The School of the Ox – Level 1

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Copyright © 2016 by Firehouse Ministries, Inc. Pertinent to everything on this website all rights reserved.  www.firehousemininstries.com

Questions

Luke 18:15-17

And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Here are the main points of this talk for you to meditate on and how they apply to you:

• God is unreasonable
• Your idea of things is incomplete at best.
• You are experiencing a Living Being who is God not just information about Him
• You may know about Him but don’t really know Him. You need to know Him in a daily moving kind of way.

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Prayer

Heavenly Father, bless me to experience more of Your love and more of the Shekinah Glory and have a humble and childlike attitude toward You. Whatever I know, I thank You for that, but ask that I would expand in the truth, grow in the reality of your love. I can never keep up with You but I can have fun trying.

In Jesus name, Amen. 

Personal Application Activity

“The radiance, presence, and joy of person of Christ is not ebb and flow. He doesn’t turn it off because He is mad at you. It is not a case of Him warming up to you but of you warming up to Him. As we open up, His radiance and love invades our lives and we come out of our dark little caves.”

1. How do you relate to this quote from Richard’s talk? Does this give you any insight into yourself and your relationship with God?

2. Why is it important to have a vision of moving forward and not just settle for the status quo?

This can shape the next 30 years of your life until you are dead. We need a vision of moving forward and not just settle for the status quo. We need to have some heroes. Do something other than just the same old same old.

3. What are some minimums and maximums you can outline for your life for the next 20-30 years? Talk to God about this as you map them out.

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Scripture for Meditation

Our spiritual life can be blessed as well as our physical life by practical living out of the Scripture: “He who seeks to save his life, will lose it. And he who loses his life for my sake, will save it unto life eternal.” Matthew 16:25

James 1:2-4

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

“The Unreasonableness of God” Quiz

1. Richard says that our carnal mind has held us back from advancing in God. How does Richard define the “carnal mind” and how it is at enmity with God?

2. How should we view our best understanding in order to learn and grow?

3. What gives us a better chance of growing?

4. What is the reason we must be constantly growing in our understanding and not just know a historical fact?

5. Here is Richard’s definition of “self-righteousness:”

Self-righteousness is where you become proud and arrogant in your little piece of the truth and your execution of what that means to you instead of saying “Thank you for giving me this much truth–but I have a long way to go”. How is a child-like attitude helpful in countering our tendency towards “self-righteousness”?

6. The problem with most adults is they think they know everything and now their job is to regurgitate their great knowledge back to the earth without growing themselves. How does that affect them and their growth in God?

7. Your thoughts are your possessions. Jesus asks you like the Rich Young Ruler, “Will you put your thoughts behind you and come and follow me?” Why is the status quo of our own understanding hard to leave behind?

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Questions Answer Key

1. What did Richard Wurmbrand have to say about his experience in prison camp and God and his unreasonableness?

We did not receive from heaven what we expected in prison camp. Humanly speaking heaven is not reasonable. Richard Wurmbrand.

2. What are some things that are true but not reasonable according to Scripture?

More joy in heaven over one sinner who repents

To whom little is forgiven the same loves little

The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man

People do things out of love for Jesus that look crazy

That Jesus died for me is quite unreasonable

3. Eastern Orthodox Church had people who were “fools” to demonstrate this point. What effect would a fool have on “the religious” by their outrageous behavior?

Drives away the religious by outrageous behavior.

4. Don’t be surprised if you fail to get from God what you reasonably expect. Why?

If He were truly reasonable He wouldn’t listen to the likes of us or give us salvation.

5. What fact should we count on that causes us to forget reason and fall madly in love?

Don’t count on reasonableness in heaven and you will not be disappointed. Consider that you can count only on the fact that there is One who loves you to such folly that He died for you. In response, forget reason and let yourself fall madly in love with Him. 

6. How will God break us out of what is reasonable and right to us and our world?

He wants to break us out of what is reasonable and right to us and our world. God will take us through or use challenging times to get us to challenge our reason, our understanding and our view of life.

7. What must happen if we want to go on the journey from where we are towards the love of God, the Shekinah glory, and the reality of God?

We have to leave many things that are precious to us. Like the early settlers going west had to leave things that we good and helpful and precious but had to discard them in order to lighten the load of the wagons. It was necessary for moving forward. We have to have our cherished way of looking at things expanded if we want to have interaction with God.

8. Your thoughts are your possessions. Jesus asks you like the Rich Young Ruler, “Will you put your thoughts behind you and come and follow me?” Why is the status quo of our own understanding hard to leave behind?

Stuck in status quo of their own understanding which is good but just not complete. We have to leave our comfort zone. Let go of status quo because it makes us dead. Need to embrace a childlike attitude towards God where we are constantly expanding the truth we have. Grow in our understandings.

Quiz Answer Key

1. Richard says that our carnal mind has held us back from advancing in God. How does Richard define the “carnal mind” and how it is at enmity with God?

It comprehends the world in a very limited way and keeps us stuck in a very small place. You can memorize the Bible and yet still be stuck living out of your carnal mind and not your spirit.

2. How should we view our best understanding in order to learn and grow?

If we view our best understandings as dim, narrow and incomplete we have a better chance to learn more and get more revelation.

3. What gives us a better chance of growing?

If we are aware that we are limited, we have a better chance of expanding into other areas. But when we think that is all there is, it is much harder to grow.

4. What is the reason we must be constantly growing in our understanding and not just know a historical fact?

Realizing our understanding needs to constantly be growing because we are understanding a person not just a historical event. The repercussions of Jesus dying in Jerusalem is an ongoing thing that is still having an effect on you now.

5. Here is Richard’s definition of “self-righteousness:”

Self-righteousness is where you become proud and arrogant in your little piece of the truth and your execution of what that means to you instead of saying “Thank you for giving me this much truth–but I have a long way to go”. How is a child-like attitude helpful in countering our tendency towards “self-righteousness”?

Jesus said if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven you have to become like a little child. And what is true about them? They are not surprised that they have new things to learn. Not offended by saying “I don’t know.”

6. The problem with most adults is they think they know everything and now their job is to regurgitate their great knowledge back to the earth without growing themselves. How does that affect them and their growth in God?

So what was once alive, and fresh and powerful now has become stale and dead. They settle for the status quo and stagnate.

7. Your thoughts are your possessions. Jesus asks you like the Rich Young Ruler, “Will you put your thoughts behind you and come and follow me?” Why is the status quo of our own understanding hard to leave behind?

