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ACTS 39 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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Rising Above a Carnal, Sense-Ruled Walk

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Jude had more to say in verse 19 about those “clouds

without water” who had crept into the Church

unawares:

These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having

not the Spirit.

These ungodly men were sensual, or sense-ruled. That

means they were dominated more by the carnal

appetites of the flesh than they were by the Word of

God. It goes on to say that they “had not the Spirit.”

These men did not have the Holy Ghost in operation in

their lives.Therefore, they were separated from truth

by the devil and by carnality and the lusts of the flesh.

So, evidently, being filled with the Holy Spirit must

have something to do with not being dominated by the

flesh. It must have something to do with whether

disease stops me or I stop the disease. Somehow there

must be a way to release the Holy Spirit in my life so

that instead of poverty paralyzing my progress, I can

turn around and stop financial lack in its tracks.

I’m not a cloud without water. I’ve been baptized in the

Holy Ghost. I’m a tongue-talking,devil-stomping,

mountain-moving, faith-filled believer! I don’t have to

be like those who separated themselves.

Why don’t I? The next verse follows the same line of

thought as verse 19, and it tells me why: “But, you,

beloved — you who do have the Holy Ghost — build

yourselves up on your most holy faith. Build yourself

up above a walk that is dominated by the senses by

praying in the Holy Ghost!”

This edification process of Jude 20 delivers us from the

strife-filled, carnal condition described in Jude 19 and

enables us to live continually in Jude 21: KEEP

YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD, looking for the

mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.In other

words, praying in tongues is the bridge between a state

of strife and sensuality and the love of God.

Oh, how much we have sought God for that elusive

increase of the faith God deposited on the inside of us

— and here was this verse all along, giving us in black

and white an ironclad guarantee that we can build

ourselves up! Up where? Up above a walk where

disease brings us to a standstill. Up above a walk where

poverty reigns in our lives. Up above a walk where our

children are lost to the world forever. Up above this

sense-dominated realm where we are more moved by

what we see, hear, and feel than we are by the Word of

God.

We can release the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives

as we build ourselves up on our most holy faith. How?

By praying in the Holy Ghost!

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Pray Until the Power Comes!

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Mark 11:23 says that I can say to a mountain in my life,

“Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and if I don’t

doubt in my heart, I’ll have what I say with my mouth.

The condition that must be met here is that I do not

doubt in my heart.

Then in verse 24, Jesus states that I shall have whatever

I desire when I pray believing that I have received my

answer…… (WHEN I PRAY)……So once again, the only

stipulation — other than that my prayer must be

according to the will of God is that I must not doubt in

my heart.

Well, that makes this fact very significant: I’ve found

something I can do on purpose, as much and as long as I

want to, that carries God’s guarantee to edify me and to

build me up on my most holy faith within the part of me

where He said I must not doubt.

Therefore, when I speak to the mountain, the only

question left between me and a walk of devil-stomping,

mountain-moving power is this;

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Do I have the guts to pray until the power comes?

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Because it’s not a question of whether or not the power

will come. It will come. The only question is, do I have

the guts to stay in there until it does?

“But, Brother Roberson, I’m a businessman.” Then the

Holy Spirit will come in power to your business. “I’m a

preacher.” Then He will come in power to your

ministry.

The question is not “Will the power come?” When Jesus

inspired these words in Jude 20,He took it out of all

golden-tongued, speculative theology and put it into the

realm of fact. And if Jesus said it, it is so whether you

believe it or not. This isn’t a democracy. Jesus didn’t ask

you for your vote. Your job is not to change God’s truth,

but to find it.

Jesus inspired Jude to write verses 19 and 20. So Jesus is

saying there is a key that, when acted upon, will build

you up above a sense-dominated walk where

everything you’ve been delivered from defeats you.

Instead, this key will cause you to walk in power on

your most holy faith. What is the key? Using that

supernatural language called tongues.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

WHY Are We Edified?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

So we know from First Corinthians 14:4 and Jude 19 that

we are edified when we pray in tongues. But my

question to God is this: “Why are we edified?” I mean, if

I’m going to spend three or four hours praying in the

Holy Ghost, I want to know why it edifies me.

