Praying Medic's Blog, page 108
June 20, 2015
Samuel’s Story
This is the testimony of Samuel—a self-admitted sex and porn addict whose gay lifestyle was transformed by a supernatural encounter with the kingdom of God.
Samuel’s church website can be found at this link: C3 church – Brooklyn
June 17, 2015
Is Love Enough?
total word count: 510
I’ve been thinking about the way in which we approach people who live differently than we do, and the methods we use to try to change the way in which others live. We see people doing all sorts of odd things and feel it’s our responsibility to confront them about their lifestyle. Many times, our confronting them takes the form of posting graphic images of abortion, impassioned messages against homosexuality, or some other message saying that their behavior is wrong and it must be stopped.
Many people today justify their use of direct (sometimes violent) confrontation of sin by pointing to examples from the Old Testament. Direct confrontation was used by Old Testament prophets to bring people’s sins to the discussion table, but we sometimes fail to consider the fact that confrontation seldom brought about the results the prophets wanted. It was used by men of God in the past—but I would argue it was not used successfully. If the old covenant methods of changing people’s hearts were adequate, there would be no need for a new covenant. And since we have been given a new covenant, we ought to consider how it differs from the old one—to consider the ways in which it is better.
I was thinking (marveling really) about the method Todd White uses to reach people. I’ve studied Todd and the way He interacts with people for years and I think he has the best approach currently being used to turn people’s hearts toward God. Todd’s approach is simply to love people. He showers love on them. He blesses them. He buys things for them when God leads him to. He prays for their healing and prophesies their destiny—regardless of who they are or what kind of lifestyle they’re living. (I would say the same is true of Heidi Baker.)
Todd doesn’t confront people’s sins violently and demand they repent—claiming it’s the only way to show real love to sinners. He just loves them like he would love his own child. He has no agenda other than showing them love. He knows that the reason people are messed up is because they don’t know how deeply they are loved by God. So he loves them because the one thing they need isn’t another confrontation about their sin. They need a love encounter with God and that happens through people like you and I and Todd.
One of the things many of us lack is a conviction about the power of love. We simply don’t believe love is enough to turn people toward God. We don’t think love can do the job. Even though God himself is love—and it is only by His goodness expressed in love that people come to repentance—we still don’t think love, all by itself can do the trick.
I’m becoming more convinced that love really is enough.
Sin is an extreme form of amnesia. It is forgetting who you were when you were created as a spirit which came forth from the heart of God—a spirit made in His perfect, sinless image.
June 15, 2015
Podcast 016: Steve Bremner – Let’s Talk Publishing – Part 2
If you received this in an email or to open in a new window click this link: podcast 016
This is part 2 of my interview with Steve Bremner, a friend, and missionary to Peru, who has authored a number of books including 6 Lies People Believe about Divine Healing and 9 Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues. We begin today’s show with a discussion about e-book publishing and the value of the word processing program Scrivener. Next, Steve shares some insights about his recent book contract with Destiny Image and the pros and cons of signing a contract with a publisher. We shift gears and talk about advertising, building an email list, and the pressure to make e-books available for free, and wrap up with a discussion about how we handle negative book reviews.
The Amazon review of sugar-free gummy bears can be found here. The review of the book Moon People can be found here.
Steve’s website can be found at: stevebremner.com.
Listen or Subscribe:
Resources Mentioned
Steve’s Books:
6 Lies People Believe about Divine Healing
9 Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues.
My Books:
Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple
Editing:
If you’re looking for an editor, you might check out Lydia Conrad
If you’re interested in checking out the word processing program Scrivener, you can find their website here. If you’d like to learn more about what Scrivener can do, you might check out this Youtube video. Although the video was recorded on a Mac, a Windows version of the program is now available.
Past Episodes
June 13, 2015
Seeing in the Spirit and the Imagination
total word count: 821
When we speak about our imagination, many of us think back to our childhood and the imaginary friends we had, the stories we made up, or the games we played to amuse ourselves. Children find it easy to engage the imaginary realm. As adults, we learn that society sees the imaginary realm as one of foolishness and make-believe. We’re told that the only adults who engage the imaginary realm are hopeless daydreamers and the mentally ill. The phrase, “It’s just your imagination,” is used to dismiss the inspired ideas that come from this part of the soul.
