Gang, this is a bit of an unusual post, but I am asking y’all to stay with me.
We look for and celebrate the design G-d places in us, and, sometimes, that means we follow some unorthodox methods to identify that design.
Now, anger has often been characterized very negatively, and that is not without good reason.
However, I want to say something about anger. In most situations that include anger, there is a choice of what we do with the anger. Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians to “Be angry and do not sin” implies that it is possible to engage in behavior that includes anger while also not crossing lines into behavior that is sinful.
Now, I am not saying that this is the case all of the time, but I believe the blanket exhortation to avoid anger is not generally helpful.
And like Clyde Fant, I am of the opinion that “righteous indignation is a twenty letter word for anger”.
Let me say that again two different ways. The need to use the words “righteous indignation” too often proceeds, from my experience, from a religious spirit or a spirit of being afraid of the full G-d-given experience of human emotion and free will.
To respond, instead of trotting out religious language for anger and USING THAT to justify an emotion of which we are afraid, it would be better to ascertain the root of our anger so we know what to do with it. Otherwise, we could be covering up a problem that our heart, mind, spirit, soul, or reins are trying to bring up.
Often, anger is rooted in two things: our sense of that which is just, and a violation of justice. It is not just because we are being selfish, arrogant, or proud.
To be sure, too often we are guilty of accusing of pride those who do not struggle with pride.
While some of you are wrestling with the idea that some believers do not struggle with pride, I will continue.
Indeed, there are qualities Father has built into certain of us that really incite zeal for excellence and effectiveness.
And coupled with those qualities are aspects that causes us to become rankled when excellence or effectiveness are mangled.
It is not pride or arrogance; rather it is anger as the King intended it to be the tool it is for provoking us to raise standards and hunt for better ways.
For example, when believers settle for a status quo try to move into something they know the King has for them….
…are corrected by other believers who either do not understand or do not want to understand try to correct us in accordance with a lower standard, then that friction creates issues.
In order to honor how the L-rd has uniquely made us, we really must move beyond avoiding all expressions of anger, hunt for and yearn for the G-d-ordained expressions of anger, nix religious expressions that blanket judge any expression of anger or frustration, and move into allowing ourselves to be pushed for “what is excellent…”. I would even bet money that those who are easily angered by slack-jawed expressions of faith have “what is excellent” in mind and are pushing for that excellent place.
There is a story behind this cut. Some of this is pulled from memory of wikis and online articles that are no longer available, as well as literature to which I have no current access.
The title of the cut refers to events that occurred on August 30th, 1995 when Martin, Stu G, Stewart Smith, Tim, and Jon were still known as The Cutting Edge and were pondering going full-time. On that day, Martin Smith; his wife, Anna; and bassist Jon Thatcher were involved in a near-fatal car accident, which left Martin badly injured.
After the accident, while Martin was convalescing physically, he wrestled internally with depression. During that time in the hospital, he was partly-inspired by reading Bill Flanagan’s biography of U2 to make the jump. As a result, the Cutting Edge became Deliriou5?, with the 5 possibly representing the 5 band members (while also noting that Stewart Smith’s keyboard was missing a letter S), and the question mark representing a transition from the questions of “What if we fail?” (doubts and fears) to the statement “Just imagine if…?” (Possibilities).
Also, the police report stated there were four people in the car at the time of the accident….
This is a reminder, gang, that no matter how dismal, nasty, or uncertain the future is, there is a place in the King’s presence, and a destiny He has for you.
He does not look for you to wander or to be without hope. In the presence of your enemies, He prepares a table before you. Each of y’all.
Without remorse, without repentance, without argument.
And His tender bid to you is to come and see, to come and dine, and to come and drink.
Not one condition. Not one blockage. Not one wall.
There are some days I would as soon forget, but then I remember, it is not about forgetting the days that forge us, but being removed from the trauma and redeeming the pain that came with those days. And this day was no exception.
This event, during my Senior year of college, followed another, June 1, 2001, in which I hit a drunk pedestrian, and in which he died.
And I still remember faces and incidents from both days, for the first was during Pentecost Weekend and I had just made the decision to drive south to spend time with a close friend who was going to become my new roommate, as June 2 was his birthday.
I do not remember much of the birthday, but I do remember the blood on the road, the moment when I laid hands on him, and asked the King for a miracle, and standing up because the Sheriff’s Deputies wanted me to take a blood test, and I remembered nearly passing out and the feel of being….mauled by something.
It was the spirit of premature death….
And in the first, it came about because someone wandered out in traffic in front of me.
In the second, I made the mistake of U-turning when a number of cars were behind me.
And in one motion, The Box (the name of my 1980 Toyota Corolla), was t-boned and totalled, and I should have been dead or seriously injured.
And I just had some bruising to my calcaneus (heel bone). That’s it. And a sore and pinched left foot.
This coming after a gospel choir concert in which my ex-pastor and his wife were present….
And I learned, the King allows Father-filtered pain simply because He is working through situations to grow us to know His love and connecting with Him in the middle of the furnace and the crucible.
A crucible for silver, and a furnace for the gold.
And these are the only ways the gold and the silver emerge purified, in the midst of the fire and in the presence of the flux.
And thus, began a multi-part story in which the L-rd began exposing me to how spiritual leaders can engage with witches in order to work nasty things against the King’s kids.
And I am not grateful for the damage and the suffering and loss, but I am grateful for the King being with me in the midst of the tragic circumstances to show me how to build and how to fight.
