Marty Delmon - Author And Missionary To France

Welcome to the Stories of Life

This story is entitled

UNDER HIS WINGS

Written by

Marty Delmon

Translated by

Edwige Dangaly

Music and Voice by

David Chauveau

Technician and Sound Effects by

Claire Magot

Radio Program #249

Lyn looked in the door of the church hall. The scowl crossing her face deepened. Arranged in a circle, the chairs left no place to hide. It had been hard enough to get herself to go to this meeting and now to see this! She wanted to turn and storm out, but something in her pushed her to a chair where she sat, glumly analyzing each person in the circle.

The woman next to her smiled, I m Greta. Welcome to the Abused Women s Group. It s your first time?

Lyn s teeth clamped together to keep from biting the woman s head off. She hissed, Yes. And I m not happy to be here.

Greta chuckled a light little laugh and nodded, I understand. Been there, done that.

Looking at the woman with surprise, Lyn asked, How long have you been coming?

Eighteen months. You get over the resentment. Nobody likes to admit they have a problem, but the sooner you do, the sooner you get over it.

With an air of unbelief Lyn said, Eighteen months. Are you over it yet?

Greta shook her head no. I m still married to the jerk and he hasn t changed.

With Greta s encouragement to speak, Lyn told the group her story. An uncle came to visit when I was three. While the others went to the movies, he stayed home and put me to bed. He called me his little princess and threatened to put me in a place where this would happen all the time if I ever told anybody what he was making me do to him.

When I was nine my grandmother s boyfriend raped me on the living room floor at Christmas time. I kept looking at the star on the tree, hoping it would save me. When I cried he beat me with his belt. Other things happened when I was little, but those two were the worst.

I married the first guy who asked. He had affairs with every woman he could find and beat me in between. He hocked everything we owned and even hocked his friends stuff and they came to me for restitution. Out of seven years of marriage we lived together for two years. The rest of the time he ran off with other women.

I came to this group because I ve been abused! I hate men! I want revenge!

The leader assured Lyn that if she kept coming to the group she would discover how wonderful she is and that revenge does not help, it only solidifies the pain. During the leader s diatribe, Greta put her hand on Lyn s knee. A warmth flowed from that hand which gave Lyn a surprising feeling of comfort. She looked at her new friend in wonder.

After the meeting Greta invited Lyn to a neighborhood bar for a drink. They talked for hours and arranged to meet again before next week s Abused Women s Group meeting. In fact, they got together several times that week.

Four months later, during a walk through a city park, while Lyn described a disastrous date, Greta became agitated. It upsets me to hear you speak about men you ve been with. To tell you the truth, I don t want you to be in love with someone.

Lyn stopped. The face of her friend crumpled in pain. Lyn stretched her arms out and Greta stepped into the embrace. Without thinking, Lyn heard herself say, Did it ever occur to you that it might be you I m in love with?

Greta sighed, No. But I hoped that might be true. They spent the rest of the afternoon confessing their love and plotting how they could be together, though they agreed that Lyn should continue to date men as a cover for their relationship.

The distressful state that Lyn s involvement with men gave Greta escalated until Lyn subjected herself to a hysterectomy to calm Greta s nerves. Terrified that if Lyn were to get pregnant she might love the baby more than her, Greta found an unscrupulous doctor to do the job.

Then the unthinkable happened: Greta got cancer. Just when they planned to move in with each other, just when their love seemed to be consuming them to sacrifice all, just when all things looked promising and perfect, cancer struck at the heart of their love.

Lyn, not knowing how to behave, found herself wanting to distance herself. Greta, desperately needing Lyn s support, grabbed at her emotionally, demanded her attention, accused her of not really being in love. They continued strained and awkward until the moment Greta died, and she died in Lyn s arms.

Greta s husband, during those waning months, finally comprehended his wife s lesbian relationship and with rage concealed in his heart, allowed the two women to approach the death together. Lyn practically lived in their home, attending to Greta and overseeing the nurses who came for the night shift while she slept and the day shift while she worked. Only at the end would Greta agree to be moved to the hospital.

At the funeral when the time came for the husband to place his flower on the casket, he handed the flower to Lyn and said for all to hear, Let her lover be the one to do that. He strode away, speaking to no one and never turning back to look at his wife s casket.

Creeping home, discredited beyond her wildest nightmares, Lyn lay on her bed, contemplating what to do. Where the idea came from she couldn t say, but it stood stark in her mind. She called her boss to quit her job, took her plants to the next door neighbor and left town.

Parking her car in the Ranger s Station at the head of Nebraska s park system, Lyn started her hike. Seven national parks. She would walk through all of them. Why seven? She had no clue. Her mind, numb from the events in her life, turned them over incessantly. How had she gotten here?

She couldn t remember choosing any of this. Certainly she didn t choose what men had done to her. Certainly she didn t choose to love a woman instead of a man. Certainly she didn t choose cancer for Greta. Certainly she didn t choose to be alone in life with no hope of any future, with no longer the possibility of even having a child. Who chose all this for her?

