Under the Oaks | September 2023 | Damon Thompson

Sunday Morning Worship Experience

Unwrapped

Tim Ross - "Peace of Mind: Confession is Golden pt 2”

The Dream That Wasn't A Dream- Coming Face To Face With My "Fetus-in-Fetu"

 

 Many years ago I had an experience that I do not know if it was a dream or I stepped out of my body and stood in the place where the spirit world meets our natural world.  It came a couple years after another experience where I stepped out of my body while sleeping on my couch. I sat up and walked toward the window, but when I looked back I was still sleeping on the couch. I was drawn to my front window and was looking out it but didn't see anything. Although I couldn't see anything I knew I was looking out the window for a reason. I walked back over to my body and laid back down in it. 

 I didn't find much significance to that experience at the time, and still do not know what it was for. Maybe it was just preparing me for the experience I am about to explain. 

 
 

 I was laying in bed sleeping next to my wife. I looked up and saw a human form standing there. I stood up and I felt as if I left my body sleeping. As I looked at the figure I was confused. It  was me, but not me. It was as if I had an identical twin, but this twin looked like a "dead" version of me, He looked extremely sad, extremally lonely and was blue. 

 He didn't speak , but I could tell he wanted to "move back in" to my soul. His eyes were like a lost puppy or a rejected child. He spoke to me through his eye. He wanted so desperately to be rejoined with me.  My soul felt bad for him, but I told him that he had to leave. He stood there, not wanting to, but I commanded him again to leave. 

 He slumped his head and began to walk away, but as he did , I felt something in me drawing him back, and he sensed it. He turned back and looked at me like an child seeing if he could run back to an angry parent. I said again, this time it hurt me to say, "no you have to leave". This happen several more times. As he would turn to leave, something in my soul would draw him to turn back toward me again.  One final time with a resolve from within, I told him he had to leave. I laid back down. 

 My reason for sharing this experience is because I believe this played out recently in this natural realm in my life and I want to inform others on their journey of a pitfall, so they can avoid it.  

 I was experiencing a time of freedom and deliverance in my walk with The Lord. He has been so faithful to bring certain keys of deliverance into my life. Through a time of preparation with a coach , time in His Word and a return to in person services where His presence was manifesting in deliverance and healing,  He has broken free from several major strongholds in my soul. 

 Then the other night I had some very disturbing dreams. They came at a bad time, but that is when The Tempter comes, he looks for a more opportune time.  I woke up in the morning with a resolve not to allow those dreams to cause me to fall. I declared that The Lord was faithful and I was not going to allow the attacks on my dreams to doubt His Goodness. The Holy Spirit was with me. I could sense His presence helping me, leading me and strengthening me. 

 Then something happened that triggered a depression of sorts in me. Even then , The Lord was with me, I was led to admit somethings out loud, and except somethings  by giving voice to them. It was very difficult, but at the same time freeing. 

 However, as the day dragged on, I sensed the old stronghold of the fog of depression falling over my mind. Not a depression that is normally talked about, but more like the twin version of me I talked about above.  The clarity I had known for the past few weeks began to fade. I was saying the words of freedom, but I was allowing the lying whispers of defeat speak stronger than The Holy Spirit. 

 The amazing thing about The Lord is that He was right there with me. He didn't leave me, nor did His presence weaken at all as I slid down the slope. I then began to remember the experience I had that I spoke about above and I watched it play out the rest of the day and into the night.  I let that depressed spirit hang out just a little too long. The Lord was saying "just rest in my presence" but I kept drawing the old thing back to me by allowing self pity and self introspection to fog my mind and dampen my spirit. 

 Self pity was a major part of the hidden "spirit" that grew inside me all my life. The broken child, the abandoned child, the abused child, the scared child was pushed down and hidden under layers and layers of coping sins and weights. The Lord pealed away those things to expose the parasitic twin that hindered me all my life. The twin that fed on my creativity , took away my God given strength and wisdom.  This alternate version of myself was working in cooperation with its task masters of the flesh and the devil.  

 I said all that to say this. God is faithful. I may have fallen that day, I may have allowed myself to embrace that parasitic version of myself, but I also learned what it looked like when it manifested in the natural course of my life. I learned so many things about myself, The Lord and what has kept me tripping up over and over, year after year.

  I will end with this, and I hope you really hold it close to your heart. A pastor at my church recently shred this version of this scripture and it really spoke to me. It speaks to the very heart of all this and I am willing to bet so many of the struggles many of you face. He is all in on setting you free, He truly wants to cover you and free you. He wants you to rest in him, even when the storms of your heart, flesh and mind are raging. 

