Communication mode may indicate maturity level

19 Mar

ImageWe’ve been exploring how to transition FROM using words from our mind… TO transferring spirit-essence via our spirit.  In this post, we’ll unpack how our mode of communicating may be an evidence of our maturity level.

Babies can’t talk
When we’re babies, we need and respond to touch and sound (cuddles, coos, jabber, etc.).  Touch and sounds are important because we haven’t learned the use of words or concepts, yet.  A baby’s world is a very shortsighted feeling-oriented world.  Crying as our primary form of indicating that we have a need.

Use your ‘big boy’ words
As we grow Mommy and Daddy teach us words… and press us to use to those ‘big boy’ words to communicate.  Within a few years vocalized words become our primary means of communicating our felt needs to those around us.

Then as we mature further, we learn to use and interpret vocal inflections and physical gestures… which include nuances of facial, hands, and body deportment, etc.  With greater maturity we begin to learn bigger words and the intention behind the usage of sets of words, which may mean much more than the mere words.  We learn attitudes, parallel symbolisms, hyperbole, and jest, etc.  We’re advancing in our skills of vocal communication.

Graduate beyond words
This learning process is the pathway of the most humans.  It has taken years for each person to become skilled at adopting these functions.  But NOW at this stage in our spiritual journey, we believe that our Father wants to wean us from humanity’s primary use of words only…  and move into an even ‘bigger boy’ mode of using our spirit for the transfer of understanding and all things spiritual.  And believe it or not, I believe that it will become our primary way of engaging the physical realm (think miracles).

Maturing from ‘felt need’ to Father’s will
Eventually, our conscious world will transition from me, my and mine… and my self absorbed felt need.  As we learn to rest in Father’s commitment to care for us and we’ll become more consumed with His desires and thoughts.  Our communications will be more about His world and less about our world.

Recap so far
So we’ve grown from 1) crying (begging sounds) to 2) words to 3) nuance and intention and we’re moving to 4) spirit-to-spirit exchange.  We’ve embraced these in incremental installments and as we become proficient with them, unwittingly they become indicators or evidences of our level of maturation in communication.

Where we’re headed, eventually, we won’t need words for communication (or even our bodies for transportation) because our spirit modes will have been developed and skilled to the point that our spirit is able to take precedence over all of our intentions and activities.  And just for our reference, there are innumerable Biblical accounts of the spirit realm superseding the physical realm, (II Kngs 5:26; 6:12, Jesus, Philip… and many modern day historical accounts, just to name a few examples of shifting location via spirit).

But we’re still humans, too
Since we are also STILL humans, we’ll be able to use words and bodily travel when we’re with the unlearned.  We’ll be able to be just like Mommy and Daddy who got into our little crib mode with us… because they loved to be with us.  We remember that Jesus didn’t think it was robbery for Him to lay aside His Royal Heavenly realities to come into our world.  He didn’t HAVE to use words to communicate… but He did.  For love He came into our crib world so that we could relate to Him.   Now He says, “Follow me,”  And so we do.  We’ll use spirit realities when we’re with like-minded believers and we’ll use this world realities when we’re with others.

So, just like Jesus, we’ll be able to function in both spiritual or temporal modes equally well as we mature.

Huios sons
Doesn’t it stir you to your core of your being to think that were graduating from ‘crib’ mode and into ‘huios’ sons (mature) mode?  O boy!

Thank You, Father!!  This sounds like “life and life more abundantly.”  It’s so thrilling to have fresh vision, see new growth and experience some real ‘first fruits’ to inspire us along the way!  Just makes us love You more!!!

–MLH

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Reorientation to the Heavenly realms

7 Mar

ImageWe’ve been pursuing this line of thinking for a while now, because I believe it opens up two things.

  1. It ‘seeds’ our minds with thoughts and concepts beyond the status quo.
  2. It helps disentangle our minds from earth paradigms.

For example
I doubt if God uses a mouth to speak words when He’s in the Heavenly places.  Can He use words?  For sure… that’s His way of helping us relate to Him, in our small world.  But to require God, in His Spirit form, to use a mouth and words is an earth-based paradigm.  How does He want to be related to???

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” – Jn 4:24

We’re more tied to earth and earth-thinking than we realize
Try this: Explain eternity without using the word ‘time’ or the concept of time.  It’s difficult.   