When we are stuck in the status quo of own understanding it is good but just not complete. We have to leave our comfort zone. We need to let go of the status quo because it makes us dead. We need to embrace a childlike attitude towards God where we are constantly expanding the truth we have, growing in our understandings.

Listen Here

Copyright © 2016 by Firehouse Ministries, Inc. Pertinent to everything on this website all rights reserved.  www.firehousemininstries.com.

Questions

1. What are some examples of the Lord Jesus practicing the Ox?
2. Describe how the Ox was in balance in Lord Jesus.
3. What is the danger of practicing the Ox without being emotionally healthy?
4. When Paul says “If I give my body to be burned but have not love, I am nothing.” What love is Paul talking about?
5. What is the “bottom line of the Ox”?
6. What is the foundation for practicing the Ox in a healthy way?
7. What part does the Lord play in helping us grow in the Ox?

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Prayers

Heavenly Father, Put your word deep within me and let it bear fruit. You are the only one, Holy Spirit, who can do the Ox in me and let the Ox happen in my character. Help me cooperate with this incredible strength that you wish to build in me. I want to let You be in charge. I want all my suffering and the ways I have had to take “no” for an answer to be the most profitable things in my life for developing stability, strength and endurance in me.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Personal Application Activity

Knowing ourselves is an important part of growth and health. Are you more the type of person who openly tries to get your own way and resists submitting and surrendering? Or are you one who secretly controls by trying to keep others happy and serving in order to boost low self-esteem?

One function of the Ox is that we can choose to make decisions that give us victory in the midst of suffering. Part of health is always able to be a victor or a conqueror. Do you have a specific situation in your life where you are not getting your way that you can let the Lord help you to find victory in the midst of your suffering?

Do you find yourself judging yourself or others? Try to become more aware of your thought life in this department and when you find yourself judging or condemning yourself or others, turn your thoughts to thankfulness of God’s character. Proclaim how kind and generous He is to love you no matter what.

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Scripture for Meditation

Hebrews 5:1-10

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

“You are my Son;

Today I have become your Father.”a

6And he says in another place,

“You are a priest forever,

in the order of Melchizedek.”

7During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Phillipians 2: 1-10

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature

 God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 8:28

God works all things for the good of those who love him

 and are called according to HIS purpose.”

The “Healthy Practice of the Ox” Quiz

This lesson’s quiz will be based on a short article about “The Ox”.

How Every Suffering Can Be Turned into Something Good

By Nancy Moelk

I had a vision in the night of the Ox. I am referring to one of the Four Living Creatures referenced in Revelations 4. I didn’t see him in the form described there with the wings and eyes. Instead he rapidly expanded into a size bigger than a football field. His body seemed to be made of some super heavy material, more solid than rock but warm and vibrating with life. I could feel myself laid upon his back where I clung to him and enjoyed a permeating sense of stability, safety and love.

Then I heard an inner voice say,

“If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.[1]”

And

“The fullness of Him who fills all in all.[2]”

I began to meditate on how Jesus embodied the quality of the Ox when he allowed himself to be put on the cross. He suffered physical pain, insults, neediness, persecution and distress.[3]  He refused to withdraw from God’s way of achieving something through him even though the price he paid was steep.[4]

If I have to suffer, I want it to bring me something good. If I have a physical suffering, I want to grow in maturity as a result. If I have a financial setback, then I want to come out of it with a more unshakeable belief that God is with me in any deprivation. If people reject me and hurt my feelings, then I want to walk away from that with a firmer foundation in my own worth and value based on God’s criteria and not their opinion.

We are very practical creatures. We have goals we want to accomplish and our ways of bringing those things about. We are frustrated by set-backs that take us in any direction other than our idea of what is “helpful and appropriate.” Our responses to such set-backs are usually along the lines of anger, disappointment, bitterness and fear. We struggle to see them as helpful or desirable.

“Who for the joy set before him endured the cross.[5]”

His payoff for embracing such terrible suffering was that He insured relationship with the ones He loves. He became nothing so that God could give him everything. In the economy of heaven, the Ox is God’s way of developing a man and making him stable enough to bear the weight of God’s presence and inhabitation.

“Though he were a son, he learned obedience by what he suffered.[6]”

The anointing and power of God is a very strong and dangerous force if not properly handled. David was afraid of God (2 Samuel 6) when he tried to “carry” the ark in his own way and it brought death and destruction. The oxen were not meant to carry the ark, men were. The oxen were meant to be a sacrifice instead.

In other words, the sufferings of Christ were not an end in themselves. The glory of God wasn’t meant to rest on acts of service but on people. His afflictions were all part of a Divine strategy to:

Provide him with an experiential knowledge of living in a sinful world

Pay the price for all the rebellion and evil of men done against God through eternity

Provide a way for his creation to be reconciled to him: the two become one flesh

Insure that we would not die a second death but live forever with him in heaven

We may not be able to understand in the moment what wonderful things God is working through our trials and sufferings but we can be sure that it is changing our basic character. We do have the wonderful promise

“God works all things for the good of those who love him

 and are called according to HIS purpose.[7]”

Paul was familiar with this process of the Ox. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about the “visions and revelations” he had from the Lord. But that is not really what he wanted to boast about (unlike many people who think that having a heavenly experience is somehow the most important thing). Rather, Paul wanted to boast about his own weaknesses. He said he actually took pleasure “in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.” (vs. 10) Obviously it was something he received from these negative things that he thought was of great value.

When I read that, I thought, “How can Paul say that and really mean it?” But I began to see that it follows the same pattern as Jesus being willing to suffer. Paul was seeing something for himself in these painful events.

And He said to me (Paul), “My grace is sufficient for you,

for My strength is made perfect in weakness.[8]”

When God spoke this word in the midst of the suffering, Paul understood what he had the possibility of gaining by the Ox. Paul saw he could have God coming through him and filling up his life and character and being the solution to whatever he was lacking due to “infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions and distresses.” Not only that, but Paul knew that having lofty spiritual experiences left him in danger of having pride or an instability in his character. He didn’t want people to think of him more highly because of his supernatural experiences (vs.6). No, he wanted them to see and be affected by the presence and person of Christ coming through his humanity.

The beauty and strength of the Ox is actually the beauty and strength of Jesus Christ coming through. He can turn every negative thing in our life to something powerful and stabilizing and another reason for God to bless us and increase our territory. We don’t have to only rejoice when we will get things our way. We don’t have to think we only have God’s favor when He is blessing us with supernatural experiences. We can also enjoy the times of uncomfortable life circumstances knowing that these are setting us up for a greater filling of the person of Christ and insuring that we are mature and stable enough to bear that Presence.