 Often times we think resting in The Lord means that our emotions are resting. We don't think these verses will apply to us, because  our soul is in turmoil, our flesh is burning and we feel unworthy. However, these are the very times we need our Comforter, Our Healer, Our Advocate, Our Strength and Our Deliverer. 

 I plead with you to draw close to Him, no matter what you feel, what you have done, or how far you have fallen. Come out of the darkness, and into The Light of His Kingdom. He has already provided for you and prepared a place for you there. Not in the sweet by and by, but right now. 

Matthew 11:28-30 The Message Bible

 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

 

 

 

 

Everything In The Noise Around Us Is Trying To Stop You From Walking In This Truth

 

 I listed some scripture below this post. I would encourage you to read them through now and consider them in your heart. Then come back and finish reading this. I had so many scriptures to choose from in order to lay a foundation for what I feel led of The Lord to write. I pray that The Holy Spirit will open up to you what I believe He has revealed to me.  

 This post will seem more like and exhortation than an explanation. I believe this is by design. I am going to share with you what I hear The Lord speaking to me and what He wants to speak to His Church. He wants us to break free from the things that have kept our eyes earthbound and fleshly focused. 

 He wants us to be all that He created us to be. He has freed us from the Kingdom of Darkness that keeps this world bound to obey the sways and dictates of the devil and the flesh.  He wants us to once and for all take off our old garments, step out of the darkness and walk in all The Blessings and Benefits He has provided for us. 

 Everything that is being designed and programmed into modern social media and entertainment is geared toward making sure we can never obtain true freedom. They are constantly evolving to stop you from looking up from this fallen world and ascending above the sway of The Kingdom of Darkness.  

 We must make a conscious , purposeful decision to lay ourselves down at His feet, deny ourselves, and seek The Kingdom of Heaven. We are so surrounded by the dark fog of this fallen world and the noise of the enemies distractions, that we will only see what we need to see when we ascend above it all. 

 Remember, everything in the world of media, social media and entertainments is purposefully being used by The Spirit of Antichrist to stop The Church from walking in The Light. Your enemy does not want us to fully realize this. 

I had a very vivid dream many years ago. I was standing before Jesus. He was surrounded by a glorious light that was radiating all around Him. There was no verbal communication, but He knew the distress and questions of my heart.                                                        

He simply said  : 

"You will always be weary, until you come under my rays" 

(I created this on an AI App. It is pretty close to how the dream looked. Although I could see His Face) 

You are in the earth but not of the earth. You are a brand New Creation in Christ! You have been translated out of The Kingdom of Darkness and placed in to The Kingdom of God. That Kingdom now is in you. You are a living representative of The Kingdom of Heaven. You are The Living Breathing Temple of The Holy Spirit of God who once only dwelled within The Holy of Holies within The Ark of The Covenant!  

 The Blood of Jesus has cleansed you so thoroughly that The very same Holy Spirit that was once unapproachable even by the most holy of priest, now lives and abides in you. The same Spirit, that raised Christ from The Dead, works within you, bringing life to your being and light to your soul. 

 The Church is now The Living Body of Christ on Earth.  The gathered believers within the Local Church come together and create a holy dwelling place of worship and power on the earth.  Every believer, from every nation, tongue and tribe are connected in the spirit realm and by The Spirit of God.  

 We are a true army of Light and Power. We are the redeemed of The Lord. We are The Church that Jesus said would topple the Gates of Hell as we brought His Gospel into all The World and made Disciples of all nations!

 We were created to walk in the spirit realm, by the power of His Holy Spirit. As His New Creation and as His Body on earth, we have been reborn by The Spirit into the spirit. We have been given all things pertaining to life and godliness. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. In Him we live and move and have our being, because we are literally seated with Him spiritually in heavenly places. 

 We were created to move about in the spirit and with the authority of His name to deal with the spirit world that opposes our mission. We do not fight against natural enemies, our enemies are those demonic spirits and unholy messengers from The Kingdom of Darkness. This is why The Lord equipped us with weapons that are not carnal, but spiritual, that are able to topple spiritual strongholds and tear down every high and lofty thing that tries to exalt itself above The Lord God Almighty.  

 When the Apostles were sent out two by two,  they were sent out to preach The Gospel, Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead and Cast out Demons.  This is a picture of us as believers and as The Body of Christ, coming against the Kingdom of Darkness with The Weapons of The Kingdom of Heaven. 

 God came from heaven in the form of a man, Jesus.  Jesus was anointed by God with The Holy Spirit and Power and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the enemy, for God was with Him. Jesus then gave His Mission to His Apostles to take the message to the lost sheep of Israel and they operated in The same authority and spiritual abilities He did, for God was with them. 

