Spiritual Warfare

The difference between deliverance and spiritual warfare is that deliverance is dealing with demonic bondages, and getting a person set free, whereas spiritual warfare is resisting, overcoming and defeating the enemy's lies (in the form of deception, temptations and accusations) that he sends our way. Deliverance involves the breaking up of legal grounds, the tearing down of strongholds (offensive spiritual warfare), and the casting out of demons. Spiritual warfare on the other hand, is dealing with three key things the enemy sends at us: temptations, deception and accusations.

This teaching will give you an idea of how spiritual warfare works. There are other teachings on this site that will go into more detail on certain areas of spiritual warfare.

Offensive vs. defensive warfare

Spiritual warfare comes in two ways: offensive and defensive. Offensive warfare is tearing down the strongholds the enemy has formed in your mind through deception and accusations, and defensive warfare is guarding yourself against the tactics or schemes of the devil.

The enemy's three primary weapons

There are three things that we can expect from the devil. The Bible tells us that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against demonic forces. Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The three primary things we struggle against include:

#1 Deception: To deceive somebody means to make another person believe a lie or something that is not true. When the enemy sends deception your way, it is an attempt to deceive you into believing something that is not true, so you will fall into error. Strongholds are built through deception. A stronghold is formed when deception takes hold in a person's mind. A stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern that stems from believing something that is not true.

From the very beginning, Satan deceived Eve into believing that God's Word was not true. In Genesis 3:4, the devil told her that she will not surely die as God said she would in Genesis 2:17.

#2 Temptation: Temptation often follows deception. First the enemy tells us, "You won't surely die!", then he makes the fruit on the forbidden tree look good to us. Since Eve accepted Satan's deception (his lie), now the tree that she was not supposed to touch looked good to her. She was tempted (enticed) to sin, because she allowed herself to first be deceived. Temptation is when we are enticed or encouraged to sin in one way or another.

In Matthew 4, Jesus was led out in the desert to be tempted by the devil. The devil tried to convince Jesus that it would be harmless to jump off a building. Often people will be so drawn to sex with their boyfriend/girlfriend when the enemy tries to convince them that it is all harmless and fun, when it's not harmless at all, but an open door to the devil. Jesus saw through Satan's deception, and resisted the temptation by speaking God's Word. King David said in Psalms 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

When the enemy tempts you, he's showing you the worm... but behind that worm is a hook. The Word of God helps you see the hook behind the worm.

#3 Accusations: The devil is known as the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10). He is known to take a believer who has done an embarrassing or gross sin in their past, and continue to rub it in their faces and beat them down with guilt and condemnation over their past.

Dealing with deception

We have two weapons to deal with deceptions: the belt of truth (Ephesians 6:14) and the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) which is the Word of God. Both are truth, which is found in God's Word, so why are they given two different names (a sword and a belt)? Because one is meant to be defensive (the belt), while the other is meant to be offensive (the sword). This means that the Word of God is both an offensive and a defensive weapon. A belt is something you wear to guard against an attack, while a sword is used to slaughter the enemy.

You use the belt of truth (God's Word) to guard against the enemy's deception (lies) he sends your way, while you use the sword of the Spirit (also God's Word) to tear down existing strongholds (deception that took hold) in your mind.

In Romans 12:2, we are told to "be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." How do we renew our minds? By getting in God's Word! In Ephesians 5:26, this process is referred to as washing of water by the Word: "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."

Dealing with temptation

In James 4:7, we are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us. But it's not that simple; in the same verse, we are also told to draw near to God. Dealing with temptation is a two fold process of resisting the devil and drawing near to God. The closer you get to God and the more you become aware of His love, the less power temptation will have over you.

James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (The context of those verse is clearly speaking of temptation).

In the teaching Forgiven Sinner or Saint?, it shows you how the power of sin (temptation) can be broken in our lives.

Dealing with accusations

The fiery darts of the enemy in Ephesians 6:16 are accusations sent our way. For example, when the devil tries to accuse us of our past sins, we are to have faith in the work of the cross and know that they are forgiven and not to look back. Faith is what we use to put out the fiery darts of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16). We are not to meditate about our pasts, because they have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17), and our sins have been forgotten (Hebrews 10:17).

Ephesians 6:14, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth (knowing your sins have been forgiven through your faith in the work on the cross), and having on the breastplate of righteousness (not our righteousness obviously, but the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus);"

Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), but because of the work of the cross, we can receive the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22, Galatians 3:6). Therefore when the enemy tries to remind you of your past, tell him it's been washed away (2 Corinthians 5:17), your sins have been forgotten (Hebrews 10:17) and you have the righteousness of God (Romans 3:22)!

There are other teachings on this site that will specifically help you wage war against the enemy's accusations. They include Condemnation versus Conviction, The Power of Your Thoughts and Dealing with Guilt.

The tearing down of strongholds

A stronghold is deception that's taken hold in a person's mind. It's an incorrect thinking pattern based on a believed lie. People can get incorrect perceptions of God by listening to Satan as he tells them how God doesn't love them, etc. People can feel like dirty old sinners when they believe Satan's accusations as he continually reminds them of their past (which has been washed away!). Strongholds are based on lies from the devil. They can come in the form of deception or accusations. Accusations always lead to guilt and the feeling of unworthiness, which weighs you down and tears you apart spiritually.

Since strongholds are built upon lies that we have been fed, the way we tear down strongholds is by feeding on the truth (in God's Word), which is the opposite of what the enemy has been feeding us. If the enemy has been feeding us a lie, we need to stop eating the lie and start feeding ourselves the truth. The weapon we use to tear down strongholds is found in Ephesians 6:17, "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." A sword is an offensive weapon and is meant to tear down and kill the enemy's troops. Strongholds are the devil's assets in war, and he uses them against us. Take up the sword of the Spirit (God's Word) today, and start slaughtering the enemy's assets that he's been using against you!

Enabling God

Isaiah 45:11 - Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands."

Ask most fathers or mothers about their children and they will gladly tell you their hopes and dreams. God is no different. He is committed to our success through the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord proclaimed those eternal words from the cross, "It is finished," nothing more could ever be done concerning our salvation. The riches of Christ's redemption, as told by Paul the Apostle, are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3). However, this treasure chest of divine richness is worthless to us unless we appropriate it by faith. That is why God wants us to come to Him, beseeching Him for those things which will allow His church on earth to be overcomers. By doing so, we enable God to shower down those things that allow the body of Christ to prosper in the earth. To do otherwise is to disable God's goodness, kindness, and mercy to be poured out in its full measure.

The church's greatest disability in these end times is a lack of faith and desire to see God's glory revealed. As Hebrews 11:6 states, it is impossible to please God without faith. His great pleasure, to build up His Son's church on earth, is what He yearns and desires to demonstrate through us. For when we allow Him, we permit God to move and to act as He desires on our behalf. The lie of the devil and his minions is that the church is unworthy to do so. Even now, the church in America is coming to a place of much needed repentance in regard to our excesses. We know we are fat from the world and its sinful delicacies, yet so many of us are bound to these from years of practice. However, God is telling us continually, "Come to me and I will give you rest," (Matthew 11:28). The enemy would lie to us and say that if we do not obtain rest right away, then God's promise is a lie. However, when we have created a stronghold as colossal as the Titanic, it often takes time to change direction. The important thing is to keep turning toward God. Then, we allow our faith to commit God to the work of His hands in completing the church of Jesus Christ upon this earth.

Deliverance from a besetting sin may take a season of continual coming to Christ to realize the victory. However, just as often, particular epiphanies or revelations can redirect our church or our individual lives in an instant. These moments of clarity often enable us to turn from a deception quickly and to set our course straight for God. Clear vision of this sort comes through the spirit of wisdom and revelation in which Paul speaks of in his letters to the churches (Ephesians 1:17-19). The apostle understood the importance of invoking God's wisdom and insight both individually and collectively. In so doing, God then allows faith to grow in the hearts of believers, enabling Him to move on their behalf. If we do not seek God and His wisdom, we severely limit the Lord to move in demonstrative ways. However, when we allow Him to function according to His nature of love and mercy through our prayers, then we move closer to time's conclusion and the embrace of Jesus Christ and His bride.

The greatest tool or weapon of Satan is to make us believe our unbelief. If he can make the church of God see themselves as "content" with their powerless existence, then he has won the day. We should never succumb to this lie that we will not or cannot attain to righteousness and holiness while we live in mortal flesh. In doing so, we create in our God a disability of gigantic proportion. We must never allow the enemy tell us that God is ashamed of us for failing in this or that. As long as we are continually coming to Christ, then we are His to brag about. It is our commission, as the church, to seek out God's wisdom regarding His purposes. When we do so we commit Him to the work He longs and desires to complete in us.