For we have this treasure in jars of clay

so that the surpassing greatness may be seen to be of God and not of ourselves[9].

 So how can we move forward in embracing and experiencing the Ox in our lives?

First, we can welcome conflict in our lives and expect to win in some important way. Sometimes we need to redefine what “winning” looks like in different situations. Having adjustments in our outlook or understanding can be some of our most valuable victories.

Secondly, we can ask God to show us if some of our suffering or adverse circumstances is the result of sin and disobedience and ask for His kindness to lead us to a change in our behavior and attitudes.

Thirdly, we can begin to redefine how we interpret the effect these things are having on us and our life. God will give us a vision of how we are being developed into our full potential.

Finally, we can expect God to fill our experience with a greater capacity to feel the Holy Spirit already living inside of us.  As we surrender to His ways and trust Him for outcomes, a new level of hope and stability will be ours.

Nancy Moelk

©Firehouse Ministries, 2016

Class Quiz

1. In the economy of heaven, what is the purpose of the “Ox”?
2. Why is the anointing of God a dangerous force if not handled properly?
3. What does it mean that the sufferings of Christ were not meant to be an end in themselves?

4. What was Paul’s experience of the “Ox?” What did he see he could gain?

5. Why can we still rejoice even when we are not getting our own way?

6. List the four ways we can move forward in experiencing and embracing the “Ox” in our lives.

[1] John 12:32

[2] Ephesians 1:23

[3] This is Paul’s list from 2 Corinthians 12:10.

[4] There is discernment needed as to where our suffering is coming from. Sometimes we suffer due to our own bad choices or the bad choices of others. Sometimes we are in disobedience and God is trying to get our attention. Other times, God is leading us through a season of learning how to trust him and seeking to develop our character. See Richard Kinney’s excellent teaching “Who Opposes Us” for further info on this topic.

[5] Hebrews 12:2

[6] Hebrews 5:8

[7] Romans 8:28, (emphasis mine)

[8] 2 Corinthians 12: 9

[9] 2 Corinthians 4:7

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Questions Answer Key

1. What are some examples of the Lord Jesus practicing the Ox?

Leaving heaven and being willing to entrust Himself as a small baby to people. He allowed Himself to suffer. He submitted to the way that the Father wanted Him to do things. He had to learn to say “no” to Himself. He allowed lesser people than Himself to be “in charge”.

2. Describe how the Ox was in balance in Lord Jesus.

He was in balance between the Lion, Eagle, Man and Ox. His great love which resided in the Man was able to sustain the incredible strength, suffering and self-denial of His practicing the Ox.

3. What is the danger of practicing the Ox without being emotionally healthy?

Some types of personalities turn the Ox-like behaviors into a lifestyle that is more about taking care of themselves rather than giving to others. They have a need to be needed. It is a more hidden, covert control. It can be an internal attitude of always thinking of someone or worrying about them. It looks good. But the person is not doing it out of a place of emotional health and strength.

4. When Paul says “If I give my body to be burned but have not love, I am nothing.” What love is Paul talking about?

He is speaking about the love of God and how we need to have that firmly established inside of us in order to be able to have something to give.

5. What is the “bottom line of the Ox”?

You don’t get your own way but incredible strength comes to you by submitting yourself to God’s way. We can expect others or God to be behaving in a certain way and they aren’t doing it. We have iron wills where we want our way. Even if it looks like “I will keep everyone happy” by trying to control everything to make that happen. The Ox is not taking care of ‘number 1’. You are not giving anything away until you are giving something away. Don’t act like it is giving when really you are taking. Someone can appear giving but always trying to get something emotionally from others. 

6. What is the foundation for practicing the Ox in a healthy way?

For the Ox to happen you must have a pretty sound man. That part of you needs to be mature. We need a foundation of health in order to do the Ox. It is out of knowing fully that you don’t have to do mercy, you are able to offer mercy.

7. What part does the Lord play in helping us grow in the Ox?

The Holy Spirit leads us in doing the Ox. Jesus knows how to get in there and make the “Ox” happen inside of us. The finger of God is on you to make the “Ox” happen. He can take off the false self and bring forth the truth. The Holy Spirit is in charge of this process, not us. That takes the pressure off.

Quiz Answer Key

1. In the economy of heaven, what is the purpose of the “Ox”?

In the economy of heaven, the Ox is God’s way of developing a man and making him stable enough to bear the weight of God’s presence and inhabitation. It develops strength and endurance and stability.

2. Why is the anointing of God a dangerous force if not handled properly?

The anointing and power of God is a very strong and dangerous force if not properly handled. David was afraid of God (2 Samuel 6) when he tried to “carry” the ark in his own way and it ended up bringing death and destruction. The oxen were not meant to carry the ark, men were. The oxen were meant to be a sacrifice instead.

3. What does it mean that the sufferings of Christ were not meant to be an end in themselves?

The glory of God wasn’t meant to rest on acts of service but on people. His afflictions were all part of a Divine strategy to:

• Provide him with an experiential knowledge of living in a sinful world
• Pay the price for all the rebellion and evil of men done against God through eternity
• Provide a way for his creation to be reconciled to him: the two become one flesh
• Insure that we would not die a second death but live forever with him in heaven

4. What was Paul’s experience of the “Ox?” What did he see he could gain?

Paul was familiar with this process of the Ox. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about the “visions and revelations” he had from the Lord. But that is not really what he wanted to boast about (unlike many people who think that having a heavenly experience is somehow the most important thing). Rather, Paul wanted to boast about his own weaknesses. He said he actually took pleasure “in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.” (vs. 10) Obviously it was something he received from these negative things that he thought was of great value.

When I read that, I thought, “How can Paul say that and really mean it?” But I began to see that it follows the same pattern as Jesus being willing to suffer. Paul was seeing something for himself in these painful events.

And He said to me (Paul), “My grace is sufficient for you,

for My strength is made perfect in weakness.[1]”

When God spoke this word in the midst of the suffering, Paul understood what he had the possibility of gaining by the Ox. Paul saw he could have God coming through him and filling up his life and character and being the solution to whatever he was lacking due to “infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions and distresses.” Not only that, but Paul knew that having lofty spiritual experiences left him in danger of having pride or an instability in his character. He didn’t want people to think of him more highly because of his supernatural experiences (vs.6). No, he wanted them to see and be affected by the presence and person of Christ coming through his humanity.