To know that you should pray in tongues isn’t enough. If

you really believed it edifies you and qualifies you to

fulfill God’s call on your life — the very thing you desire

most in your heart— no one could keep you out of your

prayer closet!

Many Christians know what First Corinthians 14:4 says,

but they still spend most of their time starting man-

made programs and trying to figure out God’s plan for

their lives in their heads. So, obviously, they don’t

really believe that their answer lies in stopping long

enough to edify themselves by praying in an unknown

tongue.

Therefore, knowing I should pray in tongues isn’t

enough. I want to know why I am edified.Why am I built

up on my most holy faith when I speak a bunch of

syllables in the air for two or three hours that I don’t

understand with my natural mind?

I told God, “Maybe if You could help me understand

why, I could help Your people under-stand it too. Then

they could also enter into a walk of the Spirit in power.”

You can imagine how I felt when one day the Lord

opened up the Scriptures to me and showed me the why

behind the edification process of tongues. He took me

back to First Corinthians 14:2-4:

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh

not unto men, but unto God:for no man understandeth

him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.But he

that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and

exhortation, and comfort.He that speaketh in an

unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that

prophesieth edifieth the church.

Notice that Paul says in verse 4 that he who prophesies

edifies the church. Why? Because through the simple

gift of prophecy (which is equivalent to the gift of

tongues and interpretation operating together),

suddenly the mind of Christ for that day and hour is

made known to that particular public assembly.

A person who prophesies speaks to men unto

edification, exhortation, and comfort (v. 3). But all

exhortation has to be based on a scriptural foundation,

or there is nothing to exhort about. For instance, I can’t

exhort on Jesus stopping off at the moon to have

breakfast on His way down to earth, because that’s not

in the Scriptures! Therefore, sometimes the Holy Spirit

will unveil a mystery through prophecy, illuminating

the mind of Christ regarding a scripture that hasn’t

been understood.

And after the Holy Ghost prophesies through someone

unto edification and exhortation, a divine comfort

comes to the body of believers that is different than an

emotional high. They are comforted in a way that is

stronger than emotions. The prophecy picks them up in

the Spirit and gives them a sense of “Everything is going

to be okay” that can stay with them for days.

So when a person prophesies, it edifies the church

collectively, and when he prays in tongues, it edifies

him individually. However, the reasons why either the

body of believers or the individual is edified are the

same: In both cases, the mind of Christ is revealed.

Prophecy causes the mind of Christ to be manifested

collectively to the church. On the other hand, praying in

tongues causes the mind of Christ to be manifested in

you as an individual,for the Holy Spirit will begin to

take the mysteries you’ve been praying before the

throne of God and communicate them back to you by

revelation. That’s why you are edified through praying

in tongues!

Therefore, spending three hours praying in the Holy

Ghost would be one of the wisest moves you’ve ever

made. And if you do it every day — look out, devil!

You’re building yourself up on your most holy faith,

receiving greater and greater revelation of the mind of

Christ —and the devil has no idea what you’re saying.

He just has to watch it happen!

 

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For when My Spirit is free to move, I can remove those

things that have taken root in you. In a moment’s time, I

can do those things that take years to attain. For it is

not by your power nor by your might, But it is through

My Spirit that I do mortify these things. So yield

yourself to Me, And declare yourself free. And I will do

this work in you, saith the Spirit of Grace.

(word given thru brother Dave)

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MORE MEAT AND TRUTH IN THIS EDITION THAN I HEARD IN THE BUILDINGS ON SUNDAY MORNINGS FOR 20 YEARS.

UNTIL NEXT TIME:

LARRY

 

Read Full Post »

ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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Building Yourself Up On Your Most Holy Faith

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So what happens when I pray in tongues for personal

edification, which I can do at will, anytime I desire?

Why is this, the most “foolish” of all gifts to the natural

mind, so important and so powerful?

Let’s look at Jude 20 and 21 to discover more of our

answer.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most

holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,Keep yourselves in

the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus

Christ unto eternal life.

We know that God is only pleased by and only moves in

response to our faith. In Romans10:17, Paul tells us, So

then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word

of God. But we also know that we can hear and hear and

hear the Word and yet not see any change in our lives.