In Genesis 8:21 the Lord said, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” In this verse, the Lord identifies the location of the imagination. It resides in the “heart” of man. The Hebrew word leb, translated “heart” does not refer to the physical heart, but the inner man, or what we commonly call the soul. Some people take this comment from God to mean that the human imagination in incapable of anything but evil. They believe we must resist any influence that comes from our imagination. But there is another way in which this verse can be interpreted.
The imagination can create things of beauty as well as things that are hideous. It is capable of creating both the sublime and the profane—that which is good and that which is evil. Because we have free will, we are capable of choosing what we create in our imagination. The passage in question simply states that prior to the flood, people chose to exercise their free will for evil purposes. They preferred to entertain evil in their imagination rather than good. Free will allows us to choose either one.
Man is made in the image of God, who describes Himself as a Creator. We are most like God the Creator when we’re engaged in the act of creation ourselves. Because we are created in the image of God, we’ve been given similar creative abilities that serve His divine purposes. The imagination is the creative center of the soul. It’s the place where original creative ideas are formed, and where creative inspiration is received from outside sources, such as angels and the Holy Spirit. God created our imagination as a way to communicate His detailed plans and purposes for us. His will can be revealed through the visions and dreams we receive in our imagination.
When the Lord gave Noah instructions for building an ark, it seems likely that He may have revealed the dimensions of the ark, the materials to be used, and the process of constructing it through Noah’s imagination. When He gave Moses details about the construction of the tabernacle, He wanted it to be a replica of things in heaven. Since Moses had limited information to work with, it seems likely that God imparted the information he needed through his imagination. And when the artisans and craftsmen were asked to create ornamental items for the tabernacle, the details were probably given to them through their imaginations.
One problem that must be addressed is the fact that revelations from both heavenly and demonic beings are received the same way—through the imagination. In addition to the beautiful scenes we’re shown from heaven, the imagination stores the grotesque, the perverted, and the frightening images we’ve been exposed to over our lives. It is constantly being bombarded by the kingdom of darkness with unpleasant images intended to harass, intimidate, and enslave us. God wants to reveal things to us through our imagination, and the enemy wants to prevent us from receiving them. The goal of the enemy is to so pollute the flow of revelation we receive through our imagination that we’ll decide we don’t want to see anything at all. Because the imagination is part of the soul, and the soul is controlled by our will, we can willingly choose to do whatever we want with our imagination. Because much of the imagery in this part of the mind is painful, in order to avoid the pain associated with these images, some people have exercised their free will and chosen to completely shut down the flow of revelation that comes through their imagination. In an attempt to safeguard their soul from the enemy’s attacks, they have unknowingly blocked their ability to receive revelation from God. If these individuals were to exercise their free will and make the conscious choice to receive revelation again through their imagination, their “spiritual eyes” would again be opened and they would be able to see in the spirit. The solution is not to avoid receiving all of the imagery that comes through our imagination, but to learn how to filter it by sanctifying our imagination for God’s purposes.
This is an excerpt from my book Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple.
Related:
Can Everyone See In the Spirit?
June 10, 2015
What I learned From the Hobbit
total word count: 571
I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings in the 1970’s as assigned reading for a literature class. I’ve always found J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories to be entertaining, but didn’t understand the spiritual realities woven into them until much later in life. There are many principles he illustrates in his books, but today I’d like to focus on just one of them.
There is a scene in The Hobbit where a band of dimwitted trolls face off in a night-time skirmish against a company of more agile and clever dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield. Though the dwarves are brave, they’re soon overpowered by the stronger trolls, who decide they would make a nice meal. After capturing the dwarves, the trolls tie them up and begin to roast them on a spit.