Heavenly Father, we acknowledge the finished work of Jesus Christ. We understand how He has given us all things to live godly. Now, we come to You in faith to acquire Your great purpose for His church. We enable You, Lord, by our faith to have Your way with Your bride upon planet earth. Move with full enablement to do as You desire. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

You are God's Masterpiece

You are God’s own masterpiece. That means, you are not ordinary or average; you are one-of-a-kind original! When God created you, He went to great length to make you exactly the way He wanted you. You’re not meant to be like everyone else; God designed you the way you are for a purpose. Everything about you is unique and everything about you matters. You may feel like your life looks ordinary today, but when you understand your value-not only who you are, but also, whose you are-then you will love yourself more, and you will also love those people around you in a greater way. Realize that because you belong to Him, you are extremely valuable.

So many people today are living with priceless treasure inside, and they don’t even know it. Sometimes we have to explore what’s on the inside of us to really understand what we have. Don’t settle for living a mediocre existence. You are a masterpiece, created by the most famous Artist of all, but if you don’t understand your value, you’ll go on thinking, I’m just average; I’m not that talented; I’ve made so many mistakes. Don’t allow those negative thoughts to play in your memory box. Instead, every morning when you get out of bed, remind yourself, I am important. I am handpicked by God, and I am a person of extreme value and significance.

Remember, You are God’s special treasure, selected by Him and for Him. You are created in the image of Almighty God. He made you exactly the way He intended, and He equipped you with everything you need. You have the strength to stand strong in the midst of difficult situations, and the wisdom it takes to make good decisions. Understanding exactly whose you are, and how you fit-in God’s plan, creates such purpose, confidence and such identity. You are a person of destiny. You have an assignment and you are full of gifts, talents, encouragement and love. You have rich treasure inside you that people need. You have more in you that you realize, and you can accomplish more than you ever though possible. Dare to be bold and believe that you are a person of destiny because you can leave your mark on this generation. Understand you are important, and out of your importance, know that you are called to add value to the world around you. No matter where you are in life today, you have potential to increase, grow, to be strengthened, and to move forward. God created you for His good purpose, and know that beyond the shadow of a doubt, you are His masterpiece!

How to Forgive Yourself

Forgiving yourself can be much harder than forgiving someone else. When you're carrying around a sense of blame for something that has happened in the past, this bundle of negativity burrowing deep into yourself can cause a never-ending, pervasive sense of unhappiness. Forgiving yourself is an important act of moving forward and releasing yourself from the past. It's also a way of protecting your health and general well-being. Here are some suggestions on how to forgive yourself.

Practice self-acceptance. You don't need forgiveness for being you. 

Forgiving yourself is about targeting the specific things that you feel bad about, not about the person you are. As a forgiveness technique, self-acceptance allows you to acknowledge that you're a good person, faults and all. It doesn't mean that you ignore the faults or stop trying to improve yourself but it does mean that you value yourself above those elements and cease to allow your faults to halt your progression in life.

Love yourself and give yourself permission to heal.
Laugh more; it'll give you more freedom to stop taking it all so seriously.

2Understand the importance of forgiveness. Living in a state of being unable to forgive requires a lot of energy. You are constantly chewed up by fear of your vulnerability, burning with anger with the source of pain, and living with the constancy ofsadness, hurt, and blame. This energy deserves to be put to better use, so that your creativity and abilities are fed, not your negativity. Forgiveness also allows you to live in the present instead of the past, which means that you can move into the future with a renewed sense of purpose focused on change, improvement, and building on experience rather than being held back by past hurts.

Some people are afraid to forgive themselves because they fear losing their sense of self that has been built on the back of anger, resentment, and vulnerability. In this case, ask yourself if that angry, easily hurt and reactive person is the identity you're keen to show the world and live with. Is the security of this mode of thinking worth the effort and harm it is causing you? It's better to have a small time of insecurity as you find your way again than to continue a lifetime bogged down in anger.

See forgiveness in a positive light. If you're bothered that forgiving suggests that you shouldn't experience strong feelings such as resentment and anger, try viewing it as the chance to feel strong positive feelings, such as joy, generosity, and faith in yourself. Switching it to thinking about what you'll gain rather than what you'll lose has the benefit of keeping you positive while minimizing the negative emotions.

3Take into account the challenges raised by not forgiving yourself. Not only do you allow yourself to remain stuck in the past, but not forgiving yourself takes a huge toll on your emotional and physical health. Inability to forgive is sourced from anger and resentment, two emotions that can wreak havoc with your health. Numerous studies have shown that people stuck in constant anger are more prone to disease and illness than people who can learn to forgive both themselves and others.[2]

Always remember that forgiving doesn't equate with forgetting. You're entitled to learn by experience and be guided by that experience. It's about leaving aside the resentment and self-inflicted berating that comes with remembering.

4Accept your emotions. Part of the struggle is often being unable to accept that you are experiencing such emotions as anger, fear, resentment, and vulnerability. Instead of trying to avoid facing these negative emotions, accept them as part of what is fueling your lack of self-forgiveness. A problem named is a problem ready to be tackled.

5Reflect on why you're trying to hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else around you. Perfectionism can cause you to hold too high a standard for your own behavior, a standard that you wouldn't hold anyone else to. And if your perfectionism causes you to be too hard on yourself, you are caught in a situation where self-forgiveness is very hard to do because it seems like acceptance of a sub-standard you. Remove yourself from this vicious cycle of thinking by doing what Martha Beck called "welcoming imperfection". Beck claimed that "welcoming imperfection is the way to accomplish what perfectionism promises but never delivers." It allows you to accept that all human beings are imperfect, and you are human, and imperfect too.

If you are really struggling with perfectionism, consider counseling or therapy work to reduce its impact in your life. Read How to control perfectionism for more tips.

6Let go of other people's expectations for you. If you're stuck in a spiral of self-hate and never feeling good enough because of things that were once said to you, self-forgiveness is essential. You have no control over what other people do and say, and many things are said and done unconsciously, often motivated by the other person's own shortcomings.[3]Living your life in self-loathing because you don't feel you lived up to someone else's expectations is based on making too much of another person's mixed-up feelings. Forgive yourself for trying to live a life according to other's expectations and start making the changes needed to follow your own purpose instead.

For every person who has been hard on you, remember that someone was hard on them. Break the chain of harshness by being kind to yourself, not trying to live up to someone else's expectations for you.

Whenever someone criticizes you unfairly, realize that they have just made it that much harder for themselves if they make a mistake or fail to fulfill their own perfectionist ideas. Take this moment to remember where you've come from and why you no longer want to live that way.

7Stop punishing yourself. There is a frequent misunderstanding that forgiveness equates to forgetting or condoning. This misunderstanding can lead a person to feel that it is not right to forgive oneself because in the process of doing so, it's akin to an act of forgetting or condoning the past wrong. If this is the factor preventing you from forgiving yourself, keep in mind that forgiveness is a process ofmindfulness in which you continue to remember what happened and you do not condone something that was "wrong" as suddenly "right".[4]

It's perfectly fine to say: "I am not proud of what I've done (or how I've devalued myself) but I'm moving on for the sake of my health, my well-being, and those around me." Affirming this is healthy and allows you to break the cycle of self-harm you've fallen into because you openly acknowledge what was wrong and the intention to set it right from now on.

8Think about what will improve in your life if you can release yourself and how to bring this into fruition. As part of forgiving yourself, it's usually not enough to simply resolve to forgive yourself. Doing things to confirm the forgiveness process will help you to realize your self-forgiveness and to give you a new sense of purpose. Some of the things you might like to consider doing include:

Taking up meditation. Meditation is an ideal way to find inner quiet, spiritual, self-realization, and physical relaxation. It will allow you to take time out, to tune into and appreciate the moment, and to get in touch with your inner self. Done regularly, meditation will improve your well-being and sense of self.

Affirm your self-worth. Remind yourself regularly that you are a valued and beautiful person and say simply: "I forgive myself" or "I will no longer let anger eat away at me", whenever the negative thoughts reappear.

Keep a diary. Write down your journey to forgiveness. Having the writing space to share your thoughts and feelings with, one that nobody else will ever read, is a liberating and self-enlightening way to breaking through negative approaches to your life.

Seek therapy. If you've tried hard to get over anger, resentment, and other fearful, out-of-control emotions but you're still struggling, connect with a therapist who can help guide you through to a better state of being. If therapy's not your thing, at least find a friend or more to talk to, and who will help to affirm your worth.

If you have a faith, draw strength from its teachings to support you.

9See forgiveness as a journey, not a destination. If you're liable to thinking that you're unable to "get to" self-forgiveness, you may be sabotaging your chances of even starting the forgiveness journey. It helps to accept that forgiveness is an ongoing process and that you'll have your up days and your down days, as with most feelings and experiences in life. You may feel that you've reached a point of forgiveness, only to have something happen that causes you to feel it was all a wasted effort and that you're back to square one, angry and annoyed with yourself. The best approach is to let the slip-ups happen and see them as minor setbacks in an otherwise more forgiving self. In addition, realize that forgiveness has no timetable; instead, you can do your very best to prepare yourself for the process and to get it started:[5]

Self-forgive in gradual stages. Start with valuing yourself and making a resolution to stop letting the past continue to haunt the present and direct the person you are now.

