Hey Pastor John,

I wanted to share something that happened this morning. I had a follow-up doctor appointment for some additional testing. Nothing major that we are aware of, just the doctor being proactive. When I was finished the tech told me I would get notified mid-week next week. I am thankful for the most part that Jesus has allowed me to have wonderful health in my youth. So, I could feel myself getting a little anxious and the what if’s coming and having to wait a week for results. I didn’t want to let my mind go there.

Standing there looking in the mirror I was thinking I am not going to get worked up about this. I wouldn’t be able to change it anyways so why get anxious? It was that “it is what it is” mentality. Before I could even finish my thoughts the next thought that came stopped me. I heard, “things can change”. I wasn’t confused when Jesus brought the thought.

The next thought that came was Jesus that is right!!! We can change things, YOU can change things. Then I started thinking about James 5:16 where it says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Why settle when Jesus is standing there waiting for us to ask? It changed my entire thought process in that moment. Instead of saying eh I couldn’t change it either way, how much better is it to ask and tell Jesus about it?

As we all know his will is going to be done and he works it all for our good, regardless. But what a sweet and wonderful Jesus!! It took all of the anxiety away and gave me so much peace knowing that regardless of any of our circumstances Jesus is standing right there! 

I wanted to share because it was such a sweet feeling. 

M.S.

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Good morning, Pastor John,

I had the best drive with Jesus this morning!  I have been listening to our music and feeling wonderful, and an ad for mental health kept popping up between songs.  After about the third time it came on, the thought came, “How about getting spiritually healthy?  That is what you need.”  Then the best thoughts took over!

If we have the mind of Christ, our mental health is perfect.  There is nothing wrong with the Lord’s mind!  In fact, if we are full of the holy ghost, we are perfect just like our Father!  The answer is always the same: just stay full of the holy Ghost!  How absolutely wonderful God’s design is!

What a relief to know that staying full of Jesus and having the mind of Christ is a cure for depression, anxiety, doubt, anger etc. You name it.  Jesus fixes it!  Jesus is our healer!  That’s how God designed it.

And even if these bodies fight sickness and disease at times, the mind of Christ will carry you right through it!  Sometimes, he just carries us on home, and what a wonderful way to go!  The only way to go!

I think what I love most is how true it is, over and over again.  I keep hearing it, and it is absolute truth over and over again!  Year after year, it doesn’t change! 

Whew!  I could go on and on telling of how much I love God’s design and His Truth, but I better get back to work. 

1Corinthians 2:16 “Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who will instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 15:5 May the God of patience and comfort give you the same mind toward one another in Christ Jesus,

1Corinthians 1:10 I urge you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there not be divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same judgment.

2Thessalonians 2:2  Not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed by either a spirit, or a speech, or by a letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of Christ has come.

1Peter 1:13 Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Matthew. 5:48 So, be perfect, just as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

Romans. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you might discern what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Philippians 3:15. Let us, therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way, and if you think any other way, God will reveal even this to you.

Beth D.

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Wow. 

Being like Satan (or becoming like him after one is born again) seems akin to having the knowledge of God, without the love of God.

If that is correct, I don’t think the world could even qualify to be like Satan.  The knowledge of God comes through the Spirit of God.  So the error of being like Satan would belong to the body of Christ alone.

But for God’s children, if we gain the knowledge of God after we are born again, and then allow the life, the love, the Spirit of God in us to dry up, we are left with a dead shell…a memory of life. I guess we could call that a knowledge of God, but without love (or life – God’s life) to wield it.

As God’s (ex) prosecutor, it seems that Satan was/is just that way. He knows the rules, so to speak, but he doesn’t know God’s heart to apply them.  He would hurt everything he touches even when meaning to do well.

Whew.  Makes me want to abandon hard and fast rules for life in the Spirit, where both the knowledge AND THE LOVE exist!

Jerry

Pastor John,

I have been up this morning thinking and feeling how blessed we are to be fed from Jesus like we are.  It really does make me want to get lower.

I can see you and Jesus getting everything ready for us to feast on and then Jesus pulls out his special seasoning and adds wonderful testimonies from brothers and sisters that are right in front of us still happening today just like it happened in the Bible.  That just takes the food to a whole new level. 

I heard so many things that stirred my heart last night.  One thing was when brother Paul talked about getting free-er every time he told what Jesus did for him.

I have been feasting on how much I love God’s mercy for weeks now and remembering how much He has shown me.  In my heart it goes perfectly with what I am feeling from last night.

As I was listening to the song My Sins Are Gone, the line “in the sea of God’s forgetfulness” hit my heart.  So the other morning, I looked up verses on forgetfulness.  One of the things that stood out to me is that God has a forgetfulness that is wonderful and merciful and it is mentioned as early as Genesis. Gen. 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn, Manasseh (for he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.”)

