JoAnn McFatter: "Walking By the Spirit—It's Time to Break Out of the Limitations We Have Walked In"

The following is courtesy of elijahlist.com

It is our privilege and delight as the Body of Christ to pursue the mystery of the knowledge of our God. Most are in agreement that this is a time of acceleration where the things of the Spirit are concerned. As a God-driven hunger for Spirit and Truth increases in our hearts, we are finding ourselves hitting a wall again and again as we attempt to understand the things of the Spirit via the mind of man.

We seem to have a problem in this present age comprehending what it means to have the mind of Christ. We must seek God to find just what it means to live by the Spirit.

"For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart."—1 Corinthians 2:16

We've lost the fullness of what it means to be a new creature in Christ at our conversion—to the truth that Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, shed His Blood that we might be freed from the curse pronounced upon mankind when sin entered through the first Adam. If indeed Adam and Eve lived outside of the curse before they sinned, why then are we, though redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb who bore sin on our behalf, still living as though nothing happened to negate its hold on us?

In the Garden

I can't imagine the world which Adam and Eve lived in before all of this happened. God walked with Adam in the cool of the day, so His glory had to have filled the atmosphere. I've heard stories of people who have been in the kind of glory cloud that was so thick, you couldn't see the person next to you! It was described as breathing pure oxygen and was absolutely exhilarating.

I believe the "speed of light" was different in the garden before the fall, that would have made the atmosphere contain a different level of oxygen, etc. which would have sustained their bodies in a different way. Their minds would have been much more alert. Breathing a different level of oxygen increases everything in our bodies.

I imagine they had use of a much larger capacity of their brain. If the curse has been broken, shouldn't we, at the bare minimum, be living as they did in the garden before the fall? What I ponder these days is: why are we not living in that same environment? Just as God was with them in the garden, He is IN us at our conversion. It seems the atmosphere they were surrounded in would be the very atmosphere we should be carrying inside of us—the very glory of God! Christ IN us, the hope of glory!

"Christ purchased our freedom (redeeming us) from the curse (doom) of the law (and its condemnation) by (Himself) becoming a curse for us, for it is written (in the Scriptures) cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified)."—Galatians 3:13

"Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!"—2 Corinthians 5:17

Born Again By the Spirit

The old has passed and the fresh and new has come. We can now walk in His manifest glory right here and right now. When Moses was in the presence of God's glory, his face shined so that he had to wear a veil over it. Something happened to him as he beheld the measure of glory the Lord allowed to pass by Moses as he hid himself in the cleft of the rock. Should not that glory reside in us today? Should we not be "leaking light" as we become one with Him by our spirit communing with His Spirit?

As we become born again by the Spirit of God and we become one with Him, we come into alignment with who we were created to be—one who is made in the image of God. As we walk on this earth, we are to navigate by allowing our mind and body to follow our own spirit-man as we are led by His Spirit. I'm afraid we have no idea how to do that! We have so navigated for centuries by the mind of man, that even when we think we are being led by the Spirit, we are still following our linear, rational, left-brained, Greek/Western thought processes.

"Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and (even) the Spirit, he cannot (ever) enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of (from) the flesh is flesh (of the physical is physical); and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not (do not be surprised, astonished) at My telling you, 'You must all be born anew (from above).' The wind blows (breathes) where it wills; and though you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."—John 3:5-8

"If I have told you of things that happen right here on the earth and yet none of you believes Me, how can you believe (trust Me, adhere to Me, rely on Me) if I tell you of heavenly things? And yet no one has ever gone up to Heaven, but there is One Who has come down from Heaven - the Son of Man (Himself), Who is (dwells, has His home) in Heaven."—John 3:12-13

Notice that Jesus says about Himself that He is in Heaven. He's standing there on the earth, telling Nicodemus that He is in Heaven. We are seated with Him in heavenly places. He didn't say we would be seated, He said we ARE seated. That would mean present tense. The ability to be in two realms at the same time is something we need to grasp as we let our own way of thinking fall away and take on the mind of Christ. If it were not ours to have, He would not have put it in front of us the way He continually does in Scripture.

We have rationalized the life out of what Jesus really said until there is no Spirit left in it—just the mind of man in his small box of what is possible and acceptable by our limited thinking and understanding, not to mention our religious ways of processing His words.

I believe God is going to illuminate our minds as we give way to His Spirit communing with our spirit-man. It is a time in history when the sciences, the arts and spirituality are coming to a shift as He allows us to see the fullness of how He put this world together for us to live in—both in the physical realm as well as the eternal realm—AT THE SAME TIME! As we meditate on Him and His Word, He is going to help us to get our heads wrapped around the things of the Spirit.