Learn from what you've done in the past but value your whole self (see step above on practicing self-acceptance).
Enjoy positive experiences consciously and don't seek to downgrade them.

Be grateful for what you do have – great relationships, a home, a family, an education, abilities, interests, hobbies, pets, health, etc. Look for the good in your life.

Be self-compassionate. Shift your thoughts to more fulfilling, value-focused things when negative reproaches arise.
Apologize if others have been involved and you have not already done so, or you have not done so genuinely. Only do this when you have changed your negative outlook and if doing so will not harm that person.


How to forgive and love yourself.

Forgiving yourself and others does not mean that the past is forgotten. It means to forgive, however, the memory does remain. This is the same as the cycle of grief.

Whenever you feel guilt, follow the words of Les Brown, "Forgive yourself for your faults and mistakes and move on." This will help you whenever you make a mistake.

Think about how you have forgiven others in the past. Take the lessons from these experiences and apply them to your own situation; the reassuring aspect of this is that you know you have the ability to forgive, you just need to point that forgiveness in the right direction.

Life goes on so forgive and forget.

The more stress you hold inside of you, the more damage you do to yourself. Stress can sometimes lead you to releasing your anger out and harm yourself and others around you, but if you forgive yourself the anger will be gone and the bad stuff will be gone. The result is that you are more concentrated and better about the positive instead of the negative.

Your mistakes do not define you. Trust that you are a great person. Think about all the horrendous mistakes normal/good people have done and learned from. Your mistakes aren't even as bad!

Get a stress toy. When you start to feel guilty, play with your toy.

The person we are is the result of both good and bad things happening to us in life, as well as the good and bad things we have done. The manner in which we respond to negative events is as important as the way in which we respond to happy events. A person who is inclined to ruminate and make large of a negative event will be more prone to living in anger and resentment and expect future negativity than a person who sees bad things as isolated incidents that don't impinge on who they are as a whole.[6]

 Stay away from people who have a tendency to sabotage efforts at self-improvement. Most of the time these people are focused on salvaging their own insecurities and are threatened by seeing someone else making the effort to overcome negative pressure in their life. Accept that forgiving yourself will sometimes lose certain relationships where your negativity was a source of the other person wielding power over you. Ask yourself if you'd rather continue the unhappy relationship or move on as a whole, and renewed person able to connect with healthier people.

Don't force yourself to hang around people who bring back the past for you in a negative way; people who push your buttons, devalue or belittle you, and who are thoughtless about your vulnerabilities are best left behind.

Forgiveness is the hardest quality to shape and yet it is the most essential. In learning about your own ability to forgive both yourself and others, your personal growth will be great, and that's a reward worth the hard work forgiveness requires of you.

Avoid talking about your wrongdoings and how bad a person you are around other people. You will create this reality in their minds too. Get therapy to get this negative thinking out of your head and back into the Pandora's Box it came from.

GOD FEELS YOUR PAIN

For many people on this earth, the God whom they worship is far out in space somewhere, on the other side of the cosmos. He is distant, aloof. He is some kind of cosmic force which creates and sustains the universe, but has no empathy, has no feeling, has no humanity.

The Biblical record is very, very different, and what we learn about God through Christ's Passion is something truly astounding. God comes to the Earth in the form of Jesus. Through pain and sin, God is crucified. He takes upon Himself our sin. The human race, in rejecting Him, causes great pain to God. The image we have then of God upon the Cross is a God who feels your pain. The pain which we have through sin, through disease, God intimately feels. He is connected to us.

He knows our comings and our goings. He knows our hopes. He knows our fears. He knows what we want and what we need. He also knows our pain. He feels it. Jesus was able to weep at the sorrow in Jerusalem. God was able to so unite with the human race that He would come down to the point to experience and feel and unite with our pain. When you hurt, God hurts. I think this is somewhat comprehensible.

When a child gets seriously hurt, a parent feels that pain, almost as though he was the one who was physically hurt. Very often the parent will have the feeling that he/she would gladly voluntarily take that pain upon himself, if only he could remove it from his child. And so often, when there's a serious disease in the family, the greatest suffering comes not so much from the sickness itself, but from the feeling of helplessness. The parent fells that there's nothing he can do to intervene or make things better. He just has to wait.

I think it is clear that God is showing us through the Cross that He, too, feels that. He feels the pain. The suffering and the hatred and the ugliness of this earth causes Him to bleed, causes Him to have nails poked through His hands, causes Him to hang in agony. God is not in the outer stratosphere unknowing, uncaring. God is right here, right now united with you, united with all that you think, and all that you feel. But unlike that human parent, who so often is unfortunately helpless to intervene or help, the infinite power of God is available.

So often we refuse to tap into that power, but that is our problem, not God's. There have been many reports of people who have actually been miraculously healed of strange diseases, of tumors, and of all sorts of things. But, above and beyond this bodily healing, as important as it is, the healing balm of God is available to touch our souls, so that in the midst of pain, we can nevertheless have peace of mind.

I think this is one of the greatest lessons that we can learn and one of the greatest gifts we could have. It is wonderful to lead a life without any pain, without any sorrow, without any suffering. That is truly a blessing. But, there is a greater gift that we can be given. That gift is the ability to have peace of mind and joy in our hearts, throughout any difficulty or pain whatsoever. This is precisely what Jesus means when He says my peace, I give to you--the peace which passes understanding, not like the world gives, but My peace. The peace that the world seeks to give is an external comfort. If we have no problems, if we have no anxieties, then everything is fine and we call that peace.

The peace, which God seeks to give us, is one that allows us to rise above the unpleasantness of our turmoil and trouble. That is the gift that God wants to give us, as He feels our pain. He wants to be able to touch us, to say I know, I understand. This too, is a great pain experienced by many people when they feel that they are the only ones on the Earth. They feel they are alone. No one else understands.

One of the things that victims of child molestation have to go through is the feeling that they are dirty, that they have done something horrible, and that no one will ever be able to forgive them. They feel they are the only ones who have ever gone through this, and that no one could ever understand. Just knowing that there is someone else on the Earth who cares about them, who has gone through the same thing, in and of itself, helps.

So too, with alcoholism, so too, with many things. As soon as we find that we are not alone, that we're not the only person to have done this stupid thing, that we're not the only person to have been victimized in this unspeakable manner, we can be healed, just by the presence of another person.

This is part of the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus. God, hanging upon the Cross, is telling us, you are not alone. I understand. I ,too, have been rejected. I ,too, feel pain. I, too, bleed. I, too, must die. I understand.

But at the same time, my peace, I will give to you--that peace which passes all understanding--because I am no longer dead. I am alive. I am resurrected, and I am strong. I am perfected. My strength and perfection is available to you, right here, right now. Yes, you suffer, but that is only for a little while. I feel your pain, and I can and will help you. Reach out to me. And, in love I will transform your life. 

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Christ Will Not Break the Bruised Reed 7

 Means to Make Grace Victorious

As to directions on how we are to conduct ourselves so that the judgment of Christ in us may indeed be victorious, we must know that, though Christ has undertaken this victory, yet he accomplishes it by training us up to fight his battles. He overcomes in us by making us `wise unto salvation' (2 Tim. 3:15); and, in the measure that we believe Christ will conquer, in that measure we will endeavor by his grace that we may conquer, for faith is an obedient and a wise grace. Christ makes us wise to ponder and weigh things, and to rank and order them accordingly, so that we may make the fitter choice of what is best. Some rules to help us in judging are these:

RULES FOR RIGHT JUDGMENT

We should judge of things as to whether they help or hinder our main purpose; whether they further or hinder our judgment; whether they make us more or less spiritual, and so bring us nearer to the fountain of goodness, God himself; whether they will bring us peace or sorrow at the last; whether they commend us more or less to God, and whether they are the thing in which we shall approve ourselves to him most. We should also judge of things now as we shall do hereafter when the soul shall be best able to judge, as when we are under any public calamity, or at the hour of death, when the soul gathers itself from all other things to itself. We should look back to former experience and see what is most agreeable to it, and what was best in our worst times. If grace is or was best then, it is best now. We should also labour to judge of things as he does who must judge us, and as holy men judge, who are led by the Spirit. More particularly, we should judge according to what those judge that have no interest in any benefit that may come by the thing which is in question; for outward things blind the eyes even of the wise. We see that papists are most corrupt in those things where their honor, ease, or profit is engaged; but in the doctrine of the Trinity, which does not touch on these things, they are sound. But it is not sufficient that judgment is right. It must also be ready and strong.

KEEPING OUR JUDGMENT CLEAR

1. Where Christ establishes his government, he inspires care to keep the judgment clear and fresh, for while the judgment stands straight and firm, the whole frame of the soul continues strong and impregnable. True judgment in us advances Christ, and Christ will advance it. All sin is either from false principles, or ignorance, or thoughtlessness, or unbelief of what is true. By lack of consideration and weakness of assent, Eve lost her hold at first (Gen. 3:6). It is good, therefore, to store up true principles in our hearts, and to refresh them often, that, in virtue of them, our affections and actions may be more vigorous. When judgment is fortified, evil finds no entrance, but good things have a side within us to entertain them. While true convincing light continues, we will not do the least ill of sin for the greatest ill of punishment. `In vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird' (Prov. 1:17). While the soul is kept aloft, there is little danger of snares below. We must lose our high estimation of things before we can be drawn to any sin.

