Enter the Heavenly Wine Cellar - Drunk on the Holy Spirit

So I spent a few days in Searcy, Arkansas and attended a John Crowder meeting and was thoroughly stunned by it.  First off, let me say that I first heard of John from a friend that recommended his books The New Mystics and The Ecstasy of Loving God.  These books are amazing!  They stretch our modern definition of what God is willing to do with someone that is simply in love with Him.  Now, the books do little to prepare you for what attending a "John Crowder meeting" entails.  Thankfully, I have watched the videos of John and Benjamin Dunn on YouTube for quite some time.  While it did take me a bit to dissect the content of their message from the drunken behavior displayed on those videos, the Truth always testifies with His Spirit (and I want both).  A lot of people find their type behavior offensive, but those same people usually A) Take themselves too seriously B) Assume God doesn't have fun and/or C) Assume that because they haven't experienced something it must not be real.

Here's some of the antics you can expect should you google these fellas:


So you might be asking, what happened at this meeting?  First, John is EXTREMELY intelligent.  When you hear him discussing multiple translations of the Bible, it's because he's read them... multiple translations... to get the depth of the verses.  Instead of parking in the King James Version parking lot, he's pursued wisdom by seeking the original author's meaning and attained it.  In the "Questions and Answers" portion of the meeting John eloquently defended his stance on the completed works of Christ.  So what about the drunkenness?

Well, I personally haven't experienced the glory in a manner that makes me feel intoxicated... yet.  Just because I don't have a frame of reference from my experience doesn't mean that theirs is negated.  In fact, it has given me a hunger for more of God's presence and that is NEVER a bad thing!  John gets "intoxicated" when he starts preaching as the love of God tangibly manifests upon him.  I personally have no problem with that because I have experienced God's amazing love (yep you guessed it... I'm saved).

So what about the message he was bringing?  It's simple: his message was the cross.  John's revelation on the completed works of Christ suggest that our modern "striving" mentality to try to complete sanctification, become holy, or be made righteous are all folly, because Jesus completed all of these on the cross.  Sanctification, holiness, and righteousness are not progressive processes which a believer can attain through his/her own efforts, but instead we were made holy (Romans 11:6) righteous (1 Cor 5:21) and are sanctified (1 Cor 6:11).  I'm not sure the verses I mentioned are the ones John used, but they do support the concept.  He attributes most of our religious toiling against sinfulness and pursuit to "better ourselves" as shadow boxing since we are struggling against a self that is no longer there.  We are not sinners any longer, but instead are the "new creations" Paul spoke of in 1 Cor 5:17.  Anyway, I was really encouraged by the whole thing.

One last mention: I know a lot of you are probably asking "how do I get drunk on the Holy Spirit?"  Short answer: by faith.  The "whack" as John calls it, is the presence of God.  In the The Ecstasy of Loving God John covers the different levels of prayer, which result in a tangible manifestation of His presence.  It is this meditation which is the "drinking" you see displayed, by faith believing that the love of Christ is consumable and drinking of it constantly leaves the individual feeling intoxicated by His love.  If you have more questions about that just leave them in the comment section.  Be blessed!

Testimonies!!!!

I used to keep a journal of miracles & supernatural events that occurred to me, but having gone through extreme seasons of seeing a lot of miracles it was getting inundating to recount all the Lord had done (what a wonderful problem to have... right?!).  In lieu of the upkeep of that journal, here are a few of the more recent miracles I have seen within the last couple months... I share these to encourage your faith and testify of what THE LORD has done.