He's going to help us step into and take on the mind of Christ. It would behoove us to ask Him to reveal just how He meant for us to live on this earth. Again I say: we need to ask Him just what was in His heart when He created man in the very beginning to commune with Him. It would be good for us to ask Him how to walk with Him truly as a new creature in Christ—one with His Spirit, with Christ in us, living through us, and with our spirit-man taking the lead.

It's time to break out of the limitations we have walked in for the past decades upon decades! The choice is ours as to just how deep we go into the mind of Christ.

"Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him?"—Isaiah 40:13

JoAnn McFatter
WhiteDove Ministries
Email: contact@joannmcfatter.com

James Goll: "God's Healing Delivery Systems"

Courtesy of elijahlist.com

This week's communiqué is more on the teaching side versus the personal ones that I have brought to you in recent weeks. I want to drive a stake in the ground that even though we have had some setbacks, we are not giving up on "divine healing." I will not drop the bar of my understanding of God's Word to match my experience. I will continue to contend for the fullness of God's fruit and gifting to come together in this generation, and that our experience matches the Word.

With this in mind, I am bringing you a teaching on God's Healing Delivery Systems. Let's keep striking the arrows to the ground (see II Kings 13) until we see a great increase in all areas of healing and deliverance—not just one area—in all areas! Remember, it is by His stripes we are healed! It is ours. It is done! His work is perfect and complete!

In Christ Jesus our Lord..anticipating!

James W. Goll

GOD'S VARIOUS MEANS
Removing Blockades

God wants us to be well! But, God has more than one assembly line available to Him by which He delivers the finished product. Obviously, conditions must be met in order to receive from the Lord. A knowledge of the Father's love, faith in the completed work of the Cross of Christ, and patient abiding in the Word of God are but a few of these essentials.

In some situations, we try to "box God in" on how He will heal us. God has various means to utilize, to restore, or to bring us to proper health. Ignorance, unbelief, prejudices, and presumptive thinking are blockades that must be removed for the stream of God's healing power to flow to and through us.

II Kings 5:1-14 tells us of the preconceived ideas Naaman, the leprous and valiant warrior, had concerning "how God through the prophet would heal him." Verse 11 states, "But Naaman was furious and went away and said, 'Behold, I thought, "He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper."'" The directions given by Elisha were to the contrary though. "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean."

Due to Naaman's preconceived ideas and his prideful and prejudiced ways of thinking, he almost missed out on the very thing he was seeking—cleansing, healing, and restoration. Naaman turned away in rage (verse 12), but his faithful servants prevailed upon him to go and wash himself in the Jordan River. As Naaman humbled himself and did the little act of foolish obedience, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was made clean (see II Kings 5:14).

Let us also drop our prejudiced, prideful ways of thinking, humble ourselves, and receive as a little child!

Three Channels of Healing Love

The highest form, other than the climactic resurrection of the dead and receiving our "glorified bodies," is Divine Health.

3 John 2:1 states, "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers." Good health is the mark we all desire.

In God's healing delivery system, there are at least three major channels:

1. The natural and nutritional.
2. Science and the medical arts.
3. Divine, supernatural healing.

Each of these areas are valuable and much dissertation can be done to expound on each of these separately. But, the focus of this teaching is to highlight the variety of means God uses in the divine, supernatural approach.

Primary Verses on Healing

The following are some of the classic Scripture verses on healing that one should study, learn and meditate upon.

1. Exodus 15:26, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, AM YOUR HEALER."

2. Psalm 103:1-5, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle."

3. Isaiah 53:5, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed."

4. I Peter 2:24, "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."

5. Matthew 8:16-17, "When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 'He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases.'"

6. Mark 16:16-17, "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

7. I Corinthians 12:9, "...and to another the gifts of healing by the one Spirit."

8. James 5:14-15, "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him."

Biblical Methodologies

Communion - The Lord's Supper

Read: I Corinthians 11:27-34. God has, to a larger degree, bound our physical well-being to our ability to relate spiritually to the "flesh and bone" aspect of Christ.

Water Baptism

Read: Romans 6:3-6; Mark 16:16. Perhaps some Believers have never experienced freedom in habitual patterns of sin because they've never identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ through a New Testament water baptism. This is not an option and is commandment of Scripture that should be fulfilled.

Calling for the Elders and Anointing with Oil

Read: James 5:14,15; Mark 6:13. Be prepared to act on God's Word! Be ready to obey God's Word and anoint with oil the sick, acting in faith as you release the Holy Spirit's anointing.