2. And because knowledge and affection mutually help one another, it is good to keep up our affections of love and delight by all sweet inducements and divine encouragements; for what the heart likes best, the mind studies most. Those that can bring their hearts to delight in Christ know most of his ways. Wisdom loves him that loves her. Love is the best entertainer of truth; and when it is not entertained in the love of it (2 Thess. 2:10), lovely as it is, it leaves the heart, and will stay no longer. It has been a successful way of corrupting the judgment, to begin by withdrawing love, because, as we love, so we tend to judge. And therefore it is hard to be affectionate and wise in earthly things. But in heavenly things, where there has been a right informing of the judgment before, the more our affections grow, the better and clearer our judgments will be, because our affections, though strong, can never rise high enough to reach the excellency of the things. We see in the martyrs, when the sweet doctrine of Christ had once gained their hearts, it could not be removed again by all the torments the wit of cruelty could devise. If Christ has once possessed the affections, there is no dispossessing of him again. A fire in the heart overcomes all fires without.

3. Wisdom also teaches us where our weakness lies, and our enemy's strength. By this means a jealous fear is stirred up in us, whereby we are preserved; for out of this godly jealousy we keep those provocations, which are active and working, from that which is passive and catching in us, as we keep fire from powder. Those who wish to hinder the generation of noisome creatures will hinder the conception first, by keeping male and female apart. This jealous care will be much furthered by observing strictly what has helped or hindered a gracious temper in us, and it will make us take heed that we consult not with flesh and blood in ourselves or others. Otherwise, how can we think that Christ will lead us out to victory, when we take counsel with his and our enemies?

4. Christ also makes us careful to use all means by which fresh thoughts and affections may be stirred up and preserved in us. Christ so honours the use of means, and the care he bestows on us, that he ascribes both preservation and victory to our care in keeping ourselves. `He that is begotten of God keepeth himself' (1 John 5:18), though not by himself, but by the Lord, in dependence on him, in the use of means. We are only safe when we wisely make use of all good advantages that we have access to. By going out of God's ways we go out of his government, and so lose our good frame of mind, and find ourselves overspread quickly with a contrary disposition. When we draw near to Christ (James 4:8), in his ordinances, he draws near to us.

5. We must keep grace in exercise. It is not sleepy habits, but grace in exercise, that preserves us. While the soul is in some civil or sacred employment, corruptions within us are much suppressed, and Satan's ways of approach to us stopped. The Spirit then has a way open to enlarge his influence in us, and likewise the protection of angels is then closest to us. This course often prevails more against our spiritual enemies than direct opposition. Christ is in honor bound to maintain those that are in his work.

6. In following all these directions, we must look up to Christ, the quickening Spirit, and make our resolutions in his strength. Though we are exhorted to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart (Acts 11:23), yet we must pray with David, `Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee' (1 Chron. 29:18). Our hearts are of themselves very loose and unsettled. `Unite my heart to fear thy name' (Psa. 86:11), or else, without him, our best purposes will fall to the ground. It is a pleasing request, out of love to God, to beg such a frame of soul from him, that he may take delight in it; and therefore, in the use of all the means, we must send up our desires and complaints to him for strength and help, and then we may be sure that he will `send forth judgment unto victory'.

7. Lastly, it furthers the state of the soul to know what frame it should be in, that so we may order our souls accordingly. We should always be fit for communion with God, and be heavenly minded in earthly business, and be willing to be taken off from it to redeem time for better things. We should be ready at all times to depart hence, and to live in such a condition as we would be content to die in. We should have hearts prepared for every good duty, open to all good opportunities, and shut to all temptations, keeping our watch, and being always ready armed. So far as we come short of these things, so far we have just cause to be humbled, and yet we should press forward, so that we may gain more upon ourselves, and make these things more familiar and lovely to us. And when we find our souls at all declining, it is best to raise them up presently by some awakening meditations, such as of the presence of God, of the strict reckoning we are to make, of the infinite love of God in Christ and the fruits of it, of the excellency of a Christian's calling, of the short and uncertain time of this life, of how little good all those things that steal away our hearts will do us before long, and of how it shall be for ever with us hereafter, as we spend this short time well or ill. The more we make way for such considerations to sink into our hearts, the more we shall rise nearer to that state of soul which we shall enjoy in heaven. When we grow careless of keeping our souls, then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses. Thus David, Solomon and Samson were recovered. This taste of good things is much easier kept than recovered.

REASONS FOR SEEMING LACK OF PROGRESS

Objection: But, notwithstanding my striving, I seem to remain at a standstill.

1. Grace, as the seed in the parable, grows, we know not how. Yet at length, when God sees fittest, we shall see that all our endeavor has not been in vain. The tree falls upon the last stroke, yet all the strokes help the work forward.

2. Sometimes victory is suspended because some Achan is not found out, or because we are not humble enough, as Israel had the worst against the Benjamites till they fasted and prayed (Judg. 20:26); or because we betray our helps, and do not stand on our guard, and do not soon yield to the motions of the Spirit, who puts us in mind always of the best things, if we would regard his prompting. Our own consciences will tell us, if we give them leave to speak, that some sinful favouring of ourselves is the cause. The way in this case to prevail is, first, to get the victory over the pride of our own nature by taking shame to ourselves, in humble confession to God; and then, secondly, to overcome the unbelief of our hearts by yielding to the promise of pardon; and then, thirdly, in confidence of Christ's assistance, to set ourselves against those sins which have prevailed over us. So prevailing over ourselves, we shall easily prevail over all our enemies, and conquer all conditions we shall be brought into.

ALL SHOULD SIDE WITH CHRIST

The second use of the truth that Christ will have the victory is to establish the fact that the best course for nations and states is to `kiss the Son' (Psa. 2:12), and to embrace Christ and his religion; to side with Christ, and to own his cause in the world. His side will prove the stronger side at last. Happy are we if Christ honours us so much as to use our help to fight his battle `against the mighty' (Judg. 5:23). True religion in a state is as the main pillar of a house and the post of a tent that upholds all. So also for families, let Christ be the chief governor of the family. And let every one be as a house of Christ, to dwell familiarly in, and to rule. Where Christ is, all happiness must follow. If Christ goes, all will go. Where Christ's government, in his ordinances and his Spirit, is, there all subordinate government will prosper. Religion inspires life and grace into all other things. All other virtues without it are but as a fair picture without a head. Where Christ's laws are written in the heart, there all other good laws are best obeyed. None despise man's law but those that despise Christ's first. Nemo humanam auctoritatem contemnit, nisi qui divinam prius contempsit (No one despises human authority unless he first despises divine authority). Of all persons, a man guided by Christ is the best; and of all creatures in the world, a man guided merely by will and affection, next to the devil, is the worst. The happiness of weaker things stands in being ruled by stronger. It is best for a blind man to be guided by him that has sight. It is best for sheep, and other feckless creatures, to be guided by man. And it is happiest for man to be guided by Christ, because his government is so victorious that it frees us from the fear and danger of our greatest enemies, and tends to bring us to the greatest happiness that our nature is capable of. This should make us rejoice when Christ reigns in us. When Solomon was crowned, the people rejoiced so that the city rang (1 Kings 1:45). Much more should we rejoice in Christ our king.

And likewise for those whose souls are dear to us, our endeavor should be that Christ may reign in them also, that they may be baptized by Christ with this fire (Matt. 3:11), that these sparks may be kindled in them. Men labour to cherish the spirit and mettle, as they term it, of those they train up, because they think they will have use of it in the manifold affairs and troubles of this life. Oh, but let us cherish the sparks of grace in them; for a natural spirit in great troubles will fail, but these sparks will make them conquerors over the greatest evils.

The third use of the truth of Christ's victory is to observe that if Christ's judgment shall be victorious, then popery, being an opposite frame, set up by the wit of man to maintain stately idleness, must fall. And it is fallen already in the hearts of those on whom the light of Christ has shone. It is a lie, and founded on a lie, on the infallible judgment of a man subject to sin and error. When that which is taken for a principle of truth becomes a principle of error, the more reliance on it, the more danger there is.

Intend and Act from a Place of Love and not Fear

In everything we think and do, there are only two positions that we are intending and acting from. Fear or love. You can have the same intention or action but it can be either fear based or love based. The same intention or action will have two different effects on reality depending on the kind of energy that goes along with it. When you act and intend out of fear, you attract corresponding conditions created by fear. When you act and intend out of love, you attract corresponding conditions created by love.

Thoughts and actions of courage can be fear or love based. Although courage is supposed to be the opposite of fear, yet the perspective of courage can support or negate fear. When you think and act with the mindset of courage that is from a perspective of fear, you are trying to conquer your fears. The intention of becoming stronger than your fears acknowledges the existence of fear. But when you think and act with the mindset of courage that is from a perspective of love, you are transcending your fears. Courage becomes an unspoken concept. You have no fears to conquer, you are just there to act from your heart and to express what’s inside freely.

