getting fuller—or already overflowing. Rather than focusing on the negative. A lot of what we’ve been taught tends to focus on the negative—the enemy, the fight, the battle.

I’m not interested in the enemy or what he’s doing. Because of that, he generally leaves me alone. By and large, the enemy doesn’t want to mess with me—because I’d look to restore things, even for him. So from that perspective, I’m not coming from a place of focusing on warfare or negativity. I’m coming from a position of, this is where I’m seated, this is who I am. Everything is under my feet.

So, I ask, What is God’s intention in this situation? And I can rejoice in that, because I know God’s purpose is always to bring good out of it. I want to be part of that. I believe we have a mandate to live in joy and to be joyful. It’s not just a nice idea—Jesus said, My joy is in you so your joy can be full. That sounds like a mandate to me.

He also said, My peace I leave with you—not as the world gives. That kind of peace goes beyond understanding. Again, that feels like a mandate: live in peace. And then, Love one another as I have loved you—that’s not just a suggestion, that’s a commandment. It’s a new one. But in essence, the real commandment is: Let Me love you, so you can love others. That’s a mandate too.

God wants us to live in love, joy, peace and rest. And from that place of rest, everything else begins to flow. A group could absolutely have a corporate mandate to steward or administrate a “joy economy”—to live it out personally and also see how it might impact the world around them.

The medical profession is increasingly recognising the effects of gratitude and joy on the body and mind. It brings a sense of wholeness. It even boosts the immune system when we live in a state of thankfulness and joy, rather than under a cloud of doom, gloom and misery. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.

Sure, we can look at the world and say, “It’s a mess,” but that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way—and it doesn’t mean we have to be affected by it. I believe the world does need to awaken, and the Church especially needs to awaken—big time—to joy. Too often it gets bogged down in negativity.

But the truth is, God is always working, always processing, always good. He’s always wanting to bring good out of every situation. And we get to cooperate with Him in that. Yes, sometimes we see things that we want to change, and it’s okay to bring those to God. We can work with Him on it. We can wrestle with Him. But at the end of the day, we trust Him. We trust that what He’s doing will ultimately work out for the best.

Sometimes we have to refocus our attention and actively engage God in the things we want to see change. God doesn’t want us to be passive. He wants us to be real, to share our hearts, to express our desires. We don’t have to pretend everything’s fine when it’s not. There’s a difference between wrestling with God and accusing Him. Wrestling says, “This is what I long for—this is my heart.” And then we rest in His goodness, trusting that His way will prevail.

So yes, we can wrestle—but not to force our own way. We wrestle so that God’s way can be released into our situations.

With your son—it’s been a long journey. You’ve seen things along the way. And you’re not giving up. I remember you saying he told you Jesus had agreed to his calling—and laughed, saying, “So did you.” That just made me smile.

It’s tough when you’ve got years of memories and patterns, but the small shifts and signs of progress are encouraging. They help you persevere. They remind you to be consistent. Ultimately, it’s about relying on the grace, mercy, love and goodness of God—for you, your son, your whole family.

And yes, it’s absolutely fine to remind God of His promises. He said them in the first place. You’re just reminding Him of who He is. That gives us confidence. We come boldly before the throne of grace. We don’t have to tiptoe. We can come with confidence because we know God is good.

When it comes to entering into the fullness of all God has for us, seeing ourselves the way God sees us is key. We have to come into agreement with God—aligning our minds and hearts with His. His thoughts about us are vast and loving. If our thoughts contradict His, it becomes difficult to receive and accept the wonder of who we are in His eyes.

So God wants us to step into the fullness of our relationship with Him—through intimacy, through the revelation of how He sees us, and how that reveals our true identity. If He loves me unconditionally but I don’t love myself the same way, then something’s out of alignment. And that causes problems.

Many people struggle with identity. They don’t see themselves the way God does. So we’re faced with a choice: do I believe what others have said about me? Do I believe what my past says? Or do I believe what God says?

Scripture says, Love one another as you love yourself. So if you don’t know how to love yourself, how can you love others properly? Loving yourself doesn’t mean being selfish. It means seeing yourself as God sees you. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. That’s the truth. And when you really believe that—when you stop striving and start accepting—it becomes your experience, your reality.

Knowing your identity also means facing what’s shaped your identity up to now. If your past contradicts what God says about you, you have to be willing to deal with that. Don’t ignore it or deny it. Face it with honesty.

You can say, “Father, I struggle to believe what You say because this has happened to me.” Maybe it’s rejection. Maybe people let you down. And then the Father says, “I’ve never rejected you—I accept you.” And then the choice is, do I forgive those who rejected me? Do I let God heal me?

Because emotional damage can make it hard to receive love, especially the kind God offers. But healing comes when you forgive those who hurt you and release them. Most people aren’t capable of loving you the way God does—because they’re not God. And that’s okay. But you can still choose to forgive.

If you try to build self-esteem from your own efforts—your works, your successes—then failure will knock you down hard. But if your worth comes from God, which is unchanging and unconditional, then even when you fall short, you’re still secure. It must come from God—that’s where the truth is, the Way, the Truth and the Life; that’s where love is, He is love. Ultimately that’s the key. It must come from Him.

Living Beyond Limits | Identity and Intimacy

It may not always be easy to accept that, but the more and more we get to know God, the easier it becomes to accept—because we realise he’s better than we could have ever imagined or thought. And it’s good to hear that. It’s just good to hear different people’s experiences. It’s good to share the journey with others. I love these sessions because I’m always meeting new people—people with different pasts, different identities—but they’re all sons of God. And within that, God’s relationship with each one is unique and wonderful.