And this is another lesson in sonship.
Gang, the hard stuff is going to come.
But I can still repeat the refrain of the King through Isaiah the Teacher.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2
He is not going to allow all of you to be overtaken, gang. There is still a core center piece at the root of you that, no matter how divided, traumatized, wounded, or overthrown you are, the enemy is INCAPABLE of violating or overthrowing.
So, spirit, I bless you,
I bless you with the courage to see and to hear Him, as you rest in Him, as the hard things come.
I bless you with fearless understanding and love.
I bless you with the place of stillness following the destruction and the beating waves, and the pounding waters, and the burning furance. I bless you to allow Him to pour his balm and oil and wine into your wounds.
There is a balm in Gilead. And that balm is a mercy to your afflicted spirit and soul.
There is a love for you even when heartache happens.
I bless you to know even as you are fully known.
I bless you to know you are being fought for by Love and Life Himself, even in the midst of when death seems to be poured out on you from every angle.
I bless you when you are being covered by predators, to know the Christ Himself is THERE to show you how to push back against the ANTI-Christs.
I bless you with skill, savvy, and truth, and wisdom, and eternal and unfailing lovingkindness.
Spirit, at your core, THEY WILL NOT OVERTAKE YOU.
I bless your confidence in Him to grow.
I bless you, not with shrewd strategies of avoidance, but with real and tender and bold LOVE and the EMBRACE of the Bridegroom when you feel hammered.
I bless you to not stop, even as you must embrace moments of stillness. I bless you with the cup of cold water from the One Who Feeds You Hand To Mouth With Ravens and Corvids, precious Elijah….
I bless you spirit with this reality in the name of Yeshua….
They like to help….and help….and help….and help….and help….
And will not stop helping…..
Meeting tangible needs…
Cleaning…
Praying…
Cleansing…
Praying off death spirits…
No guile…
Willing to stand up to bullies…
And they do not quit when a fight is involved and others are damaged beyond repair…
The just do not quit…
And they have no guile and no agenda…
Until or unless someone breaks them out of that tiny and small vision of serving and obeying…
Like a trauma…
Or a hard word of some sort from a friend willing to deliver that message….
Redemptive Gift Prophets are usually the ones with the chops and the authority to speak to both, and if mature, the blow can be softened by the Servant seeing and hearing the heart of the Prophet…
Candidly, Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, was, in his early years, possessed of the heart necessary t take on the task of making the world a safe place from bullies, but while his best friend, Bucky Barnes, was present in the early season, Barnes was a constant distraction for Rogers from his missions:
It took the grueling adversity of believing Barnes dead to get Steve into the right place of focus.
Then, being frozen in the ice for 70 years after interacting with another Prophet (Peggy Carter) got him more focused, as he was given the mission of leading the Avengers.
And with us, especially with the Servants, we have to be broken from our lesser goals and embrace the deeper things the King has for us, if we are to walk in our highest calling and the best version of ourselves.
And maybe, just maybe, we will in the process, regain some of what we lost.
In Rogers’ case, he received back his best friend, and then the love of his life, and after the Infinity War and Endgame was able to go onto a third act and another shot at many of the things he had missed out.
Those events, if they do not let the King in to heal them or the memory, can leave them in a low place for much of their lives.
The King attempts to break so many of us out of the mediocrity of the Grand Central Station of Obedience and into something deeper, but sometimes the higher, deeper, broader, more colorful place requires we endure a large measure of productive pain.
And as to Bucky (Prophet), the Prophet’s pain is of a different type and a different pathway, but it is no less significant.
In the case of the Servant, “throwing myself in, follow orders, serve” is NOT enough once the dissatisfaction with the low goal of obedience is quashed for a vision with purpose and an adventure.
The tracks or road or path get laid through obedience, but the adventure only gets embraced through creativity, and that comes only through sonship. Slaves obey, sons create.
Servants, who are so used to settling for something secondary, helping others, or BEING PUSHED INTO THAT ROLE AND ACCEPTING IT, were made to be dialed-in for one thing…
Yet….
GREATER…
…than meeting the felt needs of others: to create an environment wherein the King would be happy to come and dwell. They ultimately must be pulled from their secondary purpose, as with the Prophet from theirs (solving problems and fixing things), and get dialed into their primary purpose (creating the one environment that matters to provide a place that is comfortable and inviting so that the King’s purposes might get accomplished).
It took Steve losing his best friend and his former reality to move into something deeper.
It will take the Servant losing their smaller reality to move into the deeper purpose.
And, sigh, it will not be easy, but it will be worth it.
#PrincipleOfAuthority
The Example of the Servant Who Missed It and Lost Out Bigtime
I am going to leave one line here from one account, and I want you each to catch it, and i want it to sit with you, and I want you each, Servants, to move into greater things, because the typical Servant is adept at the ecosystem and working with the earth, incredibly well, or some dynamic that can become settling, if they are not careful.
Then Saul, went back to his father Kish at Gibeah, having received the kingship and the office, and resumed his lesser task of farming….
Do I need to qualify this by saying that it’s a rant? Do I need to write “trigger warning” because my use of certain words will equal butthurt?
No.
I am about to piss off some religious spirits. Good, ‘cuz in Facebook Land the usual tripe rarely does anything to help the advancement of Kingdom.