The sun slanted through the trees striping across her body and splashing into her eyes. Dully, by some inward prodding she didn t recognize, she looked across the river. Coming down the hill to quench their thirst, seven does ambled stiff-legged to prevent a slide. Seven. Seven deer. Seven parks.

An old song her mother used to sing floated through her mind. As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after Thee. You alone are my heart s desire and I long to worship Thee. You alone are my strength, my shield. To You alone may my spirit yield .

Church. That song came from church. Lyn had not thought about church since her mother died when she was eight. Seven. The perfect number. The Hebraic number of God. Lyn fell to her knees in the dirt of the path. God! she mumbled. I haven t talked to You since I was a little girl. I m not even sure You re there.

Inside her, in the very heart of her being, she heard His voice. I m here, Lyn.

Where have You been? Why did You let all these horrible things happen to me?

You let them happen to you.

Me? I m the innocent victim.

I m God, Lyn. I know all things. Did you ask Me who to marry?

No! she screamed. But after the things men did to me as a child . She quickly looked around to be sure she was alone in the forest, which she was. Standing, she took her position before the Lord. How could You let those things happen if You are a loving God!

Silence seemed to whistle through the woods, but she defiantly waited until she heard His voice again. Man is in charge of himself. Either he gives Me authority to act in his life, or he gives satan authority to act in his life.

Lyn screamed again, If You re talking about my free will, that makes no sense for a three year old! Or even a nine year old! How could I know to give You authority?

A child is under his parents authority until he is old enough to know how to make decisions.

So it s my parents fault?

Satan tricked your parents to place you in the hands of his agents.

That s what satan does to people?

Yes. If parents would ask Me for My help and trust Me to act on their behalf I could help them. But without their prayers, I can do nothing.

Lyn pondered for a moment, If that s what satan does, then I don t want any part of him. How do I keep him away from me?

Give Me your life and I will protect it. Read Psalm 91.

Oh God! If only I had a Bible I would read it. She remembered where her Bible was, alright, in the top drawer of the dresser in the attic under her sweaters. Again that inward drawing made her look far down the path where she saw a man slowly walking toward her, his head down as if scrutinizing something in his hands.

He s reading a Bible, she thought, I can t believe he s reading a Bible. These kinds of things just don t happen.

She heard the Lord say, They happen in My kingdom.

Her feet pounded the path as she ran to the man, practically tackling him on their encounter. At her insistence he read the first part of Psalm 91.

You who live in the shelter of the Almighty, who spend your nights in the shadow of God, who say to the Lord, My refuge! My fortress! My God in whom I trust! He will rescue you from the trap of the hunter and from the plague of calamites, He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge; His truth is a shield and protection.

Lyn grabbed the man, How do I get God to be my God?

Stupefied, the man said, Ask Him to be your God. Give yourself to Him.

Letting go Lyn wheeled around to kneel in the dust and shout to heaven. Lord God Almighty, be my God. Let me belong to You! You be my God and I ll be Your child.

She heard the Lord say, Accept My Son.

Yes! Thank You for sending Jesus to pay for my sins. Jesus, thank You for being my Savior. Now, You be my Lord and I ll be Your servant. Holy Spirit, You be my guide and I ll be Your friend.

Back in the city, Lyn got her old job back, but as a changed woman. She poured the love of God out on everyone. Arranging a meeting with Greta s husband, she apologized to him for her conduct with his wife. At every opportunity she read her Bible, always carrying it with her.

� The Lord caused Lyn to meet a certain man.� He asked the Lord to give him a wife who had been damaged by men so that he could pour the love of God out on her to give her the assurance of being lovable and the confidence to be all she could be.� Then one by one they adopted three baby girls whose mothers had been brutally abused and raped by men.� They poured the love of God out on those little innocents who grew to be wonderful women of God.

�

This story has been brought to you by Word and Spirit Church in Portland, Oregon.

How to Study the Word of God

by

Mary Giangreco

www.neverendingword.com

Getting Started: Read Your Bible

Most don t know where to begin when studying the Word or even reading the Word. There came a raised hand out of the audience with a question, Where do I begin reading in the Bible? As an unbeliever I made the mistake of beginning with the Book of Genesis. I was lost after reading the first chapter and proceeded to close the book, not to open it until years later. However now, as a believer, I can understand this book and what it means to the rest of the Bible. The question asked was appropriate because most people really don t know where to even begin to read in their Bible.

There are many Bibles on the market today and many translations that make reading easy to understand. The One Year Bible is a good place to begin and there is even a Chronological One Year Bible that rearranges Scriptures and puts them in the order the events happened. If you have any Bible (other than the Chronological), here is a simple way to begin reading.