All intentions and actions that are fear based serve to accumulate power over others. You gain power so that you can defend against what is trying to harm you or to attack and defeat whatever is stopping you from getting what you want. The more power you accumulate, the more you need to keep accumulating. Fear based intention and action creates opposition, competition and enemies. The stronger you become, the stronger the opposition and competition will manifest to test your power.

All intentions and actions that are love based serve to love with power. You already have everything you need from the infinite source and therefore you are here to be a channel of light and love to the world. The more you give, the more you want to keep giving. Love based intention and action creates more love, joy, happiness and abundance in your life. The more you are a blessing to others, the more opportunities will be manifested for you to give and receive blessings in the universe.

Activate your Five Spiritual Senses

The language of the heart is transmitted through our Five Spiritual Senses. Let me unpack that for you a little bit:

The heart is the meeting place with God. If we have placed our faith in Jesus (in His death, burial, and resurrection), then He actually lives in our hearts by His Spirit. 

However, to be led by the Holy Spirit, we have to cultivate an awareness of His presence. We do this by understanding the dynamics of the language of the heart... because, the Spirit of God speaks to our hearts (John 16:13). 

The language of the heart is intuitive (its what we might call “right brained” perception). It resonates and is illuminated with words, music, art, imagination, dance... and the like. It’s a spiritual language that is transmitted through our Five Spiritual Senses.

In the same way that we have five natural senses, the ability to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel, we actually have Five Spiritual Senses… with corresponding spiritual capacities to perceive.

Jesus said that God is seeking after encounters with man (men and women). But He said that, because God is Spirit, we must worship (encounter) Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). And, the Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians, in his letter to the Ephesians... he prayed that they would “know” (encounter) God, through the portal of having the eyes of their hearts enlightened (Eph. 1:18).

Let me illustrate this dynamic of activating our Five Spiritual Senses. Our Five Spiritual Senses are like an invisible doorway that opens to God’s very presence. What we need to do, is simply “turn the knob” and open the door to initiate an encounter with Him. We “turn the knob,” by asking God to illuminate (activate) our Five Spiritual Senses. In faith, we trust that He will do just that. When we “turn the knob,” if you could imagine this in your mind (in your heart)... when we turn the knob, He grabs the same knob on His side of the door, and pulls the door wide open. His Holy Spirit, living inside of us, will illuminate our capacity to perceive (sense) Him... through our Five Spiritual Senses. The result is that we become consciously aware of Him (at all times), and we meet with Him face-to-face, in “the secret place” (Matt. 6:6). 

God is longing to meet with us (John 4:23). He is knocking on the door of our hearts… wanting us to open up the door and have a meal with Him (Rev. 3:20).

In our teaching called Five Smooth Stones, using the story of David and Goliath as a backdrop, we lead you through five specific prayers to activate your Five Spiritual Senses.

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Prayer - The Strongest Offensive and Defensive Posture

In the midst of battle, most combatants would never think of dropping their weapons and folding their hands together. They would not want to kneel onto the ground on their knees, much less lie prostrate face down because it would put them in a position that they could not move quickly offensively or defensively. They also would never want to bow their head to the ground so that they could not see what is happening around them. The posture of prayer - folded hands, bended knees or prostrate, and bowed head - is the weakest defensive and offensive posture that a person can assume if you look at it from military theory. It is in this exact position, however, that the Christian assumes the greatest spiritual posture, offensively and defensively.

As Christians we are in a constant spiritual battle whether we realize it or not. Many times just because we are not at the front lines of the battle, we fail to remember that there is a tremendous war going on. We forget that we have an enemy who seeks to kill, destroy and disable us. We also forget that we are part of the Army of God and, therefore, He is our Commander-In-Chief. We neglect to follow His protocol and procedures laid out in the Scriptures. We fail to get our daily marching orders. Yet the war does not stop and the battles do not end because of our lack of awareness. The war constantly rages around us.


Eyes Closed - Faith Opened

Isn't it amazing that God asks us in the midst of this great war to do the exact opposite of what instinct and military theory dictate? Instinct and military theory would have us remain vigilant and always be aware of our surroundings and circumstances. It would also ensure that we were in a position to have the optimum range of vision. God, however, says that we are not to put our beliefs in what we see but, rather, we are to trust in what He says; therefore, we are not to focus on what we see around us.

The Christian has to follow God's Laws found in the Scriptures. The Bible is our military protocol handbook. It is also our policy and procedures guide. We must follow the Scriptures. They tell us that we must have faith in God. We must not look at the way things are now by using our natural eyes; we must look through our spiritual eyes with faith. This is what is means in the Bible when it says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (1)

Does God really expect us to take our eyes off the battlefield? Yes, He does. He expects us to keep our eyes upon Him and not on our problems, circumstances or battles. The psalmist understood this concept and applied it to his own life. This is why he sang, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (2)

The key during battle is not to worry about what the enemy is doing or how the battle is being waged. It is to keep our eyes upon God and trust Him. It is only through faith in God that we can keep our eyes upon Him during the battle. When we close our eyes in prayer, we acknowledge our faith in God regardless of our surroundings.

God - Our Weapon

The natural position of prayer is with folded hands. One hand clasping the other, not holding onto our weapons. Surely though God does not expect us to drop our weapons during the battle though. Right? Without our weapons, how can we defend ourselves?

We cannot defend ourselves against the enemy though. We are too weak against our strong adversary. It is only through God that we can conquer our enemy. As it says in Psalms 18:17, He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. This is why the Scriptures tell us not to trust in our carnal weapons: For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. (3) As the psalmist stated more succinctly, Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. (4)

We have to understand that we cannot defend ourselves. We cannot defeat the devil with our own weapons. We must depend upon God and His strength. Then we can learn the lesson that life experiences taught David: But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. (5)


Prostrate Before God - Not Your Enemy

A warrior wants to remain on his toes. He wants to be able to move quickly in any direction. He often will remain on his toes by standing upright or by squatting. Both of these positions facilitate movement more so than other postures. If a warrior cannot respond quickly, he may not be successful offensively or defensively.

The hardest thing for a Christian to do is to lie prostrate before God. This requires the most discipline and trust. If you lay down your weapon, it is easy to pick it back up if the need arises. If you close your eyes, you can still remain somewhat alert by listening very closely and you can open your eyes very quickly if you want to do so. It is much harder to rise from a prostrate position though. You cannot react as quickly to things when you are lying prone on the floor. It is harder to grab your weapon. It is harder to see things even if your eyes are open. It is much more difficult - but not impossible. It is the truest form of faith in God.

Are you willing to lie prone on the floor? Will you voluntarily put yourself into a position that allows the least range of motion and also impairs your vision? If so, then you are certain to discover the Truth in Psalms 91:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 

Next time you feel the battle closing in around you, remember that the position of prayer IS the most effective posture offensively and defensively.

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Opening your spiritual senses 2

8. SPIRITUAL TOUCH INWARD

Spiritual touch inward is the complex of sensations of how you feel you are in a spiritual sense. It is a very important sense as the condition of your spirit body is felt by you inside of your physical body, but what is felt is not just the physical condition but especially the spiritual condition.

Sometimes you can feel ill or sick although there is no external reason for it. When you had to deal with people in evil spirit for some time, your own spiritual body becomes sick and this you feel through your spiritual touch directed inward.

9. SPIRITUAL SMELL OUTWARD

Some people smell good and others stink. Probably you have the same experience as i had many times.
Almost always that smell is a result of the spiritual condition of that person. Ugly spiritual beings stink while good people smell nice.

EXERCISE 9. Train your spiritual smell by concentrating on it what you smell when you come in different places. Make yourself aware that when you come into a house, you can smell the spiritual atmosphere there, as you can smell the spirit of a person. Every being and every thing has a spiritual smell.

You also sometimes can smell the presence of spirits. It is a matter of concentration and making effort to develop your spiritual sense of smell.


10. SPIRITUAL SMELL INWARD

The spiritual smell directed inward is again a spiritual organ which is useful to detect certain illnesses or in general to determine the condition of yourself as spirit being.

11. SPIRITUAL AWARENESS OUTWARD

The mind senses expressions of other minds. Like the body can observe other bodies and entities of creation through five senses, so the mind can sense what is manifested on the level of the mind. When this concerns actions of other minds, then that awareness is directed outward. In this chapter we speak about spiritual senses, so we will try to understand what spiritual awareness is and how we can develop this.
The body does not only sense other bodies, but also senses phenomena on the level of creation. Likewise, the mind does not only sense activities of the mind but can also be aware of expressions of bodies. However, this is only possible when a mind is united with a body. The senses of the body pick up signs and because the mind lives in the body, the mind becomes aware of these signs.

The mind is also able to note or to be aware of the impulses coming from the own heart, but the mind cannot detect what goes on in other hearts. Only when those hearts express in mind phenomena, then the mind can again become aware of that. When the mind is aware of the expressions of the own heart, we call this awareness directed inwards.