The hero of the story, Bilbo, manages to escape but has no delusions about his predicament. He knows he doesn’t have what it takes to out-muscle the trolls. Playing to his strong suit, which happens to be cooking, he offers the trolls a few tips on how to properly season dwarves. One troll turns out to be a foodie who wants to hear Bilbo’s culinary advice. As the troll listens intently, Bilbo fumbles his way through a discussion about what herbs should be used to season the dwarves. What the troll doesn’t know is that Bilbo’s discourse is merely a stalling tactic aimed at delaying the demise of his friends.
As dawn approaches, Gandalf appears, after having left them during the night. He cleaves a large rock in two, allowing a shaft of daylight to penetrate the camp. Unknown to readers is the fact that trolls turn to stone in daylight. As the light of day shines upon them, the trolls morph into frozen slabs of granite, while the weary dwarves celebrate another narrow escape from death.
We all face giants of various kinds on our journey through life. And every giant has a weakness which can be exploited—and if done right—it will lead to the giant’s destruction. I love how Tolkien illustrates this principle.
Bilbo knew his own strength was inadequate to defeat the trolls, and in the same way, our own strengths (no matter what they might be) are inadequate to defeat the giants we face.
The troll’s Achilles heel happened to be daylight. They traveled at night and did all their work in darkness, and in the same way, the spiritual giants we face are only able to operate in darkness. Our giants draw strength from our fears and from the lies they convince us to believe, but they’re helpless against the light of the truth.
Keys to Defeating Giants:
The first key to conquering giants is refusing to be paralyzed by fear. Giants want us to believe we are powerless against them. Fear creeps in when we agree that we’re in a powerless position. Instead of giving in to fear, we must first admit that our own strength and wisdom are inadequate. What we need is God’s strength and His wisdom working through us. Fear is overcome by trusting in Him to give us the victory. The other key is bringing the battle into the light of the truth as quickly as possible so that the lies we’re tempted to believe will be exposed and replaced with the truth. The light of the truth will destroy any giant before he can lay a hand on us.
June 8, 2015
Podcast 015: Steve Bremner – Let’s Talk Publishing – Part 1
If you received this in an email or to open in a new window click this link: podcast 015
My guest today is Steve Bremner, a friend, and missionary to Peru, who has authored a number of books including 6 Lies People Believe about Divine Healing and 9 Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues. Join us in a passionate discussion about publishing books. Whether you’re a reader, an author or someone who aspires to publish books, this message is sure to have something of interest to you.
We begin with an update on what our friends have been doing and about recent book projects, including my next book on how the kingdom of God responds to economic crisis. We shift gears and share our thoughts and experiences with writing books and how each of us wrote our first book. We wrap things up with a discussion about editing. There’s much more ground that we cover in part 2 next week.
Steve’s website can be found at: stevebremner.com.
Listen or Subscribe:
Resources Mentioned
Steve’s Books:
6 Lies People Believe about Divine Healing
9 Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues.
My Books:
Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple
Other Books:
Life Resurrected by Jesse Birkey:
On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Editing:
If you’re looking for an editor, you might check out Lydia Conrad
Past Episodes
Links to the books we discuss can be found below.
June 5, 2015
Why Do We Judge?
total word count: 316
Rather than offer an opinion about the life-changing decision of a famous former athlete, I’d like to offer an observation on how the body of Christ handles the responses of other Christians to issues like this. Many believers have shown judgment and condemnation toward this person and the community that supports them. And of course, many others have demanded that these individuals repent of their hateful attitudes.
I side with those who prefer a response of love and compassion. And although I know we mean well, our blog posts and Facebook statuses imploring Christians to be more loving and compassionate are likely to fall on deaf ears. And it’s not because we haven’t made the right arguments from scripture, but because the ones we’re addressing don’t have ears to hear us.
Those who judge and condemn others, aren’t doing so because no one has ever shown them the right bible verses or because they don’t know Jesus. Christians who judge and condemn others, do it because their hearts are full of judgment and condemnation. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. They speak judgment because their hearts are full of judgment and this is because they’ve been judged themselves and have no other way to respond. (As a recovering Pharisee, I have a personal testimony to this.) Our criticism of their attitude isn’t going to help, and might even make things worse.