Get a Post-It pad and take out seven sheets; these will become your book marks. Open your Bible to Matthew and on the Post-It write Matthew 1 and place it in your Bible right there in the first chapter of Matthew. This will be your first place to begin to read your Bible. After you have read Matthew chapter one, cross out the number 1 and write 2 beside it, moving the Post-It to that new chapter. The next time you open your Bible you ll begin with chapter 2.

Do the same thing with the other six Post-Its except you ll write Romans 1, Acts 1, Revelation 1, Psalms 1, Proverbs 1, and for the last Post-It you get to pick a favorite book from the Old Testament to read. This will get you familiar with your Bible.

While reading, be sure to have some 5×8 ruled index cards and a pen handy in case the Lord begins to speak to you about a Scripture. I ll explain why you should use the index cards instead of a notebook in the next section. Always remember, reading your Bible should be fun. Have some stickers that are small enough for the margin of your Bible to place next to the Scriptures as pointers. If you come across Scriptures that talk about love for example, heart stickers are always good. There are many Scriptures on the mouth, so some cute stickers shaped like lips might be a good choice. What could you use for prosperity Scriptures, a dollar sign perhaps? The point is to make it easy to locate key Scriptures. There are a variety of stickers out there on the market so get creative.

Storing the Word of God

Have you written notes on the back of your church bulletin or heard something said that was really good and you wanted to remember it but didn t have anything but a scrap piece of paper to write on? You ended up with all these pieces of paper with scribbled notes and didn t know what to do with them. I ve been there. Take all those scrap pieces of paper and either throw them out or reorganize them. You can put them in a manila folder and label them miscellaneous if you can t part with them. I ve done this and haven t looked at those scraps of paper since. There is a better idea.

Earlier I mentioned 5×8 ruled index cards. There is a reason I recommend cards for this kind of studying rather than writing in a journal or notebook. First, writing in a notebook is very limiting in that, once a note is written it must forever remain in that part of the notebook. Sure you can tear out part of the page, or even the entire page, but you end up with all those loose scraps of paper again. Second, it s very difficult, if not impossible, to find things you wrote sometime in the past. With cards, you can write your little snippet of revelation or information on one or a series of cards, which can then be stored and accessed conveniently. And because you ll be putting the subject of your notes at the very top of the card (you will won t you?), you can keep them sorted, making retrieving the information much easier. You should also date your cards in the upper right corner and make your mark by putting your initials on the upper middle part of the card. The date helps to look back later and see where you were then and where you are now. The initials remind you where you got the information; your own revelation or study, or a message from a pastor or someone else.

Of course, as the Scriptures begin to speak to you, you ll need a place to put all these cards. I recommend you purchase a card file box and some A-Z 5×8 ruled index cards. The A-Z indexed cards will help keep all your thoughts and studies organized and insure you will have information at your finger tips. I call this card file box the Scribe s Householder or Treasure Box that is made up of things new and old, Every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. (Matthew 13:52). Your card file box will hold revelations, teachings, rhemas dreams, visions, desires and the purposes and plans of God revealed through your prayer life. The card file box represents your quality of life in the Word of God. Out of your card file box can come creative expression in the form of sermons or even your first book. This will depend upon your interests; the key point is the Word can enter into every part of your life and bring healing; for it is life. In your card file box are the things, new and old which is a Jewish expression of great plenty, it will hold your thoughts and ideas of yesterday and your thoughts and ideas of today. Your card file box can be your endless supply of the Word of God that brings peace, joy, patience, comfort, wholeness, healing and most of all hope for the future.

Banking on Memory Only

Imagine that a revelation, a single word, or even a thought from the Lord, as an ICE CUBE. Say you are storing this ICE CUBE in your mind. The CARES of the day or just the CARES of life come in. Day by day and little by little the ICE CUBE of revelation from the Lord begins to melt. Before you know it the revelation begins to disappear. Your revelation from the Lord becomes a puddle of water and soon a vapor, disappearing into thin air. This is what the enemy wants to happen; he is banking on it.

Your card file box represents thirty, sixty and hundred fold. Thirty-fold is when the Holy Spirit has said something to you, whether it is one word, a sentence, or has given you an impression of something. Don t bank on memory only but write it down on a 5×8 card. This thought is thirty-fold. When you begin to write down from the thirty-fold, it will multiply into sixty-fold. More times than not, when the thirty-fold is written down, more comes. If you share your thirty-fold and sixty-fold with someone, it will become a hundred-fold and will be tailor made for the person you are talking to. The Holy Spirit can use you in the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. The hearer will say, I needed to hear that or the next time they see you they ll say, You know, I thought about what you said all week, it really ministered. And as that person is hearing it, it becomes their thirty-fold. If they take it home and write it down they will receive sixty-fold, and if they share it with someone else they will receive one hundred-fold and the process starts over and over again. Be sure not to bank on memory only but write the revelations down, no matter how insignificant they may seem.

Your Journey Begins

This is only the beginning of the journey of studying the Word of God. There are many more techniques on how to study the Word and how to receive revelation from it. There are also other resources that can be used, such as the Strong s Exhaustive Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Dictionary, Vines Complete Expository Dictionary, various Commentaries, Bible Dictionaries and many books written by Christian authors.