5. Why can we still rejoice even when we are not getting our own way?

The beauty and strength of the Ox is actually the beauty and strength of Jesus Christ coming through. He can turn every negative thing in our life to something powerful and stabilizing and another reason for God to bless us and increase our territory. We don’t have to only rejoice when we will get things our way. We don’t have to think we only have God’s favor when He is blessing us with supernatural experiences. We can also enjoy the times of uncomfortable life circumstances knowing that these are setting us up for a greater filling of the person of Christ and insuring that we are mature and stable enough to bear that Presence.

6. List the four ways we can move forward in experiencing and embracing the “Ox” in our lives.

• First, we can welcome conflict in our lives and expect to win in some important way. Sometimes we need to redefine what “winning” looks like in different situations. Having adjustments in our outlook or understanding can be some of our most valuable victories.

• Secondly, we can ask God to show us if some of our suffering or adverse circumstances is the result of sin and disobedience and ask for his kindness to lead us to a change in our behavior and attitudes.

• Thirdly, we can begin to redefine how we interpret the effect these things are having on us and our life. God will give us a vision of how we are being developed into our full potential.

• Finally, we can expect God to fill our experience with a greater capacity to feel the Holy Spirit already living inside of us. As we surrender to His ways and trust Him for outcomes, a new level of hope and stability will be ours.

[1] 2 Corinthians 12: 9

Listen Here

Copyright © 2016 by Firehouse Ministries, Inc. Pertinent to everything on this website all rights reserved.  www.firehousemininstries.com.

Questions

In this class we saw some ways we can imagine God to be like when we are going through troubles. We may think that God feels about us or sees us in a certain light based on this perception.

1. Describe what it looks like if we see Him as the Butler and what is generally our reaction to God when we have this attitude?

2. What is our belief about God if we see Him as the Afflicter?

3. If we see Him as Accuser?

4. If we see God as Stupid?

5. We have an ideal of “how things should be”. How can this affect our expectations about life?

6. Did God have an ideal? Does He insist on getting His ideal? What did He decide to do instead?

7. What can help someone in their trauma?

8. What is the cross a symbol of? What does it say about the “ideal”?

9. If a person can’t feel God tangibly, how will that hinder them during suffering or when they are trying to resolve past hurts?

10. What does this statement mean: “I don’t need a solution, I need a relationship”?

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Prayers

Heavenly Father, there is so much that I don’t know, that I can’t control and that I don’t want to relinquish. If I focus on myself then I can’t help but be discouraged. Lift my eyes to the wonder of You and Your love and acceptance of me right now as I am. Help me to do that because it will give me hope and encouragement that You know how to restore my soul and point me towards You in each and every part of my being. As I look to You, You will give me a drink of Your essence and I will be changed into a Oneness with You.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Personal Application Activity

Slowly go through the following 10 questions and talk about them with the Lord. If you have someone who is walking through your faith journey with you, you can go over them with that person as well, or you could share the answers with one another.

Ten Questions That Lead Us to the Cross

1. What is something that could happen in my life (circumstances, relationships, change in self or situation, etc.) that would really make me feel loved/wanted/taken care of?
2. Are there people out there who have that thing, whatever it is, who still don’t feel loved/wanted/taken care of?
3. Did you ever receive that thing for a short period of time and still didn’t have a lasting feeling of being loved/wanted/taken care of?
4. What could I improve about myself to make myself more lovable, wanted and acceptable?
5. Can you really control others’ affections by such a change?
6. Do you desire for others to want you on the basis of that thing?
7. Is there anyone you love and will continue to love in spite of their faults and flaws?
8. When nothing is going your way and it is totally out of your control, when you do the right thing and everything gets worse, would you like someone to just be with you even if they don’t fix it? Or would you rather have it fixed but not have the undying commitment of another in the midst of your difficulty?
9. When you are at your worst, when you have made bad decisions and deserve consequences; would you like someone to give you their presence and affection and attention?
10. If you had to choose between always being right and successful and always having someone with you so you’d never be alone, which would you chose?

Nancy Moelk

©Firehouse Ministries, Jan. 2005

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Thoughts for Meditation

Instead of Scripture for Meditation in this Lesson, take the following statements and reflect on them as you have your time with the Lord.

Some Thoughts on the Cross 

1. We crave the ideal because we were created for perfection. But we need the cross because our reality is characterized by brokenness.
2. If we try to embrace the ideal, we are left ashamed, disappointed and disheartened. Nothing is ever good enough. But if we embrace the cross we receive perfect love and unconditional acceptance.
3. Nothing is ever too twisted or too terrible to be absorbed by the love of the cross.
4. He doesn’t ask us to meet Him in His perfection. Instead He offers to come to us and meet us in our brokenness.
5. He encounters us in our territory—of sin, imperfection, brokenness and shame. If we will let Him meet us there, He will transform us and our place into one of Resurrection Life Power.
6. Every place that He goes, sin and death are UNDONE by His very presence.
7. To condemn and criticize ourselves or others is to protect our hearts from the full impact of the cross. We abandon even criticism and condemnation to embrace a love that knows our faults better than we do.

“When Nothing Seems Stable” Quiz

Fill in the blanks from the words listed below:

1. Accept that God wants to be with you. His name is ________________.           
2. Accept yourself as you are–________________ hating yourself for not being otherwise.
3. There is no _____________possible except in an atmosphere of love and acceptance.
4. Accept the troubles of your life whether caused by your own sin or other’s sin as a _____________ God can meet you in.
5. Be willing to trade your ideas of what your life should be for a _________________ with Him.
6. Be honest with Him about your disillusionment and disappointment. Be soft in His presence, be ______________________.
7. Grow in intimacy with Him by first focusing on ____________________ and second of all how He feels about you.
8. Take _________________over that which you really have power over.

 Vulnerable                Emmanuel                 Relinquishing          

  His character

Relationship              Control           Desert             Change

Click here for Word Doc

Questions Answer Key

In this class we saw some ways we can imagine God to be like when we are going through troubles. We may think that God feels about us or sees us in a certain light based on this perception.

1. Describe what it looks like if we see Him as the Butler and what is generally our reaction to God when we have this attitude?

One may view Him as the Celestial Butler who had better fix it quick or be fired. When there is a mess He has to fix it up.  He is supposed to show up then, do crisis management and then retreat out of sight to the back of the house.  We may have a lot of bitterness towards Him for not fixing things right because we feel he hasn’t behaved the way we thought He should.

