February 4th, 2012
“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” – 1st Timothy 1:5
Let me first state emphatically, if you say you are a Christian, and you read this article and do not agree with it whole-heartedly, then you have been victimized by the very things described below and you will not be an overcomer at the end of your life or this age - whichever comes first. Please read on and take serious heed knowing that what we are desperately in need of overcoming as described in our Bibles vividly in Genesis 3 and Genesis 6.
The goal of the gospel of Jesus Christ is for us to be transformed from a carnal, time and space focused and unclean soul into a spiritual, eternity focused and clean soul.
Jesus says “in your patience, take possession of your soul”. Obviously, SOMETHING besides me must have possession of my soul. Now if Jesus said that, then it is true and I personally do not think that a single living human other than him has been excluded from that state of being. So every believer (small and great) must come to terms with what exactly has had possession of my soul. This is better stated “who has had possession of my soul?” The “who” that has had possession of my soul are demonic, unclean spirits that have been doing nothing but using us as vessels to express their lusts. Also, the higher the level of the demon spirit(s), the higher the level of worship that will be directed to the vessel carrying the demon(s). This is how Satan’s kingdom operates. At the end of this chain of bondage is the highest level fallen cherub, the ‘prince of the power of the air’, who has obscured from the worshipers the True and Living God – to whom alone the worship is due and should be directed to but instead Satan has funneled all of that worship to him via lies and deception, because we been enthralled with this temporal life. So it becomes false worship to a false god. What Christians must do then is to humble themselves down and submit to the true Lord Jesus Christ – the Word of God – in order to be made clean from these intruders.
Here in the last days, those that claim to follow Jesus Christ need to truly come to terms with the fact that we have been so duped in church life, that we really have to STOP and think about what we are doing, and what we have been feeding on. It’s time to deal with forces that have Christians bound and blocking the flow of the Holy Spirit. Let’s not find ourselves saying “you need to (fill in the blank)…No – first of all – “I” need to... “I” need to come out of the world and be converted. Let’s not find ourselves pointing out what’s wrong with others without having first gotten the mess out of our own souls. This is not a presto-chango occurrence that happened when you confessed Christ or came down to an altar call in a church service. This is a process that happens ONLY through a diligent and disciplined life style of identifying and denying the lust(s) of my flesh, the lust(s) of my eyes and the pride(s) of my life – this is how we get the power to cast out demons. This is how we can become overcomers – sons of God – and then “…the prince of this world comes, and has NOTHING in me!”
Waiting on God – Possessing My Soul
“In your patience possess ye your souls” – Luke 21:9
Jesus says this in the midst of an end time discourse where he is telling us that as Christians we will be rejected and slain by religious hypocrites just as He was. Those of us that enter into this confrontation with the power of darkness will have to have possession of our souls else we will compromise and deny Him. So why does he mention patience in the same statement as possessing your soul? The process of possessing our soul primarily comprises of waiting on God as we go through the process of mortifying our members and dying to the things of this world. The end result will be a resurrected life that will become a living sacrifice. Probably the hardest thing about a Christian life these days is waiting on God. Remember this: what is the primary characteristic of ‘waiting’? Have you ever waited for a bus while running down the street? Waiting means: to remain stationary in readiness or expectation. I would add this as well – that for us as Christians by and large it also means “SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP – and soak Him in through his appointed messengers and the Holy Spirit in you – until we are endowed with POWER!!!”.
“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that wait for him.” – Isaiah 64:4
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” – 1st Corinthians 2:9
If we really wait on/love Him then we will be obedient and do this.
Let’s look at a beautiful illustration of “in your patience possess ye your souls” found in Psalm 62. Here are 2 sets of 2 verses that show us a progression:
Verse 1.) Truly my soul waiteth (waits silently) upon God: from him cometh my salvation.
Verse 2.) He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved (shaken).
Verse 5.) My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation (hope) is from him.
Verse 6.) He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved (shaken).