Why are we talking about this? 
If we can establish what God has for our inheritance, then we can give ourselves to growing into it.  And we know that to grow we must exercise.  Exercise requires going beyond whatever we’ve done previously.  Think work-out at the gym and coaching our minds and bodies beyond our past limits.  So, what is the incentive? 

“Strong meat is for those who exercise their senses to discern good from evil.” – Heb 5:14

 Here’s just one application of being untethered from this world, yet still in it – II Cor 5:4-5

V4 “not because we want to be unclothed, but FURTHER clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

V5 “And Holy Spirit was given as a GUARANTEE to affirm to us that this powerful change will take place.” 

Our earth tethered mind won’t let us think of a “further clothed” / glorified body while still in this world.  Religion says we must die to experience this.  But this wouldn’t be totally Scriptural! 

Where is untethering in Scripture?
Jesus is our supreme example.  Seems to me that He modeled ‘untethering’ from the earth paradigms both before and after the Cross.  Before the Cross, He ascended (Jn 3:13), He transfigured, He disappeared, etc.   He is the perfect example of the mortal body being “FURTHER” clothed with immortality.  So, His example tells us that untethering and the realities of untethering are DOABLE while we’re still in this body!!!!   After His resurrection it was even more demonstrable!   He could be fully physical (“Thomas put your finger in my side”… and I’ll eat fish with you) and He could be fully spiritual (walking through walls… and showing up in different forms).  With this thought process, now read a familiar passage in Romans.

“Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we were saved in this hope…” – Rms 8:23-24

Did you catch that?  There is another work to our body that is available while we are still in this body and on this earth… and THAT is “the hope that we were saved in!” 

If you were crucified with Christ and buried and raised with Him, then you qualify to experience the same things in your life that Jesus experienced in His life (above)!   To take this further, remember that Enoch and Elijah took their bodies to Heaven WITHOUT dying first… and Apostle Paul may have had his body in the 3rd Heaven.

In and out and find pasture!
I wonder if this spiritual capacity is what Jesus referenced in John 10:9, “and he shall go IN AND OUT and find pasture.”  As we grow in faith and understanding in how to move in and out of Heaven with our bodies, this may become as natural to us as praying in tongues. 

 How do we begin the transition?
I truly believe that we are currently crossing a huge line in history where saints will be able to engage fully as physical humans…. AND as fully spirit beings.   This faith and skill may begin to open a door that will lead to transfiguration, trans-relocation with our bodies, levitation, disappear/reappear, manifest in different forms (Matt 16:12), etc…

I feel like we are RIGHT THERE!!!   I have had a handful of special experiences in the last couple of months where I feel that I’m beginning to tap into the ‘crossing over’.  I’ve felt a spiritual pulling… a drawing on my soul and body to come on into the Heavenly realm.  More, Lord!

So, do we want to move FROM earth-based ONLY mindsets… TO being able to move ‘in and out’?   Then this activation may help…

Activation
Come to the Throne…. Still and quiet your mind.   ‘See’ yourself fully here at the Throne… Remember “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (I Cor 6:17)

Observe what you look like… what you are feeling… what you are seeing.  ‘See’ all earth norms fall away (gravity, temperature, time, etc.)   You are intentionally and methodically untethering from each earth bond – gravity, pressure, time, etc.   All temporal and physical things are falling away and it’s just you and God… you are fully merged, satisfied, whole, contented, with no needs or wants.   This is home… This is your origin before becoming a human and your future for eternity.   You are a spirit fully in union with God.

Now, look back to your soul… and begin to draw it toward you. (pinch your shirt front and pull it toward you (your spirit)).  Let your soul feel the drawing… the pulling… your soul is slipping away from earth and being united with your spirit.  Wrap your spirit around your soul.  Encompass your soul with love and acceptance.  Speak lovingly to your soul and encourage your soul to enter into the joy of the Lord!  See your soul (mind and emotions) being renewed and set free from earth paradigms.  Let go of entanglements from back down on earth.  Your mind doesn’t need earth measures and descriptives anymore.  Your soul is getting reoriented to the spirit realm… a completely new realm, with new paradigms… very otherworldly!  Transfiguration is soon to follow and then we’ll be able to approve the will of God (Rms 12:2).  Continue gently and lovingly coaching your soul to become fully absorbed with and into this other greater part of our inheritance.