• A man came to the prophetic booths and the Lord gave me an accurate word of knowledge for back pain  which this gentleman had suffered from for years.  After only a few seconds of prayer, he testified that his back was healed and the pain had left! 
• An elderly gentleman came in to the healing rooms as he was suffering from back pain, hip pain, and spinal problems.  The woman I was praying with received a word of knowledge that one leg was shorter than the other.  I held up his feet and his right leg was over an inch shorter than the left.  After about 10-20 seconds of commanding the right leg to grow... the heels were perfectly even!
• At Kroger a woman was walking with a cane and she was in her late twenties.  I asked her what happened and she said she had been in a car accident and had two herniated disks.  The back pain had caused her to lose her job too.  I prayed for her once... and there was no change.  I asked if I could pray again and reminded her that Jesus had to pray twice for the man that "saw people walking around like trees" and she agreed.  After the second time her back pain entirely left and tears streamed down her face as the Lord touched her!
• In the healing rooms, a woman came in with a headache, sore throat, chest pain, a cough, and vision problems in her right eye.  After we laid hands on her throat and had her take a few deep breaths all the chest pain, cough, and sore throat left.  We laid hands on her head and the headache left.  Then we prayed for the vision problem in her right eye and it too was totally healed!  She had a whole makeover!

 Thank you Jesus for the privilege of ministering your love and healing to those You love and that may not have had a tangible encounter with that love yet.

Picture of Family - Letter from the Lord

My family is to be the picture of your family.  The tabernacle of Moses was built by the design of the tabernacle in Heaven.  The things I desire to bring to Earth are found in Heaven first and drawn down from the Kingdom of Light.  Your understanding of family must come from Me. Human wisdom is foolishness, for there is a way that seems right to a man that leads to death. 

Trust in Me with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  Trusting in Me means valuing My Counsel over that of your peers.  My word is confirmed in you and never returns void. 

The Father’s will comes first and foremost.  He is the head of the household.  In the same way that I, as a Son, submitted to His will in the garden… so should the household submit to the will of the father.  There are no exceptions to this, I reward those who submit to My will instead of their own.  If the head of the house is unrighteous, the wife ought to sanctify him by her prayers.  I only permit separation when adultery has occurred.  So first, wives must submit to their husbands.

Husbands are to administer grace in gentleness, bearing the responsibility for the household.  I have given man the position of authority in the household, so he must be governed by the fear of the Lord for this is the beginning of wisdom.  Husbands must continue to pursue loving their wives as I pursue My Church and loving her.  I am passionate about My Body; I love her with excessive affections, devotion, loyalty, mercy, and tenderness.  Love must be pursued, do not neglect your first love… pursue it.  A woman that feels loved responds to My heart with affections.  Earthly husbands are to represent the love of the eternal Bridegroom as an earthly picture of a heavenly reality.  Women trust in love, for love is in God, and testifies with their spirit.

Mothers must love with the love of the Spirit.  He is the Comforter, the Helper, and the Teacher.  As mothers raise their children and train them in the way they should go, mothers ought to invite the Holy Spirit to teach the children in My Ways.  In times of frustration, anger, disappointment… invite Him into the situation and the household that My Peace may rest upon you.  As children grow in age and maturity you must grow in grace and patience.  Patience and longsuffering are rarely sought by those that follow Me, but it is My will that My people be patient as I am patient.  Did I not patiently wait for your repentance from a life of sin?  Do I not patiently wait for you to ask for My counsel and seek My face?  My people must respond with My love when faced with children that try to stir anger or frustration.  Though you are immature and children, do I punish you when you sin against Me?  Is it not a greater sin to offend Me than you?  I respond with swift forgiveness and am very slow to anger, so must you be.  The enemy would have you react to circumstance, instead seek My will and invite My Spirit for reacting from the flesh is sin.

The enemy will certainly come against every household, especially those pursuing Me.  I have not allowed this, you have.  You have authority over him as I have given to you.  Exercise that authority over every obstacle & attack.  I am your shelter in distress and will always guide you in the way you should go.  My sheep hear My voice; I know them and they follow Me.  So must you.

This article is not scripture nor should it be interpreted as such.  It is what I felt the Lord speaking to me.  

The zeal of the Lord

Oftentimes, Christians make the mistake of assuming that because Christ is gentle that He is passive.  He is quite the opposite.  He is zealous and passionate beyond explanation.  Isaiah 59:17 even adds to the "armor of God" that we find in Ephesians 6 by stating

"He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak."