First of all, I am a Mercy by design. Don’t get that twisted. Too many believers think that means we show mercy, and then they stick us into a fucking box, but being a Mercy that means so much more than that.
Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t cuss, don’t chew, and don’t run with the girls that do…..that’s how went the refrain for the last 20 years in a denomination that stole my voice and told me I was a rebel. Good, I don’t mind being a rebel anymore, or one who shepherds rebels and the broken.
Because, Michael and Renee, you have zero business being pastors.
A Mercy is known because they show the heart of G-d. His tender heart. His loving, emotional, accessible, affectionate heart.
And above all, His warm Bridegroom’s heart that viciously rages against all manner of boxes that say “holiness and righteousness look like this”.
“Holy” means so much more than limp-wristed, set-apart-ness. It means we get together our tools that the King has given us, all of them, and we build something together. It means we execute.
Calling “set-apart” as the definition for “holy” stops short and makes me vomit.
The Wright Brothers, their project funded by their bike shop in Dayton that changed the world, that is HOLINESS.
And when we recite the first statement of the Westminster Catechism, we miss the full point.
What is the chief end of man?
“To glorify G-d”
And too damn many believers stop there…..
And they ignore the rest of the story….
The whole statement is “to glorify G-d and enjoy Him forever”
“To enjoy Him forever”.
“No”, the religious say to us, “G-d’s so blasted holy that we are not allowed to enjoy Him”. We are only allowed to glorify Him, and that is used as a club to beat believers upside the head, and abuse them if they come across as too carnal…..
They say “glorify G-d the way I tell you to glorify Him”.
We get told, this behavior or that language doesn’t glorify Him and so we lance, bolt, skewer, dart, and shoot anyone that does not fit our idea of what “to glorify Him” means.
So, ”to glorify Him” comes with so much damned religious baggage that too few people really get to hear what it actualy means. And we tell people do do this approved list of do’s and don’t’s. And we violate or sear the conscience of too many people when we miss the aspect of connecting with G-d that involves enjoying just being with Him.
As a result, we lost the plot, as they say in Australia.
What if you just walked how He hardwired you? What if you embraced your unique design. Even if that does not mean you “preach the gospel” or you are not a church-planter, or you multiply financial wealth, or you develop the next thing?
And what if we got our mouths off of what “glorify G-d” means, and onto what it really means.
It’s not just about obey and be a slave or even a servant alone.
Really, it means “walk in your design and enjoy the journey with the King”.
Too often, we use triteisms that curse or block or trigger people to respond or tune out.
And we need to get this thing so that it is more approachable.
And the heart of G-d is this, and the Mercy that walks squarely in their design says this:
Be what He made you to be. As Chris Pfohl would say, “let your freak flag fly”. Contribute your unique sound to the sound of heaven, and let Him do in you what you were made to do.
Be you. And for those who are scared of this statement, I will qualify it so you can be happy. This once.
Be what He designed when He knit you together in your mother’s womb.
All forms of guilt because we think we did not engage in behavior that glorified G-d even though it was our design, those sins of misapplied guilt based on false information rooted in the religious spirit, will lead to death of some part of us. There is a sin that leads to death. One of those sins is the sin of religious self-flagellation or feeling guilty over some aspect of our design.
Another of those sins is attempting to control the behavior of others through fear or intimidation.
Feeling guilty over something that is part of His design MIGHT be a curse…
Or a heart belief…
Or a spirit belief….
Our overfocus in what we think is glorifying G-d by squelching His good design in us has turned into a religious cultus or occult knot led by an antichrist spirit designed to destroy us.
What Really Is Antichrist?
Also, allow me to define antichrist with a touch more nuance.
It’s the spirit of “instead of”, not “against”.
αντί, preposition in Koine Greek, meaning “instead of”
ANYTHING but the one thing we need. Substitute who we really are for something that “glorifies G-d even though our heart is not in it. Flurry of religious activity. Paired with the religious spirit to bring a flurry of activities that people think glorify G-d, but leaving the heart of the matter out of the work of worship.
Jerusalem, Teacher City, Philistine Curse. One thing. One thing missing from the full package.
Meanwhile, G-d is comfortable with us as us.
He wants us to be us, and He really wants us to do what we enjoy.
As a Father, He most behaves like a Father when He is enjoying us and taking pleasure in us AS we enjoying the things that bring us joy.
I will be honest, we on the East coast, except for Florida, the former 13 colonies, have this dour and sour attitude. I have a couple of close friends from California, land of dreams, that beautiful Exhorter state, and there is a joy and an ease of thought and living among many California natives. You’d never confuse Cali for New York. Or Tejas.
And we in the East need that infusion of the West’s joyful mindset on some level.
So, as you connect with the King, know Him. Yada, KNOW Him. That word, ידע, means “to know something or someone”, and it is found in both places like Proverbs 3:5-6, and Genesis 4:1, when Adam KNEW his wife, Eve.
Know Him, and KNOW that He adores you and adores how He made you, and He is not afraid of you doing what brings you joy, for in that, in your design, He will be glorified. Forever.
And if people want to tune out because I used a cuss word in this one, then let them. This isn’t for them. And I won’t placate the junk because they require it.
And enough experience on receiving end of what it should not look like in several dozen facets.
First marriage destroyed through adultery.
Second marriage lost due to interference from control, jealousy, and witchcraft because I work with survivors of Satanic Ritual Abuse.
January 14, 2005 to April 15, 2013: 3013 days.
