Missing Factor = Holy Spirit
Missing Factor = Holy Spirit
When praying recently (or… complaining in religious-sounding language) over some seemingly impossible factors, what rose up in my spirit was, “Don’t leave the Holy Spirit out of the equation.” When we are needing a factor to get the result of 2 + X = 3, we tend to focus on the fact that we don’t have “X” and that all we have is a measly little “2” and that, as a result, we don’t yet have “3”. In our case, as believers, all we have to do is put “X” (the missing factor) in the equation. If the situation is chaotic and even destructive, wouldn’t it be obvious that the Holy Spirit is not in control? Then let’s call Him into the situation. Instead of laying out our complaints in religious-sounding language and so-called “righteous indignation,” let’s cry out before God for His promised One to bring the power of heaven into the situation (Jn16:7).
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Holy Spirit — The Enabler
Holy Spirit — The Enabler
We are not waiting for Jesus to bring His purpose into this earth with an inaugural dispensation because His purpose has never been absent from this earth (Jn5:17). What yet awaits is the manifesting of those who will receive the empowering that King Jesus sent after His ascension. What yet awaits is those who are blood-washed (Rev1:5) and Spirit-filled to go ahead and demonstrate the One who dwells within them (Jn14:17); knowing He dwells within to empower them so that they might not only confront powers of darkness but also contradict those powers with life, light and order (Acts26:18;1Pe 2:9). Those sons of God know that the Holy Spirit hasn’t come as a slip-n-slide to heaven but as the Enabler to break the hold of darkness upon men and systems (Jn17:15) through believers who are led by the Spirit (Rom8:14).
THE Super Spirit
THE Super Spirit
There is a yearning for a superhero to contradict the oppression of a downward spiral of destruction in our world. Since the powerful Holy Spirit (THE Super Spirit) is the one who links heaven and earth (Jn 16:7), it should be obvious to us that His dwelling presence within us (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8), and His permeating presence into chaos (Gen 1:2;Jn 16:8-11;Acts 17:6) is the only way the powers of darkness can be defeated. That requires our looking beyond using Jesus as a get-out-of-hell-free card and seeing His kingship as empowered by the promised One who endues sons of God with confronting and contradicting abilities (1Co 12:4-11, 28-31). The gifts of the Spirit are not Charismatic party favors but enablements for reigning presently in this earth over everything that its systems launch against King Jesus and His present purposes.
Factor In The Holy Spirit
Factor In The Holy Spirit
Superheroes seem to have become the theme of many movies in recent time. Some of the most effective, powerful superheroes in those stories have come from other planets, other parts of the universe. They are adored, lauded, even feared for their superpowers. One movie which came out a few months ago depicted a man from earth who ended up on another planet and became the hero who defeated the super bad guy on that planet. The message seems clear: that people need a hero and expect that he can only come from a far away place, from a totally different environment. Looking around at present world circumstances, I think almost everyone would agree that someone must come to us from a completely different realm of existence and pierce the impossibilities of our world which we all seem helpless to overcome. The chaos must be confronted with superior contradiction. It won’t be done without the enablement of the Holy Spirit. (Jn16:7; Acts1:8) (This is the first of a series about the Holy Spirit by Marty Gabler)
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Following God Through Gates
Following God Through Gates (by Kathy Gabler)
Our security is not in having many absolutes to protect us, but in knowing Him who is absolute wisdom. Principles hold true, but they get put in priority order by the wisdom of God in every situation. Traditions can have us believing in our beliefs more than we believe in Him, and at that point His Word and counsel have no power or effect in us or for us. Our beliefs are not holy, He is. Therefore, let us give respect and follow through to the gates our holy and wise God builds specifically to get us to the fullest future He desires.
