I got lots of great feedback on last week’s post. There is much grace being poured out from the Father to help us learn the difference between the real and the counterfeit. He is preparing us to rule and reign with Him in the earth!
The audio teaching was lengthy, so, as promised, I am sending this out in written form in bite-sized pieces. Hopefully, this will give you time to meditate on each point, applying it to your life as Holy Spirit leads you. As you do, may you experience abundant and overflowing grace to soar high above earthly encumbrances and to live out of the heavenly realm, where there are brilliant solutions for every seemingly unsolvable problem. And as you let go of the small, small counterfeit of demonic judgment, may you be dressed in the garments of His “elohim,” ones He trusts to echo His righteous judgments in the earth…
PART 1: SELF-RELIANCE vs. ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE
Lucifer, who once possessed both creativity and beauty, is now only described as the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He takes what God has created and perverts it, using it for his own purposes. So, wherever there is a stolen counterfeit, there is also a “real,” which has been created by God….and the real is always better!
Matthew 7:1 cautions us about a counterfeit, demonic spirit of judgment: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” But Hebrews 5:13-14 speaks of a true, godly judgment, which is is the fruit of spiritual maturity. When His sons operate in this kind of judgment, they know His ways, they see as He sees and they echo His decrees in the earth.
For everyone who is fed with milk is inexpert in the word of righteousness.
For he is but a babe.
But strong meat belongs to those who are of full age,
who through regular use have their wits exercised
to judge both good and evil also.
–Hebrews 5:13-14
This kind of judgment will be greatly needed in the days ahead, because the revelation of the supernatural realm is on God’s time clock for this generation, and people will either access this realm legally (through Jesus Christ) or illegally (any other way but Him). The Bible tells us of a time that signs and wonders are so commonplace that they are done through unbelievers:
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day,
‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them,
‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
–Matthew 7:21-23
In order for us to obey God’s instructions to discern but not to judge, WE MUST BE ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE AND FALSE JUDGMENT, between the real and the counterfeit. Today, we’re going to talk about the first key that will help you to understand the difference: SELF-RELIANCE VS. ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE
When Jesus ascended back into heaven (John 6:7, 12-14), He didn’t say that it would be better for us because He was leaving us with a book. The Bible is our plumb line, but God’s Word is filled with a Divine tension of truth that, at times, might seem contradictory. He does this intentionally, to show us that we can’t even interpret His Word without His help. He left us with a person—the person of the Holy Spirit, and He intends for us to live in relationship with and dependence upon Him. We cannot know truth without the help of the Spirit of Truth:
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 Corinthians 2:14
Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17 says:
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden,
and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow
that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to tend and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’
In the Garden, Adam and Eve were faced with a choice: to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or to eat from the Tree of Life. What we may not realize is that we all face that same choice today. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is all about self-reliance, while eating from the Tree of Life is to live in absolute dependence upon God. Does God want us to know the difference between good and evil? Of course He does! Does He want us to rely upon our own understanding, logic and upon the wisdom of man to do so? Absolutely not!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding…
–Proverbs 3:5
Why would God not want us to operate from our human understanding? First, it is simply because human knowledge has many limitations.
‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’
says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.‘
–Isaiah 55:8-9
Secondly, it is because human knowledge, which James 3:15 literally calls “earthly, sensual and demonic,” is subject to demonic manipulation.
God IS love, and so His interaction with us is motivated solely by His love for us. He knows and wants what is best for us, and so His insistence that we rely upon Him alone is simply a reflection of His love for His children.
FALSE JUDGMENT HAS ITS ROOTS IN RELIANCE UPON OUR OWN WISDOM, WHILE GODLY DISCERNMENT COMES FROM WAITING TO HEAR WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE MATTER. Jesus lived out of this kind of absolute dependence and modeled it for us.
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord.
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
but with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
–Isaiah 11:1-4
This is saying that Jesus, though He was God, laid aside His Divinity and lived His earthly life in the same way we must: in absolute dependence upon the Father. Whether it was to release mercy or judgment, He didn’t make a decision based on what He saw or heard. Rather, He leaned upon the Spirit of God, which rested upon Him and dealt with everyone according to the heart of the Father.
Then Jesus answered and said to them,
‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself,
but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does,
the Son also does in like manner.‘
–John 5:19
So, not only was Jesus living in absolute dependence upon the Father, He was co-existing in both the realms. He was not speaking figuratively when He said He saw the Father. He was fully aware of both the heavenly and earthly realms simultaneously. And He did this, not out of His Divinity, but out of His humanity. Jesus, the “firstborn among many brethren,” was the firstfruit of a fully matured son, demonstrating to us what is possible and available to us! His sacrificial death on the cross made it available. And His earthly life demonstrated what it looked like.
Everything in the spirit realm is a trade. The first Adam traded his sonship to be his own source; he chose self-reliance and consequently, in Adam, we all became orphans. But because the second Adam, Jesus, chose absolute dependence upon the Father, He restored us back to right relationship with our Father.
Any area where we are not fully yielded, where there is lack of trust, or fear or control, makes us susceptible to demonic trafficking. If we have been forced to rely upon ourselves to survive or have been taught not to trust, there is a trauma or soul wound. Where there is a soul wound, there is often shame. Where there is shame, there is always fear (whether it is conscious, or whether it resonates from the subconscious and unconscious layers of our being). Where there is shame and fear, there is always some kind of control. This control is at odds with total dependency upon the Father. So we must receive the healing and the power of God into that area of our soul, so that we can learn to trust and to operate a different way…as a son who can trust and yield to a good, good Father.
This week, meditate on your trust walk with God, asking Holy Spirit to reveal any areas where survival mechanisms are still in operation, causing you to live as an orphan instead of a son. Affirm His trustworthiness, even in areas where you are struggling to trust. Invite Holy Spirit to invade your soul with truth, healing and restoration. Remember, at salvation, you literally stepped outside of time and died with Christ, and now He is living HIS life through your skin. He is well able to trust Himself, so don’t strive – just yield. And as you go through your daily life, ask Holy Spirit to remind you to inquire of the Lord about difficult situations, circumstances and people, rather than leaning to your own understanding. Be encouraged… You are in training for reigning!
To help you on this week’s journey, here’s a prayer of surrender and healing. Pray it with me now:
Father, I acknowledge your utter and complete trustworthiness, even in areas where I am struggling to trust You. I yield to the life of Christ, as You live Your life through me, doing what I am unable to do. I surrender myself totally to You, asking You to make me willing to become willing in every area. Holy Spirit, reveal any areas where I am leaning to my own understanding or am operating as an orphan instead of a son. Highlight any wound in my soul that is in need of Your touch. I receive Your healing right now, as You minister to me, deep unto deep. I choose with my will to forgive any who have wounded me, including myself. And I ask You to remind me to inquire of You concerning every situation. Thank You, Jesus, for granting me access to heavenly counsel chambers prepared just for me, where I will find Divine wisdom and solutions for those things which, here in the earth realm, seem unsolvable. I let go of all low level, demonic judgment and every way where I have been in agreement with the “accuser of the brethren,” and I receive the garments of your “elohim.” Thank You for preparing me to rule and reign with You upon the earth!
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This is a glorious time to be alive! Thank you for joining me in beholding the beauty of the King and in making Jesus famous in the earth!
-Virginia