When Jesus was crucified , The Holy Spirit departed The Holy of Holies. Three days later Jesus rose again, commanded His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of The Father. On the day of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit of God filled all the disciples who were waiting in the upper room. 

 They became the first living Temples of God. The Kingdom of Heaven was now represented by 120 Born Again living Temples. 120 Men and Women were now filled with the Holy Spirit and Power , who had a Commission to go about doing Good and Healing all who are oppressed of The Devil. The Lord was with them confirming their words with accompanying signs and wonders. 

 On that day Peter filled with The Holy Spirit preached The Gospel Message and 3000 more were born again and filled with the Holy Spirit as well. The Church was born, The Kingdom of Heaven was already spreading with The Light of Christ with signs following those that believe. They also went out speaking with new tongues and casting out demons. All that believed were given authority over the darkness that would try and stop them or come against them. 

 Thousands of years have passed and the Kingdoms of Darkness has fought to destroy The Body of Christ on earth , but the more the enemy tries, the farther The Light of The Gospel spreads. The more the enemy tries to soil the name of Jesus through imperfect people of God or messengers from his own dark kingdom, pretending to be from God, the more The Name of Jesus is broadcast throughout the world. 

 We are called to a very high calling. Not just ministers that you see on stage , or in meetings, but each one of us. If you are a believer,  you are a spirit being. You have been blessed with something that is eternal and powerful. You have been anointed by God to carry His Holy Spirit around with you wherever you go. You are seen in The Spirit realm. You are known in the spirit realm. Not because of anything natural, but because The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords has placed  His seal within you.

When you decide to walk in the spirit and set your affections on things above and not on this earth you are highlighted in the spirit. When you decide to lay aside your old garments and put on the new garments, you stand out in the spirit.  When you seek The Lord, pray in the spirit and stir up the very real, very powerful gifts that were given to you, you become a living testimony to The Kingdom of Heaven because you will be a witness of it by showing the authority and love of Jesus to the world around you. 

 Do you see why the enemy is filling every communication avenue he can with images, thoughts, whispers and his demonic presence that try and keep mankind blind to The Kingdom of God. Do you see why it is so important to rid ourselves of our connections and addictions to these things? 

 We must look up from within our own souls. We must allow our spirits to ascend over our flesh. We must speak to ourselves in songs ,hymns and spiritual songs and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. We must build ourselves up in the most holy faith. We must seek the lord with all our hearts. We must let The Word of God wash us , and strengthen our minds. 

 Now take the word must out of all that I just wrote and replace it with we are blessed to be able to. It is a great blessing to be born again. It is a great blessing of grace and mercy to be given such great and precious promises. These great and precious promises makes us partakers of God's Divine Nature. 

 The enemy of our souls and of mankind doesn't want you to know this and walk in this. He doesn't want you to know that God Himself dwells inside you. That your prayers are empowered by Him, that your life is sealed by Him and that you are a child of His. He doesn't want you to know that you have authority over all the power of the enemy. He doesn't want you to know that you are never alone, never powerless and never abandoned.

 He doesn't want you to know that you can take authority over demons and evil spirits that attack you and your family. He doesn't want you to know that The Church is The Fullness of His Body on Earth. 

But now you know. 

Psalm 37:3-7

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you your heart’s desires.

Commit everything you do to the Lord.

Trust him, and he will help you.

He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,

and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. 

Be still in the presence of the Lord,

and wait patiently for him to act.

Don’t worry about evil people who prosper

or fret about their wicked schemes.

Proverbs 16:3

Commit your works to the Lord,

And your thoughts will be established.

2 Chronicles 7:14

If My people, who are called by My name, 

shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, 

and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, 

then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

1 Chronicles 22:19

Now seek the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

Build the sanctuary of the Lord God so that you can 

bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant and the holy vessels of God 

into the Temple built to honor the Lord’s name.”

                                                  

Isaiah 51:1

Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—

all who seek the Lord!

Consider the rock from which you were cut,

the quarry from which you were mined.

           

1 Corinthians 10:4

And all drank the same spiritual drink. 

For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

                 

Acts 15:16-18

‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it,

so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles—all those I have called to be mine. 

The Lord has spoken—he who made these things known so long ago.

1 Peter 2:1-5

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

John 4:23-24

 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers 

will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. 

The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

          

Ephesians 6:18

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. 

Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

John 12:46

 I have come as a light into the world, 

that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

John 15:4-9

 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 

unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me,

he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you  will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

Matthew 6:32-33

For after all these things the Gentiles seek. 