The key to studying your Bible is to read it and then write down what the Holy Spirit speaks and shows you.

Taken from notes from a Benny Hinn School of Ministry class.

Without the Holy Spirit we have no vehicle for the supernatural life the Lord wants us to lead on this earth. Jesus paid for everything, provided us with everything and then sent His Holy Spirit back to live in us so that we can receive everything.

John 16:12-15 However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

The first truth He guides us into is our new birth. He baptizes us into the Body of Jesus Christ. He brings us face to face with Jesus and Jesus incorporates us into His body. It is only that encounter that implants eternal reality. Without that eternal reality, which is the life of God, ever expanding, ever creating, we only have an earthly reality, which is in the process of dying.

No one can be a Christian in name only. We cannot inherit our place in God s Kingdom. We cannot be prayed in by someone else or baptized in by someone else. The divine relationship is entered by coming face to face with God through the Holy Spirit.

We glibly repeat the sinner s prayer as if that were the way to heaven. Heaven is not that cheap. It s not bought with a prayer. When Jesus said No one comes to the Father except through me. He spoke of a relationship, not a ticket to Heaven.

Our commitment is to the living Christ. We encounter Him through the Holy Spirit. When Peter said to Jesus, You are the Christ. Jesus said, Only God can reveal that. Only the Holy Spirit can bring us to that truth.

The flesh will deceive us; the flesh with fail us; the flesh will disappoint us, and in the end the flesh will defeat us. But the Holy Spirit will make us winners. Only by living in the Holy Spirit is there victory in the Christian life.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Sin is stronger than the flesh. We can go cold turkey, grit our teeth, abstain, abstain, abstain, until we crumple once more into our sin. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can be free, that sin loses its dominion. Without Him we fail. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that defeats sin. We need to quit trying on our own and surrender to Him. Living in the Spirit gets us out of living in the flesh or living in sin.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

When we see the words in Christ or in Jesus or in Him it is talking about in the Spirit . It s the Holy Spirit who is here on the earth. That s the same as Jesus being here, or the Father, as they are One.

Eph 3:16 that He would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.

With the shape of the world today, with many churches no longer preaching the Gospel, with the power seeping away from the Body of Christ, we need the Cross of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus and His Holy Spirit more than ever. He strengthens us.

Phil 3:3 For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit.

He is the Spirit of Worship, the Spirit of Prayer, the Spirit of Praise, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Faith, the Spirit of Strength and on and on. In our worship we are literally taken up with Him. The Father seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit .

Acts 13:2-4 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Sprit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us our calling, our place in the Body of Christ. Only He can reveal our destiny, that for which we were created and designed to do and where we fit in the Kingdom of God.

Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of Grace?

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace. He is too gracious to force Himself on us. He is gentle, very gentle, and easily grieved. He waits to the side until we open the door of our heart to Him. We cannot expect Him to open our door.

Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

We must ask for the Holy Spirit, daily. Our hunger for God must be so great that we seek Him ardently. We pull on Him passionately for all things. We must want Him to the point of desperation.

At the same time remember that God Almighty cannot pour out His Spirit on those who have ignored the Blood and the Cross. John wrote that there is agreement in Heaven and on earth amongst the Word, the Blood and the Water. That means the Blood, Jesus the Word and Holy Spirit the Water.

When we acknowledge the Blood, the Holy Spirit is there and the Power of the Word. When the real Word of God is acknowledged, the Power of the Blood and the Holy Spirit are present. Likewise, when the Holy Spirit comes, with Him always are the Blood and the Word, Jesus.

The Scriptures say the Life is in the Blood. Through the ages God revealed to His saints the power of the Blood. He revealed it to Adam when He covered him with the bloody skins of animals. With the Blood came God s promises. His promises are revealed to those who receive them through the Blood.

Abel received the revelation and offered God Blood. His gift was accepted. Cain rejected the revelation and offered God what he thought best and was cursed for it. If we want God s promises the Blood must cover our lives just as the symbolic animal Blood covered Adam.

The Blood brings acceptance. The Blood brings favor. Because of the Blood we have fellowship with the Lord. Because of the Blood we have God s blessings. We must understand that only the Blood of Jesus gives us acceptance in God s family. The Holy Spirit came after Jesus died. It took the Cross, it took the shedding of His Blood for the Promise of the Holy Spirit to be given. The Holy Spirit comes through the Blood.

We see this precept again with Noah. He filled the ark with sets of seven clean animals. The unclean animals came two by two, but the clean animals came seven by seven. Why seven? Because the first thing Noah did when he stepped on dry ground was to build an altar and sacrifice one of each of the clean animals, sprinkling the Blood on the earth. When that Blood hit the ground, God said He would remove the curse on the earth. Therefore the Blood removes the curse.