As this exercise with your spirit and soul becomes easier, you can work on bringing our body into this Heavenly location at the Throne.  Expect to be “blessed with all spiritual blessings, in these Heavenly places.”  Assure your body that now it is being adopted and redeemed (Rms 8:23).  This was your reality before The Fall.  Your three-part being is being re-membered into one.  Father’s original plan is manifesting in you.  See your whole being glorified and released into “the glorious liberty of the saints” (Rms 8:21).  Amen!

–MLH

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The Price of Spiritual Hunger

5 Mar

A Pioneer’s LegacyImage
Spiritual hunger isn’t just a feeling; it’s a fuel that can drive a family across a continent.  In the late 1960s, inspired by images of the “Jesus People” and the mass baptisms in Look and Life magazines, a father from Illinois made a radical decision.  With only seventy-five dollars to his name, he packed his family, a tent, and some hand tools into a vehicle to head for the West Coast.  This wasn’t a ‘practical’ vacation—it was a pioneer’s desperate hunt to be in whatever God was doing.

This family was my family when I was a teenager!

Living in the Middle of the Move
The journey led us straight into the heart of the emerging revival in Los Angeles.  Living in hippie communes and eating at communal tables, our family experienced the early days of Calvary Chapel before it was even ‘on the map’.  We witnessed the fresh move of the Spirit alongside figures like Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee, Chuck Girard, etc.  It was a wild six weeks with crazy cool stories of being led by the Spirit.  God provided all along the way in truly miraculous ways.  We returned home with exactly enough money left in our pockets to buy the school books necessary for the coming year.  God had supplied everything and had written indelibly upon my heart how powerfully God responds to hunger. 

Passing the Torch to the Next Generation
That childhood experience established a massive precedent.  Decades later, when news of a fresh move of God in Toronto flash across the body of Christ in 1994, the roles reversed.  Now I was the one initiating.  I called my father and mother, and said I would pay all expenses if they would travel with my young family in our full size Ford van and travel to Toronto to get in the middle of what God was doing.  This time, we crowded eight people into a single motel room, fueled by the same ‘wild and crazy’ hunger that had defined the previous generation.

When Days Become Nights
In the Toronto revival, the intensity of the spiritual encounter completely shifted reality. Our days became nights and our nights became days as we stayed up through the early morning hours in meetings, only to sleep much of the day and prepare for the next evening outpouring.  This radical and adventure-filled pursuit eventually birthed an unpolished but contagious revival center in Wisconsin.  People called us the ‘Little Toronto’, which served as a living testament to the biblical promise: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”.

My father’s legacy of following his hunger for God, is deeply engrained in me… and is still inspiring and compelling me to explore new spiritual frontiers nearly every day of my life.  Now, our children and Grands are moving into greater Heavenly realities than I was even aware of at their age.  Thank You, Father!

Where will your hunger lead you?  What frontiers will you pioneer in your quest?  What legacy will you establish and hand off to your generations?

God’s speed, my friend!! 

–MLH

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Thank You, Holy Spirit!

25 Feb

 

(You are powerful to have your own opinion.)

Holy Spirit is a permanently integrated part of the Trinity… and will always be!
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We know that each of the three parts of the God-Head has a unique emphasis and ‘character’.  And each part of the God-Head and their characteristic of God shines brighter at different times in history.  God’s sovereign purposes seem to dictate when, where and how much each of them is emphasized in the various epics of mankind’s journey with God.

For example:

  1. Jesus and Holy Spirit are hardly mentioned or even implied in the Old Testament.
  2. God’s Father-hood was rarely mentioned in OT.
  3. Jesus is introduced in the New Testament.
  4. Jesus introduced and modeled God’s Fatherhood in the NT.
  5. Holy Spirit got to shine and write on believers’ hearts on the epic Day of Pentecost.

Expiration date
OK… I think we get the point.  And now consider that even though we’ve been steeped in Jesus and Holy Spirit for 2000 years, is it possible that there is another shift coming?   Are we soon to hit a defining time stamp that will shift their current emphasis?  What would that emphasis be?   To give credence to this idea, consider these passages?