Zeal is defined as "eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something".  The Lord is slow to anger, not absent of it.  1 John 3:2 reads

"... But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

 If we are going to "see him as he is" we must acknowledge that the same zeal that leads Him to pursue us relentlessly will be applied to His wrath against those who are His enemies.  God is perfectly patient, but there are those who will resist Him regardless of His mercies and grace (otherwise there would be no end-time army of the devil).  We must see Him as He is conquering King in Revelations 19 just as we must see Him as the suffering servant in Isaiah 52.

 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 
-Revelations 19:11-15

The more I have meditated upon this lately, the more the fear of the Lord has come.  It delights my soul to have that fear, since it both deters me from sinfulness and guides me in wisdom.  Mike Bickle addresses this in His study on the Book of Revelation NKJV.  I do not pretend to be an expert in eschatology, but I do continually pursue understanding from Revelations; especially since it is a Revelation of Christ not a revelation of the antichrist.  Be blessed dear readers!

The Perfect Gift

Did you know that the Same Spirit that Raised Jesus from the dead, Lives in you!

 “And if the spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, is living in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give lie to your mortal bodies through His spirit who lives in you.” (Rom. 8:11)

 The SAME Spirit that enabled Jesus to drive out demons while HE was here on Earth lives in you!

“Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matt. 12:26 & 28) 

The SAME spirit that enabled Paul to preach with Miracles, signs and wonders through demonstrations of God’s power, Lives in You!

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”(1 Cor. 2:4-5)

Question: If the SAME spirit that did all of these things lives in you- why are you not walking in more power (Miracles, Signs and Wonders), more Healing and more Liberty? Let me venture to say that it could be because you have not truly embraced the person and power of Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is more than just a nice deposit, a mystical force or spiritual after thought that God has gifted us with. He IS the Spirit Man of God.  HE is the POWER SOURCE of God and He is an individual “being” within the Trinity. He heals, delivers, guides, creates, instructs, teaches, gives life, testifies, anoints, reveals, wars, does miracles and this is only the beginning of His truly impressive resume!

You will never be able to truly grow close to God or in your spiritual giftings and anointing, without embracing and growing in intimacy with the “person” of the Holy Spirit All Christians need to get to know the Holy Spirit on a personal level. He is the one who releases the current word of Jesus to us for our lives and is the great communicator between God and us. 

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth” - John 16:12

The problem is that not every Christian personally knows Holy Spirit on the level that they should. I was recently reminded of this truth at one of my last ministry events. Upon arriving at this event to speak for the weekend, I was informed by the ministry staff that they had decided to take me up to the top of witch mountain where they would blow the shofar and then let me decree words out against the enemy in their region.  There was just one problem with their plan-the Holy Spirit had not told ME to do this.  I explained to my hosts that the Holy Spirit had not specifically told me to do this on their behalf and that I only did what the Holy Spirit told me to do, especially in regards to spiritual warfare issues. They were confused and disappointed by my response but they kindly relented and gave me the benefit of the doubt.  As it turned out, God had a much better plan he wanted to implement to deal with the enemy in their region. By the end of the weekend, the Holy Spirit had not only revealed a plan, he had also implemented it so that an immediate shift took place over their church and in their region.

Blindly taking on warlocks and demonic principalities over a region can be a dangerous and deadly activity. I shudder to think of what would have happened if I had not checked in with the Holy Spirit to get his word on the subject first. I have learned that Holy Spirit ALWAYS knows what is best and that He always has the fastest, easiest and best plan for the situation at hand.

The Holy Spirit desires to be our closest friend. He longs to share Jesus Christ in his fullness with us. As Christians, we need to develop a close and intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. This relationship starts by PERSONALLY, inviting him into our daily lives. It grows by being mindful of his presence and including him in every decision and aspect of our lives. We must see and treat him like a trusted family member who loves us and is loved by us in return. 

Jesus promised us that through the Spirit we would never be alone and that we would always remain connected to Him. In short, he left us with the perfect gift as our deposit - a greater part of himself. 

“But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.”  John 14:26 amp

Mignon Murrell

Glory Reign Ministries

www.gloryreign.org

The best way to grow in relationship with Holy Spirit is to spend time with Him.  However, if you want more resources on the person of the Holy Spirit, I highly recommend Benny Hinn's  Good Morning, Holy Spirit.