April 19, 2014 to July 19, 2022: 3013 days.
And both marriages had many lessons to impart to me, and these treasures were not easily excavated. It was a crucible for the silver, and a furnace for the gold…
And I would like to offer the following bits, so thank you to those friends who enabled me to see some facets of a number of right ways of looking at this topic, and I would like to share things that maybe do not get enough daylight.
For those who ask if I am going to touch the egalitarian-complimentarian-headship debate, well, we will see.
But allow me to lead it with a couple of lines of thought….
Three Threads
Thread 0 offered, then set off to the side: Regardless of how I interpret Ephesians 5:21 followed by verses 22ff (I am very much of the view that in the context of the submission that all believers offer one to another, a wife still has a further place to submit in some way to a husband to loves her as Messiah loves His body), we are missing some critical ideas in this topic, because we look at roles, without looking at birthrights.
And design….
Women are not merely to play like they have hammers and swords….
Rather, they are to use them.
Thread 1:
A woman and her sword, once separated, leave her vulnerable in ways she should not be made so.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the L-RD G-d had made. He said to the woman, “Did G-d actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but G-d said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For G-d knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like G-d, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:1-6 ESV
The chief clown, Lucifer (I call demons “clowns”) came to the woman with her man and spoke to the woman.
For those who say “the man should have spoken up”, I am going to stop you right there.
The attack of the clowns frequently shows us an indicator of design. Husbands and wives are made as foxhole partners. Period. Get that one into your spirit. I implore you. Wrestle with the junk that fights against both of you, and woman of G-d, pick up your sword.
Or your tent peg.
Healed Exhorter/Servant combos in action…
The Other Two Points:
At this point, the issue is not one of submission, but of dominion, and refusing the victim spirit. Also, it is not about blame-shifting, but about fighting together against the real enemy. The real question is not are you loving and submitted to one another. The real questions (and from this, submission and love will flow, as well as a whole host of other dynamics) are these:
“Are you together learning from Father how to build; and how to fight?”
“Not only that, but are you aware of the raw materials you have together with which to build in a creative fashion?”
Point 2: Building
I pose these questions to y’all, gang, because there are times when the Father is not going to give you directions to obey, but is rather going to turn the two of you warriors loose in order to make choices together about what to build creatively.
First, in the early days of your relationship, you are going to struggle because you are going to feel like there is no user manual for building. So you are might desperately struggle with working together as you slap something together because you feel like you have been thrown together with little training. And then, as you grow together, working with one another, synching with one another, you are going to get more intentional about what you are doing, and as you grow more intentional, you can begin to incorporate strategy, and timing, and understanding, and pacing, and wisdom, and you will get able to fold together intimacy with one another together with skill in building.
Slaves obey. Sons create.
Create and build together. There is something there that can be done. He wants to partner with you to enable and endue and empower you two to build.
Point 3: Fighting
Second, to fight together.
Are you also aware of the real enemy that you should both be protecting and covering one another from? Do you have your lover’s six? Can they count on you to protect them and to give the enemy an earful of the Word of G-d Himself, and a faceful of His shekinah on their behalf?
“Having done all, to stand….” As Anne Hamilton has said, have you allowed the Bridegroom Warrior to kiss you into your armor? And that is something husband and wife were made to do in tandem with He who is Adonai T’Sevaot.
Again, as with the building part, you might find yourself clumsy as you work to direct your assaults away from your mate, whom the enemy will tempt you to attack as the source of all your problems, and against the real enemy. This is why you should exercise plenty of descretion when choosing a mate. And if you already have one, then work the best with what you have. This is not a decision to rush into, but rather to wait until the markers and evidence that this will be a redemptive relationship, one in which you can accomplish more redemptively together than apart. When you have the markers there, then a lot of the marriage prophecies and dependence on other people saying “thus saith the L-rd” can fall by the wayside.
Are you a safe place for your mate, and a terror to the enemy that assaults them?
Are you a confidant?
Do you hold secrets back one from another?
Can you share the little things together?
Do you have the common interests on some level?
Is there a cause?
The biblical text that gets overlooked, and I think the King Jimmy puts this best. Matthew 19:5
For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
It’s not about the love and submission (shorthand for the Ephesians 5 text) at this point….
Go beyond the elementary principles to the roots of those things which give life to a marriage.
And at the root of every marriage, let me CAPS out three words in Matthew 19:5.
FOR THIS CAUSE….a man will leave his parents and be joined to his wife….
You have to have a cause….there has to be a reason….a purpose….for the connection….
What’s your cause…..
What’s your reason for wanting to wake up with this man, this woman…
As David said before he fought Goliath….”Is there not a cause?”
Do you have a reason? Is there something you do incredibly well redemptively with this woman that you do not do with another? Or this man?
The cause will show you what to build and what your fight is.
And are there connection points between you and she….or you and he…..?
And is there enough diversity and difference between the two of you to make things interesting.
And is there enough of a draw beyond the superficial that you will last?
I cannot believe I am sharing this cut…..
Oy,
Thanks Tiffany….
Before You “I Do”
Though, a man should be confident enough in his own identity and authority on some level BEFORE HE STEPS INTO A RELATIONSHIP BEFORE IT TURNS INTO MARRIAGE that he will not have married a harpy or yielded his authority and is asking a woman to lead him or make decisions for him OR TO OTHERWISE GIVE HIM HIS LEGITIMACY…
Conversely, a woman should be confident enough in her own identity and authority on some level BEFORE RELATIONSHIPS AND MARRIAGE HAPPEN that she does not marry either an abusive or controlling jerk or a passive, milquetoast man, or an immature manchild who will not listen to her voice when she speaks to him in fullness, honesty, and rawness.