From which directions can the mind sense something? First of all expressions on mind level that come from outside the own self. But when a stone hits your body, your mind also becomes aware of the pain in your body. This also is awareness of what comes from outside. The mind actually senses what happens in the own body.

The mind can also sense what comes from the own heart. The heart expresses into the mind and this again is felt in the body. For instance, when you suddenly feel a strong love for someone, then this affects your mind but also your body. The mind’s observations of this complex of phenomena is all awareness directed inward. This can also be called self-consciousness. In the following paragraph we will speak about this more.

Awareness of spiritual phenomena from outside of an individual, which is shortly called spiritual awareness outward, is called Bewustsein in German language, while awareness of spiritual phenomena inside of a person is called Selbstbewustsein.

Important to know about spiritual awareness inward is that there basically are two lines through which sensations can become conscious to my mind: there are the sensations in my body which resulted from impressions from outside of my body which are felt by my mind, and there are the direct impressions transferred from another mind to my mind.
When i sense what happens in my body as a result from actions coming from the outside of my body then i sense something in myself, in my body. This, however, should not be called self-awareness or Selbtsbewustsein in strictest sense because the sensations were not caused by myself but by someone or something else. Nevertheless, the ability to be aware of such sensations in my body is the same ability as to be aware of sensations in my body resulting from causes within my own self.

The awareness of my mind is an awareness in which thoughts, feelings and plans are playing a major role. Strictly speaking, i first become aware of something with my mind. This results in feelings and thoughts and can lead immediately or intermediately to plans.

Awareness of my mind can be of spiritual phenomena which are either connected to physical entities or of spiritual phenomena solely occurring in spirit world. To influence or create in spirit world i need a high degree of awareness of my mind. Man is supposed to become creator in spirit world, in life after death of the physical self. To become creator in spirit world one needs to have developed spiritual awareness to the highest degree. My life after death will be extremely joyful when i am able to be creator in spirit world. God made spirit world as a place intended to be created by man as God’s Heavenly Kingdom. It is only when man learns to develop the spiritual sense of awareness during life on earth that man can create heaven after life on earth.

EXERCISE 10. First we shall try to train our awareness of what comes from the outside of myself but which is sensed in my own body. When a stone hits my body, then i feel not only physical pain but also spiritual pain. The physical impact on my physical body depends on how hard the stone hits me and where. But the spiritual pain is depending on the reason why the stone hits me. If i myself throw a stone into the air and accidentally that stone drops on my head, then there probably is not much spiritual pain (unless i unconsciously committed an act of self-infliction). But when someone who really hates me throws a stone at me, then that stone could cause a serious injury to my spirit body. It is only by making effort to make myself aware of what happens to me in such a case that i can elevate my awareness of such phenomena. You must take time to pray and meditate about all what happens to your body to find out what is the spiritual meaning behind it. By analyzing the sensations inside of your spirit body, you train the awareness of your spiritual mind.

Important to know is that our spirit bodies are also affected by spiritual actions of other people, who are either near to us or farther away. When someone really hates you and in his mind curses you and even plans actions against you, then you can become aware of this through the sensations which occur in your spirit body.

Each action of the heart, mind and body does have effect. Such effects never get lost. When someone plans something against you, there is energy directed against you. Part of that energy will go into the plan and actions itself, but part of that energy comes directly to you. You are able to feel this if you make repeated efforts to learn to become aware of such things.

EXERCISE 11. As it is possible to become aware of how other people affect my spirit body through the activities of their minds, so i also can become directly aware of what other people think or feel. In this case i do not (just) sense this in my own body, but i directly read that person’s mind.
It is also difficult to give exercises to develop this quality in yourself. It is a matter of often making effort to read the minds of people around you. You must develop trust in your own ability. Try to read the mind of a person and check the facts and pray if this is right. Often the person later speaks out what he or she already thought. In that way you know if your readings were right or not.

Strong thoughts and feelings to which much energy is bound can be sensed much easier than weak expressions of another mind. When thoughts are confused, you can discover that the person has a confused mind, but you usually cannot find out the content of the thoughts.

EXERCISE 12. After you trained your awareness of direct expressions of other minds you can learn to detect thoughts, feelings and plans, and actions of spirit beings who have no physical bodies. When the spiritual senses of your body told you that a spirit is near to you, you can also sometimes find out what this spirit thinks or feels or plans.

12. SPIRITUAL AWARENESS INWARD

Already in paragraph 11 of this chapter something has been said about this ability. Spiritual awareness directed inward is awareness of the impulses of your own spirit heart and awareness of the effects of your own spirit mind on your spirit body. This spiritual awareness directed inward is also called self-awareness or self-consciousness or Selbstbewustsein.
In the beginning of this chapter this also has been called conscience. Conscience is the spiritual organ that tells us how to live right. Usually conscience is seen as restricted to our awareness of what is right and wrong, but to see it like this is actually a too restricted view. God lives in my heart. My heart lives in my mind. My mind lives in my body. When i am united with God, then all what comes from God is good and i myself am entirely good. I automatically live right and therefore my mind is an original and good mind. My awareness of God living in myself and my awareness of my heart expressing in my mind and that again resulting in sensations and actions of my body is to be seen as one round and complete and united awareness of God living in me. That awareness is what is called conscience in the world.

Fallen people have made their own rules based on their own, often limited or false views on God. So fallen people created their own god which lives in their heart, mind and body. Sometimes people did revere Satan or other angels or spirits as god. Then such a false god lived more or less in their heart, mind and body. This led to the existence of a false or fallen conscience.

In this book we mainly speak about the original situation as intended to be so by God. Conscience is then a rather limited concept for what actually should be self-awareness or Selbstbewustsein. Self-awareness in this original meaning is nothing else than to be aware of God working and living in yourself.

EXERCISE 13. To train your self-awareness you should learn to make effort to distinguish between good and evil in yourself. There is no use in developing your self-awareness if you do not make effort to become a better human being.
Your conscience is divided in a heavenly part and a worldly part. The heavenly part is what is left of the original mind in yourself. The worldly part is actually an evil conscience. When you are convinced that what you did is right, but those actions were against God, this shows that there is false conscience in you.

To develop your original mind or your original awareness directed inward you should first of all make effort to get rid of all what is false in your mind, inside of yourself. This you do by centering yourself on God and living a life under God. In that way you can gradually root out the false conscience and you learn to develop your original spiritual awareness.

13. SPIRITUAL INTUITION (OUTWARD)

Intuition is the sense of the heart. When it is directed outward we call it intuition. When it is directed inward we call it divinity.
Just like it was the case with awareness, intuition can be intuition of what other hearts express and it can be intuition of the impressions that the own mind makes on the own heart.
Divinity is the effect that God has on the heart and also the effects of God on the mind. These effects are sensed with the heart.

When we speak about intuition and divinity, it becomes very difficult to distinguish between them. The heart is our most internal part of our being. The more that something is internal the less it is possible to distinguish between segments or partition. For example, the body has five main senses. Although these senses bring about a more or less united effect on our self, we can clearly distinguish between these senses.

In the mind we can still distinguish quite clearly between effects on the mind coming from the own self and from outside. Also the awareness can be sensed more as thoughts or more as feelings or more as plans.

But on the level of heart the sense becomes more and more diffuse. Love is experienced as positive and hatred as negative. But very often we do not know if our intuition about something came from God working in ourselves or from outside sources.

When i have an intuition about something this also must be distinguished from the level of feelings. Intuition is higher than feelings and emotions (feelings are seen more on the level of mind while emotions are sensed in the body).

Intuition is a sense of the heart and i sense the heart expressions of others. I can directly sense their heart expressions (for example whether a person loves me or hates me) and i also can sense the heart expressions of another as these expressions were having effect on my mind via the mind of the other.

Intuition does not always need to be true intuition. You can sense whether someone loves or hates you, but you cannot deduct from that intuition whether that love or hatred is good or evil. Only by centering your heart on God you can know whether your intuition is correct. Therefore, intuition should be completed with divinity in order that the intuition can be trusted.

EXERCISE 14. When you want to develop your intuition you should first of all develop your other spiritual senses. You also should develop your relation to God in order to be able to trust your intuition.

It is impossible to do exercises to develop your intuition. Intuition grows in you as you yourself grow spiritually. Your relation to God should become better and deeper. Then you must learn to trust your intuition.

14. SPIRITUAL DIVINITY (INWARD)

Divinity is the gift of your heart to be able to receive God’s guidance, revelations, love, directions immediately.
It is a gift that God sometimes grants to people in order to use such people to pass on God’s guidance to others. In that case such selected people, also called prophets, made a foundation to have this gift of divinity, but that divinity is often only there temporarily, as long as the revelations from God come. God elevates the sense of divinity in a prophet for the duration of the period that God needs to reveal something to the prophet.

When God uses you as prophet you should not think that you therefore reached the highest. God uses you as instrument to serve others. Many prophets misused their abilities and revelations and became evil and false prophets. A false prophet is someone who does as if he received revelations from God but in reality those revelations had another source.
In your personal life you should reach the level that God can always and ever steer you. That means that you should reach perfection under God.