 

Revelation of Christ

The Lord has been showing me Christ on the cross quite often in worship lately.  In times of prayer I have been asking for increase in revelation of Christ and the cross.  In the images I see, there are several similarities between Jesus in The Passion of the Christ (Full Screen Edition) and the visions I receive.  When I see Christ His whole body is trembling in agony, His face is unrecognizable (very similar to that shown in the movie), and blood is everywhere.  Then it hit me in worship one day: the sheer agony that Christ went through, not just on the cross but to speak on the cross.  Before I go any further here are the 7 things from the Gospels that Christ stated:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”
“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise"
“Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit”
“Dear Woman, here is your son!” and “Here is your mother!”
“I am thirsty”
“It is finished!”

In the execution of crucifixion, the individual generally dies by exhaustion.  In order to take a breath he must press on the nail in his/her feet and pull on the nails in his/her hands to alleviate the tension on the lungs.  With that in mind, reread those 7 statements.  Every one of those cost Christ excruciating agony; He had to further wound His flesh and dig those holes in His hands and feet that much deeper just to pray for the forgiveness of His persecutors, to forgive the thief, to cry out to His Father, to assign John as caretaker of His mother, to fulfill a prophecy, and to declare the completion of purchasing our sins.  Today let us keep His sacrifice fresh in our minds, for nothing reinvigorates our passion for Christ like the ultimate act of love upon the cross.

Answered Prayers

“Now when the trial of faith comes, we are naturally inclined to distrust God, and to trust rather in ourselves, or in our friends, or in circumstances.

  “We will rather work a deliverance of our own somehow or other, than simply look to God and wait for His help.  But if we do not patiently wait for God’s help, if we work a deliverance of our own, then at the next trial of our faith it will be thus again, we shall be again inclined to deliver ourselves; and thus with every fresh instance of that kind, our faith will decrease; whilst on the contrary, were we to stand still, in order to see the salvation of God, to see His hand stretched out on our behalf, trusting in Him alone, then our faith would be increased, and with every fresh case in which the hand of God is stretched out on our behalf in the hour of the trial of our faith, our faith would be increased yet more.

 “Would the believer, therefore, have his faith strengthened, he must especially, give time to God, who tries his faith in order to prove to His child, in the end, how willing He is to help and deliver him, the moment it is good for him.”

This excerpt from George Mueller’s Answers to Prayer is one of the greatest summations of a life of faith that I have ever read.  I put it in this way: suppose I asked my wife for baked chicken for dinner.  She defrosts the chicken, after 5 minutes of waiting, I decide, “She must not have wanted me to have the chicken” and I go microwave some Ramen noodles.  I subsequently eat them and go back to the living room.  I will no longer be in the position to receive the chicken I have asked for, when she brings it to the dinner table.  By making the Ramen noodles, I will have “worked my own deliverance” as George Muller refers to it.  However, should I choose to patiently maintain a position of expectation by sitting at the dinner table awaiting the provision I have asked for, I would see the answer to my petition.

Mr. Mueller’s life was a demonstration of a life of faith that we are all expected to walk out.  The observation that our tendency is to work our own deliverance speaks to the heart of the traditional “American Way”.  We are raised under the notion that we must work hard to receive the desired results.  This is not to suggest that hard work is bad, it is Biblical (see Pro 12:24, Eph 4:23, 2 Thes 3:8, Acts 18:3).  However, we have been redeemed from the curse (Gal 3:13) and have inherited faith which releases supernatural provision and multiplication of the results of our toil (remember Peter and the fish the full net or Elisha and the widow's oil jars).

I believe there is a degree of faith with which we can live where we are no longer toiling for our needs, but calling them in by faithful prayer as we wait upon the Lord to be our Provider.  George Mueller reached that point in his life.  Christ started ministry and did the same.  We don’t see Jesus laboring to earn wages, instead when He had need for finances it was obtained supernaturally (Mt 27:24-27).  As we continue to persevere through the test of faith with expectation and patience, our faith grows, until we reach the point where we know that God is not only capable of providing our daily needs… but willing.