  1. Holy Spirit’s gifts have a timestamp on them – I Cor 13:10.
    1. “but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.”
  2. Jesus’ ‘five-fold’ gifts seem to have a time-stamp on them – Eph 4:8, 11, 13, 15.
    1. These gifts of Jesus are “UNTIL we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”

How is it possible that something so paramount and so core to our religious dogma has an expiration date on it?  If these passages weren’t stated so explicitly, we would be sorely tempted to call them heretical.  How could it be that Paul describes Holy Spirit’s gifts as “partial/in part/incomplete”.  And why would Holy Spirit inspire Paul to use these descriptives about His own gifts?  Wow!!  This almost shakes us to our core.

For reference
To help us with a little more reference, we realize that we were born in an age/epic where Holy Spirit and Jesus have been the feature and major emphasis for two millennia.  Without diminishing any value on any part of the God-Head, could there be ages ahead where the emphasis is not primarily on Holy Spirit and Jesus?  It certainly was so in the past.  Would we be okay if God made a sovereign ‘quarter-back-call’ to shift His emphasis??

Consider
Could we have made the shift from God’s ordained way of the Old Testament into His new emphasis of the New Testament?  Seriously?  Well, it seems that we’re smack dab in the middle of another major shift where God may exercise His sovereign prerogative to call the shots of this new age.

These passages seem to say that Holy Spirit’s mission to come alongside us as our Helper, was not the end of the story.  He is to help us until “the perfect comes” (I Cor 13:10) and until we come into “perfection/maturity” (Heb 6:1, 11:40).  At that time, it seems something epic and unprecedented will occur in the hearts (and even the bodies) of the believers.  And let me throw this into our conversation: Death is not a necessity for this radical change to take place.  Enoch and Elijah modeled this deathless transition… and Paul stated it clearly (I Cor 15:51).  This radical change will revolutionize everything we’ve ever known about God’s people since The Fall.

Awakened latent spiritual DNA
I believe there is ample Scriptural evidence to believe that a supernatural awakening of our latent spiritual DNA is going to take place.  The ‘glorious’ part of our natural and spiritual DNA that got dumbed down at The Fall is going to be restored.  This will manifest in wildly exciting and nearly unbelievable manifestations… including all the super-natural Biblical manifestations and some manifestations far beyond even the Biblical citings.   I know this sounds far out, but God has already told us that this would happen (Jn 14:12, Eph 3:30, Eph 3:19, I Jn 4:17, Hab 1:5, etc).

Thank You, Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit, thank You for holding our hand… for empowering us… for gifting us… for guiding us into all truth… for comforting us… for making Jesus look more famous in our eyes, etc….!  Jesus said it would be better for Him to go and for us to receive You.  We couldn’t believe how that could be possible, at the time.  But You both proved the point.  You are amazing and have brought us safely to this epic moment of the restoration of the fallen places in our being (Isa 58:12, Isa 61:4) and to the revealing of the mature sons of God (Rms 8:19).

O boy!!!  May it be done unto us according to our Father’s highest design and pleasure!

–MLH

For more on this topic, watch this 56 minute video:     Thank You, Holy Spirit!  https://youtu.be/EWS1UROQhVY

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First fruits of the new heavens and new earth

6 Feb

Crossing a thresholdImage
We’re standing on the threshold of a profound shift!  We’re entering a brand-new age where incorruptibility (immortality) becomes normal – a state that is not reserved just for the afterlife, but is available here and now.  Drawing inspiration from Paul’s teachings, this isn’t about wishing to die (II Cor 5:4), but rather it’s about “putting on incorruptibility” (I Cor 15:53).  This manifests in remarkable ways: transfiguration, moving in and out of realms, power to raise the dead and even power to raise ourselves from the dead (as spoken by Jesus in John 10:18 and exampled by Paul after he was stoned and left for dead).

Beyond the laws of physics
The journey from corruptibility to incorruptibility is not achieved through strenuous effort or by a forced attempt at behavioral ‘holiness’.  Instead, it hinges upon hearing and believing the rhema Word of God which defines and empowers this higher realm.  While our physical world operates by the laws of physics, this incorruptible reality is governed by His Word and possibly by Virtues or the Fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace…, etc.  These aren’t physically observable, but they clearly offer a more powerful governance than the laws of physics in this earthly realm.