Even then, God sometimes elevates your divinity in order to give special revelations.
Through your divinity you must check your intuition, your awareness and the senses of your body.

I cannot give you exercises for developing your divinity other than that you love God and learn to love God more.
All spiritual abilities lose their meaning when you as a person are not loving God and eventually become united with God. When you develop your spiritual abilities your purpose should always be to develop your relation with God and to be able to better perform your mission under God.

Opening your spiritual senses 1

We have the same spiritual senses as we have physical ones. We have physical eyes and spiritual eyes. We have physical ears and also spiritual ones. We have physical smell and taste and also spiritual smell and taste. Besides our physical touch we can touch and feel spiritually.

These are the two times five senses which are connected to the physical body and the spiritual body.

These senses’ characteristic is that they are directed outward. The 10 senses are directed to sense what is going on outside of the body.

Also the mind has a kind of sense. The physical mind senses on the level of physical mind and the spiritual mind on the level of spiritual mind. These senses are called physical awareness and spiritual awareness (in German language this would be called Bewustsein.)

Finally, there are the senses of the heart (physical body's center of love, not the organ 'heart.' The physical heart’s sense is called physical intuition and the spiritual heart’s sense spiritual intuition.

We have now 14 senses which are directed outward, 10 senses of the body, two senses of the mind and two of the heart. Of these senses, half is physical and half is spiritual. Seven of these senses therefore are spiritual senses and about these this chapter is explaining. (Note that what often is called “sixth sense” actually is the collection of all seven spiritual senses.)

There also are senses directed inward. These senses are basically of the same kind as the senses directed outward. For example, the body senses what happens outside of the body with 10 senses, but the body also senses the working of the own mind in the body. A thought or emotion of the mind causes a sensation in the body, and this sensation is felt with the senses of the body, but now the senses are directed inward. Some of the physical senses are limited in this respect, for example the physical eyes cannot look into the physical body but only at it, but the spiritual eyes can look into the spirit body.

The mind senses what is in the mind and which came from the heart with what is called conscience (in German language Gewissen). Conscience is the same as awareness but now the awareness is directed inward. Conscience could also be called self-awareness (self-consciousness or, in German language Selbstbewustsein). Also the conscience has two components, the spiritual conscience and the physical conscience.

The heart senses what is in God. It is through this sense that man can receive revelations directly from God and that man can feel God’s pain or happiness in certain situations. For this no word been used in the past. We shall call this man’s divinity. Also divinity of man has a physical and a spiritual aspect.

Summarizing: There are five senses of the body, there is a sense of the mind and there is a sense of the heart. These are altogether seven senses that each have a very different character. Each of these seven senses can be directed inward (into the person’s self) our outward (outside of the person’s self). That makes altogether 14 senses. As long as man lives in the physical world, these 14 senses have both a spiritual aspect and a physical aspect. This gives altogether 28 senses.

But when we disregard whether the senses are spiritual or physical and whether they are directed inward or outward, we distinguish seven senses of man with each a very different character:
1. Seeing
2. Hearing
3. Tasting
4. Smelling
5. Touching
6. Awareness
7. Intuition
How many spiritual senses do we have now?
1. Spiritual eyes outward
2. Spiritual eyes inward
3. Spiritual ears outward
4. Spiritual ears inward
5. Spiritual taste outward
6. Spiritual taste inward
7. Spiritual touch outward
8. Spiritual touch inward
9. Spiritual smell outward
10. Spiritual smell inward
11. Spiritual awareness (outward)
12. Spiritual conscience (inward)
13. Spiritual intuition (outward)
14. Spiritual divinity (inward)
In the remaining part of this chapter we shall come to understand more about these 14 spiritual senses and learn exercises for the development of our spiritual senses.

1. SPIRITUAL EYES OUTWARD

With my physical eyes i see the world around me. Later, when my physical body has died, i live in the spiritual world and then with my spiritual eyes i will be able to see around me just as well as i now do with my physical eyes in the physical world.

But as long as i live in the physical world it takes time and effort to learn to use my spiritual eyes.

The physical world is a world of condensed and visible energy, while the spiritual world is energy in an uncondensed form and it therefore is less visible.

Moreover, the more that my physical desires dominate my spiritual ones, the more that my desire pushes me to only see in the physical world.

When i cannot yet see with my spiritual eyes, there are two problems to be solved. The first problem is when your physical desires dominate your spiritual ones.

When person A drives around in a car, A might only see trucks all the time. This is because A likes trucks and therefore only sees trucks. Person B sees birds. B doesn’t care about trucks, but loves birds. Person C sees houses everywhere, because C is an architect and is interested in how all these houses were designed and built.

Your desire determines what you see. If your desire is for the physical only, you will only be able to see the physical.
EXERCISE 1. If you do not make your spiritual desires to be dominant over your physical ones, then you will never be able to develop your spiritual senses. This exercise is to help you to develop your desire for spiritual life.

Take some time daily to pray, meditate and think about the purpose of life. Specifically ask yourself about the purpose of physical and material life. Make yourself aware of who and what you are. Is it worthwhile to live like an animal or do you want to reach higher goals in life? The purpose of the exercise is to make yourself aware of the value of spiritual life. Try at least daily to come to some kind of insight in this respect.
This exercise alone can never make you a spiritually-oriented person. Only living a good life centered on God can really make you understand the value of spiritual life.

The second main problem is that you have a physical body with physical senses, and these physical senses tend to dominate your spiritual senses just by the fact of the character and the strength of these physical senses. When you try to look with your spiritual eyes, you cannot help that you also still see with your physical eyes. Your physical eyes receive an image of the physical situation, while your spiritual eyes simultaneously receive a picture of the spiritual situation. You actually get two pictures to see at once. The physical picture is strong and clear and is what you are used to, while the spiritual picture is weak and unclear and seems to be unrealistic.

Let me try to make clear with an example what this problem means. Suppose someone draws for you a picture of a person on piece of paper. You can clearly see this picture. Suppose that now another, clear picture of a landscape is drawn over the picture of the person. That landscape is drawn with strong and thick lines. Now all of a sudden you can clearly see the landscape but you find it hard to still discover the picture of the person.

Another example. Suppose there is lit one candle in a dark room. You can very well see the light of the candle. Now someone switches on the electrical light. Suddenly the whole room becomes clearly visible while the candle is just a small detail in the room.

Note that these are only examples to show you a little of the nature of the problem that the spiritual world is difficult to perceive as long as you are also using your physical body’s senses. For the rest, the two examples do not tell us anything meaningful about spirit world.

EXERCISE 2. We must get used to see the spiritual reality on top of the physical reality. Whatever we see in the physical world, there always is also something to be seen in the spiritual world. When you see a house in the physical world then there also is a house in the spiritual world. When you see a physical dog, there also is the spiritual dog. And so on.
We begin our practice with trying to see the spiritual atmosphere in a room. The spiritual atmosphere in a room is something which cannot only be seen, but it often is more felt or smelled. But here we focus on seeing the spiritual atmosphere.

First you must find a room of which you know that there is a good atmosphere. If you cannot find such a room, then you can also go to a beautiful place in nature, where it is clean, and which is not much cultivated by man. You also should find a room of which you know that there is a bad atmosphere.
The exercise is that you frequently visit these two places of which you know that the one has a relatively good atmosphere and the other a relatively low atmosphere. Maybe you could find such places on your daily trip to your work. Each time that you visit these places, you try to look through the physical visible place into the spiritual room. You must look at the room without consciously looking at what happens there physically. You look into the distance, beyond the physical images, and you ask yourself: What do i see more than with my physical eyes?

When you do this often you will begin to see a difference between the dark place and the good place. Now focus on this difference and ask yourself what exactly is the difference between what you see in those two places. Once you notice a difference, you have already seen something with your spiritual eyes, but you might not be so aware of that. Important is that you make yourself aware of the fact that you dó see with your spiritual eyes, you only didn’t realize it so well. Every person sees with spiritual eyes, but most people haven’t been trained to know that they do this. You do have spiritual eyes and with these spiritual eyes you do see. You only are not yet aware of this, and therefore you think you didn’t see spiritually.

Continue to do this exercise daily and focus on the difference. Make yourself clear what exactly is the difference between these two spaces. You focus on seeing the atmosphere, and you see something then. What you see is already a spiritual phenomenon. Bit by bit you will see that in the good place there is a light atmosphere which looks bright and clear. In the dark place it is literally dark and smoggy.

EXERCISE 3. The next exercise is that you expand your efforts to seeing the spirit of people. Usually you know people who often are in a good mood, and you also know people who give you a bad feeling when you meet them. Although it is hard to know always when a person is in good spirit or not when you didn’t ask God or when you yourself are in bad spirit, but still, deep in your heart you know when someone is more okay or less okay.

Based on other spiritual senses you know if a person is in relatively good spirit or in relatively bad spirit. You must now look at the spirit of these people. Again, while you look, you must not clearly look at their physical appearance. Try to look through the person, as if you look far in the distance. At the moment that you do not anymore see the physical appearance clearly, you will still see something. What you then see is the beginning of spiritual seeing.