The first thing Abraham did when he entered the Promised Land was to build an altar, sacrifice animals and apply the Blood to the earth. The promise God gave him could not be his without the Blood. God promised Isaac the same as his father and the first thing Isaac did was build an altar in order to baptize the land with Blood. When Jacob came back from Laban, God gave him the promises and the first thing he did was build an altar and sprinkle the Blood. How did the children of Israel get out of Egypt? They applied the Blood. Only through the Blood can we be free from the slavery of Satan.

After Moses sprinkled Blood on the millions of children of Israel in the desert, God gave him the design of the tabernacle so that God could come live in their midst. The Blood brings God into our temple!

The first thing John the Baptist said about Jesus is Behold the Lamb of God, slain from the foundations of the earth. Every divine shedding of Blood between the foundations of the earth and the death of Jesus, pointed to the power of His Blood and what it would do for every person who receives Jesus as Lord.

There is a place we come to as Christians where every pollution of sin is removed from our lives. The Blood cleanses us. Cleansing is deeper than Pardon. The Blood forgives us and cleanses us. When we are cleansed we are sanctified; we become holy. That is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is a deep work.

Once we are completely sanctified, Satan loses his grip on our lives as he has nothing to hold onto. When we re sanctified we are one with The Holy One. When we are hanging on the cross, when we have died to self, we enter an arena where we have absolute authority over Satan.

When Jesus spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His Blood, He spoke about absolute union with Him which comes with Sanctification. We have lost ourselves and now our identity is only in Christ. Paul refers to this.

Phil 3:10-12 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Lay hold can be translated capture . Paul wants to capture Him as He has captured Paul. The resurrection he is talking about is from the death of self. This can only be done by the Spirit. There is nothing that we can do to live this Christian life and to receive the promises of God without the Holy Spirit. Capture Him!

April Exhortation

There is a place in the Spirit where we can live if we want to as God wants to meet us there. All the distractions and demands make this world a difficult place to live in the Spirit. But it s available.

#1 Get Face to Face with God

What He wants is an intense relationship with us. Prayer lists, praying by rote, repeating prayers over and over is offensive to God as He reaches out to embrace us, not for monotony, but for vitality. So He waits on us — to wait on Him.

The biggest battle is the waiting. The flesh wants to be busy but wait means wait. We try to fill the time with busy work. God says wait. We don t have to attract His attention; He sees us there. The Holy Spirit will manifest, then we can let Him lead the way and we won t waste our energy by praying our pathetic little prayers.

Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

The word watchful doesn t mean to use our eyes. Always doesn t mean 24/7. These words indicate an intensity. Reaching out to God with hunger from the depths. Beyond flesh.

#2 Allow Hunger for Him to Erupt in Your Soul

People that beg are in the flesh. Begging is not a Scriptural principle. A life open to the Spirit will be filled. We make our lives available to Him and seek Him with all our heart. He, then, breathes this hunger and thirst into us. A groaning that cannot be uttered is the intense hunger that we cannot produce on our own.

There are all kinds of prayers mentioned in the Bible and yes, there are prayer ABCs to learn, but that takes place in the Spirit. All the teachings about prayer are good, but they must be within the context of praying in the Spirit.

When our prayers fall flat, when they re dry, when nothing happens, quit. Praying in the Spirit is not hardship. Quit trying. Then wait. Persistent flesh prayer insults God. When we enter the Spirit, we have everything we want.

#3 Surrender Completely to the Lord

Praying in the flesh tires us out. Praying in the Spirit revitalizes us. Like Jacob, we are too dependent on the flesh. Jacob wrestled all night in the flesh but God is not looking for wrestlers. The Lord kept telling him to let go, and Jacob wouldn t. Finally the Lord touched his thigh so that he couldn t wrestle anymore. From that point on Jacob had to lean.

God changed his name from Jacob to Israel when he stopped wrestling and started leaning. When he leaned on the Lord he was no longer in the flesh, he was being carried by the Holy Spirit. At this point the Lord effectively said, now you are no longer a deceiver, you are no longer a liar, now you are a prince of God.

Praying in the flesh uses our own strength. The minute we quit praying in the flesh, we lean on God. God is looking for a person who knows how to lean on Him. The Bible does not teach independence. It teaches dependence. Total reliance, surrender to the Lord.

When we come to that place where the Holy Spirit manifests, we surrender. From that point heavenly things become a reality. Heavenly things become tangible, substance, powerful because the Spirit of Life is there. None of it is us. Now we say AMEN. The next morning the whole process begins all over again because the flesh cannot handle staying in the Spirit too long.

Very few men in the Bible lived in the Spirit 24 hours a day, but those few did not know sickness for one second. Why was Moses at the age of 120 as strong as when he was young? John, as an old man, was boiled in hot oil and it didn t burn him. Jesus lived in the Spirit and never experienced sickness. Paul, Elijah, Elisha lived in the Spirit.