The problem of judgment and condemnation isn’t a matter of educating a closed mind; it’s an issue of transforming a wounded heart. And until the heart is healed of the judgment and condemnation it’s suffered over a lifetime, no amount of persuasive speech will convince someone to love others unconditionally. The healing of the heart must take place first, and then it will become the good soil that can receive the seeds of love and produce the fruit of the spirit.
Related:
What’s in Your Heart?
Responding to a Controlling Spirit
June 3, 2015
Your identity in Dad is EVERYTHING – Cheriann Riley
total word count: 1334
Cherieann Riley shares another part of her journey with dad.
I am writing about the next steps in my journey with that to encourage you all in your own journeys with Dad about identity. You should go after it with everything within you. And he holds the keys to all you were created to be, so it only makes sense to partner with him on that journey.
If you’ve only met me in the past few years, you may not have a full handle on my story. Here is a very abbreviated version of that to catch you up on why this journey is so vital. This is as short as I know to make it now while keeping all relevant points intact. 
June 1, 2015
Podcast 014: Interview With Shae Bynes
If you received this in an email or to open in a new window click this link: podcast 014
Today’s message is an interview with my friend Shae Bynes, co-host of the Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur Podcast. This is less of an interview and more of an intimate conversation that we wanted to share with the community. It’s all about growing in our relationship with God, walking in our purpose, and exercising our God-given gifts and abilities.
Listen or Subscribe:
Resources Mentioned
My Craziest Adventures With God – Vol 1
Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple
Past Episodes
May 30, 2015
What’s In Your Heart?
total word count: 594
There’s a lot of talk today about false teachers, false doctrines, and deceiving spirits but very little talk about how believers fall prey to them. We point fingers at those who demonstrate false signs and wonders as if they’re to blame for all that is wrong in the world. But what about our part?
Don’t we have some responsibility as the ones who receive false teaching?
And how is it that one person is barely affected by false teaching while another falls easy prey to it?
Contrary to how it might seem, it isn’t the false teaching itself that’s the problem. The bible says, “Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.” (Titus 1:15)
To the person with a darkened heart, no teaching or experience—regardless of how divine it might be—can benefit them spiritually. Even an encounter with God Himself will produce poor fruit. Lucifer had many encounters with God, but none of them benefited him spiritually because his heart was evil. It is the condition of your heart that determines the spiritual trajectory of your life and the fruit that’s produced from the teachings you listen to and experiences you have. And if your heart is corrupt, no experience can be pure for you.
By contrast, the one whose heart is pure seems to benefit from virtually every kind of experience, both those we would call demonic and those we would call heavenly. While the enemy may have an opportunity to sow seeds in the garden of a pure heart, no evil fruit can come from it, because the soil of such a heart will only produce fruit that is pure. If your heart has no darkness in it, you can stand in a den of demons and something positive will come from it.
James wrote that we’re drawn away from the truth by our own evil desires. Many times we fall prey to deception while seeking something good, because we’re seeking it for the wrong reason. Allow me to illustrate:
You may want to travel to heaven to visit the throne of God, and there are many reasons why you might want to do this, but it is precisely the why (your motive) that determines the kind of fruit that will come from such an experience.
One reason to visit heaven is that you’ve fallen madly in love with the Father and you desire to see Him face-to-face. There’s nothing wrong with this motive, and the enemy can’t do much to trip you up if this is the real motive of your heart.
But we humans are very good at telling people we’re doing something for one reason, while secretly doing it for another. You might tell people your motive is intimacy with the father, but if deep inside, the real reason you want to visit heaven is to tell your friends what it was like because you believe it will impress them, there’s a good chance something negative will come from the experience. This is because your real motive is self-importance, and the desire for self-importance is fertile soil for the enemy’s seed.
Supernatural experiences can be wonderfully encouraging or dark and confusing. Which kind you have is determined by what lies within your heart. So before seeking them, let the Holy Spirit purge your heart of any wrong motives. Then you’ll be able to enjoy all that God wants you to do with Him and the enemy won’t be able to spoil your adventure.