You will find a difference between the sight of the low-spirited person and that of the high-spirited person. You should focus on that difference. Think and meditate about that difference. Make yourself very clear what differences you have seen, and that those differences are differences in what you spiritually saw and not just contrasts in the physical appearances.
EXERCISE 4. Condition yourself to see the spiritual appearance behind each physical person, animal, plant or object. To develop your spiritual senses you must make effort over a long time, and it also needs high concentration each time that you want to see spiritually. It does never go without making effort over time and each time and again.

When you go through a street, try to see the spirit of the homes. You must always do this in prayer centered on God, because your spiritual senses only open in a good way if God allows it. So if your attitude is against God, God will not open your spiritual senses.

When you receive a letter, then look at the letter before opening the envelope and try to see spiritually if the content of the letter is good or evil.

The exercises are near endless, and in order to develop your spiritual eyes you must practice always and ever, day in day out.

EXERCISE 5. Until now you have practiced to use your spiritual eyes to see the spiritual aspects of physical beings and objects. It is more difficult to see spiritual beings and realities that are not expressed in a physical body.

We can see spirits and angels and sometimes also spiritual realities beyond the physical earth. But you cannot see a spirit if that spirit is not there with you or near you. You cannot see what is not there. So, depending on whether you can see a spirit is whether that spirit is near to you.

Furthermore, there are many spirits who are almost invisible even in spirit world. Such spirits lived such a low life that their spirits are practically non-existing. Such spirits you can almost not see, even if your spiritual eyes are developed to the highest degree.

Even a higher spirit is only visible if that spirit expresses him- or herself. When spirits are emotional or highly motivated to express themselves in a situation, they become visible to our spiritual eyes.

To learn to see spirits, you should develop your relation to God. When God tells you that a certain spirit is there, you can make effort to see that spirit. The spirit appears to your eyes like the spiritual aspects of physical beings and objects did.

2. SPIRITUAL EYES INWARD

As you can look with your spiritual eyes to see spiritual beings and objects and phenomena, you also can look with your spiritual eyes into your own body. This is a special ability which one can develop for example in order to discover diseases or disorders in the own body.

For now this ability is not of so much significance, so no exercises are given for this.

3. SPIRITUAL EARS OUTWARD

Just like for any visible entity in the physical world there is a spiritual aspect which can be seen, so for any physically audible entity one could hear a spiritual component.
In the sounds of all which we hear around us there is audible with our spiritual ears what kind of spirit is connected to the sound.

For example, when someone is angry, that anger shows a certain quality of the spirit self. When an angry person speaks, his or her speaking will be expressing that anger not only in a physically audible medium but also through a spiritually audible expression.

Of course, the physical components of sounds can never be seen apart from the spiritual ones.

Computer-made sounds can be made to sound like real, human-operated instruments, but a computer cannot put a spiritual component into that sound, other than the spirit expressions that come from the energy of the computer itself. Therefore, computer sounds usually cannot move our hearts. These sounds lack the spiritual aspect through which love and emotion can be expressed much more fully than is possible with just physical sound.

Physical sounds have impact on the physical world. Loud physical sounds can make buildings vibrate or deafen our physical ears.

Spiritual sounds have impact on the spiritual world. Spiritual sounds do not have direct effect on the physical world.

Spiritual sounds have direct effects only on the spiritual world.
EXERCISE 6. Concentrate on hearing the spiritual component of each sound that you hear. For instance, when you hear sounds made by a person, try to feel in those sounds in what kind of mood the person is. If someone angrily slams a door, the physical sound already tells you much, although it also could be that a draught slammed that door.

But in the sounds made by a person we can hear in what kind of spirit that person is. It is just a matter of making effort to discover more and more about people in that way. Make yourself aware that what you hear is spiritual and that now you are using your spiritual ears.

Train yourself to listen to music and to find out about the spiritual atmosphere in which the concert was given by focusing on the spiritual component of that music.
Listen to the sounds of nature and that of the weather. Even the winds have a certain spirit of which you can become aware by listening to it.

There also sound in the regions of spirit world that are not connected to a physical aspect. These solely spiritual sounds can be made by spirits. When you have become aware of the presence of a spirit, you can open your spiritual ears to hear what the spirit tells. You can ask that spirit a question and sometimes the spirit answers you. The more energy the spirit person puts into what he or she says, the better you can hear it. Be aware that commonly spirits are not better or worse than physical people. They are just people and they often may know less than you do. Never fall on your knees because you hear spirits speaking, because after that you will arrogantly and mistakenly put yourself high above the people around you.

4. SPIRITUAL EARS INWARD

Just like you can see things inside of your own spirit body, you also can listen to what happens in your own spirit body. Also this ability is not something which we practice here.

5. SPIRITUAL TASTE OUTWARD

Each of the senses of the body has its own special use and purpose. With our eyes we look around and all of us are very dependent of our sight. But there exist people who are very focused on their hearing, sometimes because they are blind or because they are just very much centered on that. A painter will have trained his ability to see while a musician trained the ability to hear.

The taste is mostly connected to food.

When we make food, it is extremely important how this food is prepared spiritually. I myself have often experienced to get dead-sick from eating a little food which was prepared with a bad spirit. The sickness then is sickness of the spirit body.
I could write a whole book about the topic of how to spiritually prepare good food, beginning with cultivating the food in a garden to harvesting to preparing it in the kitchen. It is a big and important topic.

With our spiritual eyes we can see if food has a good spirit or a bad one. But this demands much experience added to much concentration at the moment of looking.

The spiritual sense of taste is necessary for us to guarantee that we only eat good food. Food that was prepared with a good heart will have a good effect on our spiritual condition and health. Food that was prepared with a bad heart will have a bad effect on our spiritual condition and health.

The higher is your standard for spiritual life, the more you will be affected by the spiritual component of food. When your standard in spiritual life is very low then it doesn’t matter very much what kind of food you eat, as long as that food is in order physically.

To simplify it: food can be prepared having good spiritual value or bad spiritual value or no spiritual value. Food with good spiritual value can only be prepared by people having a high spiritual standard using food components that also have been cultivated and treated well. Food with bad spiritual value can be prepared by someone in an evil spirit, or there have been used ingredients with low spiritual value. There also is much food that has almost no spiritual value. It is spiritually empty food. When you eat it, it only fills your physical stomach while your spiritual body still is hungry after eating. Such kind of food without having spiritual value is usually made in factories where machines do much of the work or it is prepared by people who have a very businesslike attitude. Most quick-food restaurants serve such kind of food. Yet, such food is still to be preferred above food with a bad spiritual value.

EXERCISE 7. You should become critical about the food you eat. Of course, your physical food should be of good quality, but as you improve the quality of your own spiritual life, you also should learn to eat food with good spiritual quality.
Whenever you eat, always make effort to discover what spiritual value that food has. If you are sure that the food has a bad spiritual value, don’t eat it.

Try to taste the spiritual emptiness of food from fast-food restaurants.

Prepare a piece of bread, put it in a plastic bag and then for one hour on a street. Physically the food has not changed, but now taste how that food tastes spiritually! If you are not too far down as a spiritual person, you only need to do this exercise once in your life…

6. SPIRITUAL TASTE INWARD

With your spiritual taste directed inward you can taste in your mouth in what spiritual condition your own body is. You can also taste the effect of certain thoughts on your body. Good thoughts give a good taste but bad thoughts and feelings give you a bad taste in your mouth.

7. SPIRITUAL TOUCH OUTWARD

With your physical touch you feel the wind and the shining of the sun. You feel warmth and coldness.

Your spiritual touch does the same but it feels only spiritual contact.

When someone touches you, you can sense what is behind that touch. The physical contact tells you something about the one who touches you. If someone gives you a soft hand, it could tell you about a weak character, but it could also be that the person has an illness in the muscles of the hand. The spiritual contact tells you clearly about the spiritual reality of the person who shakes hands with you.

Maybe you have the experience that when you met a person you suddenly felt cold. Did you realize that this feeling of coldness is a spiritual experience?

When you come into a room or house with a low spirit, or you touch things used by someone with a low spirit, you will feel like getting dirty. Take such experiences very seriously, because your spiritual skin warns you that spiritual dirt is all around you. That spiritual dirt first touches your skin, but if you are not careful, it will enter your spirit body and make you ill.

EXERCISE 8. It is difficult to give exercises to develop your spiritual senses as living with spiritual awareness is something that must be learned in lifelong daily and even hourly experiences. To develop your spiritual sense of touch you basically must do the same as what you did to practice the other senses. Find situations in which you know that there is a bad spiritual atmosphere. Train yourself to experience how that feels on your spiritual skin. Find situations in which there is a good spiritual atmosphere. Train yourself to experience how that feels. Then make yourself aware of the differences between contacts that made you feel good and contacts that made you feel bad.

Do also train yourself to detect spiritual touching on your skin from the presence of a spirit who comes near to you.