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

                            

Matthew 13:44

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, 

which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field

Luke 17:20-21

 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, 

He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ 

For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

                               

Romans 14:17

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, 

but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

   

1 Corinthians 4:20

For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

Colossians 1:11-14

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power 

so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. 

May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.

He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, 

who live in the light. 

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness 

and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 

who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Galatians 5:16-26

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, 

which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. 

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: 

sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: 

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 

Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Ephesians 2

Made Alive with Christ

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Oneness and Peace in Christ

11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

A Temple for the Lord

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 

21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 

22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

      

"Do You Believe You Love Them More than I Do"

"Do You Believe You Love Them More than I Do"

As I was in a place of prayer and devotion the other day, this picture kept coming up in my heart. I love this picture. For those who may not know me, it is of my grandson and myself. It captured a moment in time that I will always hold dear. I love my grandchildren with all me heart. They are such a blessing. This picture, for me, holds thousands of words and goes deeper than I can explain here. 

My wife, children and grandchildren are dear to my heart. I love them with every part of my being and would give them the world if I could. This picture speaks that to me. I would give my life for this little guy. I would destroy anything or anyone that tried to harm him if it were in my power to do so. I feel the same about my wife, my sons, and my granddaughter. 

As I prayed, read my devotional and thought about this picture, I heard The Lord ask me: 

 "Do You Believe You Love Them More than I Do"

I kind of ignored the question at first because I knew in my heart, my answer didn't line up with The Truth about The Lord and His love for us all. The Lord  knows our hearts so it doesn't do much good hiding things from Him. Trying to hide the thoughts and our unspoken beliefs about Him will only weaken our faith in Him. However, being open, honest and exposing  the lying whispers in our hearts by giving voice to them, will open a much needed dialogue between The Lord and ourselves. A dialogue that He wants to use to set us free from the lies we have allowed to haunt the shadows of our soul.

So again He asked :

"Do You Believe You Love Them More than I Do"

 I have engaged in conversation about this question with The Lord in the past. This time however it was the picture above that The Lord used to get to the core of my struggle with this question. He was just looking for me to be honest. He wasn't looking for the answer that I knew was right. He wasn't looking for the theologically correct answer. He wasn't looking for the answer that would preach well. He was looking for the answer that punched me in the gut when I heard the question and thought about the picture. 

There is a longer story that led to this moment in time. A story of trauma, pain and disappointment. But, also a story of joy, strength, power and a deep empathy for those who are suffering and/or persecuted. So, this was definitely a question both God and I  knew the answer to.  

As I began to open up to The Lord and yield to His will for us to discuss this again, I started off by regressing a bit. I made a couple of jokes, acted like it was no big deal and tried to minimize the question and the pain I was feeling in my soul over answering the question.

Finally, I opened up. I am just giving an overview of what I said , not a verbatim record of the conversation. I heard the question reverberate again in my soul:

"Do You Believe You Love Them More than I Do"

Lord, what do you want me to say? You know my struggle with this. I know you love them more than I do but I don't understand that in my soul. I would never let anything hurt him (looking at this picture above) . If anyone dared to even threaten to hurt him they would know what that look on my face means. I love this little boy more than anything , no one will ever hurt him. So Lord I do not understand how you can love them more than me. I understand you cant strike every person who does wrong with lightening, but my love for this little guy, could never, ever watch on while somebody hurt him, either by accident or on purpose. If I had your power, omnipotence and angelic armies then my wife, children and grandchildren would never, ever be harmed and the enemy would be destroyed before he ever came close to them.  Lord I cant imagine watching somebody walk in my house, harm my wife or children and not doing all that is in my power to stop them. 

 So, Lord I know you do love them more than I do, but I don't understand that kind of love. My love for this little boy would rise up and guard him for anything that would harm him, in anyway.  

 Just speaking these things out loud in an open dialogue with The Lord has been so helpful to me. I know some who are reading this are probably ready to tell me all the textbook answers to these questions. I know them all. It isn't about knowing or not knowing the answers sometimes. Sometimes it is about knowing the scriptural, theological, and eternally true answers, but also understanding that God is okay with us not being able to grasp those truths fully on this side of glory.  Even Jesus used parables that are true in an eternal sense, however do not always hold true for us on this earth, in this age. 

 For instance, Jesus said what Father would give his son a serpent when he asked for bread. If you being evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more does your Father in heaven want to give good things to you. Paraphrased. 