Gates And Traditions
Gates And Traditions (by Kathy Gabler)
Probably the hardest place to build a gate is in our traditional, established views of scripture, and unfortunately we could die on our own sword trying to defend our traditional beliefs simply because the letter of the law kills. It is rather ironic that the letter of the law is so strong yet vulnerable to something as simple as a typo or language or culture or new revelation. However, the spirit of the law, or the truth that is right and unchangeable in it, is not threatened by new gates to fuller understanding. For instance, the scripture says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” The spirit of that law boils down to not deliberately deceiving and manipulating information against someone for your own purposes. However, our traditions have added to the letter of that law that we must tell everything we know at all times. Not lying does not equal spilling all truth to all people. Even “honesty is the best policy” is best approached with caution because sometimes SILENCE is the best policy. (There are men who have learned that it is better to be silent than express their honest opinion of what that dress looks like on their wife.)
New Gates Are Not Optional
New Gates Are Not Optional (by Kathy Gabler)
While prophesying to a lady, I saw her as a bird in a gilded cage. The door was open on the cage, but she would not fly out. Instead of leaving her captivity, she decorated it, but the golden captivity was still captivity. We can comfort ourselves with former revelation, with blessings already received and with testimonies of past obediences, or refuse to move and just focus on quests that everyone would call godly, but God’s designs are always moving beyond the past and even beyond the now. When He builds a gate, He is not presenting options; rather He is giving direction. That gate will lead to growth, increase, maturity and change. Purpose beckons us beyond our current fence line. God is faithful to build the gate, but it is up to us to choose to go through it.
New Gates
New Gates (by Kathy Gabler)
Our traditions can be excess baggage that we have to unpack for the journey through a new gate. We need to unpack passionless pieces and old seasons and expired obediences, those acts that were once a mandate but lost their effectualness as times and circumstances changed. Israel had many parameters for sacrifice. They were all teaching-tools and types to anticipate and understand the coming Messiah. All their animal sacrifices were blood that was shed for an exemplary nation until the Christ would come to shed His blood for all mankind. An expired obedience would be to continue the ceremony after the type had been fulfilled. That translates in our day as expired legalisms that want to impose on us the traditions of men instead of the freedom of Christ, like trying to breed a red heifer or build another temple or enforce religious calendar activities again. When God provides a gate, expired goals won’t fit through it.
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Marty & Kathy Magazine * Aug./Sept.2012
Contents:p.3-Charting The Course…Jim Hodges * p.8-Intercession For A Nation..Bob Long * p.12-Gates In Our Fences…Kathy Gabler * p.15-God Blesses His People.Dr. Elwyn Lewis * p.19-Church: From Crisis To Commission…Jim Becton * p.22-The Parables Of The Kingdom…Simon Purvis * P.26-Lights Shining In a Dark Place.Chuck Kaliszewski * p.28-Factor In The Holy Spirit..Marty Gabler
**Click on cover to read Volume 16 Issue 4 of SEEC Magazine. When magazine appears, scroll down to read the articles.
Old Fence Lines
Old Fence Lines (by Kathy Gabler)
There is wisdom in honoring healthy boundaries in life and not damaging borders of ownership or lines of good conduct or established ethics or moral limits, etc., however, a gate indicates access beyond, not damage to a border line. Hopefully, I won’t be written off as just having a blasphemous fit, but I think we might be more mature sons of God if we view Acts as a beginning rather than an end. Would we stay within our old fence lines if we saw ourselves as Bible characters instead of mere men in history? Many will immediately fear I’m risking the curse for adding to the book, but the church world is probably in more danger of the “taking away” from the book curses because we see the Bible as a book that has a beginning and end like any other. I am not talking about a new book of Mormon or revising the Canon, I am talking about the Bible’s legacy being the eternal and ongoing Word of God. I am talking about having a part in the big picture in such a way that our life choices and accomplishments actually connect to God’s plan for a generation beyond our own or a town we don’t even live in or an election that hasn’t even registered candidates yet. I pray we begin to see that we dare not lock down in traditions of the past and refuse to enter the gate into all that God has planned for us to do in the future and in our lifetime.