We still have to get that Word planted in our spirits and

then find some way to release the faith that the Word

has produced.

Thousands of people around the world are filled to

overflowing with God’s Word. Yet still,for the most part,

the Church does not experience the miraculous results

found in the Book of Acts. So there must be a missing

ingredient most believers are unaware of.

The truth is, any minister, no matter how anointed and

full of the Word he may be, can only tell you what he

has learned through experience and as the Holy Ghost

has taught him in his own times of meditation on the

Word. But that teaching will not profit you if you don’t

find some way to mix faith with it. You must personally

get that Word into your spirit and then let the Holy

Spirit teach you.

That’s why Jude says we are to build ourselves up on

our most holy faith by praying always in the Holy

Ghost. It is only as we willingly and freely present our

bodies as a living sacrifice and take the time to endure

in prayer that the Holy Ghost can begin to reveal to us

the mysteries of Christ. Only then can He release the

faith in our hearts that is needed for God’s power to

operate in our lives.

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Hungry for God’s Power

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Ever since I was born again, I’ve been so hungry to

know God in His power. At first, I thought there was

something wrong with me because I encountered so

many groups of believers who just didn’t seem to be

hungry. They just didn’t seem to care that they lived

such powerless lives.

I would wonder, Lord, why aren’t more people hungry

for Your power like I am? Is it the call You have on my

life to operate in miracles that makes me different?

I was so hungry for God’s power when I was first born

again that I would try anything that I was told would

help me walk in more power. If it promised to satisfy

the hunger on the inside of me, I would do it.

One person said to me, “No wonder you’re not walking

in the power of God.”

I asked, “Why not?”“Because of the jewelry you’re

wearing.”“You mean, if I take this jewelry off, I will

walk in God’s power?”“That’s right.”

So I took off my jewelry. What happened? Well, before I

took off my jewelry, I was a powerless jewelry wearer.

And after I took it off, I  became a powerless non-

jewelry wearer! It didn’t make a bit of difference.

Then later when I moved to Oregon and hooked up with

another group of believers, some-one told me, “No

wonder you don’t walk in the power of God.”

“Why not?”“Well, how were you baptized?”“I was

baptized in water in the Name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Ghost.”“Well, no wonder!” the person

exclaimed. “You were baptized in the name of three

Gods,and there is only one God!” (This particular group

believed there is only one God, whose Name is Jesus.)

Well, then,” I said, “I’ll just get re baptized!” (As I said,

at that point in my Christian walk,if I thought

something meant more power in my life, I was all for it.

Get re baptized? Just name the place!)

 

We were in the middle of an Oregon winter at an

elevation of 4,800 feet. It was snowing,the ground was

frozen, and the two ponds were covered with a thick

layer of ice. After building a bonfire beside the upper

pond, a group of us were baptized in the freezing water.

Well, in the months that followed, I came to realize that

before I was immersed in that freezing water, I was a

powerless Pentecostal boy supposedly baptized in the

name of three Gods. Then that preacher shoved me

under the icy water and baptized me in the Name of

Jesus— and I became a powerless Pentecostal boy

baptized in the name of one God! Once again, it didn’t

make one bit of difference.

It wasn’t until later — the day I discovered I had

“uncovered a spiritual law” — that I learned a vital key

to releasing God’s power in my life.

“Oh, Brother Roberson, can you teach me to walk in

power?” Oh, yes, I can. And I don’t care if your name is

Susie Wallpaper or Joe Public either. This key isn’t

reserved for an elect few.

Just keep on reading this book, and I’ll teach you how to

walk out of everything that Jesus said you’ve been

delivered from. I’ll also teach you how to walk into

everything He said you could be in your life — on

purpose, just because you want to go there! The answer

is just as available to you who want it as the air you

breathe.

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Contending for the Faith

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When the Holy Ghost began to reveal to me the

treasures hidden in the Book of Jude, I realized I had

discovered an important key in my search to know God

in His power. First, I latched onto verse 3:

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of

the common salvation, it was needful for me to write

unto you, and exhort you that ye should EARNESTLY

CONTEND FOR THE FAITH which was once delivered

unto the saints.

