Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Ken Schaap
Read between
April 29, 2024 - February 16, 2025
“After this baptism, we are able to resist temptation like never before and to walk in greater power and authority than ever before.”
Many in the church ignore the clear pattern set by our Lord’s example. They assume the baptism comes simultaneously with the New Birth. No wonder we have so many Christians in the Body who are filled with perversion. They are in the wilderness, vulnerable and defenseless because they have not experienced the baptism!
and my own obvious inadequacies as a husband and pastor had been bringing me down. But my one virtue was I kept moving forward. Painfully slow, one step after another, I pushed ahead through financial struggles, severe criticism, and false accusations while crying out to God. Jesus is faithful.
What I find strange is that Jesus didn’t tell His followers to pray for the sick. He told them to heal the sick. In other words, He said, “Figure out the problem and take care of it.”
I believe that the church of Jesus Christ has lost most of what is promised in the Scriptures. It got shelved some time ago, and whoever put it there forgot to tell the next generation where to find it.
I didn’t have an answer. Sure, I could point out all of the good things in our lives and the fact that it rains on the just and unjust alike. I could point out the fallen nature of this world and that until the Kingdom was consummated, there would always be sickness. But I knew this wasn’t a doctrinal question. This was the cry of a heart that felt abandoned by God.
Communion is a physical action that, when obeyed, manifests the spiritual presence of Jesus. In actions of remembrance, we can move into encounters with our Lord.
Still, I’ve come to see and believe the Scriptures promise that there is considerably more, specifically in the areas of healing, presence, power, and fellowship.
Communion is not a good luck charm, nor is it a substitute for the other valuable disciplines of a believer’s life. It is also not to be trifled with. Bitterness, sexual perversion, and other unconfessed sins can create severe issues, including illness. It is an act of power. Done correctly, we should believe that it aligns us with God’s purposes and fills us with His power. Done flippantly, we should be concerned about the effects of “playing with the power of God.”
there are several strongholds Satan will use to gain access to your life: bitterness, sexual sin, idolatry, witchcraft, and generational iniquities.
One of the most effective lies that the Devil ever sold the church was that demons don’t take control of Christians. Like many areas of Christian doctrine, there is a split over terminology and tradition in the area of demonic influence, causing a large percentage of the Body of Christ not to believe that demons can interfere in their lives at all.
Everywhere Jesus went, demons manifested. His power exposed their fear. His love exposed their hatred. His holiness exposed their evil. His peace exposed their destructive natures. His obedience to the Father exposed their anarchy. The presence of Jesus exposes demons.
Many of us don’t have time for the Lord because we are so busy trying to keep up or get ahead in order to obtain.
If you hear and see in Word and Truth, you will live in freedom. If you hear and see in error and deception, you will live in bondage.
Deliverance is a ministry of eviction.
Deliverance is only one piece of what is needed, and in many cases it is not the first piece. Therapy, counseling, and a healthy community are all necessary components for their complete recovery.
Moody had been given a personal Pentecost, an experience literally in an upper room. “Many a time I have thought of it since,” Moody said
A man who was already filled with the unction of the Holy Spirit needed still another experience.
Though most Christians believe in a salvation of grace, they practice a sonship of works.
well-meaning followers of Christ try to put the right things in but get the order wrong. They try to listen to the Spirit, but their bodies are in control.
Many psychological and psychiatric practices are simply humanistic belief systems that teach coping while avoiding Jesus.
to receive inner healing, you must believe in God’s power for us today. He speaks to us. He gives us dreams and visions. He uses the Scriptures like weapons and arms us with precisely what we need at just the time we need it. He loves it when three or four people get together just to pray together for the healing of one.
God designed us to dream! He made the human body so that its health depends on having continual dreams. We need to dream to stay healthy. Not only this, but once you see what dreams accomplish for individuals in Scripture, you realize dreams improve your spiritual health and relationships.
Dreams are special in that they are often a direct word from the Lord about a topic He wants us to deal with.
Don’t let Satan take another gift from the Lord by using a spirit of fear and avoiding dreams. Alternatively, please don’t use secular or non-Christian spiritual sources to learn about dreams or interpretations.
These revelations from the Spirit are not limited to the Old Testament. Onlookers at Jesus’ baptism saw the Holy Spirit descend in a bodily form like a dove. Believers at Pentecost saw tongues of fire resting on each other’s heads. Like his Old Testament prophetic predecessors, Stephen saw Jesus in the throne room. Saul of Tarsus saw Jesus in brilliant light and was blinded and converted, transformed into the Apostle Paul. While waiting on lunch, Peter had a vision where he was commanded to eat unclean animals. The interpretation would lead to the salvation of millions of Gentiles. The Lord
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the Holy Spirit is calling believers to see with eyes of faith. What Satan took from man in the Garden, God is returning to His Church.
Once you are free from the grip of perversion, take great care to protect your eyes from the perverse side of Hollywood, social media, and the seductiveness of our culture. In our ministry, we’ve learned to pray for “sanctified imaginations.”
Author and Pastor Sam Storms defines prophecy as“the human report of a divine revelation…the speaking forth in merely human words of something God has spontaneously brought to mind.”
There are many people whom God has called to intercession, but who are oblivious. Instead, they keep forcing the prophetic and leave trails of offended people in their wake. The ability to discern what is happening in a person’s life can be useful in deliverance ministry, prophecy, and intercession.
For this reason, we have some simple “house rules” wherever I lead ministry when it comes to prophetic words. If it’s positive or encouraging, share it. If it’s potentially negative, pray about it. If it’s negative but dangerous or a warning, speak to a pastor about it before telling anyone else.
“I think the Lord gave me something to share with you, but I could be wrong.” “This is what I think I heard the Lord say to me on your behalf. Does that resonate with you? If not, it may be for someone else.” “Here is what I think the Lord said. Take some time to pray about it, and let me know if it was truly Him or not. I’ll follow up with you later and hope you’ll tell me if what I said was helpful or not.”
Local church prophecy needs to be restored as a routine part of church culture. The voice of God needs to be returned to the church! God is speaking into every situation of life.
