A WORD FROM CLARK TAYLOR
The Spirit Led Life
Thank you for this opportunity to share with you some of the keys that God has given me to help me in ministering to others.
The function of our spirit is to relate to God, to receive wisdom and knowledge from God, to rule our soul and body and to be the ruling centre of our lives. Jesus came to re-birth our dead spirits, to give us the opportunity to return to what God created us for - to be a living being, to be a living soul.
There is a relationship between my spirit and my mind. The mind is one of the key functions of our soul. Our natural mind often reasons against our spirit receiving knowledge from God. When God tells you to do something your mind tells us that it would be crazy. When Jesus said to Peter to come, he jumped out of the boat to walk on the water. For a little while his mind was numb, but then Peter’s mind caught up as he looked into the waves. They were very big. His mind said, ‘You’re crazy, you are going to die here’. So he sank, then his mind knew it was right, because he sank. Peter walked on water until that point.
Our mind often argues against revelation knowledge. Our mind says that whatever God is telling us can’t happen because our mind is linked to this natural world. God’s realm is high above our natural realm. He said, “My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts. But My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” When that world comes to us in knowledge, we call it revelation. It is knowledge on the inside of us from another realm.
In Proverbs 2:1-6, we read, “My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;” God tells us to value His wisdom.
We value many things. Just recently, a young couple in our church brought home their first little baby. You could almost hold him in the palm of your hands when he was born. We put such an amazing value on a tiny little baby. We would give anything for it. If that baby got ill his parents would sell the home or sell a car or give up work just to look after it. It’s a little tiny baby. We also place high value on things, such as gaining wealth for a secure and prosperous life, and possibly to leave an inheritance to our children.
Yet, God tells us to put a high value on receiving wisdom from Him into our spirit. We are urged by Him to seek it like we would silver and gold; seek it like you do with treasure that is priceless. Our mind is highly important and is a powerful part of us. It behoves us to educate and develop our minds by learning, reading and listening to preachers and teachers. We learn, we develop, we grow and we gain understanding. But when God speaks to us with His knowledge, it just comes. It can be in a flash, it can come in a dream during the night, or in other ways, such as through reading the Bible.
You can often hear from God when just driving along, not necessarily even thinking about God. Knowledge from the spirit will come up inside of you. It can take you unaware. There are times when you think, ‘Oh, I wasn’t even being particularly spiritual but God spoke to me’. People ask, ‘How do you know He spoke to you?’ You reply, ‘I don’t know but I know it was God. He spoke to me!’
Revelation comes, and then the mind goes to work to understand what God just said. It could be that you are very ill and needing a miracle, and God says, ‘I will give you a miracle’. That knowledge came into you. I remember when my heart was so bad that the doctors gave me no chance of surviving, God said to me, ‘You’ll live and not die’. He said it over and over when things were desperate.
Let’s say you’re looking for a miracle and God says to you, ‘I’ll give you a miracle’. This is where your mind needs to come into play. You want to undergird that revelation knowledge, so you begin to research miracles, research and locate books where miracles have occurred and read miracles from the Bible, which records numerous events where God supernaturally provided and performed miracles. You meditate on the fact that God, with all His power, could open the Red Sea through a man called Moses. Then begin to agree with Him; ‘God, You could heal my body; You could deliver me from this cancer; You could replace my heart; God, You can do anything’.
There are people who have the gift of healing and who perform powerful and amazing miracles. We can research these amazing people with this gifting. They have become a living testimony to so many people who are looking for a personal miracle. As you read these stories you can make it personal. ‘God Your healing power, Your miracle power, let it come over me now God. I need a new kidney; I need a new heart; I need healing of this cancer; God let that happen now Lord, that miracle power’. As you meditate on God’s word for a moment, your mind is gaining knowledge about miracles. We can use the same process if we want God’s provision in a certain area. There are many Bible stories illustrating God’s provision.
Before asking God for something such as prosperity, it’s a great idea to ask Him for wisdom surrounding money first. We can ask God for prosperity, and prosperity cometh. If we don’t understand money then prosperity will goeth too… and it goeth very quickly! Money leaveth through my fingers! Ever made the comment, ‘God just a million dollars and I’ll be right’? If you haven’t learnt the basic principles of money, it would take very little time to spend the million dollars. We can ask for a million dollars, but we need to get our mind to cooperate with prosperity. God says, ‘I’m going to prosper you’. If He did say that to you, then begin to gather information about prosperity.
God often tells us to be diligent, to exercise wisdom, to learn and to study. When a revelation comes from God such as, ‘I will prosper you’, I need to realise that God is not Santa Claus nor is He magic. God is intelligent. God gives us revelation so that we can study and undergird that revelation. My mind is not useless, but it works with this revelation, undergirding it so I come to have understanding. Proverbs 4 says, And in all your getting, get understanding. This is so that my mind works in with my spirit. Knowledge from God is supreme.
Our spirit is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Corinthians tells us He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit. So the Spirit of God, the Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth is joined to your spirit. The One who put the stars in space and who holds this world together is joined to your spirit.
A WORD FROM ANDREW STONE
Violent Silence
Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Many times as a leader you are left to: Think, Ponder, Reflect... All alone.
The buzz is over, the applause gone and now it’s just you and the Creator.
In the midst of a violent silence there is a peaceful storm that rages…
And where you are running to…He’s already there.
And you come to the realization that you lead because He led you first…your greatness stems from His greatness…
And now He is asking you to go deeper into Himself…He wants you to see into Him…and witness a different aspect of who He is…
Elijah had heard from God many times…but this time would be different…Elijah was accustomed to the grandeur of an earth shaking, earth shattering God…But what about when God wanted to get so close that all Elijah would hear is a whisper…the loudest, deafening whisper he had ever heard.
God wanted to speak, manifest in a different way but Elijah wasn’t ready…
Verse 13 - "So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle"
Elijah’s mantle represented: The call… The anointing…The power…
And God wanted to manifest Himself in a different way and Elijah the prophet that could call down fire from heaven…wrapped himself or hid himself in his mantle…
Elijah feared the next phase of His walk with God…so he hid himself in what he knew best…his mantle.
Fear drives us to do many foolish things…and in that fear we place obstacles in between us and God. When all God wants to do is have intimacy (Into – Me – See) with us…
1 John 4:18 - "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love."
Perfect love is Jesus and when you are willing to receive that perfect love from His finished work at the cross it will cast out all fear…no more hiding behind
The call…The anointing…The power…
As leaders when God wants to go deeper with you and have intimacy with you and He does it in a way that you don’t understand…do you hide behind you calling, ministry, position, anointing and power to justify not having God see into you…God wants to see into you so you can see into him.
God is not interested in what you can do for him…but rather who you are in Him.
As a leader very rarely can you lead people to places in God that you yourself have never been…
God wants you to receive His perfect love to cast out all fear and walk intimately with Him so He can show you the greatness that He wants you to walk in.
Remember that even the ‘greats’ of the Bible and history had ‘human’ moments…so be encouraged that this was just a moment in Elijah’s life where God was taking him deeper…
So get ready for yours.
It just might be in the midst of a violent silence…