2. What is our belief about God if we see Him as the Afflictor?

If we see him as the Afflicter then we blame the whole thing on Him. “You are God. You didn’t have to let that happen.” We are overlooking free will and all the havoc and pain it creates because people choose to do evil things. We falsely believe it is all God’s fault. In the midst of suffering we see God as being hostile to us and attribute to Him what the enemy does to people in making them suffer. We may see God as making us sick.

3. If we see Him as Accuser?

If we see him as an accuser then we may constantly feel guilty. We will believe He is pointing out all the ways we are flawed and wanting. We may think we are being punished and justice is coming on us for our many faults.

4. If we see God as Stupid?

We question His wisdom and intelligence because to us there is an obvious way to fix the problem. Our common sense says He should be able to figure it out. We can’t conceive that we are possibly not as smart as we think we are.

5. We have an ideal of “how things should be”. How can this affect our expectations about life?

It can leave us without peace and stability if our goal is to have the ideal. It sets us up to be disappointed and angry.

6. Did God have an ideal? Does He insist on getting His ideal? What did He decide to do instead?

Like us God has an ideal of the way it was supposed to be but He didn’t insist we make it happen.  He had a perfect environment for people made for unbroken unconditional love to exist in. God took a great risk to allow there to be free will where people could decide to love Him or not, to do good or evil. Instead, He said, “You all are suffering as a result of the bad choices you and others make. So I am going to leave a perfect existence and inhabit human flesh so I will become a fellow sufferer. I am willing to take on the attributes of a man’s suffering and experience everything that could possibility go wrong for a person. I will experience grief, sorrow, being beaten, rejected, dishonored, and unfairly treated.”

7. What can help someone in their trauma?

There is nothing that will undo the sufferings of abuse, but to know there is someone who was willing to experience what you have been through and come and be with you in your suffering is what helps.  Little kids don’t need explanations or words to help them when they are hurt. They just need someone to hold them and be with them. Comfort comes by presence and someone letting your feel badly. A moment of nurture doesn’t change the situation but changes the person suffering and where they are at in it.

8. What is the cross a symbol of? What does it say about the “ideal”?

The cross is a symbol of God saying, “I know what it is like here. I want to be with you forever.” We need to allow ourselves to receive the truth of the cross on a daily basis. There will never be an ideal here that will satisfy my soul and make my whole life right.

9. If a person can’t feel God tangibly, how will that hinder them during suffering or when they are trying to resolve past hurts?

So many Christians have zero experience of the manifest presence of God in their lives. A theological understanding doesn’t comfort us in our sorrow. Many don’t even have an expectation of feeling God. This will greatly hinder healing in their soul. Jesus wants to restore our souls. If we can’t feel Him, that will make it almost impossible for restoration to take place.

10. What does this statement mean: “I don’t need a solution, I need a relationship”?

I need to know no matter what problems may come I am valuable, special, loved, chosen, wanted. If I have someone always with me and for me, I will still have a hard time but will never be alone. I will never feel my life is incomplete. Because I have the God of the universe offering to be with me.

Quiz Answer Key

Fill in the blanks from the words listed below:

1. Accept that God wants to be with you. His name is  (Emmanuel)  .
2. Accept yourself as you are—(relinquishing) hating yourself for not being otherwise.
3. There is no (change) possible except in an atmosphere of love and acceptance.
4. Accept the troubles of your life whether caused by your own sin or other’s sin as a (desert) God can meet you in.
5. Be willing to trade your ideas of what your life should be for a (relationship) with Him.
6. Be honest with Him about your disillusionment and disappointment. Be soft in His presence, be (vulnerable).
7. Grow in intimacy with Him by first focusing on (His character)  and second of all how He feels about you.
8. Take (control) over that which you really have power over.

Vulnerable                 Emmanuel                 Relinquishing            His character

Relationship              Control           Desert             Change

Listen Here

Copyright © 2016 by Firehouse Ministries, Inc. Pertinent to everything on this website all rights reserved.  www.firehousemininstries.com.

Questions

1. What is a result of the fact that we have grown? What will happen next if we continue to move forward in the Lord?
2. Wherever we are in our relationship with God, it will come time for a next step. What is the first level with God? And then the next?
3. What are some of the things that tell us that it is time to take the next step with God? How do we identify that we are ready to take the next step?
4. How is it possible to minister or serve others but not feel “full” of God?
5. What is our goal? How does the person of Jesus affect us?
6. Is God interested in us as an individual? How does He view each one of us?
7. What do we need the Father to do for us and what do we need to do back to Him?

Click here for Word Doc

Prayers

1. Jesus, is it time for me to move on to whatever my next step of intimacy with You might be? Be quiet and listen to what He has to say about that.

2. If you are hung up in the vending machine of life—stuck between where you have been and where you are going, here are 7 things you can pray to help yourself move on:

• Pray to be filled with the holy desire to receive that He has to give you.
• Ask to be wholehearted and passionate in your pursuit of Him.
• Ask Him to reveal Himself to you so you can be fascinated with Him. Once you see Him, you will be overwhelmed with Him.
• Ask Him to help you long to possess His beauty.
• Desire to have impact by allowing Him to impact you. He calls us higher in order to entrust more to us.
• His love burns up our shame and our reticence. It’s wonderful when someone loves you who knows about your whole history
• Will you be mine? I want Jesus to be my husband.
• Be like the little kiddies and meow and pray and cry until God picks you up.

Personal Application Activity

1. Have you ever been like one of the feral kittens that Richard described where you are weak and needy and crying out for help but when God tries to approach you, you hiss at Him and run the other way?
2. Do you see yourself as being “rich and having need of nothing?” Are you one of those “independent creatures”?  Can you see that parts of your soul are poor and blind and naked?  Try to say to God, “I need You. I really need to meet You at a higher level or I will be lonely until the day I die.”
3. When you are at this important juncture of change in your life, you can’t do it yourself. God has to show you what it is about and what to do. God falls on you and brings you through to the new place. God picks you up and brings you in and then you need to exert yourself in the new area He has brought you to.

4. Trying to act out the commands of the Bible without the connection with the Author you end up just play acting. You end up “pretending”–having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

Click here for Word Doc

Scripture

New Living Translation
2 Timothy 2:5

They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! The letter of the law kills but the spirit gives life

New International Version
1 John 3:16

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Colossians 1:28-29

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

“Weak as a Kitten” Quiz

Answer True or False to the following statements:

 Having trusted as small children and not having that work out doesn’t really affect our ability to trust God.