Gates In Our Fences (by Kathy Gabler)
Gates In Our Fences (by Kathy Gabler)
While praying, I heard the Spirit of the Lord say He is going to put gates in our fences. There is new ground He wants us to take that is beyond our fences, beyond our norms, beyond our paradigms, beyond our limitations and beyond our traditions. He’s going to open new things to us and open us to new things. I know the Bible says there is nothing new under the sun, but sometimes we forget our God is not under the sun. Besides that, just getting past misbeliefs can be a whole new world for us. Going through a new gate is getting to change, getting to new horizons and getting to fulfillment, and its journey starts with a new thought that touches the future.
Destiny And Keys
Destiny And Keys
We are sons of God whose destiny it is to allow and disallow what happens on our watch. (Mt 16:19; 18:18) Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven. (Amp) Psa 115:16 The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men. When we assemble as a governing body, there is a synergy created by the power of the Holy Spirit that brings us into the functioning of our destiny. (Heb 10:25) If Jesus did not think that it would work, He would have never ascended to the right hand of the Father. He has, therefore, sent the Holy Spirit with the authority and the power of heaven to bring heaven to earth (Jn 16:7).
Creation is groaning because it is looking for a people that know who they are and what they are about and are able to legislate life, light and freedom. Someone must legislatively say, “Arise and be healed.” Someone must say to forces of darkness, “Stop!.” Jesus, indwelled by the Holy Spirit and knowing the mind of the Father, confronted darkness and contradicted it. That is the present destiny of the Church.
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Happy Heart Is Good Medicine
This is the day the Lord has made so…
I will rejoice and choose to have a happy heart and cheerful mind in it! (Prov17:22)
“A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (Prov17:22, Amp)
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Destiny Determines Dynamic
Destiny Determines Dynamic
The Church is not to be merely congregational, i.e., simply those who congregate with an eye toward receiving. By definition of the biblical term for “church” (ecclesia), when we assemble together it is not for the purpose of crying out for blessings. Many congregants, in the religious reality of our day, gather and pay their dues so that leadership can do “to them” and “for them.” Perhaps the reason for much dissatisfaction among congregants with their leadership is because we gather for purposes other than the defined reason for the existence of the ecclesia. Edification is possible between individuals of the Body of Christ (1Thess5:1) and therefore, does not exist as the sole responsibility of professional clergy nor does it require the entire assembly of the membership at a designated time and place. The biblical word for church is “ecclesia”; it is not a word that dropped down out of heaven but was a word used in that culture to describe a legislative body; and so, it was used first by Jesus and later by Paul to help the people of God understand their purpose and dynamic. Gleaning from the biblical meaning of the word for “church,” we can only come to the conclusion that the destiny of the Church is to be congressional (to borrow a term from Dr. Crum). Looking at purpose, those viewing the Church from the inside may be looking for “blessings” for individual adherents. But creation, looking from the outside, is looking for demonstration that affects it. We assemble for the purpose of legislating. Instruction from the Word, worship and edification through the gifts of the Spirit equip us to properly act in keeping with our mandate. Gathering in “one mind and one accord” in the Upper Room, believers received enduement that propelled them to the four corners of the earth so that those who observed them in the city proclaimed, “They have come here and turned the world upside down” — the result of coming to one mind concerning mandate. (Acts1:8;17:6) We pray until we are in alignment with the Father and then we declare and do in this earth what He wills. (Jn 5:19; 12:49). When the sons of God (royalty with authority) manifest (speak & act authoritatively), the expectancy of creation is satisfied having received relief from the oppression of the powers of darkness.
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The Body Has A Head And A Destiny
The Body Has A Head And A Destiny
Paul did not teach that some day, by and by, the Church will eventually be a Head and a body. He proclaimed that to be the present make-up of the Church. (1Co 12:27; Eph 5:23) According to Paul, Jesus is the Head and believers are the body. That is God’s plan, not the plan of a committee. How or why would God attach His awesome Son/Head to a beleaguered, weary body that was seeking to avoid its destiny? In the physical human body, the impulses that tell the body what to do and enable it to do those things, come from the head. The head sends messages to the body so that the body can act it out. We can do anything in this earth that Jesus did: raise the dead, heal the sick, deliver the captive and affect nature. Many years ago I prophesied to small children concerning the purpose of God for their lives. Some of them are now bringing their babies to our meetings and asking me to prophesy over their babies like I did over them. Those young parents and their children can sense that there is a God-given purpose in them now. We have a destiny right here and right now.