In verse 1 and 2 we hear the psalmist talking ABOUT his soul in the first person. We recognize that from God alone comes our salvation and we recognize that we must wait on Him for our deliverance. As we go through deliverance there will be moments of doubt and stumbling thus “I will not be greatly shaken”. He is saying we will waver some but not greatly…there will be times of tribulation. I’m not talking about “persecution” type tribulation here but just trials and the testing of our faith – going through everyday life in this dark foreboding world. Now look at verses 5 and 6. Here the conversation changes from talking “about” my soul to actually talking TO my soul. This is where I am taking possession of my soul! I say – rather, I command – “My soul…continue to wait on God. Although I have taken possession of my soul I am still mindful that I must wait on Him. But now (verse 6) I will NOT BE MOVED.” We must command our souls to deaden the old man and excess lusts. This is why it is hard to fast and pray – because the old carnal man does not like doing the things that will kill him and birth a new spiritual man. When I possess my soul, I will not care about the persecution that will come from Satan’s kingdom and I will not be the least bit shaken. So while I am in the process of possessing my soul, I can be shaken but with the impartation of the divine nature of Jesus Christ comes the boldness and confidence (in HIM – not in myself) that will carry me through the persecution. It’s very interesting how verses 1 and 2 and verses 5 and 6 bookend verses 3 and 4.
Now look at what (actually “who”) is in between the waiting on God (verses 1 and 2) and the possessing of our souls (verses 5 and 6):
Verse 3.) How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.
Verse 4.) They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.
He is talking TO someone else in verse 3 and he’s talking ABOUT someone else in verse 4. It is the demons that have strongholds in our souls! While we are waiting on God and taking possession of our souls we are going to have to deal with these nephilim. These intruders and invaders of our souls have had us scattered our minds and actually mutated our very make up (DNA if you will). We must bind and curse these invaders and cast them out of our souls. This is what the power of the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ does for us and for that we thank Him and praise Him and adore Him! By the blood of Jesus they shall be slain – ALL OF THEM! In reality, they are as a leaning unsupported wall and a wavering tottering fence. Their purpose is to counsel (devise) to dethrone the Most High God from His place of preeminence which should be our very souls as we are to be temples (carriers or vessels) of His Holy Spirit. These wicked ones delight in lies – they bless with their mouths but inwardly they are cursing us. Here is another aspect of waiting on God…we are bearing out the fruit of patience as we deal with other people that are carriers of these nephilim. We deal with them not only in our souls but face to face all the time…in our families, on our jobs and in our church groups. This is why discerning of spirits is important. Realize that we are all in need of deliverance and not everyone is at the same place but if we really do have a broken spirit and a contrite heart God will be faithful to complete His work. But remember that there are some that put on a good show or a good act (hence the word “hypocrite”). They talk really nice and the words that come out of their mouths sound real sweet but deep down they are cursing and despising the real sons and daughters of God. In the Old Testament the whole story about the Israelites taking possession of Canaan is a type of how we are to possess our souls. We have to fight these “giants” (nephilim) and there’s no going around them. Numbers 13:33 tells us that the ones that did not believe they could overcome (Joshua and Caleb where the only two that did believe) saw themselves as grasshoppers – and that’s how the giants saw them too. That’s not the reality though. Through their divination and mind control and keeping us embedded in fantasy and make believe (TV, news, sports, carnal religious activities etc.), the nephilim are able to have us appear to ourselves as inadequate, unbelieving and as most Christians today commonly say (cursing themselves): “I’m just a sinner” (Psalm 62:4) – Please – we come in as filthy rags, sinners against our very Creator and Mighty God – but we can and should be more than conquerors...that will be the time of the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The first thing Jesus did coming out of the wilderness being tested by Satan was a.) Come out in the POWER of the Spirit; and b.) COME AGAINST AND CAST OUT DEMONS. The first thing He prophecies over us for when we are to go forth to the world and preach the gospel is: “these signs shall follow them that believe – In my name they shall CAST OUT DEMONS…” – Mark 16. The first thing!!! But this kind comes out only through much prayer and fasting (which results in Ephesians 6).
Read the remainder of Psalm 62 and you’ll see that verses 8-12 equate to this overcoming person now preaching the gospel – starting with “Trust in HIM you people…” and ending with “Also unto thee, O Lord, belongs mercy: for you render to every man according to his work.” (mercy and judgment!).
“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he (Jesus) walked.” – 1st John 2:6 (may want to read that one agin, did he say walk as Jesus walked?)
“Now unto him (Jesus) that is able to keep you and me from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” – Jude 24-25 (did he say he was able to keep me from falling?)