The dawn of a new heaven and earth
We don’t believe that the ancient prophecy of “new heavens and a new earth” (II Pet 3:13) is about a cosmic fiery destruction of our ‘old earth’.  Rather, Jesus said the Kingdom is an unseen realm: “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed” (Luke 17:20).  For sure, the ‘new’ will supersede our old-earth and old heavens paradigms.  Possibly think of it this way (but not limited to this way)… evolving contagious revelation and gripping heavenly experiences by their very nature are ‘burning up’ yesterday’s earth-based mindsets.  This evolving revelation is fundamentally shifting our perception of Heavenly realms and their realities.

Learning to soar into higher realities
Maybe it’s like learning to fly a higher performance airplane – in order to navigate this new reality.  The initial learning phase isn’t about instant flying mastery, but about becoming familiarized with our new ‘instrument-panel’ in order to be able to ‘read’ the new heavenly environment.  We must become familiar with the new ‘laws’ and protocols.  For example, Jesus wasn’t dominated by gravity but rather, He ruled over it.  We too can learn to experience the effects of this world’s laws without being controlled by them.

Moving into our divine inheritance
Currently, we are on a ‘mining expedition’ to uncover the profound riches of this new paradigm.  Our objective is to embrace a governing set of laws that are supreme over this world and adopt them as our new default.  The fundamental tenets of our faith are transitioning to a higher reality which expresses mastery over all last-age laws.  Religion relegates this inheritance for the afterlife.  But of course, that wouldn’t be a Biblical view.  Feel the shift!

Do it together!
Here’s the good news: I believe that you and I are invited to become the ‘first fruits of the new heavens and the new earth.’  So, every time you ‘manifest’ a fresh new expression of the new heavens and new earth, please share the good news.  We’ll celebrate together and be eternally grateful to our Wonderful Father.

–MLH

Resource:  Ascended Life Study Course   (New)
Level 1   New Creation Identity     
Level 2   Our Expanded Inheritance

Bye bye, baby crib prayers

3 Feb
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The tyrannical news cycle continually screams at us to try to stir up our emotions – fear, anxiety, anger, mercy (even unsanctified mercy), etc.  Many Christians are motivated to pray according to the latest news.  If our prayers commonly follow the media reports, there is very high likelihood that we’re praying from our soulish emotions.  This is just one of the ways that we conform to the patterns of this world (Rms 12:2), which very likely puts the devil in charge of our prayer initiatives.  Why?  Because we’re being led by the latest ruckus that the devil is causing.  He gets to dictate what we pray for and when we pray.  I wonder how happy he is that he gets so much free attention!   

But if we’re going to be led by the Spirit then we must stop being led by our soul.

Soulish prayers are immature prayers… one might even call them ‘baby prayers’.  Babies don’t have the capacity to analyze the bigger picture when something goes wrong in their diaper. 😊 So as paidion sons (baby sons) they ‘cry out’ to daddy for help when the boogeyman rattles his chains.  But mature sons don’t let themselves be distracted by the devil banging his drums for their attention.  They listen to the Voice that is higher.  Mature sons dwell far above the cacophony of banging drums.  They’ve “set their affection on things above… not on things of earth”.  They listen for the higher report… and the higher directives.  This, my friends, is where God is inviting His sons and daughters.  This will qualify us to become huios (mature) sons and daughters who get to rule and reign with Him.

So, what I’m getting down to is that we may have made prayer an act of babies soulishly crying out plaintiff prayers to a god way out there and if he doesn’t answer right away, we cry louder trying to ‘deliver the mail’ across that great distance.  As we mature we realize that we are in Him and He is in us… and thus there is no need for delivering the mail to some far-off hard-of-hearing ears.   Our maturity has taught us how to experientially come into union with God and KNOW His thoughts… and realize that He KNOWS ours.  What a beautiful destination our Father has brought us to.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” – Eph 2:13   

Yea, not just near, but in union with Him, because listen to this: “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” – I Cor 6:17.   We must learn to live in the reality and expression of this union.  This is our inheritance.