1. God treats us as persons. He recognizes and wants to connect with each one of us.
2. If we look into God’s eyes He will glare at us, reject us or point out our faults if we have been backslidden and flawed
3. Looking into his eyes changes us and allows the form and pattern of who He had made us to be (the health and greatness) to come forward.
4. If you yield to God and His plan for your life you will become vital to what He is trying to accomplish even if only He know about it and you are mostly hidden to others.
5. Anyone who feels disconnected to their parent, God, finds a need to swaddle themselves in something to try and feel safe and comforted.
6. By being diligent in studying the Bible and praying you can pacify God’s anger for you.
7. If a leader hasn’t properly connected with God, he has to offer those under him formulas rather than true “breast milk” from God. The moment by moment life giving transmission of God’s love is lacking. It will keep you from dying but it isn’t as healthy as breast milk.
8. Trying to act out the commands of the Bible without the connection with the Author you end up just play acting. You end up “presenting”. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

Click here for Word Doc

Questions Answer Key

1. What is a result of the fact that we have grown? What will happen next if we continue to move forward in the Lord?

We are in constant growth, making steps towards the Lord. As we grow it becomes natural to move on. What used to be the place of growth, the victory is now the level place.  And the next step is where you need to go. God lets you know it’s time because you are lonely. It troubles you because you feel alone.

2. Wherever we are in our relationship with God, it will come time for a next step. What is the first level with God? And then the next?

First of all we need a child-like relationship with God. We have to grow in it. But after being there, it comes a time when we are needing to step up to the next level of relationship. The next is bridal love where what is required of us is more demanding. God will call us up to higher level of love. Bridal love requires an intimacy that isn’t needed in the Father-child relationship which is a simpler relationship. And after bridal love comes, hopefully, a spousal relationship.

3. What are some of the things that tell us that it is time to take the next step with God? How do we identify that we are ready to take the next step?

Loneliness and frustration are two things that indicate it might be time to move on. What used to stimulate us and cause us to feel close to God no longer seems to have the same affect.

4. How is it possible to minister or serve others but not feel “full” of God?

Many have learned to minister by being a pipe line of God’s grace that flows to others. But a pipeline is empty. So when ministry time is over you are still empty. The goal is not to become a pipe.  You are meant to become one with what is in the pipe.  Jesus set the example: I and the Father are One. You and Jesus are supposed to become intermeshed so closely that people say, “Who is here?”

5. What is our goal? How does the person of Jesus affect us?

Our goal is to become One with Him so when you are here, He is here. The lines start to blur as to who is who. Jesus is so persuasive and beautiful. If you see Him you can’t help but follow him. His love is stronger than death. He keeps turning to us and calling us, “Take the next step.”

6. Is God interested in us as an individual? How does He view each one of us?

He only knows you as an individual. You are the last one on the shelf. You are unique. No one else can be you. You are not a number to Him. Prisoners just have a number. The devil is the one who has brought forward the idea that God is not interested in your as an individual. He wants you to believe God relates to you in that way.

7. What do we need the Father to do for us and what do we need to do back to Him?

We need to have the Father speak our name to us and we need to look back to Him and have Him to say “I approve of you, I love you”.  “Hi, how are you doing?” If Jesus showed up in room He would talk to you. He would say hello to you. He was humble and willing to hang out with people–with individuals. We desperately need the personal relationship with God.

Quiz Answer Key

Answer True or False to the following statements:

1. Having trusted as small children and not having that work out doesn’t really affect our ability to trust God.
2. God treats us as persons. He recognizes and wants to connect with each one of us.
3. If we look into God’s eyes He will glare at us, reject us or point out our faults if we have been backslidden and flawed. It will change us and make us softer and better about ourselves.
4. Looking into his eyes changes us and allows the form and pattern of who He had made us to be (the health and greatness) to come forward.
5. If you yield to God and His plan for your life you will become vital to what He is trying to accomplish even if only He know about it and you are mostly hidden to others.
6. Anyone who feels disconnected to their parent, God, finds a need to swaddle themselves in something to try and feel safe and comforted.
7. By being diligent in studying the Bible and praying you can pacify God’s anger for you. (False. God has a good, kind acceptance of you on your worst day!)
8. If a leader hasn’t properly connected with God, he has to offer those under him formulas rather than true “breast milk” from God. The moment by moment life giving transmission of God’s love is lacking. It will keep you from dying but it isn’t as healthy as breast milk.
9. Trying to act out the commands of the Bible without the connection with the Author you end up just play acting. You end up “presenting”. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. True.

Listen Here

Copyright © 2016 by Firehouse Ministries, Inc. Pertinent to everything on this website all rights reserved.  www.firehousemininstries.com.

Questions

1. What is a theme concerning change that runs all through the Bible?
2. What did Jesus mean when He would say to people, “The Kingdom of God is come upon you?”
3. What is the process that God uses to bring in His order and destroy chaos?
4. What are some of the chaotic things that came into Abraham’s life because he followed God?
5. Did Abraham start out with a “great faith” or was it developed? How did building a relationship with God affect him?
6. What is the common pattern we can see for almost every Bible Character both Old and New Testament? Why does that need to happen?
7. Why did the children of Israel have such a hard time trusting God even when they had seen such miracles to get them out of Egypt?

Click here for Word Doc

Prayers

1. Come Lord and touch Your people now. I know You want to touch your people. Help us to surrender and give up where we have been settling for the status quo and predictability and being in control. Forgive us and woo us away from that. Help us to respond to You. In Jesus name.
2. Forgive me for thinking I have nothing to learn, that I have it all together. I have been twisted from living in separation from You, God, and have put on a veneer of belief. Lead me into authenticity.
3. Thank you, Father, that like a good parent, You are willing to have me look “messed up” for a while in order to put my heart in alignment with You.

Personal Application Activity

Spend some time reflecting on the following statements:

1. Do I want to be at the same level spiritually I am now in 3-5 years?
2. Am I willing to go through the difficult process of “soul surgery”?
3. Do I want to look over my Christian life and say “It was so predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen next. The Holy Spirit never surprised me one time.
4. Am I willing to give up some control, order, and predictability to find out what God is really like and what His interventions look like in my life?
5. In the amusement park of spiritual life, I want to go on the roller coaster and not stay on the merry go round. I am willing to let God’s type of chaos to undo the Enemy’s chaos and what it has done with me and my family.
6. Am I only interested in the symptoms of what is not right in me or am I willing to have God deal with the roots?
7. Am I willing to let go of the status quo for the sake of truth and authenticity?
8. If there is going to be room for God something else has to go.
9. It brings a type of chaos when people follow God. We will be made uncomfortable, it brings in things we are not used to.
10. Jesus brought chaos to the “religious way” of His day. The apostles and early church, without trying, brought chaos to the culture around them simply by interfacing with God. Can we reasonably expect our lives to have no impact if we are powerfully walking with God?
11. There is an ongoing theme in the Bible that divisions have to happen between those who want to follow God and those who want to keep the status quo. It is going to happen on a personal and group level. It happened in the Bible and it still happens now.
12. If you feel you are totally in control of your Christian experience and it is predictable, let me challenge you to beseech God to take you to a new level in Him.