There has to be not merely the biblical text triteism of mutual submission, but also some level of mutual vulnerability, and both parties walking in partnership with Messiah, and willing to work through the tough issues, especially of growth, healing, deliverance, and love with one another.
And G-d did not say we had to be completely healed before we step into relationships or marriage. Nobody in Scripture, including Messiah who was fully human was fully whole without emotional issues as a human before stepping into relationship.
What G-d looks for is willingness and vulnerability, not absence of wounds or scars. The three together of y’all, working through things and journeying on this adventure…G-d looks for people who will just walk with Him and put Him at the center and forefront of their lives.
And couples who will walk together with Him, protecting one another.
It really means something when we war together against the enemy of our souls. And instead of the usual dynamics, we look at life between two battle buddies, two partners in crime, two companions in this eternal adventure.
And we engage with one another without passive/agression.
Some couples choose the way of sarcasm, and that works for them.
The real clincher here though is, are you together on close to a similar page about the L-rd, and the enemy?
And the next question that I would ask is, is there a spirit-to-spirit connection between you and your beloved, because so much happens in that space, when the portions of your spirit, and the portions of your beloved’s spirit actually interact and mingle.
It’s not just about being one flesh. It’s about the joining of spirits and the connection of journeys so that things flow in alignment.
Gang, Mercies are some of the most dangerous warriors to the kingdom of darkness of all the gifts, especially when they are healed and well-trained. This is why, when you can pour love and dignity and confidence into a Mercy and help them see their design, they will flower and bloom and create nightmares for the enemy.
Those who have been healed after having been wounded are so incredible effective, regardless of whether or not they are divided.
Just some thoughts for this afternoon for y’all.
See you all in class this evening, those that wish to come.
That was a razz on my Prophet friends, given the tribe, when they make decisions and judgments about items, tend to have a pretty good track record of being right. Not because they are arrogant, but because they are able to extrapolate from principles and see when things are not well-put-together or well-thought-out that the rest of us miss.
Further, they have a heart for justice, and they are centrally impacted by issues of right and wrong.
And given my last post in this series finished up how G-d Wounds and then Heals a Mercy and then dealt with the same issue concerning a Prophet, I was going to start with Servant, and the King said, “no, Teacher.”
Heading In the Right Direction versus Heading In the Best Direction
Sigh….
This is my absolute favorite gift to deal with, without exception, because there is so much potential and so much that gets undersold and mislabelled with the Teacher, so much so that many do not understand themselves. They are known for keeping their heads about them and heading in the right direction, generally speaking. However, so many of them are not known for being dialed in to the best direction of many right directions, which requires some fine-tuning and callibration, that can only be accomplished with the gentle whispers of the Executing Spirit, the Holy Spirit. (Whereas sin and defilement are the violation of principles, holiness actually means “weaving principles together”, and few can tinker and dial things in as well as the Spirit-governed Teacher who leads with their human spirit.
The Teacher, universally almost as slow as the Mercy, is also very deliberate and demonstrates a preference for telling the whole story, and also has a predilection for getting the details and the account of a thing or event right.
However, unlike the Mercy, they tend toward a predilection for the old and the well-researched, as my post on that RG shows, and they often get stuck in their thoughts, whereas the Mercy tends to gets stuck in their emotions. Both gifts can appear a bit absent-minded or head-in-the-clouds, and so they each need to have a couple of close friends that see them as they truly are, and be able to reach them where they are. The Mercy tends to find this in a Prophet or another Mercy, and the Teacher tends to find this in an Exhorter, which are typical pairings for those respective gifts.
A problem with the Teacher, as with the Mercy is the issue of being in control of a situation, versus being out of control. The King will routinely give both gifts situations and circumstances that are not neat and where they do not have control, to see how they respond to those.
See Exhibit A of the Exhorter/Teacher combo: Tony Stark and James Rhodes. And the line that hits me here, is “you got your best friend back”. Rhodey was not in control during this sequence in Iron Man 2 because his suit had been hacked by the fiilm’s antagonist, and the Prophet had to fix that problem.
Again, with the lack of control. This time in Captain America: Civil War. This time, hitting much closer to home.
And then having to be faced with the reality of his circumstances.
The fight needed to be fought, and the Teacher is central to the fight. Central with their humor. Central with their anchoring presence. Central with their safety. Central with their slowness. Central with their strength to endure.
And this whole thing with paralysis sucks…..But it is his consistency that helped Tony stay grounded.
And one other Teacher….who was saved by his divided personality….
Beyond that, there is, as with all the gifts, a certain stronghold that must be dealt with, in proper order, if the Teacher is to submit to the process by which they are wounded or broken, so they can grow into the fulness of what they were designed to be.
One of the major issues with the Teacher, and an issue G-d makes with them is the question of them being in control of a situation apart from His divine empowerment.
Teachers have to get to the point where, in order to walk in fuller authority, they give up their right to know in order to control.
Rather they know intimately, in order to wash feet and be a safe place, and to break the stronghold of witchcraft and rebellion by offensively engaging with those entities directly in the spirit. Further, they must wrestle, hand-to-hand, in close quarters, and submit (think the wrestling definition of “submit an opponent”) the predator spirit that seeks to hold hostage those they love.