We can celebrate and rejoice in the diversity of our lives and our journeys, and the fact that they can connect with others. I can’t relate to everyone, but someone else can—and that’s why it’s so important we all share our journeys and experiences together. It’s encouraging—yes, we’re encouraging each other in recognising that God is at work in all of us, in different ways. And that gives hope to everyone.

God just seems to go beyond anything you can imagine or think. That, to me, is such a great truth—God is always beyond what you can imagine or think. And that’s why I find it exciting. For me, every day is a day to learn something new, to experience something more. Every day is a good day—because God is so good.

When I think about the limitations of what I could ask or imagine, and then compare that to how good God wants things to be—I can ask for a lot, and I can think pretty big—but I’ll never exceed who God is. And it’s a wonderful thing to know that God will go beyond my limitations—about myself or about my life.

I look back at what’s happened and I think, “I never saw that coming.” I’d have never thought I’d end up doing the things I’ve done. It wasn’t on my agenda. It’s not like I had a life plan where I knew exactly how things would work. It was always just one step at a time—getting to know God, hearing from him, and actually believing some of the things he was showing me.

And a lot of the time, I didn’t even know how to think like that. I would never have imagined myself doing what I’m doing now. When I was working in a hospital—specifically, in a hospital lab—I would never have imagined that I’d go on to plant churches, that I’d be connecting with people all over the world, teaching, helping and encouraging. But God knew. And he led me, step by step.

Where I see limitations, God sees beyond. When I think, “How am I supposed to do that?” he already knows I can—if I’m willing to keep walking the journey. And even when things don’t go to plan—when they go wrong or don’t turn out the way I intended—I know God is good, and he wants to bring something better out of it. Even that is beyond what I can see in the moment. Because God is so much better, so much bigger, and has greater expectations than I do.

If I’d asked for what I thought would make me happy, I’d have asked for far less than what I’ve actually received in my life. So from that perspective, God really is so good. And the journey has been full of blessings—some of them unexpected, some of them way beyond what I could have imagined or thought. Because he’s able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think.

That fills my future with optimism. Whatever comes, God is bigger and more than able to handle it. And I know his goodness, grace and mercy are limitless and overflowing. His love is unconditional—and for me, that makes all the difference.

When God said to me, “beyond beyond,” I didn’t know what he meant. I had no idea. I could’ve tried to reason it out—“beyond beyond,” what does that even mean? But with God, it’s always beyond beyond. It’s beyond my wildest dreams, beyond my imagination, beyond my experiences, beyond anywhere I’ve ever been before. God himself is beyond anything I can imagine, think, reason or understand. He always goes beyond where I would put a limitation.

I ask myself, “Where else could this possibly lead?”—and there’s always a beyond.

In the past, our security and foundation were probably rooted in doctrine—those things we were certain of, that gave us identity, reputation, or a sense of how people viewed us. But once we start engaging God and seeing how he sees us, those things no longer matter. Paul called them rubbish—refuse, dung. Whether you call it a hill of beans or anything else—it’s all the same: none of it compares to the intimacy of knowing God and his love, and discovering who we really are.

And then it’s about living that out—becoming who we truly are. It’s great when people can point the way or encourage us—people who say, “Hey, there’s more.” People who share testimonies, or go ahead as forerunners and say, “There’s something over here.” Explorers who discover a new realm and invite others into it. That’s great—but then you become that to someone else.

That’s the reality. You know way more people than I do—you have your own circle, your own connections. I don’t know them. But you do. And God can open something up for you to be a forerunner in their lives. Your experiences then become a source of encouragement and inspiration for them.

That’s really what it comes down to. I’ve been blessed—and I’ve been blessed by others who’ve encouraged me, shared their journey, supported me. And I want to be a blessing in return. But you can only bless others if you yourself have been blessed.

I think God wants us to be blessed in the fullest sense—to be empowered to succeed and thrive in who we are, so that who we are becomes a blessing to someone else. I only need to be me. You only need to be you. You don’t have to be me—and thank God for that! That’s where comparison falls away. You can look at what I’ve taught and be encouraged, but you don’t have to be me. You can’t be me—you’re not me.

Some people try to be like someone else, but God just wants you to be you. And I think that’s the mark of someone who’s really discovered their identity—they’re not pointing people to themselves, but pointing them back to the source in their life: God. He’s the one who helps you become the best version of you. And that is what will bless others.

I can’t bless someone else by trying to be like Justin [Justin Paul Abraham]. I’m not Justin. I love Justin—I love who he is, and what he brings. He adds a flavour to the bigger picture that I never could—because I’m not like that. But I can be me. And I’ll be able to help people who maybe need something slightly different. And people can learn from both of us—because there’s no comparison. I don’t have to be like him, and he doesn’t have to be like me.

I can be content in who I am and rejoice in who he is. I can celebrate people’s differences—because it means I don’t have to be that way. Trying to be someone else is hard work! It really is. But God doesn’t want us striving—he wants us at rest. And real rest comes when we’re living in the truth of who we are, in that relationship with God.

So, we rejoice in it. We enjoy it. We go back to that joy economy we started with—this life is meant to be enjoyed. And I’ll never enjoy it if I’m trying to be someone else. But when I truly accept who he made me to be, and I live in that, that’s when my true identity shines through. And that identity only comes out of who I am in him.

So intimacy and relationship—that’s all I need. But it’s not selfish. It’s not self-centred. It’s always about being a blessing. That’s the key. If something isn’t flowing through me, then it’s stagnating in me. And stagnant water? Well, the only thing that likes that is mosquitoes!

I need rivers of living water flowing from my innermost being—so that I become a refreshment to others, and others can refresh me too. When we really celebrate each other, we learn from so many different sources. But ultimately, God is the source. He is the way. He is the Tree of Life.

That’s the key.

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