Set your attention on things above the banging drums and rattling chains of the devil.  Begin to identify what prayer looks like when you are fully homogenized into union with God.  Consider what it looks like when He’s graduated you out of the baby prayer crib and you find yourself freely and voluntarily conversing with Him as a partner versus a plaintiff.  In this reality, what should your appropriate prayer posture be?  What is appropriate prayer vocabulary now?  How do you describe and define prayer at this level of intimate union?  A biblical conclusion to these questions will begin to define our new M.O.!

Happy graduation!   

–MLH

Resource:  Ascended Life Study Course   (New)
Level 1   New Creation Identity     
Level 2   Our Expanded Inheritance

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Where’s my pearl earring?

31 Jan

This Is another chapter to our unfolding “Where’s my Passport?” story!  When Julie heard the story, she asked the Lord if He would do the similar thing for her.  And He did!  She tells her story here…
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“Where’s my pearl earring?”

I listened to testimonies of people having assistance from angels finding their lost passports.  I had never heard of such a thing.  To be honest, I was ‘on the fence’ about it.  But as the service moved into worship I began to sing along and sing in the Spirit quietly to myself.  Faith began to stir up inside of me.  I said to the Lord, “If those testimonies were really real I’d love to find my lost pearl earring.”  So I asked the Lord and ‘finding angels’ to bring it back.  I said, “I am seated in Heavenly places with You Lord.  Can You show me where it is?”  As I was praying, in the Spirit, I saw a quick flash of my earring laying on something beige in color.  I thanked the Lord and thought that if I lost it while I was sleeping, maybe it fell on the carpet near my bed.  I had already combed the area very well.  But later, with a flashlight, I looked really well throughout the whole area.  Nothing turned up.  I was a little bummed.

Friday I was cleaning my bathroom and next to my jewelry box I found the backing that looked like the one that belonged to my pearl earring. (The actual backing had been lost down the drain about eight months ago. The substitute one didn’t fit well which is why the earring came off easily while I was sleeping.)  It had to be cleaned a little bit because it had something like calcium buildup around it.  I put the backing with my other earrings and I pondered where this even came from.Image

Saturday my husband’s friends came over with their two young boys.  I laid out a large blanket and pulled out some construction toys for them to play with.  On the blanket, I dumped piles of rice and lentils for them to push around like dirt.  I told the boys’ mother to dump the toys onto the blanket.  A few moments later she said, “Hey look it’s an earring.”  In the palm of her hand was my pearl earring!  “I can’t believe it”, I exclaimed!  “You don’t understand. I lost this earring 6 months ago when I had laid down to take a nap and I’ve looked everywhere for it.”

This was the first time I had ever met the boys’ mother, and she kind of looked at me sideways as I tried to explain it to her.  When I asked her where she found it, she pointed to a pile of beige/brown lentil beans on the blanket.  And interestingly, the toys had been dumped out of a beige colored construction bucket.

I had prayed earlier in the week that the Lord would bring it back to me.  The earring backing turned up yesterday… and now the earring!  This is a huge answer to prayer!  I praised God over and over again!  Here’s a picture of the earring and the backing. – JD

See here and here for more ‘chapters’ in the ‘Where’s My Passport’ story.

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Where’s my Passport – follow-up

25 Jan

This is another chapter in our unfolding ‘Where’s my Passport’ story!  I was sharing the original passport story at a men’s retreat when Kevin interrupted me and said…
____________________________

Hold on!  Stop right there!
As I was sharing, a man talked over me and said, “Hold on!  Stop right there!  Do you know anything about me?  Did someone tell you anything about me?”  I was stymied!  I had no idea what he was talking about.  So I inquired.  Keven said that his wife had lost her passport and they had looked all over with no success.  Of course I knew nothing of this matter.  But this striking similarities in his story and mine caused faith to arise in my heart that God was about to do something very similar.  I said, “All I know is that at the end of my sharing we’ll all ‘go’ to our place seated with Christ in Heavenly places and ask Father to show us where the passport is.”  He was satisfied at that point. 

​Later the group positioned ourselves with Jesus and asked Father to show us anything that He wanted.  Several guys had pictures come into their minds.  The man and his wife searched their travel RV to no avail. 