I was so excited when I read that we should earnestly

contend for the devil stomping, mountain-moving kind

of faith that was once delivered to the saints. Why was I

so excited? Well, one thing I had learned about God’s

Word was this: God wouldn’t tell me to contend for the

faith without then going on in minute detail to teach me

how to contend. I was on the right trail, tracking down

my answer!

You see, it wasn’t enough to know I should contend for

the faith. The cry of my heart was,“For God’s sake, can

someone teach me how? Don’t wave a delicious steak in

front of my face and then not give it to me!”

Once I was discussing this passage of Scripture with

another minister, and he asked me,“What is your

background on the subject of faith?”

I answered, “The Word of God is my only background

on the subject of faith. I am a faith man. I take God’s

Word for what it says. I’m not moved by what I see,

hear, or feel. I’m not moved by disease or financial

lack. Only one standard controls my life, and that’s

what the Word of God says about my problem — not the

devil, not the circumstances, only the Word of God.”

“Well, then,” the man said, “if you believe all that, you

already have more faith than the Early Church had.”

“I beg your pardon,” I replied. “If I’m going to have

more faith than the Early Church had,it seems to me I

am first going to have at least as much! If I remember

correctly, during one of Peter’s revivals, people lay the

sick and dying in the streets near the meeting because

those on whom Peter’s shadow fell were getting healed!

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong,” I continued, “but I

didn’t notice anyone laying the sick on the street near

this meeting in the hope that our shadow would fall on

them and heal them! It seems to me that we need to

contend for that kind of powerful faith that was once

delivered to those early saints!

”Then in verse 4, Jude tells us what happened to the

mountain-moving faith in which the Early Church

operated:

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were

before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly

men, turning the grace of our God into

lasciviousness,and denying the only Lord God, and our

Lord Jesus Christ.

Certain men had crept into the Church unawares.

Whoever these men were, to a large extent they stole

the faith of the Early Church.

So I conducted a study on these men from the Book of

Jude, if for no other reason than to find out what path I

should not take. I didn’t want my faith to suffer the

same fate as the early believers — stolen from me by

dead religion.

Jude compared these ungodly men to raging waves of

the sea, foaming out their own shame…(v. 13). What

was he talking about? Well, a wave rises out of the

ocean, and for a moment, puts on a display of foaming

glory. But just as quickly as it appears, it disappears

back into the sea.

Jude also compared these men to “wandering stars.”

You and I know these phenomena in the heavens as

shooting stars. All of a sudden, a shooting star will flash

in the night sky in a spectacular blaze of glory and then

quickly disappear back into the darkness from which it

came. Similarly, these wandering stars, after appearing

as bright lights of truth for a short season, would slink

back into the “blackness of darkness” that was reserved

for them forever.

These men are also called “clouds without water”(v. 12).

Throughout the Bible, water is used as a type of the

Holy Ghost. For instance, we saw earlier that Jesus

likened the Holy Spirit to rivers of living waters,

flowing from our innermost being (John 7:38).

So these clouds without water were men who stole the

power of God from the Early Church.They crept in

unawares, using doctrines of men to steal the faith of

believers until there was no faith left — until the

Church plunged into the Dark Ages, having lost her

faith to a large extent for hundreds of years. No wonder

Jude compared these men to clouds without water!

In a drought, a cloud without water may come over the

horizon looking promising. It may put on a good show

as it drifts overhead. But when it comes to producing

needed rain, that cloud is powerless to do so because it

has no water.

So the first criterion to walking in the power of God is

that I must be a cloud with water. In other words,I must

be filled with the Holy Spirit. But evidently, just having

the Holy Spirit isn’t enough.

I used to think that the baptism in the Holy Ghost was

all I needed to automatically see God’s power released

in my life. Wrong. I know people who have been

baptized in the Holy Ghost for forty years. But if you

measured the power of the Holy Spirit by the fruit of

their lives, you would come to the conclusion that the

Holy Spirit had no power at all!

I finally came to the conclusion that even though I was

a cloud with water — even though I had been filled with

the Holy Spirit — there still must be something I had to

do to walk in God’s power. Just having the Holy Spirit

wasn’t enough. There had to be a way to release Him on

the inside of me. There had to be a way to get all that

Holy Ghost power out of my spirit and onto the

problems that needed to be overcome.