They have to find the way that, through the spirit, enables them to marry what they know, to the Fire of the One Who Is All Truth, and allow the Holy Sprit, who is the Spirit that Executes, not merely Sets Apart, to lead them into all truth. It is not the biblical text that leads us into all truth. It is the Spirit of Truth that leads us into all truth. Our own mind, with all its absorbed and accumulated biblical knowledge, trivia, and understanding of the truth, is not what leads us into truth. Rather, it is the Spirit of Truth alone that can rightly divide the written biblical text, and apart from Him, with Torah in hand, we will risk killing the life-giving thing G-d gave to move us into the next realm of divine understanding.
My question to the Teachers in the crowd is this:
Do you want to continue being the one that kills with your cerebrum alone, or do you want the spirit G-d has placed in you to rule over the work of your mind, marry that to the felt work of your heart, and then your reins, and together with the thoughts, allow your emotions to emerge as your heart is strangely warmed by the Holy One of Israel?”
Apart from Him, you are incapable of exegeting at all.
I do not care how much Torah you know. If you do not know Torah Himself, the Word Himself, all your supposed truth is nothing more than the Vale of Ben Hinnom.
We go into all truth and get into all truth, ONLY by the Spirit of G-d.
And trust me, it is going to look really weird, the end product, and it is going to unsettle you and those around you, but as you grow into it, you will see the King’s faithfulness, and the Exhorter Himself walking alongside you will stay with you as you undergo this healing and transformation.
It is going to take time and a process, but it can happen, and Teacher, you are worth knowing, and being more fully known, even as you so fully know so much.
The Ancient One : But you are leaving out the most important part. In order to return the stones, you have to survive.
Going beyond the science and the knowledge acquired, the Teacher has GOT TO STEP INTO THE PLACE WHERE THEY PUT THEIR HEART, FAITH, AND WILL ON THE LINE, AND RISK DANGER WITH HEART AND SKIN IN THE GAME, in order to step up to the next level of who they are, which can invite circumstances that can hurt them in the process, trusting the L-rd to make them and their very, VERY tender hearts whole again. Teacher have to risk emotional exposure in order to be made more whole, bring wholeness to others around them, and to grow reality to a place where the L-rd needs it to be, embracing a potentially painful responsibility, the one thing they are supposed to do, in order to make the potential reality kinetic.
Be at peace, Teachers, for your is the most precarious of the seven gifts, I deem.
You are truly the motorcycles among the gifts. Huge payoffs and incredibly fun when the gift is done right, but also the risk of great destruction when mishandled.
This is one of those items I would like to boil down into its essence and share what it looks like on Monday morning during these 20-21 day periods.
And realizing that there are times when things may differ according to the King’s or Kingdom’s needs, I would like to talk about what this tool seems to be.
There are four periods strewn, more or less equidistantly throughout the year, and when you consider the enemy uses the two equinoxes and solstices to engage with his servants in dark things, it only makes sense to reaffirm the reality….
G-d was there first.
G-d was not there attempting to respond. G-d is first and was the first before anything else was. When the enemy comes and brings something, one can almost be certain that G-d was there doing something with that time that the enemy chose to pervert, given the enemy cannot create original anything. He can only take what G-d has done and adjust, twist, move, or co-opt it. Create a version of it.
And anything other than the original version of something is what we might call a per-version. This is what is really at the root of the word “perversion”. Other than original and authentic. Synthetic. Counterfeit. Fakey.
In short, a lie.
For those that need the textual reference, read the Gospel of John, 8:44
The only thing the devil can create is ultimately a lie.
Therefore, in looking at the fact that the enemy seeks to be exalted, we look at an inverse of that.
So, in these sets of seasons, we (I and others in the body) have discovered patterns that tend to be emphasized during these seasons, patterns of behavior that happen during the equinoxes and the solstices include the reality that, because these four days are intense occult times, they involve a lot of enemy activity.
And, counter to the primary purpose of being a follower of Messiah, namely the ministry of reconciliation, the enemy seeks alienation on a massive scale. Alienation within a person, alienation between a person and those most life-giving sources in their life, and alienation most ultimately between a person and his or her Maker.
That is, the enemy wants to break us away from those things G-d intended to be major parts of our constellation. Our communities seem to get assaulted in March. Our connection to land in June. Our connection to G-d in September. Our connection to our destiny in December.
So, given that understanding, we find the inverse also to be true. What the enemy meant for evil, G-d means for good.
So, then, these windows, fitting seasons, opportunities, these καιρὸς moments are meant to not only be seasons for stabilizing us in the midst of these four elements, they are also meant for us to get some incredible mileage and forays into the enemy’s camp to recover things taken from us.
I recovered three critical relationships during the March WOR, to cite one example.
And, last September, through the impact of one of my close friends, I was able to connect for the first time in my life with the Father Himself. Not the Father through Yeshua, but Abba, unmediated.
So, I have seen the impact of these seasons in my own life repeatedly.
And so, around these times of year, I like to construct blessings for either the aspect of the window, or for the spirits of those humans going to wrestle with these dynamics in their given locations, cities, places in the Kingdom of G-d, or birthrights.
Gang, this is a precious thing.
What the enemy does, the L-rd wants to completely partner with us as sons and as brides to not only undo with the opposite spirit, but to also completely supplant and replace that weed with the plant of His original choosing and design.