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Destiny Does Not Abandon
Destiny Does Not Abandon
If we abandon creation physically and/or emotionally, who or what is left to answer its groaning? Who or what will meet the deep, expectant waiting of the creature? Rom 8:14, 19 shows us that it is the destiny of the Church to be the answer to that cry. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God… 19 For the EARNEST EXPECTATION of the creature WAITETH for the manifestation of the sons of God. If the world cannot experience the destiny of the Church, what good is its destiny? The Church’s destiny cannot be separated from the purpose of Jesus coming to earth. That purpose was redemptive. (Lk 19:10; 1Co 1:30) The Holy Spirit abiding in and working through the Church is the only hope this world has got. (Mt 4:13-14) “Manifestation” simply put means that we come to be and do and act like what we were born for.
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Destiny To Confront
Destiny To Confront
Jesus came to this earth to confront and contradict darkness. Upon occasion after occasion, He undid what darkness had done. He did not do that on a couple of auspicious occasions that happened to be remembered, but He did it on a regular basis. Jesus was the embodiment of the authority and power of God to do something about darkness. (Lk 1:79; Jn 8:12; 12:46) Jesus confronted darkness and contradicted it. They brought blind people to Him, He confronted blindness and contradicted it with sight. They brought lame people to Him and instead of going and calling the pastor to go visit them, he confronted lameness and contradicted it with strength and mobility. He confronted demon possession and contradicted it with liberty of the Spirit. The purpose of our Lord, the demonstration of our Lord and our destiny cannot be separated. It is the destiny of the Church to be the embodiment of the authority and power of God so we might confront and contradict darkness in this present generation.
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Destiny And Glory
Destiny And Glory
When the Hebrew writer says “in bringing many sons to glory” (Heb 2:10) he is not talking about the ability of Jesus to get many people to heaven. The earth is groaning, not to get rid of the sons of God but that they might be manifest here in this earth. (Rom 8:19) The earth is expectantly waiting and creation is groaning, so in answer to that Jesus is leading many sons to glory, not to heaven. We glorify God when we walk and when we talk like Jesus. (Jn 15:8; 20:21) We are led to glory when we walk out the purpose for which we were born. I submit to you that glorifying God and the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ in this life, in the face of everything that opposes Him and His, is the destiny of the Church. The destiny of the church is not somewhere out there in the sweet by and by but is one that is lived out before men in the good ol’ here and now.
Destiny And Identity
Destiny And Identity
Often musings are vocalized as to the deep, mystical reason there are “so few young people in our churches.” Yet, in all honesty, one must wonder why young people, who have an eye to the future, would want to be around a bunch of people who regularly express misery, disappointment and desire for getting out of here. Many people express themselves as only having a hope to get to heaven. There is great faith to get to heaven but not much evidenced for anything prior to that desired place of dwelling. Churchmen have presented heaven as our goal (consider the goal of Rom8:29 & Gal4:19) and have tended to present Jesus as little more than a ticket to get there. Has religion inferred to a world rampant with hopelessness that the only answer is to get to heaven so everything will be OK? Is it possible that the underlying implication offered to a coming generation is that Jesus is powerful enough to get someone to heaven but He isn’t much good for anything else? The destiny of the Church is not heaven but displaying a living Christ now to the children who must be given identity and purpose. Perhaps then they will find their place in their generation and answer the longing of creation for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom8:19), and become destiny on display.