Laying on of Hands and Prayer by Believers in General

Read: Mark 16:16-18; Matthew 19:15. All Believers have as their prerogative to believe God's Word and pray for the sick through the laying on of hands. God is looking for hands to use.

Can the Lord work through your hands?

By the Spoken Word

Read: Luke 7:1-10. The greatest faith, according to Jesus, rests solely in the "Word."

There were three types of people who came to Jesus for healing:

1. Those who came for personal healing.
2. Those who brought someone else for healing.
3. Those who came for someone else, but only sought the word of Jesus, stating they would be healed.

Jesus' Garments; Peter's Shadow

"And wherever He went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak, and all who touched Him were healed."—Mark 6:56

"As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed."—Acts 5:15,16

These formed a "point of contact" for the one in need. The Lord will use such "tools" with us as we are led by the present tense voice of the Holy Spirit.

Handkerchiefs and Aprons from Paul

"God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them."—Acts 19:11-12

Notice that these were called "special/extraordinary miracles." They were done this way either by revelation or because there was no other way for Paul to contact them.

Levels of the Operation

There are various levels of operations, such as the Gifts of Healing and Working of Miracles. See the Study Guide on Releasing Spiritual Gifts for more on this subject.

1. Instantaneous - Matthew 8:3; Mark 1:31
2. Gradual - John 4:52; Mark 8:22-25

Confession

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."—James 5:16

Confess your faults to another and experience cleansing and healing. This opens a gate of humility, and thus God's grace appears on the scene.

Healing Release through Angelic Activity

"Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.

"A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, 'Do you wish to get well?'

"The sick man answered Him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.'"—John 5:2-7

(For more on this subject, see the lessons on the "Ministry and Function of Angels" in the Study Guide Understanding Supernatural Encounters.)

Many Valid Healing Styles

Soaking Prayer Approach

"They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had spit on the man's eyes and put His hands on him, Jesus asked, 'Do you see anything?'

"He looked up and said, 'I see people; they look like trees walking around.' Once more Jesus put His hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, 'Don't go into the village.'"—Mark 8:22-26

Bringing the presence of God into an individual's life over an extended period of time and seeing progressive healing occur through the patient process is often termed "soaking prayer."

Five Stage Healing Model

This is an integrated approach to healing which involves a dialogue-prayer combination as taught in the book, Power Healing, by John Wimber.

This Five Stage technique is presented in full in Lesson Three in my Study Guide on The Healing Anointing.

Faith Healing

1. By the faith of healer—the one ministering.
2. By the faith of individual—coming with the need.
3. By the faith by others who bring the one in need.
4. By exercising faith in the Word of God expressed through prayer to God alone.

Acting Out Specific Directions

This might be by putting fingers in ears, placing mud in the eye, or telling someone to dip in the pool as Jesus did. In this manner we wait to get specific direction and then "Listen and obey."

"Slain in the Spirit"

Resting in the Spirit, overcome by power, the "glory fall," etc. Many different terms have historically been used to describe this overwhelming experience.

This experience is when one gently or powerfully "falls in the Spirit" into a resting position where God's presence and healing moves upon your being.

"Lengthening of Legs and Arms"

There are numerous and various healing techniques that may be utilized and which may authentically release the power of God to flow into an individual. This may include simply sitting a person in a chair and asking the Lord to give a Holy Spirit chiropractic adjustment, as He adjusts and repositions or heals the leg or arm.

Being Open—Not Closed—A Great Key

We Must Learn to be Faithful

Be faithful in the little we presently receive—stepping out in faith that a greater increase of His anointing will come (Luke 16:10-12).

We Must Drop Our Prejudices

We must drop our prejudices against particular streams, styles, and techniques. Let's not strain at a gnat and swallow a religious camel!

Let's Always be Christ-Centered

Let's always be Christ-centered, giving praise and honor to the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, and lift up the One who suffered on our behalf. Remember the lesson of Numbers 21:6-9. Whoever looked at the bronze serpent upon the standard lived. Let us lift up Christ and cause people to look to Him!

Remember, ultimately, it is not the "healing techniques or models of delivery systems" that bring God's cure to bear. It is the person and presence of Jesus as it says in Matthew 4:23:"And Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness..."

Amen! Let God's Healing Anointing flow through His many different delivery systems in Jesus' name!

Thanks for Praying and Caring!

James W. Goll
Encounters Network and PrayerStorm 
Email: info@encountersnetwork.com