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Scripture for Meditation

No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.

Romans 8:11

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

The people in the Bible interfaced with the HOLY SPIRIT and SOMETHING CHANGED IN THEIR LIVES.  If the same HOLY SPIRIT comes on us and interfaces with us, the same things will happen. Do we just get to read about it but it doesn’t happen for us??? According to Jesus in John 17 we are included in the faith experience of the people who were in the bible. The same HOLY SPIRIT has come upon us–He didn’t change some time in between.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

What does that mean? The priesthood brings God to the people and the people to God. All of us are called to be a priest for God. Every single believer. He wants to invade the natural with the supernatural in you. Just like Jesus was a light to the world, you are meant to be a light to the world. Jesus was the first among many brethren of which you are one!

“Chaos and Trust, Elements of Change” Quiz

Are the following statements True or False?

1. Evil brings chaos and destruction. But when God wants to bring about change in a person or group of people, He has to do something violent.
2. Often God brings people to Him by chaos. Often through crisis in their lives they became a Christian.
3. God grabs hold of individuals and puts them through tests, trials, and violent episodes trying to get them to cooperate with His kingdom and His way.
4. In Judges, every man did what is right in his own eyes. That is chaos.
5. God will cause our lives to be mostly conflict free if we just obey the moral expectations of the Bible. Challenges, changes and pressure aren’t absolutely necessary for transformation.
6. It is hard to find someone in the Bible who had no supernatural experiences

but we shouldn’t expect our lives to be like that because God doesn’t operate like that anymore. He got tired or bored or something.

7. God is not concerned about our reputation. He doesn’t care if for a while we fall apart. He can’t stand for us to go year after year with all those evil twistings. He is a surgeon and He wants to go after the behavioral and generational roots in us.

Click here for Word Doc

Questions Answer Key

1. What is a theme concerning change that runs all through the Bible?

This world and all that is in it belongs to God. He created the heavens and earth. There has been rebellion and separation from Him. A central theme in the Bible is of God invading the natural and beginning to restore and bring about relationship again with Himself. God brings about change so that people who are in separation or isolation from him are brought about to be in harmony and relationship with Him once again. 

2. What did Jesus mean when He would say to people, “The Kingdom of God is come upon you?”

Jesus talked about how the Kingdom of God is come upon you. It has to do with God’s idea and way coming in to take over the way that is there. When God brings what He has to offer, other things have to be taken away. There is a constant battle between the chaos of sin and God coming in and hovering over that and beginning to establish His order.

3. What is the process that God uses to bring in His order and destroy chaos?

God brings in chaos to destroy chaos. For example, the flood, the destruction of the Temple, invasion of Israel’s land, etc. He destroys the chaos created by the rebellion and sin of people by sending His own version of chaos. One kind of chaos comes through evil. It is the result of separation from God.  And now for God to come in and bring redemption and change things back there is another kind of chaos that has to happen. There is a violence to evil, but there is also a violence to healing and restoration. It is all through the Bible. Think of the violence of the Cross.

4. What are some of the chaotic things that came into Abraham’s life because he followed God?

He had to leave his family. He went to a new and strange place. It put Abraham into tension by promising him things that he had to wait for. There is a tension of having to wait and hope for things.  The Lord led Abraham in having custom changes (circumcision).  He shocked Abraham by letting him witness judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah. He asked Abraham to sacrifice the promised son. His life was not regular, boring and predictable. Once he obeyed God and left his home and followed God all kinds of things began to happen.

5. Did Abraham start out with a “great faith” or was it developed? How did building a relationship with God affect him?

He didn’t start out like that. In the beginning he couldn’t trust God to tell Pharoah the truth about Sarah. Little by little Abraham began to build a relationship with God. Everything that he had learned before he had a relationship with God had to be challenged and thrown into a type of chaos so God’s order could begin to be brought into Abraham. He wasn’t a holy man from the start. Dramatic and violent experiences happened to him in order to change his heart. There was the tension and chaos of waiting for a promised son and then God tells him to go sacrifice him. These were very violent experiences. God had him on this violent track of usurping what was “normal” for Abraham.

6. What is the common pattern we can see for almost every Bible Character both Old and New Testament? Why does that need to happen?

If a person sets their heart for God to come in and have a relationship with Him nothing can remain the same. There needs to be a violent usurping of what is in their soul. When we live in separation and isolation from God, there are all kinds of twisting that go on in the soul that becomes “normal.” Like a person in a violent car wreck, everything has to be set back in order.

7. Why did the children of Israel have such a hard time trusting God even when they had seen such miracles to get them out of Egypt?

For 400 years the people had been in Egypt. That had become “normal” to them.  The people had learned generationally in their lives a culture or habit of unbelief. Everyone has that. They had habits of unbelief. They were assuming God wasn’t really there. In the midst of problems all kinds of fear, anxiety, and doubts came forward and showed their unbelief. God had brought them out of Egypt but there was still hefty doses of Egypt still in them!

Quiz Answer Key

Are the following statements True or False?

1. Evil brings chaos and destruction. But when God wants to bring about change in a person or group of people, He has to do something violent. TRUE
2. Often God brings people to Him by chaos. Often through crisis in their lives they became a Christian. TRUE
3. God grabs hold of individuals and puts them through tests, trials, and violent episodes trying to get them to cooperate with His kingdom and His way. TRUE
4. In Judges, every man did what is right in his own eyes. That is chaos. TRUE
5. God will cause our lives to be mostly conflict free if we just obey the moral expectations of the Bible. Challenges, changes and pressure aren’t absolutely necessary for transformation. FALSE
6. It is hard to find someone in the Bible who had no supernatural experiences but we shouldn’t expect our lives to be like that because God doesn’t operate like that anymore. He got tired or bored or something. FALSE
7. God is not concerned about our reputation. He doesn’t care if for a while we fall apart. He can’t stand for us to go year after year with all those evil twistings. He is a surgeon and He wants to go after the behavioral and generational roots in us. TRUE

The Nuclear Power of Death and Dying to Yourself”

Listen Here

And here is a short description of the power of the Ox from Richard’s perspective:

Click here to listen

Copyright © 2016 by Firehouse Ministries, Inc. Pertinent to everything on this website all rights reserved.  www.firehousemininstries.com.