That shows us it is possible to live 24/7 in the Spirit. God has that place for us if we want it. We can go to sleep with the Glory of God surrounding us and wake up with the Glory of God still there. We can see angels watching us and talking about us. We can know the will of God without having to ask.

That s what living continuously in the Spirit is like. But we might have to quit living in this carnal world to maintain that life, maybe move to a mountain to be secluded with Him. Most of us have seasons of living like this, but not a continuous life. It s in such seasons that revelations are imparted. We learn new things.

When we live in that spiritual realm, the body does not hunger for natural food. It is absolute heaven on earth. How did the Israelites live for 40 years eating only manna when the flesh craves variety? The Presence of God sustained them because He is the manna.

When the spiritual body is satisfied, the natural body is affected. In fact, some people actually glow. A light emanates from their bodies. Stephen s face shone like an angel. Why? He was living in the Spirit. It affects the appetite. It affects sleeping patterns. It affects the way we look. It affects health in a glorious way.

This is the realm in which God is calling us to live. In the Spirit it is impossible to hear the voice of satan. Jesus said His sheep will hear His voice, not the voice of a stranger. When the Holy Spirit is manifesting there is a spiritual reality that takes hold of the place where we are, not just our bodies. Everything in the room or the house becomes heavenly and victorious. It s like a piece of heaven on earth. Satan cannot penetrate that realm.

When we enter that place of being in the Spirit, it flushes out every worldly thought and every physical discomfort. We go from earth to heaven in a second! Time has no meaning. Five hours can pass and it seems like two minutes. But when we come out of that realm the darkness hits us like a two by four.

That realm of darkness is where we live in the flesh. It s impossible to pray in that darkness. That s why we must wait on the Lord to appear and change our atmosphere from darkness to light and then we can pray in the Spirit and what we pray will be the will of God.

In the Presence of Jesus what we thought we needed, we have. That Scripture: before they call I ll answer becomes real. Suddenly all the things we thought we wanted and needed don t mean a whole lot. He wants us to become vessels to obtain what He wants to give us and what He wants to give is beyond what we can ask or think.

Being in the Spirit is so easy a child can do it. What will erupt in our lives from being there will absolutely amaze us! Our desire should be to live in the Spirit every day of our lives.

We find this place called in the Spirit in the Old Testament. Evidently the Jews knew it, even though they did not have what we call The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues. So what we re talking about is not an exclusive place only achieved by praying in tongues. It s available to every Christian who trusts in and receives Jesus as Lord.

Please read Job 28 in its entirety. This chapter explains this place in the Spirit. Demons have never been there. Satan will not dare to come near. In the Spirit God literally removes obstacles. The rivers of the Holy Spirit wash us as God binds satanic floods. In the Spirit God reveals things to our hearts.

God s wisdom is found in the Spirit. You cannot buy wisdom with gold and silver. Only God knows that place and only God can take us there.

Please read Psalm 91 in its entirety. In the secret place we find the promises of God. What is the secret place? Where do the promises exist? – In the Spirit. It is here that the Word of God takes effect. It is under His wings that his truth becomes our shield.

In the Spirit fear disappears. Did the dangers disappear? No, they re still in the world, but they won t touch us when we live in the Spirit, that atmosphere of heaven. Angels show up when we are in the Spirit.

We crush the enemy in the Spirit. Stamping our feet and telling the devil we re crushing him, does nothing. We do it in the Spirit. In the Spirit we love God. We cannot truly love Him outside that realm. Use the name of Jesus inside that realm. The name of Jesus in the flesh does nothing. Answers to prayer come only in that realm. Long life is promised to those who are in the Spirit.

Saints of God, He invites us with all His heart to live with Him in that place called In The Spirit. Start by praying in the Spirit. Then learn to wait on Him to manifest day by day, then hour by hour, then minute by minute. Yes, we can do this in the grocery store, pumping gas, at work, at home, at play. The realm of the Spirit is always available. He s waiting.

Praying in the Spirit is one of the foundations of the Christian life, but I’m not talking about praying in tongues.  I’m talking about all prayer.

Ephesians 6:18  “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

Did you notice the word ‘all’.  It means every time we pray our prayer must be in the Spirit.  Anything outside of that is praying in the flesh.  The word prayer is used 25 times in the Gospels in connection with how the Lord lived His life.  Jesus prayed often!  When Jesus said ‘Follow Me’ He meant ‘mimic Me’.  His is a life of prayer even now. 

Hebrews 7:25  “He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Romans 8:34  “…It is Christ…who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

If Jesus is praying right now, then it is impossible for us to have fellowship with Him without us praying.  We cannot follow Jesus unless we, personally, pray in the Spirit.  So if all prayer is to be ‘in the Spirit’, how do we do that?

          Acts 12:5 “…constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”

This Scripture gives us the key to this life of praying in the Spirit.  Look closely at the two words ‘to God’.  The prayer that has power is ‘to God’.  

You might say, well that’s too simple.  Yes, it is simple, but we’ve been blinded by it as well because ‘to God’ means ‘face to face’.  We must be there with God when we pray.  We must be in His Presence.