He and his wife were traveling and lived in another state.  A couple of weeks later they arrived home.  It occurred to them to that they needed to look in a portable safe.  They had searched though it before, but lo and behold there was the passport stuck in behind some cash.  Had it been there before and they just overlooked it?  Or did God insert it there just to recreate a similar scenario so that all of us would be encouraged?  You can draw your own conclusions.    Elated, Kevin texted us these two pictures.  We all rejoiced! 
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Again… this gives more credibility to the power of the spoken testimony.  I just wonder how many more chapters this Where My Passport story is going to have? – MLH​

See here and here for more ‘chapters’ in the ‘Where’s My Passport’ story.

What about AI (artificial intelligence)

23 Jan

ImageAI is invading our lives.  Are there downsides?  YES!   Is AI overriding our privacy?  YES!  Can we predict how restrictive or controlling AI will be in the future?  Certainly not!  How should we respond to this?  

Here are a few areas where AI has invaded our lives already!

1. Your cell phone is listening to you even when you are NOT using it… and Google or Apple programs advertising to suit your conversations.
2. Every text we send passes through AI.
3. Every email is processed by AI.  When you send an email, AI archives it.
4. Every YouTube video runs through an AI program to automatically generate captions.
5. Every Facebook and Facebook Messenger post you make… and how many times you click on someone else’s FB… is watched and logged by AI.
6. If you use Google Nest, Siri, Alexa, etc in your home, every communication passes through AI.
7. If you have a Passport or Global Entry or Real ID, you are now in a system that tracks your movements.
8. Your cell phone ‘pings’ a cell tower near you, from several times a second, to once every 8 hours depending on the mode it is in.  This ping lets your cellphone carrier (and FBI, if they want it), know your location and every move you make.
9. If you use a credit card, your movements are tracked with every purchase.  We know, because we get flagged when we go to a foreign country, IF we haven’t notified the credit card of our upcoming travels first.
10. If you drive a car with internet access, such as On-Star, your every location, route and the conversations in your car are sent and archived. All of your driving habits are continuously uploaded to the car manufacturer.  This is compounded exponentially if you have built-in cameras in your car.
11. Airports, banks and traffic cameras and many more applications, are viewing you and utilizing facial recognition without your permission.  Our identity and movements are being tracked and logged with the powers that be.
12. Even the Fitbit (Google) and Apple smart watches on your wrist are feeding information about you to your cell carrier via your cellphone.
13. Ancestry.com and 23andme sold our DNA test results to larger conglomerates (Blackrock) which are not bound to protect your privacy.
14. Your smart thermostat, smart water meter reader and smart electric meter, all use digital technology to tell your utilities companies every detail about your usage… and some can remotely activate or deactivate your utility.

There are NO internet messaging platforms that do not utilize AI.  So what should we do?  Supposedly Signal and WhatsApp encrypt messages from end to end… but long-term adherence to their current stance is questionable if you look at how many other online platforms have capitulated to the pressure of prevailing technology.  Protonmail and Tutanota are two free email services that encrypt emails from end to end.

Unless you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) every computer and cellphone communication you make, is trackable through a unique IP address.  (An IP address gives a general location of where you are geographically in the earth.)  I have used VPN when I was in China, but this requires ‘knowhow’, time and $.

Can we be unjustly treated by unscrupulous owners of technology.  YES!  My son John and I have been.  And neither of us were using AI.  We were only using the online platforms that we all use every day.  John was banned and shadow banned on Instagram and Facebook – twice.  I had one of our ALC videos banned from Youtube a few years ago, because I mentioned ‘Vxx-in-nation’.

What can we learn from the Bible?
Are there Biblical precedents with relevant principles that would help us form a response?

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you…” – II Cor 6:14-17

If we take this literally, we would have to become like the Amish or a hermit or move to a South Sea island.  I don’t think that is what Paul was advocating.  So, should we then just blindly coast into ‘harms’ way?  NO!  But ignorance or foolhardiness is not the answer, either.

Render unto Caesar… render unto God
Jesus asked whose picture was on the coin.  The answer was, Caesar’s.   So, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.  His point?  You are already intertwined with this world.  Learn how to engage with each realm in its appropriate manner.   We are IN this world, BUT not OF this world.  Jesus modeled living with both dynamics… and appealing to Heaven for protection from the evil one.