At times as I sat in a service listening to a minister

preaching the Gospel, I wanted to raise my hand and

say, “Excuse me, Mister Evangelist, but the Holy Spirit

you’re talking about —the One who moved on the face

of the deep — is He the same One who now abides on

the inside of me?”

“Why, yes, Son,” he would say.

“Well, then, Mister Preacher, could you please tell me

how to get all that power out of my spirit and loosed on

the problem? Because until now, the common cold has

whipped me!”

I knew there had to be a way to release the power on

the inside of me — and later, I found out there is! And it

is just as deliberate and as power-releasing as you want

it to be in your life!

**************************************************************************************

UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

**************************************************************************************

The Edification Process

Are you beginning to grasp just how wide and deep and

high this subject of tongues really is? Well, there is

much more territory to explore! Let me take you

further now into the edification process that occurs as

you allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

What Does It Mean To Edify Your Spirit?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

First Corinthians 14:4 tells us what happens when we

pray in tongues for any amount of time:

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue EDIFIETH

HIMSELF; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

The word “edification” is derived from the word

“edifice,” which means a massive, magnificent building.

So when you pray in tongues, you are actually erecting

a superstructure, a divine operation, on the inside of

your spirit to house the anointing of God and to qualify

you for your divine calling.

Most of the time when ministers preach on the subject

of tongues, they emphasize the fact that when you pray

in tongues, you charge up your spirit the way you would

charge up a battery in the natural. They tell you that

your spirit is actually receiving a spiritual charge, a

tangible force or anointing something like electricity.

Then later when you lay hands on someone, that

tangible force goes “pow!” and the power of God goes

into that person to heal, deliver, and set free.

Well, that’s true as far as it goes. However, before that

tangible anointing is manifested through a person, he

must go through the edification process that causes it to

manifest. No to many Christians seem to know anything

about that process. Often they think that they receives

some kind of “magical” charge from praying in tongues

that will immediately begin to operate through them.

I used to believe like that. I thought God would anoint

me just as I was. Little did I know that He wasn’t at all

intending to leave me in my carnal state! That isn’t

what edification is all about.

I remember what a surprise it was to me when the Lord

started to use me after I had spent several months

praying in my prayer closet. The second meeting I ever

held, the Holy Spirit prompted me to call a woman out

of the audience. I was scared; this was all new to me. I

told the woman, “Ma’am, you have something wrong

with your body, and God wants to heal you.”

Then I laid my hands on both sides of her face, closed

my eyes, and began to pray my hardest prayer. But in

the middle of my prayer, this lady left! Talk about

humiliating! I was too embarrassed to open my eyes.

Here I was, standing in front of a crowd of people, and

the woman I was praying for had just left!

When I had exhausted everything I could think of to

pray and finally got brave enough too pen my eyes, I

looked around to see where the woman had gone — and

there she was lying on the floor! I thought, Oh, Lord,

look at that! That must be what it means to receive a

charge from praying in the Holy Ghost!I didn’t know

what to do. But when the woman got back on her feet,

she was healed!

For a long time, that was all I thought being edified in

the Holy Ghost meant God was charging up my spirit,

pouring a powerful anointing into me to use when

ministering to others. But as I kept praying in tongues, I

began to realize that there was much, much more to

this edification process than anyone had ever told me.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The Devil Can’t Understand the Mysteries

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Some people wonder what effect we are having on the

devil and his plans when we pray in tongues for

edification. One thing we are not doing is ordering the

devil around. He doesn’t even understand what we are

saying.

The Word says that when a man prays in an unknown

tongue, he isn’t talking to men; he is speaking with God

(1 Cor. 14:2). If I don’t understand what I am praying,

why would it be the devil’s business to know? Why

would God allow him to have the upper hand on me? If

the devil understands the mysteries and I don’t, then he

has an edge on me.

That’s why I can’t accept the idea that the devil can

understand us when we pray in tongues. When we

begin to pray in tongues for personal edification, we

enter into a holy “closet,” and our born-again,

recreated,seated-in-heavenly-places-with-Christ-Jesus

spirit is locked in a divine communication with God

Himself. It is a personal communication, a holy

communion, and the devil cannot enter there.