However God warns us over and over not to forget him.  Starting in Deuteronomy . 

9.Only, take heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and to your children’s children,

I thought about brother Paul’s children sitting in that meeting hearing what a wonderful and holy thing God did for him and how that establishes how good and real God is in their hearts.  And maybe one day, if they tell their children of how real and amazing God is, they will tell how they heard their daddy tell about how real and amazing God is and the mercy He showed on him.  I love that.  Our testimonies of God’s mercy does so much more than save us.  It establishes (only word I can come up with) how real and wonderful our God is! 

And it’s all done through His son!  That’s a whole new level of WOW!  

I love it! I love it! I love it! 

Watching the meeting again and wow to Ronnie’s testimony too. What a holy honor from Jesus to be able to hear and witness God working in front of  us, creating new hearts and new depths. We are witnessing Creation!  Wow!

Thank you for loving Jesus and feeding us. 

Elizabeth D.

Father and Son, 20 PDF

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Pastor John,

I had a new thought yesterday; it felt new.

I’ve always understood that many early saints were required to forsake their lives as a result of staying true to their faith (and their declaration of faith) in the Father, and the Son, and their spiritual new birth that marked their new covenant with God.

I understood that future saints will likely one day be pressed the same way – to forsake their creator (their experience with him) and the real faith once delivered to the saints, or die. But I have never considered that, in this thing, Jesus was also first among many brethren. 

It occurred to me that Jesus’ whole earthly existence, to the point of his crucifixion, was a life of pressure to forsake his faith in God, and he knew death was imminent for refusing to do so.

(Even Satan trying to promote him to earthly king was pressure to deny God.)

Similar to the choice no doubt offered to those saints who were slain, Jesus could have denied his faith, his experience with God when threatened, and he may have lived, if men were allowed to have their way.

Men likely would have happily absorbed Jesus and his miracle-working reputation into their polluted faith, if he would just deny his own faith.

I never considered that Jesus went through that difficult trial before the first spirit-filled saint ever faced it.

Jerry

==========

Yes, brother Jerry.  Jesus Christ is the first of the creation of God, “the first firstborn among many brethren”, the firstfruits from the dead, and the first of everything else “that he might have pre-eminence in all things”.

Pastor John

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Dear Pastor John,

Today I remembered something that the Spirit had spoken to me some months ago, and I thought I would share it with you all.

So, some months back there was something in my life I was dealing with. It was something I desired, but deep in my spirit I felt that Jesus was not in it. So, over and over again, when I got into a situation where I had a decision to make, I decided to go with Jesus, instead of pursuing this desire. One time, while I was working, and in my heart I was pondering over these things, I thought how I was actually giving something up, because I wanted to please Jesus. I was thinking how I was paying a price, in order to have a deeper knowledge of God.

Now, as I was having these thoughts, I heard a voice (not audibly, but in my heart) saying to me: “You’re just doing what you’re supposed to do, so stop patting yourself on the back. What you’ve done should be normal, it shouldn’t even feel like a sacrifice.”

At first, this thought seemed right. I had had thoughts like this (with the same religious feeling) many times before, and even now, I could quote scriptures that would support that this is something Jesus would tell me (or someone else). 
But this time, right when I was about to accept these words as coming from the Lord, I heard another voice, and when I heard it, I knew immediately that this (and not the other one) was the REAL Jesus speaking. As if replying to the previous thought, this is what the voice said:

“No. It means something to me when you give up something for my sake.”

Even now, as I am recalling this, I can feel the love and the gentleness that came with these words, and the comfort and encouragement it meant to me that moment. 

Right after this, I was reminded of Peter telling Jesus: “See, we have left all and followed you!”, and how Jesus’ reply was not “As you should”, or something along those lines. Instead he was encouraging Peter, telling him: “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

I know that when we obey God, we should think of ourselves as unprofitable servants who only did what’s required of them. And even recently, I’ve been asking Jesus that he would keep transforming my heart, so that when I’m tempted to forsake the way of the Spirit and go with some desire of my flesh, it would feel less and less of a temptation, because the love, the grace, the joy of the Lord and the glory of His kingdom is so precious to my soul, that the things of this world don’t even feel attractive anymore. And I do believe (in fact, I know) that that is the place where Jesus is leading me, and all of us. 

And yet… “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses”!

Jesus knows what it feels like to live in a body of flesh, and so, he is genuinely happy and pleased, when in certain situations (whether it’s something minor or some important decision in life) we make the right judgment, and decide to go with his spirit instead of with our old desires. It means something to him when we hold on to our faith (even if it’s just the size of a mustard seed) and, from our hearts, we do the right thing. 

I hope it encourages some of you as much as it has been encouraging me in weeks and months past. 

Love you all!
Zoli

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