Just some thoughts here as we embrace this.
For further reading on this topic, see the following article from Sapphire Leadership Group pertaining to March’s WOR.
I do not know how deeply this will land and how much sense it will make to those who read it, but for those of us who work with land, the concept will likely make sense.
People tend toward one of seven major designs, we call these Redemptive Gifts. For more on that, start here.
And for the “why” of calling them Redemptive, go here.
Now, as to the rest of the story.
Father has placed some patterns in Scripture that are pretty consistent.
One of those patterns follow the number 7.
10 is another, and so is 12. And so on.
Sidebar: I do not spell the numbers smaller than 100 out because in the midst of a wall of text, numbers stick out visually. I write with mostly proper grammar and syntax, as I am an English major by training. And a grammar cop.
However, as a Mercy, I write for people’s visual comfort as well. And those cues remain important for those who, in this generation, read or take in information visually. Therefore, if I deem using a numeral serves my purpose better than spelling it out, then you, the reader, are going to have bo be okay with that.
To wit, if you do not like that I do not spell numbers (read: I refuse to abide by those standards) or use the Oxford Comma, then you are in the wrong place.
So, back to the topic at hand. Among the patterns that show up in Scripture, 7 is so implicit to the text that lists and groupings show up repeatedly. Even the structure of canon follows a heptadic structure and rhythm.
And many of those lists of items parallel one another and feed into one another. So the Redemptive Gifts of Romans 12:6-8 parallel:
The Seven Trees of Isaiah
The Seven Spirits of G-d
The Seven Patriarchs from Adam running Inverse from Adam as Mercy to Enoch as Prophet.
The Seven items of furniture in the Tabernacle
The Seven Feasts of Israel
The Seven of the Ten Compound Names of Adonai (Names Four through Ten)
The Seven Letters of Adonai to the churches in Revelation
The Seven Presents of Jacob to Joseph
The Seven Statements of the L-rd in the Burning Bush
The Seven Statements in the 120 years preceding Noah’s Altar
The Seven Actions of Connection with the L-rd in Psalm 23
The Seven seasons of the Book of Judges tied to the Seven Curses
The Seven Last Words of Messiah
The Seven Voices in Psalm 29
The Seven Stages of Brain Rot in Romans 1
The Seven Things the L-rd dislikes in Proverbs 6:16ff
The Seven Signs in John’s Gospel
The Seven parables of the Kingdom in the Gospel of Desire
The Seven Items in the Believers Armor, including the Shoes of READINESS
The Sevens galore in Revelation
And more besides.
So, given the L-rd has imbued all of reality, per the biblical text in multiple places, with this pattern, is it really a leap to suggest that certain people of a kind would gather in places that feel like home?
Treasures In the Earth
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place
Acts 17:26 ESV
And let me add from a chunk of Job 28 to illustrate a concept embodied in the natural by Sutter’s Mill and the Comstock Lode.
Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness. He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro. As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it. The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it. Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
Job 28:1-11 ESV
There are treasures in the land in the natural, there are plants, animals, ecosystems, and under the earth are minerals, gemstones, precious metals, and valuable substances placed in various places. Bauxite, Diamonds, Sapphires, Emeralds, Topaz, Lead, Uranium, Gold, Platinum, crude oil, Cobalt, Rare Earth Elements.
As the San Joaquin Valley led to the founding of Union Oil, and Salinas and Gilroy led to Garlic and Cherries, and Silicon Valley led to silicon-rooted-technology, and South Africa led to Diamonds, and Northern California led to Wine and Gold, do we not think that there is a spiritual application to this concept. Can G-d place treasures in the land, unique to the land that will draw certain people to that land?
The answer is yes. And, given what we see in the natural reflects the reality of the spiritual realm, then I surmise He distributed his treasures to chunks of land, and as a result, determined that people who resonate with those treasures are going to live there as well.
There are places that look good to a person, and then there are places that feel like home….and there is a difference.
Illustrating the Gifts In the Land Using the Teacher Gift
Now, let me use my beloved Teacher gift as an illustration for this.
Two things we know about the Teacher for these purposes that are easy enough to see. Teachers tend toward 1) Medical arenas, and 2) education and research arenas. Fair enough?
Let’s take the medical, since the education does not really need to be expanded at this point. Teachers teach, right?
Look at the Third Day….
Plants, Vegetation, and Dry land…
Most medical compounds derive from elements found in the Plant Kingdom, things found in the third day.
Thus, the medical arena has this imprint of meticulous research.
Typically.
And the Levites, who were the Teachers of Israel, and handled the Tabernacle, also handled the diagnosis of various ailments, home sicknesses, molds, plagues, and were responsible for the removal of those with plagues from the camp…..well, you get the idea.
This pattern of medical and healing appears over and over with the Teacher.
Johns Hopkins is a good example of this. In Baltimore, a city full of research and medicine. A city full of greenspace. A city full of those dynamics.
A Teacher city.
And these institutions that are typically founded by Teachers, typically reflect that connection with the Third Day, and other teacher dynamics. As patterns emerge in the fabric, when I see something that has that meticulous quality to it and lots of details, I move in the direction of Teacher.
For as G-d enables Teachers to tinker and process slowly, they tend to move together and find their own tribe. Then, they tend to take residence on a chunk of land that feels like home and resembles their design.
As with Prophets, Servants, and the rest.