If I were to call the President of the United States and

he personally answered the telephone, you would find

me passed out on the floor from shock! The President is

much too busy of a man to talk to me.

On the other hand, my Heavenly Father is continually

administrating over the life of every believer both in

Heaven and on earth. Yet when I speak with tongues, I

immediately enter into divine communication with God

Himself. He picks up the “red telephone” on the other

end and says, “I know that’s you, Roberson, and I know

what you want. And because the Holy Ghost in His

wisdom is praying this prayer in your stead, I want you

to know that the answer is on its way — and there is

nothing the devil can do about it!”

That’s why the devil hates praying in tongues — because

he has absolutely no idea what we’re saying to God, and

it makes him nervous!

Why doesn’t he understand? Well, look back at the

temple built under the Old Covenant.Within the temple

was the outer court, where the people sacrificed to God;

the inner court,where the priest offered sacrifices to

God on behalf of the people; and finally, the Holy of

Holies, where God’s Presence dwelt. Only the high

priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies once a year to

present the blood sacrifice for the Israelite people.

If the devil had ever had the audacity to try to break

through that veil and penetrate the Holy of Holies, he

never would have made it. It was completely out of his

jurisdiction; he had no access there. The temple is a

shadow or type of the believer. As a believer, my body

is the temple of God because the Holy Spirit has come

and made His abode on the inside of me. My flesh is the

outer court; my soul the inner court. But my born-

again, recreated spirit is a type of the Holy of Holies —

and nobody, but nobody except my High Priest is

allowed inside there.

So when I pray in tongues, Satan has no idea what God

is saying to me. Why? Because the Holy Spirit creates

that supernatural language within my Holy of Holies,

and it is outside of all satanic jurisdiction.

I know a man whose sister was in a car accident. She

was transported to the hospital, her life hanging by a

thread. This man was a faith man. As he headed for the

hospital as fast as he could drive, he confessed over and

over, “My sister will live and not die;

she will live and not die!”But every time this man

would make his confession, “She’ll live and not die,”

something would shatter his emotions so badly that it

just shook him up from the top of his head to the

bottom of his feet. Then the thought would hit, She’ll

die!This happened again and again as the man sped

toward the hospital. It was really shaking him up.

Then suddenly through the gift of the discerning of

spirits, God opened this man’s spiritual eyes. (The

discerning of spirits allows you to see into the realm of

the spirit, whether angels or demons.)

When God opened this man’s eyes, he saw two demons

— one sitting on his left shoulder,the other on his right.

Every time the man would make his confession, “She’ll

live and not die,”one demon would scream through his

ear to the other demon, “She’ll die! She’ll die!”

Then the Lord spoke to the man in his spirit: “Make

your confession, and then begin to praying tongues.” So

the man made his confession one more time and began

to pray in tongues. After a while, one of the demons

looked around the back of the man’s head at the other

demon and said, “ What do you think he’s saying?”

The other devil said, “I don’t know, but is it burning you

the way it’s burning me?”“Yes,” the other demon

answered. “Do you think we should leave?” So they left.

And you may as well know, the man’s sister lived and

did not die!

______________________________________________________________________________________________

UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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The Anointing Within: Inoculation Against Deception

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I’ll tell you another important benefit of becoming

familiar with the way God communicates: When you go

into a meeting where someone is teaching false

doctrine, that wrong teaching won’t be able to

penetrate into your spirit. You’ll be able to discern

what is going on as you sit in a meeting. Is the devil

attacking the service and the Holy Ghost fighting for it?

Or is a“wolf” behind the pulpit, trying to steal the wool

off the sheep?

You see, developing the ability to discern what is not

true, even if it is spoken from behind the pulpit, is one

of the first results of consistently praying in tongues.