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” – Jn 17:13-19

AI and higher technology have already invaded the deepest levels of our communications.  This part is unavoidable if we’re going to utilize modern 1st world conveniences.  Mankind has faced this dilemma throughout history, but especially in the last 100-200 years.  Breakthroughs of all kinds were originally considered to be of the devil or too much invasion of into one’s autonomy.  And some, no doubt, were.  But we appreciate the comforts of our day even though they were viewed with skepticism when they first came out.  Consider some of the initial reaction against the horseless carriage… but now we use it every day of our lives.  We had negative reactions about credit cards when they became popular in the 1960s.  Should we say that AI is of the devil… or is it an advancement in technology that will have to go through iterations and corrections?

Use cautiously
So, with all this information, I made a decision to cautiously employ AI in my office work this last year.  I’ve found that you absolutely cannot trust it to tell the truth! (I have overt incidents of this.)  And it will frequently tend toward a worldly or watered-down religious mindset.  But I employ it to assist in non-crucial functions… then I go over the results to verify for accuracy.  Utilizing AI in this way has definitely eased my work-load.  

The future of AI is unpredictable and will doubtless go through many iterations in the next short years.  Will it become our humble servant?  That is doubtful.  Will it try to dominate our lives?  This is very likely!  So, we must stay ‘in charge’, never trusting it… always ‘inspect what you expect’. 

–MLH

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What if there is no distance between you and God?

12 Jan

Beyond words
Have you ever felt like in an instant you knew something new, ‘in your knower’?  God frequently communicates through what we might call ‘micro-bursts’ of knowing—instant spiritual downloads that completely bypass the need for long paragraphs of words or complex explanations.  This capacity is available to us as well: to move beyond the clunky machinery of language and into the fluid speed of spiritual exchange.  This spirit-to-spirit communication represents the highest form of divine union.  

“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” — 1 Cor 2:10

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
– I Cor 2:14

The 24-inch journey from head to spirit
Every sincere believer must travel the twenty-four-inch journey from the brain down to their spirit, described by Jesus as being in the ‘belly’(Jn 7:38).  This is the seat of our spirit and is the place where our true self resides, untouched by the noise of the world.

Maturity in the faith is marked by learning to be led by the Spirit rather than by fluctuating emotions.  

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” — Rms 8:14

Obliterating separation
When we start our faith journey, many of us view ourselves as fundamentally separate from God.  We act like babies crying out from a distance, hoping to be ‘picked up’ or noticed by a far-off deity.  However, true maturity embraces the staggering realization that there is absolutely no distance, no delay, and no separation between you and the Father.  You are not a distant observer; you are an included participant within the Trinity (I Cor 6:17).

This is not about replacing God, but about being merged into a perfect oneness with Him.  His DNA and His attributes are within our very being.  When we maintain the illusion of distance, we inadvertently stifle our ability to walk in all that Jesus promised.  To walk in power, we must first obliterate the thought that we are ever truly alone.Image

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
— 1 Cor 6:17

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” — Jn 15:5

Operating in Divine union
Operating from a place of union affords us unprecedented access to the ‘omni’ attributes of God… His Omniscience – all knowledge… His Omnipresence – everywhere… and His Omnipotence – matchless power.  As we marinate in this reality of oneness, our prayer life becomes less of a formal plaintiff petition to a distant king and more of a constant, seamless spiritual exchange between two who are one.

We must graduate from just being consumers who always take from the Kingdom.  We must acknowledge our life-giving spirits to become the co-reigners with God who release our influence into the earth.  When we embrace our union, we stop trying to reach God, and we start living from the place where we already dwell with Him.

“He has made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” – Eph 2:6

Sum it up
Maybe the greatest hurdle in the believer’s life is the perception of distance from God.  When we grow out of the ‘baby mindset’ of separation and into the revelation of our literal union with Christ, we transition from laborious effort to effortless flow.  We are invited to live spirit-to-spirit.  This union isn’t just a theological concept; it is a poignant reality that empowers us to govern, manifest signs, and bear fruit that remains.  This year, we’re going to obliterate thoughts of distance and move towards walking in ‘spirit-to-spirit’ transfer, which will revolutionize our natural experience.  Do I hear an AMEN!!

–MLH

View a related 35-minute video by MLH: https://youtu.be/Iy5ZgyI3KEg?si=BGVOrSbpa4BIBpY1

Resource:  Ascended Life Study Course   (New)
Level 1   New Creation Identity     
Level 2   Our Expanded Inheritance

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