 We receive that by faith for sure. But, how many of us have asked our Father in heaven for things dear to us, and it did indeed seem like we received a serpent instead of bread. How many have ask for healing for a loved one to see them struggle for years. How many have stood in faith for a spouse with cancer and instead of seeing healing they had to bury them much to young. How many prayed for protection over a child to see them killed in a horrible accident, or some in other nations watch them starve to death or killed by a terrorist. 

 A glance at the percentage of Christians who are healed of uncurable diseases to how many die from them when they are attacked by something like and aggressive cancer, would seem to show that the parable of Jesus is not true. It would be easy for our soul to be hurt, hardened and scarred to a point we know The Word is true, but our soul cant "see" that it is true. 

 Our spirit knows That The Lord loves us dearly and beyond measure, but there is a room in our soul that we keep our doubts and hard questions for Him hidden away. Our spirit knows He is Good and His Word is unshakable but since our souls have endured so much, and our empathetic hearts have absorbed so much pain, we sometimes place all that into this locked room of our soul. 

 Our human hearts see the parable of Jesus and apply that to ourselves as Mothers, Fathers, Husbands and Wives. Like I mentioned above, what Natural Father would allow a much weaker , easily defeated enemy walk into his home and harm his family. Look at the picture again, how to you think I would react to somebody trying to touch this little boy?? Do you think anyone could harm him in my presence? How fast and undeniable would I make the intruder realize he made a very bad decision? There is nothing in me that could allow a child to be harmed. Sometimes adults open themselves up, but a child is innocent and precious. 

 It just makes sense, Jesus said, you being "evil" know how to give good things to your children how much MORE does your Fathers in heaven want to give you good things. Ask and you shall receive. Anyone who is honest can see , this parable does not ring true in many cases today that require a miraculous intervention of God.

So what do we do? Well we walk by faith right? We hold to the truth That God is Good and His mercy endures forever. We hold fast to the promises of God. We declare Him to be true and every man and circumstance a lie that challenges Him and His Word.  

 We , like Abraham, consider not our own situation, but we strengthen ourselves in faith as we give glory to God knowing all that He has promised He will also perform. We walk by faith and not by sight. We do not let what we feel or see move us off our stand of faith. We declare His word, we endure temptation, trials and tribulation. We determine that we know that Faith is the substance of the things we are hoping for, believing for and standing for in His promises. We determine that Faith is the evidence that we have those things even if we do not see them.  

  Our doubts , fears, pain and past trauma do not have to negate our faith. Being honest about what we are seeing around us, or even being troubled by the lack of answered prayers around us, do not have to put a wedge between The Lord and us. Recognizing the areas of our mind and soul that may even struggle with Gods ways and will, does not make us ,in any way, disqualified to be mighty warriors of faith. On the contrary, these things can be the very things that make us strong in Faith and mighty in Intercession. 

 I want to encourage you in this: Some of the mightiest men and women of God had struggles in the flesh and mind. Many were "driven"  to press in because they were  disturbed by the amount of unanswered prayers they noticed in The Church. Some openly said that it troubled them to see how people were prayed for over and over only to see most never get healed. They recognized the gap between the promises of God and what was being realized in The Body of Christ and in the earth. What they did not do, once they determined to believe God fully, is make excuses for the lack of answered prayers and power in The Church. 

Many of these men and women wept greatly and regularly in prayer for what they saw and felt. Many prayed in ways few ever had up to their time on earth. Many seemed extreme by their contemporary counterparts that couldn't understand the passion that led them and the fire that burned in them. They caught something in The Spirit and they were set apart to face the "stuff" others could not or would not, so Gods dominion could be established through The Gospel and The Name of Jesus Christ. 

 In doing so, God used them to perform mighty signs and wonders in the view of all. The Lord used them to set the course of nations and change history in ways we will not know in this side of eternity. 

I believe we are now in one of those times in History. We are about to reveal The Father God through The Power and Love of The Full Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Now when I look at this picture and I hear the question that once caused me to hide all my stuff in the junk room of my soul,  I can smile and answer honestly and with Joy. 

 Lord I know you love them far more than I do! I trust you. I rest my head on your chest knowing that you love me so much and just want me to rest on you so I can hear your heartbeat and receive from your Spirit. I trust you with all that I love. You are my strong defender and the defender of those whom I hold dear. 

To the reader:

Spend time everyday in this place of abiding on the Fathers chest and in His Love. He does care for you and all you love. Even if you have suffered some of the things I mentioned above, and have past trauma, let His Spirit bring peace to your heart and healing to your soul.

 He knows all, sees all and deeply cares for you all. This is the place of healing. This is the place of strength. This is the place, even the mightiest men and women of faith had to spend time in, in order to live a life of faith and strength. Right here, like a child, resting in the Fathers Heart for them.