This is the powerful key to praying “in the Spirit”.  We must see Him to be able to talk to Him.   In face to face conversation, there is communion.    The first key to praying ‘in the Spirit’ is to wait on the Lord.  We have been taught just to start praying and somewhere along the line the Holy Spirit will join us.  However, when we just launch into prayer, all we are doing is speaking empty words.  The truth is – we don’t say one word until the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts.  We need to learn to come into the Presence of the Lord and say nothing. 

We’re uncomfortable with silence.  We want to talk right away and get everybody to say ‘amen’ and then we feel we’ve done our job.  But we accomplish nothing that way.  Prayer is not just pouring out our hearts.  We can do that with a psychologist or even with a dog.  That brings relief, but no answer.  We want answers when we pray.  We want something to change.  Therefore, we have to wait on the Lord.

#1 Say Nothing.

Wait until the Holy Spirit moves and that’s when we know to begin.  We know when He manifests.  He doesn’t sneak up on us.  It’s quite evident when He shows up.  We are to wait until He expresses Himself, even if the waiting drives us mad.  How long do we wait?  As long as it takes.  If we pray before He shows up, we’re wasting our breath and we’re wasting our time.

That’s the problem with most prayers.  People are not willing to wait for the Lord.  To help ourselves wait we can read the Bible, play a worship tape, or just sit there.  There comes a moment when the heart begins to soften, when the Spirit of God begins to blow, an amazing blanket of love falls, tears spring forth.  Then, and only then, can we present our petition.

1 Thess 5:17 “…pray without ceasing”. 

That doesn’t mean 24/7.  That means with praying with such high intention that our prayer is presented until it is answered.  Like a hungry baby reaching out for food, he or she cannot be distracted, this is how we must be with our petitions.  We reach out to Him until we have our answer. 

#2  Pray High Intention Prayers.

Hebrews 5:7  “Who in the days of His flesh when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”

Praying in the Spirit is done with selective words.  The prayer is intense with feeling, but we are not blabbing away.  We are in agony and ecstasy at the same time.  We cannot make this happen in the flesh.  In the natural we can compare this to being very stressed so we jump in the car, go to the beach, or go to the mountains, and we walk, or wade, or hike, or just lay in the sun, and the stress goes away.  When we pray in the Spirit it is like that.  The peace is glorious.  The light warms us.  The joy makes us laugh from the inside out.  Everything negative disappears.  All we want is to be with the Lord.  Then all of a sudden we know what to say.  It isn’t at all what we thought we would say.  Our words come out precisely chosen and effective!

#3  Speak Only The Words The Holy Spirit Speaks.

Romans 8:26  “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

When we are reaching out to God with intensity, at that moment the Holy Spirit begins to pray.  I believe that working up our own prayers is repulsive to God because He gave us the Holy Spirit so that He can pray.

In the church we have a mentality of ‘going after God’ but that is in our own flesh.   “Going after God” can be anything from people who beat themselves with whips to people who think making a lot of noise and running around impresses God.  It doesn’t.  The only all night prayer meetings that impress God are the ones that happen because we are in fellowship with Him, time simply goes by and its morning before we know it.

It is so much easier to be in the flesh than to be in the Spirit.  We are accustomed to the flesh.  We live in the flesh.  When we come into God’s presence, He wants us to let Him do the work.  We’re not comfortable with that.  In the flesh it is always you and me who do the work.  But in prayer He wants to be the one to carry our prayer life.  The secret to the power of God is surrender.  Let Him lead our prayers. 

1 John 3:22  “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

Can anyone say that everything they have asked for they’ve received?

John was able to say yes or he couldn’t have written that verse.  How can we get every prayer answered?  “…keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight”.  If you want God to do what you ask, then you must do what He asks.

Psalm 145:18, 19  “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”

The flesh doesn’t know the truth.  It only knows what it sees and what it can figure out and the flesh never has all the facts nor does it see everything.  Does God answer our prayers?  No.  Not one.  He only answers the prayers He prays through us.  What we pray is in the flesh.  Only what He prays is in the Spirit.  We have to get to the place where our prayer life dies and His prayer life lives.  He is the Intercessor. 

What we hear in the Church is ‘you’ pray.  But praying in the Spirit means He prays, not us.  All we can do is offer ourselves as a vehicle for the Intercessor.   Only Jesus and the Holy Spirit are called Intercessors in the Bible.  How do we become available for the Intercessor?  Stop praying and let God do the praying.  It’s not us talking to God, its God talking to God through us.   Our job is to surrender and let Him use our bodies through which to pray.  God is not looking for prayer warriors; He’s looking for prayer partners. 

Romans 8:27 “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

1 John 5:14 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.” 

We don’t know how to pray because we don’t know God’s will; only Jesus and the Holy Spirit know His will.  All we are is a mouthpiece.  Our job is to give Him our vessel.  How can we give Him our vessel if we are blabbing away before we allow the Holy Spirit to rise up big within us?  