Praying in tongues is an inoculation against deception.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came, He would

guide us into all truth (John 16:13). No wonder John

later said this about the Holy Spirit:

These things have I written unto you concerning them

that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have

received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that

any man teach you: but as THE SAME ANOINTING

TEACHETH YOU of all things, and IS TRUTH, AND IS NO

LIE, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in

him.— 1 John 2:26,27

What did John mean when he said that you have no

need that any man teach you? Well,the truth is, most

deception takes place behind the pulpit. That’s where

great religious movements are born that deny half of

the Bible. For instance, when the devil talks church

leaders into removing the right to speak in tongues out

of their bylaws, that particular denomination takes a

step into deception.

Just because someone stands behind a pulpit doesn’t

make him right. He is only right if his teaching lines up

with the Word of God. Truth is truth and stands by its

own merit.

So how are we going to know when someone is teaching

wrong doctrine, whether intentionally or out of

ignorance? By the anointing inside of us that is truth

and does not bear witness to lies.

In the legalistic, ultra-Holiness church where I was first

born again, the people would do all sorts of things to

raise money for the church, such as selling

“anointed”pieces of a cutup preaching tent (I was first

in line to buy one of those!), “anointed” oil, water from

the Jordan River,and even wallets that were never

supposed to go empty. (I went broke buying that wallet

— and then I even lost the wallet!) Or sometimes we

were told to give a love offering to prove God for our

lost loved ones or to have a visiting prophet prophesy

over us.

But the Gospel is not for merchandising, and none of

the things of God are for sale —absolutely none of

them. So after praying in tongues every day for a year, I

went back to visit my old Holiness friends. But when

they started using the familiar “gimmick” tactics,

urging the congregation to give a love offering to “buy”

some coveted blessing, my spirit went dead. I thought,

What’s wrong with me? I used to get all excited just like

everyone else when they talked about this kind of thing.

Have I back slidden without knowing it?

No, I hadn’t back slidden. The Spirit of Truth inside of

me, my Teacher who cannot lie and bears witness only

to the truth, had been activated through many hours of

praying in tongues. He was causing me to discern the

lies that had deceived me in the past but could not

deceive me anymore.

This is just one more reason why I strongly disagree

with people who say that if you pray too much in

tongues, you’ll get “weird.” A person who makes a

statement like that is void of understanding. He would

never say such a thing if he understood the role this

basic gift plays in hearing the voice of God and

becoming familiar with the channel through which He

speaks. No one who loves people would deliberately

deprive the Body of Christ of such a blessing!

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The Candle of the Lord

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Let’s look at one more scripture regarding how the Holy

Spirit communicates with us. Proverbs 20:27 has

something profound to say about the subject:

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all

the inward parts of the belly.

What an incredible statement! My human spirit is the

part of me that is created in God’s image; it is the

candle of God. In other words, it is the part of me that

the Holy Spirit ignites to illuminate my understanding

of Himself, imparting unto me revelation knowledge.

What do we do with a candle? We don’t have much use

for one in a bright room. We light a candle when the

room is dark. We put it on a tabletop, and it throws

illumination into the entire room.

With God’s candle, our spirit man, the Holy Spirit

searches out all the inward parts of the belly — all the

dark places in our lives that need the light of His truth.

This is the same searching process that takes place in us

as we pray in tongues. He who searches the heart knows

the mind of God and makes intercession for us

according to the will of God (Rom. 8:27).

The Holy Spirit teaches us everything we cannot

discern. He shows us mysteries and divine secrets we

need to know about God and His ways. He is our first

and foremost Teacher.

If we let the Holy Ghost teach us, at times we will enter

into different realms of anointing s during prayer, such

as tongues for interpretation or the deep groaning s of

intercession. There will be times when He will teach us

mysteries during our prayer vigils. But no matter what

happens in prayer, we will always come out the

beneficiary if we yield our “candle” to the Holy Spirit,

allowing Him to illuminate our inmost parts with the

light of His truth.

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You have desired to know Me. You have desired the

intimacy of the Spirit that can only come through

edification and worship.

Hear what the Spirit would say. For I desire to

fellowship with you. I desire to operate through you in

My power so that others might be blessed.

Come aside and come up higher. Begin to fellowship

with Me, and I will begin to fellowship with you.

And even though the path grows narrower, I will take

you into a holy communion with Myself, for it is

through My fellowship with you that your hunger and

thirst is quenched.(word given thru Dave Roberson)

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY

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