The Nuclear Power of Death and Dying to Yourself” lecture.

Questions

1. What has been the effect on Christians that they misunderstand death and dying to self?
2. What will be the result of our reconnecting with this concept?
3. Contrast the impact of Jesus’s first three years of ministry with the last 12 hours.
4. How powerful is death? What is another way of describing it?
5. What is our attitude in the Western word towards death and dying?
6. In many ancient cultures, what are the complimentary parts of life?
7. What is the result in our lives if we reject life’s positives or negatives?

Click here for Word Doc

Prayers

1. Heavenly Father, I accept and acknowledge that the same power that cause Jesus Christ to rise from the dead lives in me all the time. I confess I have hated hard times and setbacks and not trusted You to meet me in them and do something wonderful. I want this new attitude of allowing hard times to fill me with energy and power to fuel my life going forward. Work with me to bring me to this place. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

2. Jesus, come now and lend me Your great strength. Empower me to make use of both the highs and lows of life to turn it into the nuclear fuel of God’s power and to move ahead mightily with joy towards every success and towards every challenge. Make me like You for your glory. Amen

Personal Application Activity

Personal Application Questions

Spend some time on each of the following statements, asking God to show you your true attitudes and to move you toward a more powerful belief system.

1. We can learn to get energy from our defeats as well as our successes.
2. When we have disappointments or sorrows, we need to allow ourselves to feel them keenly. We must learn to allow them to become fuel to give us power and energy to meet life’s challenges.
3. We become the head and not the tail as we learn to let both defeats and successes move us powerfully forward.
4. When we learn to stop reacting to life as if only the successes are important, we will learn to burn as it were, both success and failure and gain great power from either one.
5. Instead of running away or distancing yourself from something unpleasant, we welcome it into our house. It does not mean that we give up on a solution to our problem or continuing to try and get the end result we want.

Click here for Word Doc

Scripture for Meditation

Our spiritual life can be blessed as well as our physical life by practical living out of the Scripture: “He who seeks to save his life, will lose it. And he who loses his life for my sake, will save it unto life eternal.” Matthew 16:25

James 1:2-4

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

“The Nuclear Power of Death and Dying to Yourself” Quiz

1. How can we have every challenge propel us forward?
2. How does one’s effectively dealing with life losses set her up for future success?
3. How can practicing this exercise help us to learn to trust God?
4. How can we win all the time?
5. What is the end result of what happens for us after God leads us through times of suffering? This question is from the comments made by Richard on the Power of the Ox.

Click here for Word Doc

Questions Answer Key

1. What has been the effect on Christians that they misunderstand death and dying to self?

Their misunderstanding of death and dying to self has left many Christians weak and shallow when we are all created to be deep and powerful.

2. What will be the result of our reconnecting with this concept?

It will help us to reconnect with both sides of heaven and earth and help us to become the impactful Christians that we know inside of ourselves that we were created to be.

3. Contrast the impact of Jesus’s first three years of ministry with the last 12 hours.

Think for a moment what your opinion of Jesus’ first three years of ministry would be stopping just 12 hours before His death.  He healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, and calmed the stormy seas. So many wonderful things the world had never seen or heard of. And yet, Jesus, in the last 12 hours of His ministry, released more power and had more impact on more people by far, than anything that had gone before. Through His death, He took on the sin of the world and made it possible from that time forward for any person who would to receive salvation until the end of the earth.

4. How powerful is death? What is another way of describing it?

Incredible power is released through death. I was in a Christian group for twenty years. We never said this or that person has recently died. We said they have gone through transition. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. When we leave our bodies we are instantly alive in a new spiritual state. There is little or no time until we find ourselves in whatever our new reality is.

5. What is our attitude in the Western word towards death and dying?

In the western world, we hide death and dying. Many of us have never seen a body. Those who are in great suffering are whisked away and heavily sedated. We spend vast amounts of money on those who clearly need to just be made comfortable and allowed to quite naturally die. We act as if we are in charge of death and control it somehow.

6. In many ancient cultures, what are the complimentary parts of life?

In many of the ancient cultures, the breath is considered holy. The “in” breath is understood as “life in”. The “out” breath is considered as “life out”. Both the “in breath” and the “out breath” are seen clearly as complimentary parts of one complete cycle. Life is made up of both the “in breath” and the “out breath”. If we refuse the “in breath”, oxygen in, we die.

7. What is the result in our lives if we reject life’s positives or negatives?

If we reject life’s positives or life’s negatives, we reject life. Many Christians are half alive, even though they serve the Lord of Life. We in the western world have suffocated ourselves by only wanting to acknowledge our “wins” in life. We have learned, most of us only to celebrate our successes and to use them to move forward. Many people suffocate on a steady diet of the obvious wins of life without ever accepting the “out breath” of life and the possibility of more life coming in that that affords.

Quiz Answer Key

1. How can we have every challenge propel us forward?

If we live our life free of avoiding the pairs of opposites, pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, blame and praise—we move into supernatural power propelled forward by every challenge. (Here is the vision Richard saw pertaining to this truth: I saw two chambers made of what looked like very, very strong Plexiglas, both about the size of a man. In one, success was stored up. In the other, defeat and unpleasantness was stored up. Each chamber caught on fire internally—alternately providing power like two moving pistons driving the person that they were within towards the goal of Christ glorified.)

2. How does one’s effectively dealing with life losses set her up for future success?

We can burn up our losses and disappointments and use them to set us up for “the next wave.” We need to let go of them, allowing them to burn like fuel for our future efforts.

3. How can practicing this exercise help us to learn to trust God?

It teaches us to use all of life circumstances. We begin to see that with God for us, we really can’t lose. We will always be growing and receiving something good from Him no matter what the circumstances.

4. How can we win all the time?

It’s like having heavenly loaded dice so that no matter how you throw them, you win. If things are going your way, “Yeah! I won on the earth.” If things aren’t going your way, “Yeah! I win in heaven!” and this frees energy to set me up for the next wave of success.

5. What is the end result of what happens for us after God leads us through times of suffering? This question is from the comments made by Richard on the Power of the Ox.

Great power is released in us and we become very, very strong. It allows God to put great power in us so we can be steady and reliable in the midst of spiritual revelation and also if there is opposition to us speaking the truth.