We are not prayer warriors, nor are we intercessors, we are vehicles for The Prayer Warrior, the Holy Spirit; we are vehicles for The Intercessor, the Holy Spirit. We must pray in the Spirit, saints, if we want the will of God to be manifested in our lives and on this earth.

A certain Pastor’s wife battled fear.  She and her husband tried every spiritual approach but she trembled with fear every day.  In the Workshop the Lord took her to the root.   At birth her eyelids had not separated.  The fear the doctors displayed, not knowing what to do, entered her little soul and stayed.  In the Prayer Process she saw the doctor take a razor blade and cut along the lines he hoped would be the separation of her eyelids.  He feared cutting her eyes.  The Lord showed her He had been in charge and He had directed the doctor’s slice.  Her eyes have always been perfect, as have her eyelids and eyelashes.  Since there was nothing to fear Jesus yanked Fear out and replaced it with Faith in Him.  That lovely lady no longer trembles!

A certain man’s marriage underwent transformation in another workshop.  When he unearthed the lie he had believed about nobody liking him, and having the Lord replace that with the truth that Jesus thinks he is the most awesome being He ever created (He thinks that about all of us, the man started seeing his wife’s acts of love.  She hadn’t changed, just his point of view.  Now their marriage is a thing of bliss and not an armed camp.

I am overwhelmed that my workshop helps people so profoundly, and it makes me very happy to be able to offer the audio book so that everyone can do it at home!  There are 4 CDs and the final CD leads the listener through the Prayer Process.  Please order an audio book today:

Buried Lies Companion Workbook, Tate Out Loud

Tate Publishing

127 East Trade Ctr Terr

Mustang, OK 73064

Or tatepublishing.com

Or 1-888-361-9473

I hear all kinds of amazing stories because I interview people for the
radio. For instance, a certain man, a Muslim, came in contact with an
American lady through his work. As they talked he suddenly saw the clarity
of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and instead of Jesus being simply a prophet
in his religion, He became this man’s Savior. When he told his family he
had given his heart to Jesus and now belonged to Him, they were horrified.

At a family meeting they assigned the job of killing this man to his
brother. The brother came but could not bring himself to kill his cherished
little brother, so he broke his arm instead. When the older brother then
went to the mosque to pray, according to Muslim custom, every time he bowed
his head to the ground he saw a vision of Jesus, the Son of God his little
brother served. Five times a day he went to the mosque and five times a day
he saw Jesus whenever he bowed his head to the ground. He thought he would
go mad!

After three months of this torture, being unable to get Jesus out of his
mind, he went to his little brother in tears. “Who is this man, Jesus?”
“He is the King of Kings yet He talks to you when you pray. He comforts you
and gives you guidance. He wants to be your best friend. Jesus is alive.
He is the Son of God who died for our sins and came back from the dead to
lead us to heaven. He loves us and is closer than a brother.” They prayed
and the older brother asked Jesus to also be his Lord. Now the whole family
is saved, serving Jesus and on their way to heaven. (This story is true; it
actually happened just like this. God, Himself is reaching the Muslims!)

Rev 22:15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.

A good place to start is at the back of the Bible because we can readily see that we win! But the verse above has a hideous warning! It’s talking about Christians, people who have received Christ but haven’t given up the world. When the Bible refers to “dogs” it’s talking about male prostitutes and we all know they are in the Church today. Then there are sorcerers. Sometimes the prayers of Christians smack of white magic! The sexually immoral; how many Christians do you know who are sleeping around or living with someone outside of marriage, and those are just the obvious immoral.

Then there are murderers in the church, maybe just murderers in the mind, a mental murderer so to speak. Idolaters, too. How easy it is to put more importance on something or someone in our every day lives than on God. Let’s face it, there’s a lot to clean up in the Body of Christ.

But the one I want to focus on is “whoever loves and practices a lie”. They are put outside the holy city! The lies we harbor in the depths of our beings are like old friends. We lick the wounds and continue to think the thoughts spawned by these lies, even though we don’t consciously know they are there.

In every day life the only way we can recognize the lies is when we are confronted by the truth. Then when we say, “Well, I wish that were true; however, it isn’t like that for me,” we can see we prefer the lie. But we usually don’t admit that.

Let’s take the sweet little 23rd Psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Do you want? Is there lack in your life? Or have you resolved to live by the truth that God supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, and therefore you have no lack? There can only be one truth. Where does the idea of lack come from? From the lies buried inside you by Satan, the father of lies, that you don’t have enough.

Some people relish the lie that the world is unfair, somebody else is getting their portion, they’ve been cheated, and they love and practice that lie. Can you think of any lies you love and practice in your life? Obviously, God doesn’t want His children to be outside His holy city by loving and practicing lies. Ask for His help in digging out the lies that have been directing your life and replacing them with His Truth! It’s only the Truth that sets us free!