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Destiny And Calendar Thresholds
Destiny And Calendar Thresholds
The viewpoint which is most readily accepted throughout the institutional Church is that the destiny of the Church is somewhere out there in an ideological future after all the prophecy teachers’ predictions have come to pass. There are some people who are waiting for a much-desired calendar date to come along so that they can finally be what they are not now. There are those who teach that a calendar date is the hope of the Church. Yet, the emphasis of Scripture is to show that JESUS is the hope of the Church and of all mankind. Jesus is our hope, not an event.(Col 1:27) I have talked with people who cannot wait for this present age to be over with so they no longer have to deal with disillusionment over economics, religion and politics. In organized religion, the answer has consistently been: you will no longer be disappointed or disillusioned or be the object of injustice once a certain calendar date arrives. (One very well financed individual has missed the date several times in recent months in spite of the plain language of Matt24:36.) We have been presented with a great desire and a goal to get through a calendar threshold and get on the other side where there is nothing of the negative sort to deal with. The goal presented is a state of bliss without confrontation or contradiction. Basically, Jesus and His glory manifested are left out of the equation for happiness, except as a usable means of arriving there. Yet, the destiny of the Church is to be NOW (Jn17:15,18) what Jesus was in His ministry.(Jn5:17) The destiny of the Church does not need a calendar threshold but the power of the Holy Spirit to be and to do (Acts 1:8). seecministries.org
Is the destiny of the Church present or future?
Is the destiny of the Church present or future?
The answer will determine the Church’s posture and its motivation. Is the destiny of the Church to be a congregation (which means “to gather”) or is the destiny of the church to be a congress (a legislative assembly)? Will the Church’s action be congregational or congressional? The Church’s destiny is not in some ethereal future nestled in some farflung region but right here and right now. Jesus didn’t find Himself in hot water until those observing Him began to realize that His purpose wasn’t merely to gather with others and quote the Pentateuch but to bring the authority of Jehovah into the earth. Jesus legislated (legislate: to bring into effect) justice into injustice, life into death, deliverance into captivity, healing into brokenness, sightedness into blindness (Lk 4:18). Rather than pointing a finger at the sky and saying, “Someday,” He pointed a finger at the need and spoke the solution in the present circumstances. “As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world (Jn 17:8). (also 1Jn 4:17)
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Removing Mountains Within
Removing Mountains Within (by Kathy Gabler)
As I considered the prayer of David in Ps139:23, I noticed the definition of “wicked” even included: “a grievous pang of body.” Many people are distracted or diverted from their destiny by physical distress. I believe this prayer could be the catalyst for change in our physical bodies as well. I pray, “Lord, reveal any sorrow or offense that is the root of disease or dysfunction in my body. Don’t let me hold to any issue or belief that hinders my soul or body. Let neither soul nor body distract me or defeat me as I follow your lead in the ordained path you have for me. I am confident that with your answer will come the grace to make any changes necessary and remove mountains WITHIN in 2012.” Amen.
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Don’t Let The Mountain Block The View
Don’t Let The Mountain Block The View (by Kathy Gabler)
As he prayed “Search me, O God, and know my heart,” (Ps 139:23) David wasn’t just praying for an examination and a test score. He was positioned to repent. He submitted to God knowing God’s answer or instructions would bring change in his thinking and his opinions, perhaps in his relationships and daily lifestyle. David knew he must release fear or grief or offense as God pointed them out so that those things would not block his view of God.
Revealing Mountains
Revealing Mountains (by Kathy Gabler)
May we be like David as he prayed for the mountains within himself to be revealed in Psalms 139:23,24. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (NKJ) A paraphrased word study reveals this in his prayer: “O God, examine me and reveal my mind, my knowledge, my thinking, my memories, my inclinations, my determinations, my conscience, my moral character, my appetites, my emotions and my passions. Scrutinize me and reveal my disturbing thoughts and opinions.” When David asked God to search him for wicked ways he was NOT on a guilt-driven search for evil and moral decay in himself. The word translated “wicked” here is used only two other times in the Old Testament and both times it was translated “sorrow.” So David was asking God to see if there were any high places of idolatry in him that had been built on wounds or offense or sorrow or hardship or bitter memories. He was asking God to see if there was any experience or threat bigger or more important to him than God. David knew those things could distort God’s counsel and instructions and even block him from God’s presence. Every soulish mountain-stronghold becomes a blind spot that blocks us from seeing God’s truth and purpose, thereby keeping us from God’s presence and plans in some part of our life.
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