The Purpose: Manifestation of Sons In the Kingdom To Bring Redemption
And the King intends, per Romans 8, for creation and land to interact with us, you see personalities show up in nature and land and cities.
That is, creation, which includes land, cries out for the manifestions of the Sons of G-d. And the purpose of sons is to bring redemption to bear on all facets of reality. And those that do not know the L-rd can even be instruments in His hand set up to bring the purposes of G-d into a place.
Thus says the L-RD to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
Isaiah 45:1
But he [that is, Pharaoh Neco] sent envoys to him [that is King Josiah of Judah], saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.
2 Chronicles 35:21. ESV
Meaning, G-d can use anyone with their design given by Him from conception, to accomplish his means, and he can humble anyone he darn well pleases.
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the L-RD;
he turns it wherever he will.
Proverbs 21:1 ESV
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
Daniel 2:1 ESV
All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.
Dan 4:28-33 ESV
Design shows up in these gifts over and over and over again. And there are carnal manifestations that are not submitted to the King, and there are high-functioning manifestations in people who are submitted to the King.
In the carnal Ruler, we see empire building and we see them emotionally unstable.
And in the healthy Ruler we see a fathering aspect that builds sons into effective builders and fighters.
Manifestations of the Gifts in Particular Cities
New York has a nice grid set up, there is an access to the city. It’s a Giver city.
Boston however, these tiny roads curve and go every which way. And they do not care about your opinion about their geography. And they excel in bleeding-edge technology and engineering, and they served as a flash point, together with South Carolina, for revolution. And you better not be a Yankees fan wearing a Bucky Bleeping Dent Jersey in Beantown.
Boston Robbed in 1978
Typical Prophet.
And In Business
And we also note that organizations take on the personality of the founder.
Even4One, founded by an unmistakable Prophet, carries the feel and image of her founder, who from my viewpoint of Prophets, carries some of the sweetest and highest-functioning expressions of the gift.
Sapphire Leadership Group, carries Arthur’s imprint, and churns out ideological material rooted in principles tied to the founder.
And a thousand different organizations, founded by people, who, under the prevenient grace of G-d, are being prepared for expressions of His redemption, even while they do not seek him (Romans 5:8), show the DNA of the founder, and the design of the founder.
And many other organizations do this.
The aviation Industry as a whole, carries the Prophet and Teacher imprints by turns, some see the new cutting edge, and some see the tinkering.
Even the aircraft have feels to them.
And this is just one more expression of the pattern of things created by humans with one of seven designs, designs that were given in their Mother’s wombs (Psalm 139).
Whether or not they like it, humanity, redeemed or not yet redeemed, shows forth his eternal nature and divine power, so that no one may be without excuse.
Creation everywhere sees this pattern everywhere.
Witnesses to his goodness and majesty and love are everywhere, and therefore no one is left without an excuse that will hold on That Day.
The Purpose of Redemptive Patterns And Messaging
Redemptive messaging, placed E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E., and which is the King’s specialty (Luke 16:19; Romans 1) is strewn throughout all of creation and everywhere in the Biblical text, and even in non-biblical texts. What, do we think His arm is slackened or shortened that it cannot redeem no matter what the situation?
And the purposes of these patterns that crop up everywhere, are as witnesses that will testify to the King.
Such as the words of one healed Exhorter:
“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. Now that I’m trying to protect the people I’ve put in harm’s way, you’re going to walk out?”
And because all of these institutions and landforms are peopled by humanity and patterned after the rest of creation, and because they all serve His purposes ultimately, and because the land reflects people, and Chicago is not New York is not Boston is not JAX, we see the trends and patterns. And we are responsible to partner with EVERYTHING the King has made available to us in order to bring the section of creation under our jurisdiction back to Him.
A few more thoughts here, gang. First, from Genesis 19
“The outcry of Sodom”
It wasn’t the people. The Hebrew there literally reads “Sodom’s outcry”. That Hebrew word for outcry was a distress call, such as you would use to call the police. The land was in distress, and the land cried out due to the people’s iniquity.
Second thought beyond that.
Numbers 35 talks about polluting the land, and the consequences for polluting the land (Leviticus 20:22). THE LAND shall vomit you out. Not the L-rd. Not the people. The land will behave as a human whose stomach has become sickened and it itself will reject the people.
The land itself responds to things.
Now, for those who would take this to mean I am arguing for the sentience of the land, well, that is not where I am going.
I am pointing out that the land functions in many ways the way we function at times. We who have redemption and redemptive agency flowing through us.
So, maybe, land responds in some way more than we have first thought….
Also, 2 Chronicles 7:14 refers to G-d healing the land. And this strikes me as the L-rd doing something beyond mere metaphor, and it would behoove us to discern and hear and look at what He is doing in a patch of land for which we are responsible.
Just as land can carry defilement and pollution, so it can also carry a blessing, and we are commanded in Scripture to bless the land and the dwelling places with which we associate.
I realize this second half is a potpourri of land items. And one might say what does this have to do with gifts and treasures in the land?
Well, it strikes me that with the exhortations of promised LAND having treasures in it (milk and honey) that we can see, perhaps there is a mirror of this in the spirit, and in a particular patch of land there is a strong enough pull of those treasures in the spirit that it gathers people of a kind to it to care for it. Maybe the land knows something that we do not…..
These are just my thoughts….feel free to consider and ask questions. And be blessed, gang.
